Improving the beginner experience

[I See Blue]

So these are my ideas for improving the start up-phase of the game. This part needs a lot of improvement if the goal is to bring in some new players, and make them stick. We want them to be able to level with a minimum of extra work at least the first 20-30ish lvls until they can make decent money by themselves, and this also gives them time to get to know the game and meet players that can help them.

I know that the current focus is balancing, but the beginner experience is important for new players to stick around. I´ve tried to make the suggestions as easy to implement as possible, the idea being to make it as easy as possible for the GMs to do this.
Here we go:


1. Dump people straight into their apartments, so they can get straight to doing the Jones mission. Also, specify in the mission text in that the F9 Navray can help guide them to the locations the mission sends them to. Dispense of noob-MC5 entirely, at least until some work can be put in to improve it. A noob starter area is a fine idea when there is actually some stuff to do that is easily understood for new players, but MC5 as it is is just a waste of time. Any experienced player will tell noobs to just leave MC5 at once, so there is a big consensus on this!

2. Station some low lvl quest NPCs in each sector of the city. The missions they give can be exactly the same as the missions that are given on the Citycom. Rat missions, plant missions, you know the kind of low lvl missions that are available.

For instance, near a sewer entrance there can be an NPC that gives out a small sewer rat mission, or a mission for the spiders you find in a lvl 1 sewer. (He could present himself as a shopkeeper that has trouble with rats or spiders in his stores, and asks the runner to help him with his problem for a small compensation. This is to make low lvl missions more accessible, and to populate the city with NPCs that you can actually have some interaction with.

I would also like to see some sort of effort put into the Outzone sectors, where there are almost completely dead caves (sidestreets) that could be populated with mobs to make city levling experience a bit more than just sewers and then aggie cellars in P1 and P2. I would also like to see a few NPCs that give missions relevant to whatever mobs can be found in these sidestreets and in the outzone sector they are in.

3. Anyone who has started from scratch know how much of a hassle it can be getting those first few weapons. If it´s a bitch for players who know what they are actually doing, how much harder is it for the completely green player with no NC experience? Why not make weapons more accessible up to lvl say 30-35-40? I propose to either:

–A Make NPCs that give you a mission with a weapon as a reward (it doesn´t have to be a great weapon, 99% quality or anything, but 70ish with the possibility of a slot to get an ammo mod or a damage mod)

or
–B Place a few "constructing NPCs" around the city. The idea would be that you could bring these guys a shitty weapon bought from a store, and then by doing a mission for them, you get it "fixxed up" to a better quality so it becomes usable.

Of course, there should be some sort of mechanism that makes sure this isn´t exploited for money, so I´d like for the sale prices of these weapons to be very low if they are sold to say Yo´s or whatever.

4. Clean up the starter setups so they don´t force people to LoM. Giving noobs skills they won´t want to keep is useless.

Driver for instance has points in Hacking, weapon lore and implanting under intelligence, noone uses this kind of setup. Some setups give you 6 repair at the beginning, which is going to get you nowhere. Completely pointless.

5. Some sort of introduction to the skill system. Maybe place a few NPCs that are profession coaches. One that tells the basic of what skills affect Heavy Combat, another that explains constructing and researching, one that gives info on rifle combat. Again, this will populate the city with NPCs you can interact with, making it look less dead, and can make information more accessible to new players.

6. Make it really clear that starting a character as City Merc or Twilight Guardian is only advisable if you have experience with the game.

7. Make weapons more accessible. You don´t need to have the smuggler system be as extensive as it is at the moment. Below lvl 60 at least, maybe even 70, you shouldn´t have to search that hard, or traverse the entire map in some cases, for a weapon. Just have them in hews/boobs and guns/archer and wesson. It´s an unnecessary complication for low lvl runners. You don´t have to do it for armor or drugs, why should you for weapons? Smugglers should be high lvl items in my mind.


That´s all I have for now, looking forward to some input.

