Focused Feedback: New Player Experience (NPE) Improvements

[Faultline]

Regarding the new way to obtain the Passport accolade, be aware that the change means any exploration badge counts for Passport, not just the badges tied to an accolade. Jail Bird (Breakout), Thrill Seeker (any AE location), Rail Rider (CTA stations) and a bunch of other badges now count. So going to Pocket D and grabbing Big Time, Trucker and Thrill Seeker counts as three badges, if you want to avoid enemies entirely outside of your starter zone.

[ranagrande]

9 hours ago, Riverdusk said:

 

Definitely this.  Would love to see "Defensive Follow" added as a default power tray button for new MM's.  Use the gold shield with blue outline looking button that right now defaults to "defensive".  At the very least, drop that defensive button down into the tray.

I'd just like to see defensive be the default for Follow.  That way the starting MM commands would have one for each stance.

[Reiska]

Something that came to mind from in-game conversation: I think the game inconsistently uses the terms "stun" and "disorient" to mean the same thing in various contexts, and feel like we should standardize them to one or the other.

[Doc_Scorpion]

Taking a break from housework, taking advantage of the XP boost to create some toons places other than Excelsior...  And, yeah, wow.  Definitely miss the NPE enhancements (trays, power layout, etc...).  Honestly, trading saving two minutes setting up a new char for two-three minutes getting two additional badges works for me.

Edited February 2 by Doc_Scorpion

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, Reiska said:

Something that came to mind from in-game conversation: I think the game inconsistently uses the terms "stun" and "disorient" to mean the same thing in various contexts, and feel like we should standardize them to one or the other.

 

And Slow/Snare and Leap/Jump.

[megaericzero]

3 hours ago, Reiska said:

the game inconsistently uses the terms "stun" and "disorient" to mean the same thing in various contexts, and feel like we should standardize them to one or the other.

41 minutes ago, Luminara said:

And Slow/Snare and Leap/Jump.

 

Very much these. Also tooltips listing both mez protection and mez resistance as resistance.

[gameboy1234]

8 hours ago, Reiska said:

At the very least Task Force contacts should have a more prominent warning when starting the task force that doing the content with less than whatever the minimum number of players for the TF was on live (and why).  I'm not against requiring you to visit Null the Gull to unlock the ability to solo TFs, though.

 

At least some of the TF starter mission text is unclear or rather minimalist.  If there's a planned "spiff up TF mission introduction text" pass planned, a nice orange text warning about "recommend a full team" or something would be a good addition.

 

(Positron: "Character, how are you?" Literally that's all he says. Hey maybe explain to me what the TF is about and what my choices mean?  The "Discuss events" player choice text should clearly indicate that they're starting a TF and which one.)

 

[stonehd]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:21 PM, Wavicle said:

 

Being able to teleport to my base to level up is very handy even in Atlas.

 

In all the discussion of this, it's occurred to me that when many people refer to the LRT power, what they really are thinking of is the Fast Travel macro we get at the same time.  You still have access to any teleport power you purchased/earned through their own power button; the Fast Travel macro just makes it so you don't have to clutter your trays with those individual powers.  The Fast Travel macro is also granted from traveling to Oroboros, so it's not uniquely tied to LRT.   Could entering a super base portal also be made to grant Fast Travel?

 

D

[Wavicle]

9 minutes ago, stonehd said:

 

In all the discussion of this, it's occurred to me that when many people refer to the LRT power, what they really are thinking of is the Fast Travel macro we get at the same time.  You still have access to any teleport power you purchased/earned through their own power button; the Fast Travel macro just makes it so you don't have to clutter your trays with those individual powers.  The Fast Travel macro is also granted from traveling to Oroboros, so it's not uniquely tied to LRT.   Could entering a super base portal also be made to grant Fast Travel?

 

D

 

The Fast Travel macro only gives you access to those powers you've received. They all have badges or prices associated with receiving them already. Getting the macro without one of the powers within it would be meaningless.

[stonehd]

1 minute ago, Wavicle said:

 

The Fast Travel macro only gives you access to those powers you've received. They all have badges or prices associated with receiving them already. Getting the macro without one of the powers within it would be meaningless.

 

My point is that "being able to teleport to my base to level up is very handy even in Atlas" doesn't concern the LRT power or how many badges it requires because LRT has nothing to do with teleporting to bases.  That's Fast Travel.  And you can already earn it in-game without getting LRT - traveling through an Oroboros portal grants it also. 

