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Player Features and Ideas Discussion

 
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Iteration of the new player experience

Author
Elder Ozzian
Perkone
Caldari State
#1 - 2013-08-30 19:34:31 UTC
I've introduced few of my friends to the wonderful world of New Eden. Here is some observations:

  • The interface is overwhelming. Newbie: "How do i steer my ship manually?"
  • Acceleration gates (especially the followup gates) are not intuitive: Newbie: "I destroyed everything in the mission area, but the mission is not completed. What did I do wrong?". Leads to the point where i'm flying 30 jumps to help the newbie to get through a tutorial mission.
  • Tutorial is exhausting. Me: "Did you read the tutorial instructions?" Newbie: "Too long, didn't read. So... How do i do this? Leads to a point where I'm explaining the meaning of the tutorials.
  • The epic arc agent reference from Aura after the first missions is misleading: Newbie: "Aura told me a name of an agent and showed me this career agent -list. The agent is not on this list" I'm suggesting to go to the career agents.
  • No suggestions after completing all the career agents. Newbie: "What am i supposed to do now?". Me "What do you like to do the most?". Newbie: "Well, what makes the most money?". Me: "Wormholes, factional warfare, exploration... But yeah, that might be too difficult this early in the game. Come salvage my missions..?".
  • No clue what to skill on, what attributes are and why attribute implants matter? Me: "What are you training at the moment?". Newbie: "Nothing". Me: "Why not?". Newbie: "Well... What should i train?". Me: "Frigates might be a good idea?". Newbie: "Frigates skill doesn't even give a bonuses..." I'm explaining how ship bonuses are found and how do they differ from each other.
  • The lost memory of the epic arc agent: Me: "How about the epic arc agent?". Newbie: "What's that? ...I already forgot that name, where can i find it?" Google tells us all...
  • The frustration on low level missions: Newbie: "Seriously, why can't i get higher level missions? These offers no challenge and I can do these my eyes closed, and they give me less than 1/10th of the money I get when I salvage your missions!" Me again: "Come salvage my missions...".


How to ruin newbies game at the start:

  • Give them too much money. If they earn more money from doing practically nothing, they'll lose interest and quit early.
  • Push them to bigger ships too early. They cannot afford it by them selves and it will lead to the first mistake (above).
  • Get them into PVP too early. They'll just lose their ships and cannot afford to replace them. Leads to the first mistake.
  • Tell that some real activity (like mining) is boring and not worth it. Let them find out what they want to do. We need all the industrialists and care-bears to keep the money flowing for all of us. And perhaps they like mining and all the "boring" stuff.


Suggestion:
Aura shouldn't just dump players after tutorials. Maybe she should be always easily accessible for help. The helping hand answering some questions like "What am I supposed to do next?" with the multiple choice questions like the personality analysis in the eve-online website. Also offering support what to skill next to achieve that goal. Offering also some "near match" choices.

I'm not saying these are the only bad things in the NPE. I'm saying that there should be more done on iterating it.

I disagree!

Lephia DeGrande
Luxembourg Space Union
#2 - 2013-08-30 19:39:51 UTC
Some yes, some no...

And tbh: "Tutorial is exhausting. Me: "Did you read the tutorial instructions?" Newbie: "Too long, didn't read. So... How do i do this? Leads to a point where I'm explaining the meaning of the tutorials." <-- makes me wanna puke.
Elder Ozzian
Perkone
Caldari State
#3 - 2013-08-30 19:43:58 UTC  |  Edited by: Elder Ozzian
Lephia DeGrande wrote:

... Leads to a point where I'm explaining the meaning of the tutorials." <-- makes me wanna puke.


I know, but that ease the load from newbies when i don't have to tell them every thing that are already explained in the tutorials.

I disagree!

Phaade
Know-Nothings
Snuffed Out
#4 - 2013-08-30 19:47:05 UTC
The beginning of the game lacks any direction. Level 1 missions are boooorrrriiiinngggg. PVP is too expensive, Mining is stupidly boring, Epic arc / COSMOS missions are too difficult for a long while.

There isn't that much to do other than missions when you start...
El Geo
Warcrows
NO NEED LOOSE FACE
#5 - 2013-08-30 23:33:42 UTC
Phaade wrote:
The beginning of the game lacks any direction. Level 1 missions are boooorrrriiiinngggg. PVP is too expensive, Mining is stupidly boring, Epic arc / COSMOS missions are too difficult for a long while.

There isn't that much to do other than missions when you start...


I don't think that's entirely just the beginning of the game....
Dr0000 Maulerant
Union Nanide and Tooling
#6 - 2013-08-31 16:25:02 UTC
Elder Ozzian wrote:
How to ruin newbies game at the start:

Give them too much money. If they earn more money from doing practically nothing, they'll lose interest and quit early.
Push them to bigger ships too early. They cannot afford it by them selves and it will lead to the first mistake (above).
Get them into PVP too early. They'll just lose their ships and cannot afford to replace them. Leads to the first mistake.


Nonsense. Utter nonsense.

Tell me again about how every playstyle you dont engage in "doesn't require any effort" and everyone who does it needs to die in a fire. Be sure to mention about how you tried it once but it was too easy/boring/ethnic-homophobic slur. 

Elder Ozzian
Perkone
Caldari State
#7 - 2013-08-31 16:32:44 UTC  |  Edited by: Elder Ozzian
Dr0000 Maulerant wrote:
Elder Ozzian wrote:
How to ruin newbies game at the start:

Give them too much money. If they earn more money from doing practically nothing, they'll lose interest and quit early.
Push them to bigger ships too early. They cannot afford it by them selves and it will lead to the first mistake (above).
Get them into PVP too early. They'll just lose their ships and cannot afford to replace them. Leads to the first mistake.


Nonsense. Utter nonsense.


[Failed to understand sarcasm] So, you can afford to lose megas? Intresting...

I disagree!

Dr0000 Maulerant
Union Nanide and Tooling
#8 - 2013-08-31 16:44:06 UTC
Was the sarcasm in that post not palpable?

Seriously though, there are a lot of issues like that where you need out of game resources to learn some things. Or worse yet, you try them and fail before hitting google.

Tell me again about how every playstyle you dont engage in "doesn't require any effort" and everyone who does it needs to die in a fire. Be sure to mention about how you tried it once but it was too easy/boring/ethnic-homophobic slur.