Crews and gimping yourself - an argument in support of forced tutorials

[Varrangian]

Now let me explain gimping to all the MMO virgins we have here (by the way welcome to the MMO world). Gimping is when a player does not take full advantage of their character(s) by using the wrong equipment, choosing the wrong skills. Generally speaking it is not living up to the potential of a character. Now this can be done intentionally or unintentionally.

When gimping is done intentionally I have no problem with it, people have every right to play their character the way they want. What I don't like is when a player is gimped because the game has failed to explain itself mechanics properly. I remember in SWG how many players I had to tutor in space because they didn't know about overcharge or shield shunts.

Because we are going to be able to equip our crew, customize them and "level" their skills I'm worried that a certain amount of the mechanics will be failed to be explained properly and some who tend to rush through tutorials or skip them will face an even steeper learning curve than is intended.

I would argue that this is reason to force everyone to take the tutorial upon the first character creation and that it is also a good reason to make a fairly long and detailed tutorial.

[Dell]

Or have the beginning 'missions' effectively teach you the right and wrongs, which would coincide if you are an inexperienced Captain with his first ship in charge in-game.

[Varrangian]

Or have the beginning 'missions' effectively teach you the right and wrongs, which would coincide if you are an inexperienced Captain with his first ship in charge in-game.

That's fine with me as well, that would in my opinion just fall under the "extended tutorial" category.

[Kinjiru]

That's fine with me as well, that would in my opinion just fall under the "extended tutorial" category.

It could take the place of picking and (basically) outfitting your first crew, then taking the Kobyashi Maru, followed by a graduation ceremony, followed by commissioning your first vessel. :)

[Varrangian]

It could take the place of picking and (basically) outfitting your first crew, then taking the Kobyashi Maru, followed by a graduation ceremony, followed by commissioning your first vessel. :)

I'd love that to be honest my dream tutorial for the Federation would be...

Wake up in your crew quarters at the Star Fleet academy. You've been comm'd by the Commandant with express orders to gather a crew of your friends and meet in his office for a mission briefing. Here is where you'll get a tutorial on outfitting, training and creating a crew.

The mission will be a blend of the Kobuashi Maru and something similar for an away mission training exercise. These two things will teach you how space and ground work, how to choose crew for each and how to "operate them".

Followed by graduation! You know if there is a ceremony we'll need hats! I've always loved the throwing of the hats at the various military academies.

*can you tell I regret turning down my appointment to the Academy? :p

[LordDave]

It could take the place of picking and (basically) outfitting your first crew, then taking the Kobyashi Maru, followed by a graduation ceremony, followed by commissioning your first vessel. :)

Sounds good to me.

[USS_Paragon]

I can't really envision any other kind of tutorial with any kind of real thought behind it for a Federation character.

[DurMan667]

Perfect solution. Another would be a holodeck training course like Troi took to get her promotion.

Wait... Can I cheat at the Maru?

[Varrangian]

Perfect solution. Another would be a holodeck training course like Troi took to get her promotion.

Wait... Can I cheat at the Maru?

Lol... I still like Scotty's solution to it the best. He forced the damn computer to cheat :p

[owens80]

While I'm a MMO newb and will definitely be doing the tutorial, whatever that may be, I feel the tutorial must be optional. I know that in other games where I do know what is going on I despise being forced to go through a boring series of events that add nothing to the game experience (for me since I know what I'm doing) and keep me from the real enjoyment of the game. If someone who doesn't know about MMO chooses to skip the tutorial and gimp themselves, then so be it. If the game forces some drawn out tutorial for all players, I feel that some people will not want to get into the game.

[Kinjiru]

While I'm a MMO newb and will definitely be doing the tutorial, whatever that may be, I feel the tutorial must be optional. I know that in other games where I do know what is going on I despise being forced to go through a boring series of events that add nothing to the game experience (for me since I know what I'm doing) and keep me from the real enjoyment of the game. If someone who doesn't know about MMO chooses to skip the tutorial and gimp themselves, then so be it. If the game forces some drawn out tutorial for all players, I feel that some people will not want to get into the game.

