A Masters Class

[Ukase]

Surely, most of us have heard the clever marketing regarding a "Masters Class", often hosted by someone of reknown. Gordon Ramsay for culinary skills. Steve Martin for a masters class in comedy, and I think it's Gary Kasparov that has a master's class for chess. 

I was reading in the forums about how most of us players learn what we learn about what's behind the figurative curtain of CoH from other players. 
Like Procs. Bopper, MacSkull and others have done a good bit of research into procs, how they work and shared this information freely. Yomo has made numerous guides that have taught other players how to go from rags to riches as they level up. 

The descriptions for various incarnate powers are often a bit vague as to how they work, what they do, what they do for your pets and your teammates. The poor newer Mastermind players are almost always asking these types of questions. 

In the Twinshot arc, a solid effort is made to introduce various things to a newer player. Same for the invention tutorial. 

But, what about a Master's Class? 
We get the costume files for @yomo and have his avatar behind a room, and players can enter this room and literally watch a video of how to craft and convert an IO, how to boost an enhancement, how to attune a crafted IO. How to make an ATO or Winter-O "Superior". 

Bopper's avatar can be in another room and players can learn what a proc is, how it works, and the painglorious math behind it. 

I'm not smart enough to generate dialogue or a suggested syllabus beyond what I've mentioned already, but I think it would be useful for newer players to not be told "Go to the forums" all the time. It could be a really good thing for newer players (which we seem to have a lot of lately) to learn these things from the game, rather than from us players. And while I am quite grateful we have folks like Yomo, Bopper, UberGuy, AbovetheChemist (and many others), it would be fantastic for newer players to get these key points from the game itself. 

A brand new player isn't likely ready for Yomo's meandering guide to a billion inf. Nor are they ready for procs. But when they are, it would be great to refer them to a contact in the university.

By doing it in this fashion, instead of letting the players continue to be helpful, we can avoid the controversy of "Shards vs threads" for the Alpha slot. Instead of the newer player getting confused about what's the optimal way, they can learn that it all depends on the content they run and what drops for them. And, it certainly would be preferable to someone trying to be helpful but missing the mark and giving the wrong answer. 

 

There'd always be a place for the help channel, but I think a master class would be a good thing to add.  

 

[Aurora_Girl]

How would you add videos into the game?

[Ukase]

1 minute ago, Aurora_Girl said:

How would you add videos into the game?

Same way they do cutscenes, I imagine. 

[Greycat]

4 hours ago, Ukase said:

Same way they do cutscenes, I imagine. 

 

Cutscenes are pretty much "take control away from the player, move the camera, run a script on the NPCs." (That's how people "cutscene-bomb" the last mission in Cimerora or Marauder's entrance in Lambda, for instance.)

 

I don't think it'd be able to show an interface.

 

I don't disagree tutorials in general need help. The destroyed galaxy city one is... eh, Twinshot's kind of annoying (and skippable,) the university "how to craft an IO" one doesn't really get presented to the player, same with AE. I don't know how to address that effectively, though.

[Ukase]

3 hours ago, Greycat said:

 

Cutscenes are pretty much "take control away from the player, move the camera, run a script on the NPCs." (That's how people "cutscene-bomb" the last mission in Cimerora or Marauder's entrance in Lambda, for instance.)

 

I don't think it'd be able to show an interface.

 

I don't disagree tutorials in general need help. The destroyed galaxy city one is... eh, Twinshot's kind of annoying (and skippable,) the university "how to craft an IO" one doesn't really get presented to the player, same with AE. I don't know how to address that effectively, though.

I've been busting my head, trying to figure out how to walk a player through the IO conversion process in an AE mission...but that seems impossible to me, as there's no way to show what the AH interface looks like. I mean, no point in crafting that trash IO and turning it into an LotG 7.5% if you've no idea how to sell it, the various pricing strategies, etc. 

With streaming now being allowed, I've thought about just hosting a demo for my sg. But then, I asked myself how I would measure it's effectiveness. Price of PvP IOs dropping to 3M, with all the competition? A bunch of angry sg folks because they wasted all that money on salvage and recipes & crafting only to discover they were being undercut by another SG mate? It didn't seem politic - in that context. I still think it's a good idea for everyone to know these things - even if they choose to never do them. 

