20 replies to this topic

[Benjamin357]

I started an alt account so that I could bank my 6 days premium time from my main account from the Lights Fight event. This is kind of silly though, premium time should always be bankable given the mechanic of running constantly once it starts.

Going from Tier 1 to Tier 5 is kind of refreshing. The players are mostly new, and the gameplay is more fun. People in T3-5 tend to be receptive to strategy suggestions, and when team work together it works out well and makes for fun rounds. You definitely see more variety in loadouts. In T1-2, players tend to be set in their ways and already have a preconceived idea about how they should play. The dire running 8 CERLL at the edge of the map in every single round he plays, the Raven with 2ERLL 1000 meters from the fight, again every round, the LRM assaults hiding behind their team mates every round. Then you have the hyper competitive T1-2 players who can single handedly sway the outcome of the match in any mech. During the Lights event, I recall a round where I had the #2 Locust and #2 Commando pilots on my team, round ended 12-0 without much of a chance for the enemy.

One player I encountered in T5, one of the first matches on the alt, stated that he made a mistake with purchasing a King Crab as his first mech since he was getting focused down right away, kind of obvious if you have played much, but not so much for a new player. 4 mech bays at start is not really enough to get hooked on the game as a new player given the 3-chassis system. There are few chassis that have more than 2 good variants anyway, reducing this to two for elites would enable a new player to have at least two chassis unlocked (first chassis likely a mistake) before investing further in the game. And a player that has that experience is more likely to stick around and therefore more likely to spend money on the game.

Faction play would be a great way to expand upon the 4 mechbay scenario, but those game modes are not friendly to new players. Phase 3 exacerbated that situation significantly with the LongTom, the confusing approaches to joining a faction (call to arms, merc, loyalist), the QuesoCrow scouting game mode (yes there are counters, but not intuitive for new players), and the severe penalty for new loyalists.

[Johnny Z]

The pilot skill tree is getting redone I guess, and it needs it, badly. Maybe the 3 mech system will be gone?

The new player experience and entire front of this game needs a ton of work. Everything from the title screen to the field is hurting except mechbay functionality. There just has to be a huge update on the way eventually for all of this.

[TLBFestus]

Ben, Ben, Ben.....

Don't you know that the NPE is fantastic? That it's always been fantastic, especially once they created the Academy.

No need to try to improve on perfection. PGI knows this and we, the steering wheel under-hive of game suggestions need only keep quiet and mind our tongues.

(That there is seasoned salt people)

[El Bandito]

Yeah, mechbay-gating is an NPE issue IMO, something I have been pointing out since 2013. So far PGI didn't take notice.

Edited by El Bandito, 04 August 2016 - 05:26 PM.

[Benjamin357]

TLBFestus, on 04 August 2016 - 05:11 PM, said:

Don't you know that the NPE is fantastic? That it's always been fantastic, especially once they created the Academy.

Well there is no escape from the Academy, literally the ESC button does not function until you click on something there on a new account. At least this could be a way for a new player to get some extra Cbills, which they will need for the 21 Million for modules on one mech (Radar Derp, Seismic, Range/Cooldown for primary weapon, either Cooldown or Range for secondary).

[GenghisJr]

i had an interesting experience in T5, I added an auxilary cooling system to the lap top and it changed my load up time from always last - sometimes stuck in the drop ship, to one of the first 3-4 to be ready. T5 is populated by toasters and potatoes, player skill has little to do with this tier I think. I will enjoy the next few weeks of multi kill seal clubbing with my new external dual fan set up.

The NPE is essential, somehow i made it though and stuck with the game (2013) I play for fun and spend money, I spent hours and hours watching vids of MWO before i downloaded the client, I knew a bit before I started but not much, no idea of heat, FF, Endo and no idea of tactics, my fist match I got stuck on a wall in tourmaline (before the lances were split) because I couldnt pilot the mech and died a few seconds later, then spent a week in the training grounds learning how to use the DRG 5N with a Gauss rifle. My NPE was bad but I wanted to master this game because of the concept of what it was and perhaps thats what kept me here. IMO this is a hybrid simulator/fps I like the combat, customization and the people who play.
if I were to improve the NPE it would be by increasing skills before being allowed to drop, you cant drop until you can kill all 8 mechs on Caustic in under 6 minutes without over heating-something like that. You should have to qualify to play, if PGI made it harder to get perhaps more would want it? Dont know? i think the academy is a step in the right direction.
4 mech bays doesn't do it unless you know what you are doing to begin with and by definition, the NPE doesn't, I would perhaps give 9 mechbays, 6 empty but with 3 locked mechs that cant be sold but can be customized, that way NP's will buy a 2nd & 3rd to master each mech, learn to play by mastering them and have a more satisfying experience, all those empty mechbays may appeal to peoples compulsive side to fill them too.

