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[Giani]

Many people here have pointed out two significant problems with the new player experience. Number one that there is nowhere outside a live match to learn how to pilot your mech, target enemies, manage heat, etc. Second that it takes hours of gameplay in trial mechs before a new player can even see the Mechlab, which should be one of the major hooks to grab new player interest and keep them motivated to keep playing (and maybe drop some coin in the process). It has been suggested to give starting players a free mech to customize, and those suggestions have been met with considerable hostility by many who feel that freebees would hurt the game (or maybe just devalue their founders packages).

Here is a way to tackle both those issues without giving a single thing away: a training simulator. Airline pilots don't learn how to land with a 747 full of passengers. They do it in a simulator first. So why put new mech pilots through a trial by fire with a "real" mech in live combat?

What I'm envisioning would be to take some of the numerous suggestions already given here for training maps (obstacles, targets at various ranges, a rudimentary AI "opponent" to practice on, etc) and incorporate a Mechlab with it containing every mech, weapon, and component in the game. The player would be able to build a fully customized mech and then try it out in the simulator. Of course, it is only a simulation, so they don't actually own the mech and can't use it in a real match (so no "freebees"). The simulated Mechlab could show the prices of the components and total build, so players would know exactly how many much they need to get (through the regular grind or buying MC) in order to buy what they have configured and tested.

I think this would be a win/win as it would greatly help new players to learn the game, experienced players to tweak their build without risking hard earned c-bills, and show off the Mechlab (which should be considered core game function, not "end game") to players immediately, not after many hours of repetitive grinding. Player retention and therefore profits would likely be higher, and that helps everyone.

PS: Sorry for the wall of text.