Focused Feedback: New Player Experience (NPE) Improvements

[Tatterhood]

4 hours ago, Jimmy said:

• Finding your first exploration badge now gives a pop-up explaining that you'll get LRT if you collect 10 in total.

This one reminded me: when you get your first tip you get a popup explaining alignment and morality missions, but nowadays your first tip is almost certain to be a tour guide mission. I remember being confused by this in the past so I have to imagine brand new players will also be confused.

 

Having separate popups for the first tour guide and align tip would be ideal, but if that's not possible then the message should at least be changed to mention tour guide tips and also to mention that alignment tips won't drop until level 20.

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, Lockely said:

 

Please do not move the default hotbars to the middle, some folks like them where they start. I do agree with expanding the chat and making sure General is defaultly added to the main Chat window through. 

 

Once the bars are in place the way we like it we can save the layout and our next alts will have them the way we want it. What the saving the saving of the layout does not do is having the bars deployed, which they now do.

[Lockely]

4 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Finding your first exploration badge now gives a pop-up explaining that you'll get LRT if you collect 10 in total.

 

I'd bet my bottom dollar that this is what's causing the Pbunchanumbers bug.

[Lockely]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

 

Once the bars are in place the way we like it we can save the layout and our next alts will have them the way we want it. What the saving the saving of the layout does not do is having the bars deployed, which they now do.

Right, I do not mind them being defaulty deployed with 4/5/6 being automatically set up on the + key. The person I quoted wanted the layout moved directly to the middle-bottom of the screen by default.

[Jimmy]

2 minutes ago, Lockely said:

 

I'd bet my bottom dollar that this is what's causing the Pbunchanumbers bug.

No, that was caused by me rushing a text fix before going to bed last night 👍

[Sovera]

I haven't seen this mentioned but it's a topic in the General part of the forums. There ought to be a warning about copyright characters and not to duplicate characters even as an homage because A) it will bring problems to HC, and B) the character will be generic-ed.

[Paradox Fate]

13 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

Once the bars are in place the way we like it we can save the layout and our next alts will have them the way we want it. What the saving the saving of the layout does not do is having the bars deployed, which they now do.

 

I did forget about the /wdw_save feature. Sheesh.

 

But I still think the General Channel should be down in the 'Chat' window though, to reduce clutter in 'Global'.

[Luminara]

14 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

No, that was caused by me rushing a text fix before going to bed last night 👍

 

Stop P-stringing everywhere.  Use the litter box.

[Sovera]

28 minutes ago, Paradox Fate said:

 

I did forget about the /wdw_save feature. Sheesh.

 

But I still think the General Channel should be down in the 'Chat' window though, to reduce clutter in 'Global'.

 

People can do that on their own as well. Better too much info than too little, and then too save the chat settings which is then loaded when a new alt is made.

 

IMO.

Edited February 1 by Sovera

[Doc_Scorpion]

Frankly, I can think of little that would make the new player experience worse than subscribing them to General Chat in the first place.

[Lockely]

2 minutes ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

Frankly, I can think of little that would make the new player experience worse than subscribing them to General Chat in the first place.

 

They're already subscribed, it just goes into the top window instead of the bottom one currently.

[Random Robot]

6 hours ago, Jimmy said:

 

• Passport (and Long Range Teleporter) is now unlocked by acquiring any 10 exploration badges, instead of one exploration accolade.

 

This is still an inconvenient change that benefits nobody. If you must change it to number of exploration badges found instead of one exploration accolade then lower the number to 8 so that players don't have to leave the zone to get their SG base teleporter.

[Tatterhood]

1 minute ago, kidsnowflake said:

This is still an inconvenient change that benefits nobody.

It benefits those of us who would rather earn it naturally while playing rather than looking up a bunch of coordinates on the wiki.

[Random Robot]

4 minutes ago, Tatterhood said:

It benefits those of us who would rather earn it naturally while playing rather than looking up a bunch of coordinates on the wiki.

 

Ok, that's fair. Then let's lower the number of badges to 8.

[Psi-bolt]

29 minutes ago, Tatterhood said:

It benefits those of us who would rather earn it naturally while playing rather than looking up a bunch of coordinates on the wiki.

 

Currently, I have memorized the location of all exploration badges in Atlas and Nova.  Even if I start a villain, I turn into a rogue and go over to Atlas to get LRT.  I don't like the change because Atlas (and Nova) are quite compact and easy to get LRT within minutes of starting the character.  It will be even easier with the outstanding change to provide an initial jetpack.

