38 replies to this topic

[Johnny Z]

One of the guys making this game said they would be adding to the new player experience.

What should the new player experience include? What should it be like? No one else made a topic about it, so I will give it a try.

Please add any ideas or preferences because maybe there are some ideas or opinions/preferences that could positively influence their design and implementation of the "new player experience". Maybe something they havnt thought of possibly.

[LordKnightFandragon]

New player experience in my mind?

It includes a 100 game "Cadet" period. During this time, your's and everyone else in the Cadet Q has an elo of 0. The game only puts you in the Cadet Q until your 101st game.

During this time, all income for the first 25 games is increased by 100%+Cadet bonus
During the next 50 your income goes to 50%, no cadet bonus
The next 15(85) your income goes to 25%, no cadet bonus
Your last 15 games, you make normal income to prepare you for the life of poverty in the normal Q.

Also, all xp gained does not go to the mech you are driving, rather it all goes into GXP, that way you can play with it however you want, but GXP, Idk how this could be refunded, so be careful in wasting it...

Also, during this time, all Cbill transactions refund for 100% of the purchase price, that way you can fiddle with loadouts and mechs and try to find your niche in the game without having to worry about wasting your cbills.

All mechs are advanced trial mechs during this time, you can try to find a mech you want and go with it. By advanced Trial, I mean during your first 101 games you may trial any mech free of charge an customize it with w/e build you want. You can switch and swap and do w/e with w/e mech you want to really get a feel for different mechs.

Change the Training Ground to have 3 different modes: Stationary, Live fire and Training Deathmatch.

Stationary is what we have now
Live Fire is you against moderately mobile AI bots who will engage you.
Training Deathmatch is a 2v2 training battle with you against your buddies. you earn nothing, you lose nothing, nothing tracks or anything, this is just for playing around a bit.

Upon finishing your 100th game, you get the new Acheesement, I will now dub "In the Army now". You are granted access to 1 mech, which will grant you 3 variants of your choice. Make sure you have the mechbays, they will not be free. Also, choose wisely, this will not be un-doable. This is then rewarded to you for free after you complete your 100th game.

Hopefully by this time, you have gained an understanding of the game, hopefully the games were a bit easier, being against other players who are equally clueless and lost. You hopefully stored up a healthy stash of Cbills and xp, and maybe you found your place in MWO.

I prolly have other ideas, but I cant think of them atm.

[MeiSooHaityu]

I have always been a fan of the Cadet only queue for new players.

100 matches might be a bit much, but at least 50 matches. I'm also not sure about the refundable C-Bill idea, but maybe a Cadet at least has a boosted C-Bill income during his "training" period.

Overall though, something like Fandragon suggested is the way to go IMO.

[Senor Cataclysmo]

Great ideas Fandragon.

I like the idea of having fluff immersive tutorials for the game's menus and training grounds.

So if you turn on tutorials (theyre on by default the first time you're in the game), you have a voice explain to you how to navigate the menus to achieve what you want. This also works in training grounds.

"Click the strip button to have the techs remove all equipment and weapons from your 'mech"

"press W to engage your 'mech's throttle"

The voice changes depending on which faction you pick.

So if you picked Ghost Bear, you'd have a patient, wise, grandfatherly voice explaining everything, but if you picked Jade Falcon you'd have an angry woman shouting at you.

"NOW! DISABLE TARGET MECH ALPHA, IF YOU CAN, FREEBIRTH!"

You could even theme the testing grounds tutorial so it was like an MRBC graduation exam for IS players and a trial of position for Clan players.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Senor Cataclysmo, on 19 January 2015 - 08:45 AM, said:

Great ideas Fandragon.

I like the idea of having fluff immersive tutorials for the game's menus and training grounds.

So if you turn on tutorials (theyre on by default the first time you're in the game), you have a voice explain to you how to navigate the menus to achieve what you want. This also works in training grounds.

"Click the strip button to have the techs remove all equipment and weapons from your 'mech"

"press W to engage your 'mech's throttle"

The voice changes depending on which faction you pick.

So if you picked Ghost Bear, you'd have a patient, wise, grandfatherly voice explaining everything, but if you picked Jade Falcon you'd have an angry woman shouting at you.

"NOW! DISABLE TARGET MECH ALPHA, IF YOU CAN, FREEBIRTH!"

You could even theme the testing grounds tutorial so it was like an MRBC graduation exam for IS players and a trial of position for Clan players.

That reminds me of the instructor voice in MechWarrior 2 lol. Basically him calling you a Sibko reject and mocking you. Fun times.

[Latorque]

Oh, good post OP.

