Wrel's New Player Experience video

Wrel's got some great points and solid ideas in that video. I hope the devs are paying attention.

Wow that's an amazing idea, utilizing the directives as part of the tutorial. Emphasis on the death count directive is also great, removes part of the depression that will come at first.

I think the BIG thing in the video that kinda got glossed over was the need for Squad and Platoon Leaders to "Earn and Maintain" their positions. I think this is especially true for the Command Channel and Orders.

I like the idea of having a "Newbie squad" option that allows mentoring of new players. In fact, this could be a part of the progression system for Squad Leaders. You have to lead Newbie squads, meet certain objectives with them, and get a good review BEFORE being able to progress to Vet Squads and Platoon leading.

I think a different approach would be better. Have directives that require vets to lead newbie squads/platoons which have a special mechanic that either forces new players to join or encourages them to join in some what. Currently the Leadership directives don't encourage this enough and it'd be nice to see more "newbie friendly" squads to help get new players' foots in the door.

But look at it from the Vet Squad Leader point of view:

You work your way up through the ranks and your reward is...getting shackled to a bunch of noobs? Yes, that is an extremely harsh way to view it, but you can be certain that some, if not many, squad leaders would see it in this light.

And if you make it strictly volunteer, you're not going to get the kind of turn-out you need to support the numbers of new players. You're going to have to wave a pretty huge carrot in front of vets to get them to take on that duty.

Or, conversely, you can make it a part of the progression system: "You are a new Squad Leader - You will captain new players. Earn you stripes with these players and you will be promoted to leading other vets." Prevent ANYONE from being a Squad leader until at least BR30.

Finally, build in perks for squads that stay close to each other. This has to be something better, more tangible, than just extra XP. An example of this could be a "Moral Bonus" for players that stay close to their Squad Leader which would grant a 10% speed bonus to reloading and switching weapons.

Definitely sounds like good ideas overall. I think the hot drop start is still a bit problematic since it doesn't provide that nice bit of time to configure hotkeys (I think you get a gear icon on the main menu, but it's easy for a new player to miss and doesn't let you move around in-game first.) But having the entire game focus on teaching players all the nuances is a great direction to take things.

Maybe could address that with a shorter tutorial? Not the full one now but more a "hey soldier! Get those arms and legs moving and grab your weapon! We got a battle to fight and need you, you will be contacted on the ground with further details."

Low fps= lag. what is a fps game with low fps ?`oh and hit reg bugs dont help. lets face it, the game is a mess. also I hate how every weapon is underpowerd, there is whole armies standig ontop of each other shooting like cracy and it kills the emersion imho

Yeah that definitely sounds workable. Makes me think of Quake 1's menu level, where you start your PS2 tutorial facing two doorways, one labeled "Instant Action" and the other labeled "Boot Camp". So you could run straight for the drop after fiddling with controls if that's what you wanted, or you could play through the tutorial.

I suppose I feel that's where Wrel's suggestion is weakest, since I feel there's something to be said for letting new players develop some of these skills in isolation where they aren't being curbstomped by high-end players. You lose that opportunity if you switch from a singleplayer tutorial area to just dropping players straight onto the battlefield.

A post from you I can agree with? Nooo.. must .. find... objection.
Anyway: learn people "insert pushes you into a random open squad" shouldn't take long.

When I'm playing "relaxed", tired, etc, I still simply run after a random dude in my faction I saw spawning before me and shoot what he's shooting. Usually people run towards a fight anyway.. which suits me perfectly.

PS2: first fps in years; yadayadaa, weeks-month had KDR of 0.2.

TBH: nothing in the tutorial was really surprising to me.
Click mouse, gun goes bang, teehee giggity! As typical, default controls completely unsuited for azerty keyboard (sigh..)
Anyone whom has ever played unreal tournament (-> me) has some idea of "shoot enemies bra"; the capture points are what domination was essentialy. Oh look, an enemy tank. Um gee, should I try to shoot it with my pistol, or my rocket launcher.

The tutorial is easy.
PS2 is however (IMO of course) a very bad "first game experience" because someone who's never used a mouse to aim at virtual targets suddenly goes up against human opponents. In tanks. A few minutes after learning how to jump over a small box. A likely occurence for someone whom has litteraly never played before is to simply wander of and end up in an area with no fight at all.
Fortunately, most "PS2 newbies" will have at least gamed something offline.

