Please don't give new players affinity boosters

[Angel-Nefarious]

I just read the upcoming changes to the referral program, and I appreciate what DE is trying to do, but affinity or XP boosters as incentives for new players is a dumb idea that almost every established game makes just before its death spiral.

1) The New Player experience is already intentionally engineered to introduce new players at a pace that makes sense.  Why would you accelerate that arbitrarily? That doesn't benefit new players, it makes the game feel rushed and frantic.  Everything will just feel rushed for about a week. And then all of a sudden, everything will slow down for no obvious reason. Which means that people that don't like the rushed feeling will leave, and those that do will then be disappointed after a week.

2) New players have no concept of what affinity is and will probably not even be able to see the booster in all the visual busyness of the game screen Even if they do happen to mouse over the tiny icon, they likely won't understand the booster or know why it's there.

3) Affinity boosters are for vets who aren't trying to absorb all the tremendous, glorious complexity that is Warframe. When the grind gets to be a bit too much. That's when affinity boosters are nice, or even noticeable. It's not only mostly useless to a new player, it hurts the experience.

I get the idea, and it's a good one. But please change it so that new players get a mod chance booster or a resource booster instead. New players might not notice these either. But at least it will subtly benefit their experience, and even if they don't know what they are getting, there will be a cache of useful things waiting for them once they progress enough to appreciate them.

[Circle_of_Psi]

You know, I never noticed this existed until it got updated.

 

Too bad I got no one to recruit xD

[Mr.Holyroller]

I think giving affinity and resource boosters is a great idea especially if its tied to recruitment.
It's less likely that they'll quit getting bored trying to level something or grind out a resource early on.
It just needs to be very clear to the new player that they have a booster.

Also most mmos do this for recruitment.
At the very least, maybe they could make it so the new player gets double affinity the first month/week anytime they play with who recruited them

[CosoMalvadoNG]

You wrote a lot but I only read: I don't want the new ones to advance faster even though this game is already 10 years old. Because? ''because I have been farming for some years and it is not fair for me''.

Edit: I have been farming since the closed beta.

[ant99999]

I don't really see how an affinity booster will make things feel rushed in Warframe specifically. The only thing it does is increase rate at which your gear levels up. The story quests aren't connected to affinity until Natah, nor is actual player's power, as it comes from mods.

Sure, if I was given an XP boost in Guild Wars 2 as a new player, this would feel rushed, cause in that game you access the story and new locations based on your character level, which is a direct function of XP.

In Warframe that's not the case, you gain access to quests and locations based on how many and which nodes you've completed, which has nothing to do with affinity. The only exception is Mastery Rank restrictions, but a new player will still take long time to get to intended MR by fully levelling a weapon, and will most likely get there by partially levelling a lot of stuff, cause the initial levels are much faster.

[1984]

Why slow down new players? Like i don't see the point..

Sure it doesn't greatly benefit them but its rather unfun and tedious process for some players to level up your mastery also some players don't even care about it and i don't see why this 7 days worth of affinity booster should go to vets instead.. like those vets can purchase them for not even bity price for weeks or months its literally worth nothing for them and saves a lot of time.

[Pizzarugi]

2 hours ago, Angel-Nefarious said:

3) Affinity boosters are for vets who aren't trying to absorb all the tremendous, glorious complexity that is Warframe.

Thanks for the laugh.

[Lionsheart89]

I disagree. I think they are a great idea. In my opinion, leveling affinity with boosters is the right pace, considering the number of forma that is used on a regular basis. Without them, I think it is too slow. If this helps new players stay engaged enough to stick around, then it's worth it. I've been around a few years now, leveling almost exclusively with affinity boosters.

[trst]

Except new players already get bogged down by "the grind" plus they have years of content to catch up on. And the game is already designed to throw boosters at players either through daily tribute, relay blessings, or certain shops/events.

So I don't see how giving them an initial boost if they entered the game via a referral is some sort of problem. If it is then letting them enter Relays or getting login rewards is also an issue as those apply to all new players.

