The NOOB final Solution...Training Implants

I do not know who said the above quote, but I would think one of the DEV's and it makes sense, that this might be one of the main issues new players have with this game along with a myriad of other NOOB vs Experieinced player issues, which would turn off new players to this game.

Here is my solution to the NOOB equation that PS2 suffers...

Give newly created players a special training implant. This implant will provide a new player with a whole series of buffs, information and advantages which will be geared to assist them in transitioning from a green recruit to a battle harden veteran.

Training Implant Buffs

- Kill Camera & Direction. Implant will provide detailed information about what killed our NOOB recruit and where.

- Increased Nano Shield, increase both the shield capacity and recharge rate. helps reduce all incoming damage.

- Reduced Fall damage.

- Health regeneration.

*** These are just some ideas I have that would give the new recruit a little boost to help them combat veteran players that have months of experience and upgraded gear...

Restrictions - Obviously something like this could be abused..

- Limit it to only players that are under level 10

- Allow it to be used on any character they create on their account, but as soon as one reaches level 10, they all lose the buff.

Since this is a training module, I would also suggest that the game give the new player indicators, when the training implant has assisted them. For instance, if they jump from a location that would normally kill them, them Training Implant would flash in their visor, that such a drop would result in death or serious injury once the implant is removed at lvl 10. Or when they die, they would get an indication, that the Nano Noob shield buff assisted in reducing the damage by some amount and what type of damage they received, and then suggest the player purchase, flak armor or nano weave which in the future will help them mitigate this sort of damage.

If I recall correctly the quote is from Higby talking about why they wanted to add the mini map to killer on death screen to avoid people giving up and quiting too soon.

I don't think it's just the newer players that are sick of it, it's pretty frustrating for many of the older players, too. No one enjoys leaving the spawn room and dying instantly to something that they have no way of fighting back against. I personally introduced 2 people to the game and both of them quit within a day because of random lolpodders (although one was repeatedly killed by snipers). That kind of stuff is definitely not helping player retention.

Noob final solution = round them all up, put them in camps and burn from above using Zephir/Dalton?

Oh come on, anyone who quits that easily would have been murdered in games like Unreal Tournament/Quake II. In those games a good player was literally untouchable. I used to play on servers and go 40-0 with barely anyone even landing a hit - double jumping around the map with a lightening/rail gun.

Everyone just wants it easy now.

You have a way to fight back, move to a base that isn't completely surrounded by the enemy. If you are getting killed the moment you exit a spawn room, then that base is pretty much lost and the best course of action is to fall back and regroup.

Again this could be something the training module explains to a new recruit. If it detects the new recruit dieing with in 5 m of a spawn room, then maybe it could flash across the screen...

" This base appears to be over run, We suggest you fall back to a less contested base along this lattice line and prepare to counter attack or set up defenses"

With said solution creating a 0% new player retention rate, it would most likely sign the death warrant on the game.

....or they can just make the game display this /protip:
"This game is not for everyone."

Im a veteran and the thought of this makes me cringe, as a matter of fact that screamer on the Dalton forced me off the ground and into the air. It is terrifying to be on the receiving end of that hose.

I started playing this game only a few weeks ago and it only took me a few hours to start figuring out how and why I was dying. After a few days I became a lot more competent and today I feel like I actually do very well and hold my own.

People that quit within the same day or the next complaining that the game is too hard or unforgiving are either brain dead or this just isn't the game for them. Expecting a game that has a competitive environment to have 0 learning curve and to not get murdered by vets is not very realistic; I just hate to see when games are dumbed down to cater to this lowest common denominator...

Back on topic: As for the OP's idea; it's not necessarily bad, but i just feel like it is a crutch, that when it wore off still wouldn't prevent someone who overly relied on it from quitting anyways. New players need to understand that situational awareness will get them a whole lot further than trying to play this game like CoD. Also there's nothing stopping a vet from making a new account to troll people with the noob buffs.

