Disable MPA for noobs

[nrshida]

Seen so many obviously new players come to the MPA, Most often flying P-51Ds, opening fire at icon range and either augering after the first merge or flying straight into the electric fence. Some last as little as three bouts before leaving - never to be seen again as far as I know.

Is this an advisable first point of contact for new players? Is it not prefereable to confine them to the TA until they've at least distinguished their arse from their elbow?

Discuss... 

[Lusche]

Is it not prefereable to confine them to the TA until they've at least distinguished their arse from their elbow?

Who will teach them in the TA? Who will judge their progress?

[100Coogn]

Why not have a quick intro video.
Green guys are good/red are bad.

Coogan

[Lusche]

Why not have a quick intro video.

I would have skipped it. 

[nrshida]

Who will teach them in the TA? Who will judge their progress?

I was just thinking at least a couple of hours, they can't even turn without accelerated stalling. It's a tragedy! 

[nrshida]

Couldn't this in theory already be covered by the 'achievements' system? 

[Wiley]

Seen so many obviously new players come to the MPA, Most often flying P-51Ds, opening fire at icon range and either augering after the first merge or flying straight into the electric fence. Some last as little as three bouts before leaving - never to be seen again as far as I know.

Is this an advisable first point of contact for new players? Is it not prefereable to confine them to the TA until they've at least distinguished their arse from their elbow?

Discuss... 

Personally I think confining people to the TA is a horrible idea.  People come into a game, they want to play.  When it's got a learning cliff like this, they're not going to do well for the first few hours/weeks/months.  About all that can be done is to make information really available to them ingame so they have access to the tools they need to get better.  Many will not use it, and if they quit from frustration, that's on them IMO.

Wiley.

[nrshida]

Personally I think confining people to the TA is a horrible idea.  People come into a game, they want to play.  When it's got a learning cliff like this, they're not going to do well for the first few hours/weeks/months.  About all that can be done is to make information really available to them ingame so they have access to the tools they need to get better.  Many will not use it, and if they quit from frustration, that's on them IMO.

The MPA isn't the place imho. There just isn't enough time for the frustration to be exceeded by enthusiasm. Recently this one guy wizzed on the electric fence twice and by the time I'd typed an explanation he was gone.

I agree quitting after a few goes probably disqualifies them from AH anyway, but I'm just frustrated to see potential new players to go down the drain this way.

[Wiley]

The MPA isn't the place imho. There just isn't enough time for the frustration to be exceeded by enthusiasm. Recently this one guy wizzed on the electric fence twice and by the time I'd typed an explanation he was gone.

I agree quitting after a few goes probably disqualifies them from AH anyway, but I'm just frustrated to see potential new players to go down the drain this way.

By the same token it's simpler than the MA, you've only got one opponent to worry about, and it might be less overwhelming for them.

Like I said, the info needs to be very available to them.  I don't even know what the electric fence is and I can imagine it might be confusing.  Again, there's only so much you can do.  One of my favorite steam reviews so far was a guy complaining that flying the airplane with his Vive was so disorienting he almost fell over.

...He was playing standing up.  Not entirely sure what you say to that person to overcome that level of... whatever it is.  This appears to be the guy warning labels were made for.

Wiley.

[ImADot]

I'm sure it's been happening since day 1 release of AH1, and will continue until the end of time. If they have no concept of how a plane flies, then an actual flying game isn't for them. This isn't the typical arcade "flying" game and isn't for everyone.

[nrshida]

In the MA you're not immediately pressured to defend yourself against an opponent you airspawn into and you're more likely to get help from friendlies.

[Wiley]

In the MA you're not immediately pressured to defend yourself against an opponent you airspawn into and you're more likely to get help from friendlies.

On the other side, you've got to figure out how to take off, and depending on what's going on you might very likely be taking off into a vulch.

Any way you cut it, bad things can happen to newbs when they start.  If they want to MPA, they're going to be irked they've got to go elsewhere for x amount of time until they can do what they want to do.

Why are you trying to harsh their groove with rules maaaan?

Wiley.

[nrshida]

On the other side, you've got to figure out how to take off,

I'm not suggesting the MA is the best place to start either, but it's better if they can at least start getting help without dying every 60 seconds.

MPA is two men enter, one man leave, with an airspawn 30 seconds from engagement & and a counterintuitive edge barrier, and murderous f3ckers like me that'll kill em on the second merge if they don't kill themselves in a viscious flat spin. I honestly don't think most of them know what the arenas mean. MA is account-based and the TA is even deader than the MPA, so they go there because they see someone.

This is a waaaaaaay less than ideal first contact. Surely in other complex games there is some kind of welcome / training programme?

[Krusty]

Part of the drive to get better, the hook that this game had on me, and many others I've talked to, has been that you get into the action and you want to get better so you get kills, survive, get out the victor. A lot of that was going into the MA with trepidation and the tension of trying to get into and out of a fight in 1 piece. If you remove that, I probably would have got bored with the game. I flew a lot of the HTH rooms when I didn't have a sub at first. Most were set up kind of like the TA. It kind of got old after a while and the MA was better even if it was more deadly to me.


My dying didn't stop me from playing the game. It made me play it more. I wasn't looking for an arcade game. I didn't want airspawns.

[ML52]

Right now there is no visual cue that we can use to identify an new player, yes the name is unfamiliar but I don't know everybody. If there was a way to identify them maybe we could be able to offer friendly advice.