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+--- Thread: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. (/showthread.php?tid=162550)
New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Manu - 07-05-2018
DISCLAIMER: The following topic isn't meant to disrespect, bad mouth or insult the work or the mod itself but rather provide raw data from a New Player perspective to the devs and old players in order to provide solutions for the continuous success of Discovery.
First, some things I need to make clear as a New Player into Discovery:
THE NUMBERS:
The sole reason I decided to install Discovery Freelancer was based in numbers. Everywhere I poked around about Freelancer mods mostly pointed out to Discovery active community and most importantly the Multiplayer numbers. Shouldn't surprise anyone really since it seems Discovery has attached itself to the numbers.There are other mods with way better graphics which also have RP Servers. But none have the numbers Discovery can pull.
First thing I noticed:
[SIS], PFI), [MLA], FB|, [UC], [GRP], [KSP], Shura|, [HA], Koa|, SSRT|-, LTT|-, LSF, 15MEU|, /_\, 6th|, LR-, XA-, FW|, [RHA], NO-, AE|, {AC}, >\./<, [Star], Synth|, GMG|, [MFE], (F), [ZoG], >Z|S<, THP|, {ABH}, SCEC|, Canaan|, Gammu|, tC-, ApS, BPA), BAF| , BMF- , Bowex), Gateway|. [M]-, MRG|, [C]-, [KNF], GC|, LPI-, [LN]-, =LSF=, 5th|, [*USI*], Ageira~, [HF], LH~, H|-, RFP, [RM], BDM|, DHC-, Kruger, [ALG], UN|, [TBH], Core|, Order|, OSI-, IRG|, SCRA|, NC-, C::, A/)-, IMG, =CR=, .:j:., JM|-, BHG|, [TAZ], IC|, [FL-ER], K'Hara, Vagrants, Oracles, Wilde., |Aoi
1. PROBLEM: Tags:
So there it is. My first impression of Discovery Freelancer. This hieroglyphical, confusing, sometimes unnecessary abbreviated tags above is what I think is the Learning Curve of Discovery and what new players are faced with right off the bat. Cause Discovery basically urges you to join a faction and RP, it dresses you up, level you up, gives you a nice jump start and throws you into the hieroglyphic wall. And I'm pretty sure I haven't included a bunch of other tags. The thing is, Player list is a necessary tool for rp and the abbreviated tags only serve to confuse new players. There are some who obviously need it but many really don't.
2. PROBLEM: No Challenge, no grind and no immersion for new players.
So as I made my way to the Penn open space I quickly learned what I just pointed out in the first issue. Discovery wanted me become part of the community as soon as possible. Penn was relatively empty with most newbies minding their own business as if they already know what to do. (Prob. already old or experienced players). Of course I was eager to RP but after facing the hieroglyphic wall I decided I needed time, to process, to learn and get acquainted with the intricacies of the factions, but Discovery doesn't really allow much space for it. Enemy NPC's are literally obnoxious flies so challenge is out of the window, I realized you could console your way into a faction so no progression needed, like fixing reputation on your own or simply do things on your own for a while. New Players need time and space to experience, adapt, learn and choose a faction and both the devs and old players need to understand this concept. The confusing tags gave me the initial and wrong impression of "You can't sit with us" or "Don't call us we call you" type of community and in reality is nothing like that.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
So I'm gonna trow a bunch of ideas to make Discovery more suitable for new player and expand its niche for survival. Cause as of now the game is basically tailored for old experienced players. Most of old players are probably doing Elite or waiting for Star Citizen or some other revival game. And I think Discovery will be needing to expand and temper with the times.
1. Simplify Tags: Difficult to identify tags are a real issue for new players wanting to rp. You open the Player Chat window and get lost in a sea of tagged players with need a manual to identify. Both devs and Faction leaders should be aware of this.
2. Challenge:
Bringing challenge to new players as they get acquainted to Discovery on their own is essential to keep them in game long enough for them to finally get into a Faction before getting bored. Starting as civilian with a lower level and find enemies challenging but not impossible. I noticed NPC decrease with the number of players and I think this is something that needs to be told to new players as if I find npc's challenging I would like to connect even more when there's more activity. Even with this feature I think encounters should be decreased lightly to compensate the difficulty.
