29 replies to this topic

[Valimer]

As the title suggests. Let's point out what Hawken already does to keep new players.

- First win of the day bonus HC.
- One time achievements that give extra HC, effectively speeding up HC gain for new players.
- After one hour of play, 500 free MC.
- Trial mechs allow new players to feel out the different play styles available.

Here's a suggestion from me.
- Let players know cosmetics are not shared. This will improve trust between the players and the developer. (Better yet, make cosmetics shared between the appropriate mechs.)
- Weekly sales on cosmetic items. This should be common sense. They have it backwards. They did it with the functional items, not the cosmetics. It should be the other way around. This method works for literally every game that uses it.


Please post your ideas to get new players to stay and feel free to comment or provide constructive criticism.

EDIT1: Some of our suggestions seem to have already been implemented (not saying because of this thread) Great progress!

Edited by Valimer, April 25 2014 - 11:42 AM.

[Rocky1822]

 Valimer, on April 21 2014 - 12:00 AM, said:

- Weekly sales on cosmetic items. This should be common sense. They have it backwards. They did it with the functional items, not the cosmetics. It should be the other way around. This method works for literally every game that uses it.

This sounds like a good idea

[dorobo]

_{give a constant discount of 80% to MC to players that reached certain play time}

[ReEvolve]

 Valimer, on April 21 2014 - 12:00 AM, said:

- Let players know cosmetics are not shared. This will improve trust between the players and the developer. (Better yet, make cosmetics shared between the appropriate mechs.)

Universal cosmetic items are marked with an white globe icon in the top right corner of the item (it also has a tooltipthat says "Universal - can be shared between all mechs. The problem is not that there's no indication wether an item is universal or not, the problem is that the player doesn't get a message about the meaning of these indicators when he first opens the cosmetic tab. I already have that missing explanation on my list as "Add an explanation of the ingame item symbols to Laila's UI tutorial" (I also made a mock-up screen for it).

Here is the current list of my "Suggestions to improve the first time experience of new players (@community and devs)" thread (that thread will soon be updated again):

• Emphasise the ability to unlock ingame content by leveling up
  
• Add an explanation of the ingame item symbols to Laila's UI tutorial
  
• Make the tips on the launch screen more visible
  
• Use the title screen to guide players to the forums
  
• Share the knowledge
  
• Improve the training section to communicate the gameplay mechanics of objective based game modes
  
• Make the server region selection more visible
  
• Give access to all mechs as test drive mechs in Offline TDM
  
• Use VR training to help new players recognize different mechs
  
• Use different measurements to make stats less confusing (weapon damage)
  
• Emphasise the loss of HC and XP when leaving a match
  
• Add a slideshow to introduce the player to Hawken's story (and sell some novels)
  
• Add a mech difficulty rating to the purchase windows

Each of those points has an explanation and if it's a UI change there's also a mock-up screen of the suggested change. I think that those suggestions would not only help to improve the first time experience but also improve player retention as some of those points address a few sources of frustration like missing training modes and miscommunication of information from the game.


Furthermore I'd like to add these suggestions:

• Fix the translations: Not everyone is able to understand english perfectly and many players need to rely on other localisations. I didn't test all of them but I can at least say that the german translation is bad, incomplete (there are descriptions saying "UPDATE ME") and buggy (there are lots of spanish descriptions instead of german descriptions for some reason). From what I've read the russian translation is bad as well. I heard about ideas of crowdsourcing the translations. Please do it, devs! There are quite a few players from non-english-speaking countries that would be glad to help!
  
• "Rookie TDM" game mode (lvl 1 - 10 only): A game mode for newbies where they can only fight people in their pilot level range so they can gain knowledge about the game while be matched with people who are in the same situation as them and therefore can't utilize their existing knowledge about the game to beat them. This should be a different game mode so that newbies can decide if they want to play against people with their pilot level (and knowledge level) or not. If there are not enough newbies in that sever region at that time they can just use the normal game modes. The game mode tile in the menu would get grayed out once they reach lvl 11.
  
• Having more events (XP or HC multipliers): Player numbers always rose during such events and I think there should be one or two each month. Maybe after every weekend of the week where a hotfix or update was deployed_ Something along the lines of "Oh look at these shiny new features! We even give you a double XP weekend to test 'em out!"
  
