Introduction/Tutorial Play

[Redshirt_40067]

Stealing an idea from LSF member Holoclone I will expand on it.

Have you guys (the devs) worked on a new player intro/tutorial? If not here is a possibility. A Kobayashi Maru exam, with all the tooltips and guides on how to maneuver, select target, manage energy to various systems, command bridge crew, fire weapons and navigate. You will of course fail the exam, but only one person ha ever beaten it, and I personally would think it sacrilege if players were allowed to win. Learning the basics of the game will suffice.

[SelorKiith]

Problem is: I can see hundreds of threads popping up complaining about the crappy Tutorial that you can't beat ^^

[Redshirt_40067]

It's not like they would be losing anything, it's a holodeck simulation lol.

[Marytha]

The Klingons don't run such a scenario.

Marytha

[DeathCarrot]

I see the tutorial for the feds going down like this. Your ship the USS Whateverprize is on a routine mission (delivery supplies exploring a new sector it don't matter), and in typical Kirk like fashion the Captain beams down to a planets surface leaving Lt. New Player at the con (who is either the Tactical, Ops, or Engineering Officer depending on his career path). At this point we learn how to fly the ship, different orbit types how to scan set alert levels all the little fiddly control bits. Then an unfortunate event, the Captain and is party are captured by Klingons and several Birds of Prey warp into orbit. We take care of the BoPs then beam down to the surface for the land based portion of the tutorial. You fight your way to the landing party and rescue them but your Captain is taken out and you are given command of the USS Whateverpize thus ending the tutorial.

[vitali]

The Klingons don't run such a scenario.

Marytha

The tutorial could be tied to the Ja'chuq http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Ja%27chuq, the rite of ascension http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Rite_of_Ascension.

[SelorKiith]

It's not like they would be losing anything, it's a holodeck simulation lol.

They still will whine because they want to beat it... you can't expect any logic from these ;)

[Redshirt_40067]

Well then they can go play Hello Kitty Onlline and not get butthurt over it lol.

[cipher_nemo]

Stealing an idea from LSF member Holoclone I will expand on it.

Have you guys (the devs) worked on a new player intro/tutorial? If not here is a possibility. A Kobayashi Maru exam, with all the tooltips and guides on how to maneuver, select target, manage energy to various systems, command bridge crew, fire weapons and navigate. You will of course fail the exam, but only one person ha ever beaten it, and I personally would think it sacrilege if players were allowed to win. Learning the basics of the game will suffice.

Pretty much every single MMO (or at least MMORPG) has a new player tutorial/introduction/prologue when you first start. That's nothing special.

But the unique idea of failing the Starfleet Kobayashi Maru exam is interesting. It's tough to say that it's meant to be failed by everyone. To pass the test you mostly have to admit defeat and do whatever you can to minimize the losses in a no-win situation. That is passing the test. There is no "winning" or "losing" the situation the tests present.

Since you mentioned this, though, it would be nice to have a quest within STO that you eventually can't win (forced to fail) in order to complete it. Many MMOs have something like this. Even LOTRO had an epic-line quest where you were forced to die.

[alucard1]

I see the tutorial for the feds going down like this. Your ship the USS Whateverprize is on a routine mission (delivery supplies exploring a new sector it don't matter), and in typical Kirk like fashion the Captain beams down to a planets surface leaving Lt. New Player at the con (who is either the Tactical, Ops, or Engineering Officer depending on his career path). At this point we learn how to fly the ship, different orbit types how to scan set alert levels all the little fiddly control bits. Then an unfortunate event, the Captain and is party are captured by Klingons and several Birds of Prey warp into orbit. We take care of the BoPs then beam down to the surface for the land based portion of the tutorial. You fight your way to the landing party and rescue them but your Captain is taken out and you are given command of the USS Whateverpize thus ending the tutorial.

I really like the sound of this scenario... and.. I would like to add that whatever tutorial they end up fashioning is something *from the get-go* will be easily bypassed at a later date.

I.e., City of Heroes. You start off in a segregated zone that no one but other level 1s/2s can get to. You follow through the tutorial, and upon completing you choose the starting zone for your character. In CoH it was either Atlas Park, or Galaxy City. I think it was like a year after release they implemented that you could choose to skip the tutorial altogether, and then choose your starting area at level 1. This is perfect, IMO.

Now, for the alternate.. Champions Online... In Champs your in a segregated zone where you'll hit 6 by the time you finish. You then choose your starting area being either Crisis Canada, or Crisis Desert. You have to be level 6 in these starting zones, as the mobs would, with no effort, kill you otherwise. This poses a "problem" in my opinion. I've made... numerous characters (as have many others) and already HAVING to go through the tutorial is just annoying. This coming from a player that has been in game since before launch. To me, this means they will either never allow you to skip the tutorial (not very concerned about this, because it seems counter productive to me,) or they will have to spend time and man hours to create an alternate zone to get you from level 1-6, or rework the Crisis Zones to accomodate level 1s.

I figure it would be much better to just have it be more like City of was... Something that you could eventually by-pass. I was with CoX for five years... if I had to have gone thru the tutorial on each new character I made... I would have gone nuts. I'm already at the dreading phase of doing the tutorial in CO.

Anyway.. there's my 2 cents.

Saith

[thefrayl]

Now, for the alternate.. Champions Online... In Champs your in a segregated zone where you'll hit 6 by the time you finish. You then choose your starting area being either Crisis Canada, or Crisis Desert. You have to be level 6 in these starting zones, as the mobs would, with no effort, kill you otherwise. This poses a "problem" in my opinion. I've made... numerous characters (as have many others) and already HAVING to go through the tutorial is just annoying. This coming from a player that has been in game since before launch. To me, this means they will either never allow you to skip the tutorial (not very concerned about this, because it seems counter productive to me,) or they will have to spend time and man hours to create an alternate zone to get you from level 1-6, or rework the Crisis Zones to accomodate level 1s.

Good news. Cryptic is already working on implementing the "Skip Tutorial" option for CO as we speak, according to the latest "State of the game" on the CO site. :)

And I have to say, I like DeathCarrots general idea as well. It seems like a natural introduction to the game considering that you start off captaining a ship.

[Osias]

To me, this means they will either never allow you to skip the tutorial (not very concerned about this, because it seems counter productive to me,) or they will have to spend time and man hours to create an alternate zone to get you from level 1-6, or rework the Crisis Zones to accomodate level 1s.


From what i've seen of how they're doing STO it would be possible to just allow you to Skip the tutorial, give you the Skill points you'd get for doing the Tutorial and plonk you at the Start Area, since to my understanding there aren't "traditional" levels.

I may be incorrect :P


Back to the original subject - I like the idea of a tutorial that has a no win situation, perhaps they could do a "ramp up" as they explain how to do things I.E Fly, fight etc Then for the finale put you into a No win situation with the simple instruction

"Survive"

Perhaps they could even make it possible to win (if you try really hard)

[Loekii]

Have you guys (the devs) worked on a new player intro/tutorial?

A few months ago, the Devs had talked about work on a Tutorial - disucssing the time it took just to create the 'engineering' content for it.

[Sukhanh]

Klingon Factor

i can see it now the Kingon maru test : The Tribble Hunt Crusade, U just cant WIN!!!!