Forums » Suggestions

Don't start the trial period until the player has left the training sector

Jul 07, 2012 zak.wilson link
Newbies don't do the training missions because they see it as a waste of their trail time. It isn't, of course, but just try convincing them of that.
Jul 07, 2012 TheRedSpy link
It still seems a little odd, if you're after trying out the game, why would you want to skip the training part of it which is part of the game that you're here to try out.

It doesn't make any sense, I think the solution is voice overs so that people who don't like to read through the training missions have something to do. I also think part of training should be throwing people into a combat situation so they can experience the rush of a skirm straight off the bat.
Jul 07, 2012 TerranAmbassador link
Actually TRS, I think he meant to keep the training sector as mandatory, but don't start ticking down on the trial timer until the player has left it. There's a good bit of potential for exploitation of it, though.

But +1 to the voice overs and combat situation addition
Jul 07, 2012 Touriaus link
Yeah, can you say troll accounts sitting in the training sector annoying 100? (and potentially bothering newbs who then don't sub)

[edit] as for the voice overs, I offered to do some voice over stuff (for free of course) and got some positive feedback from one of the devs but not Incarnate. And this was over a month ago so it likely just got forgotten.
Jul 07, 2012 TheRedSpy link
Terran: Yes I understood the suggestion, he's saying that people are just skipping and then asking stupid questions that are covered in the training on 100. But there are plenty of people that actually don't mind reading about the game and those people we don't hear about. It's the ones that don't like reading that the tutorials don't cater to.

To be honest, I could make a pretty good Youtube tutorial of Vendetta Online myself and go through the training, even show a preview of combat etc, but there wouldn't be any way to associate this with the official training mission, so it's kind of stupid.

Community contribution isn't going to be enough though it needs to be tied into the official game process
Jul 08, 2012 USMC link
I agree that if trial time doesnt start till after training, we will get lots of troll/spam from unsubs that just stay there.

so -1 to that
Jul 09, 2012 yodaofborg link
-1

As TRS said, the problem is not that people are rushing the training missions to get a taste of the game, it's more of a problem that although useful, the training missions we have are boring. They do not engage the player in any real way, except to explain stuff.

This wouldn't fix the problem, and would just make trolling and relay bots more available to unpaid player nodes.
Jul 09, 2012 TehRunner link
-1
what yoda said (holy shit, a productive post by him)
the other side effect of training missions that are all text is that by the time a newb makes his first WH jump he probably forgot 2/3 of the information. The result of all is the annoying constant flow of annoying questions in 100
Jul 09, 2012 Pizzasgood link
I think the easiest and most effective thing that could be done would be to simply add a tab to F1 labeled FAQ. Update the tutorial to force them to access the FAQ tab so that they know it is there even if they skip the bulk of the tutorial.

This would provide an easy and organized way to look up information later, as opposed to digging through the mission logs trying to remember what mission talked about physics mode or whatever. It would also provide a reference for people who want to just skip the training, making them less likely to ask us those questions - and when they do we could just say, "F1".

This needs to be easily accessed on the Android version too if it isn't already, with droid-relevant answers.

Voiceovers would be nice, but they don't address the real problem. The real problem is just too much information at once, without enough practical application.

Disabling the trial timer within the training sector would only be a good idea if people within were also removed from all chat but sector. Non-ideal, as many of the newbs who need help are still in training and just need clarification (usually about either the "route" button, or finding the station).

I say instead just don't disable the timer indefinitely - give them up to two hours in the training sector before the standard eight hours starts ticking. That way it allows people to go through at a leisurely pace while preventing them from sitting there indefinitely.
Jul 09, 2012 Kierky link
That would be a great solution, Pizzasgood. And also, the extra two hours for the training sector only is a good idea. +1 to both.
Jul 09, 2012 incarnate link
Hi. We are currently implementing "free-to-play" training sector usage, and have been for a month or two. Users in the training sector area will be strongly limited in what they can do, how they can chat (channel 1 only, rate-limited. No guilds, no groups, etc), and also their idle-time (with a CAPTCHA-entry popup), to prevent trolls and bots from using that as a mechanic.

This is a good first step to introducing people to the game without them feeling too robbed of their trial experience, and we can mitigate the challenges that will come with it.

We're also going to be instancing trial sectors, which I've talked about elsewhere. Thus, if we have high trial-sector usage, a new instance will be started to handle new users, to keep individual sectors from being overwhelmed. As you guys know, I'm not a huge fan of instancing, preferring to keep the game a contiguous space, but it makes sense for trial sectors. Thus, there will be potentially up to a thousand individual "trial" sectors of each nation (so, up to around 3000 total).
Jul 09, 2012 TerranAmbassador link
+1 to Pizzagood
Jul 10, 2012 incarnate link
The FAQ tab is a good idea too.
Jul 10, 2012 slime73 link
I think Moda Messolus got partway through making a FAQ tab in the PDA several years ago, but the project sort of fizzled out.
Jul 10, 2012 incarnate link
If someone wants to start a new thread where people can suggest FAQ entries and descriptions, that would be helpful. Some of you have spent a lot of time helping newbies and have good insight on their early questions. Just.. try to keep the entries professional and civil ;).
Jul 10, 2012 Pizzasgood link
Ok, I made a thread and listed the ones I could think of off the top of my head.

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/26359#321733
Jul 15, 2012 Phaserlight link
I nominate TRS to make an updated Youtube tutorial series on VO.
Jul 18, 2012 slime73 link
Bam. Instanced free-to-play training sectors are live!
Jul 18, 2012 incarnate link
..and I welcome feedback on it, and any potential problems, loopholes or exploits that we may have left in there. Among other things, we wanted to avoid creating an environment for trivial/free bots, abusive or spammy pretend-newbies, etc.

But please post said feedback in a new thread, just for easier tracking purposes.
Jul 19, 2012 TheRedSpy link
I nominate TRS to make an updated Youtube tutorial series on VO.

Working on getting GLC working to that end so I can finish off my arklan tutorial as well, however it's being painful. Draugath had some solutions for me today but still no luck.

I nominate phaserlight to do half of it with me.

:P

P.S. and slime, on account of his sexy voice