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New player experience from the eyes of a veteran


LuckyCharm
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Hello all, 

Here are a few of my views on new player experience, with the hopes that it becomes more enjoyable for any new players starting especially with the release of the plains.

Warframes

As you're probably aware after playing a couple of hours of warframe, you get to pick a starter frame, go though vor's prize quest, and start your journey on the starmap. You start off heading towards venus which nets you rhino and from there you start getting other frames. The problem that I have, is that other than your starter, you do not get to try out the other two starter frames so if you feel like you made a bad choice you're stuck with it until you get another frame. Which is all well and good but you don't actually get to try the starter frames you didn't pick until near the end of the starchart. Excalibur is on pluto. Mag is on Phobos (yeah not toooo far in but still far enough that you have to do a lot of planets to get there) and Volt is in the tenno lab, which is also rather impossible for new players without a clan)

Is there a reason for this? Just couldn't find another place to put them? 

Suggestion- 

Just let new players unlock all the starter weapons and frames after Vor's Prize is completed. That way they at least have some things to start with, aren't stuck with just one frame to try out. It would make the game much more accessible to more people since it's a massive turn off for anyone who for example starts with Mag, then finds themselves hating her playstyle (especially after her recent changes) while they see they have to wait what feels like forever to unlock something else. 

 

Weapons

With all the recent releases of weapons, things are starting to be locked behind higher mastery ranks, but some less powerful weapons like the Stradavar require a ton more mastery than other more damaging weapons. Perhaps it's time to assess weapon usage and overall damage and rearrange them accordingly? Similar to how the Tonkor used to dominate everything because of it's ease of use and super low MR cap meaning that new players never had to touch another weapon theres still clear better choices than others in each MR. 

 

Mods

After having spent a long time in trade chat, and in game talking to people, I really do feel that low level modding is a huge issue. Essential mods are withheld from players behind an RNG wall, and many of them are RARE grade mods. A couple of examples of this are Flow, Streamline, Intensify, Continuity, added to that are Barrel diffusion, Split chamber, Hells chamber and Vital sense.  The latter I know are essential and excluding vital sense add a lot less in the way of build diversity. The warframe mods though.. flow etc are mandatory at low levels. You just don't have the tools to keep your energy up or cast very many skills. This limits the amount of content that newbies can actually do without having been lucky and gotten their hands on these from RNGesus. 

Suggestion- 

Either add the essential mods to the junction rewards at lower level planets, or change those mods rarity. There is literally no reason why any of those should be rare, but other more niche mods are common. If anything the Orokin would have mass produced the essential things and made more niche things less common since they weren't used as much. 

 

Tutorials

So many years later this game has released a huge amount of content and quite literally nothing is explained to you and everything is trial and error. That's okay.. when you've got the resources or time to spend or you like using outside sources like the Wiki for information but from a gameplay point of view it really divides the people who know things and the ones who don't. Because my weapons are modded properly with the proper damage types I can one hit kill any sortie 3 enemies, but with the same sort of mods and the wrong damage types it can take me 2-4 shots, with the same weapon. What each of the damage types do and how they react with different enemies is very vague and not explained at all except on the wiki. This was just one example of things that need to be explained in the early levels at least.

 Areas that I think need tutorials: 

-Damage types 

-Status types

-Syndicates

-how to use the foundry, mods panel, arsenal.

-how affinity works (this is a big one since many players still believe killing things with warframe powers will level their weapons) 

-how to use the codex to find information

-a general direction to progress through the starmap

-eximus enemies and their types

-Weakpoints and head locations of enemies (I'd add this one to enemies already codex scanned. Maybe have a toggleable light up area on enemy models)

-Focus and how to gain/level it

-Dojos and clans, how to make/create/maintain them. 

 

I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Note that tutorials don't always need to be full step by step things that you have to complete like the parcour tutorial, a simple overlay with flat images that you can tab through works just fine for most things. Kind of like a powerpoint presentation or whatever you just click through. They wouldn't take long to create but would save players endless amounts of hassle hunting for the same info

 

That's all for now, and thank you for reading

LuckyCharm

Edited by LuckyCharm
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I think the problem DE has with introducing new players is that people are too reliant on having things handfed to them - vs experimentation.

