22 replies to this topic

[FlipOver]

Finally we have an Academy for new players!

Thank you PGI!

The new players and most of the seasoned ones appreciate it!

[Night Thastus]

Agreed! I too am excited! I also like the free rewards for going through it.

I'll do it again (I did it in the PTS) for those, and to see what you guys fixed/added/removed!

Now if the damn patch could start....

[William Slayer]

Wow! I did not get to test this in the PTS, and am really pleased with how simple, but comprehensive this is. Congrats to the programmers who worked on this, it will be a fun way to introduce new players to the game!




(Loved the 16 bit picts of "Capt. Adams". Hit the wayback button Sherman!)

[Khobai]

A highlander would make more sense

how did an atlas get up there

[YaKillinMeSmalls]

Khobai, on 22 September 2015 - 11:33 AM, said:

A highlander would make more sense

how did an atlas get up there

Sheer force of personality.

[3CLIPZ3]

you get awards for shooting the Cap lol

[KuroNyra]

3CLIPZ3, on 22 September 2015 - 01:11 PM, said:

you get awards for shooting the Cap lol

And by being killed by him.
Seriously, Well done on this one PGI.


It is exactly how a Mechwarrior game should be! Interaction, some humor. And lots of guns!

Edited by KuroNyra, 22 September 2015 - 02:48 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Yo, PGI:

Nice work. A few small bugs notwithstanding, of course, this is a GREAT piece of functionality that will surely enhance the new player experience GREATLY.

Oh, and thanks for the extra C-Bills! You shouldn't have!

Seriously, this is something the game has sorely needed for a while, and you've done more than simply knee-jerk-react to that. You've put together a solid foundation for players to use to hone some skills, and that's kickin'.

[Nightshade24]

How the atlas got up there? like this

[Vellron2005]

Well, here's my short review of the new Tutorial / Mechwarrior Academy:

1) Sweet! It shows that PGI has put in the hours, and there are many great aspects that simply made me happy. Aspects like sasiness of the trainer, the mech swicher, and destructable stuff in River City.

2) I did however encouter a BUG where the HUD dissapared afer switching a mech for the first time..

3) The c-bill infusion is awesome, and coupled with the first 25 match bonus, it should provide a new player with enough cbills for a proper mech of his very own.

4) The challenges are actually hard! Even for experianced players..

5) How DID THEY put an Atlas up there?

6) Good spread of mech to try out, and I especially love the fact we can try some of the hero mechs..

7) I like the active shooting mechs, altho I was sorta expecting a bit more advanced AI from them.. like actually fighting full AI controled mechs.. I guess its a little early for that.. still great though.

8) Like the different colored smoke plumes.. Wish we had some consumables that used them..

9) LOVE the mech switcher... finally we got some sence of scale for the huge mechs we pilot daily. And the very fact we get to be out of the mechs gives me hope that my 3D customisable Mech Hangar idea has merit.. more on that here:
http://mwomercs.com/...esponse-inside/

10) Didin't like the fact I had to re-map some of the keys I don't use in the game.. like center legs to torso, alpha strike, and some such.. I know they are important to show to new players.. but I think nobody ever uses them.. or at least many people dont..

[Mazzyplz]

i approve but i think it needs an extension solaris PVE mode.
not just the gauntlet run.

make a bit of a circle with those container boxes, let us pick a mech and battle it out vs several levels of AI or even several numbers of players in a small to medium size arena.

this would give the game full blown PVE without much more additional effort

and you could have it be co op with premium time like private matches

[Vellron2005]

OOOH!

I just remembered...

Please, add the current mech build info into the mech info pannel.. would be nice to see what's installed on that beast of ours..

Place it INSTEAD of the quick conversion..

Thank you.

[The Great Unwashed]

I really like it and it was about bloody time too. It also worked nicely, though it was a bit weird to forcible remap "center torso to legs", "arm lock" (not the toggle) and "alpha strike" buttons, as getting that task means hitting the actual button, not the action itself. I also liked the arrow that indicates where you are going. Perhaps something to add for normal game play? Might be useful for newer players.

The academy is also very much incomplete. There is no interactive explanation on in-game weapon group assignment, how damage and range are related (it is not mentioned you do less damage after the opt. range)), heat management is ad hoc, XL engines and the risk/benefit balance not even mentioned, but what I miss most now is the combat HUD icon explanation

• Explain open and closed lock triangles
  
• ECM coverage / jamming
  
• LRMs incoming
  
• etcetera

This is not explained by the game or the website and relies on information on the web, and now finally, the F1 overlay. Adding interactive examples might help a lot. Also let the player be targeted and LRM'd; let them hear the AMS because hearing AMS during my first hours in the game was really, really confusing.


Then you may want to expand to a mechlab tutorial; primarily, the importance of the upgrades structure/armor/heatsinks/artemis should be stressed as the UI really made it very difficult to a) find and show how important it is. I can imagine many new players will miss out on these details.

As far as the Gauntlet is concerned: other that I found it very boring, did I miss the explanation and encouragement of my commander to torso twist more?


Oh, and I assume Ghost Heat is gone by the time you hit Steam, otherwise you will have to end up with this:

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 23 September 2015 - 02:01 AM.

[Nightshade24]

Mazzyplz, on 22 September 2015 - 11:23 PM, said:

i approve but i think it needs an extension solaris PVE mode.
not just the gauntlet run.

make a bit of a circle with those container boxes, let us pick a mech and battle it out vs several levels of AI or even several numbers of players in a small to medium size arena.

this would give the game full blown PVE without much more additional effort

and you could have it be co op with premium time like private matches

Solaris VII is already in the works for PvP (and mix PvP+E?) and will come out in beta form after CW is finished and ti will influence your loyalty points and stuff from memory.

[oldradagast]

I like it!

Sure, it's not perfect yet, but it is still pretty good and a great addition to the game!

[B A B Y D O L L]

Its a great start imho. It should really help the new Steam influx. Lets hope they stay though..

[Peter Overheater]

I still wonder why there are no Clan Mechs available for testing at the Academy... Or not even mentioned there.

[Dave Forsey]

There are severe texture limitations for 32-bit systems - adding Clan 'Mech exacerbates that problem.

We're working on it.

[Ialdabaoth]

You know what would be really cool?

Let us earn 'Mech XP (but not GXP) when we complete Academy challenges.

That way we can level up our 'mechs before dropping in a real game and hurting our team.

[Threat Doc]

I like the idea of being able to earn Mech XP, but I'm thinking it needs to be in the realm of diminishing returns if they do. So, you get full experience for completing each level, but if you fail at something, your second run is half-xp, then if you fail again, it's half-again, etc.