[Chosen One]

3. Anyone who has started from scratch know how much of a hassle it can be getting those first few weapons. If it´s a bitch for players who know what they are actually doing, how much harder is it for the completely green player with no NC experience? Why not make weapons more accessible up to lvl say 30-35-40? I propose to either:

–A Make NPCs that give you a mission with a weapon as a reward (it doesn´t have to be a great weapon, 99% quality or anything, but 70ish with the possibility of a slot to get an ammo mod or a damage mod)

or
–B Place a few "constructing NPCs" around the city. The idea would be that you could bring these guys a shitty weapon bought from a store, and then by doing a mission for them, you get it "fixxed up" to a better quality so it becomes usable.

Of course, there should be some sort of mechanism that makes sure this isn´t exploited for money, so I´d like for the sale prices of these weapons to be very low if they are sold to say Yo´s or whatever.

All of these ideas are really great! Id love to see a new player experience, and new players

The quote above is my favorite idea.

[ZenTex]

1: agreed, but then this is a known problem and the removal of mc5 has been suggested more than a decade ago.

2: agreed, maybe also implement a quest that leads them to Plaza 1 where they will meet other people, one might get the impression the game is deserted when leveling in lets say, some basement in Via Rosso.

3: mediocre low to mid level items would be nice, best with a slot so they will be encouraged to find out how to get it modded and find out about constructors.

4: yeah, the setups for professions make no sense whatever.

5: agreed. having to find out what skills actually do through ancient forum posts makes no sense.

6: I think the warning in the char creation screen already makes that quite clear, no?

7: maybe, although it does make sense to lure people out into the wastes, the problem lies in knowing if there are better weapons about apart from HEW/A&W/B&G etc.

[I See Blue]

7: maybe, although it does make sense to lure people out into the wastes, the problem lies in knowing if there are better weapons about apart from HEW/A&W/B&G etc.

I´m all for luring people into the wastelands, but having to search far and wide for weapons (or lvl 2 implants for that matter) is just a timesink in my opinion. You will be lured into the wastelands for mobs and levling anyway, so I don´t really see the need for the weapons smugglers as an added incentive.

For me it makes more sense to have it organized in the same way as with the armor. Only for the highest lvl armor do you have to go to MB, TH or the canyon, or locate smugglers from lvl 75 and up for the Power armor. There are just too many smugglers spread around the map in non-intuitive places.

An NPC in Plaza 1 that gives direction to smugglers might also be a good thing, even pointing to a general area would be nice. I think too much information is out of game basically, there is no good way of getting this information except from other runners.

In addition there are some smugglers in areas certain factions can´t access, now how frustrating is that after having crossed the map to get to the smuggler?



As for the warning, yeah, I know it says for experienced runners. But I still meet new players who start either at MB or TG, so I guess some people are not noticing that information, or disregarding it.

[Tankjr]

Nice, at all Points.

That kind of *Better* Weapon Reward trough an NPC sounds good. Cause of that higher Reward as Runners usual get trough their Jones Starters, this Reward could be set as Additional *Group Quest* after Accomplishing Jones Main.
(Extra or better Reward + a bit more of credits)

It bring Starters into a little Group Experience - their First Team based Mission !!

As finished the Jones Starter, and to get a better Weapon or Item Reward - Jones can be set for a additional *Addon / Bonus* Mission
We have a lot of nice Locations in Pepper Park, which can be used as Areas to collect kind of different Parts to run up, maybe a Level based *Boss* Inside, who drops the recomended Item.
Those Sites, Zones, Sidestreets should get a better Use of, new Runner can have more Fun and brought into a story based Quest as a Team, spending more Time with each others to stick further up

In Short Words, Beginner Story Based Group Quest - implemented in all those nice Elements and Inner City Locations brought to you by Neocron !

[I See Blue]

Had another idea as well. Why not implement a npc that implants imps for a small fee for implants, say under lvl 25/30? Another timesink removed, and a quick introduction to a game function.

[SteveJinx]

Very very good points indeed! I wonder if any will actually been added to the game!

I really like all of these ideas so please consider adding some!

[hatmankh]

What about some new quests that send you to the popular levelling zones. Similar to ZenTex's suggestion for a quest that sends to Plaza 1. It would be good to have these as new jones quests that he hands out after the third one. If you're feeling ambitious, make a few different quests that lead to different levelling areas. Split them up by rank requirements and/or profession.

