93 replies to this topic

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Given that we've seen a seemingly significant influx of new players since the Steam release, and that Faction Warfare seems to be THE game mode at least to many of those new players, and that there is a LOT to know about FW on top of general game play, I suggest that there should be some manner of Faction Warfare tutorial.

And the Academy is JUST the place for it!

There should be an option for the new player/cadet in the Academy to hop on a dropship and head to a FW tutorial area. THERE, Captain (What IS his name?) or another character will walk the cadet through the basics from drop to victory, say on the attacking side. No mechs, just turrets. Make the new player have to navigate to a certain gate on the map (pick a map, say Boreal so there's not the leg-yo-self-fool drop right off the DZ), move into position to disable the generator, disable the generator, pass through the gate, disable the other thingies, and finally kill Omega. We could explain that the defenders' job is simply to STOP the attackers from accomplishing all of this within a 30-minute period.

Then, phase 2 goes live-fire, with the cadet being sent out against live turrets or AI mechs (tuned down, of course), moving in the counterattack against a seized base. Hurray for the already-coded-into-the-academy damaged mechs! Hey, use what you already know from the academy, cadet! That one's cored, that one's almost legged out, and THAT one is one headshot away.

And so on. Successful completion of phase I (attack walkthrough) earns, say, 500k CB, and successful completion of the live-fire exercise earns another 500k or a million. At successful completion of the second part, automagically transit back to the academy proper, in River City.

POINT BEING, that new players are occasionally going to jump straight into FW without any real idea what they're getting in to. Not that the Academy is a proper prep for live-fire 12v12, but it's a good start.

Really, we have no academy intro for ANY game mode.

But anyhow, FW is especially steep in terms of things that new players need to learn to be successful there. And with teams of twelve PUG singles regularly filling the queues, well, y'know.

Give the new players another tool to help them succeed. Give them something to go back to, if they pull the FW trigger too soon and get monkey-stomped first time out, so they can see what they did wrong and how it is SUPPOSED to be done.

[maniacos]

It would already help to explain the difference between fraction and QP as people seem to confuse it with "just another PUG"

[iLLcapitan]

Totally agreed!
I would go so far to make it mandatory before your first CW drop.
Seen a lot of people lately shooting the gates (not the gate-gens) or the wrong side of objectives.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

iLLcapitan, on 21 December 2015 - 08:01 AM, said:

Totally agreed!
I would go so far to make it mandatory before your first CW drop.
Seen a lot of people lately shooting the gates (not the gate-gens) or the wrong side of objectives.

Witnessed that myself over the weekend at least once.

And really, I can't quite blame the new guys. How would they know any different?

I mean, you can't get mad at your three year-old daughter, that she can't spell her name yet, if you haven't taught her to do it. Kind of a similar concept.

[Kenneth Kell]

I am fairly new and have just been doing random pugs for now till i learn the game a bit better but i plan on fighting/joining Clan Wolf as soon as i have a handle on things so any advice.. hints would be very welcome from you vets thank you all in advance.

[MechWarrior3671771]

The CW maps on Training Grounds should have active turrets, generators and omega. So that new people can find them on their own time - the game is too chaotic to learn where they are during a drop.

I know it took me a few drops to learn where omega was and what side to shoot.

[100mile]

I think we all had that problem when we started...I am fairly certain most of us would be/are willing to give advice to the new people in game...If they would talk.....That being said a tutorial being put into place specifically for CW would be awesome and if the importance of communication and team work were stressed during it that would even be more Awesome...

[vanillaBeanz]

Fen Tetsudo, on 02 January 2016 - 10:09 PM, said:

The CW maps on Training Grounds should have active turrets, generators and omega. So that new people can find them on their own time - the game is too chaotic to learn where they are during a drop.

I know it took me a few drops to learn where omega was and what side to shoot.

This is so true. i was lucky enough to be the 12th solo in a 8 group stack that knew what they were doing for the first 2 games.
I barely contributed at all, i think i only got to fire a single shot on the 2 mech of the deck.

By the time i played the 3rd game in a not so good stack i didn't even know there were turrets that could kill me, nor where the generators were to open the gates, As they were killed so efficiently in the first 2 games i played in.

Edit: Should add I had a great time, even though i was totally lost, and was baggage to the teams i was on.

Edited by vanillaBeanz, 03 January 2016 - 06:48 PM.

[AnimeFreak40K]

TheRAbbi, on 21 December 2015 - 07:11 AM, said:

Given that we've seen a seemingly significant influx of new players since the Steam release, and that Faction Warfare seems to be THE game mode at least to many of those new players, and that there is a LOT to know about FW on top of general game play, I suggest that there should be some manner of Faction Warfare tutorial. And the Academy is JUST the place for it! There should be an option for the new player/cadet in the Academy to hop on a dropship and head to a FW tutorial area. THERE, Captain (What IS his name?) or another character will walk the cadet through the basics from drop to victory, say on the attacking side. No mechs, just turrets. Make the new player have to navigate to a certain gate on the map (pick a map, say Boreal so there's not the leg-yo-self-fool drop right off the DZ), move into position to disable the generator, disable the generator, pass through the gate, disable the other thingies, and finally kill Omega. We could explain that the defenders' job is simply to STOP the attackers from accomplishing all of this within a 30-minute period. Then, phase 2 goes live-fire, with the cadet being sent out against live turrets or AI mechs (tuned down, of course), moving in the counterattack against a seized base. Hurray for the already-coded-into-the-academy damaged mechs! Hey, use what you already know from the academy, cadet! That one's cored, that one's almost legged out, and THAT one is one headshot away. And so on. Successful completion of phase I (attack walkthrough) earns, say, 500k CB, and successful completion of the live-fire exercise earns another 500k or a million. At successful completion of the second part, automagically transit back to the academy proper, in River City. POINT BEING, that new players are occasionally going to jump straight into FW without any real idea what they're getting in to. Not that the Academy is a proper prep for live-fire 12v12, but it's a good start. Really, we have no academy intro for ANY game mode. But anyhow, FW is especially steep in terms of things that new players need to learn to be successful there. And with teams of twelve PUG singles regularly filling the queues, well, y'know. Give the new players another tool to help them succeed. Give them something to go back to, if they pull the FW trigger too soon and get monkey-stomped first time out, so they can see what they did wrong and how it is SUPPOSED to be done.

