55 replies to this topic

[John Clavell]

I'd like to see something like MechWarrior 2. Where the drill instructor verbally insults you

[Rodney28021]

All Great ideas sofar, hopefully the Devs can make it happen. With all the new players that might show up to try this free 2 play game, need some way to give them a fighting chance to learn and earn a spot on the team. Just leave an option choice for the know it alls to jump straight in to the fire. STO has a great tutorial, it has a good story, teaches how to move and fire and give the player his first ship and equipment. Maybe could have several different training courses that the new player can take to help him learn to be a Mech warrior. Just have to wait for the game to release to find out.

Edited by Rodney28021, 15 June 2012 - 08:08 AM.

[eZZip]

There is absolutely no reason why performance in a tutorial, something to help people learn to perform better, should influence their starting cash. It could be circumvented by making more accounts/getting better friends anyway.

New players shouldn't be forced to start with a shiny light mech vs heavier, progressively shoddier mechs. Role warfare, remember? Light mechs shouldn't be any worse in terms of usefulness. Besides, it is likely that light mechs will require a better understanding of the game to play effectively than heavier mechs, which will be more favourable towards people who are still learning spots, maps, weapons, mechs, maneuvering, etc. Why shouldn't people get to start with their favoured style of play, either? That would favour people who enjoy speed and scouting for no particularly good reason other than perhaps 'realism' (a rather poor reason for a game based heavily in fiction).

[Chunkymonkey]

Karl Streiger, on 29 March 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

Should there a difference between learning to pilot as child at a MercBrigade or learning pilot a mech on a Academy?
I think so - make some theoretical questions - who was the fifth Archon of the Lyran Commenwealth, what happened during the first succession war on kentares iv...so on. Based on your answers you get the patent of a specific College - for example NagelRing or NAIS so on.
Where you get your MechWarrior patent from is at least not really important but help the RPG part of the game.

Sarna is always there.

[Gladewolf]

I do hope we break the, "everyone starts in a light mech" mold. Maybe give everyone a flat rate of say....15 million c-bils? that should be enough to have a few lights...or a couple mediums..or if you really feel like risking it, 1 heavy or light assault. THEN you go through the tutorial....maybe decide the weight class you selected isn't your speed and you can mess about, customize and tune till you are ready to face live opponents.

[ZeroKel]

The Merc factions can attend minor academies in various houses and there rewards would be signing bonus from Merc groups when they graduate or washout.

Interesting RPG options.

House warriors should have washout options were they can end you in a Merc organization.

Grads can start out in House militaries then live to join Merc when they want to. AWOL!!! More interesting options.

[Axelian]

I think WoT is a good model for tutorial and first matches. It has a very soft landing with regard to difficulty and repercussions of the first engagements. I personally found it very easy to survive and contribute to the battle while even scoring a few kills while very very soon losing interest.

With a game like MW people are gong to be wanting greater depth so simple line ups are never going to satisfy but for beginners its a simple effective trial by fire.

Also I would like to mention a phenomena I witnessed playing Eve Online is that players who were shown videos made by developers and who experienced different tutorials were heavily influenced by them as to the objectives of the game. Early players witnessed a video where a pirate attacked people in his sector and were encouraged to play that way while later entries viewed a video that encouraged them to build empires.

[Colddawg]

Like the idea of a tutorial style/academy starting point. Definitely bring back a "Deadeye" Unther character!!!!

If done right it could be a great experience. More fun than work with a few skills challenges and rewards for completion of said challenges like a stats boost (only beating the toughest level of course).

If starting the game in the academy then why not have a house specific light 'Mech that you work with from the academy?

[Chimerus]

A tutorial is a good idea, as you hope to bring in new blood that hasnt played mechwarrior games before. An obstacle course and firing range are good for getting a general feel of mech handling, heat output/dissipation, damage output. Tutorial performance should not grant more starting cash, but perhaps completing it once at any performance level, grants a decal/badge or such. A starting "stable" of one of each mech type is a great idea to help people decide on their playstyle.

