DUST Search - CPM Topic: How would you design New Player Experience?

Aquinarius Zoltanus wrote:

I'm not going to go as in depth as some of these people here, I just wanted to make a quick suggestion (which I know has been suggested before, but it's worth reiterating.

CCP: Hopefully at this point you realize that the transition from Academy to regular matches can be quite rough on new players. I've seen some disheartening posts from new players, where it sounds like thanks to the Academy they were having a lot of fun and getting a hang of the game, and then they got tossed in matches with full squads in proto gear and became frustrated.

I suggest that you smooth the transition by adding a couple more categories, like from 10,000 - 30,000 WP you go the 'Training Facility', and then from 30,000 to 60,000 WP you go to the 'Proving Grounds'. With a system like this, player will 'grow up' gradually with other players of a similar experience level before they get put into battles with closed beta veterans and the like. Maybe you could make it so they can choose their game mode in these areas, so they start getting used to the game.

And I have another suggestion, which you should take whether or not you choose to implement a system like I proposed: You should really notify players that a) they are in the Academy in the first place, and b) notify them when they have graduated from the Academy.


Author	Thread Statistics \| Show CCP posts - 2 post(s)
Aetos Vahara GamersForChrist Orion Empire 7	Posted - 2013.06.10 17:52:00 - [1] - Quote Aquinarius Zoltanus wrote: I'm not going to go as in depth as some of these people here, I just wanted to make a quick suggestion (which I know has been suggested before, but it's worth reiterating. CCP: Hopefully at this point you realize that the transition from Academy to regular matches can be quite rough on new players. I've seen some disheartening posts from new players, where it sounds like thanks to the Academy they were having a lot of fun and getting a hang of the game, and then they got tossed in matches with full squads in proto gear and became frustrated. I suggest that you smooth the transition by adding a couple more categories, like from 10,000 - 30,000 WP you go the 'Training Facility', and then from 30,000 to 60,000 WP you go to the 'Proving Grounds'. With a system like this, player will 'grow up' gradually with other players of a similar experience level before they get put into battles with closed beta veterans and the like. Maybe you could make it so they can choose their game mode in these areas, so they start getting used to the game. And I have another suggestion, which you should take whether or not you choose to implement a system like I proposed: You should really notify players that a) they are in the Academy in the first place, and b) notify them when they have graduated from the Academy. I agree with this. +1 I've seen a lot of frustrated players leaving because of the difficult transition from academy to the public matches when they get stomped hard. I think matchmaking should be improved according to a player's skill.
Aetos Vahara GamersForChrist Orion Empire 7	Posted - 2013.06.10 17:53:00 - [2] - Quote Iron Wolf Saber wrote: The reason why you would use a text tutorial is for cheaper and quicker globalization. As spoken tutorials do require revoice acting everyone God, I'm glad. Absolutely NO voice acting at all. Besides, I'm deaf IRL. I have deaf buddies that play with me. I'm thankful for the in-game text chats, though.
Aetos Vahara GamersForChrist Orion Empire 7	Posted - 2013.06.10 18:09:00 - [3] - Quote A lot of people here request video tutorials. I don't think we need one, to be honest. Most people here are from COD and they like to jump in and play, so I would highly suggest a starting message that pop up for the first time that points to text tutorials rather than being cramped information and videos down the throat. For me as a player, I usually skip the videos even the intro movies to get into the game to play and try it out. When I feel satisfied, I would go back to see the videos for the background of the universe. Think about it. If a large amount of information, videos, etc are being introduced (forced) to a new player, it motives him less to play because it feels a bit like college and it makes him anxious to get in to play already. I would skip all of that. Why waste 20 minutes of my time to learn the basics only to find out I don't like the game? I can safely point to other FPS' examples. Call of Duty and Battlefield 3 Multiplayers almost do not have tutorials. Just small bits of information. They have the single-player campaigns for that and also the training arenas where you play against other A.I without being embarrassed about losing to real players. Killzone 3, Brink, and Black Ops 1 have the best A.I training arenas. It is also fun to practice fighting A.I with friends too.