For example place a 'John Doe' at the end of an aggie cellar and the quest is to kill him, you'd have to get past all the mobs to reach him. A newbie's first instinct would be to fight the mobs, not run past them all. In the process they'll likely gain a few levels and disocver that it's a good levelling spot.

Finding out about these locations is like a priceless quest reward for a new player.

[I See Blue]

Oh, that is definitely a good idea for a quest. Or type of quest really, since it would give players a sense of where to go next.

[Drachenpaladin]

1. Dump people straight into their apartments, so they can get straight to doing the Jones mission. Also, specify in the mission text in that the F9 Navray can help guide them to the locations the mission sends them to. Dispense of noob-MC5 entirely, at least until some work can be put in to improve it. A noob starter area is a fine idea when there is actually some stuff to do that is easily understood for new players, but MC5 as it is is just a waste of time. Any experienced player will tell noobs to just leave MC5 at once, so there is a big consensus on this!

MC5 cold use some rework but skipping it isn't really helpful imho. Its a playground. Also if people are so stupid as to skip the Tutorial then its their own fault if they end up stranded with no idea what to do. Strong contenders for a Darwin Award in my eyes.
MC5 offers everything you need to learn about the game. Traders, missions etc. and you can take your time for exploring.

2. Station some low lvl quest NPCs in each sector of the city. The missions they give can be exactly the same as the missions that are given on the Citycom. Rat missions, plant missions, you know the kind of low lvl missions that are available.

For instance, near a sewer entrance there can be an NPC that gives out a small sewer rat mission, or a mission for the spiders you find in a lvl 1 sewer. (He could present himself as a shopkeeper that has trouble with rats or spiders in his stores, and asks the runner to help him with his problem for a small compensation. This is to make low lvl missions more accessible, and to populate the city with NPCs that you can actually have some interaction with.

I would also like to see some sort of effort put into the Outzone sectors, where there are almost completely dead caves (sidestreets) that could be populated with mobs to make city levling experience a bit more than just sewers and then aggie cellars in P1 and P2. I would also like to see a few NPCs that give missions relevant to whatever mobs can be found in these sidestreets and in the outzone sector they are in.

Oh blimey, you have to make 3 steps from the terms in P1 to the rats sewer. And from the terminals in P2 to the Aggi cellar you literally have to just turn around What are those NPCs supposed to achieve? Save you 3 clicks so you can farm the Aggi cellar more time efficient?
The general leveling situation needs an overhaul or at least closer inspection, not band-aid fixes like this. We need to go deeper. *read in DiCaprio voice*

Another contributing issue for example is that secondary skills like crafting/trading professions and PPU gives hardly any XP, if at all, and thus people are reliant on the All-Skills-Get-XP reward from the missions.

3. Anyone who has started from scratch know how much of a hassle it can be getting those first few weapons. If it´s a bitch for players who know what they are actually doing, how much harder is it for the completely green player with no NC experience? Why not make weapons more accessible up to lvl say 30-35-40? I propose to either:

–A Make NPCs that give you a mission with a weapon as a reward (it doesn´t have to be a great weapon, 99% quality or anything, but 70ish with the possibility of a slot to get an ammo mod or a damage mod)

or
–B Place a few "constructing NPCs" around the city. The idea would be that you could bring these guys a shitty weapon bought from a store, and then by doing a mission for them, you get it "fixxed up" to a better quality so it becomes usable.

Of course, there should be some sort of mechanism that makes sure this isn´t exploited for money, so I´d like for the sale prices of these weapons to be very low if they are sold to say Yo´s or whatever.

Thats where trade players come in. Also i'm not exactly sure whats the issue with getting weapons for that weapon range?
The only trader sitting a bit afar is the dude in OZ2. Anything else is usually redundant for all 3 city districts. A PSI trader could get moved to ViaRosso I guess but other than that...
I also could see adding weapons with a Normal condition to loot tables of hack boxes.

4. Clean up the starter setups so they don´t force people to LoM. Giving noobs skills they won't want to keep is useless.

Driver for instance has points in Hacking, weapon lore and implanting under intelligence, noone uses this kind of setup. Some setups give you 6 repair at the beginning, which is going to get you nowhere. Completely pointless.