When I first started the game there was no first quest so to speak, everything was given to you - except your frame1, you got to pick that - there wasn't even a basic controls tutorial, so when people encountered the first Wall-Run in the game, they quit the mission because they didn't know how to wall-run and assumed it wasn't possible to continue... they have come a long way in introducing players to the game, but there's only so much they can do.  

But yeah, back to my main point - it's a huge issue for DE to try and explain so much in the game.  Players would get burnout or feel too much knowledge is being thrown at them at once.  DE could write a 2000 page user manual for this game, and still fail to account for some aspects of it that players would need to know about. 

That's why we have the community and the wiki as our resources for learning.  

Alot of the things you mention, like damage types, actually do have tooltips for them in the modding menu etc.  There is tonnes of mini-tutorials everywhere that come in the form of tooltips.  Sure they aren't as in depth and comprehensive as the player made wiki is - but that's because DE would literally be spending more time making tutorials than content.  Sometimes its best for people to just learn for themselves - or rely on the fellow Tenno around them.

I'm not opposed to more teaching and training - I just think we need to be aware of the balance it serves.  We don't need text walls thrown at new players, or stat/number charts detailing things like affinity and mod elements, etc.  That is going to turn them away from the game faster than them not understanding.  If a giant splash screen pops up on my screen teaching me things, in most games, the first thing I do is mash buttons until it's gone.  That might just be me personally, but I'd rather press a couple buttons, think about things and figure them out than have it dished out in one long blurb.  

Like if I went to mod for the first time and the game started spewing on about elements and damage types, that would actually throw me off.    

Edited by (PS4)lagrue
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Starting with all 3 starter frames and all starter weapons would be a huge step in the right direction.  I would also suggest that Mag gets added to the Tenno lab in the dojo and have Ash or Loki drop from the Phobos boss.  This way new players can access a more stealth oriented frame a bit earlier in the game as well.

 

I'm not really sure what to do about important mods.  Maybe there should be a quest-like notification pointing them in the direction of the rare mods like Intensify or a message from the Lotus or Teshin suggesting that they should try to acquire them and where to go?  Drop chances could be increased slightly so they don't burn out, probably an average of 3-5 runs would be good.

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i think the biggest problem is energy, i play some low def sometimes and most low mr don't use their powers, i think that's a bad habit that come from the very begining of the game when they don't have energy so they keep it in case of a situation, but tend to almost never use it in the end. They should be able to use their power from the begining, that's what warframe is about.

Flow / streamline should maybe be awarded from the first quest or / and frames should have an innate small energy regen. Archwing have it, operator have it but warframe don't...

That was the most obvious problem when i started a new account

i could agree on the starter frame, giving new players bp for other equipments they didn't chose from tutorial 

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The junctions themselves need a major rework, including the whole bullcrap spectre annoyances, especially bugs where Saryn one shots you for no reason and Valkyr has infinite mana to use hysteria (turns a 10s fight into 10 years from a newbie perspective). So I propose this:

1) Change junctions to a tutorial/mastery type of mission to where instead of slaughtering a spectre in one Tigris shot, you have to actually prove your parkour, killing ability, etc in various places. Venus, Mercury and Mars/Phobos would be rather simplistic for newer players to be able to beat them in a timely fashion while learning from Lotus at the same time.

2) Add vital mods and a MK1 sniper to the earlier junctions. I know myself that it took about 2hrs+ just to get serration, and even more to get stuff like Hell's Chamber, Point Blank, etc, all the extremely important mods to even deal damage past lvl 10 enemies. Venus- Serration, Hornet Strike, Pressure Point; Mercury- Point Blank, Flow, Continuity; Mars- Stretch, Intensify, Streamline; and so on.

 

These two changes would allow newer players to not only be able to show that they've learned certain early-game aspects of how to be a Tenno, but also would give them a very solid starting base for modding (maybe a tutorial available after the first mod is obtained) and solves a lot of the "what the hell am I even supposed to do now that I've beaten a node/mission?" issue that this game has.

