DUST Search - Trying to see through new player's eyes

Maken Tosch wrote:

Overall, I see this an opportunity to help CCP improve on the NPE.

I like that CCP is trying to improve it and it's a good start in regards to how it is at the moment especially since the tutorial is objective based which means I can choose any method of completing the steps. But it's far from complete.

First of all, the list of objectives in the objective-based tutorial (go to battle finder, complete a mission, etc.) need to be expanded to include something like capturing an objective and counter hacking an objective that has a virus upload in progress. There should also be installations such as turrets and supply depots with special chevrons to lead players to them to see how they work.

But the most important part that is needed for the NPE is a training room of sorts with some AI-driven mercs for target practice as an added option. A training room is a very good place for a new player to start without ending up being stomped by veteran players. It's also a great place to test out weapons, vehicles, and conduct experiments.


Author	Thread Statistics \| Show CCP posts - 0 post(s)
R F Gyro Clones 4u 575	Posted - 2013.10.08 20:37:00 - [1] - Quote To give the revamped new player experience a try I decided to imagine what it would be like coming to the game for the first time. I have no idea how successful I've been, but here it is anyway. So, I start the game and get the character selection screen. Gender is easy enough, but race & bloodline? I pick something at random. Name is simple enough, though was slightly confused by the ability to have spaces in each of the first and last name. Keep pressing X until something happens: a few lines of backstory about implants or something, and an objective. OK, sounds simple enough. I need to fight a battle, cool. Follow the instructions and get to a screen with some options: tutorial is saying something about "public contracts" but all I see is "Battle academy", "Factional Contracts", "Corporate Contracts" and "Other Contracts". Must be under "Other Contracts". Nope. OK, well I'll try that academy thing because it sounds like a good place to start. I select this and some stuff that looks like a map or something flashes by, far too fast to see. Then there's a long waiting screen. Now I'm in a room with a big hole in the floor; looks like a long drop. Better keep clear of that. There's a door at either end. How do I open them? No idea. Wander around this empty room for a while, but can't see anything to do. Oh well, I might as well jump out of that hole and see what happens. Good job I noticed that message to press X. Is this some kind of IQ test? My first taste of the game is jumping from a great height and the game wants to know if I can read and press a button?
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 20:43:00 - [2] - Quote I'm on the ground, so now what? There's a big spaceship thing floating in the sky with a red symbol on it and explosions happening on it. I'll go check that out. I run for a while and then can't run any more. After a bit I notice what looks like a stamina bar. At some point someone in a jeep with blue tags smashes into me but I'm OK. Eventually I see a red shaded area on the map in front of me which looks bad. Maybe I won't go in there. What is that red "A". I'll head for that instead, See another player with a red chevron; all the others have been blue. He's looking the other way. Aim & fire. Kill !!!! Sweet. Suddenly the game says "mission failed, MCC destroyed". What does that mean? How did I fail? OK, there's some kind of stats screen. Poke around for a bit. Holy **** - looks like the guy at the top of the leaderboard got 29 kills and 2 deaths! What now? Nothing obvious. Eventually I try "to merc quarters" because it is about the only thing left. No idea what it means. Oh - objective completed. But I failed the mission? Oh well. I get 10 "militia minmatar medium frames". WTH is that? Gibberish. Also, that's a scary face in the little picture. Hmmm... next objective is "create your first fitting". Wonder what a "fitting".
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 20:44:00 - [3] - Quote Xocoyol Zaraoul wrote: R F Gyro wrote: Good job I noticed that message to press X. Is this some kind of IQ test? My first taste of the game is jumping from a great height and the game wants to know if I can read and press a button? And how, great one, would you, a new player, know how to press X without it saying so, and ending in you being splattered on the floor? You already RPed pretty well that new players usually don't read the controls before diving into a game. This seems more written like the experience of a slightly bitter and cynical vet then a real new player. Having run newbies through dust, there are problems but not the ones you say there are. Also never met anyone who was "slightly confused" on the ability to add spaces to names. At that point about the only text on the screen is the thing about pressing X, so its not that much of a stretch.
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 20:45:00 - [4] - Quote Michael Arck wrote: So basically you wanted to find a flaw instead of acknowledging the fact that CCP has implemented some form of tutorial that was sorely missing from a game for quite some time. It's interesting that some members of the community like to always jump back to the "new player experience" as a reason to complain. Not complaining. It is feedback. CCP appreciate it.
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 20:48:00 - [5] - Quote Michael Arck wrote: [You're basically calling new players idiots whether you know it or not. Sorry if that is the impression I'm giving. It honestly isn't my intent.
