193 replies to this topic

[Daeron Katz]

In this thread, lets discuss ideas for updating, adding to, and improving our new player experience in MechWarrior Online, such as:

• Change Starting Tier (to 4.5)
  
• Update Trial 'Mechs (regularly with appropriate consultation)
  
• Increase Cadet Bonus
  
• Update In-game Tutorial
  
• Establish New Player Video Tutorials (official and community)
  
• MWO Discord Channel (update MW5 Discord to MWO/MW5)
  
• Update Wiki / Add Wiki Contributors

[Galahad2030]

Add Referral Program to this discussion. It is going to be a big part of the new player experience if it is successful.

[The6thMessenger]

Allow players to buy champion mechs with CBills.

Honestly why are those even MC Paywalled? We should be actively encouraging new players to get properly kitted out mechs.

Edited by The6thMessenger, 16 November 2020 - 04:59 PM.

[Kojin]

I would suggest adding Cadet rewards for each class, Assault, Heavy, Medium, Light to encourage players to experience all the roles and have a chance to find a fit for themselves.

Combining this with in-match hints, if possible, would help new players considerably. The tutorial section is nice, but most would prefer to be in a match against players as soon as possible. Perhaps more useful rewards for completing challenges in the tutorials would be a good idea too.


Also, I will yet again say : Clean up the forums

[Windscape]

If it hasn't been said already:

- Move Cadets to T4.5 ASAP (by Tuesday at very least)
- Post trial/champion threads to allow for people to share, overhaul, and discuss future trial builds, as well as SKILLS, unless that system gets revamped in the near future as well.
- Provide a discussion thread to discuss how the basic tutorial should be updated, and also provide increased incentives for completing the rest of the activities found in the academy as an achievement (GSP, Cbills, Mechbays, maybe a small amount of MC and premium time).
- Having people/PGI create videos would be a nice thing that would be nice to have done before MW5 Steam launch.
- Updating the Discord should be something that shouldn't be hard. Just provide easy access to it for new players.
- Updating the Wiki could also be something that can be started now. Up to PGI to decide who they want to edit the wiki, I suppose.

Most of the stuff in this category can be implemented very quickly. The only things that would take time would be to update trials and update academy, which could be done before MW5 steam if PGI chooses to allocate more resources to it.

Since a lot of this stuff should be low effort development wise, putting effort into this category would be one of the easiest and best ways to increase the population of the game by ensuring new players stick around.

Edited by Windscape, 16 November 2020 - 07:22 PM.

[Big-G]

• Change Starting Tier
  
  • Just make them start at 5, unless they pass the cadet training process and then get bumped to 4.
• Increase Cadet Bonus
  
  • Yes
• Update In-game Tutorial
  
  • Yes

[LordNothing]

see my trial mech redux thread. idea is you replace trials with tutorial mechs that are rewarded at each stage of the cadet tree (you can keep them and level them). these can teach new players how to effectively build their mech one system at a time by using locked equipment. for example you can lock everything but the engine to explain the difference in engine types.

at the end of the cadet tree you end up with a stable of mechs you can actually use.

Edited by LordNothing, 16 November 2020 - 08:02 PM.

[Brauer]

Move cadets to tier 4.5 ASAP.

Get trial mechs from experienced and skilled players and replace the old trials. I feel this is one area where you want to get together a smaller group, say 4 to 6 people, who understand the game's mechanics and can provide updated builds. There should also be some schedule for checking in on trial mechs to account for shifts in meta and changes to balance.

Provide all trial mechs with 45 or more set SP so that they aren't made so weak in part by virtue of not being skilled.

[Windscape]

BuckleUp, on 16 November 2020 - 09:10 PM, said:

Can someone clarify what Tier 4.5 actually means? Is that "in Tier 5, halfway to Tier 4" or "in Tier 4 halfway to Tier 3"?

The tier system is a number based system, despite the bar showing otherwise.

It should be tier 5, halfway to tier 4.

Right now, new players start with the bar halfway full at tier 3, which is equivalent to a number of 2500. A tier 1 with a maxed out bar is at a number of 5000. So Tier 4.5 would be a number of 500, with the 1000 being the divider between tier 5 and 4.

I can understand how the .5 nature is confusing, so I prefer to just go by the numbers when discussing tier values.

Edited by Windscape, 16 November 2020 - 09:25 PM.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

make more Tiers ...let say 10, and started Cadets by 10 and only plays with Tiers 10-8(+-2 Tiers)
and so the time is longer before first Contact with Higher Tiers.

by only 5 Tiers and a Match with +-2 Tiers ,the Cadets very fast in Contact with Higher Tiers.

