Here's How To Solve The Newbie Problem In A Way That Makes Sense With Existing Game Direction (2024)

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Before I dive into my post, I'm going to give an example from another game, EVE Online. For those of you who don't know, EVE Online is an internet spaceship game where you absolutely HAVE to join a player-run group to be able to do anything significant in the game. If you try to lone-wolf, you won't get very far. This makes sense; EVE is a MMO, not a single-player game.

So how does EVE encourage newbies to cooperate with others? They created a quest newbies encounter very early in the game that is pretty much impossible to complete without asking someone to help you kill the final boss of the quest (SOE arch if any of you play EVE). They FORCE you to ask someone for help, so that you begin experiencing group play and hopefully you pursue it on your own afterwards.

Now I know a lot of folks want to drop in PUGs and not deal with voice coms, but MWO is an online MULTIPLAYER game. With things like community warfare eventually being implemented, the importance of teaming up with others and cooperative game play with become even more crucial to success in MWO. Lone-wolfing will eventually inhibit you from fully experiencing what MWO has to offer (hell, lone-wolfing already limits you to be honest).

The best way for a newbie to learn is to have other more experienced players guide them and teach them how to play properly. A tutorial would be good, PGI thinks a 3rd person perspective will help, but neither of these can even be compared to running with a group of good players who can teach you tactics and strategy BEYOND how to operate simple game mechanics.

So, with community warfare already planned, and the inevitable importance of having to join a group, why not just push newbies into joining a group from the start? It works for EVE - that game is a hell of a lot more complicated than MWO, and they have peaked at having 50,000 concurrent users at times.

Simply put, trial mechs suck and pugs suck. The lone-wolf experience in this game is awful, I would bet many become so discouraged at playing with pugs that they just never seek to join a group. If PGI and the playerbase encouraged all newbies to look for a merc corp or house to join up with, newbies would instantly be running with coordinated groups and actually experience why it's fun to play with other mechwarriors , and how fun this game can be when community warfare drops.

Thoughts?

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Same answer as the semi insulting threads asking us why we aren't on Teamspeak.

The game needs its own way to group, and group effectively. No blind invites, no third party voip for chat lobbies, no forum posts. The only way to encourage grouping at ALL skill levels, is to make it extremely accessible. This will weed out people interested in grouping (but not necessarily talking on the mic), and TRUE puggers, who only want to click ready and shoot something.

Eventually, the system would largely ensure that people who want groups can find them without dorking around on voip, and the people who don't are pretty clearly making a decision rather than just responding to the lack of options.

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Look, this "Join A Group" as a solution to all the game's problems is wishful thinking.

Nobody, and I mean nobody is going to be willing to get involved in Group play until they have at least earned enough c-bills to buy their first 'Mech.
"I'm still driving a Trial 'Mech."
"I don't want to drag a group down until I figure out what I'm doing."
"This is embarassing. Everyone else is calling targets and I can't figure out where they are."
Quit / Uninstall / Go play something else.

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I would fully support grouping and helping people learn. I'd do it, I don't care who I'm with - people who are TRYING to get better and work as a unit still beats the pudwhacks running around picking targets at random and switching constantly.

I just don't want to be required to use a 3rd party voip to do this.

Welcoming Committee

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My unit still has some players (or did last week or so) who were still using trial mechs. Everyone understands that it takes time to save up for your first mech, and playing in a trial with a group will likely result in you getting to your first mech purchase sooner.

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Honestly, if you have no premium time and are actually paying repairs...running a trial can be more cost effective than buying your first mech. Premium time really sets them apart, but the base pay numbers are kind of structured (it seems) so that the average pay (on a loss) after repairs is around or inferior to trial.

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Card, on 17 November 2012 - 12:29 PM, said:

The thing is, I think there are a lot of groups, including my open, that would be absolutely fine with teaching new players and trianing them through the growing pains of MWO. Especially now, since we are just running death matches and there's nothing at stake.

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Redshift2k5, on 17 November 2012 - 12:36 PM, said:

It's still a humilating experience.

Vermaxx, on 17 November 2012 - 12:32 PM, said:

This is how I feel, too.

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OK, I misunderstood what was involved, as I din't wish to be forced into playing with a group I will uininstall immediately as the vast majority obviously wish this to be a different game.

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I wouldn't uninstall. Nothing says Community Warfare will require teams. If anything, it will HAVE all the lobbies we need to make groups and form temporary teams to fight less coordinated people.

But, you're going to have to wait around six months to get there. I say leave it installed, and check back after every patch to see how things have come along.

LOOK AT THAT, ENCOURAGING SOMEONE TO STAY.

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Card, on 17 November 2012 - 12:29 PM, said:

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the trial mechs. The only difference between a trial mech and a regular mech is the fact that you can earn XP.

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Arisaema, on 17 November 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

Well, and the fact you earn about 20% less per match. And you don't receive a salvage bonus if you win. And they're pretty far from optimal builds of their class.

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I would like a better Commander Interface, and automatic VOIP on matchmaking - not by doing anything by myself.

Ideally, the Commander interface should bascially give me a "Mech Commander" mode:
1) I can select my team mates and give them a location or a position they should try to reach. (Whether they do so or not is their decision.)
2) I can select targets that are to be attacked
3) I can set way points.
Some of these commands must also be available without the map.

As a Lance Mate, I would also like to have some basic commands:
1) Request Aid (should ping my position and my current target, as well as write a chat message)
2) Ping my current location and a brief message of what I am seeing (that's me not typing it in myself - it's simply my targeting computer saying what I see - it shouldn't tell anything more than I can see, maybe only identifying a mech chassis when I actually waited for target informaton on it)

These must be available via short-cuts - I don't want to type anything, because I am busy controlling my torso, my mech movement, my arms and trying to not get killed while killing someone else - I don't have time to write a novel.

Arisaema, on 17 November 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

And not customize it. And earn less rewards.

But aside from that, they are basically the same! 2 Legs, 2 Arms (or arm stumps sometimes), some guns!

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 18 November 2012 - 02:32 AM.

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Arisaema, on 17 November 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

I agree and disagree. All trial mechs have one problem or another. The universal problem with most trial mechs is that the person piloting them doesn't know how to use them. Overheat often, brawl with a long range support mech, Pilot an atlas and don't know how to group their weapons, yada yada yada.

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I think it's more of an interface problem. The game needs some kind of lobby in my eyes.

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Vermaxx, on 17 November 2012 - 12:18 PM, said:

• Pre-game lobby to find others willing to group for a couple of games
  
• In-game voice messages ("Need backup", "Enemy incoming", "Fall back", "Disarming the bomb, Cover me" etc...)

Arisaema, on 17 November 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

And the other difference is that they mostly suck.

Dezgra

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Dear mods, here's another issue i have with the game as described by the OP. He even tells you how to fix it.