The new player experience

[Gar(Noob'd)]

You guys might remember me, but, if not, I'm an on-and-off long-term player with some game design experience from my RL career. I keep trying to come back to Hyperspace, the only Continuum zone I've loved for all these years, but I can't.

 

Simply put, the newbie experience is horrible.

 

I've grinded through a ton of resets, as we all have, but I swear it's getting worse despite positive changes. I like getting 10 xp for kills early on, and the starter kit is great, and it's not even money that's the problem really, though I suspect it will be eventually...

 

It's the 2000 xp before I can even buy anything as basic as a shredder. I look down the item lists and see xp requirements that are, in polite terms, batshit insane. 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000 xp? Are you kidding me?

 

The only way for a noobship to get a kill is to lame it by lancing in the center and praying, or do the same in the rare once-a-day flag games that only involve a couple people on either freq. I, a veteran of many years who loves the zone, deem this prospect too annoying and hopeless to pursue. You think newbies are going to put up with it? Hell no. I have to cheese 200 kills before I even get to use a shredder? Which is, itself, just a cheese weapon to cheese more xp at asymptotically lower rates as I try to grind up to 8000 in a zone with minimal population before it just resets and erases all my effort? Hell no.

 

This zone has always been about veterans in godships slaughtering masses of newbies flying paper bags full of dog poo. Whether or not that's the design intent, that is what we have.

 

Well, guess what guys? It's 2013. Newbies don't sign on for that kind of thing anymore. They're wise to the way games play out, and they have thousands of options that don't involve grinding for days before they even get to use an interesting gun.

 

Fix it so we can play, please.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Gar(Noob'd)

[Cheese]

so elite "veterans" will never forget my name

[Lone Outlaw]

Only way to get high xp fast, is to buy every type of ship, especially ships more suited to getting lots of kills during a base game.You can get 40-100 kills per a base game.

 

Does the xp on one ship you play with stay the same when you ?buy another ship?

 

At any rate i never wanted to do this, i have one ship only, a javelin.. want to see how many years it takes to hit 7000 xp with it. So far i only play like 5 hours a week, so it's been slow.

[spittnacid]

Yeah but if you play a typical 40 hours a week, in a few months you should have at least one decent ship.

 

[spidernl]

I agree that there should be a much greater variety in items available at low experience. I'll figure out how to best go about making it that way.

[Gar(Noob'd)]

hey spidernl what's up

[Gar(Noob'd)]

See here's a great example. I log in, it's 2 pm, I'm surprised to see anyone actually on. Oh, but it's a cloaking big ship with level 3 guns. I die instantly. It's a turret with a bunch of bomb and multi spammers. I die instantly. I'm at 400 xp, only 150 kills to go... averaging 1 every 5 minutes, it'll only take 13 hours of straight play to use the most basic guns. Naturally, I respond by logging off and actually doing work instead.

 

I suggest giving 1 xp per death, or cutting all non-signature weapons by /4 or /5 xp.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Gar(Noob'd)

[spittnacid]

From exp there should be an xp boost at a certain level cap. When I first started playing the exp was great but came to a grinding halt when exp was decreased. Luckily I had a decent enough xp to afford some decent upgrades. Starting over now I agree with gar. Spider you know how passionate I am about the zone but I haven't bothered logging in to level since the other day I got my computer back up and was dying constantly from op ships. I admit I'm not a good player but it was much easier first time around. I don't think you need more items to worry about making and balancing, just an xp boost for ppl under a certain xp cap.

 

Btw, if you reply saying I'm stupid go ahead and make an alt and tell me I'm wrong.

Edited January 20, 2013 by spittnacid

[spidernl]

The grinding halt is fine. It's just that fewer items should be available -after- the 'grinding halt', and many more before

[Lone Outlaw]

Eh we just need to wait for spider to rehaul a bunch of stuff, he seems to know what needs to be done.. with the tempest, items, and flag game

Edited January 20, 2013 by Lone Outlaw

[cxc]

I would be for starting ships with 4k exp, you can get a decent ship but still have to work for your sig and extra's.

[spidernl]

That's a kind of silly band-aid solution. "Getting to 4k experience is boring because you don't unlock enough items, so instead we'll make players start with 4k experience."? No. Instead, you make 0 -> 4k experience more interesting.

[Lone Outlaw]

Actually considering i was/am a new player, i can tell you the experience from starting until now was fun. But now it's kind of boring. I'm at 4k experience. Getting the 4k was easy. Getting from 4k to 7k is a bitch.

 

I suspect that once a bunch of other people reach 7K, experience, then, when i kill them i'll get 9 or 10xp? Or i dunno..