 

So like others have stated, I would prefer that they lower the number to 8 badges or don't make this change because it's substantially more convenient as it is. 

Edited February 1 by Psi-bolt
fix typo

[BurtHutt]

Would it be easy to add numerical values for things like power damage? I still don't like the descriptors. New players will be lost without MIDS. Honestly, 'Superior'? Moderate? Minor? I would be totally lost without MIDS if I wanted to make a toon.

 

Also, has anyone thought of doing something like MIDS and making it a bit easier to manipulate and update? Something native to the HC site? Personally, I have to make a build before I start making a toon in-game. I don't like to just wing it and then realize I should've done it another way then have to respec.

 

That leads me to another suggestion: improve respecs. This might be a tough ask but couldn't we just move a slot or few instead having to redo everything? I know the game code is a mess so if it's a chore, I can live without this! I guess! 🙂 

[Sovera]

My number one problem with exploration badges is that they are not casually or organically found. Either we visit a third party site such as paragonwiki or we use a third party program like Videots.

 

[Jimmy]

27 minutes ago, Random Robot said:

This is still an inconvenient change that benefits nobody. If you must change it to number of exploration badges found instead of one exploration accolade then lower the number to 8 so that players don't have to leave the zone to get their SG base teleporter.

 

This has been heavily discussed internally.

 

We think the amount of effort involved in collecting 10 badges is very reasonable, the main problem we're now trying to solve is how discoverable this goal is. The little (currently broken) pop-up when collecting your first explore badge is part of improving that discoverability, and we're also considering some improvements to the visibility of Tour Guide tips (the patrol-xp-for-explores change actually came from this discussion), but that might not make it into Page 7.

[Random Robot]

4 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

 

This has been heavily discussed internally.

 

We think the amount of effort involved in collecting 10 badges is very reasonable, the main problem we're now trying to solve is how discoverable this goal is. The little (currently broken) pop-up when collecting your first explore badge is part of improving that discoverability, and we're also considering some improvements to the visibility of Tour Guide tips (the patrol-xp-for-explores change actually came from this discussion), but that might not make it into Page 7.

 

8 would let people continue to earn the LRT on new characters in the way they're used to or earn it organically through exploration. It's not about effort, it's about a convenience tool being made slightly less convenient when it doesn't have to be so. It wouldn't be -difficult- to go to KR and get two more badges in the same way it wouldn't be -difficult- if the government moved your mailbox to the opposite side of the street, it's just a minor annoyance where there doesn't need to be one.

[Lockely]

10 minutes ago, Random Robot said:

 

8 would let people continue to earn the LRT on new characters in the way they're used to or earn it organically through exploration. It's not about effort, it's about a convenience tool being made slightly less convenient when it doesn't have to be so. It wouldn't be -difficult- to go to KR and get two more badges in the same way it wouldn't be -difficult- if the government moved your mailbox to the opposite side of the street, it's just a minor annoyance where there doesn't need to be one.

 

I get where the devs are coming from in this. CoH at its base is really bad at teaching you about going to other zones/using transport/ect. CoV and GR do it better, having early arcs that send you to the next zone just to talk to a contact (who happens to also be a trainer).

 

This way you find your first exploration badge naturally as each starting area has one like 2 steps away from where you spawn, get a popup telling you to find 10 of them to unlock a cool new teleporter, and then you have to leave the zone to find 2 more. It encourages new players to explore *outside the starting zone* at minimal inconvenience to veteran players.

 

It's the same reason the AE building was destroyed in Atlas Park and Mercy, because you'd otherwise just have people who never left the starter zone thinking that's all CoH was.

Edited February 1 by Lockely

[Random Robot]

16 minutes ago, Lockely said:

 

I get where the devs are coming from in this. CoH at its base is really bad at teaching you about going to other zones/using transport/ect. CoV and GR do it better, having early arcs that send you to the next zone just to talk to a contact (who happens to also be a trainer). This way you find your first exploration badge naturally. (Each starting area has one like 2 steps away from where you spawn) Get a popup telling you to find 10 of them to unlock a cool new teleporter, and then you have to leave the zone to find 2 more. It encourages new players to explore *outside the starting zone* at minimal inconvenience to veteran players.

 

It's the same reason the AE building was destroyed in Atlas Park and Mercy, because you'd otherwise just have people who never left the starter zone thinking that's all CoH was.