 

As for syndicates, they aren't available until rank 3, so perhaps the mastery test would involve learning about all 6 in order by being 'tested' somehow or simply after you complete the rank test. This would need to include information on how each syndicate's alliance affects the other 5 as well as how to even gain standing. Almost nobody knows off the bat that you have to equip the sigil from the syndicate to get reputation, similarly to how players don't get taught that you have to equip a synthesis scanner to the inventory wheel in order for a target to spawn.

 

I would argue that instead of giving the players all 6 weapons after beating the first mission that instead, they should be given extra free weapon slots and one or two extra warframe slots. Volt is a big issue as nobody wants a MR0 in their clan due to leeching, so it really should be swapped out with another frame on an early planet. Excalibur should be gained from Vor instead of him giving you nothing but parts for Cronus/Seer (both mastery fodder); Kril, Kela and Kril+Vor fights all drop weapon parts/bps along with frame bps, so there's no reason why Vor on Mercury shouldn't drop parts for a beginner frame:

3) Excal or Volt should be moved to Mercury's boss (Vor solo) and Venus having Rhino should be replaced with Excal/Volt as the 'press 2 to be godlike' is a horrible way for new players to learn a new frame, even if there are many frames where one ability is all you need (Ember WoF, Excal 4, etc). Rhino could be swapped over to Pluto or with Frost and have Frost on Pluto (it's really cold there, makes sense to me).

 

In regards to the other main parts that are never/poorly explained, the biggest block for the entire game resides with the Natah quest. Not only does the game not teach you how to scan things properly (even Simaris' tutorial is weak in that aspect), but Natah is completely ambiguous in how to start it: scan an Occulyst, which only spawns on underwater tilesets such as Uranus and the one on Earth. Not having access to a massive portion of the lore in the game while also preventing players from reaching TSD/TWW until they reach the 7th planet (8th if you count Phobos). Not exactly a good idea when Rivens and other important things to the game start to come unraveled around that time anyway (I won't start on how bad riven tutorials are, cause there are none....)

 

4) Make quests more linear or directly related to junctions. Allow each junction a quest that isn't blocked by requirements (Natah/TSD/TWW) such as the first infested quest and others like it that can grant a frame at the end of completion.

5) Have the Natah discussion appear once a player hits at least MR5 or later as it's extremely difficult to kill [space spoiler enemies] without properly modded guns/frames.

 

Overall the game needs a lot of start-game work; tutorials, modding assistance (fix that trash auto-mod button or remove it) by teaching about auras, exilus mods, and stance mods plus the polarity effects of a mod-slot. Codex would be ideal, somewhat like the Pokedex in Pokemon to where if you kill/see a new enemy that when you finish a mission, it would tell you to walk to where the codex is and inspect its weaknesses and whatnot.

 

And just a jab at the so called "Guides of the Lotus"- you only sit in relays or region chats and are honestly not helpful in any way until someone actually pms you a question from my experiences (on an alt MR0 account ofc). Many are afk all the time and would rather go about their own missions and whatnot instead of helping newer players/inexperienced players learn more. This would be remedied by actually regulating the people you pick by monitoring their actions and such while adding in the changes suggested above.

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21 minutes ago, Gilmaesh said:

i think the biggest problem is energy, i play some low def sometimes and most low mr don't use their powers, i think that's a bad habit that come from the very begining of the game when they don't have energy so they keep it in case of a situation, but tend to almost never use it in the end. They should be able to use their power from the begining, that's what warframe is about.

The game also doesn't explain how starting energy works either, nor explains how exactly abilities work in tandem. It's almost impossible to use a frame correctly (ability wise) until you ask someone, figure it out in simulcrum (mercury relay for low MR) or look it up online (Wiki or here). Saryn's spore energy cost halved on her molt, Limbo in general, Equinox, etc. It also doesn't explain alt-fire and the specifics behind how it works: Simulor alt fire explodes the orbs for extra damage (nobody uses this tbh since the nerf but still).

