"Rainbow Gear" and mixing role with DPS gear

I don't think the game itself will ever effectively teach new players or any players for that matter.

It will almost certainly remain a community player issue. Unfortunately the elements of the community best positioned to teach are also the least likely and at times also the most toxic.

A lot of us veterans of this game are quite jaded at times, stuck in our ways and incredibly intolerant and a little egotistical (no ones exempt from this, not even myself).

On one hand we will be helpful and in the very next moment we'll be insulting others or each other.

We'll be incredibly guilty of either underexplaining or overexplaining or just outright concealing things to ensure our perceived competitive advantage isn't lost, even if it's too the overall communities detriment.

I don't think it's realistically possible to put anything other than a brief tutorial in game, but it'll still end up highly inefficient.

Realistically your best bet is to develop a thick skin, be prepared to put up with some $#^* and not be scared to ask questions.

And if the vets in the community could even make baby steps towards being a little more helpful, we'd all be better off.

With that being said of course, it's important new players be receptive to feedback especially when it's constructive.

Sure thing sir

Definitely respect that. Looking at other MMO's though, I don't think new players face that much difficulty and they don't get hand by hand guiding either. They adapt and learn. But something in dcuo is very very casual, and when we get a little challenge - both experienced players and new players are having difficulty communicating and clashes about it, which causing more wipes and frustrations.

Put the original intro brainiac ship thing back in place. See how many ppl couldn’t get up a flight of stairs was funny. You need an iq test for players otherwise we end up with dip craps in endgame content.

Nah, I don't think that's true Zoe, numerous other MMOs are no different and in fact they're very similar in many respects.

The higher up the rungs you go the more elitist and intolerant the communities can become, no differently than in this game, which of course doesn't at all justify the toxicity.

Ive dabbled in final fantasy and swtor and even though final fantasy has arguably some nicer tutorial features, as a new player it didn't really make any less confusing and the temptation to simply ignore things or bypass then was strong because you want to level up and play with friends.

The same temptations exist within this game, unfortunately in swtor and FF, they're riddled with far greater complex systems that learning anything in those games becomes even more infinitely more difficult.

DCUO by comparison is actually relatively simplistic in terms of its underlying systems.

Just briefly too in SWTOR, end game groups would often demand new players have instance achievements before joining groups and the only way to get the achievements was to complete the instance in the first place.

Similar in fashion to elitist end game leagues here and those asking for "exp" on the very first day

So as much as the games themselves differ, in many respects they also remain the same, particularly the communities.

I don't think DCUO is any more or less casual than those other games, it just depends on what level you're playing it at.

So how do you think we can as community change anything or if we even should? Just from my personal experience, had much easier start on Guild Wars 2 then I had on DCUO back in the day. Maybe It's because I already had MMO experience, maybe not.

But I didn't expect the game to hold my hand throughout leveling or after. And what my point is, that players wants to get content done, but aren't being fair to the group when they don't contribute anything, and this also probably effect activity for them, if they're not willing to be more helpful and improve.

I heard from vets here that dcuo used to be by far harder. The OG raids were taken hours to beat, alot to go through. It's something I kinda wish I didn't miss. But idk if ppl expected it to be easier back then too. I like to challenge myself, and I like to help people, but I think we a have our limits and expections within group and team effort

You sound like a Chad.

Could just rebalance the preexisting role passives to account for the stats. Or in a perfect world the gear itself adjusts it's stats to match what role you're in, like a true super suit.

Wait... did they remove the intro/tutorial with the player escaping the Brainiac ship?

I don't think the community can change because we're talking about 'people behaviour' which is why I referred to them taking "baby steps" to be more constructive, because that's about all you can ask.

I agree that when it isn't your first MMO it's going to be a little easier to pick up because some fundamental things remain shared between MMOs or are close enough to remain familiar.

In terms of difficulty back in the day, I struggle to agree, I think grrater lengths of time were spent because everyone was new, but that doesn't mean the content itself was fundamentally more difficult. The game was different though, not necessarily more difficult, but different.

Combat systems were different, the game was different in terms of balance, playstyles, clipping, a raft of things. I think in terms of quality the game was probably better and less cheesy, it definitely felt more pure, this post would probably become an essay if I delved into detail.

The community itself too changed greatly when it merged with Playstation, what I'm about to say may be seen as possibly contentious by some, but as a whole, I feel like the PC community in this game pre merge was decidedly less toxic than after the merge. There were obviously individuals who stood out but by and large the PC players I think fostered a community that was possibly more constructive even towards teaching.

The PS community brought with it constant trash talk in chat channels, wanton racism and the like with N bombs every second sentence or word (if you don't believe me watch some twitch streamers) and an overhyped overt zealous sense of "comp me bruv" rather than teamwork.

Not all Playstation players are bad or like this at all, but it was a change in behaviour I absolutely observed after merge and having spent 11-12 years here.

Im not saying it to be disrespectful but it's undeniable.

It's hard to teach players when you've got a culture obsessed with hiding things to win COUE comps and refusing to do pickups cause they'll loose burn and the like lol

Perhaps, yea I was just saying it would require consideration

Make a new toon and then get back to me on how you feel about it.