 

People aren't going to get lost and never leave Atlas Park if they're able to get their LRT without leaving the zone. Now that the AE building isn't in the starting zones every contact you do missions for will eventually lead you out of the zone. The LRT's functionality as a SG base teleporter for new characters that aren't old enough to have the day job yet is extremely useful in the any of the starting zones and if a new character were to wander into Perez Park or the Abandoned Sewer Network it could be essential. Adding a trip outside the starting zone to get that is just pointless busywork.

 

edit: If leaving the zone is -essential- to the devs' vision for this then change the requirement to two exploration badges from different zones. (And add exploration badges to the Atlas Park exits of Perez and the sewers for new players so they can escape if they need to.)

Edited February 1 by Random Robot

[Jimmy]

Honestly, the "get one exploration accolade" unlock method before never really made much sense. We just knew we wanted it to be unlockable somehow based on some amount of exploration. Using an exploration accolade was the easiest thing to implement, so we went with that at the time. Now we've added a way to actually track how many exploration badges you collect, which makes far more sense.

 

LRT is primarily about teleporting to zones you've been to. This new method is without a doubt going to be achieved organically by more characters, and ensures they have at least a handful of zones by the time they unlock it. You're now also given a far greater amount of experience for collecting exploration badges, which easily offsets the tiny amount of extra time it might take you to get them.

 

And there is, of course, still a dedicated base transporter power (and the paid unlock for LRT) in P2W if you want to shortcut it.

[Lockely]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Honestly, the "get one exploration accolade" unlock method before never really made much sense. We just knew we wanted it to be unlockable somehow based on some amount of exploration. Using an exploration accolade was the easiest thing to implement, so we went with that at the time. Now we've added a way to actually track how many exploration badges you collect, which makes far more sense.

 

LRT is primarily about teleporting to zones you've been to. This new method is without a doubt going to be achieved organically by more characters, and ensure they have at least a handful of zones by the time they unlock it. You're now also given a far greater amount of experience for collecting exploration badges, which easily offsets the tiny amount of extra time it might take you to get them.

 

And there is, of course, still a dedicated base transporter power (and the paid unlock for LRT) in P2W if you want to shortcut it.

 

I'm going to be honest, I didn't even realize it came from an accolade until this thread. In-game, I had always just dumped Inf into the paid unlock because that's where I first encountered it. I asked friends as well and they didn't even know the LRT existed.

[Sovera]

53 minutes ago, Lockely said:

 

I get where the devs are coming from in this. CoH at its base is really bad at teaching you about going to other zones/using transport/ect. CoV and GR do it better, having early arcs that send you to the next zone just to talk to a contact (who happens to also be a trainer).

 

This way you find your first exploration badge naturally as each starting area has one like 2 steps away from where you spawn, get a popup telling you to find 10 of them to unlock a cool new teleporter, and then you have to leave the zone to find 2 more. It encourages new players to explore *outside the starting zone* at minimal inconvenience to veteran players.

 

It's the same reason the AE building was destroyed in Atlas Park and Mercy, because you'd otherwise just have people who never left the starter zone thinking that's all CoH was.

 

The devs said that they already on this so I'll wait to see what they cooked up, but other games put things like arrows showing where to go next, or obvious tips (the man who holds the world on their shoulders!). Others simply tag all explorations in the map or show them on the minimap if we are close.

 

The first I don't think is achievable here, and the second would imply going over 80% of badges (or how many are composed of exploration).

 

Maybe what we need is simply to use Videots officially with some sort of layer tech that can be toggled on and off? Not gonna say it would be simple but 90% of the work seems to already have been made since anyone can install the Videot mod without special know how.

 

Anyway, lets see what they have come up with.

[Psyonico]

22 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Honestly, the "get one exploration accolade" unlock method before never really made much sense. We just knew we wanted it to be unlockable somehow based on some amount of exploration. Using an exploration accolade was the easiest thing to implement, so we went with that at the time. Now we've added a way to actually track how many exploration badges you collect, which makes far more sense.

 

LRT is primarily about teleporting to zones you've been to. This new method is without a doubt going to be achieved organically by more characters, and ensure they have at least a handful of zones by the time they unlock it. You're now also given a far greater amount of experience for collecting exploration badges, which easily offsets the tiny amount of extra time it might take you to get them.

 

And there is, of course, still a dedicated base transporter power (and the paid unlock for LRT) in P2W if you want to shortcut it.

Thanks for the explanation. 

 

I'm not sure how I feel about the xp->patrol XP thing, but I do agree it ends up netting more XP in the long run.