Starcruiser Stasarik
Red Federation
RvB - RED Federation
0
   |
Posted - 2015.07.02 20:23:08 -
[1] - Quote
The difference of going from the old char creation (with some 800-900k SP) to the new char creation (with 50k) was terrible. For all the faults the old char creation had, its SP limits (and the respective ability to go out and actually do things) were not one of them.
I am all for giving new chars a big boost to which skills they start with.
Things are only marginally better with a 30-day trial, since you have a lot longer to train before the trial ends and you have to make your decision. Back when there was only a 14-day trial (or 21-day with an invite), having to losing "only" a day and a half to do this, and a day to do that, and another day for something else, was a lot worse.
Even so, making new players sit and wait is bad. The Opportunity tutorial to get them to talk in Local and start a conversation are a bit of a start, but considering how anti-social a lot of starting areas are, it isn't as good a fix as it could be.
In addition to giving new players a boost to what skills they start with, consider a few more chat channels based on what their starting race, bloodline, and school are. Minmatar go to the Minmatar channel, Amarr to the Amarr, etc. Add channels for bloodlines, as well. Finally, add some PvP-related channels to a new Combat grouping and include various channels from Content, Science and Industry, Trade, and the new Combat grouping to the default channels, all based on what the person chose for their starting school. Hell, don't even base it on the school and just put everyone into a few of the existing channels regardless.
I seem to recall that CCP have stated in the past that interaction is the single biggest influence on new-player retention, so it seems very odd to me that the only starting channels a person is dumped into are Corp, Local (often fairly quiet), and Rookie Chat (pure and utter chaos).
Adding a few default channels that anyone can join (Corp, Local, and Rookie Chat are all restricted to specific condition) would be a huge help, I would think, in furthering new-player interaction. |