3. Visuals:
No, I'm not talking about visual overhauls re textures or anything of the sort. I'm talking about slowly giving players more visual tools like for example adding SMAA for the next release or expanded gamma in the options menu, similar the bloom effect feature at install. In a way to keeping the game more competitive with current space games. Freelancer doesn't really need much in this aspect because of it's amazing and cohesive art direction and atmosphere many space game developers today struggle to replicate. It also has a very retro feel which is very appealing. Eventually I think Discovery should start to consider opening more to the idea of enb presents. For now I think Discovery should slowly but steadily provide certain visual enhancements (One by one) that doesn't alter the whole aesthetic as incentive to new players so at least new players don't get the feeling Disco will look the same forever. Even if this stuff can be done in Graphic Cards control panel I'm certain an simple announcement of a visual feature by the mod will attract attention from both new and old players.
4. Draw clear lines and boundaries for new players:
Like buying faction ships and ID. Perhaps removing Official Faction IDs from the game, giving more power to the official factions and or making ships exclusive to that particular faction either by making them extremely expensive, giving some sort of ship purchase bonus to ID and making faction IDs almost impossible to acquire in game. This is obviously more complicated but this would also attract players into joining official factions. Having everything available sort of defeats the purpose of wanting to be part of a group. New players should be able to start from scratch, get rep going, get into a faction, get a ship, get proper Faction Outfit (via console or ID). Without the need of a faction console command jump start. It's better this way since from personal experience after getting a vessel I wanted and eventually learned it belonged to an Official faction made me feel like I was messing up the rp experience for others.
5. Simplify the Forums:
Make new players join in the forums way before they try to join an official faction. Navigating the forum sometimes feel just like navigating Sirus. Refocus the Forum to be more suited for new players with areas for newbie IDs. Give new players stuff to do with their newbie ID cause after all those IDs can repopulate and serve as basis for rp opportunities.
An example here:
Welcome
-Rules
-Help
-Official Announcements
-General
Factions:
-Freelancer
-Miner
-Pirate
-Etc
-Official Factions
-Unofficial Factions
Development
-
-
-
Basically something simple that gives space for new players to post and sort of get the new sheep counted as well as hand holding new players into activities and opportunities to recruit them.
6. New focus and creating new niches: Younger players:
With all the recent and upcoming space games, Discovery may loose even more players in the future. The thing is (And this might sound bad for older players). Freelancer looks and acts like a teenage game. Freelancer looks like a Cartoon Network animated series. This makes contrast with the current and future games to be released which seems to be more focused to a mature audience. I think it would be wise for Discovery to take advantage of this and focus more on the Teen audience.
7. Allow longer idle before kick outs: This feature might have worked when the server was full of players but right now is not doing any favors to the mod as it is, specially if numbers affect NPC count and being the main feature of Discovery. Many would say the main feature is RP but not in my opinion, Numbers are the key element of keeping the Mod Alive.
So basically this is my initial experience with Discovery along some recommendations to balance for rp and solo players so both can have fun with or without a highly populated server as well as branching into new niches and appeal to a younger audience for longevity and activity. I apologize in advance for my English. (Not my first language). Just wanted to write my initial impressions before I forget them.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - E X O D I T E - 07-06-2018
Self-imposed challenges exist.
Welcome to Disco, man. Get a Discord and hop on this server and you can talk to players with specific questions more immediately.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - SCEC - 07-06-2018
Welcome to disco! The impressions of new players are for sure beneficial to the development of the server.
It is understandable that the learning curve and overall difficulty to begin playing is an issue. However, I should draw your attention to the fact that the existing balance is the result of tedious process of development and seeking compromises among old and new players. To cast some insight into what I mean I shall refer to your remarks in respective order.
1. Tags. I, personally, can not see any problems with 3-4 letter tags being something difficult. At any rate, they are frequently used in the real world. USS, IRA, USSR, USA, EMI, OPOV, YOLO, IMHO, etc - dozens of technical terms, names of countries, parties and just everyday shortened colloquial phrases. You suggest to make them shorter, but it is not as simple as it seems. As an example I shall refer to the faction I happen to be the leader of - SCEC, - and its sister faction SCRA. The first two letters denote the same words - Sirius Coalition, while the last two denote more specific organisation. One can argue that the tags can be shortened - say, C for "Coalition". But wait, there is a faction named "the Commune" whose tag is C~). Despite using different punctuation marks, naming C| and C~) would be confusing. There is also =CR= standing for Crayter Republic. And some more. Actually, it is shortening that would bring more confusion. Also, purely utilitarian function of SCEC tag for me - one can search on the forum words with no less than 4 letters, thus allowing me to easily look for SCEC-related topics on the forum that might require my attention. Also, discovery does not urge you to join any faction. To my perception, most of the time the server population in-game is comprised of "indies" - unaffiliated players who mind their own business without joining any faction.
