New Player Experience (grows on you, but not too good, honestly)

(unknownSpout) #1

I figured, since I’m paying to be able to test this game, I’ll contribute some feedback:

DAY1:

  • done the whoooole tutorial (PTFO like Brink… Yeah, I get that. Let’s do it. )

  • quick joined a match

  • 1st encouter (mental note: “wha…? this bloody M16 doesn’t seem to do jack shit!”); got slowly but steadily murdered, with him still at 50%.

  • stepped on landmine (“at which level do I get landmines?”)

  • got bombed by airstrike (“how do they already get airstrikes?”)

  • got sniped

  • repeat the last 3 for the rest of the day (sometimes in combination)

  • also kept getting completely humiliated by someone with a knife, not being able to even slow them down with the M16

  • switched to Aura, to shotgun the knifing troll (discovered it takes 4 shotgun hits to kill, so instead got knifed a few times more)

  • during the 2hrs managed to kill no-one and win 0 matches

  • discovered my ping is highest in the lobby

  • discovered my team is 1-1-2-1-1 and the opposing team is levels 5-4-5-5-6 (I don’t think it gets scrambled either)

DAY2:

  • chose a server manually this time
  • my 19.99EUR keeps me keeping trying
  • discovered the funny grenade is really an airstrike on the default merc (no thanks, tutorial!) Still no idea why it works only sometimes
  • pretty sure others play medic mercs, but with MP5s, not the crappy shotgun like mine
  • managed to carefully flank an oblivious enemy group with my M16, killed 70% of one; next time I do a “sneaky flank” I have to bring a firing squad
  • how the hell do I swap this crap M16 for something?
  • managed to escort the armored car drone to the 2nd objectve, let’s see how the other team does now… - “Holy crap you can man the MG turret? How come nobody in my team knew that?!” (tutorial?)
  • and so on…

The game completely wipes the floor with new players. If this is intended, then forgive me for whining. Just bear in mind it is supposed to be a free to play game, so most new gamers will not have the ownership bias, like the paid beta access people.

(EDIT: by around day 3-4 I’ve learnt to fairly comfortably recognise/put myself in a match, which will present a fair but not to impossible a challenge and where I will be having fun; notwithstanding, the initial experience was a bit of a shock, as described above)

(Eox) #2

Well, you have to be good at FPS games with DB for sure. Killing is fast, especially with headshots.

Keep trying. You’ll hopefully end to be not that bad at one moment. If I can get aces with my Proxy after 30 hours of play, I see no reason for you to not manage to do it after the same amount of play. :slight_smile: Oh and aim for the head, and maybe try to attack from a bit farther… That M16 is not that bad I think. From what I saw, it’s a rather accurate weapon.

(smartIsland) #3
  1. Headshots. 2. Turn up your sensitivity in game 3. Learn the maps to maximise flanking opportunities 4. As with all games you will get better with time, keep at it!
(Gung-ho) #4

I would say closed beta is not going to be a particularly kind era to play the game as you’ll a higher proportion of the population are veterans of Splash Damage games than what the full release would will yield.

Things like air strikes, proximity mines and healing stations are all baseline though depending on the merc you are playing.

(campyPigeon) #5

I (having not played the game) am happy to hear that there seems to be a rather steep learning curve to DB.OP keep trying!

(Glot) #6

thnx for the post unknownSpout!
very nice to have a newcomer’s perspective.
obviously you played vs lots of beta-testers which is unfair.
with time (days? weeks?) you will not get those because of matchmaking system.
i realy hope this system will work properly.

(Zenity) #7

Ideally I guess we would have a tutorial for each and every character, but not sure how realistic that is. Dota2 does not have that either, but then they have a lot more characters.

But I think ultimately it’s what Gung-ho is saying, the average skill level is incredible high right now. It won’t be like that when the game is free to the public, and then it will be a lot more fun as a beginner to learn the ropes while playing against other beginners.

Also I expect that most of the insane fraggers will move over to competitive matchmaking once it reaches critical mass, so casual servers should become much more bearable at that point.

Think about it like this: If you persevere now and manage to somehow survive during the closed beta, you’ll be stomping when the game is actually out. :slight_smile: It’s like a hardcore bootcamp.

(Looms) #8

Let’s be serious - people with even rank 5-6 have the same problems. They have no clue about any of the game mechanic. And no, it’s not funny to watch 50% of the team trying to play TDM.

That’s why a detalied, class based (lets say for the starting 7 classes) and MANDATORY tutorial is required the moment the game is released as an open beta.
Another MANDATORY tutorial should take place before a player is allowed to play any kind of competitive MM.

