An Idea To Keep New Player Playing

[(XBOX)Kawaii Kuudere]

Hello Tenno,

I just want to prefix this, saying that I've started over in Warframe around 5 times (I'm just weird like that) and the first three were because I quit, I felt like I wasn't progressing, the game was too grindy and I just got bored fast. Luckily now, I know more about how the game works and it's numerous systems so it no longer feels like that.
However I wish to propose a simple idea that would keep new players invested and in turn, grow Warframe playerbase and (potentially) getting the game more recognition.


I find that if you're completley new to the game, leveling can feel slow and as a result, you feel less motivated to play because of 'slow' progression.
A couple way to do this would be to just increase the Affinity you get, it doesn't have to be by much, just a noticeable amount or fix the fact that weapons, even when maxed, get Affinty. I say fix because it feel more like a bug if I'm honest, I don't see any real reason for this to exist and it just takes away Affinity from your other weapons.

There are even more, even simpler ways, like, just giving new players 3hr Affinity, Credit and Resource boosts.

Now, I'll mention this here because it'll come up eventually, Foundry times.
I see this as a double egded sword, I wouldn't mind them being lowered but at the same time I don't want them to be, when making a frame for example, it takes 3 day, that's 3 days you could spend not playing. I know that sound weird but if it were reduced to 1 day, then players would play more often  and get burnt out faster, I believe I can speak for many people when I say that sometimes, you just need a break from Warframe, it's one of those games that when playing for hours on end that it feels more and more grindy. So having a 3 day break from the game will leave you refreshed and with a brand new frame to play.

or you could use platinum, you filthy animal.

Sincerly,
Kawaii Kuudere

P.S. Let's keep it civil, critisism is fine aslong as it adds to the conversation.

[(PSN)Ihasapuppy]

Maybe make mastery rank tests a bit easier? At the very least make them not trigger an anxiety attack 

[(PSN)vidare]

I always run boosters, and even with it.. leveling just by playing is superslow. Do the sorties.. gain 2 levels

8 waves on Hydron gain 30 levels..

[PurrrningBoop]

Imo: 
 
Levelling times are fine, WF is a coop (social) game, you can pub, recruit, join a clan even when starting to play - speeds up your affinity gain when playing in a group.. + Daily rewards have a chance to drop boosters, to speed your levelling progress. (Be social, look for a newbie friendly clan).  
 
Foundry times are also fine, you don't have to get everything in a single session and then have nothing to do. + Since WF is free to play, there is an argument at how DE can make some money by time gating content. (can't wait - rush, don't want to pay - wait) 
 
And don't be lazy.

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by PurrrningBoop

[(PSN)Ihasapuppy]

1 minute ago, (PS4)vidare said:

I always run boosters, and even with it.. leveling just by playing is superslow. Do the sorties.. gain 2 levels

8 waves on Hydron gain 30 levels..

My problem isn’t the leveling, it’s the fact that I can’t do the mr 9 test without having an anxiety attack. It was the same problem for the mr 8 test. Heck even thinking about mr tests gives me anxiety 

[NinjaZeku]

35 minutes ago, (XB1)Kawaii Kuudere said:

fix the fact that weapons, even when maxed, get Affinty. I say fix because it feel more like a bug if I'm honest,
I don't see any real reason for this to exist and it just takes away Affinity from your other weapons

The Focus system is the "fix" for that.

But, sure, something that'll make it so that leeching is not the optimal leveling strategy would be nice.

28 minutes ago, (PS4)Ihasapuppy said:

Maybe make mastery rank tests a bit easier? At the very least make them not trigger an anxiety attack 

Dunno, a bit of tension now and then can be fun, giving you a stronger sense of accomplishment and stuff.

FWIW, you can practice every MR test in Simaris' room in any Relay.

If you're not exaggerating though, and you actually get proper anxiety attacks from playing video games,
definitely look into getting some medical / psychological help, no shame in that.

[Xirka]

If something like the MR tests gives you anxiety attacks,  perhaps you need to think about finding a different game?