2. Challenge. Actually, there is a lot of grind in this game (something, I don't like at times). Many players like having at least one big badass capital ship to fit which one will need approximately 2 billion credits (depends on what you want to put into it). There is also a currency called "scientific data" with the use of which you can buy unique equipment unobtainable in other ways. To collect enough of sci data you have to be either very lucky during server events, persistent to participate in most of the events, or rich to buy out the sci data. Therefore, there is always a place for grind, not even mentioning the POB mechanics that forces you to periodically deliver certain goods to the base. As for the NPC - you can have the challenge with them while doing missions or getting into some restricted area (meeting a nomad battleship while flying a gunboat is a funny case). The difficulty of the other "generic" NPCs was intentionally lowered not to have an impact on PvP or RP encounters wherein players tend to discuss issues without worrying that some nasty NPC may spawn nearby and kill you.
3. Visuals. Some people actually do put visual mods. The only criterion here is for the mods not to interfere with the game files responsible for the in-game balance, because it would be cheating. I am sure some community members can assist you in installing graphical mods. Moreover, there are soundpacks replacing vanilla fire and explosion sounds to someone's liking.
4. Official factions. The main reason for official factions' existence is to differentiate some groups of players who are committed to the development of a certain RP with intention to changing the lore of the very Discovery universe. To do so, they quite often need special rules, different from generic "unofficial" IDs. This basically is the argument for the existence of official factions IDs. I shall also mention that there are official factions that use generic IDs as they see the provisions of that ID to be fully consistent with their gameplay.
5. Forum. Frankly speaking, I have never extensively used forums before coming to Disco in early February this year. With basically no experience in using forums it took me a day or two to find out how it functions. I don't think it's that long. Overall, we are all people of the digital age and being unable (or lazy) to find out how a forum works is rather an exceptional case.
Nothing from the said above is intended to discredit any your arguments. This is just a reply of a relative newbie on how I see the server after having spent here a few months. Hope my explanation would be at least somehow beneficial to you. Peace! And remember: it is just a game, don't take it very serious.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Kalhmera - 07-06-2018
It sounds like you need to stay awhile and learn the mod. Im by no means a new player but I was new once, and I understood Tags quite early. The learning curve isnt so steep once you dive into the game and read.
As for the progression, that has never truely been a thing with this server. You have some factions like Lane Hackers Who have a closed economy, meaning any money earned outside of their faction cannot be used. The money aspect is easy, you eiter mine, haul for the miners, pirate, or levy Fines. or sell equipment / code name weapony plenty more ways also
All in all, welcome to Discovery and any questions you have can be answered here on the forums. Hope to see you in space.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Karlotta - 07-06-2018
In case y'alls was wondering. No the OP is not a Karlotta alt.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - LaWey - 07-06-2018
1) Tags shows only player's factions. They all only represent some bunch of more wide existing inlore NPC-faction. Nobody not bother to know all tags, because everyone can make it, it can be joke, or will disappear after some days. That thing just for fast identification between themselves mostly. If you encounter man with unknown for you tag, just treat him as IFF transponder say, and make your own opinion about player's faction, or just straight ask who they are if situation allow that.
For example, when i play Coalition character, most of mercenaries/shipping/freelancer companies tags means nothing for me, i can dont know who they are and even not bother myself by it. How they react, and what IFF they have, that more important.
Player list important thing, but only for finding encounter. That defenitely not "necessary tool" for RP.
Another example - when i play for Ageira character, i dont much bother to look in player list, because it can ruin fun from suprising encounter of pirate ambush. That list mostly used for counterlog player (to represent reaction on entering in guarded system for example) or for hunt players (as bounty hunters/mercenaries) or just for finding somebody when you boring (in gallia for example)
If you are really interesting in some faction, for example you like their RP, or you have nice encounters with them, or they most encountered faction in some zone, so you just want know more about them, there always list of unofficial factions(but not all can be listed, because they just dont give request for list), and entire forum section for official ones.
