1. I would change the "news" window of the loading screen with every daily update. Report any changes to the game or upcoming events. Basically try to give information you currently only get from checking the forums and show new players (and old) that the game is regularly changing and growing.

2. Walk new players through in game communications. a quick video could show how to activate/switch voice to different channels and create/join squads. Teaching the use of mail, creating/joining channels and the notification tab would also be great.

3. Give new players an easy way to try all of the suit and weapon types. I would love to see prefabricated militia fittings like the starter fits only consumable (for ISK) on the market. HMG heavy, scout shotgun, mass driver logistics, scrambler rifle assault. Just buy a stack of whatever sounds good and jump into a match. This would require adding milita variants to a lot of guns, but I don't think that is a bad idea either. Skilling into a weapon (like mass drivers) because it sounds cool and deciding you don't like it is a bad and unnecessary experience.

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Other thoughts:

The character creation/boot camp scenario at the beginning of System Shock 2 should be (re)played through by CCP for inspiration. A scripted, multi-path scenario that walks a new player through actually using weapons and equipment as well as interacting with the environment. Perhaps a coupon system that pays for the first couple of skill books (not skills) after completion of specific areas of training like Dropsuit Command, Dropsuit Upgrades and Weaponry.

Ok, I'm going to say what I would have liked to walk into the first time I played this game.
In this set of ideals I will try to present principles and points of view more than any actual #'s where they may apply, as the in game numbers and values are always changing anyhow. So here it goes.

--1. THE INTRO VIDEO--
a. The intro video should be changed. Launching the game one should meet a video that opens their view to New Eden and where DUST fits into it.

b. I imagine an outside in perspective. Meaning you open up with distant views: Solar systems, stars, suns, black holes consuming planetary bodies at a surreal distance.
Then you begin to inform the player of the solar systems, how the known systems are divided up amongst the 4 empires. Talk about how this space and the planets in these regions are important to them. (Perhaps throw in a little EVE background here to add to "Why are they fighting")

c. Then begin to show a few action scenes. I inagine a quick pacing range of images from the space conflicts of EVE down to the dirt where the metal meets the meat to a quick flash of death to a clone and the stripping force of it's conscience being spit into a new body.

(The first visual story point here being to start off from a vast perspective and begin to funnel down to what is happening. I lightly tried to apply the idea of a cycle from the beginning to the end of what you see. The concept of suns and stars, to a blackhole twisting matter into the unknown. To the end, where the life and death cycle of merc clones in conflict is seen on the ground)

--2. CHARACTER CREATION--
a. After the intro you go to your character creation much like you do now. The character creation process currently does it's purpose well I believe.

--3.THE MILITIA OFFICE--
a. After your character is created you should be ported to a militia office. This would be a governmental recruitment center that your character would first appear in. This would be the ideal place to interact with your first NPC's. I figure, faction officers, other mercs, concerned civilians. There are many possibilities.

(my thinking here is since it is your character's first time doing anything, that before you are allowed to be cloned repetetively and be shipped off anywhere you get educated here at the MO. Also this would maintain the character detail that the character you made is/was a citizen, not some conjured entity.

b. The point of the terminal is mostly for role play immersion efforts, but from here there could be learning terminals/videos/ exercises like some tutorials described in detail by others, and a port to the academy. The tutorials and battle simulators would be accessed via some neural/ virtual uplink.
Other applications of the Milita office could be implemented as well. It is a modular type of location that would provide expaination, involvement within locales of New Eden, and would help to make you feel like the game is bigger than you.

c. After you do what you want to do there you are finally issued your first batch of equipment that you own, given access to your portable merc quarters, and given cloning rights and resources. The milita office exploration and learning part could be optional with the choice upon arriving to go straight to your merc quarters, but you sould be issued better/more stuff if you go through it by your parent faction.)


(I feel a character, story immersion part is needed between character creation and ending up in the merc quarters, and that's the point of the Militia Office. Plus it has much unsaid potential for expansion I think.)

