34 replies to this topic

[Kyle Polulak]

Please tell us what you think of the most recent changes:

Spoiler

Welcome to MechWarrior® Online™!

As a New Player, we are pleased to offer greenhorn mercenaries such as yourself a C-Bill bonus on your first 25 matches. This can be used to help you acquire your first owned 'Mech. Unlike the Trial Mechs, you can customize your owned 'Mechs before dropping into battle. While you are completing this bonus, you can also seek the advice of veteran players here on the forums.

First and foremost, please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct as well as the Rules & Guidelines forum. You can also read some Frequently Asked Questions about the game, review the Patch Notes to see what's changed recently, and check out the Command Chair to see what's coming.

If you have any other questions, you can ask our veterans for assistance at the New Player Help section.

If you are experiencing issues with the game, please post in the Patch Feedback forum and the Support Workarounds forum. There is also Website & Forum for issues related to either of those services. You can also contact us at Support.

There are also some neat forum privileges waiting for you once you have completed your training bonus by completing any 25 matches in MechWarrior Online, including:

• Forum Friends,
  
• Private Forum Messages,
  
• Custom Forum Signatures,
  
• Status Updates,
  
• Access to more sub-forums,
  
• More likes and posts per day.

Good luck and see you on the battlefield!

[ryoma]

What was actually changed?

[VXJaeger]

IMHO everybody under 2000 games should be restricted to read-only.

[Joker Two]

So you're saying new players can't even ask for help on the forums until AFTER they've played the game approximately 5 hours?

Bad idea, especially for a game as complex as this one. Also, new players might not even KNOW they can't do these things until they've played those matches, as there are probably many, many players who don't check these forums regularly. Not to mention that they get more complex with every update.

Stick to the KISS principle guys.

[Tyr Gunn]

Joker Two, on 09 September 2013 - 01:38 PM, said:

So you're saying new players can't even ask for help on the forums until AFTER they've played the game approximately 5 hours?

Bad idea, especially for a game as complex as this one. Also, new players might not even KNOW they can't do these things until they've played those matches, as there are probably many, many players who don't check these forums regularly. Not to mention that they get more complex with every update.

Stick to the KISS principle guys.

That's not what's happening at all. They can post in the help section. This change should help them find the place to get help sooner rather than overwhelm them with a load of other sub forums.

[Edustaja]

I'm thinking this is pretty smart
Even better if this info gets incorporated into the client.

[ryoma]

Ohh, so they did this to keep people from creating a legion of alt accounts for forum complaints.

I've been complaining up a storm for a while on the forum and no bans. Anyone who's worried about getting their main account banned is probably being vulgar.

[Kraven Kor]

ryoma, on 09 September 2013 - 06:54 PM, said:

Ohh, so they did this to keep people from creating a legion of alt accounts for forum complaints.

I've been complaining up a storm for a while on the forum and no bans. Anyone who's worried about getting their main account banned is probably being vulgar.

Pretty much this.

They did ban me from their facebook page (while leaving far more profane and questionable posts up...) for my CPBC / BBB complaint notifications.

But, the mods have proven, to me, that the only people getting bans are those who are crossing the line from "angry customer" to "fracking nuisance"

That being said, I like this change to an extent, and disagree with the "no forum priveleges until 2000 matches" as that is just silly. I think I have not yet hit 2000 matches - Closed and Open beta combined - and I got in on day one of the founder's program in August of last year.

Opening up more forum access as stuff is done in game is fine, and requiring at least that first drop to get forum access at all, is understandable and lots of people do in fact create forum accounts for various reasons - to complain, to create the illusion of lots of people supporting or not supporting an idea or change, etc.

[Tyr Gunn]

ryoma, on 09 September 2013 - 06:54 PM, said:

Ohh, so they did this to keep people from creating a legion of alt accounts for forum complaints.

I've been complaining up a storm for a while on the forum and no bans. Anyone who's worried about getting their main account banned is probably being vulgar.

I'm sure that minimizing new troll accounts is merely a great side-effect of allowing new players to more easily find the answers to the the plethora of questions they'll no doubt have after dropping into a match and getting steam-rolled.

The only iffy thing for me is the private message feature being disabled before 25 matches are complete. I can see potential for that to be a social hindrance more than anything.

[Sparks Murphey]

I'm unhappy to see "new" accounts being locked out of the community section. We've got a lot of people down there who are really interested in BattleTech and MechWarrior, who have made sometimes thousands of positive post to the community, who are keen to play MWO, but can't get the 25 required games in because it doesn't run stably on their PC. Some of these people have been contributing to the MWO community for two years now, but have suddenly found themselves cut off, unable to post or even PM friends they've made through that community.

Perhaps a "25 matches or 1 month, whichever comes first" system needs to be put in place. That'll reduce the amount of accounts being created solely for complaints/trolling/otherwise abusing the system, while still allowing people to contribute to the community.

[3Xtr3m3]

The changes can be harsh, but as the game approaches launch it is time to put the final touches to take this game from the lab to the street.
Our Baby is all grown up now.

[Mudhutwarrior]

Censorship is a bad sign. Always is.

[Kraven Kor]

Mudhutwarrior, on 11 September 2013 - 05:17 AM, said:

Censorship is a bad sign. Always is.

This is not censorship.

It is a futile attempt to herd cats, and newbies are getting tossed under the boss to silence the morons who think they are accomplishing anything by spamming on fake newbie accounts to create an illusion of consensus.

[Jestun]

Do not like.

I don't see any reason why a new player should be unable to do anything on the forum.

You have a new players section, you have a (very basic) search function. Whether new players want to be in a general new players area of the forum or look for something specific they can do so. There's no need to hide the other forums until they learn the basics.