And most of them, who still not entire dead, want more players. Many of them will be glad to play with new faces
2) For challenge there still exist concept from vanilla game - missions in stations bar. You can grade challenge by choosing mission of needed level or by required objective (relog/redock for get another set of missions in station bar)
it could be done in groups, it allow make moneys, its allow up reputation with some NPC factions, in other words - that still very important part of gameplay. That indeed what you can grind. If you feel that small for you, okay there some guarded zones with spawn of very dangerous NPC (and no less dangerous counterlogging players)
Also, take all from zero point still a thing. You can fly as freelancer, knowing about world around you, make missions on NPC-faction bases and bribe for obtaining reputation, and after this buy indie ID of interesting you faction. That still a thing even not for new players.
That restart needed mostly not for new players, but for that who need more and more characters. Also you cant play every character as former freelancer. For example, it would be strange if you somehow as human freelancer inRP evolute in nomad Morph Or if every character would be freelancer from planet Eire. That just..common thing for RP games, choose start for specify your character.
4) Official factions already have their own shining ship/mining bonuses/some sweety rules and some another things. But more important - their action have weight and mostly direct impact on discovery lore. That in really even more drive factions become officials than ships or other stuff - become a part of creator of Sirius storyline, not just pawn in story arks (at least try it ye).
5) Forums baed yeah. Need to addict to this. Topics have tendention be with not easy for search names, and this crap with 3-4 letters search which make unable seek faction by tags (its possible, but through another way, like player activity tracker, for seeking full characters names or full faction name on faction activity tracker). I can only advise learn search and addict to it.
For example, when i play Coalition character, most of mercenaries/shipping/freelancer companies tags means nothing for me, i can dont know who they are and even not bother myself by it. How they react, and what IFF they have, that more important.
Player list important thing, but only for finding encounter. That defenitely not "necessary tool" for RP.
Another example - when i play for Ageira character, i dont much bother to look in player list, because it can ruin fun from suprising encounter of pirate ambush. That list mostly used for counterlog player (to represent reaction on entering in guarded system for example) or for hunt players (as bounty hunters/mercenaries) or just for finding somebody when you boring (in gallia for example)
If you are really interesting in some faction, for example you like their RP, or you have nice encounters with them, or they most encountered faction in some zone, so you just want know more about them, there always list of unofficial factions(but not all can be listed, because they just dont give request for list), and entire forum section for official ones.
And most of them, who still not entire dead, want more players. Many of them will be glad to play with new faces
2) For challenge there still exist concept from vanilla game - missions in stations bar. You can grade challenge by choosing mission of needed level or by required objective (relog/redock for get another set of missions in station bar)
it could be done in groups, it allow make moneys, its allow up reputation with some NPC factions, in other words - that still very important part of gameplay. That indeed what you can grind. If you feel that small for you, okay there some guarded zones with spawn of very dangerous NPC (and no less dangerous counterlogging players)
Also, take all from zero point still a thing. You can fly as freelancer, knowing about world around you, make missions on NPC-faction bases and bribe for obtaining reputation, and after this buy indie ID of interesting you faction. That still a thing even not for new players.
That restart needed mostly not for new players, but for that who need more and more characters. Also you cant play every character as former freelancer. For example, it would be strange if you somehow as human freelancer inRP evolute in nomad Morph
Or if every character would be freelancer from planet Eire. That just..common thing for RP games, choose start for specify your character.4) Official factions already have their own shining ship/mining bonuses/some sweety rules and some another things. But more important - their action have weight and mostly direct impact on discovery lore. That in really even more drive factions become officials than ships or other stuff - become a part of creator of Sirius storyline, not just pawn in story arks (at least try it ye).
5) Forums baed yeah. Need to addict to this. Topics have tendention be with not easy for search names, and this crap with 3-4 letters search which make unable seek faction by tags (its possible, but through another way, like player activity tracker, for seeking full characters names or full faction name on faction activity tracker). I can only advise learn search and addict to it.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Unseelie - 07-06-2018
As a player who recently returned from a long time away, I understand and agree with most of these points. Disco is a complicated, strangely evolved community with its own rules and shapes.
I think most people here, steeped in that to one degree or another, think of that as part of Disco's appeal. And, honestly, to me, it mostly is. But the learning curve is steep, the customs are baroque. Still, I think, as you slide into it, it gets clearer. Don't hesitate to ask people questions, and have fun.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Lythrilux - 07-06-2018
Hi, welcome to Disco. You raise a lot of interesting points, so hopefully this will make for good discussion.