Edited by MW Waldorf Statler, 16 November 2020 - 09:29 PM.

[Ragedog4]

I think 4.5 is a perfect place to start. Yes and lets do it now please.

Trial Mechs need to be updated for sure and PLEASE stop bringing out XL IS variants. That's just cruel.

So updating the Cadet bonus, not in C-bills, but in Actual mechs. These new guys are WAY behind, Lets give them some to catch up but we don't have to give them the best or anything, just enough to experience different kinds of mechs: Like first off they should be able to get 4 free mechs+bays FULLY SKILLS UNLOCKED (just for these 4) the 1st one ready in the mechlab and unlock the rest after each 25 games since when they start the game, and make them 4 simple standard variants, a Raven 3L (for ECM, a SRM, and NARC support), Hunchback 4g (classic AC/20 boom, maybe the first one to own), Catapult C1(yes the classic LRM mech), and Battlemaster-1G (PPC, some lasers, + others), Not overly used mechs but each have a little something that they can practice with and see what they like and go back to. That way they can spend the money they got from being a Cadet on upgrading them, or experimenting with them and the skill tree FOR FREE so they can get a feel for the game. These are NOT broken or AMAZING mechs, they are sub-par fun mechs that will only bring PGI more money because the players will want more after having 4 they can just mess around with (give a mouse a cookie and he will want that glass of milk).

The start of the game for the first time there should be a full video taking you step by step though each step like "This is the mechlab...blah blah...Click on the Inventory Tab" (it highlights for them to click on it) "Here you have..." etc. If that is too much programing then HAVE A TAB THAT SAYS "TUTORIAL VIDEOS" and have a video for EACH Section. Try to make them short and simple. Then HAVE A CHAT TAB that is next to the Group/Clan recruitment chat tab that says "Ask the Community" chat.

Then have advanced tactic videos like how Tactics 101 covers such things. Also Pro examples on how they do or prevent damage etc, like with video examples of extreme gameplay. A lot of Community Members could provide a lot of this info and all you have to do is have someone read a shortened script in a professional setting to the video examples.

[SoulRcannon]

Please consider implementing some form of the skill tree bonuses on trial mechs, at very least the entire survival and sensor tree, alongside their builds being updated and the list of trials expanded. Can builds be patched into the client-side mech build save/load function, because that could be another way to give players guaranteed good builds.

And yes please on anything else the game needs to improve the NPE

Edited by SoulRcannon, 16 November 2020 - 10:43 PM.

[nuttyrat]

In a perfect world, we would have calibration matches to dictate where a player starts off in PSR/Tier. Overperforming players should calibrate to a higher tier and underperforming players to a lower tier. Since we can't have that, put new players near the bottom ... something like 750 - 1500 PSR ... so that new players are not met with strings of frustrating losses while trying to figure out the mechanics of the game.

[il1il]

I started MWO a few months ago.

When I realized what having 4 mech bays meant I immediately wanted to quit, i decided to persist and went to faction to earn more, people there were not impressed with trial mechs. I saw on youtube that you could play scouting if you didn't have the mechs for invasion.... I couldn't figure out where it was..... The ui was so uninformative that my journey through the game was 10 times harder than it had to be. I disliked the trial mechs at the start but the real problem was I did not even have one line up for faction. Once you play a few games you can buy a mech and play QP but you will not get enough space for more with out playing faction.

I would recommend players start just at the top of T4 they will immediately move up to the t1-5 range if they are of that skill or stay in the t5-2. You could also give them a temporary multiplier to their rating in "wins" to make up for the loss of rating at the start and to keep things 0 sum

Starting with 10 bays would be far more welcoming to new players and allow them to set up their first decks.

The UI has a lot of redundancy and tons of screens to get lost in while explanation is lacking.

I don't believe the tutorial needs updated but please notify people that friendly fire is on. This is a common problem. The only thing I would do is to add rewards to all of the tutorial modes and remove the UAV from the academy bots, lrms for days...

Edited by il1il, 17 November 2020 - 12:35 AM.

[LordNothing]

nuttyrat, on 16 November 2020 - 11:33 PM, said:

In a perfect world, we would have calibration matches to dictate where a player starts off in PSR/Tier. Overperforming players should calibrate to a higher tier and underperforming players to a lower tier. Since we can't have that, put new players near the bottom ... something like 750 - 1500 PSR ... so that new players are not met with strings of frustrating losses while trying to figure out the mechanics of the game.

i think something like giving cadets a psr multiplier so that they can get placed by the time they finish their cadet tree. this multiplier can start large and trend down towards 1 each time a level is earned.

