Question: How do you make new players lives easier?
Answer: Increase the rate of passive and active SP gain until a new player reaches 4 million SP.
New players, regardless of their actual skill (gun game) are not able to compete with vet players due to the effect of the RPG elements of the game (more effective gear from skills, and better gear from ISK). Additionally, they lack any reasonable options rapidly increase their SP to compete on an even footing.
As it stands it takes a new player over 2 months to gain enough SP to use an advanced fit-out (~4 million SP, for racial dropsuit, fittings and weapons), and over 6 months to be able to use a proto fit-out (~10 million SP). ThatGÇÖs a long time for someone to stick around if all they have to look forward to is being beaten by players who arenGÇÖt necessarily better than them, but still win because their gear is more effective.
The lucky thing is this is reasonably easy to fix, and all it takes is one minor change and the gifting of two in game items by CCP. If done right, it should not only assist with retention of new player, but will potentially drive further AUR transactions for CCP at the same time.
The first component of this change is fairly simple: double starter SP and ISK (to 1 million SP and 500k ISK).
That way new playerGÇÖs start with enough SP to be able to train for a standard (racial) fit, and are able to afford the skill books to get it.
The second component implements existing in-game items: all new players start with 30 day passive and active SP booster modules equipped (so they canGÇÖt be traded).
The effect of the boosters is threefold:
1. The passive booster means new players see significant SP gains each time they logon, and are able to quickly progress through skill tiers (especially considering the first couple of tiers of skills tend to be quite cheap SP wise). This gives them a feeling of progression and will keep them excited about the new unlocks, regardless of how well they are faring on the battle field.
2. The active booster gives them a reason to play matches and to attempt to cap out each week, to maximise their gains. This creates a pattern of behaviour which will keep them logging in longer term, and foster better play to max WP gain.
3. Once the boosters finish the players will have invested enough time and energy into the characters that they will be likely to continue playing, while the loss of the boosted SP will mean they may consider purchasing AUR to continue gaining SP at an accelerated rate.
In combination, the changes mean a new player could reach 4 million SP in 5 weeks, instead of the 8 to 9 weeks it currently takes. This is a far more reasonable timeframe to becoming partially effective against vet players, but doesnGÇÖt significantly cheapen the journey to proto, which requires a further 3 months on top (un-boosted).
The only additional suggestion I would make is that CCP would need to make it explicit that the boosters are a gift at the time they player starts, so itGÇÖs obvious that their SP gain is not the normal and that they need to play to get the most benefit out of it. Otherwise you may end up with some very disappointed players once the boosters run out
