Comprehensive New Player Experience/Retention Problems

[ssh83]

Key Action Items (tl;dr)

• Vor’s Prize has many buggy tutorial messages

• Lock platinum weapon/warframe purchase options in Arsenal until after crafting is introduced.

• Ensure player gets to play with mods as soon as they enter the ship and start them off with 4 levels.

• Flawed mods should come maxed with capacity cost capped at 2 to lessen the herculean task of initial grind.

• Unranked regular version of mandatory mods should be gifted right after tutorial to give player clear progression goal (Vitality, Redirection, and the base damage mods for each weapon type.)

• Gift blueprint of all the starter weapon/warframe, so they know the free way to gear before platinum.

• Introduce market after Vor’s Prize, but allow veteran to access market out of order.

• Vor’s Prize should include the movement 2.0 tutorial including bullet jump and gliding.

• Cetus and Fortuna should have an MR3 warning and recommend player to unlock the star chart first.  They harsh places for complete noobs with no help/carry.

• Earth defense tile severely lacks intensity/fun since enemies always get stuck climbing crates.

• Replace “Equip 4 mods” for Venus junction to finish 4 digs in excavation (the most fun node).  Move node around so Cetus is not in the way.

• Tweak starter frames’ abilities when level 0 and 1.  They need to be stronger since new players actually rely on the low level versions of abilities.

• Need a Newbie chat that is visible inside mission and orbitor.  All other chats should be turned off by default and send inbox tutorial at MR-2 on how to enable chat.

• Mastery Test should have practice option in the menu since new player may not be aware of relay, much less simaris.

The Perception of Time

• 24-hr is an eternity for the Vine generation.  It’s less offensive to flip them the bird than to tell them to wait 24-hr.  Few games are successful long enough to encounter new age demographic. DE need to recognize that they’ve reached this milestone and adapt accordingly.

• Crafting time should scale with MR requirement.   Low-MR weapons/sentinel should craft much faster. Anything below MR 3 should be 10 minutes.  Prime and other special weapons can be longer.

 

Pay to Win

• The first thing enabled on the orbiter is the arsenal… which then shows all the weapons that players can only buy with platinum since they have no resource/credit.  This is cause player to assume pay to win. Instead, only allow players to see the gear they already own until after crafting is introduced.

• The reward for completing second tutorial mission is… not modding.  Not crafting. It’s platinum market! We haven’t even shown player the core gameplay loop and we’re already asking for $$$!  We can allow veteran players to go to the table with market terminal and manually bypass the tutorial, but for new players, it is in their own best interest to learn the game first.  Market should be presented as “you’ve learned how to play free as a ninja. Now see the option of spending platinum.”

• Braton costs 225 platinum.  Hind costs 225 platinum. Imagine a player doing a leap of faith and bought starter platinum bundle (cuz all the praise from veterans).  His first purchase is a rip off and it’s buyer’s remorse for the rest of his Tenno life. Mastery fodder should have their plat prices lowered.  The weakest fodders should be instantly purchasable with credit.

Navigation

• The first time I open the navigation screen, the starter node should be highlighted in BLUE, not faded white.  It is best to start with the quest menu popping up, and I see Vor’s Prize quest on the right, and the blinking “Restore Ship Comm” node on the left.

Progression

• It is extremely slow and difficult to level up your first loadout.  A lot of flawed mods, no endo, and no capacity. Rather than starving the new player and bang his head against the wall, we should make it smoother.  Flawed mods should all come maxed and cost only 2 capacity point to install. Give players the taste of customizing right away and give them breathing room.

• Player should be given Vitality, Redirection, and the main base damage mod of each weapon type (Serration, Pressure Point, etc.) after Vor’s Prize.  This way, we clearly show them the way to get stronger, and we don’t worry about the scenario of someone being MR3 but because of bad luck they still never got Serration early enough to rank it up.

• Reevaluate the 3 starter frames’ abilities during the lower levels.  They need to remain useful at level 0 because new players using these frames do not have a maxed weapon or any good mods to carry them through.  

Chat

• There NEEDS to be a New Player chat channel that is visible both in and out of mission similar to Council chat.  This is where all the newbie should be funneled and helpful mods/guides can hang out in. They can recruit for newbie missions/clans and ask for help without being swarmed by Relic run spam and others.

