J-Lewis
Edimmu Warfighters
Gallente Federation
88
   |
Posted - 2013.05.18 18:41:00 -
[1] - Quote
[An extract from a New Player Experience megapost that I'm currently writing]
6.STARTER SUITS
Before I tell you about my proposal for revamped starter suits, let me tell you a true story:
Around the time Open Beta hit was when I joined. I also pulled a friend of mine with me, he joined about a month after I did. He promptly quit, refusing to play without me, as he just wasn't able to play effectively by himself. Fair enough, DUST is about teamwork. But then why am I still playing alone? I shrug, figuring solo DUST just isn't his thing, and forget about it.
Fast forward a few months. Uprising hits, I manage to convince him to play a couple more matches. We play one match, he once again brings up how ineffective he feels; his wants to use scoped weapons but the only one he can try is the sniper, and it's just not doing enough damage. I start thinking about what other scoped weapons are available. Something clicks inside my head.
On a hunch I tell him to use what little SP he had accrued passively on skilling into an advanced suit loadout. I set him up with a well fit 'Gallente Medium Frame G/1-series' with a 'GLU-5' TAR. We play one, two, three, five, seven matches. He's laughing on comms as he nails merc after merc with ruthless efficiency (some of that was down to TACs being OP, but I digress). I leave to make dinner, he kept playing (having had dinner earlier); he gets his turn squad commanding.
It was like day and night, he was finally experiencing what I was experiencing:
He cringed as he lost more suits than his paycheck could reimburse.
He cheered when he made a profit (then he bought more suits).
But most of all, he was having fun.
So what did I learn?
In his militia BPO starter suit, my friend wasn't feeling three very important things. He told me very bluntly:
He didn't feel effective. His weapon didn't hurt. His dropsuit felt like it was made of papier mache.
He didn't feel he was risking anything. DUST has been marketed as a harsh game where economic loss is a core factor in what you decide to risk for your reward. He didn't get the same risk induced rush he did while PvPing in EVE Online.
I couldn't feel his pain because I have core skills that make up for it. He didn't have the skill set to make anything out of his suit.
Now, here's the proposal:
- Uppon completion -- or skipping -- of the tutorial, the player is awarded 25 starter suits.
- Starter suits are fully fit with standard grade gear which cannot be removed, but can be replaced (yellow bracketed).
- Lost starter suits are automatically replenished from the player's wallet at a fixed rate of 10k ISK per suit (sold by NPCs). It is possible to go into negative wallet count should you lack the funds!
The first two points are straightforward: terminate tutorial, instead of four BPOs you recieve bacon 25 starter suits of your race, complete with a standard grade yellow bracket load out.
The consequence of the third point is the metaphorical removal of the safety barrier around the swimming pool. Some are going to slip and fall in and drown; but most will slip into the pool, learn to swim, and enjoy themselves despite the dead corpses. Once you stop losing 15 or more suits a match, you're going to be going positive in no time.
The only effect of being in debt is the inability to purchase anything beyond starter gear (which is done automatically anyway). The best way to get out of debt is playing carefully, ideally well outside the kill zone; relying on your equipment to play support instead of being on the front lines. This "punishment" is actually a way to artificially -- and temporarily -- create support players.
In other words: Casual players need not worry. If all you want is to log in and shoot people and not bother with skills or fittings, being in debt doesn't stop you from doing so. You may just end up with a huge red wallet in the end however (but maybe you can find a sponsor to pay it off!).
This kind of system can be felt by its users. Newbies will feel the rush and sting of risking and losing their stuff; veterans won't use them if they can help it (they're not free suits anymore); the worst become assets to their team through what is essentially encouraged "logibro service". Some may decide to biomass and start over, but they lose their accumulated SP by doing so, so that's fair.
The tagline for this is:
Welcome to DUST 514! Here's a dropsuit, go kitten yourself. |