Then again, people don't roll driver for anything other then getting the Jones Quad anyway. A bit cleanup might be in order however, thats true.
Or we could reintroduce SI instead of XP loss for loming

5. Some sort of introduction to the skill system. Maybe place a few NPCs that are profession coaches. One that tells the basic of what skills affect Heavy Combat, another that explains constructing and researching, one that gives info on rifle combat. Again, this will populate the city with NPCs you can interact with, making it look less dead, and can make information more accessible to new players.

You mean like the emails you get and the instructors in MC5? Tradeskills however could use a better introduction.

6. Make it really clear that starting a character as City Merc or Twilight Guardian is only advisable if you have experience with the game.

Its written right there in the faction overview when crating a character and more shouldn't be necessary. Do we need flashing, billboard sized warnings? Do we need to take players by the hand like mentally handicapped people?

7. Make weapons more accessible. You don´t need to have the smuggler system be as extensive as it is at the moment. Below lvl 60 at least, maybe even 70, you shouldn´t have to search that hard, or traverse the entire map in some cases, for a weapon. Just have them in hews/boobs and guns/archer and wesson. It´s an unnecessary complication for low lvl runners. You don´t have to do it for armor or drugs, why should you for weapons? Smugglers should be high lvl items in my mind.

Ain't that point 3 again all over? Srsly, what are those truly elusive weapons that are only to be found at one obscure trader at bottom of a deepest cave below a tallest mountain at the end of the world you talk about? Like i said, there is one odd egg in OZ2 but the guy sells only friggin Ray Gun Cannons! Not exactly the most sought after commodity. But oh well, move him to PP2 ot something if thats better.
God forbid you have to swallow your pride and humbly ask someone else...

[r3yka]

I really like the idea of a more self-sufficient NPC mission-oriented way of levelling and crafting atleast for the early stages, can use these as a way of introducing them to later game mechanics such as rare drops/ressing/csting/poking etc. like mini farm missions to collect pieces of crap from mobs to build those low level weapons you were talking about. lots of MMOs do it, and lots of players appreciate it so yeh if expansion is still something on the minds of the GMs, this would definitely be a good idea. maybe even chuck in a little youtube video and web page showing the glories of this game that we could share on facebook and online forums. lots of people out there looking for games to play that have never heard of NC and would probably absolutely love it.

[Manuel Moonez]

Great post! Altough i dont play anymore, id love to hear that NC is doing a bit better.

[I See Blue]

I disagree with you on several points here I must say. The game isn´t being played at all as it is now, and this was meant to be ideas that would ease people more into the game, spread some npcs around the city that you can interact with to a degree, and make the start less steep and troublesome for people. Let me show you what I mean

if people are so stupid as to skip the Tutorial then its their own fault if they end up stranded with no idea what to do. Strong contenders for a Darwin Award in my eyes.

Well, for one, not a lot of people play the tutorial. And the ones I have talked to that do, well, they haven´t really learned much

My ideas teaches them the game, inside the actual game. Instead of playing a tutorial that gives you what for your time.... nothing much. You want to know what is currently a strong contender for the Darwin Award? Neocron, the game that doesn´t give a fuck about new players coming in. We are peaking at 50 people playing at the same time nowadays, most of the time it is in the 20s and 30s.

What is so wrong about having information actually available inside the game? Available to people even after they leave MC5? What is wrong with having NPCs that can give info on what skills affect what weapons? Or how tradeskillers work?

Oh blimey, you have to make 3 steps from the terms in P1 to the rats sewer. And from the terminals in P2 to the Aggi cellar you literally have to just turn around What are those NPCs supposed to achieve? Save you 3 clicks so you can farm the Aggi cellar more time efficient?
The general leveling situation needs an overhaul or at least closer inspection, not band-aid fixes like this. We need to go deeper. *read in DiCaprio voice*

Oh, this is not about me, I know how to lvl in this game. It´s about easing the game for new players, letting them play a bit first and have fun, and showing them how the game works at the same time. Pointing them in a direction, instead of having them wander around aimlessly and cluelessly.

What I´m talking about here are methods of making the city become slightly more filled with npcs, and in this case, NPCs that actually give you something to do (it´s fucking barren at the moment, talk to an npc, he gives you one line or maybe to, and then tells you to fuck off). There are bums sitting around, a few copbots etc, but as for NPCs that it´s actually worth talking to, very little. Why not have concerned shopkeepers that want a few rats and spiders cleaned out, what harm would that do? However, it could let a noob discover where to lvl, how to take missions etc.