• Recruit, Trade and Region chat should be default to off for new player.  Clans recruiting noobs can do so in Newbie chat. At MR 2, player should get an inbox message explaining how to turn chat on/off.

Vor’s Prize

• Modding should be enabled the first time a player enters the ship.  Start with basic flawed mods. “Grineer took everything, but here are a few mods.”   

• Player should get enough affinity to get to level 4 on all their chosen gear/frame after they enter the orbiter for the first time.  Then they should be given a free orokin reactor in a tutorial session on how to install them as well as how to acquire more without spending platinum.  This then gives player some capacity for the initial modding experience right off the bat.

• Twitch Prime promotion is the first TWO inbox communication to pop-up after the tutorial… What is a prime item?

• So… right after Vor’s Prize, the Quest UI is collapsed.  A lot of blinking nodes on Earth are grabbing my attention.   The blinker closest to center is Cetus. So… role-playing as a noob, of course I click it!  

 

CETUS at MR 0

• Disaster.  What a disaster.  So my daily standing limit is… 1000.  It is impossible to make meaningful progress in Cetus.  The lowest level bounty is 5~15. I have MK1-Braton with no mod against Grineer Armor scaling.  I have no travel ability or mobility frame. Run. Die. Run. Die.

• Doing the “Prove Yourself” quest with other noob is also frustration.  The explorer players wants to look around the beautiful open world. People who load in late don’t know what’s happening because objective is already completed.  Extraction icon didn’t show up. Arguments because some want to extract and some wants to stay. Hugely negative experience.

• “Prove yourself” is easy enough for even MR-0 to solo.  It should be a solo mission, so explorer can explore the map at his leisure

• Player just shouldn’t go Cetus until they have Archwing (at least K-drive) and have more experience in the game.  A warning should dissuade low MR player from going to Cetus, directing them to complete Junctions instead.

Earth Defense Tileset Bug

• Horde mode is actually a snooze fest.  The enemies keep getting stuck trying to climb the damn crates so half the time nothing is happening.  After realizing it’s a game issue, we have to run around and play hide and seek without enemy sense/natural instinct.  A real test of patience and massive failure of an action game experience.

Venus Junction

• The 4-mod requirement needs to go. It is not a meaningful gear check and it just force player to grind random earth node.  Instead, have the player complete 4 digs in excavation. That’s the most fun node for a noob on Earth, so make sure they play it.

• The reward list should show Taxon as the FIRST slot.  The first of anything is usually a major moment, so put it first so people will get attracted to it.

• If player is able to quickly and effectively get to Venus junction, he gets a manageable boss fight plus his first sentinel blueprint!  This is the best newbie experience to follow Vor’s Prize. Just have to make sure players are told to come here (even if not forced to).

Fortuna at MR-1

• Once again, the allure of a big icon node is too much for my noob self to resist.  I try my hand at the Vox Solaris quest and although I was able to kill the enemies, I died too easily to solo it.  If I just play it very slow and safe, I might be able to complete it, but it’s still a sub-par play experience.

• Verdict: Fortuna node is nicely out of critical path, but there should be some kind of warning like MR-3 is recommended before entering Fortuna.

Mastery Rank

• Reorder the Mastery Rank tests.  Most higher rank tests are so easy. Some lower rank tests challenging even for veterans, and they’re a sudden difficulty spike for new players.    Ex: MR9 test is a challenge even to many MR17+ players. Where as some high MR test is simply to do a survival…

• Allow player to choose practice for Mastery Rank Test without going to Simaris.  Teach/remind the player about practice.

• When player passes a Mastery Rank, make a congrat screen that shows the list of weapons that they’re now able to access.  

[H0B0Z]

Some really good points here.

As far as I'm concerned a player should not have access to POE or be able to leave earth without a more solid understanding of modding. The Mod game is Warframe. Vor's prize should be all about properly modding your starter frame and starter weapons.

Ordis: "Operator, your current loadout is woefully inadequate in it's current state. Ordis has humbly provided some suggested modifications to...PRODUCE MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION...attain better efficiency and lethality. Perhaps the Operator will acquire some of these items during their attempts to thwart Admiral Vor.

Ordis: "A new message is in your inbox."

In order to complete Vor's Prize and leave Earth you must attain "these" mods and mirror "this" loadout. A warframe loadout that focuses on tank and enhances 1st/2nd abilities and basic weapon loadouts that will get the job done on Venus enemies, even without potatoes installed.