nemesys
13-12-05, 02:01
'allo. I've heard of nc before, found the trial on fileshack (good idea, whomever gave it to them), am rather hooked etc. :).
Some issues, which i post here as of possible general concern re: player retention from trial to full account:
* manual. Wow, lots going on, lots of info, lots of random crap in my inventory. Not everyone may have played system shock 2 and similar so the slew of "random widget 25a5c" and suchlike might be intimidating. Ingame p2p help is great, but requires people be awake and talkative when you are. Also that you figure out how to ask on it without being able to ask on it :D .
Found an old link to the english manual as a pdf. it is a broken link. Can this be reinstated or included/made part of the launcher ("online manual") or even linked locally in the program group that has the website link in it?
* Language.
Oh man. Like, wow. There are some issues here with translation. I can't speak a word of German - well okay, a few words - but there are places too numerous to keep track of where the English needs a TL500 repper.
now, bear with me a moment, because i know there are serious code issues to be fixed... but...
I could go on for hours about this but i will spare us all and say simply: any number of bugs, errors, and other "works in progress" can be forgiven by a smooth, immersive environment that *seems* like it's got it all together. Don't believe me? Ever hear of Microsoft? :cool:
Seriously, some of the dialog is very badly b0rked. More importantly, some missions and other vital NPC speech is written so oddly as to render it nearly useless. Yes, you figure it out eventually. No, spending an hour doing nothing but running around losing your mind before realizing something's broken is not much fun at all.
* an ingame notepad or other 'log' of the n00b popups you get:
Ties in with the last point. We need basic info on usability, on the interface, on where stuff is and what happens when you get there!
THIS IS VITAL. Please read.
The first mission i got was broken; the NPC target didn't exist. However, navigation and mission text and info is *so vague* i literally spent *hours* running around the city looking for it, assuming i'd missed it, was doing something wrong, was a lost noob, etc.
Finally i sent a petition and a merciful GM in shiny red armour confirmed the lack of NPC. Had it not been my first bloody mission, maybe i would have realized the lack of a "pointer sign" meant he didn't exist, but...
I would imagine that for many new folks wandering in, especially on trial, spending much of the first day doing nothing but attempting things that turned out broken would be a major, huge, massive turn-off. It was extremely frustrating to say the least. I beg of you, don't turn your backs on this issue because you worry that it's pointless because all the bugs won't get fixed overnight. Instead work with what you can control, and beef up informational systems so such things are a lil less painful, and easier to avoid.
Frex, if the mission text would be more than a strangely-written sentence or two, one can know if it's one's own noobish fault or if there's something actually broken, drop it and move on to something fun. :angel:
I'm thinking of all the "had to be told on HELP>" information that should be part of tutorials, of ingame help text, or otherwise presented as part of the process. There was a lot.. some of the more obvious are
Stats. No mouseover text. Much debate over what they do...
NPCs you're looking for will have a 'pointer box,' not just the noob mission from Info Manager.
Missions are incredibly vague, or devoid of into entirely. The const missions, frex.. they say NOTHING! Accept one from a cityterm, you will be lost until some merficul soul tells you to get back to faction HQ.
Why are these things important? You guys need time to work on the broken stuff, and I'd imagine that time can be bought more easily with more accounts. Things need to be fixed in "noob order;" if the longtime, diehard, going-to-stay-a-while addicts scream and shout, remind them that they need people to play WITH ;) . And that the game needs to turn a profit!
Bottom line: if the entry experience is confusing; gives the *appearance* of being waaaay unfinished or outright broken; provides a frustrating first-day of gaming; or is in other ways proving to be a bummer; people won't stay, and more people won't come.
Final point: i'd like to put your money where my mouth is :D . Forums are all about telling other people what they should do, without ever being in danger of having to do any of it. Therefore, I, being a geek of moderate calibre with a concentration in "nerd hermit," would be more than happy to take great gobs of English ingame text, clean it up, and send it back. Seriously. I will gladly sign a contract to the effect of "this work was done as an independant contractor for compensation to consist solely of some ingame in-character mention somewhere in the back of the newspaper maybe at KK's discretion if we feel like it and the work doesn't suck."
But whatever you do, please don't ignore these points and plow on. I'm going to stick around when the trial ends 'cause i gotta see how it all turns out, and no other mmog i've found has been as remotely interesting, but these things still worry me.
