13 replies to this topic

[Scout Derek]

Instead of just having the usual cadet bonus that newbies may never known about until later, why not give them a starter pack?

For example, the starter pack gives you a Jenner, Centurion, Cataphract and Highlander to work with, with 4 mechbays included.

However, the mechs are locked in their bays until you Elite at least 3 different versions of it's Chassis.

[GI Journalist]

Or give new players their own Academy training missions, so they have a place to drop in their trial Mechs and learn the game before they encounter experienced players in custom built Mechs.

[Scout Derek]

GI Journalist, on 05 July 2015 - 07:29 PM, said:

Or give new players their own Academy training missions, so they have a place to drop in their trial Mechs and learn the game before they encounter experienced players in custom built Mechs.

Like giving them a objective, such as:

Get from point a to point b in X time.

Survive the X amount of turrets.

Capture X point in X time.

Edited by Scout Derek, 05 July 2015 - 07:46 PM.

[MechWarrior849305]

Scout Derek, on 05 July 2015 - 06:46 PM, said:

Instead of just having the usual cadet bonus that newbies may never known about until later, why not give them a starter pack?

For example, the starter pack gives you a Jenner, Centurion, Cataphract and Highlander to work with, with 4 mechbays included.

However, the mechs are locked in their bays until you Elite at least 3 different versions of it's Chassis.

LOL, like... Champion mech pack, that you can find in "TRIAL" tab?

[Scout Derek]

DuoAngel, on 05 July 2015 - 09:40 PM, said:

LOL, like... Champion mech pack, that you can find in "TRIAL" tab?

No, I meant one of the other variants, a regular one, say a Jenner - K, a Centurion AL, a Cataphract 3D, and a Highlander 733C, along with 4 extra mechbays, bringing the player to 4 locked and 4 open mechbays.

Once the player masters the locked mechs, they become unlocked, and can be sold in order to free up room for more mechs.

[Kyrs]

Owning mechs does seem more appealing to new player the a trial mech. It could slightly increase the player retention.

[Scout Derek]

Kyrs, on 06 July 2015 - 04:42 AM, said:

Owning mechs does seem more appealing to new player the a trial mech. It could slightly increase the player retention.

Indeed it would, it would give a player a feeling that they are noticed by the devs, instead of looking at locked trial mechs and thinking "this is stupid, I should be able to have at least one mech to start out with and mess with..."

[OznerpaG]

i suggested new players should get a Chameleon nearly a year ago - it's the standard IS training mech

http://mwomercs.com/...08#entry3631108

Edited by JagdFlanker, 06 July 2015 - 04:43 PM.

[reign]

I think however you need to throw in a clan group of mechs as well. Right now New players gravitate to IS mechs mainly because they are cheaper and this feeds the "Skill" gap.

So Say Go to the web page and select your Path IS or Clan... have some Fluff lore maybe?

Having the choice (but make it something like, Cutefox, Nova, Maddog, Gargoyle) will spread some of the new players coming in around I do believe.

[Burktross]

reign, on 07 July 2015 - 04:54 AM, said:

I think however you need to throw in a clan group of mechs as well. Right now New players gravitate to IS mechs mainly because they are cheaper and this feeds the "Skill" gap. So Say Go to the web page and select your Path IS or Clan... have some Fluff lore maybe? Having the choice (but make it something like, Cutefox, Nova, Maddog, Gargoyle) will spread some of the new players coming in around I do believe.

I'd recomend a cute fox.
Smaller, faster, more agile and diverse mechs will have a longer playtime (cute fox has a lot of weapons variety) and it will be an easier stepping stone from standard fast pace twitch fps with its speed.

[Kalimaster]

Gi Journalist, I must admit I think you have a great idea.

[Kishida Sato]

how about doing tutorials gives you a fee chameleon ?

[oldradagast]

Agreed.

As comparison, consider World of Warships.

All new players get a free tier 1 "training tub." They also can fight in co-op missions with other people against reasonably decent AI opponents. Finally, there's also a tutorial mission.

By comparison, MWO has 1 tiny, rather laughable "tutorial," and after that, you immediately get tossed into the lion's den against fully leveled "top tier" mechs. And die, horribly. Assuming you keep playing long enough to finish out your cadet bonus, you have a decent amount of money, but probably no real clue what to spend it on.

The game also has far too many stealthy things you *must* buy to be competitive (double heat sinks, endo, etc.) and plenty of "newb traps," such as countless horrible mechs, useless weapons, etc. Even if you last through all that abuse out of the gate AND managed to spend your cadet bonus to get 1 or 2 decent starting mechs, you still won't have enough cash (in most cases) to get 3 starter mechs so you can actually fully level them. Instead, you must then suffer through the "Paul-conomy" grind to try to get enough money while still having your face smashed in by fully-leveled, top-tier mechs every match.

New player experience in this game is very poor and badly needs improvement before Steam launch, IMHO.

Edited by oldradagast, 12 July 2015 - 06:38 AM.

[Cptn Goodvibes Pig of Steel]

JagdFlanker, on 06 July 2015 - 04:43 PM, said:

i suggested new players should get a Chameleon nearly a year ago - it's the standard IS training mech

http://mwomercs.com/...08#entry3631108

To a certain extent, I agree with this idea. I recall that nearly thirty years ago, my first mech was a Chameleon in Crescent Hawks something or other. Give the newbies a package of three mechs to level up and learn the basics with. It would be excellent for goodwill, help for player retention, especially if MWO is moving onto Steam. Would be a good selling point, as you'd be offering three free mechs, though they wouldn't be very good ones.

Looking on the Sara site, there appears to be some likely candidates of the Chameleon training scout. They are:

CLN-7V (single heatsinks)
CLN- 7W (double heatsinks)
CLN-7Z (double heatsinks)
CLN-7VQ (has Clan stuff, so is probably not a good choice)

Just looking at these, the CLN-7V, CLN-7W and CLN-7Z versions of the Chameleon could be used for new players. You may need to create an updated CLN-7V with double heatsinks, but I'd lock the Mechlab on all these mechs to ensure that loadouts, upgrades and weapons remain unchanged. They are after all, "training mechs", of limited ability, which can be used for combat in emergency situations. Also lock the Chameleon mechs to a special colour, such a "bright yellow" or "black and white training stripes" to indicate the occupants novice status.

As an aside, If the training package is passed onto existing customers, then the Chameleons can be useful in other circumstances. For instance, when I used to flight sim in some campaigns, we had a rule that an obsolete aircraft was to be used in the next mission for friendly fire shoot downs. A sort of punishment flight for the offender. Now in MWO, you could institute a similar policy for friendly fire incidents. All mechs, aside from the brightly coloured Chameleon mechs, are automatically locked from use for a "set period time in purgatory" following a "friendly fire mech kill". This should teach some fire discipline and be a source of wry amusement to others. The CLN-7VQ version would probably be appropriate for the Claners in this.

Edited by Draughluin, 12 July 2015 - 08:21 AM.