LordKnightFandragon, on 19 January 2015 - 08:36 AM, said:

*snip*

All of what Fandragon said; but what i'd love to see: GUI tutorials. If one hasn't played an MW-title or did some Tabletop; the mechanics are a complete and very complex mystery.

Just try to walk a mile in the shoes of a new Steam player who wants to play the "Stompy Robots" game.
Big mech.

Inner Sphere?
Clans?
Mechs?
Omni Mechs?
Weight Classes?
Hardpoints?
Energy?
Missiles?
Ballistic?
ECM?
Modules?
Pilot Skill Tree?
C-Bills?
MCs?
Tonnage?
Slots?
Endo Steel?
Ferro Fibrous?
Crits?
Engine Rating?
XL Engine?
STD Engine?
Heat Management?
Cooldown?
Ammo Explosion?
Gauss Charge?

the list goes on and on. In this regard; the devs should take a massive lesson from WoT: the game isn't a quarter as complex; but the last time i checked it did a very solid job of showing you the ropes.

While WoT gives you a lifebelt in the paddling pool, MWO just pushes you into the pacific ocean right above the Mariana trench with a small anvil to hold on to.

So; what i'd love to see is a step-by-step-walkthrough (or button by button if you prefer) in the mechlab; in addition to an easy accessible and very detailed glossary ingame.

I'm actually less afraid of the matches new players are thrown into than of those very same players looking at the plethora of things to grasp and just give up. The whole match system is close enough to FPS-mechanics that people might learn naturally; but the other stuff could seem like you're doing a major in Advanced Mechionics.

[Mirkk Defwode]

LordKnightFandragon, on 19 January 2015 - 08:36 AM, said:

New player experience in my mind?

It includes a 100 game "Cadet" period. During this time, your's and everyone else in the Cadet Q has an elo of 0. The game only puts you in the Cadet Q until your 101st game.

During this time, all income for the first 25 games is increased by 100%+Cadet bonus
During the next 50 your income goes to 50%, no cadet bonus
The next 15(85) your income goes to 25%, no cadet bonus
Your last 15 games, you make normal income to prepare you for the life of poverty in the normal Q.

Also, all xp gained does not go to the mech you are driving, rather it all goes into GXP, that way you can play with it however you want, but GXP, Idk how this could be refunded, so be careful in wasting it...

Also, during this time, all Cbill transactions refund for 100% of the purchase price, that way you can fiddle with loadouts and mechs and try to find your niche in the game without having to worry about wasting your cbills.

All mechs are advanced trial mechs during this time, you can try to find a mech you want and go with it. By advanced Trial, I mean during your first 101 games you may trial any mech free of charge an customize it with w/e build you want. You can switch and swap and do w/e with w/e mech you want to really get a feel for different mechs.

Change the Training Ground to have 3 different modes: Stationary, Live fire and Training Deathmatch.

Stationary is what we have now
Live Fire is you against moderately mobile AI bots who will engage you.
Training Deathmatch is a 2v2 training battle with you against your buddies. you earn nothing, you lose nothing, nothing tracks or anything, this is just for playing around a bit.

Upon finishing your 100th game, you get the new Acheesement, I will now dub "In the Army now". You are granted access to 1 mech, which will grant you 3 variants of your choice. Make sure you have the mechbays, they will not be free. Also, choose wisely, this will not be un-doable. This is then rewarded to you for free after you complete your 100th game.

Hopefully by this time, you have gained an understanding of the game, hopefully the games were a bit easier, being against other players who are equally clueless and lost. You hopefully stored up a healthy stash of Cbills and xp, and maybe you found your place in MWO.

I prolly have other ideas, but I cant think of them atm.

There is a great need in this as well for tutorials on using the mechlab, selecting the mech, basic combat and movement, appropriate use of weaponry, information warfare - like locking targets and use of ECM. Alot of those are alien concepts in most other games even scifi ones. So adding them through AI driven combat scenarios would be really helpful.

I played Star Conflict for the first time last night, another game along this same sort of design like Wargaming.net's work and MWO, and it included all those and drove use of specific actions through tutorials with minor rewards for completely them, including their cash version of currency. I think that's a prime example of how to do things.

[LordKnightFandragon]

MeiSooHaityu, on 19 January 2015 - 08:47 AM, said:

That reminds me of the instructor voice in MechWarrior 2 lol. Basically him calling you a Sibko reject and mocking you. Fun times.