--4. MERC QUARTERS--
a. The Merc quarters is now yours. It is the habitat of your currently animated self. From here you should have access to news feeds all relevant and non relevant (immersion)

b. Within the merc quarters there should be 3 battle resources:
- CORP hiring resource. where corps could put up advertisements, applications, info, whatever you make available to them. Once you join a corp this terminal would become your corp battle finder area.
- Faction Battles. Since it was initially your chosen faction that sent you on your way there should be a division of battles so you can fight for them. I imagine loyaty points and faction discounts would work well with this idea.
- Finally a Freelance Digest, a insta battle/ pick your highest bidder battle finder. Basically a battle finding resource that doesn't fit into Corp or faction battles.

c. Essentially once your in your MQ either by direct skipping of the Militia Office services or by training in all prior exercises you are free to battle and explore the items, strategies, and play options all on your own.

d. The player should have access to information, fit and equipment resources, training videos/ tutorials via a kind of in game encyclopedia. I imagine an implanted PDA that can be accessed by thought. (there could be a neat interface that pops up with this info as if you had it indexed in your mind.

EDIT: Within the outline I see the ideas of others, myself, and what is already present in the game coming togerther to feel like you are indeed stepping into a large and expansive universe.

Backgrounds

Each race/bloodline combination should have a history that's fleshed out. Most of the background universe is just window-dressing at the moment, but I think fleshing out what the civilizations are, what they stand for, brief history, their combat ethos, and their aesthetics would help players identify more with who they're creating.

The current text blurbs are very short, and tell the uninformed little about the given factions and bloodlines. I think having the AI voice narrate an optional video about the civilization (similiar to PS-home vids) would aid in selection. I think of that as a "general" level selection. After actually making the character, a slightly longer introduction with a brief (also AI-read) description of your bloodline's place in all this would also be good.

An in-game reference kiosk in your MQ to look at the history/nature of other bloodlines and factions (with a spin given by your current faction) would also help immersion.

For instance, people can currently buy a "Khanid" Scrambler pistol in the store with a description that notes they are rarely seen outside the "kingdom". They can also pick Khanid as a race. In-game, this is mostly just confusing (Amarr Empire has a Kingdom in it? What?), but an introduction that gave an abstract-length version of the history and place in the empire would fix that. As-is, any background on the universe must be found on the net elsewhere, as there are no resources for that information in-game. The established lore is a strength of the game that should be used.

This becomes important when you're pitching something like faction warfare as well. If you're an EVE player, then you might already know what the factions are about. A new player (besides FW lacking any unique rewards or loyalty benefits) will find the FW conflicts utterly obtuse and no different from the random contractors mentioned in instant battles.

Tutorial

The current tutorials are very basic, and that's not bad necessarily. However, more complex functions of things like combat commands need to be communicated. I'd suggest a series of training missions (with no rewards) that instruct a player on basic concepts available from the same menu as the battle academy.

I'd break them up into categories, starting with something like HUD specifics (including things like range to target, weapon efficiency, and notifications). Mechanics like usage of supply depots to switch fits, ladder operation, and turret installation operation would also fit a basic mechanics sort of mission.

A mission that takes you through weapon usage would also be good, something that gives you instruction on how weapons have ideal ranges, and having them fire/aim at different static targets. That mission would also ideally introduce them to a variety of weapon types; a supply depot with a set of fittings using every weapon so they can swap out to fire at training dummies would be good here.

A mission that introduces squad orders would also be good. I'd suggest the tutorial demonstrating how to create a squad, then invite players. After a squad forms with the fake AI players, the player can be talked through executing squad orders on his/her static squad. Finally, the mission should demonstrate how to call off-map support like an orbital strike or call in a vehicle. The mission should emphasize the importance and benefits of being in a squad.

Lastly, a mission that allows players to experiment with vehicle controls might be useful. I'm not sure if "trial by fire" as far as learning vehicle mechanics is an intentional element or not. It seems... slightly odd that you can only learn the controls of tanks/dropships while under attack. If it's intended, then I suppose this one isn't necessary.