How to Overcome the Learning Curve

Hi,

When you first play a new game, the learning curve can be overwhelming. It’s especially true if you don’t have a strong friend group, which I would say is most players.

One feature I believe would be beneficial for intrepid to introduce is that a new player has a special indicator, maybe a gold star, for the first 10 hours on a new server (10 account hours on server). This allows people who have extremely helpful personalities to reach out to those new players, offer them gear and bags, and even try to recruit them, which is a good thing. The more connections you can form with the player, the better the retention.

If you think someone’s suggestion has validity, like it.

What else?

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George_Black

For me when it came to open world mmorpgs, newstart servers were the only answer.
Even with the help of others, people always feel behind, be it solo-loneliness behind, or our group is not relevant (competitive) behind.

tugowar

George Black wrote: »

For me when it came to open world mmorpgs, newstart servers were the only answer.
Even with the help of others, people always feel behind, be it solo-loneliness behind, or our group is not relevant (competitive) behind.

I hear what you are saying, but eventually, that gap will always open up. It highlights another important issue, which is that the endgame cannot just be a race. There has to be different compelling objectives and different ways to balance the competition. That sounds like a new thread to me

AntVictus

FFXIV does this...and I absolutely hate it. Mostly hate it because of the mentor system in that game as 98% of mentors do not need to be mentors, they only do it for the little icon they get which is a crown symbol indicative to whatever they are a mentor in. Back to the point though, even if they have already started on another server should they get this too? Who gets to see it? Everyone? idk even with the corruption system I just see that leading to a lot of needless griefing....which in the end if it happens enough loses players.

I do agree that there should be something at some point that does help vets interweave with newbies, but not right now and not like that. Maybe...maybe only allow mentors to actually see it, in which case we need mentors...and to become a mentor needs to be more than just "having x amount of stars and having done this many dungeon runs, with every class to 50+"

unknown

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unknown

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Wandering Mist

The last thing a new player needs on a game that features open world PvP is to have a giant "I'M A NEW PLAYER COME KILL ME" mark over their head.

Mentor schemes generally don't work either, because the vast majority of "mentors" only do it for the rewards (see FFXIV and GW2 as examples).

On a side note, I don't understand this mindset a lot of players have of needing to know everything before they start. You see it all the time on discussions:

"What is the best class to play?"
"What is the best build for my class?"
"what is the fastest way to [insert goal here]"

Can people not think for themselves anymore? Or is the fear that you aren't playing the most "optimal" way so strong that you need to be told everything before you even begin? I don't get it.

winner909098

Wandering Mist wrote: »

The last thing a new player needs on a game that features open world PvP is to have a giant "I'M A NEW PLAYER COME KILL ME" mark over their head.

Mentor schemes generally don't work either, because the vast majority of "mentors" only do it for the rewards (see FFXIV and GW2 as examples).

On a side note, I don't understand this mindset a lot of players have of needing to know everything before they start. You see it all the time on discussions:

"What is the best class to play?"
"What is the best build for my class?"
"what is the fastest way to [insert goal here]"

Can people not think for themselves anymore? Or is the fear that you aren't playing the most "optimal" way so strong that you need to be told everything before you even begin? I don't get it.

yeah. I dont like asking or answering that because I either have no clue or it takes the fun out of the game for everybody to be doing the same thing.

tugowar

To Wandering Mist's comment, why not just make someone PvP immune for the first 10 hours of their account?

Wandering Mist

tugowar wrote: »

To Wandering Mist's comment, why not just make someone PvP immune for the first 10 hours of their account?

You could, but then you're getting into a situation of finding solutions to problems that shouldn't exist in the first place.

tugowar

It doesn't matter if the problem shouldn't exist. Ganking new players can be a problem. Why not give them protection if it means creating less bad experiences?

Caeryl

tugowar wrote: »

It doesn't matter if the problem shouldn't exist. Ganking new players can be a problem. Why not give them protection if it means creating less bad experiences?

Because PvP-immune bots aren’t something any game needs even if it’s just for 10 hours.

New players shouldn’t be highlighted with “Help me I’m a noob” icons, they’re perfectly capable of asking for assistance if they need it.

unknown

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tugowar

Ok, so this forum thread so far:

"How do we help retain new players? here's one idea"
"that's a super shit idea, I hate it!"

