14 replies to this topic

[Arumi Ornaught]

I'm not new but I did get someone to play MW:O for the first time. Not just to MW:O but Mechwarrior in general. So no experience with this type of game at all. I'm not saying it's the first game she's ever played (Diablo, Borderlands, Pikmin, HALO, LoZ) but it's the first time that she has ever played a tank like game.

I've played MW:O around her and she finally decided that she also wanted to play. I made her watch the tutorial hoping that it would set everything straight. She made her account and wanted to try out the Cicada, mostly because the idea of a striker sounded the most fun to her.

She was feeling a bit nervous about her first game in this franchise and she really wanted to try her best. The game launched in Forest Colony and an Awesome and a Hunchback were right in front of her. She tried moving abound before the game actually finished counting down and realized she couldn't.

She turned to look at me with her hands on the mouse and keyboard where they should be and she asked "How do I set my weapon grou..."

The familiar sound of the UAC/5 rang in my ear realizing I was sitting too close to the sub-woofer and needed to turn the sound down. She was still looking at me with the look of horror that she caused a misfire right as the game started. She turned to see what she did and instantly took her hands to her mouth and she saw that she shot right into the back of our Awesome.

I started laughing uncontrollably and told her that she just needed to do that to the enemies and she'd be golden.

Regaining some of her composure she jammed on the accelerator and launched her Cicada through the Awesome's left side. Her hand spasmed and tried to turn using the mouse and is now completely turned to her right and freaking out that now she isn't moving where she is looking and yelled for me to tell her how to stop her 40ton teamkilling death machine.

At this point I realized that there is an actual steep learning curve.

So until they have a tutorial what would you suggest her getting used to?

[DerelictTomcat]

Clearly how to pilot a mech. It took me quite a few matches before I felt comfortable. Play the game and get better!

[Budor]

If using WASD bind Q and E to full stop and center torso. I use QWES and have full stop on A and center torso on D.

Once you got that down everything else just falls in place.

[dtgamemaster]

The very first thing.

Remap the hotkeys to something intutive to her.

A good guide is that the 5 fingers on the left hand should easily access all the important functions needed in this game. Weapon groups should be fired solely with the mouse buttons though some might have other preferences.

Next understand how to move her mech and look at the minimap for her general facing.

Understand the throttle function.

Understand the targetting function.

Getting used to zooming

Learning how to aim her cursor and compensate as neccesary for lag and enemy movement.

I consider these basics that must be learnt in order to start understanding other parts of the game.

[Scorch454]

I would just say, as you play the game more and more the feeling of piloting and shooting gets better and better. It takes some getting used to playing a game like this if you have never done it before. I feel that the classes of mechs fits the pilots personality. Play around with the game and she will find her way. That may not be much help but with most games, the more you play it the better the person becomes.

[Lyteros]

First, before anything else, explain her torso twist vs movement

then add arm mounted weapons vs torso mounted weapons, two different crosshairs are complicated (convergence)

Then weapon groups setup.

After this put in movement using both above described things. Circling enemies, using torso twist to keep aim while simultanously keeping the legs in a direction that does not end up n a ditch, on the ridge in front of enemies and such.

If movement is ok, get into advanced stuff like abusing terrain to pop out, shoot, and be gone before the counter attack comes.

After this, get her to weapon stats, configs, optimization for heat and loadout.

Then its just about tactics and improving all the above.

If she is not the type who grids ones teeth and tries till its working, or needs a "casual" break, get a lrm boat going, stand at te back and hold the mouse key down. Also enables to see what others do, because you pretty much only need the "r" key and a mouse button to be effective.

Edited by Lyteros, 18 November 2012 - 07:01 AM.

[SuperPuppy]

Well at least this thread proves that not all FF is intentional.

Other than playing the older games, I can't really advise a way she can "learn" without a legitimate tutorial from PGI. (Heck, even the Hawken Alpha had one).

At least she has you around to make sure that she's always got a teammate to play with and learn from. But yeah, this game does have quite the learning curve. Hopefully, it's something they are addressing.

Good luck to you guys!

[TROLL v2]

Encourage her to play a couple of games to learn the movement, completely ignoring combat.

