I did a search but couldn't find anything like this on the forum but maybe I missed it, so apologies if I did.

The basic idea is simple - ain't they always - let brand new players loose on the top ships and equipment.

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So, players who're on the 8 hour trial get to fly some of the top ships and use the best equipment of their chosen faction, the ships being limited to only being able to operate in one system (capitol system?) and for a limited amount of time per ship (an hour?), same with the equipment.

It would be a one shot deal too so once the hour was up (I'm just using an hour as an example here but it could be anything) you'd only be able to fly that type of ship, and use the best blasters again, through the normal levelling process. There could also be a restrictionon on using the trial ships and equipment for any missions, or not?
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OR...

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At the start of a players 8 hour trial the player is presented with a screen with various buttons that give access to footage of the top ships and equipment being put through their paces (pvp fights, queens being bombed etc. with voice overs too perhaps).

So if the character is Itani they might have a button that says "Valkyrie X-1 in Action" or if the character is Serco they'd have a button that says "Awesome Prometheus Footage"; you get my drift.

Then near the end of the 8 hour trial time you could have a bit of footage of a sales rep who, with some cheeky sales patter, says that if the player sign's up for a paid account they'll get to try out some of the top ships and equipment right from the get go, all be it for a limited time. (with the same restrictions as mentioned previously).
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It's a bit like going to a car sales showroom where they've got Ferrari's and Porches on display, you're gonna wanna take one, or maybe two or three, out for a damn good test drive before you buy. Am I right or am I RIGHT?

So noobs are going to get a small taster of all the really good ships to come. They'll be that guy, or gall, who's test driving a Ferrari.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

I didn't read the whole thread as i was immediately alarmed by the idea of allowing new players use the top gear and imagined all the grumpy pirates who leave all the time cause the game never changes (even though they never leave the sedina system to actually look ever) would just freeload on trials and valks to punish everyone for their lonely bitterness

+1 to CS

I see your point CS. But what if the top ships and equipment were only available to noobs on a special sort of mission?

So when the player takes said mission it only let's them fly in a normal noob ship to a special empty sector that no one else is allowed to enter while the mission is in progress.

Once the player is in the sector a bot cappie would spawn that they'd then have to dock with. They'd then swap ships aboard the cappie for the top ship and equipment of their choice.

The mission would continue with the player leaving the cappie in his/her valk to attack some bots (or something similar) that spawned in the same sector as part of the mission. And the player would obviously NOT be able to leave the mission sector in their trial valk, they could only leave the sector by swapping back to the noob ship they arrived in aboard the cappie when the mission was over, or by being killed by a bot.

My point being that no other human pilot would be able to follow the player into the mission/cappie sector and the player wouldn't be able to leave in the valk either. So they'd get to try all the top kit but wouldn't be able to punish a living soul.

-1 OP
+1 CS

At least he's thinking outside the box. But it really doesn't help the progression dynamics that the early game has if they can get the best ships. It also doesn't matter since they wont know how to use them properly anyway.

And yeah about the lonely pirate thing, thats clearly another CrazySpence CrazyMoment so i'll just put that down slowly and walk away... lulz

The devs are working on instance support, so I could see this being feasible by simply letting the newbie loose in an instanced sector for ten minutes. It could have a roid field, some bots (but they don't award XP), and maybe a small race tube. That way the newbie could see how the ships perform in a way that doesn't allow any kind of naughtiness.

I would be willing to accept something like that. I don't see a huge point to it, but I suppose it could help them to decide which sort of ship they want to aim for first, so they don't waste a bunch of time leveling up heavy only to find out that the Centaur doesn't handle as well as they thought.

+1 to pizzagood

The question comes down to whether or not there are players out there that, when starting a mmorpg for the very first time, would appreciate an option (a special mission) during the 8 hour trial that would allow them to try out the best kit, all be it for a restricted and limited time?

It'd be another helpful tool in the devs toolbox to attract more players who might not otherwise see the bigger picture without first having at least tried the top end kit first.

And of course for those noobs who're more inclined to enjoy the anticipation of waiting until they've levelled up before getting to fly the best ships then they simply don't have to take the mission.

But when all is said and done, is it more likely that it might encourage more players to sign up for a paid account as opposed to not?