I think that once you get it down, IE run through it, if you create a second (or more) you should be able to choose to skip the tutorial, but developers are getting better about making them fun and useful. Tabula Rasa's fr instance, wasn't bad at all.

[Kinneas]

Hand holding the new player may need to be a priority.

I know exactly what you are talking about and how frustrating an expansive MMO can be when the start of the game does not provide a solid tutorial/experience to ease you into it.

EVE is good, BAD example of this.

Not even enough hand holding. Just..."Here...read this 1000 page document that is a drag to navigate and get answers in the forums...or read through endless texts in-game."

Because many folks expect Star Trek to have a higher learning curve naturally, it again, may have to be more of a primary concern.

[Varrangian]

While I'm a MMO newb and will definitely be doing the tutorial, whatever that may be, I feel the tutorial must be optional. I know that in other games where I do know what is going on I despise being forced to go through a boring series of events that add nothing to the game experience (for me since I know what I'm doing) and keep me from the real enjoyment of the game. If someone who doesn't know about MMO chooses to skip the tutorial and gimp themselves, then so be it. If the game forces some drawn out tutorial for all players, I feel that some people will not want to get into the game.

Well to be honest from what has been proposed by the dev team, even me a player that has played nearly every MMO on the market will need to play the tutorial simply because their system does seem unique.

There is another reason I want a forced tutorial (mind you only for the first character created on each account). Too often you will find people running to the forums complaining that they are too weak in comparison to another player/class what have you and they demand that these other players get nerfed (nerfed if you don't know is when they make a character/class weaker). Nine times out of ten the people calling for nerfs don't realize that they are playing their character in a gimped fashion and so not living up to its potential.

[Varrangian]

Hand holding the new player may need to be a priority.

I know exactly what you are talking about and how frustrating an expansive MMO can be when the start of the game does not provide a solid tutorial/experience to ease you into it.

EVE is good, BAD example of this.

Not even enough hand holding. Just..."Here...read this 1000 page document that is a drag to navigate and get answers in the forums...or read through endless texts in-game."

Because many folks expect Star Trek to have a higher learning curve naturally, it again, may have to be more of a primary concern.

While I'm not a fan of the NGE in SWG, one thing they did correct was the lack of a decent tutorial. SWG at launch was rather confusing and if you hadn't been following the game of the forums there were several things you didn't know about.

I think Cryptic with ST:O has a responsibility to make sure the player base is a well informed as they can be. I think information will help cut down on "nerf threads" once a game launches.

[Zizi]

I'm honestly not too worried about this, to be honest. Cryptic's shown in the past that they're concerned with the new-player experience and that tutorials are an integral part of it. CoH/V had a starting tutorial for both sides of the faction-fence(skippable for veterans), and that tutorial underwent several revisions over the life of the game to try and make it work out better. When they introduced major new features(The invention-- IE: crafting-- system comes to mind), they built-in a substantial tutorial covering that new system. As a bonus, said crafting tutorial was optional-- if you already knew what you were doing or didn't care about crafting, you didn't ever have to do it.

I just can't see STO not having a solid, useful tutorial segment. especially with the opportunity the source material provides to make a fun one.

[Varrangian]

I'm honestly not too worried about this, to be honest. Cryptic's shown in the past that they're concerned with the new-player experience and that tutorials are an integral part of it. CoH/V had a starting tutorial for both sides of the faction-fence(skippable for veterans), and that tutorial underwent several revisions over the life of the game to try and make it work out better. When they introduced major new features(The invention-- IE: crafting-- system comes to mind), they built-in a substantial tutorial covering that new system. As a bonus, said crafting tutorial was optional-- if you already knew what you were doing or didn't care about crafting, you didn't ever have to do it.

I just can't see STO not having a solid, useful tutorial segment. especially with the opportunity the source material provides to make a fun one.

I'm not so much worried about Cryptic, but I can't blame them if they skip some tutorial stuff to make the game better. I'm just voicing my opinion that a strong tutorial experience might cut down on gimping and by way cut down on nerf cries.