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I really think you've managed to capture all of the basics of how to control a mech. The only thing I think you can add is an explanation of how to turn armlock off and on in the settings as well as the gas pedal engine control, possibly giving the pilot the option to change these during the tutorial. My only other minor gripe is the choice of a mech with an offset cockpit, that slightly off-centred view might confuse some people.
Other than those very minor gripes, this new Academy is very well polished and produced and is a fantastic addition to the game. Perhaps new accounts should also get a pop-up to launch this when they login for the first time.
Oh, I know I'm nit-picking a little bit here but unfortunately the Academy isn't really a exact representation of the current gameplay experience content-wise but of course this is hopefully going to improve over time.
I'm going to try the rest of the Academy outside of the basic training now and I'll update this post as and when I finish it.
Excellent work PGI.
Update: Perhaps you could also add a bit about the 3rd person camera and its advantages and drawbacks of using it.
Rapid Fire Challenge: Quite a useful exercise in training yourself to target with a slow twisting mech. Instead of ramping the health of the turrets up by 0.5 each round, increments of 1.0 would probably be better as it eventually becomes more of a chore than a challenge. Perhaps you could also have the turrets placed randomly within that zone as it became quite easy to run the same pattern to kill them.
Changing mechs: Great to see a varied selection of mechs and loadouts to change into along with the action of swapping mechs. However after I swapped to the Jagermech, I currently have no HUD at all - no targeting reticle, minimap, weapon status, personal ragdoll or target ragdoll. Changing back to the Thunderbolt brings it back but only whilst you're in the Thunderbolt.
...The HUD seems to be working now. Not sure what I did so I'll have to try and replicate it. Seems like if you shoot the captain to get him to kill you, when you respawn and power up the HUD reappears.
...Or you can just power down then power up.
Gauntlet: A good exercise in snap shooting while running and identifying where incoming fire coming from. At some point in one of the exercises/tutorials it might be a good idea to explain about the directional damage indicators on the HUD. Oh and nice touch when destroying a Jenner you spawned an Atlas in its place
Edited by Kyocera, 27 August 2015 - 02:16 PM.
, the tutorial will be restarted from the very beginning, including intro. VO is good, but I, personally, like much more voice and phrasing from MW3 intro (can it be legally reused if not in tutorial, but in first launch of MWO itself?). Anyway, isn't it better to have a shortcut through that to a later stage?