All these ideas are made to be easy to implement, since I assume the team has a lot on their hands at this time, balancing the weapons. In the meantime however, the game is peaking at around 40-45 people at the moment. Which is pretty much dead. And new people are trying the game, they are just leaving, usually after a very short time, having gotten nowhere near cap.

And I think the difficult beginning is one part of that. Of course the levling situation needs an overhaul, until then, why not give it a quick facelift. I mean, it´s not as if the overhaul will come quickly, possibly not at all. In the meantime we are losing potential players to other games, Yey, or wait, maybe we want people to play the game with us?

Thats where trade players come in. Also i'm not exactly sure whats the issue with getting weapons for that weapon range?
The only trader sitting a bit afar is the dude in OZ2. Anything else is usually redundant for all 3 city districts. A PSI trader could get moved to ViaRosso I guess but other than that...
I also could see adding weapons with a Normal condition to loot tables of hack boxes.

Yes, that´s where tradeskilling players come in. But do the noobs know this? They buy a weapon from the shop and it is godawful when they try to use it. That´s quite shit isn´t it? Now they ask in helpchannel and get the answer "you need a resser and conster." If they are lucky enough that there are people on inclined to answer in the helpchannel, often, there is no answer. And if they are lucky someone explains it to them, how it works. Now they have to ask, and ask, and ask, in a pretty empty game, where the few people playing often have stuff they are doing, and hope that 1 or 2 guys with the relevant tradeskillers available go and help them out. And this is if they are lucky enough that people actually take their time to explain this to them? If not, the noob is left with one underpowered weapon, one shit one, and frustrated, he might just leave. Or he grinds it through, and encounters the same problem again and again, and then leaves. Yey, another player we don´t get to play with. Yey, another player that doesn´t get to experience how fun Neocron can be

And this is just for one weapon. the process of getting a new weapon could take anything from 5-10 minutes, to an hour or two? For a lvl 5-10 weapon? When they could instead be exploring the game, having fun, and not just sitting there waiting for others to have mercy and help them out? And they have to repeat this every single time they need a new low lvl weapon? Just a stupid timesink, and an unnecessary complication early in the game, when the idea should be to try and hook them, not making them wait and wait and wait.

You mean like the emails you get and the instructors in MC5? Tradeskills however could use a better introduction.

I talked to the spy adviser, it was mostly nonsense. I am assuming the others are in the same vein. I want them to be told a bit more specifically about the skill system, so that they don´t end up LoMing as much as I´ve had to make new players I have met do. Because they spec a little of everything, or don´t spec hightech combat etc, there are a lot of pitfalls in a system as open as Neocrons skillsystem. Why not give some information that is actually available to them in game? And I don´t count MC5 as in game, since you lose access to it once you leave there.

Oh and the emails, well:

The emails tell you about the backpack you drop when you die, and the recover backpack button. Wait, does that even exist anymore?

OR they tell you other outdated information, like weapon lore is not as important for pistols, but wait, it actually is isn´t it? Or that you need tech combat for a stealth tool, which doesn´t apply to PEs. But what about hightech weapons? Not a word that t-c is needed for that.

Fact is, a lot of people don´t even find where to read the emails in my experience. And they are surprised that they already have 64 of them, what, a game with ingame spam?

Ain't that point 3 again all over? Srsly, what are those truly elusive weapons that are only to be found at one obscure trader at bottom of a deepest cave below a tallest mountain at the end of the world you talk about? Like i said, there is one odd egg in OZ2 but the guy sells only friggin Ray Gun Cannons! Not exactly the most sought after commodity. But oh well, move him to PP2 ot something if thats better.
God forbid you have to swallow your pride and humbly ask someone else...

Elusive weapons? Certain factions can´t go into MB to get weapons, they get killed. Same if they enter the wrong entrance at techhaven, or they get killed in TG (if they even manage to make it past all the high lvl mobs on the way there, ever notice those?)? Areas it can take a noob up to an hour to get to, since they often don´t have vehicles.