Thanks for reading this far!
</rant>
Some issues, which i post here as of possible general concern re: player retention from trial to full account:
* manual. Wow, lots going on, lots of info, lots of random crap in my inventory. Not everyone may have played system shock 2 and similar so the slew of "random widget 25a5c" and suchlike might be intimidating. Ingame p2p help is great, but requires people be awake and talkative when you are. Also that you figure out how to ask on it without being able to ask on it :D .
Found an old link to the english manual as a pdf. it is a broken link. Can this be reinstated or included/made part of the launcher ("online manual") or even linked locally in the program group that has the website link in it?
* Language.
Oh man. Like, wow. There are some issues here with translation. I can't speak a word of German - well okay, a few words - but there are places too numerous to keep track of where the English needs a TL500 repper.
now, bear with me a moment, because i know there are serious code issues to be fixed... but...
I could go on for hours about this but i will spare us all and say simply: any number of bugs, errors, and other "works in progress" can be forgiven by a smooth, immersive environment that *seems* like it's got it all together. Don't believe me? Ever hear of Microsoft? :cool:
Seriously, some of the dialog is very badly b0rked. More importantly, some missions and other vital NPC speech is written so oddly as to render it nearly useless. Yes, you figure it out eventually. No, spending an hour doing nothing but running around losing your mind before realizing something's broken is not much fun at all.
* an ingame notepad or other 'log' of the n00b popups you get:
Ties in with the last point. We need basic info on usability, on the interface, on where stuff is and what happens when you get there!
THIS IS VITAL. Please read.
The first mission i got was broken; the NPC target didn't exist. However, navigation and mission text and info is *so vague* i literally spent *hours* running around the city looking for it, assuming i'd missed it, was doing something wrong, was a lost noob, etc.
Finally i sent a petition and a merciful GM in shiny red armour confirmed the lack of NPC. Had it not been my first bloody mission, maybe i would have realized the lack of a "pointer sign" meant he didn't exist, but...
I would imagine that for many new folks wandering in, especially on trial, spending much of the first day doing nothing but attempting things that turned out broken would be a major, huge, massive turn-off. It was extremely frustrating to say the least. I beg of you, don't turn your backs on this issue because you worry that it's pointless because all the bugs won't get fixed overnight. Instead work with what you can control, and beef up informational systems so such things are a lil less painful, and easier to avoid.
Frex, if the mission text would be more than a strangely-written sentence or two, one can know if it's one's own noobish fault or if there's something actually broken, drop it and move on to something fun. :angel:
I'm thinking of all the "had to be told on HELP>" information that should be part of tutorials, of ingame help text, or otherwise presented as part of the process. There was a lot.. some of the more obvious are
Stats. No mouseover text. Much debate over what they do...
NPCs you're looking for will have a 'pointer box,' not just the noob mission from Info Manager.
Missions are incredibly vague, or devoid of into entirely. The const missions, frex.. they say NOTHING! Accept one from a cityterm, you will be lost until some merficul soul tells you to get back to faction HQ.
Why are these things important? You guys need time to work on the broken stuff, and I'd imagine that time can be bought more easily with more accounts. Things need to be fixed in "noob order;" if the longtime, diehard, going-to-stay-a-while addicts scream and shout, remind them that they need people to play WITH ;) . And that the game needs to turn a profit!
Bottom line: if the entry experience is confusing; gives the *appearance* of being waaaay unfinished or outright broken; provides a frustrating first-day of gaming; or is in other ways proving to be a bummer; people won't stay, and more people won't come.
Final point: i'd like to put your money where my mouth is :D . Forums are all about telling other people what they should do, without ever being in danger of having to do any of it. Therefore, I, being a geek of moderate calibre with a concentration in "nerd hermit," would be more than happy to take great gobs of English ingame text, clean it up, and send it back. Seriously. I will gladly sign a contract to the effect of "this work was done as an independant contractor for compensation to consist solely of some ingame in-character mention somewhere in the back of the newspaper maybe at KK's discretion if we feel like it and the work doesn't suck."
But whatever you do, please don't ignore these points and plow on. I'm going to stick around when the trial ends 'cause i gotta see how it all turns out, and no other mmog i've found has been as remotely interesting, but these things still worry me.
Thanks for reading this far!
</rant>