• Improve the party system: Well, at least that's why my friends stopped playing. It would be great if it was possible to make the switched player(s) automatically rejoin the party after the match has ended. That means that the players don't have to leave the server and will be put on the same team in the next round until the team balancing logic kicks in again. More suggestions for improvements are in my "Suggestions to fix/improve the removal of party members from their party after being switched to the enemy team" thread.
  
• Motivate the player to level up by adding more stuff to unlock: New players complained about having no motivation to level up. People are used to the progression system of CoD/BF etc. where you unlock something on every level. In Hawken you unlock items and internals in certain groups after reaching a certain leveling. I suggest that these groups are split up so that you unlock something after every level up. That gives the player the feeling that leveling up was worth spending the time.
  Please hear me out with this next suggestion: I also suggest of adding small extras like a new cockpit decoration or thruster at certain levels (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30). The devs probably removed all cosmetic items from the list of pilot level unlocks since people were just using those instead of buying new cosmetic items. I suggest adding cosmetic items again BUT a smaller amount than during Ascension! Giving them a cockpit cosmetic for example would make them look at the cockpit decorations menu more and some players would probably go ahead and buy some cockpit items that fit to the free one they received by leveling up. Here's what I suggest:
  lvl 5 - T1-FL1NT || lvl 10 - [thruster] || lvl 15 - T2-GL1TZ || lvl 20 - [cockpit decoration] || lvl 25 - T3-SP4RK || lvl 30 - [paint pattern]
  Most players need goals and more or less instant gratification when leveling. Splitting up the item and internal groups makes every level worth spending time on and adding some small cosmetic gimmicks gives you something to look forward to.
  
• Motivate the player to keep improving himself by adding leaderboards: Kinda self explanatory. Some people want leaderboards so they can see how good they are in relation to their friends. For some players that is the only reason to keep improving after they've unlocked everything.
  
• A slight economy rebalance OR an increase in HC gain: I think that the current economy is hurting the new players the most and many claim that it's taking too much time to get anything. A slight economy change (as decribed over in this post) or an increase in HC gain (maybe via an "HC bonus for consecutive matches played on a server"_) might solve this problem.

[Aregon]

 dorobo, on April 21 2014 - 01:23 AM, said:

_{give a constant discount of 80% 99,99999999% to MC to players that reached certain play time}

Much better.

Edited by Aregon, April 21 2014 - 02:49 AM.

[Vdragon]

Quote

• Fix the translations: Not everyone is able to understand english perfectly and many players need to rely on other localisations. I didn't test all of them but I can at least say that the german translation is bad, incomplete (there are descriptions saying "UPDATE ME") and buggy (there are lots of spanish descriptions instead of german descriptions for some reason). From what I've read the russian translation is bad as well. I heard about ideas of crowdsourcing the translations. Please do it, devs! There are quite a few players from non-english-speaking countries that would be glad to help!

Yep, i had a friend that only played with the french traduction, felt like we weren't talking about the same game.

[Blood_Jester]

Everything revolve said plus:

24 hour refund on mechs/weapons for newbie players:
Although the game is not really a grind for those who have found the mech they like and know their playstyle, for a new player eager to pick something unique, there is nothing worse then buying a mech and being hit by buyers remorse, because trying to earn 12K HC with mechs you don't really enjoy is a grind. Secondly the fact that a weapon cost nearly the price of a mech does not make sense to me, and without anyway of really testing the weapons players are forced with the problem of "should I buy a new mech_ or should I buy a new weapon that could make my current mech better_". New players should be allowed to refund a mech/weapon upgrade in the first 24 hours if they don't like it (and make sure this information is communicated effectively)

Better training and testing modes:
Give more training modes, in an ideal world I would love for each mech to have it's own individual tutorial, with Laila telling you and showing you how the mech is played through VR scenarios, along with tutorial on seige and MA. Failing that allow every mech to be trialled in training TDM so players can at least "try before they buy" sure it may not be an accurate representation but it's alot better then buying blindly. Allowing customization in training modes can be a great way for players to practice and also unwind e.g. having problem shooting light jumping mechs_ imagine if you can set the training TDM to have nothing but beserkers (with triple health) and the AI to do nothing but jump and air dodge - akin to the super smash bros/ street fighter training modes.

Improve matchmaking:
We ALL know the problems with this and there are multiple suggestions in different threads.