As for the point, it isn´t the same as the earlier one. . the first one was about easing the process of getting usable low lvl weapons. This point is about the unnecessary number of smugglers, spread around god knows where. Because hey, the information about where the smugglers are isn´t available in game, and again, it´s a pretty empty game, very few players around. If noone is around to tell them, how would they even know where to look? Why should mid lvl runners have to try and brave it into hostile areas (TG, MB for some factions), areas where high lvl char would have trouble surviving long enough to get these weapons. What is the fascination with making it so complicated and difficult?


You have to remember, there are hardly any players around to support new players. Yes it worked in Neocron 1 and 2 when plaza 1 ( or TH ) was crowded with tradeskillers, when there was a community of noobs levling at the same time, when there were more people around to share the burden, share the info etc. Now, this is clearly not the case at the moment. People playing in the american or asian times have virtually noone online. Even in primetime the server numbers rarely push over 50 people playing at the same time. The game is dying, and still people (you in this case) want to hold on to a complicated and very steep learning curve, instead of introducing simple systems to teach people the game as they play it (as opposed to them playing atutorial out of game, or having to spend hours reading on techhaven before they can even start playing)

I just want information available in game, that they can go back and find, or go to if they LoM and want to try something different. I I want some NPCs that give newbie missions, and can guide people a bit in the beginning, pointing them in the direction of the citycom to get missions, find emails, and all the info that you can access there. Because a lot of this information isn´t available in game without other people telling you, and since there are so few other people telling you, there is a good chance you won´t get any help.

[ZenTex]

I just want information available in game, that they can go back and find, or go to if they LoM and want to try something different. I I want some NPCs that give newbie missions, and can guide people a bit in the beginning, pointing them in the direction of the citycom to get missions, find emails, and all the info that you can access there. Because a lot of this information isn´t available in game without other people telling you, and since there are so few other people telling you, there is a good chance you won´t get any help.

Whcih should have been implemented more than 10 years ago TBH.

Yeah, most people get around figuring stuff out by themselves, or by asking. we all did. But i bet there's 1000's of players that didn't and quit because of it.
Sure, NC is a tough place, but you have to be eased into it.

[Drachenpaladin]

Well, for one, not a lot of people play the tutorial. And the ones I have talked to that do, well, they haven´t really learned much

My ideas teaches them the game, inside the actual game. Instead of playing a tutorial that gives you what for your time.... nothing much. You want to know what is currently a strong contender for the Darwin Award? Neocron, the game that doesn´t give a fuck about new players coming in. We are peaking at 50 people playing at the same time nowadays, most of the time it is in the 20s and 30s.

What is so wrong about having information actually available inside the game? Available to people even after they leave MC5? What is wrong with having NPCs that can give info on what skills affect what weapons? Or how tradeskillers work?

I replayed the tutorial just for you. The german version has, besides terrible voice acting, a shipload of popup messages explaining shit as you walkk along. Next time don't just click them away maybe?

What you get introduced to is among things:

• Basic interactions with the world
• PvE
• RPOS use, armor and the inventory
• Shopping
• Constructing
• Hacking, looting
• Psi (and you are made aware of implants)

True, its possible to miss crafting, hacking and the Psi gauntlet. But then again, there are big, flashing, billboard-sized way signs telling you where to go...
Also I never argued against the idea of tradeskill NPCs. What I am against is getting rid of MC5. There are better solutions. If the older players tell people to leave MC5 it is because they want to drag them through P1 sewer, Aggi cellar, MB Bunker etc. asap in the hopes to have another noob to frag, whether those want or not. They don't want to help them, they want to abuse them for their own ends.
Also, if you run into a dead end - whats so terrible about asking?!

Oh, this is not about me, I know how to lvl in this game. It´s about easing the game for new players, letting them play a bit first and have fun, and showing them how the game works at the same time. Pointing them in a direction, instead of having them wander around aimlessly and cluelessly.

What I´m talking about here are methods of making the city become slightly more filled with npcs, and in this case, NPCs that actually give you something to do (it´s fucking barren at the moment, talk to an npc, he gives you one line or maybe to, and then tells you to fuck off). There are bums sitting around, a few copbots etc, but as for NPCs that it´s actually worth talking to, very little. Why not have concerned shopkeepers that want a few rats and spiders cleaned out, what harm would that do? However, it could let a noob discover where to lvl, how to take missions etc.