Hadnt played a computer game in 15yrs, saw this, been here since - how do we get people to do what I did?

[Deathlike]

If there's a New Player Experience, you'd find yourself at the bottom of some trash heap.

[Clydewinder]

Pity the new player who spends his cadet bonus on Vindicators and Victors....

[Chuck Jager]

Started 3ish years ago and it was about the same because of the lower ttk. I was lucky enough to have never player TT(no preconceived ideas about game play) and do not mind spending 15 bucks for a monthly membership. I am also a pretty mediocre video gamer and know to look online for the crutches. It was still painful.

I know in other games I still prefer PVP, but I use the PVE to work on skills to help save my teammates the agony.

[Omaha]

Clydewinder, on 04 August 2016 - 06:14 PM, said:

Pity the new player who spends his cadet bonus on Vindicators and Victors....

Say wut Vindicators rok! The Victor well it's an assault. You'll always always be the focus of fire.

Assaults are the trickiest to pilot I think. Slow, and very unforgiving if your in the wrong position. They pack the biggest punch. But you cant punch all 12 enemy mechs, at least without help.


I think that if they had a system to limit new players to mediums, until they got the hang of some things, slowly earning a license to pilot the rest. Assault being the last one. I dunno though, It's hard for me to remember when I first started. Everything was so different back then, compared to what we have now. I'm sure the experience is completely different.

Maybe even, when you earn a license you could earn a variant of one in each class.

Edited by Omaha, 04 August 2016 - 09:55 PM.

[kesmai]

Can you explain to me how you are staying in tier 5 after the cadet bonus. Heck how do you manage to stay in tier 4 after 50 matches?
You are supposed to be tier 1?
So how do you do stay there?
Do you mess it up on purpose?
Please tell me.

[Benjamin357]

T5 only lasts a few rounds. Midpoint in T4 just after cadet bonus. I don't think it is possible to stay there very long.

[Kali Rinpoche]

Let's face it MWO is a hard game. The NPE is infinitely better than it has ever been. Granted it's not perfect, but its not the harsh, brutal experience it was in Beta, Open Beta, or early 2013. I so enjoyed piloting my Hunchbacks with Standard heat sinks for match upon match. I played hundreds of matches before I had them outfitted correctly and was able to buy XL engines. There was no separate group queue and new folks faced unlimited tonnage every round. This made for a sink or swim experience. For those that grew up playing the franchise's games it wasn't so tough b/c at least we understood game mechanics.

Now Mech bay scarcity is another issue, but I see PGI's stance is to make folks pony up cash for them and I okay with that. I would like to see the starting number increased to 8 to start. You can get 10+ for free easily by making a tour of CW once you have your feet on the ground. PGI has to pay its bills and I see don't see forking over 1.50 for mech bays as an issue.

What I see is as lacking are the following: Lack of a good tutorial on mech building dynamics, a clear path to where you can earn mech bays through CW, and the lack of weight class restricted queues.

Edited by Kali Rinpoche, 04 August 2016 - 11:13 PM.

[Leone]

kesmai, on 04 August 2016 - 09:57 PM, said:

Can you explain to me how you are staying in tier 5 after the cadet bonus.

Huh, I don't know what you're talking about. It took me a decent coupla dozen matches to get outta tier 5 an nearly a hundred to get outta tier 4. It may be all XP barish, but it's still slow.

~Leone.

[Mudhutwarrior]

When I started I fell in love with the Atlas. My first purchased mech was a DDC and at the time was the most expensive. Still have it these years later. Its probably the absolute worst mech for a new player and one of the hardest to drive well. I had no idea and suffered through buying and leveling them. Thank god I figured that out and went into the Yeager after.

That was my first understanding that this game lacks progression and its probably the biggest reason so many leave before really learning how to play.

PGI had tunnel vision and lost the bubble early. Now I fear its too late. I got more than 30 people to give it a shot. Not one stayed even though a handful kept coming back and leaving again. Their experience just never improved.