 

I'm just saying, I think there's some conflation of Fast Travel and LRT here.  I agree that teleporting to my base is handy, even in early Atlas.  Giving us other ways to get Fast Travel, say through using any of the teleport powers it consolidates, would make a lot of sense.  

 

D

 

[SeraphimKensai]

11 hours ago, Faultline said:

Regarding the new way to obtain the Passport accolade, be aware that the change means any exploration badge counts for Passport, not just the badges tied to an accolade. Jail Bird (Breakout), Thrill Seeker (any AE location), Rail Rider (CTA stations) and a bunch of other badges now count. So going to Pocket D and grabbing Big Time, Trucker and Thrill Seeker counts as three badges, if you want to avoid enemies entirely outside of your starter zone.

That's actually great, so as someone is grabbing the exploration badges for Atlas and Freedom Phalanx reserve they're also working on passport.

[Tatterhood]

16 minutes ago, stonehd said:

My point is that "being able to teleport to my base to level up is very handy even in Atlas" doesn't concern the LRT power or how many badges it requires because LRT has nothing to do with teleporting to bases.  That's Fast Travel.  And you can already earn it in-game without getting LRT - traveling through an Oroboros portal grants it also.

Long Range Teleporter can teleport you to your base. There are several other powers that can also do this, but going to Ouro does not unlock any of them.

 

Fast Travel does not do anything except give you quick access to powers you already have.

Edited February 3 by Tatterhood

[Wavicle]

43 minutes ago, stonehd said:

 

My point is that "being able to teleport to my base to level up is very handy even in Atlas" doesn't concern the LRT power or how many badges it requires because LRT has nothing to do with teleporting to bases.  That's Fast Travel.  And you can already earn it in-game without getting LRT - traveling through an Oroboros portal grants it also. 

 

I'm just saying, I think there's some conflation of Fast Travel and LRT here.  I agree that teleporting to my base is handy, even in early Atlas.  Giving us other ways to get Fast Travel, say through using any of the teleport powers it consolidates, would make a lot of sense.  

 

D

 

 

And I'm saying you are incorrect. YOU are conflating the Fast Travel macro with the LRT and the Base Teleporter.

LRT and Base Teleporter, as well as a Badge earned version, are what let you teleport to your base.

Getting the Fast Travel macro via earning Ouroboros does NOT give you the ability to go to your base.

[stonehd]

4 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

 

And I'm saying you are incorrect. YOU are conflating the Fast Travel macro with the LRT and the Base Teleporter.

LRT and Base Teleporter, as well as a Badge earned version, are what let you teleport to your base.

Getting the Fast Travel macro via earning Ouroboros does NOT give you the ability to go to your base.

 

Thank you, just checked and I stand corrected, there is indeed a SG base portal option AND sg-passcode option in there.  Somehow after all this time I've missed that.  D'oh.  Sorry.

 

D

[Troo]

14 hours ago, Faultline said:

Trucker

 

Seriously?!

That's a badge to point to for new folks?

[Dev Unitas]

3 hours ago, Troo said:

Seriously?!

That's a badge to point to for new folks?

Not for new folks. Faultline is specifically talking about existing players looking to get their suite of Passport badges quickly and easily. Trucker is simple for an experienced player, especially considering the new level 2 jetpack.

[kelika2]

• Exploration Badges

  • Now grant 1 bar of Patrol XP (instead of a scaling amount of XP based on your level)

what are the rules with this?

do they stop at a certain level?

is it each exploration badge or just a zone-cluster or whatever its called?

do you only get the  patrol exp with the tip?

 

im fine with having over 500 exploration badges because thats 50 levels worth of rested exp and or maybe lots of vet levels or maybe downloading that maps addon so you can hit up exploration badges while on a task force on the way to missions really maxing gains per run im not hyyperventalating typing this

[Vanden]

On 2/1/2024 at 1:21 PM, BurtHutt said:

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.

Teaching new players to rely on Mids for power numbers is probably one of the worst things we could do for them 

[Doc_Scorpion]

Street sweeping and the tips popup appears when I get my first exploration badge tip...  There's are two flaws here.
 

• It's in the middle of the #@$% screen, while I'm in combat.  That makes it very likely it will be closed and forgotten.  This, and the first salvage pop up, need to appear off to one side.
• It isn't about the exploration badge, it's about alignment mission tips - which won't drop for fifteen levels yet.

 

[Reiska]

On 2/1/2024 at 10:21 AM, BurtHutt said:

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.