Think before ye post ? : )

If they were restricted to the training sector.....
If they left the training sector the ship would turn into an ec89....

maybe

My thoughts and posts may be a little rough around the edges at times, granted, but I honestly don't give a flying fuck at a rolling do-nut as long as what I and others write subsequently eventually has some sort of positive effect on VO, even if it's just in the tiniest of ways.

-1
So, anyone can get better stuff with a TRIAL account than paying subs? Then why subs?

The point is that new people aren't given the impression that the slow, lumbering craft with uninspired weapons that they are given as newbies are what people actually use in the game. I mean, VO is a very different combat experience with an EC89/training-blaster vs a Superlight and a Neut III or something. One is much more intense and engaging than the other. If a new person says "god these ships are slow and boring" and then leaves based on their impression derived from the training sector, that's unfortunate.

Obviously, we do not want to obviate the point of our character progression though. But I have considered variants of this for some years.. basically letting people use fancy stuff in training sectors, and then when they leave they have to switch over to an EC-89 again. But that all has some challenges related to how to deliver this to newbies and not make things more confusing than they are already.

It's also noteworthy that on the Android version, the game already starts up in a "demo" mode that shows a pre-recorded capship/fighter battle, with the "player" seeing a view of (me) flying around shooting at stuff in a relatively higher-end ship (honestly, I don't remember what, but a less-slow fighter). So there is some instant information delivery in terms of "this is the game you're actually going to eventually be playing". The demo-mode thing has not been back-propagated to the PC yet.

Anyway, there is value to the overall goals of the suggestion. For the moment I think I'll just look at having demo-mode and whatnot on all platforms, it's just a brief 30-second view of what the game is eventually like, but it's (hopefully) pretty helpful.

Woodlander, here's a tip: assume everybody is as stupid as Alloh. Assume they won't bother to read your post in full. Especially when making a suggestion like this where, if you don't take preventative measures, there would be obvious exploits. Because even if you address those exploits (as you did attempt to do), stupid people like Alloh and lazy people like Spence will often fail to notice and leave irrelevant replies like those they left here.

One counter would be to acknowledge the exploits right at the beginning, with something like, "The following idea will need measures taken to prevent exploits. I'll get to them in a bit, but first here is the basic idea:"

Thanks Pizzasgood, appreciated!

Rather than letting trial newbs and 'sploiters loose in SCP's and X-1's, how about a "training simulator" like in X-Wing Alliance? Various ships can be auditioned in a variety of situations, but you aren't affecting the persistent "real" 'verse. As long as this was only available in the training stations, so our sparsely populated verse wasn't further drained of live targets by people obsessively training. Perhaps you could even arrange virtually virtual PvP training: a group mission where any grouped pilots docked at any station could immediately enter the "virtual" instanced sector in one of 3 or 4 preset ships.

I always thought there should be a "Thunderdome" sector accessible from any system, with no way out save death. A constant furball for the easily bored.

Which conveniently moves the chaos out of the way of passing traders? I think not.

More video presentations would be the way to go. Show newbies the main ships of his race, its role and capabilities. Then get into that training slow ship and practise until you can fly the real thing.

While CD's approach can properly implement the 'fly before you buy' concept, without making it better to create multiple trial accounts and fly top gear trolling every subbed player using lower tech. Simply dock so a specific station and go to virtual shop, where you can see what each model can do, against boring bots on a single virtual sector. +1 like that, in training and capital sectors. For a price, of course, few credits. Except that it should be a lonely place, not a virtual arena.

Probably most of basic training should be in "simulators", everything before the "dock to cappie" and "fly away" missions. Even advanced combat training should be "simulated", with Serco players facing Itani vNPCs, Itani player vs Serco vNPCs, and UIT facing pirate ships.

I actually like the idea here. While inside the training sector go to a different roid field that has more advanced hive, flying a shiny new X1 with training newt 3's (so other players won't be grieved). Mix in training hive that can't hurt the newb, and focus the mission on teaching the differences between freebus and endgame ships. This lets newbs experience the best gear before leaving the sector, but without the ability to leave said training sector prevents exploiters from roaming the verse.
then see a demo of vet combat. All as a showcase of 'this is what you're working towards'