DUST Search - New Player Experience

Glantix Toketsu-Snow wrote:

I myself have been restarting this game over and over again for more then seven months now, so I guess you could call me an expert on new player experience.

First off, increasing the cap will not help for new players. Someone new to the game is not going to devote all of their time into playing this game to the point where they can reach the cap the way it is.....

As for giving them more sp for the first little bit, I could get behind this. This means that new players can get themselves up to at least a decent advanced suit without being protostomped too much, and it will probably keep them playing this game if they are unlocking stuff frequently in the beggining. Naturally matchmaking needs to be fixed aswell.

As for giving them a respec once they reach a certain point, no. What CCP needs to do is simply introduce a tutorial at the beginning of the game that explains the importance of choosing your skills. This will get people to actually do research into the game online, which will naturally lead them to the forums, which can be a great place to learn new things about the game(I still visit the rookie training grounds every day). This is a game set in the EVE universe and their needs to be consequences for the choices you make.

All in all, it could be beneficial to increase the sp gain for new players, but really the one thing that needs to be done is Goddamn Matchmaking Needs To Be Fixed!!!


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Jimbo Boilstaff THE MASSIVE DYNAMIC 100	Posted - 2014.04.18 02:08:00 - [1] - Quote Ok,,, Look,, there's been a lot said about this being bad...... which it is..... But something needs to happen to get new players enjoying things, and addicted to the game before the full harshness descends upon them. Since the game has been out for a while now, and some players have 60million+ SP,,, and most regular players being at least 20-30mill,,, there's a clear imbalance between Vets and New players which, while obviously understandable and correct for being that way,,,, is only causing a gap to widen. And new players are aware of this Vets have also had chances to respec and perfect their skill point usage based on experience through the game,,, and this has made their SP numbers more efficient than a newer players would be, SO here's the proposal,,, in line with what other MMO's do to help new players catchup..... NO Weekly skill cap for new players until they reach 10million skill points. SP boosters still take effect (so no effect on potential revenue stream).... Maybe even give them 2x SP during this time. When they reach 10million they are sent a mail explaining about the cap,,, and also the ability for a ONE-TIME SP respec now they have had a chance to learn about the game. This means that new players will gain SP rewards constantly during their gruelling introduction to the game,, and hopefully helping keep them interested for that initial addiction phase. Once someone's reached 10million SP,,, they'll love the game enough to stick with it now they have the limited SP like the rest of us.
Jimbo Boilstaff THE MASSIVE DYNAMIC 101	Posted - 2014.04.18 02:36:00 - [2] - Quote I think my main point was that.... with new players having the same cap as everyone else.... they will always be 60million SP behind some people.... no matter what they do from now on... Most games, at some point, put in measures to help new players catch up with this disadvantage to some extent... I don't mean this as a full fix to the problem Also,,, 10mill would let everyone try whatever out they want,,, and that's probably a good idea if you want people to stick around.... Academy being longer and better matchmaking are necessary too,,, but until more people are sticking around that won't be possible... I could maybe understand a new player staying around and playing if they are getting SP and unlocking stuff,,, but surely once they hit the cap currently they're just switching off rather than be stomped any more? Open it up for them so they can get bitten by the DUST bug like we all did those many many many tortuous months ago... I've been here since the E3 build,,, back in those days of 100k SP a match we unlocked everything to its max... clearly thats no good now,, but those matches back in the day are definitely what made me fall in love and invest my time in the game.... i'd never have bothered if i started now
Jimbo Boilstaff THE MASSIVE DYNAMIC 101	Posted - 2014.04.18 02:37:00 - [3] - Quote Glantix Toketsu-Snow wrote: I myself have been restarting this game over and over again for more then seven months now, so I guess you could call me an expert on new player experience. First off, increasing the cap will not help for new players. Someone new to the game is not going to devote all of their time into playing this game to the point where they can reach the cap the way it is..... As for giving them more sp for the first little bit, I could get behind this. This means that new players can get themselves up to at least a decent advanced suit without being protostomped too much, and it will probably keep them playing this game if they are unlocking stuff frequently in the beggining. Naturally matchmaking needs to be fixed aswell. As for giving them a respec once they reach a certain point, no. What CCP needs to do is simply introduce a tutorial at the beginning of the game that explains the importance of choosing your skills. This will get people to actually do research into the game online, which will naturally lead them to the forums, which can be a great place to learn new things about the game(I still visit the rookie training grounds every day). This is a game set in the EVE universe and their needs to be consequences for the choices you make. All in all, it could be beneficial to increase the sp gain for new players, but really the one thing that needs to be done is Goddamn Matchmaking Needs To Be Fixed!!! most of us have had many respecs during this game so we havent wasted SP on stuff,,, why not let every new player this benefit too since we've all had it??? eh?? lol
Jimbo Boilstaff THE MASSIVE DYNAMIC 115	Posted - 2014.05.02 14:56:00 - [4] - Quote Emo Skellington wrote: As much as i like thses ideas, i think the best thing CCP can do is to give out a PvAI game mode so that way the new p[layers coming out of academy can still basically learn new tips and tricks and earn sp and isk, but at 75% of their normal rate. Along with the PvAI they should be able to have some more training tutorials such as in game training.... like a combat zone specifically to learn how. a ....uhhhh..... training combat range. just like how other PC games are, where they put you thru a training course before sending you out. Maybe even do this before putting them thru academy Basically have them go through with a guidance of how to play including how to use: - the weapon selection wheel - Aiming and shooting tactics - basic run thrus of each suit and their strategy - setting up suits and tips for this - Small tutorials of using weapons and their differences. all those small things that we learn over time I fear the NPE now involves registering with Legion and starting from the beginning again ;-)