Test Server Feedback

Looking forward to seeing what it's like. I know eve is a hard game to learn how to play, and that a good intro to the game is very important, doubly so due to the game's complexity.

Woooo! Yes! Bring on the new NPE!

Some thoughts based on yesterday stream:

• Circadian Seekers as weak entity in NPE is a horrible idea for obvious reasons. Newbies ask daily "How do I kill those sleepers on gates" and now they will simply shoot them and suicide.
• Some dungeons are overfilled with objects and dust, like hacking part, for example. That is a huge performance hit even for good configurations. Also keep in mind that with streaming client new player will have to load more of those resources. Remember it's NPE, not performance benchmark.
• Get rid of civilian modules and random fitting modules in redeeming system. "Here, take this new shield Merlin and don't forget to fit Armor Repairer". It will cost you nothing to spawn couple normal modules for some common newbie PVE fits. This will also introduce newbies to ammo and turret reload, because civilian modules only distract them. "Ruining EVE economy with free modules" is not an issue here, because anyone can already do so with free ships from Career Agents.

Is NPE getting put out to day? hopefully with no server killing bugs and doesnt delete my boot.ini let's never do that again

Running this now, noticed one glaring little issue.

When told to kill the warp disruption field generators, they are not on the overview by default because Large Collidable Structures are non selected by default. That's going to mess with new players who don't know how to adjust overview settings. Similarly, the NPC enemies that show up are also not shown on the overview by default, which could also be a bit confusing.

The Navy mentor compels recruits to take up suicidal jihad against the drifters to become independent capsuleers? That was unexpected.

Top kek CCP. Please make 72 virgin long-limb roes and 1 copy of Pax Amarria available after activating the medical insurance clone.

I tested the NPE right to where you need to buy the BPO, market issues prevented further progress. I had some minor hick-ups, mostly due to having a modified overview and client settings, so these will not be a problem for actual new players. This is definitely your best effort so far and seems quite engaging. Voice work is excellent, I like how you use warp disruption bubbles to stop players accidentally getting lost in space. This used to happen a lot.

One thing though, you should not tell people to orbit without also explaining tracking. It'll lead to players in their brand new cruisers missing their shots and then creating abominations like the small-artillery Omen. Thrust me. I know EVERYTHING about the small artillery Omen.

Most of these where demonstrated on the stream yesterday.

Other characters that log in after you start doing the NPE start the NPE even though they are out side the starter system and even docked.

HQ was not in the overview for the escape to the HQ portion. Adding the name of the station would allow the new player to recognize the one station as the one they want you to warp to.

Allowing the fleet communication window section with the text to be shrunk down would be nice.

Saying that mousing over the weapon icon will show weapons range would be a good addition.

A dedicated chat channel where if you type "say again" in it the test would play the last window again would be a good addition.

The jumps to Aura are to fast if you are trying to read the full text. with no clear way to hold the text on screen.

Dropping of the survivors would be nice before you go fight pirates.

Using the new fitting window it would be nice not to have to go thru 3 screens just to buy a item.

Market was down in Bourynes

Aura identifies the Operation panel as the info panel when directing the player to warp to the smuggler's den.

Gallente mission should say something about hull damage as the rep fitted will only fix hull damage.

Cloud did no damage.

Will tracking be turned on as default for new players?

Will the tactical overview also be default?

Having a salvage drone in your drone bay for all races would show the differences between looting and salvaging. All metal scraps from the smuggler den would put me off from looting.

Lock range is not described. might get some players confused.

World level for sound got turned down for some reason. I don't remember doing that. The voice over still played however.

Stuck at the market issue.

Will finish up tomorrow one the markets are all up or after I run a blue print out to my character hopefully not buying it in the market wont lock it up.

Logging back in in the middle of the market task does not indicate what item I was trying to build or buy.

It tried to reset to the last spot but did not jump back to where it would be useful to start again.

Not having the auto pilot enable yet was annoying when warping back from 6-c to finish the mission. Had to use a normal character and a standard analyzer. no civilian data analyzers where on the market in 6-c.

Even having the blue prints did not get around the block.

Also tried the NPE and got stuck at the buying BPO from the market task since markets aren't working. I tried to go in another system to buy said BPO but there were no civilian Data Analyser BPO on market. I tried buying the normal tech 1 one to no avail.

I also agree that the tutorial should mention the item in question in the "Purchase the Blueprint" section. New players might be confused as to which blueprint exactly they need to buy (civilian or normal BPO for example).

Other then that, i liked the tasks i was able to do, especially the way new characters are dropped in the middle of a battlefield filled with friendly wrecks. It does convey the message that New Eden is a dangerous place.

I second the other people here finding it a bit odd to have the seekers be so weak when they are stronger in other parts of New Eden.

I also found it odd that the drifter battleships icons that spawns at the end of that site are white when the earlier circadian seekers icons were red. Having the drifters icons as red would reinforce the idea that those ships are dangerous and would make the player wants to actually avoid/fight them i think. Plus, the color for all rats in the game are red, so why change this pattern when players are learning the game? Might as well make all ships (player or npc) in the game have white icons if you want to go this direction.

And yes, if the player choose to fight the drifters and obviously lose their ships/die to them, the mentor and aura should acknowledge their deaths. If the player goes to the station, the survivors should be removed from cargo as well.


On a more positive note, i did like the idea of having warp disruptors at the site as it was said. From the very beginning, it makes new players experience tackling and interdiction early on.

Well, maybe i'll have more to say later once i'll be able to finish the tutorial.

Edit: Oh right, on the gallente tutorial, in one of the dialogue windows (i think it was after killing the rats at the smuggler den), the commander will speak the first paragraph but will move on to a paragraph that isn't present in the dialogue box.

Edit2: I do like that Aura emphasizes on "...in this station..." when tasking the player to buy the item though.

I just hope the NPE required blueprint(s) will be "protected" in some way or another, like seeding more than just a few for some station/corp per regions...