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 1. PROBLEM: Tags:
So there it is. My first impression of Discovery Freelancer. This hieroglyphical, confusing, sometimes unnecessary abbreviated tags above is what I think is the Learning Curve of Discovery and what new players are faced with right off the bat. Cause Discovery basically urges you to join a faction and RP, it dresses you up, level you up, gives you a nice jump start and throws you into the hieroglyphic wall. And I'm pretty sure I haven't included a bunch of other tags. The thing is, Player list is a necessary tool for rp and the abbreviated tags only serve to confuse new players. There are some who obviously need it but many really don't.
[...]
1. Simplify Tags: Difficult to identify tags are a real issue for new players wanting to rp. You open the Player Chat window and get lost in a sea of tagged players with need a manual to identify. Both devs and Faction leaders should be aware of this.
This is interesting because other new players, or even veteran players, could say the opposite. The tags actually let a lot of players quickly identify factions and players, and allow them to either interact with those players, or simply ask them questions regarding that faction. To be fair, when I was a newbie I had no idea that the (\^/) tag was for the Phoenix Zoner faction for a very long time, it was very cryptic and unclear. But tags like Core| are extremely obvious as to what faction that relates to. I'd say that the majority of the tags you've listed are fairly obvious indicators of the ID behind them (that and you can double check by looking at their ZoI), and should be easier for newbies to understand especially when it comes to official factions at least. But yeah, I can see the desire to see some of the tags made more simplistic. But then again, if you don't know what a tag is, what stops you from askign that player?
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 2. PROBLEM: No Challenge, no grind and no immersion for new players.[/color]
So as I made my way to the Penn open space I quickly learned what I just pointed out in the first issue. Discovery wanted me become part of the community as soon as possible. Penn was relatively empty with most newbies minding their own business as if they already know what to do. (Prob. already old or experienced players). Of course I was eager to RP but after facing the hieroglyphic wall I decided I needed time, to process, to learn and get acquainted with the intricacies of the factions, but Discovery doesn't really allow much space for it. Enemy NPC's are literally obnoxious flies so challenge is out of the window, I realized you could console your way into a faction so no progression needed, like fixing reputation on your own or simply do things on your own for a while. New Players need time and space to experience, adapt, learn and choose a faction and both the devs and old players need to understand this concept. The confusing tags gave me the initial and wrong impression of "You can't sit with us" or "Don't call us we call you" type of community and in reality is nothing like that.
2. Challenge:
Bringing challenge to new players as they get acquainted to Discovery on their own is essential to keep them in game long enough for them to finally get into a Faction before getting bored. Starting as civilian with a lower level and find enemies challenging but not impossible. I noticed NPC decrease with the number of players and I think this is something that needs to be told to new players as if I find npc's challenging I would like to connect even more when there's more activity. Even with this feature I think encounters should be decreased lightly to compensate the difficulty.
I see this brought up to so many times and it just makes me chuckle. People who suggest buffed NPCs were not around for when they actually were buffed, and too dangerous for server interactions. Long story short, it was so bad that you couldn't RP because you'd have to focus on not getting blown up by annoying NPCs, and pirates would be unable to pirate at lanes because they'd have to keep leaving to restock on nanobots, and lastly NPCs had a really irritating impact on PvP encounters (Omicron Delta was the worst, as any group fight would be marred by high level Noma snub NPCs). If you want a PvE challenge, do missions (you can spawn high levels of NPCs whenever you want and get rewarded). They are already challenging enough, even in groups. But the real challenge of this game doesn't stem from NPCs, but rather seasoned and organised players instead.
In regards to grind, I'll say there's definitely a grind as you're starting out and moving towards buying several fully kitted out caps for the faction of your choice. I do think money making needs to be made harder, however, and items in the game requiring more money to purchase.
In regards to Core at least, I can say that I've been trying to improve immersion with it as the faction isn't properly explained in the mod/server and players find themselves having to research the forum/wiki to find out more. I don't know what it's like for all factions, but for mine at least it's really missing the crucial fluff to really help immerse players in the concept and allow them to understand the faction.
