Mintyfresh
Skilled Soldier 18 & Master Commander 21 & 22
- Reaction score
- 4,386
First think tank discussion topic:
How to improve the game to make it more friendly for beginners
The goal is to discuss ways to encourage player retention, encouraging new players to carry on playing the game.The benefits of this should be obvious, more players = larger and more competitive worlds and a bigger community of players to interact with. New friends, new rivals etc etc.
What are the some of problems that new players face?
1) The learning curve is incredibly steep, the current quest system is static, very rudimentary and drops off sharply after the first couple of days leaving brand new players with very little to on on how to make their account better and how to survive
2) The power gap between new and old players is extremely large, it takes literally years to grasp a lot of the nuances of the game unless you dedicate a large portion of your leisure time.
3) Eat or be eaten design structure. Essentially the easiest way to grow big and powerful is to take out the small and weak (in general terms). Im not sure that this is something that can be fixed because thats almost how the game is based at a base level
4) Lack of contacts/connections. For myself i can just join any world and talk to anyone and be invited to their tribe or whatever i need. New players dont have that luxury and they're often left as easy pickings in a game like TW where communication and cooperation are key.
What is currently in place for new players?
Firstly the mentoring system. This is designed so a 'new player' can get quests and small rewards, help and advice from 'veteran players'. Im not sure what criteria the game uses to determine which is which but i think its based on previous worlds played. The idea behind this is nice but the problem is its very rare to get a mentor that actually wants to assist their apprentice. My theory why is because there is no material benefit to the mentor at all in any way. They dont get any rewards at all for mentoring someone so why should they bother? You could say human decency but on the flip-side why would you help someone get stronger when they might one day use that strength against you? Mentors and apprentices are based far away from each other (i assume to prevent pushing/collusion) but all it does is create a barrier between them
Secondly the casual worlds. These are to allow new players a 'safe space' to grow and experiment with example settings and rules in place to prevent them from being taken out easily by large players. Fine in theory. However in practice the system is deeply flawed. New players who do join casual worlds and do carry on playing just develop bad habits and dont improve on their skills as players. Due to the limits of nobling on casual worlds they dont learn what i would consider to be 'combat' skills to fight other players. Then when they attempt to play a normal world again their building skills might be higher but they are still going to end up as easy food for more advanced players. Additionally there are no limits to joining casual worlds so a lot of veteran players join them to pass the time and flag farm and also to try and play competitively because they prefer that environment for some reason. I feel like the idea of a casual world is nice but only on paper.
What are can be done to improve things?
The steep learning curve is partially because of the depth of the game once you get past the beginner stages. Not sure how that could be changed without changing the game drastically. Perhaps instead more should be done to help people get either experience easier or quicker with starting off with the game. More help, resources, guides, easier settings to learn in etc etc.
My suggestion would be to overhaul casual worlds and make a "Tutorial world" system. These would be faster than normal worlds (think 3-6 speed) and only last a month. They are solely for people to get the hang of the basics in a relatively safe environment. I would suggest a week or 2 maybe of beginner protection. One big modification should be removal of all rankings. This is not a world for people to compete within. I dont want to see veterans looking for a cheap win by lording it over noobs/new players with their experience. If there is no rankings then there is no competition and no reason for people to just bulldoze the worlds. Players should be given premium account for free for the duration of the world. There should be some kind of caps so that there isnt any one player dominating an area. I havent fully worked out all the kinks and the way these tutorial worlds should work exactly but i feel it would be a good idea to help people find their feet in an easier environment in a normal world. Perhaps additionally an enhanced mentor system where the mentor receives a tangible reward. Maybe each world they successfully mentor someone to 2k points or something they get a week free PA or some shit, that should help motivate a lot of people to help out new players.
Anyway let me know your thoughts below on all of this, if you have any opinions on anything above then please feel free to share them. Looking for peoples thoughts on problems for new players now and what they think might be good ideas to resolve those problems.
How to improve the game to make it more friendly for beginners
The goal is to discuss ways to encourage player retention, encouraging new players to carry on playing the game.The benefits of this should be obvious, more players = larger and more competitive worlds and a bigger community of players to interact with. New friends, new rivals etc etc.
What are the some of problems that new players face?
1) The learning curve is incredibly steep, the current quest system is static, very rudimentary and drops off sharply after the first couple of days leaving brand new players with very little to on on how to make their account better and how to survive
2) The power gap between new and old players is extremely large, it takes literally years to grasp a lot of the nuances of the game unless you dedicate a large portion of your leisure time.
3) Eat or be eaten design structure. Essentially the easiest way to grow big and powerful is to take out the small and weak (in general terms). Im not sure that this is something that can be fixed because thats almost how the game is based at a base level
4) Lack of contacts/connections. For myself i can just join any world and talk to anyone and be invited to their tribe or whatever i need. New players dont have that luxury and they're often left as easy pickings in a game like TW where communication and cooperation are key.
What is currently in place for new players?
Firstly the mentoring system. This is designed so a 'new player' can get quests and small rewards, help and advice from 'veteran players'. Im not sure what criteria the game uses to determine which is which but i think its based on previous worlds played. The idea behind this is nice but the problem is its very rare to get a mentor that actually wants to assist their apprentice. My theory why is because there is no material benefit to the mentor at all in any way. They dont get any rewards at all for mentoring someone so why should they bother? You could say human decency but on the flip-side why would you help someone get stronger when they might one day use that strength against you? Mentors and apprentices are based far away from each other (i assume to prevent pushing/collusion) but all it does is create a barrier between them
Secondly the casual worlds. These are to allow new players a 'safe space' to grow and experiment with example settings and rules in place to prevent them from being taken out easily by large players. Fine in theory. However in practice the system is deeply flawed. New players who do join casual worlds and do carry on playing just develop bad habits and dont improve on their skills as players. Due to the limits of nobling on casual worlds they dont learn what i would consider to be 'combat' skills to fight other players. Then when they attempt to play a normal world again their building skills might be higher but they are still going to end up as easy food for more advanced players. Additionally there are no limits to joining casual worlds so a lot of veteran players join them to pass the time and flag farm and also to try and play competitively because they prefer that environment for some reason. I feel like the idea of a casual world is nice but only on paper.
What are can be done to improve things?
The steep learning curve is partially because of the depth of the game once you get past the beginner stages. Not sure how that could be changed without changing the game drastically. Perhaps instead more should be done to help people get either experience easier or quicker with starting off with the game. More help, resources, guides, easier settings to learn in etc etc.
My suggestion would be to overhaul casual worlds and make a "Tutorial world" system. These would be faster than normal worlds (think 3-6 speed) and only last a month. They are solely for people to get the hang of the basics in a relatively safe environment. I would suggest a week or 2 maybe of beginner protection. One big modification should be removal of all rankings. This is not a world for people to compete within. I dont want to see veterans looking for a cheap win by lording it over noobs/new players with their experience. If there is no rankings then there is no competition and no reason for people to just bulldoze the worlds. Players should be given premium account for free for the duration of the world. There should be some kind of caps so that there isnt any one player dominating an area. I havent fully worked out all the kinks and the way these tutorial worlds should work exactly but i feel it would be a good idea to help people find their feet in an easier environment in a normal world. Perhaps additionally an enhanced mentor system where the mentor receives a tangible reward. Maybe each world they successfully mentor someone to 2k points or something they get a week free PA or some shit, that should help motivate a lot of people to help out new players.
Anyway let me know your thoughts below on all of this, if you have any opinions on anything above then please feel free to share them. Looking for peoples thoughts on problems for new players now and what they think might be good ideas to resolve those problems.