Help us help new players!

I really want something like this added. I agree make it cost 1-2k certs so that not just anyone joins it for giggles (although I realise even 2k isn't much for some). I'd say make it up to BR 30-40 though. If you point them to this channel at the end of a tutorial, perhaps along with suggesting youtube and other sites then I think people will turn to it for help. I think if someone goes to a channel like this for help, and gets it then that is their hook to stay in the game, not just by finding out what they need but also talking to people, potentially finding and outfit or making friends which will mean more people stick around.

I'd also like to suggest give the mentor players a different colour within that chat channel to distinguish themselves from those seeking help. A new reporting category so we can easily report those who abuse this channel by misleading people or recruitment spam would be good too so SOE can quickly deal with them.

As a new player, I would have liked to have been able to be able to print out a list of the default keybind for everything instead of having to go into the keybinds and manually write everything down so I would have an easy reference of them.

Knowing the default keys for squad, outfit and platoon voice chat would have been nice (found them in the keybind list of course).

The fact hat you can only equip one kind of armor/gear at a time. Didn't know the first go around and started purchasing a little of everything because I thought it would help out.

That weapons can have gear and how to load it onto weapons.
Same with vehicles. - especially the AMS for Sunderers.

I would put reference in the man tutorial that there are sub tutorials for different things and that it can be referenced through a continent selection terminal at the Warp Gates or in VR. There I would l put sub-tutorials on the classes, vehicles, etc. I hate to say put in links to official Youtube vidoes, but if that is the best we can get it is better than nothing.

Role/class specialties should be highlighted and explained a little more in depth.
How to heal/res for Medics. Why how to level up medical equipment and triage.
How to repair and what you can repair for Engineers. Why how to level up repair equipment.
How to use and the different types of jump jets for Light Assault.
How to use and the different kinds of cloaking and tracking devices for the Infiltrators. Why how to level up tracking and hacking equipment.
How to purchase lock-on weapons for Heavy Assaults - letting people know that there are lock on weapons!
The difference between Anti-infantry, anti-ground armor and anti-air weapons.

I hate to say it, but the current tutorial is about the level of the tutorial in the original DOOM. This game is far more advanced and with a lot more variation.

How to capture a base.
Reasons why you can't capture a base even though you have lines connecting saying that you should be able to do so.
How to tell which bases you can actually capture.

I can't even think of all the stuff that I didn't know that I guess I was supposed to know or had to figure out because I had the feeling that I knew that there was something that and tweaked and searched until I found what I was looking for/needed to learn..

On the plus side, the interface/system requires a bit less explanation than Dragon's Prophet. and it hadn't been tweaked so far that it doesn't really relate to the tutorial and in-game information the way that DCUO does.

A squad tutorial with AI simulation of combat wouldn't be a bad idea. One playing as a squad member getting instructions and one playing as a squad leader. But that might be a bit more complicated and take far more time and programing than other things that would really help out a new player with things even more basic than being in a squad - which is almost essential once you really start playing PS2.

186 hours in game and on steam and i have been pc gaming since 1997.

Nothing will change the fact that you can spend hours and hours in the game certing and still die in a few shots.

Less 'realism' and more fun will keep players. We play games to do what we do in dreams and people enjoy their time in game actually making them noticeably more powerful. Im not saying we should have to empty 3 clips into eachother but we are grinding for nanoweave for a measly 20%?. Sure the vets will be more powerful but new players will be happier and stay if they have something powerful to work toward rather than knowing that they will always die very quickly.

There is also 0 meta game which literally makes the game all revolve around cert farming. You think people really care about winning?, no, its the certs from winning, not the actual winning a fight itself. You must have seen the br100 player stats show that they get bored and stop playing as much right?.

The issue is that people want their time in game to actually be worth more with the more time put into the game, not, more time for the same hp and having to add attachments to weapons just so they function correctly. The weapon attachments don't even augment a gun, they literally just fix it from being about as handy as a tech9 uzi made from pot metal. Remove horizontal recoil, it makes no sense and seen as people talk soooooo much about realism, ever fired a real gun?, wtf is horizontal recoil?, maybe something that people who CANNOT OPERATE A GUN MIGHT GET, AYE.

It has all the mmo trimmings but 0 actual mmo style impact and the vehicle choices of having to pick armour plating for x side is also ridiculous.