The Tryhards fought long and hard to dissuade PGI from trying anything to help new players. Many of you will remember the months of outright fights on the forums when several of us raised the question of splitting ques and creating solo. Those are the people most responsible for the mess we are in today. Blinded to the absolute fact that without new players this game would die. Well it seems they got exactly what they asked for.

[Johnny Z]

I see other games like the new Battletech game showing sneak peaks of what they are doing. MechWarrior Online is very quiet. While the trolling would be immense no matter what they show, for some players it is exciting to see whats coming up.

Either way this topic title is 100% correct. The front end needs the most work, for new players and existing players. Cheers to all the work being done on late game content. Its looking amazing. It really is even if its not done and gets little love on the forums. Also its coming along rather slowly. Oh and lobbies are no fun.

Edited by Johnny Z, 05 August 2016 - 03:12 AM.

[Melchiott]

First time posting on the forum, but I feel like the dwindling playerbase is a huge issue. I've gotten 8 people to try this game and none of them stayed. Some issues they brought up is just how intimidating the mechlab is for someone completely new. Another was being limited to 4 mechbays free from the start yet needing 3 mechs to master them. A propper mechlab tutorial would help but I think the issues go beyond that like poor optimization and few gamemodes and maps. Reviving this game seems like it will be beyond PGIs capabilities.

[PhoenixFire55]

Benjamin357, on 04 August 2016 - 04:56 PM, said:

I started an alt account so that I could ...

So what does this have to do with "new player experience"?

[Hans Brackhaus]

Benjamin357, on 04 August 2016 - 10:54 PM, said:

T5 only lasts a few rounds. Midpoint in T4 just after cadet bonus. I don't think it is possible to stay there very long.

Leone, on 05 August 2016 - 12:27 AM, said:

It took me a decent coupla dozen matches to get outta tier 5 an nearly a hundred to get outta tier 4.

~Leone.

Hi, legitimately new player here, and these comments don't reflect my "new player experience" at all.

I'll admit up-front that I'm not a good player. This is the first competitive FPS I've ever played (I actively avoided them) and I'm only playing this one because it's MW. I've been playing about a month and have 436 matches according to my stats page. Just slightly better than a 50/50 W/L ratio and 1.2 KDR. I'm still Tier 5.

I'm trying to improve my game. I stay with the team, I shoot at their targets, I call out when I see enemies flanking us and just generally try to be a good team player. And I am seeing improvement in my numbers, but T5 has been a slog for me. I'm not good enough to carry, so if the team falls apart so do I. For nearly every step forward there's one back.

So yeah, it's very possible to "stay there very long."

With that out of the way, my experience with MWO as a whole has been a mixed bag. The academy is nice but I feel it didn't really prepare me for what the actual gameplay is like. The trial mechs are hit-or-miss for me, several builds are too similar and a few weapons are barely represented at all and if they are they're stuck on a bad chassis. The cadet bonus is super-nice, though, very generous on PGI's part.

The 4 mechbays are very limiting. I've no problem paying for extras but the starting cap should be raised to 9 or 12. 4 just isn't enough to get a feel for things.

The mechbay is wonderful, but it needs a tutorial. I watched several YT vids and have some experience with other MW games so I picked it up pretty easily but I can't imagine what it's like for somebody coming in unprepared.

Once you hit the battlefield the game plays well but, at least in T5, winning or losing feels like a coin toss. Games often seem to be decided early and usually result in one-sided victories. I've been in very few truly close games that felt hard-won. Its usually 12-4 or worse. Those kinds of games can be exciting if you're on the winning team and highly demoralizing on the losing. After several of those kinds of losses in a row I feel the need to take a break from MWO, and maybe try again the next day.

Communication is rare and teamwork often non-existent. I don't know how to "stay with the team" when the team runs in 4 or 5 different directions and ignores anybody trying to encourage them to stay together. It's really a shock to see so little teamwork in such a team-based game.

However, when the stars align and there is actual teamwork and communication, this game is a blast. Maybe the most fun I've ever had with a BT/MW game. Moments like that are why I'm trying to persevere through the frustrations and steep learning curve. Well, that and my love for Battletech in general.

Sorry for such a long first post. Didn't mean to ramble like that.

[Elizander]

If you totally screw up your first 5 games or so then it'll probably not put you so close to tier 4.