 

If you dont want to, then I suggest just practicing it a bunch, it makes the test so much easier. There is no stress with practice runs, since failure has no penalty. 

[(XBOX)Kawaii Kuudere]

3 minutes ago, PurrrningBoop said:

Imo:

Leveling times are fine, WF is a coop (social) game, you can pub, recruit, join a clan even when starting to play - speeds up your affinity gain when playing in a group.. + Daily rewards have a chance to drop bosters, to speed your leveling progress. (Be social, look for a newbie friendly clan). 

Foundry times are also fine, you dont have to get everything in a single session and then have nothing to do. + Since WF is free to play, there is an argument at how DE can make some money by timegating content. (can't wait - rush, don't want to pay - wait)

 

I see where you are coming from, but when in pubs with new players, they don't tend to stick together, I think solo is the best early game for WF because it allows you to learn at your own pace without having to constantly revive a teammate who keeps dying or new players who just Barry Allen their way through missions. I also think that early game is easy enough solo that pubs are really unnecessary.
Recruit Chat will just straight up melt their brains (I didnt understand anything rec chat for a long time)
Daily Rewards are just 1 random thing per day, I personally don't think that would be a reliable source of boosters as you say.
As for clans, it's the same as pubs, I think the early game is best played solo
 

[(PSN)vidare]

16 minutes ago, (PS4)Ihasapuppy said:

My problem isn’t the leveling, it’s the fact that I can’t do the mr 9 test without having an anxiety attack. It was the same problem for the mr 8 test. Heck even thinking about mr tests gives me anxiety 

I learned late, that you can do practice runns. Don't know if you practise?

 

[(XBOX)Kawaii Kuudere]

24 minutes ago, (PS4)vidare said:

I always run boosters, and even with it.. leveling just by playing is superslow. Do the sorties.. gain 2 levels

8 waves on Hydron gain 30 levels..

Helene is much better for levelling, 10 waves with a booster will max out your weapon (if you bring only one weapon), enemies are easier to kill and better resources, plus Orokin Potatoes (Sedna's the last planet and somehow has the most useless resources)

[(XBOX)Kawaii Kuudere]

46 minutes ago, (PS4)Ihasapuppy said:

Maybe make mastery rank tests a bit easier? At the very least make them not trigger an anxiety attack 

I never really had trouble with mastery rank tests in my experience, but like the others said, you can practice at the relays.

Do that and you'll be fine.

[PurrrningBoop]

14 минут назад, (XB1)Kawaii Kuudere сказал:

-snip-
 

Don't want to sound rude, but I used a phrase "have a chance to drop" not "a reliable source of". 

If you want to play and learn the game solo, you are free to do so and you will be rewarded accordingly. You mentioned yourself that people will burn out  quickly if allowed to rush through the content, can add "content drought whine" to that as well. Though, a better in depth tutorial for newer players would be good.

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by PurrrningBoop

[(XBOX)Kawaii Kuudere]

3 minutes ago, PurrrningBoop said:

Don't want to sound rude, but I used a phrase "have a chance to drop" not "a reliable source of". 

If you want to play and learn the game solo, you are free to do so and you will be rewarded accordingly. Though, a better in depth tutorial would be good.

 

I'm sorry for misinterpreting your words, what I mean is, while the chance is there, it isn't a good source of them.
When I said to give new players 3hr boosts, it's meant as a way to give them a headstart, a little nudge towards addiction keeping them playing.

I do agree on a better tutorial like, like the one in For Honor, 2 tutorials, one for the fundamentals and another for more advanced mechanics.

[(PSN)Zero_029]

40 minutes ago, PurrrningBoop said:

Foundry times are also fine, you don't have to get everything in a single session and then have nothing to do. + Since WF is free to play, there is an argument at how DE can make some money by time gating content. (can't wait - rush, don't want to pay - wait) 

I think that DE should set custom foundry times for "Beginner Tier" Weapons, Frames, & etc.

Since switch WF release & fortuna release I currently have 6 new players I'm mentor to (down from 8 and yes...foundry was one of the reasons they stopped) & all of them have expressed some dismay at the craft times.