The artwork also boasts mmo style gameplay but fails to deliver. Case in point, the new pic of two people helping an inured comrade when we know full well that they would all be dead in a second from one guy with x gun.

TLDR

0 metagame
0 decent impact from cert choices in GENERAL
0 survivability and cod style gunplay for 0 immersion feel
0 mmo feel to it
0 point in anything but farming certs until the BoRing 100

I have been pc gaming since 1997, i have said this many times and watched many games simply die off because of the above and then people actually wonder why when its laid out and right in front of them. If you are going to keep the time to kill so low and have the cert upgrades do so little, then remove all the immersive looking artwork and call it a grand fps.

I wont re visit this thread as that's another thing killing your game, the people who are quick to push their subjective rubbish as fact.

Experience is king.

Thank you.

I mean straight up, the thing that bugs people is that they die so much.

Maybe when someone dies the first 100 times or something, a little screen comes up over the death screen that is like: "No, you don't suck at this, everyone dies this much."


From there, getting people to understand points and the taking thereof, maybe more directed graphics on the map screen?

So, lets say you boot up the game, get shot, now you are dumped to the respawn screen (And I think it should be the respawn screen, not quick spawn, because I am not inexperienced with this game, but when I hit quickspawn it always makes me disoriented) and there are ARROWS or something that point from the respawn points to nearby objectives that have been marked.


Also seriously, why not just funnel new players by default into squads set up by people who want to Teach new people how to play the game. This has been suggested a million times now. Some people don't want to watch gameplay videos, wrel, tb, etc. introductions... they want to Play. So, they log in without watching that stuff, and then are instead put with someone who knows how to play who says: "Okay children, go here and here, and if you have any questions, ask me."

A button in main the menu: "Need help? Talk/text to a Planetside 2 Mentor now!"

Tooltip: "Planetside 2 has a great community willing to help you with anything you need. Just click the button and you will be paired up in a squad with a experienced player who is willing to help you with anything."

Push the button and you are automatically paired up with a mentor in a private squad.

Mentors get notified: "Do you want to mentor: ImSoLost (BR1)? Yes. No."

Mentors can sign up when they meet the set requirements. Reward the mentor as you please, I'd do it just for the shear joy of helping others out. A very distinctive, thus under powered, mentor camo would be a good solution (although the mentor camo would be feared on the battlefield by others)

This button is visible to all battleranks and why not since:
- mentors might want to talk shop together
- a BR79 wants to learn how to fly
- a BR90 wants to learn how to be a good mentor
- a BR10 wants to ask what is the "best" attachment to gun X
- a BR30 wants a new friend
- I need to tell someone that they are fabulous
- the list goes on...

mentor system: easy and effective

ps. this post is also at reddit because nanites

You want to help new players?
Ban all players with ESF kills > 3000 or remove ability to get ESF after 3000 kills.
This will be the best help.

Suggestion to not only help new players, but everyone:
- give us an option to 'duel each other' in VR, as in the participants will take damage from each other (training purposes)
- make VR infantry training spawns visible with the thermal and NV scopes xP

Fix the games hit detection and lag issues and crash issues and new players will come back to learn more because all those elements do not really make for good quality of life game play.

The tutorial when you create a new account is good but it doesn't cover much. No mention at all about how to use vehicles, that's a start.

For the first 20-30 levels (since its easy to get to BR 30-40) you need to show people HOW to get to an objective and how to interact with it (many don't know to press E when close to a gen or SCU). Bases like Advari Biolab on Esamir is a prime example, new players don't know how the heck to get up to where the fight is. Also, give very general and helpful tips like spending a couple certs on a sight for your weapon or upgrading your repair and healing tools.

PVE?

Usually when a new player starts a new game, the first thing they want to do is get right into the game. So give new players an indication that PlanetSide2 is a MMOFPS and is not played like any other FPS out there, so that it is important for them to go through the training to learn how this game is played and be effective on the battlefield.

I'm all for a mentor system that rewards people for taking others under their wing and teaching them the ins and outs of the game. I personally would love to a be a mentor that would take a squad out for a jolly stroll through VR or across a battle island (ideal for training over regular continents) and teaching them everything they'd need to know.