Perhaps the more meaningless things like have their own forum sig or change their status could be ok, but nothing related to which forums you can see, whether you can PM, etc.

[Stunner]

This can also prevent unnecessary spam as well. I support this.

[Tyr Gunn]

Jestun, on 11 September 2013 - 09:04 AM, said:

Do not like.

I don't see any reason why a new player should be unable to do anything on the forum.

You have a new players section, you have a (very basic) search function. Whether new players want to be in a general new players area of the forum or look for something specific they can do so. There's no need to hide the other forums until they learn the basics.

Perhaps the more meaningless things like have their own forum sig or change their status could be ok, but nothing related to which forums you can see, whether you can PM, etc.

Maybe you haven't noticed, but there are a lot of main forums and sub forums here. It can be difficult to find your way around. Certainly this seems evident given the number of threads that get started in entirely the wrong place, even by old dogs. It seems to me that new users might likewise struggle to find the most appropriate place for their posts.

If you can't at least agree with that, you're probably just playing devils advocate.

[Jestun]

Tyr Gunn, on 11 September 2013 - 11:07 AM, said:

Maybe you haven't noticed, but there are a lot of main forums and sub forums here. It can be difficult to find your way around. Certainly this seems evident given the number of threads that get started in entirely the wrong place, even by old dogs. It seems to me that new users might likewise struggle to find the most appropriate place for their posts.

If you can't at least agree with that, you're probably just playing devils advocate.

After removing general discussion people need to be able to access the plethora of subforums in order to be able to post in the right place.

You can't divide it up into loads of places, limit who can see what and close / move off topic threads to other places (which is what they are doing, and rightly so given how they chose to layout the forums).

Personally I think that once the beta tag is lifted the forums should be redesigned anyway. Many focused subforums is understandable when you want the forum to be little more than a bug reporting database but once it's live the focus moves more onto the community aspects.



They removed General Discussion and said it was because too many threads on a wide variety of subjects were all put in one place. What do they think will happen if they only let new players post in a tiny number of places? They will post things in the wrong places because they don't have access to where they should be posted.

[Zphyr]

So, let's see. A new player should:
- not be able to comment on their experience
- not speak about the game
- not truly be part of the community
- not engage in anything not-newbie
- do nothing aside from asking some questions in the few forums they have access to.

It's good that it would block most double accounts abuse but... this is not a very good idea.
How is this forum being new player friendly if they can't even have friends or send PMs to anyone? Want to talk with someone in private, maybe some friendly chat or question not pertinent to the topic itself? Too bad. Now go and play and make the game looks more full, you fool! This way of psychologically forcing people to play is not good, guys. You want to encourage them, you want them feeling happy. Not this...

So exactly what can they see? All the forums? Only those they can post at? And which forums can they post at, by the way? Only the Training Grounds and the Support & Feedback?

Gosh, I am starting to be glad MiSS forgot about her asking me to join the mods last year!

Jestun, on 11 September 2013 - 12:55 PM, said:

What do they think will happen if they only let new players post in a tiny number of places? They will post things in the wrong places because they don't have access to where they should be posted.

People already post in the wrong places without much reason... and the moderators aren't exactly cleaning them up or educating them. Just look at the Workaround! It pains me to read it... I don't go there to search for help, I go there to answer questions - because the mods don't engage with the members in a timely manner. Nearly all of them are in the wrong place. Look at the many sub-forums. Several topics are out of place too, everyday.

You chose this confusing layout, so take some responsibility and keep it clean. I know it's quite a lot or work, I myself moderated several forums, but it's still your job. Be active, show that you care.

Edited by Zphyr, 11 September 2013 - 05:18 PM.

[Grrzoot]

Zphyr, on 11 September 2013 - 05:11 PM, said:

So, let's see. A new player should:
- not be able to comment on their experience
- not speak about the game
- not truly be part of the community
- not engage in anything not-newbie
- do nothing aside from asking some questions in the few forums they have access to.

It's good that it would block most double accounts abuse but... this is not a very good idea.
How is this forum being new player friendly if they can't even have friends or send PMs to anyone? Want to talk with someone in private, maybe some friendly chat or question not pertinent to the topic itself? Too bad. Now go and play and make the game looks more full, you fool! This way of psychologically forcing people to play is not good, guys. You want to encourage them, you want them feeling happy. Not this...

So exactly what can they see? All the forums? Only those they can post at? And which forums can they post at, by the way? Only the Training Grounds and the Support & Feedback?

Gosh, I am starting to be glad MiSS forgot about her asking me to join the mods last year!


People already post in the wrong places without much reason... and the moderators aren't exactly cleaning them up or educating them. Just look at the Workaround! It pains me to read it... I don't go there to search for help, I go there to answer questions - because the mods don't engage with the members in a timely manner. Nearly all of them are in the wrong place. Look at the many sub-forums. Several topics are out of place too, everyday.

You chose this confusing layout, so take some responsibility and keep it clean. I know it's quite a lot or work, I myself moderated several forums, but it's still your job. Be active, show that you care.

have you actually made a new account since this change was implemented to see? It doesn't say anything about not being able to post or view forums. It says view more sub-forums. I am assuming things like archive, jettison etc are all off the beginner list. I am not really going to make a new account to check this out but maybe niko would be kind enough to tell us which forums they do have access too? Or if it is a shorter list, the ones that they do not?

it seems more in place to stop people from information overload on first getting to the forums. And i see that it limits total numbers of like and posts, but i am sure there are plenty for an average user. Some concrete numbers would be great though.

[Jestun]

which forums recruits can post on are detailed in the faq forum thread: http://mwomercs.com/...01#entry2736701