 

The intrinsic effects some weapons and abilities have are not even existent in the game's UI for the abilities, just poorly and 5th-grader level descriptions of the abilities. All that they should change is adding an additional tab (press e or smth) that would show you the exact mechanics of an ability.

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8 minutes ago, DarkFlameZealot said:

3) Excal or Volt should be moved to Mercury's boss (Vor solo) and Venus having Rhino should be replaced with Excal/Volt as the 'press 2 to be godlike' is a horrible way for new players to learn a new frame, even if there are many frames where one ability is all you need (Ember WoF, Excal 4, etc). Rhino could be swapped over to Pluto or with Frost and have Frost on Pluto (it's really cold there, makes sense to me).

 

I was going to suggest this too, but the only issue with having to build them is that you need to still farm resources for the first 4 or so planets just to build them which is still a long time early on if you feel like it's a chore to play a certain frame since the skills aren't explained too well when you pick your starter. At least that was my reasoning, that and if they got given the 2 other starters and the other weapons, they can easily sell the ones they don't like and still have them as slots

 

10 minutes ago, DarkFlameZealot said:

in regards to the other main parts that are never/poorly explained, the biggest block for the entire game resides with the Natah quest

Definately. I think I've helped at least 12 players so far with getting/completing those quests since they're so random and rather RNG based with spawns too 

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I'm opposed to handing all these things out for free. I remember my first player experience (many years ago) and crafting your first weapon, your first frame, finding a rare mod, maxing our my first mod, those were great events. Back then you even still had to find your frame's abilities from drops. Everything you found opened up the game for you a little more, changed the way you played it.

I agree that the new player experience can be improved in many ways but not by taking away from them the feeling of growth and discovery.

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2 hours ago, Snib said:

I'm opposed to handing all these things out for free. I remember my first player experience (many years ago) and crafting your first weapon, your first frame, finding a rare mod, maxing our my first mod, those were great events. Back then you even still had to find your frame's abilities from drops. Everything you found opened up the game for you a little more, changed the way you played it.

I agree that the new player experience can be improved in many ways but not by taking away from them the feeling of growth and discovery.

I remember my first experience too, back when the game only had 2 tile sets and many many less items. I also remember having to sell my Mag to build volt, then sell that to build trinity, then sell her to build other things, because trading wasn't a thing, and the only way to get extra space was item shop.

But that doesn't change the feeling of working for and building something, it just changes the feeling of helplessness you have when you get stuck as you inevitably will when you cannot progress past a certain point because your starter frame just isn't working how it should be because you're forever out of energy, your braton does nothing, and your pistol even more so. You're stuck trying to melee everything as a squishy caster frame because you don't have essential mods, you don't have good weapons and you have poor energy economy. 

It's one thing to start off with nothing and have a decent chance at getting things, quite another when the game is so big now and the drop tables are so diluted that very rarely will you get mods you need, and you're still stuck selling your main gear to level new things you've crafted while not realizing you can't kill anything now where you were up to and have to go back to earlier planets rather than just keep progressing with your main gear and leveling up things for mr on the side

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Let's drop the "starter frame" terminology, shall we? It falsely implies that you get to "upgrade" to a better frame later on (well known issues with Volt and Mag aside). Also you're assuming that a new player without a proper loadout should be able to access all content in the game. I disagree, hence probably my different position on this.

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On 12/13/2017 at 10:44 PM, Gilmaesh said:

i think the biggest problem is energy, i play some low def sometimes and most low mr don't use their powers, i think that's a bad habit that come from the very begining of the game when they don't have energy so they keep it in case of a situation, but tend to almost never use it in the end. They should be able to use their power from the begining, that's what warframe is about.

Flow / streamline should maybe be awarded from the first quest or / and frames should have an innate small energy regen. Archwing have it, operator have it but warframe don't...

That was the most obvious problem when i started a new account

i could agree on the starter frame, giving new players bp for other equipments they didn't chose from tutorial 

from what ive observed , most new players dont use abilities in the beginning because they tend to rely on weapons more than the frame.  this is caused mostly by previous experience with plain shooter games with no complexity and variety.

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