2 replies to this topic

[cocobambi]

I've been playing MWO for about 1.5 years now. I usually have a lot of fun. Today my computer had a problem, and while it was getting fixed I wanted to play some MWO. Problem is, I forgot my password, so I borrowed my gf's computer and created a new account, figured I'd play some trial mechs for a while just for kicks.

As a virtually new player, the experience was abysmal to say the least.

For the first match I picked the trial Firestarter. I got matched against an AC40 Jager, a 2xERPPC+AC20 Misery and more. Needless to say, they were very experienced players with powerful, mastered mechs, modules, and destroyed our team in no time. I could hardly play at all.

At the end of this first match, right when the last of my team was being destroyed, the game hanged. After a few seconds I got a "network error" or similar and couldn't log back in. After a couple of minutes apparently this was fixed, and I picked the Firestarter again. I confirmed in chat that many others experienced the same hang, so this was a server-side issue. A few seconds after the match started, the server hanged again. For a few seconds everyone was running in place, I couldn't chat, and then again a "network error". I'm not sure but I think this forced disconnect even meant that I lost my second cadet bonus.

Again after a couple of minutes I managed to log in. The Firestarter was marked as "in-game" so I launched a new match in the trial Victor. This third match went pretty well, it was fun and balanced. After the match finished, when going back to the mechlab the game hanged in an endless "Connecting...". I had to press ALT-F4 to close it.

Frustrated, I turn to the forums to write this feedback. I look up the "support & feedback" subforum, then "feature suggestions", but it turns out it says "You cannot start a new topic", without any explanations. I can't even reply to existing topics.

So as a new player, the game seemed very unstable, quite unbalanced, and without support. I can't imagine a worse situation. This would deplete the patience of most casual players, which means less money for PGI.

I recommend taking a very serious look at the new-player experience.

[Dark-Paladin]

First up if you were on the other team that was destroying your team you would have had a much better feeling after the game. I drop in my Mete build dragon slayer and still die horribly to LRM spam before even firing about 1 in 5 games and i was there at closed beta with 2 years experience.

With regard to the server crash I have not experienced this in months and dont even CTD anymore (might be my new PC)

Were you logged in with your new account or old one to post on the forums? if you weren't logged in then obviously you wont be able to post but if you were that seems very strange.

I agree with the issue of new players. I have been dropping with my half brothers to help them learn the way of mechwarrior (they are COD players so they are not very good yet) and the new player experience can be devastating when you just get destroyed every match without even firing a shot sometimes...

Not really sure what you can do about that though its tough out there. KILL OR BE KILLED!

Just my 2 cents

Now time to brush off a Cicada 3M and do a suicide run!!!!

[cocobambi]

bloodcurseuk, on 30 May 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

First up if you were on the other team that was destroying your team you would have had a much better feeling after the game. I drop in my Mete build dragon slayer and still die horribly to LRM spam before even firing about 1 in 5 games and i was there at closed beta with 2 years experience.

It's not a point of dying horribly or not. Everyone dies horribly many times, even the most experienced players.
The point is that as a brand new player, in my first game, in a trial mech, I got matched against top players with top mechs. There's no way that will end up in a good experience for the new player.

Maybe the matchmaker should consider player experience too.

bloodcurseuk, on 30 May 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

With regard to the server crash I have not experienced this in months and dont even CTD anymore (might be my new PC)

Client bugs are mostly gone, but there are server-side issues every now and then.

bloodcurseuk, on 30 May 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

Were you logged in with your new account or old one to post on the forums? if you weren't logged in then obviously you wont be able to post but if you were that seems very strange.

Yes, I was logged in. But that's not the point. The point is that there is absolutely no explanation about why I can't post. These things need to be explained to users, it's basic UX design.

bloodcurseuk, on 30 May 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

I agree with the issue of new players. I have been dropping with my half brothers to help them learn the way of mechwarrior (they are COD players so they are not very good yet) and the new player experience can be devastating when you just get destroyed every match without even firing a shot sometimes...

Not really sure what you can do about that though its tough out there. KILL OR BE KILLED!

Just my 2 cents

Now time to brush off a Cicada 3M and do a suicide run!!!!

I know what the game is like, I've been playing this for quite some time, over 4500 matches. You can't fully protect new players but you can take some simple measures to improve the experience and mitigate problems.