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 3. Visuals:
No, I'm not talking about visual overhauls re textures or anything of the sort. I'm talking about slowly giving players more visual tools like for example adding SMAA for the next release or expanded gamma in the options menu, similar the bloom effect feature at install. In a way to keeping the game more competitive with current space games. Freelancer doesn't really need much in this aspect because of it's amazing and cohesive art direction and atmosphere many space game developers today struggle to replicate. It also has a very retro feel which is very appealing. Eventually I think Discovery should start to consider opening more to the idea of enb presents. For now I think Discovery should slowly but steadily provide certain visual enhancements (One by one) that doesn't alter the whole aesthetic as incentive to new players so at least new players don't get the feeling Disco will look the same forever. Even if this stuff can be done in Graphic Cards control panel I'm certain an simple announcement of a visual feature by the mod will attract attention from both new and old players.
ToW apparently was able to achieve it's high level of graphical fidelity because FriendlyFire (the lead dev) is a wizard and managed to take the exe to new heights. We don't have the source code, and modifying the exe itself is the only way to adjust the graphics within Freelancer other than bloom or texture upgrades. Unfortunately, FF won't share with Discovery how he was able to achieve any of those features. The overall Freelancer community itself isn't very cooperative.
On the note of ENB, all you can really do at most is adjust bloom or make the game darker/brighter. The ENB in the swagpack is a beta version of the GTA Vice City ENB - Freelancer doesn't even have it's own - and thus it's really limited in what it can do. Boris never released a Freelancer-specific version of ENB.
You can achieve Anti-Aliasing (and it looks great) by tweaking your settings in the GPU control panel for Freelancer. I'm working on a guide.
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 4. Draw clear lines and boundaries for new players:
Like buying faction ships and ID. Perhaps removing Official Faction IDs from the game, giving more power to the official factions and or making ships exclusive to that particular faction either by making them extremely expensive, giving some sort of ship purchase bonus to ID and making faction IDs almost impossible to acquire in game. This is obviously more complicated but this would also attract players into joining official factions. Having everything available sort of defeats the purpose of wanting to be part of a group. New players should be able to start from scratch, get rep going, get into a faction, get a ship, get proper Faction Outfit (via console or ID). Without the need of a faction console command jump start. It's better this way since from personal experience after getting a vessel I wanted and eventually learned it belonged to an Official faction made me feel like I was messing up the rp experience for others.
Official Faction IDs are a way to give official factions more power and perks though. A long-standing issue is there's been little to actually make the OF experience stand out from the indie experience. Indies can't accquire Official Faction IDs. Only Official Factions can give them out (to their own members). Depending on the ID, some OF IDs do have advantages over the indie IDs (i.e Core Official ID can take caps outside of it's ZoI).
Official Factions can request exclusive ships, but personally, I'm really against locking content. No ships I know of right now 'belong' to Official Factions more so than the NPC faction (so anyone with that ID can fly and own one), at least ones you as an indie are able to buy. What was the ship you bought? You shouldn't feel like you're hurting the RP experience for others.
Playing from scratch should be optional. We used to not have any restarts, and speaking from experience making a new ship each time for stuff was just horrible. The current restart system is 100x better. Generally speaking, character creation (setting up a ship for the purpose of interactions) is considered ooRP.
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 5. Simplify the Forums:
Make new players join in the forums way before they try to join an official faction. Navigating the forum sometimes feel just like navigating Sirus. Refocus the Forum to be more suited for new players with areas for newbie IDs. Give new players stuff to do with their newbie ID cause after all those IDs can repopulate and serve as basis for rp opportunities.
An example here:
Welcome
-Rules
-Help
-Official Announcements
-General
Factions:
-Freelancer
-Miner
-Pirate
-Etc
-Official Factions
-Unofficial Factions
Development
-
-
-
Basically something simple that gives space for new players to post and sort of get the new sheep counted as well as hand holding new players into activities and opportunities to recruit them.
Yeah I think this needs to happen to some degree. Right now the Faction sections especially are way too complicated and it's difficult for players to find key documents easily. One thing though, the current way of organising factions by region is better than sorting them by your proposal imo (there are already sections for official and unofficial factions).
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 6. New focus and creating new niches: Younger players:
With all the recent and upcoming space games, Discovery may loose even more players in the future. The thing is (And this might sound bad for older players). Freelancer looks and acts like a teenage game. Freelancer looks like a Cartoon Network animated series. This makes contrast with the current and future games to be released which seems to be more focused to a mature audience. I think it would be wise for Discovery to take advantage of this and focus more on the Teen audience.
