Suggestion for New Player Experience
- Thread starter rekurzion
- Start date
Lestat
Banned
Got the idea after rereading The Dark Wheel and the below is just the high level bullets
NOTE: change the name of solo mode to SimTrainer
new players only have access to the SimTrainer mode and private group during training and pg is only one other player. for the pg another player must be combat ranked dangerous or above and they replace the SimTrainer modes' NPC co-pilot (see below).
new player starts as a crew member on a trade ship being shown the basics (stations, modules, jumping, supercruise, fuel scopping, etc) when they are interdicted and immediately shot down. there is a sequence where the player has to mount a turret and return fire but the ship attacker is in a hardened cobra and the scenario always ends in destruction with the new player floating in an escape pod when the attacker comes into view and blows up the escape pod leaving the player floating in open space. fade to black.
the next scene is the player in a stripped down cobra in dock with only a handful of tons of cargo space. no weapons. no money. the ship was gifted by a minor faction who wants the player to track down the pirate and assassinate them for killing one of their best traders.
new player has some dialogue with a rep from said minor faction who shows the player the basics of the BGS through a series of missions to raise some funds (through trading, mining, exploration, passenger transport) to outfit the cobra in order to complete the assassination mission, which is the first mission the player receives.
the new player is joined with a co-pilot to guide them on their journey (or their iron azzed real player guide via a private group)
the missions should require the new player to defend their ship against pirates ensuring their combat rank reaches mostly harmless (pg player cannot access turrets, only there for verbal support)
the missions will take them through turreted and gimballed weapon use eventually requiring the player to purchase fixed beams
once the beams have been purchased the new player receives a trade mission to an anarchy system which leads them to be interdicted by the pirate who first attacked them.
the player gets one chance. if they destroy the ship, training concludes and their combat rank is elevated to competent (on account the cobra should be master ranked or there about). the cobra is returned and they start in a sidewinder in open with profits from the gutting of the borrowed cobra and their reputation with the minor faction increased to cordial. "thanks for your help commander. now its time to make your way. good luck out there, it's a dangerous galaxy."
if they fail, they still start in a sidewinder but they remain as mostly harmless, do not get the minor faction rep increase and start in the SimTrainer mode. they are not forced to redo the training, they just need to raise their rank on their own now. "maybe you should spend some more time in the SimTrainer, commander. it's a dangerous galaxy out there"
at this point the player has access to all game modes. for players who failed to destroy the pirate they will receive a warning when switching to Open that it is not recommended with their current rank of mostly harmless. this message goes away with a minimum combat rank of competent.
I think your idea is hogwash of biowaste myself. When I start games we can use Skyrim I don't set the Mode to children mode to learn the game like your idea suggest. I set it to max so I can get that Oh what the hell did I get my self into mode.
So I have to say your idea is a terriable idea.
Unlike the OP, this is something i can get behind. I mean, yes, most players here don't even know about the already existing mentoring missions. They were introduced a long time after launch and the only way to see them for a veteran player is to reset your save. Which is not something many people do too often. So the information about the already existing (rudimentary) new player help spreads slowly. (Also note that a new player at the start is placed in a solo instance. A friend of mine had to do the mission before i was able to invite him into my multicrew session. )
The rest of what you wrote and expecially the quoted part makes very good sense. I mean, what you writes hints towards a "player story", which would be hard to implement and against the usual style of the game. But as long as it's done with a gentle hand, it would really help. You could have a number of pre-defined missions, which start at certain triggers. They need to be communicated better than it's currently done, and they should take the players hands and guide them through different aspects of the game.
Most of all, they should provide everything which currently is in the tutorials, as actual gameplay. It's a common thing for players to skip tutorials. Well designed games these days (means, the last 15 or more years) don't need tutorials but teach you while playing. This is something ED also needs. People need to be able to start right away. The first hour of playing is the most important one for player retention. ED uses this hour to make people go through tutorials instead of actually playing.
Anyway, FD already announced that they will do big upgrades on the new player experience. I expect something like that to happen and I hope that it turns out well. There's a lot of improvement possible and necessary and I hope it'll be here both soon and of high quality, but in my eyes the second aspect is more important.
That is an entirely combat-centred viewpoint. Not everyone bought the game as a space shooter, some of us do very little combat over many years of play.
I won't divert the thread but the Open / OtherModes dichotomy is and always has been the source of much disharmony. You can have fun in the Hotel California discussions of this if that is your want.
Or the end game is exploration. After all, there are more systems to visit than all players can ever do, so it seems like the deep hole of infinite work and experience in the game is on the exploration part.