 

+1 to both of these.  I don't see any real reason why we can't (or shouldn't) replace the vague descriptors with the numerical Damage Scale, or a number derived from it but made more player-friendly somehow.

 

As for Mids Reborn, well... it's a great tool built on extremely legacy code that runs very sluggishly.

[TheZag]

Holy pop-ups batman.  Is there a way to not get informed on every new character that i got a jetpack or that twinshot wants to see me or that this door leads to the rogue isles or that i earned an exploration badge, tip, or reward merit?  These are great for new players but at some point every single new player becomes not a new player and many may even like to turn the hand holding off.

 

[Sovera]

24 minutes ago, TheZag said:

Holy pop-ups batman.  Is there a way to not get informed on every new character that i got a jetpack or that twinshot wants to see me or that this door leads to the rogue isles or that i earned an exploration badge, tip, or reward merit?  These are great for new players but at some point every single new player becomes not a new player and many may even like to turn the hand holding off.

 

Possibly an option in Options where we can turn off all pop-menus. It's one of the first things I tick off on a new character in Path of Exile to not be reminded I can right click to attack an enemy 😄

[gameboy1234]

I went back through the tutorial on the current build, this time through Breakout.  Overall I found it a much nicer experience than blue side (where I was sent to the original contacts in City Hall).  The tutorial (esp. the distance between NPCs that I have to talk to) is much crisper, and gets the trivial stuff out of the way quicker.  The only thing I noticed is that some NPCs would repeat their starting (introduction) text after I accepted a mission, which was weird and confusing.  Sorry but I didn't write any of these down.  I *think* it was H.T. (Find Nurse) and Angel Lopez (Talk to Mr. Verde).

 

After Breakout I accept Kalinda as my contact and overall the experience was pretty good.    I don't think any real large changes are needed here.

 

Some small points:

 

1. A lot of snake holes (the mission entrance) are very subtle decals dropped on the map, and the yellow map marker for the entrance is off by a meter or two.  New players might easily be confused.  Try to scooch the markers closer to the entrance, and if the entrance could be made more distinct and noticeable I think that would help a lot as well.  (Maybe a displacement map added to the decal?  This would at least not require new geometry.)

 

2. Navigation is pretty tough still.  The streets in Mercy (the walled area next to the docks where players start) are all kinda samey, and the buildings are tall enough that they block what visual markers do exist.  Anything to aid player navigation would be helpful.  I think maybe the minimum would be to add some searchlights that reach all the way to the skybox, and make sure they are visible all throughout the starting area (draw distance). (Arachnos is under attack by Longbow, so searchlights would make sense.) I'm envisioning some red searchlights (evil, right?) that just happen to be placed directly above the elevators (entrance) to the docks, and some white searchlights that are on the walls directly behind the player starting area.

 

[ZorkNemesis]

I had a friend of mine try Outbreak, he's only played the game once before where I took him through Destroyed Galaxy (bad idea in hindsight).  Outbreak is certainly a better tutorial than Galaxy for sure but there's still a few nuances that don't get well explained however he agrees that it was certainly a better tutorial to start with.  He had difficulty navigating at times when it came to the compass telling him where to go, the worst cases where upon exiting a mission there was no prompt to go back to the contact (Coyote in particular) and the compass doesn't tell you where the Contaminated are, I had to point him in that direction since he also is the kind of person to skip through text.  I'll run it again myself to compare it to what I remember, but I think it's a good start.

 

I would also like to point out that he decided to get the Isolater badge.  I only told him about it after he started aimlessly KOing dudes after the first two.  I'm not sure the game's clicking for him but if he sticks around we might have a future badge hunter in the making.

 

Whatever popup is supposed to appear upon collecting an Explore badge the first time appeared as a placeholder instead.

 

[BurtHutt]

On 2/3/2024 at 1:56 AM, Vanden said:

Teaching new players to rely on Mids for power numbers is probably one of the worst things we could do for them 

I completely disagree. 100%. This is, of course, my opinion. However, do you feel giving vague descriptors to new players is going to ok? For some, maybe. For others, like me when I was new, it's a hell no. I'm making a super. I want to be able to kick some ass and not be taken out because I wasn't sure of numbers or planning my build and so on. One can build a very good toon or a mediocre toon with the exact same amount of money - planning and knowing the numbers is the difference.

 

If you don't like it, fine. But please give me a break when you carte blanche exclaim giving new players numbers and MIDS is the worst thing. Shockingly, some people may think differently than you...I know...it must floor you!

Edited February 7 by BurtHutt