1 reply to this topic

[Sypeo]

One of the lingering problems I've seen since I started playing is the over abundance of players who seem to have no idea how the game works (600+ games of PUGs) and not much has been done to really teach them how to play the game. I know there are some training videos on the website but they do a poor job of informing the player about the games finer details and unique quirks.

The best solution would be to add some sort of in game tutorial, but I imagine that's not something that will be completed anytime soon. So, in the mean time, it would be in the best interests of all if more detailed training videos were made showing people how to play the game more effectively. Some suggestions for this would be:

+explain how damage with beam weapons are spread out over the duration of the beam and do little damage just blindly raking over multiple Mech parts. Use specific examples and show how quickly you can take out a Mech by focusing your attack on specific parts as opposed to how long it would take just blindly firing in the opponents direction. This would teach people to pick their shots rather than just firing whenever they can.

+explain how different parts of the Mech have more Armor/Health than others and the weaknesses inherent on all Mechs and even some specific Classes/Variants/Builds. Showing examples of how much faster you can break through a Mech's rear armor or how much damage potential you can eliminate from a Hunchback by taking out it's right torso. Examples like these would get people to start thinking about what it is they are fighting and how best to fight it.

+explain how latency affects aim. Especially with faster Mechs. Show in game footage of people leading their targets and how much you lead is not always the same. Emphasize the importance of using the targeting system and paying attention to the damage indicator on the enemy Mechs so you can gauge where you're actually hitting.

+explain the importance of targeting in general. Information is more than just useful in this game... it's necessary. Show how targeting helps not only you, but your teammates by letting them know where the enemy is and how it allows your teams LRM equipped Mechs to fire at the enemies they can't personally see.

+explain how heat works. Dealing with both how different weapons build up heat and the specifics on how the different heat sinks actually dissipate heat. Show how a poorly equipped Mech compares to a well equipped one.

Teaching the new (and some old) players these and other fundamental mechanics will help make the game more fun for all participants. It'll help with player retention and ultimately with the profits the game will make. Just make sure you're taking the time to teach them right. Seriously. New videos need to be borderline boring to watch with all the information and in game examples going on. I imagine many new players will just gloss over it initially, but when they do finally get some game time (and, consequently, fail miserably) they will have one easy place to go to cover all the questions they might have.

[Horned Bull]

I support this ideas.