This. All of it. Seriously, this is brilliant!

[StonedVet]

Would have loved to do the tutorial. I came back to the game after an absence (left before CW) and was one of those people shooting gates lol.

[Tanil Kane]

This is a great idea.

I'm very new to the game, and have found FW to not be intuitive at all; not just objectives once you drop, but joining into a match.

I'll get alert pop-ups for my faction, click 'accept' to join the defense and then just sit as the only person in the queue for 30 minutes until I get bored and quit out and go back to Quickplay.

[Boaz Roshak]

It also needs a you must be this tall to ride signs. The funniest new thing in CW atm imho are the new people who want to cry and tell you they are reporting you for harassment when you try to tell them what needs to be done in CW. the funny parts when they are swearing at you as they tell you thy are reporting you. ahh the youth these days.

[InsaneRotta]

A simple CW tutorial would be nice. Explaining the win conditions is a first thing. I took me a while too to get that you need to kill Omega AND have a kill lead to beat Counter Attack.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

LOL @ being reported!

A buddy made some comment yesterday about the DROPSHIP being the other team's MVP, after it killed like three of our campers in a row in rapid succession. Yeah, someone's girl-parts got irritated over that. REALLY?! Bro, do you even CW?

Another drop, pre-match chat, dude does the usual "o7" or "GL HF" or something. Dude on the other team comes back with a "F*** YOU", a teammate of his with something about his boy-parts and what to do to them. DAFUQ?

Had some dude a couple weeks ago, was following me in a narrow passage on Hellebore Springs, when I came face-to-face with an Atlas in my EBJ. I poured the dakka, and hit REVERSE, but my new-to-this teammate was RIGHT behind me, and I couldn't back off of him; also couldn't move FORWARD with the Atlas bull-rushing me. So, I got TK'd by the friendly behind me pouring rounds out at that Atlas. I try to tel him that you need to either give more room or stagger when following in a narrow passage like that, but he got all butthurt and ragequit (had three mechs left in the match, the little bugger), saying something about reporting. I Was even trying to tell him at that time, like all calm and stuff, that it's just a game and it's all good and it didn't cost anyone anything IRL, but no. R&R, baby, Ragequit and Report.

Whatever.

There are reasons that I hate this species the way I do...

[Amsro]

New players shouldn't be in Community Warfare.

Trial mechs should not be allowed.

All new players are doing is feeding mechs to organized groups. Likely they are also having a terrible experience. Let them pug it out and learn the ropes and build a mech stable.

Once you can build a 4 mech drop deck of your own mechs chances are you are ready for CW or much closer to it then being a fresh recruit.

Edit; current CW is also a joke, lets hope for better things in CW3.

Edited by Amsro, 04 January 2016 - 05:24 PM.

[jaxjace]

You shouldn't be allowed in CW unless you are either tier 3 or have played over 1000 games. Trial mechs should be definitely off limits.

Edited by jaxjace, 04 January 2016 - 05:37 PM.

[scgt1]

Hell there are some of us Closed Beta vets that don't get it either. Especially the main screen and finding a place to fight. My gpu died before phase 1 and I decided to completely.redo it. Came back about 6 months ago and don't have a.clue. Only had the patients 4 times to sit and wait for a match. The best I got from CW is the maps. They should be available in public games also since PGI forgot about any new content for us but cash grabs. (Mechs, paterns, paint, and cockpit trash) There really should have been a training ground setup or videos made prior to Steam launch. I can only 8magine how many new people are no longer playing due to this fact.

[Chocowolf Sradac]

jaxjace, on 04 January 2016 - 05:37 PM, said:

You shouldn't be allowed in CW unless you are either tier 3 or have played over 1000 games. Trial mechs should be definitely off limits.

Agreed especially on the Clan side where most of our trial mechs are still using Battletech loadouts

The Clan trial mechs are just atrocious even for a skilled player let alone someone who is new to the game. The IS has the advantage of having more Champion mechs that are customized to fit the game and are much better then their stock counterparts.

I know for me if it's not at least at elite then I don't bring it for Community Warfare

[Exard3k]

As a new player I'd like to have some tutorial for Faction Play. It's not that easy when you start from scratch. I accidently chose IS house as a contract only to realize later that I can't field any of my mechs (clan only).

[Ranger Dave]

Above suggestions of an academy map with a gate, turrets and o-gens and omega sound amazing.
Especially the turrets - might help convince how important they are to deal with after getting cored out by a few.
I'm not the best CW player by a long shot, but often the only one willing to call. Players beginning with a basic understanding of the game modes would reduce a lot of the pain (eg. Players shooting gates)

One a similar note. How about adding CW maps/modes to private matches? Until a tutorial is up, a great place to teach new players how to CW without inflicting them on the galaxy at large.
Its a stretch, but with these available, forward thinking factions could dig out a few with folks premium times (and lots of patience) and offer to host private CW training matches to cover the basics (eg. regrouping/pushing/gunlines). Gasp, units could even use that to recruit people...

Edited by RangerDave, 05 January 2016 - 09:58 PM.