|
|
| Author |
Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 0 post(s) |
Parson Atreides
Ahrendee Mercenaries
232
   |
Posted - 2013.04.29 00:03:00 -
[1] - Quote
With the release of Dust, we're going to have another influx of new players. If we want them to stay, then they need to have fun and pleasant experiences, for the most part.
When some players are going to have 11+ million SP and a majority of the active player-base with 4-6+ million, newcomers are going to have a very difficult time trying to be competitive.
To help alleviate this, I suggest giving every new merc 1.5 million starting SP as opposed to the paltry 500,000 they get now. This accomplishes two main tasks:
1. It lets newer players get enough gear to skill up to a decent suit, a decent weapon, and decent shields or armor modules. It gives them a fighting chance against people with those 5 million skill points.
2. It gets them more involved in their character and gives them a feeling of power right away. The sheer amount of skills and customization in this game is daunting to a new player; they'll want to have access to enough SP in the beginning to feel like they can at least start to scratch the surface. 500,000 just isn't enough to do anything, especially considering about 200,000 or so of that is already spent for you.
Every merc currently under 1.5 million SP would be bumped up to that number as well. |
Parson Atreides
Ahrendee Mercenaries
232
|
Posted - 2013.04.29 00:23:00 -
[2] - Quote
Mithridates VI wrote:I feel like this would set a precedent we don't want to set.
Two years down the track do we give everyone ten million SP to start with and let them max out an entire specialisation on their first day?
I hate to call slippery slope but Sp difference is always going to be an issue until the new players maxes their first specialisation.
I hesitate to say "no" to 10 million SP because A) I don't know where this game will be or what the skill tree will look like in 2 years and B) by then, people could have most of the weapons maxed and can use whatever weapon is best suited for the situation, so maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to let new players specialize in one weapon and suit right off the bat.
That being said, there's a minimum threshold where you simply won't be competitive against people with better suits and weapons because they're so far ahead of you. With 500,000 SP, your first matches (the very first impression of the game) are going to be constant deaths, which is going put a lot of people off. That's going to be the case just because they're learning the game, but if some extra SP helps to shorten that time considerably, I see no reason not to do it.
I'm not sure we'd ever really need to go above 3 million or so SP (and that would be pretty far down the line) because once you get that, you can have a proto weapon, advanced suit, and proto shield or armor modules, which makes you competitive with anyone of your same skill level, even if they're using better gear.
If I had more information about FW which is supposed to pull a lot of higher-tier players out of Instant Battles, then I might be less inclined to push for a higher starting SP, but they haven't shown me why anyone should play exclusively FW yet. |
Parson Atreides
Ahrendee Mercenaries
232
|
Posted - 2013.04.29 00:27:00 -
[3] - Quote
Godin Thekiller wrote:This makes no sense to me, so let me ask you if I read that right, " Noobs have trouble against vets, so to nerf the vets, give the noobs a extra million SP to start out with so they can get a suit, some decent weapons, and pretty high on the core skills day 1." If so, forget it. Noobs are supposed to feel like noobs at their beginnings in New Eden. Sorry, but no. Peace, Godin 
It isn't really "nerfing" the vets. You're still going to have higher shield control, field mechanics, better suits, weapons, more possibilities within each situation, etc so it isn't as if all of a sudden noobs are going to be wrecking you (unless you're bad, in which case they should be).
This isn't EVE where you can avoid people just be doing other things until you skill up enough to at least be competitive. In Dust your only option is PvP and therefore it's going to frustrate and alienate a lot of new players and potential patrons. |
Parson Atreides
Ahrendee Mercenaries
232
|
Posted - 2013.04.29 00:31:00 -
[4] - Quote
Godin Thekiller wrote:once FW and PVE is fully released, and a incursion like gamemode is put in, I will never, EVER touch instant battles, EVER.
You're one person. Also, the game is releasing in 2 weeks and PvE isn't coming until at least the build after Uprising. A game only gets one chance at launching and that's when the biggest influx of new players will be and thus Dust's best chance to capture their interest. |
Parson Atreides
Ahrendee Mercenaries
245
|
Posted - 2013.04.29 06:52:00 -
[5] - Quote
Response to: "They can do PvE" and "There will always be an SP gap so we shouldn't even bother"
FIrst, it's important everyone realize that the game will not be launching with PvE. This means responses like "They can always do PvE until they spec up" or "EVE doesn't give new players more SP" (although it's my understanding they give new players boosted experience until 2 or 3 million SP) don't work because this game forces you to play against other players right away. You can't mine or fight pirates or run escort missions, or whatever you do in EVE in the beginning. Imagine if you jumped into PvP in EVE on Day 1--it would be horrible.
Ironically, the concerns about PvE answer the concerns about a "slippery slope" and the fact that there will always be that SP gap. Once the game does get PvE, then there's no need to ever raise the starting SP beyond 1.5 million (or whatever we can compromise on) because there's no forced PvP battles that pit you against people with a massive SP gap.
Response to: "You can passively skill up now and then have enough in a month"
Do you all really think people are going to download an 11gb game (or whatever it will be) to spend 5 minutes making a character, then not try the game at all for an entire month? You think they're going to bother (or even remember) re-downloading it a month later when they've never played it to begin with?
When I ask for this increase, I'm not talking about for myself. I have multiple characters well beyond this point, all accruing passive SP. This is for new people who are going to be really excited for the game, play once or twice, and then leave because they're getting completely smoked.
Maybe everyone should skim this post (screenshots at the bottom) just to understand how bad this initial disparity can potentially be. |
Parson Atreides
Ahrendee Mercenaries
282
|
Posted - 2013.05.07 02:44:00 -
[6] - Quote
I'm bumping this because with the new amount of SP you need to start to even say you're one specialty or another is becoming absurd, let alone the weapons, mods and equipment you need to be effective.
The only true counter-point to this is the fact that new players may blow their SP too soon on stuff they don't need. There should be some mandatory tutorial or some huge disclaimer the first time you open the Skill Tree that says in no uncertain terms that you should read up on all of the skills first to see what they do before you go frivolously spending SP because you aren't getting any of it back.
Also, I change my first suggestion of 1.5 million to 2 million. Or if the 3x skill booster is more appealing to potentially alleviate the "spend it all now" attitude if they started with 2 million, then it can shut off at 2 million instead of 1.5. |
|
|
| |
|