All these ideas are made to be easy to implement, since I assume the team has a lot on their hands at this time, balancing the weapons. In the meantime however, the game is peaking at around 40-45 people at the moment. Which is pretty much dead. And new people are trying the game, they are just leaving, usually after a very short time, having gotten nowhere near cap.

And I think the difficult beginning is one part of that. Of course the leveling situation needs an overhaul, until then, why not give it a quick facelift. I mean, it´s not as if the overhaul will come quickly, possibly not at all. In the meantime we are losing potential players to other games, Yey, or wait, maybe we want people to play the game with us?

Unless you plan to also implement a big yellow ! sign to indicate Questgivers the noobs wont know who to talk to either... unless they, you know it, ask other players where to look for.
I don't really see what plastering more NPCs in the sectors could achieve for the atmosphere, the game would still be as barren, like you said because there are so few players. More NPCs wont change that, with missions or not, players will eventually get just as bored as with terminal missions.

Yes, that´s where tradeskilling players come in. But do the noobs know this? They buy a weapon from the shop and it is godawful when they try to use it. That´s quite shit isn´t it? Now they ask in helpchannel and get the answer "you need a resser and conster." If they are lucky enough that there are people on inclined to answer in the helpchannel, often, there is no answer. And if they are lucky someone explains it to them, how it works. Now they have to ask, and ask, and ask, in a pretty empty game, where the few people playing often have stuff they are doing, and hope that 1 or 2 guys with the relevant tradeskillers available go and help them out. And this is if they are lucky enough that people actually take their time to explain this to them? If not, the noob is left with one underpowered weapon, one shit one, and frustrated, he might just leave. Or he grinds it through, and encounters the same problem again and again, and then leaves. Yey, another player we don´t get to play with. Yey, another player that doesn´t get to experience how fun Neocron can be

And this is just for one weapon. the process of getting a new weapon could take anything from 5-10 minutes, to an hour or two? For a lvl 5-10 weapon? When they could instead be exploring the game, having fun, and not just sitting there waiting for others to have mercy and help them out? And they have to repeat this every single time they need a new low lvl weapon? Just a stupid timesink, and an unnecessary complication early in the game, when the idea should be to try and hook them, not making them wait and wait and wait.

The low level stuff is hardly worth ressing and consting. The damage bonus it receives by that is negligible. Also in the beginning you rise through the levels faster then you can change your weapons so you end up skipping a few of them anyway. Once you reach the range you described, where it matters if ressed or not, you get a ressed one and stick to it for a good week or so depending on your playstyle and time. Then you get a new one, should be manageable to do that.

I talked to the spy adviser, it was mostly nonsense. I am assuming the others are in the same vein. I want them to be told a bit more specifically about the skill system, so that they don´t end up LoMing as much as I´ve had to make new players I have met do. Because they spec a little of everything, or don´t spec hightech combat etc, there are a lot of pitfalls in a system as open as Neocrons skillsystem. Why not give some information that is actually available to them in game? And I don´t count MC5 as in game, since you lose access to it once you leave there.

Oh and the emails, well:

The emails tell you about the backpack you drop when you die, and the recover backpack button. Wait, does that even exist anymore?

OR they tell you other outdated information, like weapon lore is not as important for pistols, but wait, it actually is isn´t it? Or that you need tech combat for a stealth tool, which doesn´t apply to PEs. But what about hightech weapons? Not a word that t-c is needed for that.

Fact is, a lot of people don´t even find where to read the emails in my experience. And they are surprised that they already have 64 of them, what, a game with ingame spam?

Yeah, some of the stuff is outdated, why can't I find and bug reports about that I wonder...?
You know what would be a feasible place for such Skill-NPCs? MC5! Everybody passes that so its like killing two birds with one stone. That is unless of course we get rid of it...
Simply otherwise you'd have to update every faction HQ with loads of NPCs. Very time consuming. If you spread those around the city people won't find them anyway, after all they would have to search for them, or informed about their existence somehow. But since nobody seems to talk to anybody or knows the arcane art of accessing terminals...