(Zenity) #9

[quote=“Looms;9463”]Let’s be serious - people with even rank 5-6 have the same problems. They have no clue about any of the game mechanic. And no, it’s not funny to watch 50% of the team trying to play TDM.

That’s why a detalied, class based (lets say for the starting 7 classes) and MANDATORY tutorial is required the moment the game is released as an open beta.
Another MANDATORY tutorial should take place before a player is allowed to play any kind of competitive MM. [/quote]

I honestly think that’s fine. Rank 5-6 is still very early, and personally I don’t find that the game is particularly harder to figure out than other games I’ve played. I remember the last time I played BF3 and was surprised that it got practically no tutorial or introduction to multiplayer at all, and I was completely clueless as to what I was supposed to do. But most people seem to be fine with that…

Playing TDM at early levels really isn’t the worst that can happen. You are still having fun, while gradually figuring out the details. For me what takes the longest time is getting comfortable with the maps anyway, and tutorials wouldn’t help all that much with that.

(Szakalot) #10

rather than mandatory tutorial; gives a nice incentive like a random drop if you finish tutorial. maybe even challenges for tutorials, but thats probably too much work.

(cosmopolitanSponge) #11

To be honest, it’s great to learn by yourself! The big problem I think is the lack of noob servers, making lots newcomers pissed off and rage and ‘never gonna play this game ever again’ sort of thing. :persevere:

(immenseWalnut) #12

This game could also do with the ability to free roam the maps as a practice mode.

(Eox) #13

So much this ! I would like to be able to train some parkour tricks without wasting a slot in public games and being shot.

(ResidentDoom) #14

So much this ! I would like to be able to train some parkour tricks without wasting a slot in public games and being shot.[/quote]

Cant you just go to a server with 0 people?

(Zenity) #15

So much this ! I would like to be able to train some parkour tricks without wasting a slot in public games and being shot.[/quote]

Cant you just go to a server with 0 people?[/quote]

No, it requires two people to start and of course it will fill up quickly.

(Amerika) #16

There is a ton of people who have played similar games before playing in the closed beta right now. So you’re not just going up against a bunch of other people who haven’t gotten much of a chance to play these games in the past as much as you will after the game is released. Of course, by then, you’ll be one of us haha.

You can always keep trying new classes. I would not use Vasilli if you’re new. Also, Proxy is probably harder to be effective with when new but if you get it in your head to always arm/disarm objectives you could have a low K/D while still doing great for your team. Good medics don’t even really have to be offensive. Just know where to sit to not get shot and have paddles ready quickly if somebody goes down.

Splash Damage is taking a chance by not making DB a watered down controller friendly console military shooter. They aren’t even going for the slower paced but more spammy TF2. It’s basically Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Enemy Territory (SD made the latter) all jacked up on Mountain Dew. If you haven’t see either of those games go to Youtube and check out a few highlight vids and you’ll get it.

Hope things get better for you.

(unknownSpout) #17

[quote=“Glottis-3D;9451”]thnx for the post unknownSpout!
very nice to have a newcomer’s perspective.
obviously you played vs lots of beta-testers which is unfair.
with time (days? weeks?) you will not get those because of matchmaking system.
i realy hope this system will work properly.[/quote]

Glad to hear a system like that is in the works.

If I had to boil down my list to just 1 point… it would be exactly the stacked teams. I sometimes feel like a game can be a hopeless case on one side, but if I change teams suddenly the challenge drops to 0 and I just get carried.

Unless those were locked teams (parties) that the Matchmaker wasn’t allowed to separate, which I appreciate is another thing.

I don’t think a tutorial for every merc is even necessary. Just a little voiceover mention, like the advice people have given above (thanks btw!), that not everyone has a grenade, airstrike and landmines are free for two default mercs (or whichever mercs will be the default), plus the importance of going for headshots instead of ADS’ing - mostly based on the differences between this game and… say… “popular expectations” of newcomers (I come from games like Battlefield and Blacklight, for example, not TF2).

(unknownSpout) #18

LOL.

Sorta true, but not in the case of being completely carried by a winning team, playing against LVL 1’s.

(Eox) #19

So much this ! I would like to be able to train some parkour tricks without wasting a slot in public games and being shot.[/quote]

Cant you just go to a server with 0 people?[/quote]

I can’t launch the game on a server with 0 person. And even if I were able I wouldn’t, because someone would join the game and screw up my training session, and I have no right to invade a server by myself and tell the others to go away.

A free roaming system available while offline is much better than “serverjacking” an empty server.

(solt.) #20

Having never touched this game until yesterday, I would say my experience was drastically different from OPs.

This could be for a number of reasons though, I played a shit ton of Bad Company 2 back in its day.

Just wanted to stop in to say I don’t think it’s all hell and brimstone.