Maybe after signing up for being a mentor (and being one for some time) you get a special camo, helmet or decal signifying you as one? After a while, just getting certs or XP would get kind of old.

Unless, of course, signing up as a mentor granted you and anyone you were mentoring XP bonuses up to a certain level (to prevent excessive XP farming by those who know the game well). That alone would be enough for many to join and learn a few things.

Give newbies hotkey tips. For example, until recently I had no idea how to switch seats in a galaxy. Or, for example, some people don't know how to deploy sundies, or what the white and red circles mean on the minimap with a sundy, and why they can't deploy there.

ALL hints should be given either as an unobtrusive reveal off to the right or left of the screen, or be shown in the respawn screen. In fact, the respawn screen should have a lot more protips to cycle through, at least for newbies.

-The first time they enter, say, an enemy biolab region, a little popup could reveal on the left or right of the screen saying something like this:
"biolabs are <description of lore>. They can be used for vehicle spawning, aircraft spawning, blah blah. To capture a biolab, you must cap all three points within the biolab. capping the biolab gives you X benefit."

-The first time they go to a vehicle's spawn screen, another popup could show up, saying something like this:
"Sunderers are heavy, durable vehicles used commonly for team transport, or as a mobile spawn point. To set up your sunderer as a spawn point, you must purchase the Sunderer Certs shown on the orange button"

-The first time they go to an infantry spawn screen, it could say:
"Infiltrators fulfill many roles in ps2. While they don't have as much health as other classes, they have plenty of usefulness. They can snipe from a distance, hack enemy terminals, sneak into enemy territory and assassinate people, blah blah blah. etc info"

-The first time they go to a continents screen:
"Auraxis has many continents, each with their own battles raging on. You can find a continent to join, or go into VR training to hone your skills. Continents have maximum allowed players , so you may have to wait a moment for a spot to clear up on crowded continents. If a faction controls more than 50% of a continent, they own that continent and "Lock" it, giving their entire faction a large bonus and preventing anyone from visiting the continent for X amount of time."

-The first time they cap a point:
"Great! You helped capture point A. A timer shown on the left of your screen shows how long you have before you control the region, given the points are not taken back. The more points you cap, the less time you need"


Stuff like this would be fantastic for newbies who are serious about understanding the game. The tutorial is... okay, but there's a LOT of stuff it doesn't cover that would confuse and irritate newbies. I mean a lot. So the first, say, 5 times they do something, there should be information on that certain thing. Plus, for a while later, continue giving small bits of info in the protip respawn screen.

And for Pete's sake, don't airdrop them into the middle of a bloodbath the moment they learn how to pull a trigger. Spawn them in the warpgate like everyone else, giving them another hint on the right that tells them "You are now at your faction's warpgate, their main spawn and base. Enemies cannot enter the energy field which surrounds it. From here, you can spawn a vehicle or aircraft, change continents or class, run around, redeploy (U) and spawn nearer to a battle, or get right into a fight with Instant Action (I)."



I know if I had information like this when I started ps2, I would have a much easier beginning.

Also as a newbie medic, I had no idea how to res until I tried right click. Give that as a hint as well.

And holding Q to access options for different things.

Also, when operating a vehicle, I had no idea that Page Down could lock my vehicle. I found out about it online when looking up Galaxy drops


Something that could also be helpful and highly used is a list of different tutorials. Say I'm a newbie. I go onto this list and see:
"how to: infiltrators
how to: light assault
how to: sunderers
how to: tanks
how to: HUD
how to: etc"
I could click on one, and it would either bring me to a video, or a playable tutorial. As a bonus for sitting through it, I would be rewarded X amount of certs. It would give newbies incentive to learn, as well as giving them good resources to get into the game.

A mentorship program sounds amazing.

I spend the majority of my time on Auraxis teaching people anything I know. I run squads with the mission of getting people to understand the core mechanics of this game (it's tic-tac-toe, not checkers, guys). I teach what I can, when I can, to whoever comes my way. I do not seek to be rewarded, I do not want recognition, I want others to step up and do the same to keep this game alive.

I have no idea of how it could be implemented, but I know one thing is for certain, there would have to be something that made a mentorship player activate and deactivate the mentorship setting.

