89 replies to this topic

[Krazy Kat]

Give them this! TV head and a windshield wiper!

[Felbombling]

Nathan Foxbane, on 25 March 2013 - 03:59 PM, said:

Really? The Flea has some good modification potential and with a decent light player at the controls an actual threat. But stock? In the hands of a brand new player who knows little to nothing, going up against an in all likelyhood custom Atlas? You will drive players away in droves. In addition, as bad as the trial 'Mechs are not everyone is cut out to be a light pilot and forcing them into that role is not a good way to keep new players.

Remember that everyone's ELO starts at 1400 or so. Not 0 so they will be going up against people with some time behind the controls.

Explain to me how that is any different than periods of time when the Commando is a Trial Mech.

[Shumabot]

Signal27, on 25 March 2013 - 04:07 PM, said:

I already told you: To screw around in the MechLab with at a much lower price than having to purchase a more expensive mech. They can mess with it, then drive it around the Testing Grounds to see how the changes take effect, and learn mech design that way.

If they actually want a viable mech then they should use the trial mechs - provided the developers will actually provide a trial mech that is at once newb-friendly but at least somewhat competitive.

Are you going to not let them take it into the game? If you let them play with it they're going to play with it. If they play with it they're going to get destroyed. If they get destroyed they are going to quit because the game gave them a pile of crap and their experience isn't enjoyable.

Also, the trial mechs aren't even remotely viable. I'd take a flee over any of the stock dragons.

[Signal27]

Nathan Foxbane, on 25 March 2013 - 04:06 PM, said:

Theny why not have an ingame tutorial that takes a new player through the 'Mech lab and teaches some basics before they burn a sizeable chunk of their cadet bonus on an XL engine for for their Flea.

Never said this would be a tutorial replacement. They can have both a tutorial and the Flea. Hell, make the free Flea the tutorial, where pop-ups guide you through the process: "Click and drag this out. Now click and drag this weapon into the mech. We don't recommend an XL engine at this time."

[Shumabot]

Krazy Kat, on 25 March 2013 - 04:08 PM, said:

Give them this! TV head and a windshield wiper!

They don't need it, this game doesn't have weather effects like that one does.

[Signal27]

Shumabot, on 25 March 2013 - 04:09 PM, said:

Are you going to not let them take it into the game? If you let them play with it they're going to play with it. If they play with it they're going to get destroyed. If they get destroyed they are going to quit because the game gave them a pile of crap and their experience isn't enjoyable.

If a new player quits that easily then there is no hope trying to hold their attention at all. It shouldn't take them long to figure out "I don't like this mech, let me try this one instead..."

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Also, the trial mechs aren't even remotely viable. I'd take a flee over any of the stock dragons.

So, again I have to repeat myself: This is provided the devs make trial mechs that are new-player friendly and competitive as well.

[Nathan Foxbane]

Signal27, on 25 March 2013 - 04:09 PM, said:

Never said this would be a tutorial replacement. They can have both a tutorial and the Flea. Hell, make the free Flea the tutorial, where pop-ups guide you through the process: "Click and drag this out. Now click and drag this weapon into the mech. We don't recommend an XL engine at this time."

That might work.

[Arcadinal]

I will just voice my agreement that giving new players quick ownership of a mech of their own of some variety that can compete on the field will get newcomers involved and make it less likely they'll get discouraged. I love the game, but I can definitely see how it would have been harder to get into if I hadn't had my founders mechs to start with.

[Commander Kobold]

give everyone a free medium

[Shumabot]

Signal27, on 25 March 2013 - 04:11 PM, said:

If a new player quits that easily then there is no hope trying to hold their attention at all. It shouldn't take them long to figure out "I don't like this mech, let me try this one instead..."

People like you are exactly why this game is venting players and can't recruit new ones. You have no idea what you're talking about. Most players won't give the game that fair a shake, and they shouldn't. There's plenty of competition. MWO isn't some magic game that deserves players, it needs to make itself accessible to them.

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So, again I have to repeat myself: This is provided the devs make trial mechs that are new-player friendly and competitive as well.

That would require either removing double heat sinks from the game or giving them to all trial mechs. Double heat sinks (and general build quality) are what makes mechs good.

Edited by Shumabot, 25 March 2013 - 04:22 PM.

[Xenroth]

I think giving everyone Flee for free, especially players that just start this game and are not well known with piloting lightmech, is like giving them a club to a shootout!
Not the best idea I have to say! The Flee will be one of the lightmechs which is hard to master because it has nearly no armor

[Davers]

Rather PGI gave all new players Crabs. Just think of the marketing potential of that statement.

[Shumabot]

Xenroth, on 25 March 2013 - 04:20 PM, said:

I think giving everyone Flee for free, especially players that just start this game and are not well known with piloting lightmech, is like giving them a club to a shootout!
Not the best idea I have to say! The Flee will be one of the lightmechs which is hard to master because it has nearly no armor

It's also going to be the worst mech in the game since you can't fit anything useful in 20 tons.

[Davers]

Shumabot, on 25 March 2013 - 04:23 PM, said:

It's also going to be the worst mech in the game since you can't fit anything useful in 20 tons.

Flea will be better than the Cicada 3C and Spider 5K.

[Signal27]

Shumabot, on 25 March 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

People like you are exactly why this game is venting players and can't recruit new ones. You have no idea what you're talking about.

Nay, good sir. While I do agree the game needs to be more new-player friendly, we don't want to cater to the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel attention deficit disorder crowd. There's already a legion of posts about catering to the "Cowadooty instant gratification" crowd. There is something to be said about starting out near the bottom and working your way to the top. World of Tanks does it - they hand you a bunch of free crappy tanks. Apparently there's a lot of players who are willing to spend some time in literally the worst tanks in the game in order to get to the next tier.

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That would require either removing double heat sinks from the game or giving them to all trial mechs. Double heat sinks (and general build quality) are what makes mechs good.

WAT?? Why? Trial mechs could have double heat sinks. That trial-heavy-mech-design-competition thingy allows for any and all tech to be incorporated into the design.

Edited by Signal27, 25 March 2013 - 04:27 PM.

[dario03]

I think if players are given a new mech it should be something in the middle like a medium or heavy. If you give them a stock flea it probably won't be all that fast which means they will die really quick. Or if you give them a modified xl engine flea that does ~135kph it will probably be to fast for a brand new player to control properly and they will die really quick while not sure of what is happening. And on the other end of it a assault to start off with is to slow and lumbering. Where as a medium or heavy is a balance of the 2 and would be newbie friendly and from there they can decide if they want more speed or firepower. Any of the heavies and mediums could work but if one is being picked I would go with a Hunch 4sp since it is a very balanced mech. Or maybe just rotate what the starting mech is or let them pick (the cheaper mechs can come with more upgrades pre installed to balance that out).

[Shumabot]

Davers, on 25 March 2013 - 04:25 PM, said:

Flea will be better than the Cicada 3C and Spider 5K.

At what? Exploding?

[Davers]

Shumabot, on 25 March 2013 - 04:29 PM, said:

At what? Exploding?

5 energy is better than having 4 ballistics.

[Xenroth]

I bet in the future there will be stuff like go to convention X and redeem code Y to recieve your free Hunchback or whatever

[NocturnalBeast]

With the cadet bonus a new player will earn enough cbills to buy just about any non-hero mech in the game after about 15-20 games. You can easily play 15-20 games in one weekend, plus you will learn how to play during that time. New players already get pleanty for free.