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 21:19:00 - [6] - Quote Xocoyol Zaraoul wrote: R F Gyro wrote: Michael Arck wrote: [You're basically calling new players idiots whether you know it or not. Sorry if that is the impression I'm giving. It honestly isn't my intent. Well it sure seems like it if you say "nothing obvious" when you get to the scoreboard, as well as being insulted by the "press X" bit which means you would have been equally insulted if those doors you tried said "Press X to open," some things you get pretty spot on like skipping through intro pretty fast, but some things seem less like a player trying a new game and more someone who is totally unfamiliar with FPSes in general. shrugs To each their own for interpretations. The problem with "press X" isn't that it is telling you to press it, and I never meant to suggest it was, though on re-reading it I can see how it could be read that way. The problem - and it is a pretty minor one - is that having jumped, you have to press X (and quickly) or you die. It isn't problem solving or a skills test or anything game-like. It's "here you are, press X or die". Anyway, a relatively minor thing. The "nothing obvious" on the stats screen is simply that first time players haven't even seen the mercs quarters yet as the game now defaults to the Neocom, and then the tutorial takes them straight into battle. At the end of the battle there is a complex 3 part screen with loads of buttons, none of which say "Done", or "Finished", or "Next Battle" or anything. The one you need to press says something about "merc quarters" which is a concept that they haven't been introduced to yet. Finally, even if this is all stuff that is blindingly obvious to FPS players (I don't believe it is) then is that good enough? Shouldn't Dust be as welcoming as possible to players with no prior FPS experience as well?
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 21:34:00 - [7] - Quote Finally, some - hopefully small - changes that I think would help with all of this (which is the point of this thread really)... 1. Change the tutorial to say "select a battle academy contract" rather than "public contract" 2. Slow down the map animation for first time users so they get time to watch it 3. Have a sign or something in the MCC with instructions about dropping to the ground and activating inertial dampers, 4. Also in the MCC have a clearer indication that the doors can't be opened 5. At the post-battle stats screen, can the tutorial say "now return to mercs quarters"? 6. Copy the "militia medium frame" items, call them "[race] starter dropsuit" and give those away instead As an alternative to 6, is it possible to have a "show info" button on the objective complete rewards screen?
R F Gyro Clones 4u 576	Posted - 2013.10.08 21:46:00 - [8] - Quote Maken Tosch wrote: Yeah, that's the kind of feeling I had when I read the OP. These forums are an intensely negative place, so I guess it is natural that everyone assumes the worst motives when reading a post. Maybe some of this is because I split the post and got distracted by responses in the middle as well. I've done this kind of "story followed by feedback" thing dozens of times with loads of different software and never had the kind of attacks in response that there are in this thread. Generally it is well received by developers as it gives them a "why" to go with the "what". Anyway, thanks to everyone for keeping the thread on the front page.
R F Gyro Clones 4u 578	Posted - 2013.10.08 22:33:00 - [9] - Quote Maken Tosch wrote: Overall, I see this an opportunity to help CCP improve on the NPE. I like that CCP is trying to improve it and it's a good start in regards to how it is at the moment especially since the tutorial is objective based which means I can choose any method of completing the steps. But it's far from complete. First of all, the list of objectives in the objective-based tutorial (go to battle finder, complete a mission, etc.) need to be expanded to include something like capturing an objective and counter hacking an objective that has a virus upload in progress. There should also be installations such as turrets and supply depots with special chevrons to lead players to them to see how they work. But the most important part that is needed for the NPE is a training room of sorts with some AI-driven mercs for target practice as an added option. A training room is a very good place for a new player to start without ending up being stomped by veteran players. It's also a great place to test out weapons, vehicles, and conduct experiments. Any improvement in the NPE is a good thing in my view, no matter how small. But make no mistake, the current tutorials are very, very limited, and amount to little more than "select this menu option". Regardless, a journey of 10,000 miles starts with a single step, or whatever the quote is. There are a lot of ideas for improving the NPE in quite dramatic ways, and I'm sure many of them are on CCP's product backlog. Some of them are pretty expensive to implement (PvE, AI, training grounds) and we shouldn't expect to see them for quite a while. I wanted to focus on very small changes here though. Minor things that can be implemented in the 1.6 or 1.7 release timescales that would make things make just that little bit more sense to new players.
R F Gyro Clones 4u 578	Posted - 2013.10.08 22:37:00 - [10] - Quote Crash Monster wrote: A tutorial for new players, as opposed to alts, might consider holding your hand through the first drop... Or just automatically activating the dampeners. What is the point of having to activate them manually anyway? Maybe a better option is to use X to prevent activation of the dampeners. If you don't press X they activate at medium altitude, and you drift slowly to the ground (possibly under fire). If you press and hold X then you fall further towards the ground, and you let go at the last minute to avoid splat.