[LordNothing]

il1il, on 17 November 2020 - 12:30 AM, said:

I started MWO a few months ago.

When I realized what having 4 mech bays meant I immediately wanted to quit, i decided to persist and went to faction to earn more, people there were not impressed with trial mechs. I saw on youtube that you could play scouting if you didn't have the mechs for invasion.... I couldn't figure out where it was..... The ui was so uninformative that my journey through the game was 10 times harder than it had to be. I disliked the trial mechs at the start but the real problem was I did not even have one line up for faction. Once you play a few games you can buy a mech and play QP but you will not get enough space for more with out playing faction.

I would recommend players start just at the top of T4 they will immediately move up to the t1-5 range if they are of that skill or stay in the t5-2. You could also give them a temporary multiplier to their rating in "wins" to make up for the loss of rating at the start and to keep things 0 sum

Starting with 10 bays would be far more welcoming to new players and allow them to set up their first decks.

The UI has a lot of redundancy and tons of screens to get lost in while explanation is lacking.

I don't believe the tutorial needs updated but please notify people that friendly fire is on. This is a common problem. The only thing I would do is to add rewards to all of the tutorial modes and remove the UAV from the academy bots, lrms for days...

get rid of trial mechs all together. instead you give new players an is heavy as their starting mech. then as they complete the cadet tree they receive 7 additional mechs (both tech bases in each weight class). they include their mech bays and all have xp bonuses like trials, except they are yours to keep upgrade and level. towards the end of the cadet tree you earn additional empty bays, cbills, and finally your fp drop decks.

also throw some mech bays and mc in the supply caches. even the ultra rares seldom give mc, and never mech bays.

Edited by LordNothing, 17 November 2020 - 12:54 AM.

[DeadWeight18]

il1il, on 17 November 2020 - 12:30 AM, said:

I started MWO a few months ago.

When I realized what having 4 mech bays meant I immediately wanted to quit,
<snip>

Well the loot bag event should have generated for you enough MC to buy Mech Bays!
Even then $8 buying you 5 Mech Bays.

100 Games played will give you 1 Mech Bay on 24th November 2020

So you doj't need to play Faction Warfare to get Mech Bays in MWO!

Have so patient!

[LordNothing]

DeadWeight18, on 17 November 2020 - 12:54 AM, said:

Well the loot bag event should have generated for you enough MC to buy Mech Bays!
Even then $8 buying you 5 Mech Bays.

100 Games played will give you 1 Mech Bay on 24th November 2020

So you doj't need to play Faction Warfare to get Mech Bays in MWO!

Have so patient!

yea but new players dont know about that. thats part of the problem the game doesn't explain anything.

maybe we need to make it so you can grind the faction trees in qp. when fp started it was kind of a bribe to get people to play. with fp games being so hard to get we need alternate ways to grind those. perhaps through some kind of qp-fp interaction.

Edited by LordNothing, 17 November 2020 - 01:04 AM.

[il1il]

LordNothing, on 17 November 2020 - 12:49 AM, said:

get rid of trial mechs all together. instead you give new players an is heavy as their starting mech. then as they complete the cadet tree they receive 7 additional mechs (both tech bases in each weight class). they include their mech bays and all have xp bonuses like trials, except they are yours to keep upgrade and level. towards the end of the cadet tree you earn additional empty bays, cbills, and finally your fp drop decks.

also throw some mech bays and mc in the supply caches. even the ultra rares seldom give mc, and never mech bays.

At first I did not understand the purpose of trial mechs other than as advertisement. that a player would not choose to use over bought mechs.. but basically you start the game with nothing and now I look back proud of all of my mechs as accomplishments in my MWO play...
If I was going to make a criticism about "champions" it is that the bonus XP is not a sufficient reason to buy them. To make them worth while they should offer bonus GXP which would put them on par with heros on the desirability scale.
However this is not a new player issue. But one of marketing.

[il1il]

DeadWeight18, on 17 November 2020 - 12:54 AM, said:

Well the loot bag event should have generated for you enough MC to buy Mech Bays!
Even then $8 buying you 5 Mech Bays.

100 Games played will give you 1 Mech Bay on 24th November 2020

So you doj't need to play Faction Warfare to get Mech Bays in MWO!

Have so patient!

I actually did buy bays with mc during the event.
The purpose of this thread is not to solve my problem but to discuss the new player experience.
And the attitude from vets regarding bays i have found very strange... Why would you want to turn off new players just as they enter the game by shoving required purchases for progression into their face? like I understand that a marketer is making a decision based on a different set of variables but for a consumer to say this.....

Edited by il1il, 17 November 2020 - 01:13 AM.