[Karl Streiger]

Again - thanks for all the constructive ideas.
A good part of the players would have taken several hours in beta versions - when the game hit the street - so for those a tutorial is be dispensable.
However players that will join later will need a tutorial. A good example is MWLL- i have played MW since MW 2 - so i thought everything is similar - well i got see sick - i turned my torso left and on the radar the indicator turned right - *** controlling inverse?
After running into buildings and trees and lot of terrain more i realized the indicator are for the feets.
Next major mistake was friendly fire - there was a guy in my sight that wasn't blue - without a look at the map i open fire. Thanks to bad skill he survived
As you see to pilot a mech is much more difficult as piloting a tank in WoT - heck you can't do hardly any wrong in WoT. Driving turning turret (3rd Person) and shooting - the only thing that was challenging in WoT were other players and to hit weak spots.
Handling a Mech however::
* piloting - with twisted torso - but 1st person
* jumping - with twisting torso - and maybe to fire weapon
* switching weapon groups
* switching radar
* achieving lock
* communication / sensor actions
* heat
- and still you need the same attributes from WoT - reading map - reaction on enemy movement - aiming for weak spots -> damaged hit zones.

Even to start at low level with a lot of gain but no punishment isn't a real choice when thrown into a battle at the very first moment.

[Adrienne Vorton]

i voted "yes - skilltests and theoretical questions"... what i would like to see is that if a cadet fails in "canon knowledge" they are forced to be techs for the rest of their lives xD

nah not really... but it could help, to bring people to actually get familiar with BTU and the "behind the scenes" stuff...
skilltests, well for training purposes, it should have no influence on a pilots career...

[RedRidingHood]

Starter Mech. Yes every one should start with small mech the game is called Mechwarrior. Casual player will not like not geting a mech upfront. Grant it may not be new mech and my be only a light Mech but they should get one.

[Adrienne Vorton]

RedRidingHood, on 15 June 2012 - 02:51 AM, said:

Starter Mech. Yes every one should start with small mech the game is called Mechwarrior. Casual player will not like not geting a mech upfront. Grant it may not be new mech and my be only a light Mech but they should get one.

*coughs* ...given you won´t even be able to play without a mech, the question is just " start with a mech, or the money to buy one...?"
you know that you don´t have a character walking around, hopping into his mech from time to time? *coughs*

[Gen0]

The whole C-Bills depending on performance sounds like you want to punish new players to the MechWarrior franchise, or hell, new players to gaming. Why force a worse player to have a worse loadout when he goes out into the world?

I would suggest doing it the other way round if I didn't know that it would be documented enough for people to deliberately play badly.

As for having a house af mechs per faction. Yes please, because there has to be some kind of instant in game effect of picking a faction and that sounds like the way to go.

[Karl Streiger]

Gen0, on 16 June 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

The whole C-Bills depending on performance sounds like you want to punish new players to the MechWarrior franchise, or hell, new players to gaming. Why force a worse player to have a worse loadout when he goes out into the world?

Because - it seams to be logical that the best warriors / soldiers got the best equipment. I don't think that there are worse players. When you are a bad player - the whole academy thing will help you.
Run the tests several times - ok sounds boring - but what is worser to run boring tests till you get a feeling for a piloting or shooting - or running "real" combat where your mech got scrapped every time.
You will hardly earn XP or credits simple because you are not fully firm with the handling - next to that frustration you get harassed by other players because you do mistakes - i mean it is no problem to do mistakes it is a problem not to fix the mistakes - but if you don't have any advice - how to fix something you didn't recognize broken - right?

I want to see a test or a row of tests where it is impossible to get 100% - you may have a good result when you got a performance of 50%.

Theoretical questions ->
identify targets
got an idea how a AC 10 at wich range deal damage
got an idea where are the weak spots of a enemy - Hunchback - thin rear armor - Dragon thin armor at the arms but heavy rear armor...

[I C U B4 U C ME]

My idea is that one starts with say 4 temporary mechs; a light; a medium, a heavy and an assualt. these Mechs would only be in your garage for say a week, then after playing these mechs one can decide which mech to keep or alternativly which mech to buy with a predetermined amount of C-bills. This way one can try the different types of mechs before deciding which mech class to buy first.

I think this would be the best way to allow players the chance to feel what type of mech they are suited to before being forced into a decision.