(i tried searching for a "first use" thread - but, couldn't really find one).

my specs - 39, graphic designer, some UI/UX background. signed up awhile ago, just played it once. logged on again, and low and behold - lots of changes. great! i barely used it before, and now i see tutorials, so i feel like i experienced "first use" all over again. i actually quite like the game, and hope it turns out to be a success. so, if anything sounds a bit blunt, it's expressed with hope that the game turns out amazing, and mean no disrespect.

overall, i found the first use experience to be confusing and un-engaging.

the intro movie pulled me in. good job there.
the neocon left side menu - pretty easy to navigate. great.

GÇó actual menus for doing stuff - amazingly overwhelming. there seems to be no thought at all about information hierarchy. this is kinda design 101 - what information is most important? 2nd read? 3rd? it's all just kinda thrown at me as if it is all the same. for a game this deep, information design is critical. the scaling of text (large, medium, small), bold text, regular text - different colors, column or row shading, information chunking. all of these things need to be utilized to support hierarchy and information design. it is severely lacking in these respects, and i would guess that is where the majority of user confusion comes from. good design makes the complex manageable. there seems to be none of that thinking here.

GÇó the tutorials - somewhat helpful. however, they seem to focus only on menu mechanics, and not what i should be trying to do within the menus. i think there needs to be some shorter "commercials" that explain some of the big ideas in the game very succinctly. isk vs aur. earning skill points versus money. the skill system in general. the suit and upgrades for it. the fact you loose items when you die. the different classes. these big ideas have to immediately be ingrained in a player's understanding, and should be so in an engaging way. otherwise, it is just going through your deep menus without much of a clue why.

GÇó no training - imho, this is what ruined bf3, and dice seem clueless that it is even a problem. to this day, i play games where i am the only one who uses spotting. being thrown into combat with no clue what is coming is frustrating and not fun. just throwing up random hints during loading doesn't cut it. there should be a quick combat training course. and, after that, a practice room that allows you to test out what you just bought (maybe with target droids to shoot at). it doesn't have to be fancy, and sure "hardcore" users can skip it. but, for the majority of people (likely not the people here now in the forums) training is a necessity, i would say.

GÇó no flow between rounds - i was surprised to see that after a game, my only choice is to return to my quarters, then manually again go through the task of trying to find another game. i should be able to play continuously without being forced back into my quarters. it should just find the next battle while i review the stats of the previous one. the way it is, the flow of the experience is ruined. i find this to be very frustrating and unnecessary.

GÇó combat sound design - i hope there are just sounds missing because this is the beta. but, as it was, and now with todays new sounds - it is simply not immersive nor informative. sound truly is half the experience. there is no way everyone is wearing ninja suits. foot steps (running, walking, slow), jumps, deaths, tank sounds - all are critical sounds that have to have triggers. the overall balance of sounds seems really quiet. overall, i have to rate the sounds design as a fail. but, again, maybe these are all just not in the game yet. i hope. i am aware it is a beta.

sorry, but the sound design has a long long way to go to be even average. the singular sounds themselves might be "cool", but everything is just quiet, overall. the sound balancing should be dynamic (if there is not much going on nearby, then louder environment sounds/music, when there is shooting and combat, then it should be loud - distance gunshots should have a different character than closer ones (not just lower volume)). every sound should have a strong attack that cuts through. the sound itself is important feedback for information. it should be more useful than the on-screen UI elements, even.

GÇó skirmish "flag" indicators - wow, almost impossible to understand. the sound design "virus" indicators just add to the confusion. the UI design on who is hacking what how and progress of such is near impossible to see. simplify that a lot more. and, make things bolder (objective you are loosing, and progress).


i think that covers the important bits. i think the first use experience is absolutely critical to the success of dust. if it is as it is now on launch, i can see a lot of users just quitting before they get into it. they will not be outright purchasing the game, so there is less incentive to get through any immediate shortcomings (i know that sounds counter-intuitive, but many things are). if you don't immerse them in awesomeness and clarity of purpose on first use, you will likely loose them. i do *not* want that to happen.

thanks for having a real beta to collect user feedback. just want to try to do what i can in return, since amazingly you actually seem to listen to your users! kudos for that. it shouldn't be unusual, but it is.