This game just needs an actual tutorial system, this would circumvent a lot of issues that tackle the game

You say 'allowing' like you want a mechanic to prevent it. Sorry, but as much as I want my healer in healer gear, I also don't want to be forced to do anything myself I don't want to do *cough* clamped runs *cough*.

I'm all for some person who knows 'battle' roles being able to do them. I'm also for when I have to flip to tank to save a duo, being able to go into my inventory to swap a few key pieces like weapon, head and legs to get a bit more burn to get the job done. I've done it on occasion, and would LIKE to be able to do it again if I wanted.

Yeah, people should NOT run in mixed gear unless they know what they are doing, but as long as we can still kick or leave, I'm fine with them learning by trial and error...not fixing training wheels on all of us because of a few clowns who refuse to learn.

What the game needs is a tutorial or training system so that people learn some of this basic 'no-no' stuff and don't make these easy to avoid mistakes. At some point when they get more advanced though...they should have the chance to experiment...same as you or I should have.

As I stated before in another thread, I was alway told never to mix gear i.e. Tank gear + DPS gear. Proxy *hugs* has gone to GREAT lengths to explain to me the details / benefits of “Battle Roles” and to teach me about it. But I would never attempt it personally as I do not feel competent enough to do so, sorry Proxy, I just don’t think I’m cut out for it.

For people who are able to play this way that’s great I think. It shows their creativity and resourcefulness. I can understand Zoe’s point of view as a result of playing since January 2014, I guess I am stuck in my ways of maintaining pure gear builds: DPS is all DPS gear, Tank is all Tank gear, with no crossover. I quickly learned back then not to mix gear as I was insulted, kicked from raids, and generally made to feel stupid.

I don’t know how much time/money/resources it would take to make a tutorial, perhaps an official on line YouTube vid from Daybreak itself would be more beneficial explaining the ins & outs of the game?

As most have already stated, this is a big no from me as well. As someone who considers Hybrid support roles as their main, I constantly use rainbow gear and augs frequently. Like most things, this isn't inherently bad, so long as you know how to properly use/do it. The best thing about Hybrid support is being able to flex which stats/powers/augs/arts is needed in any given situation. Locking Tanks/Trolls/Healers from having DPS gear/augs/arts would greatly hinder that.

I understand not knowing a role is a problem, but using such a broad brush in this situation would really damage the Hybrid community, which remains as one of the last shreds of joy I get from the actual gameplay of DCUO (which is a personal interjection, but take it for what it's worth).

I know you're fed up with bad/ignorant players, a lot of us are, but this isn't the answer.

I wouldn't call a Battle (whatever) a rainbow setup, as in, I battle troll with DPS gear/augments with maybe a split between DPS/VIT. I would call a rainbow augment setup to be 3 or more different roles represented by augments. Now, I'm going to assume there are plenty of people who fall into the Battle Role spectrum of 1-2 augment types with no question on my part, but I'll be damned if I don't insta-kick someone with 3+ augment colors. My time is too precious during seasonals (for base item farming) to explain something the game should explain, and I would wholeheartedly support a system that prevents the use of 3+ augments at the risk of some "expert" Battle Role's feelings being hurt. Hell, a system that at least prevents 4 different colors would be a start, with a warning that shows Amber Waller popping up for 5 seconds to offer a look of disapproval.

Of course, I kid. Or do I?

I hate the fact that these players exist and a tutorial definitely needs to happen, but gating them off to begin with is a bad call.

DCUO was my first MMO, so I made a lot of mistakes at the start. I mean, a lot. I figured I was doing something wrong, but didn't know what, and had it not been for a very kind group of players I rando queued with, I would probably never have got my head out of the sand.
This is where the whole sense of community should really kick in, players helping others, to build/play/perform better. For me, this was also the point when I went from casual play to sp-chasing, so maybe this mistake needs to exist?

The reason why I don't want it gated at all, and think that doing so is a bad call, is cost.
As troll I regularly just run my Prec episode augments. I don't wanna level up two sets an episode, and feel its unjustifiable with current amount of xp/breakthroughs.
As battle troll, I run full DPS gear. I rarely buy the elite troll set, infact I don't think I've done that since FP.
These are just two situational examples, but both builds definitely excel with what they're supposed to be doing, I can picture a number of other battle scenarios that would accomodate this, too.

Oh no, definitely not talking about battle heal\troll\tank.

Yeah, in reply to everyone, gating is not a good idea, for sure. I am just hoping players will take the time to improve, MMOs are about team effort and helping each other, not carry people who are not willing to do the bare minimum. (Like..another point is seasonal afkers but this is a topic for another day). I don't mind explaining, plenty of people make guides or YouTube videos too, and it really easy to improve with practice and taking advice from others. I am not the best dps out there, but I keep practicing, upgrading my artifacts, ask my friends who knows more than me for ways to improve. I step in elite to challenge myself. And I am very very very VERY casual player. I started knowing nothing and decided that so I can help myself and my group I need to improve. There is always place to get better, and no you don't have to have max artifacts or run elites, just I think what we all expect is players to do the bare minimum, so we can all enjoy the game.

The old tutorial had a part where you needed to break block, lunge and block (as far as I recall) 3 small Brainiac adds. They removed it with the new tutorial which was a shame.

I was doing the Metropolis City Hall duo for Omni a few weeks ago. The person I was doing it with had no clue how to get past the lantern's shield. *heavy sigh*