For example: I log in with the intention of starting a squad for teaching and easy-going missions. I want to activate my mentorship option. Now, all players BR 35 and less will see that a mentor has a squad going and that it has space to enter. My name becomes yellow to friendly members and my icon is (And this is just a thought, it could be anything) a set of sergeant chevrons (TR).

In order to maintain your mentor rank and system you have to lead mentorship squads a certain amount of time a week, and the squads can be any size. This enables one on one learning (pilots) all the way up to one on eleven learning with infantry skills. This also makes it so that somebody who wanted to troll would have to have a little more effort to maintain their trolling ways.

Since it is impossible to keep lunatics and jerks out of command chat, I feel that it would be best for the mentorship program to be just as open. Possibly give the members of the squad a "Rate my Sergeant" option as they leave which would improve the mentors over all ranking as a teacher or something.

Top advice here.

ok, so this is going to get long, and I'll probably have to log back in when I get to posting it... I am writing this up as I read this thread. I know it is about a month old; however I just started playing this week and I hope some of this will help with what needs to be added to basic training. Also, it might be quicker and easier to (I know this was kind of mentioned in the thread) add an encyclopedia to the menu; however make it a player editable wiki, where your BattleRank affects what you can edit, force <BR 50 to comments only, and BR 100 the only ones that can edit without requiring approval from SOE or at least 2000 total BR ranks approval (20x100 or 100x20 even, any combination). Editing should be done out of game only, players should be busy killing/healing in game

Some quick comments, then I'm going mention things based off the posts of others (without quoting, I'll try to give the post # and maybe the poster name)

First off, It took me 15 minutes to find my way out of my first spawn, I played approx 4.5 hours the first time, played every class but medic and engineer, died 100 times (yes exactly 100), and had 5 kills. Most of my deaths were by BR85+ players and probably 60% from infiltrators, 30% from vehicles, and occurred while I was trying figure out how to get from point x to point y (used instead of a & b to avoid confusion with checkpoints). I liked the intro VR training system and think it should be expanded. I have logged maybe 50 hours of game play at this point and just found out 5 minutes before logging off yesterday that you can upgrade armor and buy other weapons. I still cannot figure out how to get inside most bases and often run around the perimeter for 10-20 minutes trying to find a door or stairs... so far I have tried flying 7 times, 3x I died by crashing into a tree within 40 seconds of take off, 2x I died by getting blown up while trying to take off, 1x I flew out of the "approved area" at such a speed, that by the time I even turned around I just blew up and was 4 bases away from a friendly zone, and the final time I over shot my destination by 2 bases, had about 5% health left (on the vehicle) due to getting shot at, and bailed at low altitude, then died while trying to run back to where I as going (no spawn points anywhere near my destination, which I learned yesterday was because you can't spawn that far away from your current location). I now play engineer a little, infiltrator MUCH less, heavy more, max if my spawn location is under vehicle attack, and medic all most all of the time unless there is no one else around.

I've upgraded my medic 3 times, bought 3 addons for my infiltraor SR, upgraded my sunderer for deployment, there was one other class upgrade I did 2x, but couldn't tell you what (maybe infiltrator certs?) and now I am saving up for something... stuff just costs so much, I figure I'll keep saving until I know what I want.

I've glitched several times, either not being able to access any kind of terminal, or get in and out of vehicles, and I've even disembarked from a sunder inside it and could not get out, respawning put me in the same place, but no one else was having the problem. I finally got out when it was blown up.

Why do some people have no head (post death, when it shows who killed you)?
I cannot tell the difference between friendlies and enemies 70% of the time, unless I am far enough away to hit “Q” and see their triangle glow blue or red without dying first.

The redeploy process is annoying as crap, I did figure out that it follows the lines on the map, which I am guessing are supply lines… I do now also understand that to “unlock” a base there has to be a connected friendly base by supply line, not just next to a friendly base. What I haven’t figured out is why I can jump multiple bases in one redeploy only sometimes and other times only to the next base over.


Holy grenades batman!

how about something in the VR mode that allows you to click on things to get more info? like access a special terminal, and then anytime you move your cross hairs on to something and hold it there for more than 1 seconds a tooltip pops up?

ok, now on to the responses to people's posts....
#3 - Prudentia
sundry deployment was pretty easy to figure out, someone asked if someone else had upgraded to be able to deploy, so I checked it out... but I can see how it otherwise would not be so easy to figure out. I just found out infiltrators can hack things last night, and still have no idea how, or why. I figured out generators by watching the shields drop when they go boom, not sure if they hurt you when they go boom though. Also, no idea what an AMP station is or how to figure out the generators and what they power (unless it is right next to the shield...