I love that guy. I have tried ot blow him up with the Firemoth, never worked. I did do it once I get the Mad Dog.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Latorque, on 19 January 2015 - 08:52 AM, said:

While WoT gives you a lifebelt in the paddling pool, MWO just pushes you into the pacific ocean right above the Mariana trench with a small anvil to hold on to.

and if you want a pair of scissors to cut that rope to free from the anvil its going to cost you 6 million cbills and 15000 GXP.

Then, should you manage to not drown before coming up with that money, a simple life raft is going to run you another 12 million cbills.

But, ofc it comes with leaks in it, if you want some sealant, you need another 1.5million, then if perhaps you want a paddle to actually get the thing moving, that is another 800K.

Finally, you might come up with the income to buy all this. Ofc, by this time you are a mere famished, dehydrated, mostly dead skeleton, having spent 8 months out at sea.

[Johnny Z]

The option to run through the new intro/tutorial as an existing player would be great. Possibly in a PVE mission sort of way. Repeatable.

Edited by Johnny Z, 19 January 2015 - 09:38 AM.

[Lily from animove]

also give some newbie incentive goals, like master your first chassis get a mechbay for free. or give people after they mastered the first chassis a mech of free choice of all categories that are non champions

[C E Dwyer]

Newbie group only which you leave if you get to a certain level, of win, K/D so that alt account players can't use the lower levels to farm for a set number of matchesand a PvE section whether its a simple line of moving trucks that shoot back, or something more complex is up to PGI.

with of course a button to press with a warning to hit regular elo's matches incase someone knows the newbie matches are to weak for them

[Senor Cataclysmo]

MeiSooHaityu, on 19 January 2015 - 08:47 AM, said:

That reminds me of the instructor voice in MechWarrior 2 lol. Basically him calling you a Sibko reject and mocking you. Fun times.

Haha, exactly! It always annoyed me how he'd be all like 'you drive like a freebirth!' while using contractions all over the place. No wonder he found himself being relegated to training duty.

Also, what latorque said. Everything needs thorough explanation. Button by button, concept by concept. What better way to explain than with in character voice tutorials!

[Triordinant]

A Training Queue for 2-mans only, separate from the solo queue, the group queue and the CW queue. Only those on their cadet bonus can earn cbills/XPs here (to prevent farming by veterans) -and increase cadet time to 50 or even 100 matches.

[Xetelian]

Tutorial on
1.Torso movement at twisting.
2. Heat and ghost heat
3. Hard points and omni pods
4. Targeting and component destruction

I think if they covered those areas most people would do a LOT better in the early stages of their play.

[TheCaptainJZ]

The most important and best new player experience starts with several great tutorials perhaps in the guise of a short single player campaign.

[LordKnightFandragon]

TheCaptainJZ, on 19 January 2015 - 11:46 AM, said:

The most important and best new player experience starts with several great tutorials perhaps in the guise of a short single player campaign.

LOL, I would play that through over and over, just because it would be PVE.....ofc, it would be better if I could take my WHK with me to do it. I suppose you could say im still "new" to this game, as ive played just over 100 matches. But the game isnt hard to grasp really.

[Alistair Winter]

Fandragon already covered most of it, I think.

• 100 matches in cadet queue.
  
• First 25 matches are 4 vs 4
  
• Next 75 matches are 8 vs 8
  
• In-game tutorials
  
• In-game lore about each faction and the year 3050
  
• George Ledoux voice-acting as training instructor for all the different factions. German accent for ze Zteiners, Chinese accent for House Riao and hilariøus æccent for Høuse Rasalhaguæ. Or maybe just a Clan one and an Inner Sphere one.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Alistair Winter, on 19 January 2015 - 01:40 PM, said:

Fandragon already covered most of it, I think.

• 100 matches in cadet queue.
  
• First 25 matches are 4 vs 4
  
• Next 75 matches are 8 vs 8
  
• In-game tutorials
  
• In-game lore about each faction and the year 3050
  
• George Ledoux voice-acting as training instructor for all the different factions. German accent for ze Zteiners, Chinese accent for House Riao and hilariøus æccent for Høuse Rasalhaguæ. Or maybe just a Clan one and an Inner Sphere one.

Lol, that last part, after Riao, I was totally reading that in the Kim Jung Il accent from Team America.....yikes....

[627]

what is needed...

a fully voiced, interactive tutorial that guide you through a match and stops at important points of moving, fighting and weapon/heat management.

Some kind of ingame wiki where you find info on mechs, weapons, gameplay mechanics and fluff. yes, fluff, that is important, especially for CW.

you can't teach everything in a tutorial but this game is not rocket science and these things aren't that difficult. Everything else comes with playing the game. Maybe some ingame tips, voiced, can help here,too.