Group up with her and try to buy her enough time to practice and understand the tricky torso / leg dance.
Once she gets comfortable and manages to run around obstacles, get into weapon groups, heat management and all the other stuff.

[Majorfatboy]

Perhaps set up a copy of MW4 mercs and have her play through either the single player campaign, or better still, instant action. MW4 is by no means a stellar entry in the MW series, but at least she can learn the basics of mech driving in a controlled environment. If you have two computers ready, you could even network up and play with/against her and give her some good training.

This way, she can learn the same way most of us did: By screwing up big time against the AI instead of a live player.

[Revorn]

Tel her, she is great, At least she hitted something. Could be more worse.

[Vassago Rain]

I tell people they need to mind how the turret works. After you mention the word 'turret,' people tend to instantly be less confused.

Mechs have always controlled like tanks.

[Arumi Ornaught]

Thanks everyone. I'll try showing her these responses. She kind of dreaded playing again until she got more practice in, maybe with another MechWarrior title. I guess until she gets better watch out for FeedsOnATreeFrog. Or try to give her some help with the in game chat.

[StandingCow]

They really need a single player training room or something so someone can just drop in there alone, and get used to things, test their heat, etc.

Her best bet is to sit there and practice assigning weapon groups. After that just running around avoiding obstacles and torso twisting to look around... explain the minimap to her, that the dotted line with the arrow is where your legs are pointing and the large cone is where you are looking or aiming with your body.

[Beo Vulf]

ACrispyChicken, on 18 November 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

I'm not new but I did get someone to play MW:O for the first time. Not just to MW:O but Mechwarrior in general. So no experience with this type of game at all. I'm not saying it's the first game she's ever played (Diablo, Borderlands, Pikmin, HALO, LoZ) but it's the first time that she has ever played a tank like game.

I've played MW:O around her and she finally decided that she also wanted to play. I made her watch the tutorial hoping that it would set everything straight. She made her account and wanted to try out the Cicada, mostly because the idea of a striker sounded the most fun to her.

She was feeling a bit nervous about her first game in this franchise and she really wanted to try her best. The game launched in Forest Colony and an Awesome and a Hunchback were right in front of her. She tried moving abound before the game actually finished counting down and realized she couldn't.

She turned to look at me with her hands on the mouse and keyboard where they should be and she asked "How do I set my weapon grou..."

The familiar sound of the UAC/5 rang in my ear realizing I was sitting too close to the sub-woofer and needed to turn the sound down. She was still looking at me with the look of horror that she caused a misfire right as the game started. She turned to see what she did and instantly took her hands to her mouth and she saw that she shot right into the back of our Awesome.

I started laughing uncontrollably and told her that she just needed to do that to the enemies and she'd be golden.

Regaining some of her composure she jammed on the accelerator and launched her Cicada through the Awesome's left side. Her hand spasmed and tried to turn using the mouse and is now completely turned to her right and freaking out that now she isn't moving where she is looking and yelled for me to tell her how to stop her 40ton teamkilling death machine.

At this point I realized that there is an actual steep learning curve.

So until they have a tutorial what would you suggest her getting used to?

Go to mektek and download mw4 have her play a few missions in different mechs, until she gets the hang of piloting and shooting there than come back to mwo and try again. After not piloting a mech for 20 years it was the best thing I did when I found out they were actually coming out with a new mechwarrior game.

[FeedsOnATreeFrog]

Thanks to everyone who responded, you guys are awesome. He had MW4: Mercs already and after my catastrophic smoldering crater of a first match I decided to get on there and mess around, get used to actually moving properly and then start learning to be useful--it's nice to see that this idea was also recommended by experienced players.

Crispy's been an excellent teacher (and cheerleader, lol) and I'm glad he posted this--even though I was a little embarrassed by the fact that he used my pilot name. Realistically, though, I'm still a long way away from being a valuable member of the team, so it's probably a good thing that you watch for me and realize that as of yet, you'll be down a man (so to speak.) I'd still like to master this thing (at least be able to hold my own and support the team) so I am hoping you will all see some improvement from me in the weeks to come.

This thread has really renewed my confidence though, and for that, thanks--I'm glad to be testing a game with such a great community.