Strongly disagree. Saw this happen to a favourite community/game I used to be in and it was the first motion that sent it towards its grave. Even other space-sims have been too niche for teenagers. Kids these days like things like Fortnite. Disco doesn't need to adopt a battle royale mode, or anything of that sort, to become more appealing.
I will say however that a consistent key to server success and high player count has been young, motivated leaders with lots of energy and time. If anything, what this server needs is more of those - a rising star who breathes new life into a faction/region and brings the energy back again.
(07-05-2018, 11:59 PM)Manu Wrote: 7. Allow longer idle before kick outs:[/color] This feature might have worked when the server was full of players but right now is not doing any favors to the mod as it is, specially if numbers affect NPC count and being the main feature of Discovery. Many would say the main feature is RP but not in my opinion, Numbers are the key element of keeping the Mod Alive.
You have a point, but on the other hand, players using the playerlist to find interaction can't tell that a ship is docked on a base in a system. The idle kick prevents them from wasting their time.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Manu - 07-06-2018
I think I need to make some points here regarding the tag issue, visual and the re focus thing: Regarding some points raised by Lythrilux, anton and Gardarik.
About tags: If the vast majority of the community likes the abbreviated tags so be it! Go for it! I'm simply letting you know this is creating a curve. How steep this curve is depends on each player and how much he's willing to invest and learn. I'm exposing my experience of wanting to role play, seeking for that rp moment and the tag issue stopped me dry. I totally understand many of them having the abbreviation specially military and police. But if at least half of them who had an unnecessary abbreviation where easy and quick to recognize, I wouldn't have hesitated to seek for that rp moment right from the beginning. Also taking into consideration the low numbers and you will only find one or two with an easy recognizable tag if you're lucky.
About the visuals: @Gardarik I tried Reshade and got banned afterwards, luckily the admins were very helpful and responsive and disbanded pretty quickly. And I'm not even talking about things like reshade. I totally understand and agree with the position of the devs to keep the game as loyal to the original as possible. The creators of freelancer made an artistic gem with beautiful and extremely cohesive art direction that now has a retro feel that many developers today would dream to imitate, everything looks unique, the characters look unique nothing looks like any other thing out there. And now Discovery is the face of Freelancer, the face and soul too. Crossfire is the face of freelancer after plastic surgery. But the point is, the devs should start looking at the future and begin to add stuff on their own. I mentioned as example adding SMAA option for the next release just like bloom was implemented, something as silly as this could make a difference and show visual progression, perhaps slightly expanding the gamma values in the option menus for another future and so on. I bet many old players would install Discovery back just to see those minor visual changes. I mentioned devs might consider adding a forum section for Enb presets in the distant future, like Skyrim which has thousands of them. But that's something that will be provided directly by the mod.
Lastly about the re-focus thing: I introduced my 11 year old nephew to Eve, didn't like it, I introduced my nephew to Elite, couldn't be bothered, I introduced him to Discovery, love it! Made him mine for a while and he fully enjoyed the experience my other 7 year old also liked Discovery, obviously at their age they cant be bothered with all the shenanigans but they loved it and eventually they will spark interest in the game when they grow up. All I'm trying to say is that Freelancer was made with a particular niche in mind and that niche is translating to the present. I'm not sayiiiing Discovery should turn itself into a kiddie game and totally forget about old players, but should consider expanding to new grounds and creating a layout that serve as playground for new age groups and also making sure a Disco gamer can experience progression and somewhat play on his own even if the numbers get pretty low. Even if Disco gets a bunch of Pirate and Freelancers all over the place that isn't a bad thing for older Faction members. Discovery Freelancer will be taking some hits by Star Citizen, Infinity Battlescape, Empyrion and many more and all this games are pointing at adult gamers as niche. We cant really tell how much will this impact Discovery but we all know it will directly or indirectly.
Thank you all for the nice welcome and to Exo thanks for the scoop I already joined Kruger and so far I'm loving it (I chose one with a clear tag lol) Nicest people very friendly and helpful, I love you all, great community, great people you got here and I hope it never dies out.
RE: New Player: First Impression of Discovery and it's learning curve. - Durandal - 07-06-2018
As a developer, I'd love to talk via a medium that is more likely to lead to constructive results than the forums. Discord would be ideal if you're interested, though Skype works as well. I don't think there are answers to all of your problems here, but hearing things from the perspective of players who are actually new and who care enough to offer their input is frankly invaluable from my point of view.