[kamisama85]

Then as a beta player, I think OP shouldnt be allowed access to more than one tileset and 3 warframes and a braton for at least 2 years because we had only the corpus tileset for that whole time.

[Angel-Nefarious]

1 hour ago, CosoMalvadoNG said:

You wrote a lot but I only read: I don't want the new ones to advance faster even though this game is already 10 years old. Because? ''because I have been farming for some years and it is not fair for me''.

Edit: I have been farming since the closed beta.

No. This seems like a reading comprehension problem. Or possibly just projecting something on me with no evidence. It is at best a straw man argument. I think I have only been playing for a year or so, and I just don't participate in the level of pettiness you're accusing me of. It's genuinely my opinion that this is bad for new players. You're welcome to disagree with my opinion, but there's no need to rewrite my opinion for me just so you can more easily poke holes in it.

1 hour ago, ant99999 said:

I don't really see how an affinity booster will make things feel rushed in Warframe specifically. The only thing it does is increase rate at which your gear levels up. The story quests aren't connected to affinity until Natah, nor is actual player's power, as it comes from mods.

This feels like a valid counterpoint. I probably am bringing a little of my experience with other MMOs that doesn't apply as well to Warframe. It is true that I have started other MMOs in the past that were really promising, but I ended up quitting them, because my character progression outpaced the challenge of the content. I literally couldn't get to new areas fast enough for there to be any challenging enemies left to fight, because I was given XP boosters as a new player that pushed me past the intended pace of the game. But maybe in Warframe, that's not as much of an issue.

25 minutes ago, Lionsheart89 said:

I disagree. I think they are a great idea. In my opinion, leveling affinity with boosters is the right pace, considering the number of forma that is used on a regular basis. Without them, I think it is too slow. If this helps new players stay engaged enough to stick around, then it's worth it. I've been around a few years now, leveling almost exclusively with affinity boosters.

I think it's highly unlikely that a brand new player is going to be worrying about forma in the first seven days of playing.  Not unless they're dedicated full-time-job levels of play time during that first week.

Look, all in all, I'm just expressing my own opinion here. We're not voting to convince DE based on popular choice. I'm staying what I think, and I think I'm making a reasonable argument. 

I just think mod boosters are a better choice. That's all.

[sunderthefirmament]

2 hours ago, CosoMalvadoNG said:

You wrote a lot but I only read: I don't want the new ones to advance faster even though this game is already 10 years old. Because? ''because I have been farming for some years and it is not fair for me''.

Edit: I have been farming since the closed beta.

That’s not what they said at all though. Can you point to the part of the OP that is giving you that… vibe?

 

Truly, that’s a common enough sentiment to be on guard for. But nothing in the OP read like that to me. 

[(PSN)Madurai-Prime]

Please explain in actual cogent terms how someone leveling up affects you.

Your opinion was emotional/political and doesn't actually matter to all the functional players.

[Lionsheart89]

1 hour ago, Angel-Nefarious said:

No. This seems like a reading comprehension problem. Or possibly just projecting something on me with no evidence. It is at best a straw man argument. I think I have only been playing for a year or so, and I just don't participate in the level of pettiness you're accusing me of. It's genuinely my opinion that this is bad for new players. You're welcome to disagree with my opinion, but there's no need to rewrite my opinion for me just so you can more easily poke holes in it.

This feels like a valid counterpoint. I probably am bringing a little of my experience with other MMOs that doesn't apply as well to Warframe. It is true that I have started other MMOs in the past that were really promising, but I ended up quitting them, because my character progression outpaced the challenge of the content. I literally couldn't get to new areas fast enough for there to be any challenging enemies left to fight, because I was given XP boosters as a new player that pushed me past the intended pace of the game. But maybe in Warframe, that's not as much of an issue.

I think it's highly unlikely that a brand new player is going to be worrying about forma in the first seven days of playing.  Not unless they're dedicated full-time-job levels of play time during that first week.