To quote one of them:

"So the game wants me to not play?" (He said while staring at the 24hr wait time.)

I had no response for it. =/

[PurrrningBoop]

4 минуты назад, (PS4)Zero_029 сказал:

To quote one of them:

"So the game wants me to not play?" (He said while staring at the 24hr wait time.)

I had no response for it. =/

Forgot about the NSW version tbh, and you've got a fair point. Would agree to all MK-1 weapons to entice players to stay, but how can the increase of crafting time be explained later?My attempt (a  dumb one) to answer would be: "Yep, the crafting time is the same as with other platforms, bit of a bummer".  
 
i think, there is a possibility that they would leave regardless, right after trying to craft their non starter gear blueprint or discovering the frame/weapon slots.

[(PSN)Zero_029]

7 minutes ago, PurrrningBoop said:

Forgot about the NSW version tbh, and you've got a fair point. Would agree to all MK-1 weapons to entice players to stay, but how can the increase of crafting time be explained later?My attempt (a  dumb one) to answer would be: "Yep, the crafting time is the same as with other platforms, bit of a bummer".  
 
i think, there is a possibility that they would leave regardless, right after trying to craft their non starter gear blueprint or discovering the frame/weapon slots.

I would say that higher MR weapons (and frames) use more ingredients, are higher quality, so they take longer to craft.

[peterc3]

DE seems to have data that suggests people that leave can't be retained by any reasonable effort on their part. People that are hooked, are hooked.

[(PSN)teacup775]

3 hours ago, (PS4)Ihasapuppy said:

Maybe make mastery rank tests a bit easier? At the very least make them not trigger an anxiety attack 

My thing with mastery is the tests are frequently very divergent from the game. Some constitute game play I’d like to see in missions or as a mans of mastery leveling

[(PSN)Ihasapuppy]

On 2018-12-28 at 6:30 AM, (XB1)Kawaii Kuudere said:

I never really had trouble with mastery rank tests in my experience, but like the others said, you can practice at the relays.

Do that and you'll be fine.

No I can’t because that triggers an attack too. It’s very hard to be stealthy when your hands are shaking uncontrollably. I can barely hold the controller, much less stealth kill a bunch of guys.

[Szuna]

They can only hook peoples whom likes the mindless grinding and like to shot hordes of mindless mobs.

[ssh83]

Remove Mastery Rank requirement for weapons.  Grinding Mastery rank should be an optional thing that you naturally acquire from trying different weapon.  The instant players get weapon not to play with it but just to passively gain affinity and increase their level... that defeats the purpose of horizontal progression and becomes just another boring vertical grind.

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

On 2018-12-28 at 5:03 AM, PurrrningBoop said:

And don't be lazy.

 

Game.  Set.  And match.

[Hypernaut1]

4 hours ago, Szuna said:

They can only hook peoples whom likes the mindless grinding and like to shot hordes of mindless mobs.

What's wrong with that? That's what the game is. 

[Learicorn]

On 2018-12-28 at 8:42 AM, (PS4)Ihasapuppy said:

Maybe make mastery rank tests a bit easier? At the very least make them not trigger an anxiety attack 

I stopped doing mr tests because of that, at MR 24 i pretty much have all i need so there's no need to keep doing them. Each one of them was a stressful nightmare for me, i even had to ask my friend to do one of them for me because i couldn't handle the pressure (i think MR 19?). They really should remove the limit of one test per day, makes it incredibly tense, hard and frustrating to do, and it's a completely unecessary limitation that not only feels HORRIBLE, it also kills the pacing so you might not even get better from try to try. Until then i won't be doing any more of these

[Szuna]

On 2018-12-30 at 6:10 PM, Hypernaut1 said:

What's wrong with that? That's what the game is. 

Nothing wrong with that but that itself sometimes not keeps the players playing that is the reason why most peoples leave because they expect something different then they realize it is just pure grind for grind. I am content with this if there are mathematical chances to get items. I don't have problem with this.