Blue Harrier
35
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Posted - 2012.03.13 22:51:00 -
[1] - Quote
Over the last month I have as they say 'rolled a new buddy account' and these are a few things I found when doing this and remember it was years ago since I started playing.
First although the NPE (New Player Experience) is a lot better than when I started playing it still needs a lot of work and I believe from another CCP thread they will be doing just that.
The New Player Help channel was often filled with over 2,000 new players and sometimes close to 3,000 so I don't think there is a shortage of people trying the game.
The channel questions made by new players were of a very simple nature and should have been answered by the NPE but had to be answered by knowledgeable players who took the time to do so.
The scroll rate of the channel because of the amount of questions was at times far to fast for the questioner to get a satisfactory answer.
The channel turning off after 30 days I think is to short and should extend for maybe 60 days or there should be proper directions to an alternative channel for new players to carry on getting help.
There is no real way of discerning if a new player is an actual new player or someone like me who was starting a new account to add to their 'portfolio' of accounts. This can cause confusion to a new player who thinks they are talking to someone of the same level as them but find the recipient is in fact far above them in knowledge.
There were on occasion players offering dubious 'lets fleet up and kill Dragon' messages to new players that were really 'lets fleet up so I can kill you for free' messages, this is a sure way of frighting off a new player.
The biggest turn off for new players is the way the help channel closes and they are left with nothing, no one talks in local any more, no or very few people will offer them help, there is no recruitment channel dedicated to the new player just a general recruitment channel. No instructions on how to join other channels and if they do the reception by others in those channels are lets say less than a welcome one.
The NPE just stops,the end, many just quit at this point, either driven out by the leet brigade who kill for the lutz or so confused by all the differing 'advise' they just cant take it all in and sort the good from the bad, (they wouldn't know the good or bad anyway they haven't played long enough).
How to fix it I have no idea, but maybe if people started communicating again it might help. |