Wrel, you on the other hand, want to create directives that go "die 10 times".
I would be absolutely insulted (even with my KDR of 0.2) to get "achievement unlocked" for falling of a cliff, suiciding myself with my grenade, running under a tank, whatever. That includes dying to gunfire. No game I ever intent to play shall go "great work dude.. 9 more deaths and you get a rank!" for failure. Death should be failure; if death is winning then I win by playing infiltrator (less health) and go stand uncloaked in front of the vehicle spawn pad. The purpose of Planetside 2 is to have fun, but the in game goal should be objectives, killing stuff,.. not getting killed to get a directive reward..
There is no skill, no effort required to die.
As far as I'm concerned, directives could dissapear from the game. (I know, I know, directive rewards..)

I think the medal and the ribbon system works fine. Explain someone, say, you get a medal/ribbon for reviving 10 people (granting % xp, X certs);
you get a medal/ribbon for 10 kills with the same weapon etc. The ribbons keep coming, but did you know? At 100 kills you get a medal for extra certs!


Game design suggestions:
-a bit more control settings in the tutorial (mouse sensitivity aiming! I've actually steadily lowered this; I still need to run and cut a corner of course; but when ADS I need to aim to hit (duh..) )
-lattice system: I get it, sure. But the result is I run up to an enemy base, step onto a capture point, and then receive the message "can't cap.. no bases connected".
Maybe there should be a clearer icon on the map "this is cappable";
or 2 icons: nearest(/most accessible ) friendly base attackable by enemy; with an indicator it is under attack;
nearest/most accessible enemy base you can try to cap; indicator you side is attacking it.
Of course, those indicators should/could be options, since more experienced players simply redeploy.

Also: could someone explain to me, when I login, how the game chooses where I can spawn? I for one, want to spawn at a fight..
Simply make everything an option.
And don't put me on a continent.. then I need to deploy at warpgate, switch continent, redeploy.. aaargh.

See I like the idea of them getting dropped in because in isolation there isn't as much chaos. As wrel put it you have the "new shiny game" feel to help soften the chaos and craziness and death. Having a drawn out isolation period wastes the shiny time on isolation.

This game is suffering with the mix of veterans and new players in the same fashion as Natural Selection 2, BUT Natural Selection 2 suffers more because extreme lack of options to play around and limited weapons and dying is unforgiving. NS2 is a very very small dedicated community now, this one however, is slowly sinking but maintains a somewhat high pop.

Make it 10 unique ways then; lets face it, you're going to die no matter what in this game. By your own team, misjudging a fall, your own team again, the enemy a few extra dozen times, team members, your own grenade.

What I don't understand is why there aren't more rewards for kill assists. Often times a new player will at least get a few hits on a more experienced player but ultimately die before he can finish the kill. When the Directives came out I was expecting Assists in the list but was disappointed. There's not even any Assist ribbons yet.

I WAS that pleb. ...my KDR stayed at a flatline 0.5 and an even worse KPH for the first year playing this game b/c of AMD's.
It was a life sucking existence that eventually gave me an Ulcer. Once I upgraded though....



KPH still needs work... But yeah, anything less than an expensive CPU is just saying to yourself: "I don't want to enjoy this game"

And If you don't know how to Overclock to 4.2ghz .... then you might as well wait for the PS4 port so you can play against nothing BUT plebs on the least plebby CPU currently available to Barebones systems (which I refuse to call "consoles", b/c they ceased being consoles when they no longer piped ROM images through proprietary graphics assemblies)

When I spawn, I'm already dead. Apply that mindset, and charge. (exception: medic. Then you revive me, please don't get yourself killed)
Dying is part of the game.
It is not however, an achievement, and it certainly shouldn't give out directives.
I say this, despite my three chars still having a total KDR below 1; despite being relatively new, despite being a person that might still benefit from some tutorial stuff. (it is only recent I've started using reload time to check behind me etc; after watching vids from Wrell & Moukass..)

Shall we give out rewards to participants ending last in a league game? At the olympics? Then it becomes the special olympics.
Do you get an achievment for losing an alert? How about for losing your vehicle? "Geat job, you saw the light assault C4-ing your sundy, but you have the aim of a potato! Enjoy the fireworks show, and advance to the next directive tier, where your challenge is to flip your lightning upside down. (need a hint, Click here for a tip: at the following nearby location is a great spot, a mild 20% incline that still flips your lightning if you drive on it sideways. You can also look at the forums for help if you get stuck on this tier ..)"
I'm special, but not that special, tyvm. It is O-K to have a mini-tutorial popup the first time someone dies. (you have died.. this green thing is the respawn button. Press it to be alive again.)
I could post a vid of the great George Carlin here about the wonderfull approach of "everybody is a winner".