More co-op features:
Co-op is actually a great way for new guys to play with their friends or even just get some practice but the fact that they can't join a game already in progress means it is a big luck factor in trying to get a full 4 player party. Co-op mode could actually be an amazing feature in Hawken, akin to how much fun killing floor or TF2 mann vs machine (I think that's the name of it_) is.

------------------------------------

Hawken defiinately needs more features added, but coming from someone who has played MWO in which the only tutorial was "this is how you walk..... okay off to battle you go! ..... oh all the other controls can be learnt by watching youtube videos!", Hawken has alot going for it but still needs alot of work.

Edited by Blood_Jester, April 21 2014 - 04:36 AM.

[renynzea]

 ReEvolve, on April 21 2014 - 01:56 AM, said:

"Rookie TDM" game mode (lvl 1 - 10 only): A game mode for newbies where they can only fight people in their pilot level range so they can gain knowledge about the game while be matched with people who are in the same situation as them and therefore can't utilize their existing knowledge about the game to beat them. This should be a different game mode so that newbies can decide if they want to play against people with their pilot level (and knowledge level) or not. If there are not enough newbies in that sever region at that time they can just use the normal game modes. The game mode tile in the menu would get grayed out once they reach lvl 11.

This will not work as smurf accounts gain pilot levels a LOT slower than they gain MMR.

Personally, I think the best solution would be to allow players to pilot any mech as a trial mech.  You cannot customize them as a trial mech, so if you want to change the load-out you still have to buy it.  This could go a long way to curbing the "PTW" mentality newbies have, since you will be able to play the same mechs as everyone else.

Training videos embedded in the game would also help.  Not just mech training, but how to actually play the game.  You know, dodging, peekaboo, all that sort of stuff.  Help players understand that standing in one spot makes them a target.

[Duralumi]

• Steam inventory implementation
  
  
• Introduce weapon skins
  
  
• Make all (bar event-exclusive) full body camo and weapon skins obtainable as random drops, with full-body camo being rarer
  
  
• Make drop chance slightly increase and decrease with MMR to provide an incentive to become better at the game
  
  
• Universal items are "tokens" in one's inventory that can be traded; no token, no skin
  
  
• Saturate the drop tables with different tiers/types of "crates", with the different types and tiers having varying reward chances (i.e., "dark crate" has a higher chance for black/grey camo, or "bodykit crate" that gives you a random chassis piece, with a small chance for chassis art). Crate key price varies, but never exceeds ~400 MC

• Entirely player-run mech black market where players can sell and buy mechs for HC/MC
  
• Starting MC is removed to prevent abuse
  
• CR-T cannot be traded
  
• More game modes (like 1-flag CTF and KoTH)
  
• Segmenting rewards per every 5 bot destruction waves
  
• Global test drives are eliminated; players can test drive any mech for a 24 hour time slot once per week
  
• Weekend matches always give an extra ~15% XP and HC
  
• Locking selectable items/internals to pilot level is removed, internal prices are increased by ~30% across the board
  
• Increasing your pilot level gives you consumable discount coupons which can be used to reduce the HC and MC price of item,internal and mech purchases. Ranging from a 10% discount to a whopping 75% (the latter of which the player gets one of every 10-or-so levels)
  
• Coupons also come free with the opening of crates, with the potency of the coupon depending on the rarity of the crate or the cost of it's key

Co-Op Bot TDM Survival
Maximum match length: 15-45 minutes
Party Size: 6
Player team has a pool of lives that varies depending on the agreed difficulty, anywhere from 6 to 40.
Players partake in a round of TDM against enemy bots.
For every death that occurs on the bot's team, the difficulty of the bots increases slightly.
The higher the bot difficulty, the higher the XP per kill and HC at the end of the match.
Starting life count also affects end-match payout.


We need a bigger and more appetizing carrot to keep casual players running on the treadmill, while leaving the game mostly intact for the people who play simply to get better.

Edited by Duralumi, April 21 2014 - 09:06 AM.

[Valimer]

Some really great ideas here. ReEvolve I didn't realize you already ahd a thread about this, my bad. Perghaps it's for the best, hopefully if we bring enough attention we can get devs to look into our postts and consider some ideas here. I hope they realize they do have a player base that wants Hawken to succeed and that we as players are serious about wanting Hawkens success. I think they could take away some really great ideas from this forum, and I hope they do.