Look, all in all, I'm just expressing my own opinion here. We're not voting to convince DE based on popular choice. I'm staying what I think, and I think I'm making a reasonable argument. 

I just think mod boosters are a better choice. That's all.

That's cool and all, but I still disagree.

[Felsagger]

 

 

When a forum board is more entertaining than the game itself, you could safely say that something went wrong, lol....moreover when the OP is pulling off an obvious "hey ma, see me trollin'". 

 

[ThunderBlazer321]

5 hours ago, Angel-Nefarious said:

I just read the upcoming changes to the referral program, and I appreciate what DE is trying to do, but affinity or XP boosters as incentives for new players is a dumb idea that almost every established game makes just before its death spiral.

1) The New Player experience is already intentionally engineered to introduce new players at a pace that makes sense.  Why would you accelerate that arbitrarily? That doesn't benefit new players, it makes the game feel rushed and frantic.  Everything will just feel rushed for about a week. And then all of a sudden, everything will slow down for no obvious reason. Which means that people that don't like the rushed feeling will leave, and those that do will then be disappointed after a week.

2) New players have no concept of what affinity is and will probably not even be able to see the booster in all the visual busyness of the game screen Even if they do happen to mouse over the tiny icon, they likely won't understand the booster or know why it's there.

3) Affinity boosters are for vets who aren't trying to absorb all the tremendous, glorious complexity that is Warframe. When the grind gets to be a bit too much. That's when affinity boosters are nice, or even noticeable. It's not only mostly useless to a new player, it hurts the experience.

I get the idea, and it's a good one. But please change it so that new players get a mod chance booster or a resource booster instead. New players might not notice these either. But at least it will subtly benefit their experience, and even if they don't know what they are getting, there will be a cache of useful things waiting for them once they progress enough to appreciate them.

 

[(PSN)jaden0198]

Thinking way back to my first days in Warframe, affinity gain was not the problem.  Resources were the problem.  

I don't think boosting new players through leveling their gear is the best option either.  What are they going to do...forma their MK-1?

Personally, I'd have preferred resource/mod boosters at that stage in the game.

[Lilybun]

The only downside is that they hit the other new player hurdles that exist for no reason sooner. I don't see how that's a bad thing.

[Skoomaseller]

i would agree with your points if new players weren't already slowed down by weapon slots, warframe slots, mods, weapons, plat, craft times etc

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

8 hours ago, Mr.Holyroller said:

I think giving affinity and resource boosters is a great idea especially if its tied to recruitment.
It's less likely that they'll quit getting bored trying to level something or grind out a resource early on.
It just needs to be very clear to the new player that they have a booster.

 

Exactly. In Warframe, progression isn't tied to an overall level. It's tied to MR which means a new player still has to farm and level different items. 

Even if a new player has an affinity booster, chances are that just means they'll have a few extra mod spaces more quickly. It's not like they have the op mods like condition overload, blood rush, or galvanized mods to become super powerful instantly. Worst case scenario they give their Warframe another 30% efficiency/strength/duration/range or a couple hundred hp and shields.

[Mieo_Mio]

Having made a new account that I don't play much (PC) 6 months ago. PS4 account got going around Zephyr prime. I just got my archwing launcher recently. What a frigging grind for iridite and oxium! Asking new players to suffer as much as we did reeks of entitlement. Give the new guys a break... jeezum crisp!

And yeah, I read affinity... same thing applies.

[(PSN)Nierou]

As a new player( 20 days) I do somewhat agree that getting an affinity booster is a bit of a waste at the start, I also see where you are coming from about rushing since I was the same and felt that I should get and level everything i could with my 7 day booster. I now know that this was a waste since I don't really have anything to level that doesn't cost forma with the exception of some frames that are really bad to farm for(Freakin Gauss....)

With the 24 hr mastery lock there really isn't a lot of stuff to be leveled in the first 3 days and you don't get focus until MR3 so there really isn't a need for affinity. Resources were the biggest issue and still are, offering a booster for resources would be far more valuable