First off welcome to Planetside...You definitely have the right mind set to play this game...I've been playing for almost 2 years and we all know this game is very unforgiving to new players. In fact, we joke about it all the time in TS, when we kill a low BR player and almost feel guilty, because they rarely stand a chance.

Don't think of this solution as a crutch, but more of an In game training guide. Sure it gives the new recruits some buffs and privileged information, but if it is coupled with notifications explaining what happened, then it could be a real benefit in retaining new recruits.

Anyways thanks for the feed back and I hope I can give you a glorious death in game...

One of the best things they could do for a new player is removing instant action.

It is not a bad solution, if SOE is dead set on doing something to increase their retention rate (and im sure they are), some kind of change is coming regardless if we like it or not. I would say his idea is far better than having to deal with kill cams for everybody at all times.

This could really work well assuming SOE dosent mess up, it takes like 2h to hit br 10 (cant really remember), so the implants would act as a learning experience for new players, of course not every new player would stick around but im sure it would increase the number of returning players. Other than the kill cam nothing he suggested would have much of an impact on veterans, and even the kill cam if it is limited to just br 10 wont impact the game alot.

Veteran players could make dozens of accounts to abuse the noob buffs, but to be honest i doubt alot would. I wouldnt trade all my certed out classes, MBTs,Maxes, ability to own C4/mines just to get acess to those buffs for a limited amount of time. If anything any veteran that switchs to noob accounts is decrease his/her impact on the fights since he/she will give up on alot of certs they already earned.

I pretty much agree with this, because I guarantee you the types of players who quit because they couldn't figure out what killed them will then turn around and complain about the thing that killed them when you spoon feed them the answer.

This would this cause frustration to new player by losing a crutch at level 10. They would have to slowly be transitioned off of it.

However I would just rather have the new system on the death screen. Give identification of player location of where they were when you died. This only hurts people who don't move which is a small minority of the player base. This should not hurt sniping or any other play style because your exact position will not be given away unless you were spotted.(At least this is the newest iteration of what I have heard.)

I have seen the pluses and minuses of the death screen system and feel it offers more than it takes away counter to this system.

I thought about the impact of losing the Training Implant immediately at lvl 10 and I agree it could decrease in effectiveness gradually as well. So a new player would lose like one feature starting at lvl 10 and ending at like lvl 13 so its a more of a gradual loss and by that time they would have had time to gain some certs to buy armor upgrades or weapon attachments, etc etc.

I am against giving kill location data over all, but I do not have any issue with allowing new players to have access to this information as it will help them learn situational awareness.

The problem with a crutch, is it could slow down a players ability to learn how to walk.

From what I read about the location though is that they will be giving a 15 degree cone,on the minimap, that will show the direction of the player unless that player was spotted in which then it will show where he/she was at.

That is only slightly more information than is currently in the game since you get a damage indicator of the direction in which the player killed you from, which as a veteran player, usually tells me the likely location of my killer.

Overall I do not think the extra information will hurt veteran players or their play styles but it will decrease the frustration of new players drastically hopefully retaining them.

I hardly would view this as a crutch, it is more of a temporary leveling of the playing field between a veteran player with FULL Flak or nano Weave Armor vs a sub BR10 with no armor resists. It simply gives them a defensive boost to compensate for having no resists compared to the veteran player. As that sub BR10 player starts putting points into his armor, then the Training implant can scale the resist buff down to compensate. so that it doesn't stack.

Giving them access to a kill cam might be the only "crutch", but again if it presented as a training guide. It would work wonders helping new players viewing how and where experienced players are positioning themselves, so that they can learn what to look for or avoid.

I disagree and I think it will have a significant impact, even with veteran players. That is why I don't have an issue with giving this ability to new players only, but then removing it once they reach lvl 10. Getting a hit marker right before I die is a far cry from showing me a 15 degree cone of attack on a mini map or a red line directing to the exact dorito on the map that killed me, even if they are spotted there may be 5,10 or even more other spotted players in that general direction or range, showing me exactly which on did it gives me a lot of additional information, that I can use immediately over Team speak or as I am revived 2 seconds later.