Edited January 21, 2013 by Lone Outlaw

[Cheese]

its only 400 kills

easy if you only play fgs and dont waste any time in center, its only like 4-6 fgs

[Unix]

Players who complain about starting out now are just plain stupid. Prior to starter kit, it was much harder and far more annoying, but still relatively easy to do if you know how to actually play. Starting out now is easy compared to before and realistically you dont really need to change out anything other than your weapons until you can get your sigs. 

 

Outside of seasoned players, knowing what to buy isnt realistic of new players, and that buffer between starter kit and useful items is actually vital for newer players to learn the mechanics of the zone. They also dont tend to have money for items, and if they did they would have spent all their money swapping around items experimenting, which even seasoned players do. 

 

Center has always been about runners and defensive players. Obviously players with better items can kill, but not be killed in center easier because of the way the zone is, they can and do just simply run away before they have a chance to die, running is just too easy in center. Basing is the great equalizer since those same runners simply cant run in a base, normally. 

[spittnacid]

Eh we just need to wait for spider to rehaul a bunch of stuff, he seems to know what needs to be done.. with the tempest, items, and flag game

ultimately i agree. ppl bitch and moan but at the end of the day ppl still log in.... even if just to spec. however, spider could do himself a huge favor and allow more ppl wiling to contribute to at least have ideas developed and tested. iv heard some great ideas that were junked  because there were theoritical issues. on a seemgly transparent level, the community is heard but you cant expect your words to be a specific, direct solution or way you want it to be.

Edited January 24, 2013 by spittnacid

[spittnacid]

its only 400 kills

easy if you only play fgs and dont waste any time in center, its only like 4-6 fgs

i agree. I dont bother centering and just flag, usually by myself. once the music plays it usually gets everyone else in the mood. kind of annoying spending 15 minutes collecting dropping flags cuz everyone else is too lazy.

[spittnacid]

unix the problem with that logc is when it was harder it was harder for everyone. now you are at a level and experience where you arent worried and can build without much restriction. you can bask in your eliteness but you shouldnt look down on those less fortunate.

Edited January 24, 2013 by spittnacid

[Cheese]

unix never feels the need to use logic, ever

 

youre wasting your time

[Lone Outlaw]

New troll tactic, say i agree to everyone's posts, but reply to the quotes with completely different points and ideas... lol

[Unix]

No, it's note elitism nor is it looking down on those who are less fortunate. 

 

Players are complaining when they shouldnt be. It's one thing to have a valid complaint, but when the game has become more and more newbie friendly yet players are still complaining, there's something wrong with that. Do you know how common it is for players to restart a new name and get back their ships on a new name in about a weeks time or even less depending on how much they play. Obviously there's some kind of disconnect if there's one group complaining and another group who are able to do it so easily. 

 

If my earlier post was negative toward anything, it was a comment on the game play that the current items/settings nurture with center being just plain boring and completely imbalanced geared toward players that run and or play defensively. 

 

And I do not build without restrictions, if I did, I wouldnt have any money to spend. Any seasoned player who experiments will lose their money quickly and easily. I choose very wisely what to build because I dont want to waste my money. Players who change out sigs all the time waste even more money. 

[cxc]

See here's a great example. I log in, it's 2 pm, I'm surprised to see anyone actually on. Oh, but it's a cloaking big ship with level 3 guns. I die instantly. It's a turret with a bunch of bomb and multi spammers. I die instantly. I'm at 400 xp, only 150 kills to go... averaging 1 every 5 minutes, it'll only take 13 hours of straight play to use the most basic guns. Naturally, I respond by logging off and actually doing work instead.

 

I suggest giving 1 xp per death, or cutting all non-signature weapons by /4 or /5 xp.

 

Exp for dieing,  I like that idea.

[Unix]

Then you'll just have people self killing, just dying on purpose, etc. 

[Lone Outlaw]

People can die on purpose now and the xp goes to the enemy constantly. They can be friends and do that. People self kill all the time, it's called being lame and not caring.. basing etc.. Lets not get into what ifs and can be's. XP for dieing is a decent idea as XP for killing. Both could be abused, and in both cases abusers would eventually get a ban. Or ultimately no one would care, and the cost of abusing = bordom, Trust me i've done it, for about an hour, i kept leaving NKZ and running into a bomb line, a boring repetative act. Fun comes in when you actually try to live and die every time. That's different. And of course winning is the most fun. Unless that too becomes repetative?

Edited January 24, 2013 by Lone Outlaw

[Cheese]

Then you'll just have people self killing, just dying on purpose, etc. 

we already have that

just give them bursts and repels and noone will ever notice