Wanna help newbies: give out more XP on a kill based on KDR. Saay.. a person with a KDR of 0.2 that is quite new could probably use some faster certs; if he gets a kill, he gets +60% xp; or he gets certs quicker for killing. (but only for killing). Such a system would be the planetside 2 equivalent to gradual difficulty settings; the game adapting AI difficulty to the player.
Give newbies an analysis of damage taken: this instagib happened because of a sniper headshot. (kill happened in 1 shot)
Here you died, player killing you shot you 4 times in the head. (now, you get "100% damage by player X"). This could actually teach people which part of themselves was exposed.
A "newbie-friendlyfying" option would be to reduce the headshot multiplier on full-auto weapons.
Shotguns are 1.5, sniper rifles and semi-auto rifles stay 2; nerf full auto headshot multipliers to 1.5 too (pistols too probably..); and
a 167dmg weapon needs 4 headshots. (+1)
a 143 dmg weapon needs 5 (also.. +1)
Headshots remain a very good idea, if you are that accurate, as they continue to bypass nanoweave, and can kill faster.

Another newbie-friendlyfying option: give newbies the first restoration kit for free.
And say.. the first 2 ranks of nanoweave.
(as a newbie, I do not need more ammo as an infiltrator...)
Give newbies the sights on the starter weapon for free.

The weapons are all sidegrades in principle, but I hope we can all agree that there is a difference between "spawn with an extra rocket" and
"spawn with option of lockon launcher, max flak armor or max nanoweave; 4 medkits and an AV grenade"
flak armor, nanoweave, medkits, AV grenade: those are upgrades a newbie doesn't get.
A newbie is at a triple disadvantage against a BR100: the BR100 has higher skill (aiming etc); the BR 100 has better knowledge (of the maps etc.. this isn't skill; applying map knowledge is arguably skill, but still), aaaand the BR100 has better equipment. Not just "sidegrades". That is the 1-on-1. Add groups, and the BR100 benefits from teamplay.

Same thing happens with vehicles; it is not a sidegrade to have rival combat chassis versus a bare vehicle, to have fire suppresion, to have extra armor.

K. I misunderstood. I thought you where suggesting something out of game.

I think that Wrel has a great point here. Some people aren't playing the KD game and dying is really frustrating. Perhaps granting a tangible benefit for sucking would help.. Maybe if you're on a death streak you start getting a 5% per additional death bonus to your EXP gain or something? A directive reward for 'auraxiuming' your deaths as various classes that grants you a funny title. 'Total newb ________'.

I think you're reading into his suggestion a little more. We're talking about consolation prizes to keep people engaged in the game even when they're playing awefully, not rewards that you aspire towards. I don't think there should be cert rewards, but there are other shiny things they could give out, like cosmetic items, camouflage, titles. These items could be a benefit for players who are having trouble learning the ropes because even though they're not doing well they won't feel like they're wasting their time anymore. It's also important to know that playing very well you will also eventually get the 'deaths' directive because it's based on the number of deaths and not how quickly you accumulated them.

Agreed

I disagree with messing with the balancing factors just to make it more noob friendly. As we've seen in the past, changing damage values on items can make or break this game. Imagine how many people would be pissed off by their weapons damage values going down. You'd be losing vets at the cost of maaybe increasing the number of noobs.

I agree with much of this. I think that any new player should start with 5 'free' upgrade pellets they can use on stuff that costs 50 certs or less. They could use this to up some of their initial skills or buy a scope or two. These pellets would allow for a new player to effectively 'set up' their first class they want to use. New players should also be directed to look into trialing a new weapon right away so they can see some of the variety available.

TTK is beyond insane.All this game has is hard core fps players.The game will N E V E R grow with this feature.

This is the point where a COD scrub usually pops in to say the TTK is too slow. ....disregarding the fact that they had Aim-Assist b/c they grew up playing it on a console. Where-as us ancient FPS Veterans (talking about first year Wolfenstein'ers & Mechwarriors here .... not Counterstrike 1.6 kids) have pretty much seen it all. Probably the fastest TTK that was still kind of balanced by a decent compensation system + Interp / TICK rate and optimized servers, was CounterStrike Source but only AFTER there was significant backlash against the AWP until OHK's became less common through community plugins. The AK47 was a little too strong IMHO as well, but nothing that couldn't be 2v1'd with deagles & minimum communication. IE: it's basically the Orion.

So I still think the overall TTK is mostly acceptable but the real problem in TTK is the overly generic "Criticals" system. At long ranges, everyone else thinks TTK is way TOO SLOW. In CQC, new players think it's too fast. Criticals contribute immensely to this issue b/c they don't scale properly. It just results in very repetitive watered down gunplay with an overly compressed skill index. A good analogy of it would be the Lattice system: it just forces every possible nuance through a meatgrinder instead, spitting out pink-slime

Any MMO that wants to retain as many players as it can, has to have multiple "scaling" checks built into it to ensure a consistent playing experience is always being delivered. MOBAs currently do this very well, that's why they're beating the HELL out of FPS's right now and supporting professional tier players through an E-sport dynamic