Btw. the message about the Cityterm is the second one in the MC5. Careful reading saves you a lot of trouble. The I-don't-know argument just isn't working for me. Not if its there, explained at some point where everyone can read it.

Also, you can't tell me people buy weapons without checking requirements... or don't know T-C is important for hightech weapons... srsly. That you need T-C to use a plasma pistol becomes evident by... you guess it: checking the info sheet for the gun.
The deep crimson tint of the item in the trader window should signal you pretty obviously that you cant use it, you should know what that means by that point. So checking the info sheet is the next logical step. And what will you see there? Right, T-C requirements, duh!
I'm unwilling to accept people have to be spoonfed like that.
The only exception are dones, they are at times a tad hard to distinguish but thats anecdotal.

If you walk in front of a bus because you didn't see the signs because you only looked on your smartphone YOU are the only one to blame. Not smartphones, not their producers, not the programmers of the app you where using, not the bus driver, not the city or traffic administration or anyone else - only you alone.
Same with the game.

Elusive weapons? Certain factions can´t go into MB to get weapons, they get killed. Same if they enter the wrong entrance at techhaven, or they get killed in TG (if they even manage to make it past all the high lvl mobs on the way there, ever notice those?)? Areas it can take a noob up to an hour to get to, since they often don´t have vehicles.

As for the point, it isn´t the same as the earlier one. . the first one was about easing the process of getting usable low lvl weapons. This point is about the unnecessary number of smugglers, spread around god knows where. Because hey, the information about where the smugglers are isn´t available in game, and again, it´s a pretty empty game, very few players around. If noone is around to tell them, how would they even know where to look? Why should mid lvl runners have to try and brave it into hostile areas (TG, MB for some factions), areas where high lvl char would have trouble surviving long enough to get these weapons. What is the fascination with making it so complicated and difficult?

Again, why don't you fekking ASK PEOPLE?! Thats how people make money, thats how trading works.

And no, smugglers are not spread around god knows where, thats bull. Like I said, the odd egg is the OZ2 dude. For everything else there is the NavRay with a trader directory. Range of products is redundant for most common goods, there are only VERY few things all high level range. And that brings me back again to asking, trading and get the fuck involved with other people! What is the fascination with solitary gameplay?

You have to remember, there are hardly any players around to support new players. Yes it worked in Neocron 1 and 2 when plaza 1 ( or TH ) was crowded with tradeskillers, when there was a community of noobs levling at the same time, when there were more people around to share the burden, share the info etc. Now, this is clearly not the case at the moment. People playing in the american or asian times have virtually noone online. Even in primetime the server numbers rarely push over 50 people playing at the same time. The game is dying, and still people (you in this case) want to hold on to a complicated and very steep learning curve, instead of introducing simple systems to teach people the game as they play it (as opposed to them playing atutorial out of game, or having to spend hours reading on techhaven before they can even start playing)

I just want information available in game, that they can go back and find, or go to if they LoM and want to try something different. I I want some NPCs that give newbie missions, and can guide people a bit in the beginning, pointing them in the direction of the citycom to get missions, find emails, and all the info that you can access there. Because a lot of this information isn´t available in game without other people telling you, and since there are so few other people telling you, there is a good chance you won´t get any help.

Ok, the US community is a bit in a pinch (are there any people logging in from asia at all?!) but since you speak of the 50 people online from EU - that is a solid foundation to find someone who can help you out me thinks. Srsly, you guys all got alts, can't tell me there is nobody around who could log something a noob needs. And if thats the case, why don't YOU guys raise a trade char in the meantime while you wait for fragmeat instead of sitting on your butts? You guys seem to have the time and/or know how to do it quickly, no?

I just don't see where those ideas foster social cohesion among the players. Give the case player count rises again those ideas would just negate any reason to engage with each other. You can't believe people would give up on those convenience feature again in such a scenario. They would rather go apeshit!

I stuck around in games because of playing it with friends even if the game itself had stopped being fun. And you know what: I had a good time! Its about the quality of the players, THEY can make or break a game!



All in all I see solutions already already implemented for most of the points raised. Players just don't use them for what reason ever. If they can't be arsed to use existing solutions why would they use yours? I don't see where yours would be more attractive.