Caeryl

Player retention is easy if your game doesn’t get stale by design. If nothing changes except on patch day, your retention is gonna stink. The world of Ashes will be in a state of constant change, which will have a rather steep demand on entry to get used to it, but once someone does it keeps things fresh and keeps players returning.

Adding in gimmicks to be abused does not aid in player retention.

tugowar

Caeryl wrote: »

Player retention is easy if your game doesn’t get stale by design. If nothing changes except on patch day, your retention is gonna stink. The world of Ashes will be in a state of constant change, which will have a rather steep demand on entry to get used to it, but once someone does it keeps things fresh and keeps players returning.

Adding in gimmicks to be abused does not aid in player retention.

You're right. I changed the subject.

akabear

Provide a role and a purpose for newer players in relation to more experienced and visa versa.

inclusion rather than exclusion..

could be as simple as rather than go gather/kill 100 X for leveling a town building, go train a new citizen (group and kill 100 X mobs, a bit of power leveling and cross level partying)

not all areas but perhaps some so there is a handing down of knowledge and help as part of the roles in the game..

Noaani

Caeryl wrote: »

tugowar wrote: »

It doesn't matter if the problem shouldn't exist. Ganking new players can be a problem. Why not give them protection if it means creating less bad experiences?

Because PvP-immune bots aren’t something any game needs even if it’s just for 10 hours.

New players shouldn’t be highlighted with “Help me I’m a noob” icons, they’re perfectly capable of asking for assistance if they need it.

This is the reply I was going to give to this point as well.

My general thought process with suggestions like this is "what would I do to exploit that situation?".

If I can find something - in this cause using a new account to transport as much material in 10 hours as I can possibly manage - then I have to assume that others can find other things.

A character - any character - immune to PvP in Ashes is a bad idea.

What I would do if it were me, is lean heavily on the games official forums. Ensure forum mods are able to give individual posters permission to do what ever is required (post movement, removal, and even poster bans if absolutely needed) as long as they are fostering a thread that is helping a specific segment of the community (a specific class as an example).

Then, I'd implement an in client browser, so that players can access the game forums without having to alt-tab out of the game. I'd then also have an in client option to set notifications for replys from forum posts, so that players can post in the forums, and then recieve an in game notification if they get a reply.

What I wouldn't ever want to see in any MMO is the game telling players how to play their chosen class. Most of the time, the developers don't actually completely understand how players actually play any given class (this is why develoeprs in most games need top end content play tested by players, rather than just getting developers to test it out). Due to this, any information on how to play the game should come from other people that play the game.

There may be a way to do similar with Discord, and if so it would be worth doing similar there as well.

While this may not be the absolute most efficient way to get information to new players, it is a way to get information to those that actually want that information. It also have few negative side effects in the game itself, which is an obvious bonus.

Wandering Mist

tugowar wrote: »

Ok, so this forum thread so far:

"How do we help retain new players? here's one idea"
"that's a super shit idea, I hate it!"

Well, the reason why I haven't posted a suggestion myself here is because I don't see a problem. As long as there is a short (optional) tutorial that explains the basic controls to new players, I don't feel the need to add anything else. Sure you could put in forum or discord integration into the in-game client as @noaani suggests, but at the end of the day it's up to the players to use that resource, not have it forced upon them by the developers.

I've said this before, it's pretty much a given that the players will come up with their own strategies and gameplay, and with the power of the internet, share that with others. The information is there and these days it's pretty easy to find. If a new player chooses not to use those resources, they shouldn't complain about the learning curve.

Songcaller

I think it would be good if there is no level barrier to the chats. Some MMOs force you to reach a certain level before you can use the chat. I believe most of those are P2W Models. I don't think we need invulnerable new players or flagged new players. I rate immersion quite high in terms of gameplay and differentiating new players doesn't add immersion, it separates the new players from everyone else.

Wandering Mist

Neurath wrote: »

I think it would be good if there is no level barrier to the chats. Some MMOs force you to reach a certain level before you can use the chat. I believe most of those are P2W Models. I don't think we need invulnerable new players or flagged new players. I rate immersion quite high in terms of gameplay and differentiating new players doesn't add immersion, it separates the new players from everyone else.

Chat restrictions are to help stop gold sellers spamming the chat channels on level 1 characters.

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