Same with procs. While some may choose to never use the damage procs, the information can only help them. At least, it certainly can't hurt them, other than the math-induced headaches that may occur. 

[Glacier Peak]

Isn't this what the University IO tutorial is for?

[Bionic_Flea]

There could, and perhaps should, be additional university classes for "Set Inventions and Bonuses," "Auction Houses, Black Markets, and You," and "Converting for Pleasure or Profit."

 

Similar to the existing University tutorial, each Professor would send you to the next Professor upon completing the training.

 

"Set Inventions and Bonuses" should give you the assignment to create an uncommon set IO of your level (level 25 or over) with four choices: Melee Damage (Focused Smite), Ranged Damage (Ruin), Endurance Modification (Efficiency Adapter), or Health (Harmonized Healing).  The Professor then instructs you to look at the set bonuses and explains the Rule of Five.  Finally, he tells you to visit the Professor for "Auction Houses, Black Markets, and You" before slotting your new IO.

 

"Auction Houses, Black Markets, and You" instructs you to visit the AH or BM, tells you how to search for certain items, explains "bundling," and assigns you to purchase a matching recipe piece to the one you already bought along with the required salvage.  I guess the Professor will either need to give you a token that allows these purchases for free, or more realistically just hands out a million or two of influence in the form of a Student Loan.  You come back to the Professor to craft your second set IO and this Professor once again asks you not to slot it until completing the next class and advises that you can transact business "online" via /AH unless in a base or mission.  You are then sent to . . .

 

"Converting for Pleasure or Profit" will introduce the student to the Conversion UI and Converters.  Another Student Loan will provide a single merit to buy 3 converters and some funds to purchase 3 more at the AH/BM.  You return to show your Professor that you have 6 converters.  The Professor instructs you on the option to convert by Rarity, Category, or Set.  The Student is instructed to look at the set bonuses of the items they crafted and assigned to look at the Auction House (in person or by /AH) and look at other Sets in the same category.  The last lesson: Should you: a) slot what you crafted in university, b) convert what you crafted in university, c) sell what you crafted at the university, or d) some combination of a, b, and c.  "Whatever you choose," the Professor tells you that, "you have chosen wisely, for only you can decide what is best for you!"

 

The Professor then directs you to go speak with the Dean or some administrator.  They advise you that it is time to pay back your student loan.  You are given the option to pay now or later.  If you pay now, you get your diploma (souvenir) and a "Master Crafter" badge.  If you don't pay now, you can pay later to obtain the diploma and badge.

 

Sign me up for SIB 201, ABY 302, and CPP 403!

Edited December 5, 2021 by Bionic_Flea

[Greycat]

4 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Isn't this what the University IO tutorial is for?

 

If you pay attention to the help chat, you'll quickly realize nobody pays attention to it. I don't think it's even offered in a way people recognize it's there. :) (Or that the vets even remember it, for that matter.)

 

Besides, it needs more - it doesn't go into how sets or set bonuses work (and how could it, really, in a way that lets people *do* it - even if it had you make a "university tutorial" set that was generic to everything, you'd still have to hope they had slots for it, or provide special unslotters that are character bound or something, and hope people are seeing what you want them to see.) Doesn't touch on catalyzing, boosting or converting, either, since those were introduced after, or the hows and whys.

[Glacier Peak]

28 minutes ago, Greycat said:

If you pay attention to the help chat, you'll quickly realize nobody pays attention to it. I don't think it's even offered in a way people recognize it's there. 🙂 (Or that the vets even remember it, for that matter.)

 

Besides, it needs more - it doesn't go into how sets or set bonuses work (and how could it, really, in a way that lets people *do* it - even if it had you make a "university tutorial" set that was generic to everything, you'd still have to hope they had slots for it, or provide special unslotters that are character bound or something, and hope people are seeing what you want them to see.) Doesn't touch on catalyzing, boosting or converting, either, since those were introduced after, or the hows and whys.

Fair enough, I'll be honest I haven't ran through it since IOs came out on the legacy servers. I did run it once for a badge on HC though. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Glacier Peak

[RCU7115]

There are plenty of videos on YouTube for some if not most of the things you are asking about. Some videos are from live even.