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The Tutorial Blows And Here I Explain Why
lezard21
Posts: 1,510 Arc User
Recently a fellow player has brought to my attention the fact that quite a lot of players install the game, start the tutorial and then quit the game before even leaving the tutorial (viewable through the "Last Online" feature from whichever New Champions SG you are thrown into while doing the tutorial).
So, in order to figure out why I decided to speedrun through it and see what problems I could find. Here a quick list (color coded from worst to least)
1) You don't have a TP
2) You only have 2 powers throughout the whole tutorial
3) You have energy issues
Ok, I group these all together because the core problem with them is the same, that being, because of these factors the game feels slow and not at all what you would imagine when thinking of a Super Hero game.
Point 2 and 3 in particular acting together makes the game feel really clunky and repetitive since you only have 1 main source of damage that you can't even fully charge (in the case of certain charge skills like Chained Lightning) or use the full combo (Defensive Combo for example) without first using your energy builder, which results in every encounter following the pattern of: Energy Builder 1-2 hits -> 2nd Skill-> switch target-> Energy Builder 1-2 hits -> 2nd Skill
4) There's a lot of walking involved
Made even worse by the lack of a TP. I think the quests could be a lot more streamlined for example:
a) Remove the "kill pods" quest and have the 1st quest be the Mayor Biselle one
b) Collect the papers and deliver them to Chief Surhoff instead of bactracking to Biselle
c) Surhoff gives you the quest to probe the transmitters
d) On your way to the transmitters you get the emergency quest to kill Qulaar drones and free citizens
e) The rest flows like it already does, you deliver transmitters to Dr. Silverback hologram, from there you go to OM, and fight Black Talon
5) Enemies feel too weak
(oh, it's Lezard! He is gonna suggest to turn Black Talon into a Cosmic fight!)
No, no, no I'm not gonna suggest that (I think?).
What I mean is that due to the combination of all the above, ie. you only having 2 attacks that you use repetitively, mobs dealing barely any damage to you, and them dieing in one full charge/full combo the overall experience the tutorial gives is of a generic cookie cutter MMO when CO offers so much more.
MY SUGGESTION
I know that this will probably encounter a big fat "we don't have the time or resources for this" but hey, gonna give it a try anyways.
Currently the tutorial works in that you start at level 1, and when you exit regardless of what level you are, the game sets you to level 6.
I suggest the opposite. You start the tutorial at, say, level 20, with a few skills unlocked for your AT (for FF it would be a bit trickier, but maybe they can get presets based on the Energy Builder they choose) and fight level 20 enemies.
You get to choose your TP either in the character creation screen, or before entering the simulation.
Once you finish the tutorial, you get dropped back to level 6. and can now properly choose your superstats and skills.
With these changes, people will:
1) Be able to see what the game has to offer
2) Feel more heroic
3) For ATs they'll be able to test their playstyle and decide if it fits them.
So, in order to figure out why I decided to speedrun through it and see what problems I could find. Here a quick list (color coded from worst to least)
1) You don't have a TP
2) You only have 2 powers throughout the whole tutorial
3) You have energy issues
Ok, I group these all together because the core problem with them is the same, that being, because of these factors the game feels slow and not at all what you would imagine when thinking of a Super Hero game.
Point 2 and 3 in particular acting together makes the game feel really clunky and repetitive since you only have 1 main source of damage that you can't even fully charge (in the case of certain charge skills like Chained Lightning) or use the full combo (Defensive Combo for example) without first using your energy builder, which results in every encounter following the pattern of: Energy Builder 1-2 hits -> 2nd Skill-> switch target-> Energy Builder 1-2 hits -> 2nd Skill
4) There's a lot of walking involved
Made even worse by the lack of a TP. I think the quests could be a lot more streamlined for example:
a) Remove the "kill pods" quest and have the 1st quest be the Mayor Biselle one
b) Collect the papers and deliver them to Chief Surhoff instead of bactracking to Biselle
c) Surhoff gives you the quest to probe the transmitters
d) On your way to the transmitters you get the emergency quest to kill Qulaar drones and free citizens
e) The rest flows like it already does, you deliver transmitters to Dr. Silverback hologram, from there you go to OM, and fight Black Talon
5) Enemies feel too weak
(oh, it's Lezard! He is gonna suggest to turn Black Talon into a Cosmic fight!)