[Bazookagofer]

Login rewards. Ex. Exp for mech of your choosing , hc reward, discount for mc, discount for weapons and mechs, free mech etc

[ReEvolve]

 Valimer, on April 21 2014 - 11:40 AM, said:

Some really great ideas here. ReEvolve I didn't realize you already ahd a thread about this, my bad. Perghaps it's for the best, hopefully if we bring enough attention we can get devs to look into our postts and consider some ideas here.

No problem, mate. My thread was more about preventing misunderstandings and frustration from newbies by improving the sloppy communication of information in Hawken. Your thread is more about what needs to be done to keep players interested in the game and what is currently hurting new players and therefore needs to be changed. I guess, these concepts go hand in hand.

I really hope that the devs take a look and improve the game for newbies.

[ReEvolve]

 renynzea, on April 21 2014 - 05:27 AM, said:

 ReEvolve, on April 21 2014 - 01:56 AM, said:

"Rookie TDM" game mode (lvl 1 - 10 only): A game mode for newbies where they can only fight people in their pilot level range so they can gain knowledge about the game while be matched with people who are in the same situation as them and therefore can't utilize their existing knowledge about the game to beat them. This should be a different game mode so that newbies can decide if they want to play against people with their pilot level (and knowledge level) or not. If there are not enough newbies in that sever region at that time they can just use the normal game modes. The game mode tile in the menu would get grayed out once they reach lvl 11.

This will not work as smurf accounts gain pilot levels a LOT slower than they gain MMR.

Smurf accounts will  be less of a problem once the upcoming linking of 1 Hawken account to 1 Steam account is implemented.

[PhasmaFelis]

Add an "are you sure_" dialog when spending MC. (And ideally HC too.) It's way too easy to fatfinger. I nearly quit the game when my cat bumped the mouse as I was exploring the garage and spent most of my free MC on holopucks. I feel strongly discouraged to buy more for fear that anything left over would be accidentally wasted.

Alternately, a short refund period (one hour_ 15 minutes_) would also fix this, and reduce bad feelings from people who buy something and then find it doesn't work like they thought it did.

If you want a loyal player base, you do not want them thinking that the game is deliberately designed to trick them into spending cash on things they didn't want.

Edited by PhasmaFelis, April 21 2014 - 01:04 PM.

[PhasmaFelis]

 ReEvolve, on April 21 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

Smurf accounts will  be less of a problem once the upcoming linking of 1 Hawken account to 1 Steam account is implemented.

Oh, wow, are they doing that_ Hahaha, there is going to be some epic rage from the dudes who keep a separate account for each mech.

[Muffintrumpet]

 PhasmaFelis, on April 21 2014 - 01:05 PM, said:

 ReEvolve, on April 21 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

Smurf accounts will  be less of a problem once the upcoming linking of 1 Hawken account to 1 Steam account is implemented.

Oh, wow, are they doing that_ Hahaha, there is going to be some epic rage from the dudes who keep a separate account for each mech.

some folks might have dropped money on their alts
wonder how this will be handled

[BigLag]

My 2 cents on player retention.

A. marketing ( inform people its not a p2w, more players, etc)
B. Match making
C. fix cash shop's costs and its attempt to suck money out of you wallet at every turn
D. More maps

Edited by BigLag, April 22 2014 - 09:22 AM.

[Valimer]

Well, now we can share paint jobs! Amazing! just this makes me want to play the game more haha. Also MC prices have been adjusted, this is gret progress.

[Rock_Roswell]

I just got this thing and the merc pack this morning on Steam, and I am still looking around, but after two hours of search, apparently there is no offline play mode_ I have no internet at home -- this game is next to useless to me without offline play. Is there a way to at least train offline_

If not, I feel like something of a dupe for not noticing this utterly crippling dependency on Steam (_) before purchase. Uber-noob, that's me. I guess offering an offline-capable version for $ is my suggestion. =(

[Valimer]

 Rock_Roswell, on April 25 2014 - 11:59 AM, said:

I just got this thing and the merc pack this morning on Steam, and I am still looking around, but after two hours of search, apparently there is no offline play mode_ I have no internet at home -- this game is next to useless to me without offline play. Is there a way to at least train offline_

If not, I feel like something of a dupe for not noticing this utterly crippling dependency on Steam (_) before purchase. Uber-noob, that's me. I guess offering an offline-capable version for $ is my suggestion. =(

Yes it is Online only, but this is a good suggestion. hawken and many other games could benifit from this. Just wondering, what place do you live that does not have internet_