#5 - Archiadus
the steady aim is a tool tip on the scopes, I have no idea what "squad mode means", and new players learn very quickly how friendly fire works... I was playing yesterday and someone put me in the pilot seat, no idea how they did that, also, I keep getting requests to swap seats... need to figure that one out

#6 - r4zor
the map was pretty simple to figure out, what I didn't know until today was that there is a continent/global map in the warp gate, what I still don't know or understand is what all is in the warp gate (also noticed that in the world map thing you can get back to VR training! been trying to figure that one out for days). as for the weapons, the information provided is almost completely useless as is, the only thing I can figure out how it relates to game play is that muzzle velocity affects bullet drop, and lead time at range (got that from a item description on the sniper rifles), and that the damage goes down over distances. the rest of the information provided has no meaning to me when I read it. as for the details from the item attachments, it would be useful to have the statistical numbers there, other than "decreases damage at range" for example.

#7 - Turkeys!
There are tunnels?
I can't even figure out how to get inside most bases, I end up running around outside till someone kills me, then I either spawn inside or go somewhere else...

#9 - BiggggBRIM
giving money to people that don't know how to play the game only makes them buy useless things that they won't use ever again after they play for a week or two, because they realize it was a stupid thing to spend money on, or they decided to focus on a different class. maybe a level up bonus? give them a significant bonus when they level up to BR5, BR10, BR15,m BR20, and BR25 instead.

#12 - r4zor
Please!
I played for an hour earlier today and the only thing I did was spawn, run out the force field, and either die, try shooting an enemy vehicle (there were several) or, if not seeing anyone, grab a tank or sunderer and try to move out to the next base to provide assistance, and get blown up as soon as I got out of the vehicle spawn.

#14 - FBVanu
I like that idea a lot

#16 - Tayradactyl - SOE
it doesn't require all the teams to have the available resources at the same time, this is called capacity planning and a halfway decent Project manager could make it work over an extended period with proper planning. each team doesn't have to work the project the same, the same week, or even the same month. every one does their part, then has short meetings regularly to update everyone on the status of each part and remind others to start putting things together when they have some time to do so. No matter how busy someone is in IT, there is always down time where they are waiting on something to finish, or someone to finish something so they can then continue working (even if they are waiting on a cigarette...). Also, wanted to say thanks for this thread, and for monitoring it and commenting, it is appreciated to know the dev/support teams pay attention to the player forums.

#17 - ItsYourCPUDontWorry
EG the veterans tips idea, I put something at the beginning of this novel that might work for that.

#18 - Odamit
definitely a good idea to more intense "training" by videos/interactive training facilities, then the rest as a "encyclopedia"/"wiki" environment where players can look up additional information on tactics, and how to not be a stupid noob
and you make some really good points about sitting there getting spawn camped at a capping point.

#21 - Ronin Oni
I've only played Halo 1 and then started with Ghost Recon Phantoms in Open Beta, then this game, so yes you have players not familiar with FPS games in here. and there are so many keybindings it is hard to remember them all, or which even exist, or what half of them actually do in game. it takes less time to call out a stupid question and get the correct answer ("what button do I push to talk to my squad?" "Z" or whatever it is, I changed mine so not sure the default anymore) then it is to wait until you die, or take cover somewhere, go into the settings, and keybindings, then scroll through till you find what you want, get distracted by something you didn't know was in there, and have your squad get killed a lot while you were busy looking somethiung up that anyone could have told you in 5 seconds. But I get your point, I hate stupid questions too.

#22 - taxidriver
yes, yes, and yes, and I just followed the trail of ants leading to the lifts when I couldn't figure out where all the red dots were... a map/mini map tutorial would be handy.

#23 - axiom537
It would be nice for a 3D map, now that I think about it….or hot keys to change the elevation of the minimap (yours/outside/first floor/second floor/third floor/fourth floor…) then do “faded” indicators for things not on the currently selected map level. Are you talking about a “bot” that follows low levels around and heals/revives them/drops ammo? Interesting idea, would cause a lot of local system lag for some users. Another thing to go with your “semi-forced” squad joining/xp bonuses, what about requiring a new player to only play medic for 2 or 3 levels, then unlock engineer and light assault until BR5,a then open infiltrator and heavy, only giving MAX at level 10…
As for the “buff” idea, what about “try it” items, where they get them in a box and can open it when ready (make it part of the training tutorial), then show them how to use them, give them some credits and make them upgrade the items to learn how, and have those items “disappear” after 1 week…

#25 - RHINO_Mk.II
What is AMS? You can switch to first person?

#26- Posse
That would be very beneficial to have cert plot lines provided for new players, have them select a class during training and then it will pop up tool tips every time they have enough certs to do the next suggested upgrade and another tooltip to warn them if they are not following the path.

#28 – andy_m
Good point! There are lots of things I see and have no idea what they mean, specifically the information provided when you die about the person who killed you. Since we are getting down to simplistic instruction manual type info, I’d recommend multiple levels of tutorials, where a new player could choose what level of tutorial they want.

#31 – Allin
Tanks take no damage from small arms/infantry? I thought they’d at least take a little, guess I can stop firing at them now… what about other vehicles?

#33 – couple questions here, #1 what is a Kobalt turret (where do I find one, and how will I know that is what it is?), and why would a turret not damage a tank? Seems kind of pointless to have a turret and not be able to take out a tank…

#34 - Sovereign533
I’ll have to try out pressing buttons while using a turret, not 100% sure I understand what you mean, but I will…

#35 – Atis
Now that would be an awesome training mode!

#37 – Gammit
I guess an MBT is a tank, didn’t know you could do smoke, have to figure that one out now, I don’t know about flares either r(I have not gotten to the vehicle key bindings yet, still working on ground troop controls and maneuvering. Have not dropped any ammo yet, accidentally figured out the self heal for medic, got lucky I found that one! Have not gotten any med kits yet, no idea how to do lan mines, never used any beacons, I did set a self waypoint last time I played never lived to get there, but I set it.

#38 - Nexus545
I need to go back into keybindings, I didn’t see toggle crouch and that would be really useful as a medic… he keeps standing up whenever I run. I’ve just been using C which seems to work, until I need to run to another body.

#48 – Tuco
The explosions mean something other than “There is a battle going on here!” ???

#49 – Tiedemann
I’ve played a couple MUDs with a /help chat, where it posts the text in a different color and only to higher level players in your area, and GMs globally. An explanation of the chat system would be nice too, I played ghost recon Phantoms since Feb, logging over 2k hours and still can’t figure out how to talk to my clan while in game, if I’m not logged in TeamSpeak....

#51 – Utilyan
I am constantly spotting people, until I realized your character literally YELLS out in game that he seems someone, got me killed a few times before I figured out they knew I spotted them… took me a few deaths to figure out how they knew I was there when I was hiding and spotting them for my teammates.

#53 – Demigan
I just learned something! Seriously, you need a techplant to buy a tank? Wtf, you’re already paying for it…. Also, didn’t notice the teleport locations at the biolabs, was wondering how people could get in there.

#55 – FieldMarshall
Yes, yes, yes, and yes

#57 – Mahaut
I get OHK’d all the time, and usually not by SRs, or iof it is an SR, it sure didn’t look like it in the picture it shows after I die.
Ok, this is already too much, I’m stopping here to post, it took me a week to get through it all anyway.

The game is really hostile for new players, I was ready to quit before I even learn it. It's confusing, the ingame tutorial is bad, you dont have any idea whats going on or where are you and what are you supposed to do, the game performs bad, guns feel ineffective and perform much more different than most fps games and many vehicle and weapon upgrades/ulocks feel extremely unfair for new players. For example the default rocket launcher fires dumb fire missiles which are very slow and dont make any sense for a futuristic game while other ppl have lock on missiles/upgraded tanks that do massive dmg to your vehicle and you can only scratch them.

It might help brand new players, below BR10, if the game would force them to become a gunner on an experienced player's vehicle?

If they had to get at least 20-30 kills gunning on vehicles, they would at least earn some XP/Certs, before they run around as infantry not knowing where to go or what to do.and getting blown away all the time..

The game could also reward the experienced players for taking on a newbie in their vehicle, make it part of the "Directive" ?