No, no, no I'm not gonna suggest that (I think?).
What I mean is that due to the combination of all the above, ie. you only having 2 attacks that you use repetitively, mobs dealing barely any damage to you, and them dieing in one full charge/full combo the overall experience the tutorial gives is of a generic cookie cutter MMO when CO offers so much more.
MY SUGGESTION
I know that this will probably encounter a big fat "we don't have the time or resources for this" but hey, gonna give it a try anyways.
Currently the tutorial works in that you start at level 1, and when you exit regardless of what level you are, the game sets you to level 6.
I suggest the opposite. You start the tutorial at, say, level 20, with a few skills unlocked for your AT (for FF it would be a bit trickier, but maybe they can get presets based on the Energy Builder they choose) and fight level 20 enemies.
You get to choose your TP either in the character creation screen, or before entering the simulation.
Once you finish the tutorial, you get dropped back to level 6. and can now properly choose your superstats and skills.
With these changes, people will:
1) Be able to see what the game has to offer
2) Feel more heroic
3) For ATs they'll be able to test their playstyle and decide if it fits them.
0
Comments
Just start players at lvl 6 in the tutorial
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
If the tutorial is scaled up to level 6 too, then sure, that's something. At least players have access to 3 skills, a superstat and a TP.
Ideally I would prefer a revamp of the whole skill progression, focusing on getting skills earlier in the game, but not being able to rank them up till later levels, but that would require a lot of work.
This would be great.
Add a bit in the pre-simulation area of Raven academy about superstats, travel power, etc.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
1) You don't have a TP - This is an issue which mainly fractures the theme of a character. I remember my VERY first run of CO's tutorial thinking that if I slapped wings on my character...I'd be able to fly by jumping twice. Ignoring my ignorance there...I do think it's weird that in a crisis, simulated or not, you have loads of heroes moving at low speed through an area, whilst the enemies have access to travel powers and so does Sapphire. I think the tutorial would need to make the flying mini battleships target-able and destructible to feel more 'heroic'. Having said that...nothing in the tutorial really necessitates having a travel power, which might be something to address.
2) You only have 2 powers throughout the whole tutorial - You don't tend to get swamped during the tutorial unless you really do some crazy stuff and manage to get blasted by a ship at the same time, so the two powers thing isn't that much of a problem? HOWEVER, I think it would be cool if upon starting the tutorial (or in the Ravenswood bit) players were forced to select a block enhancer ability, to reinforce from an early stage, the importance of blocking. Why that was every removed from the tutorial is a mistake which isn't rectified by the location specific activity for blocking, which you can just run through without consequence (maybe those bombs need to explode a bit faster?).
3) You have energy issues - YES. I think this has a tendency to create poor game play to a degree? If you're always relying on your energy builder early on...you may be inclined to upgrade it to combat energy issues. Maybe Tutorial game play should start you off with the essentials: Energy Builder, Starter Power, Block Replacer & Energy Unlock?
I do think that the Powerhouse Videos (done quite well IMO), should probably be in the Ravenswood part so people understand better what is going on.
I actually reckon a number of the start up missions which reference the Qularr attack perhaps need to be re-tooled for something else / updated. Since the tutorial places your hero in the "Virtual Reality Simulation of the Qularr attack" than the actual attack crisis scenario.
(Also, I would LOVE the opportunity to re-run the tutorial at level 40 and get missing perks and new ones they've added etc. MAKE THE CRISIS HUB AT RAVENSWOOD CAMPUS A THING!!!!
I also think that Millennium City's Westside could do with a face lift and not have areas looking trashy as if the invasion happened recently, whilst linked to this, that's another topic!
4) I think the quests are fine, I kinda wish there were more of them though.
5) Enemies - I think they are fine as is honestly. I've seen enough players die during tutorial. We aren't trying to further shove people away from the game.
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That's it.
Then never again.
And why they even had to "virtual it up for the school" anyways? Is everyone a early teens when they start this game?...
I think they've reworked Tutorial more than anything else is the game....
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
As it stands the toon does not feel at all super in the Tutorial, and given West Side is another training area it all feels a bit of a slog.
The purpose of the thread is not "increase the replayibility of the tutorial"
The purpose of the thread is "people don't do tutorial just once. they simply quit halfway through"
The simplest option would be to outright make the tutorial optional to all players from the getgo.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained