Questions and discussion.

[Snubnose 639]

I feel like APB needs to improve its first time experience with the engine update, because many new players don't give APB the chance it deserves since they're completely lost in "who do I shoot, what do I do" limbo for too long and lose interest / get frustrated and leave.

not only does it need a proper tutorial, matchmaking also needs to improve - and this is where district phasing comes in, which allows more strict matchmaking to take place across a broader spectrum.

[Tako 93]

Yes, apb should really have a tutorial rework, or anything related to new comers (beginner free pack or whatever could keep new players playing the game)

 

If anyone from LittleOrbit staff could do statistics, on how many new players join the game for the first time every week, and how many of them leave after a few hours.

I'm convinced these statistics would show a huge amount of players we're losing on the first hours of gameplay.

If the game was more intuitive in the first place, i'm pretty sure apb player-base could rise a bit, even in its current state.

 

[Infinito 100]

I made a suggestion on the old forums that many people agreed on. Perhaps LO could have a look at this. 

 

It wouldn't be a new tutorial.. That would most likely take very long to make. However, my suggestion is mainly some new drawing and tooltips. 
Should not be too hard to put in place for the time being.

 

http://fdrop.in/zbxc3Ta

Note : This is for enforcer, but literally the same for criminals with another contact. 

 

@MattScott

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Infinito

[Flaws 1033]

APB needs a proper tutorial that is forced on new accounts (optional for new characters) before they can actually get into the game and it should be somewhat similar to CS:GO's training course. It has you use a variety of weapons, shoot stuff, interact with objectives and so on. It would put new players way ahead of what they currently get. Also, forcing a tutorial on new accounts will slow cheaters down a bit as they'll have to go through it every single time they reroll and they'll just get bored of it quicker.

[KnifuWaifu 499]

I jerk off TF2's Tutorial but only because I haven't played the CS:GO one, but AFAIK they are both good examples of a game adding a Tutorial well after its release, possibly peak popularity, and when a great deal of the game's population had already years and thousands of hours in experience - but they did it anyway. 

 

Maybe it was an experiment? Trial by fire for some new employees? Or they had a bunch of interns who needed to blow some hours for that sweet industry experience? But we do know that if the devs want a real programming playground why not a nice sterile environment where the only enemies are ones who can't /report back?

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by KnifuWaifu

[CookiePuss 5373]

the tutorial, or lack thereof, is probably the least of APBs problems when it comes to new player experience (imo)

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by CookiePuss

[TheMessiah 430]

Totally agree.Btw this voting shows that apb community is pretty solidarity and although the majority dont had easy start-they want new players to have more chances.Thats great.I think video like this or similar-can be good for tutorials

 

[SmilyFace 300]

This game neweds a proper tutorial rework, can't be like what it was since the beginning, isn't that bad but isn't even that great honestly.

And also many other things need to be looked at, because if they will not quit for this they will for the matchmaking, or for the servers.

[Crusadeer 24]

the problem is the players.. i don't understand how you can invest hundreds if not thousands of hours into this game and not grow as a player.

[Infinito 100]

1 hour ago, Crusadeer said:

the problem is the players.. i don't understand how you can invest hundreds if not thousands of hours into this game and not grow as a player.

The point of the tutorial is not getting better players. The point is reducing the amount of people leaving because they don't understand how the game works. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Infinito

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

The best way of learning long term is to get your patootie handed to you and beat in to the ground by those better than you.

Of course that isn't very fun though for the majority of people.

 

 

I'm still confused as to why they changed the tutorial away from a 'tutorial section' to just a tutorial HUD. If anything the previous tutorial style should have been built upon.

Edited April 7, 2020 by NotZombieBiscuit

[ezmegaz68 167]

weird, I somehow learned everything I need to get going back in 2014 from the tutorial

you know how? I read it

you could add the best tutorial in the world, people who don't want to read it won't read it

I'm talking about the "how do I get grenades?" people

it's the second thing in the tutorial stupid

the game even asks them if they want to do the tutorial after creating their character

if they click no then they fully deserve it

[CookiePuss 5373]

2 minutes ago, ezmegaz68 said:

I'm talking about the "how do I get grenades?" people

But we aren't.

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

4 hours ago, ezmegaz68 said:

weird, I somehow learned everything I need to get going back in 2014 from the tutorial

you know how? I read it

you could add the best tutorial in the world, people who don't want to read it won't read it

I'm talking about the "how do I get grenades?" people

it's the second thing in the tutorial stupid

the game even asks them if they want to do the tutorial after creating their character

if they click no then they fully deserve it

I always love seeing those youtube/stream videos where someone is talking about the game or doing a review and how they don't understand it while the first step or two of the tutorial is still up on the screen in the corner.

Edited April 8, 2020 by NotZombieBiscuit

[Haganu 104]

11 hours ago, ezmegaz68 said:

weird, I somehow learned everything I need to get going back in 2014 from the tutorial

you know how? I read it

you could add the best tutorial in the world, people who don't want to read it won't read it

I'm talking about the "how do I get grenades?" people

it's the second thing in the tutorial stupid

the game even asks them if they want to do the tutorial after creating their character

if they click no then they fully deserve it

The tutorial is very makeshift and not intuitive at all. 

A good tutorial pulls the player into the very tutorial itself and uses the player's immersion and curiosity to explain crucial mechanics.

 

APB's "tutorial" literally is just a screen with text not many people make sense out of, a few pictures that don't explain a lot to a player, and gives a reward that's not really a reward at all.

All that little effort wasted on so many pointless things, and in any random district at that, instead of in a seperate section where a player can take the time to learn the basic and crucial mechanics.

 

Really the only difference from when I joined the game late 2013 is that now instead of being randomly dropped into an action district, I'm randomly dropped in an action district, but with a random window of text I can't care less about. Because that window of text doesn't speak to me.

 

It's formatted like a working instruction you'd see at the office... But in a game.

 

What if we reuse the login screen we have now to create an actual immersive, intuitive and proper explanatory tutorial segment?

[TzickyT 212]

i learnd the game on myself whitout learning any guides or stuf to do. back in the day there was a tutorial ingame and i just followed that. now that that is passed i am sitting here enjoying the game daily.

 the tutorial they had was ok. what i prefer more is actualy a system taht provides new players with old players. wher eonly new players can play and old players can watch and help new players.

 

[Fruitini 12]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=379180211

 

A friend of mine made this a long time ago, some of the information may be irrelevant. Good luck 

[Lord Cashpoint 269]

Ideally they need to bring back the Tutorial districts, but make structured and guided. So teach players how to switch out weapons and vehicles, the different types of missions etc.

 

Any amount of A.I., even very rudimentary could provide some experience to players regarding the very basics of APB's combat (Such as grenade throwing, or using flanking routes). Realistically though you would want the Trainees to fight real players, ideally other Trainees to get their first experience of real combat. Perhaps these first missions could have lots of hints and pop-ups which would then fade away as they attained a threat level.

 

[ezmegaz68 167]

6 hours ago, Haganu said:

I'm randomly dropped in an action district, but with a random window of text I can't care less about. Because that window of text doesn't speak to me.

see that's the problem, people are expecting the tutorial to be something it doesn't need to be

it doesn't need to speak to you, you just need to read it
sure the tutorial right now might be boring and not pretty but it explains everything you need to know at the beginning IF you put in the effort to read it

like I said, people who don't want to read it won't read it no matter how pretty it is, the only way to help those is to make the tutorial mandatory

OR

6 hours ago, Haganu said:

What if we reuse the login screen we have now to create an actual immersive, intuitive and proper explanatory tutorial segment?

we could make it an interactive level like in csgo and not just a bunch of text (but then again if it's not mandatory people will just skip it and you can't help those)

Edited April 8, 2020 by ezmegaz68

[Crusadeer 24]

On 4/7/2020 at 7:10 PM, Infinito said:

The point of the tutorial is not getting better players. The point is reducing the amount of people leaving because they don't understand how the game works. 

I know and my point is so many players are not willing to learn in the first place. Easier to just call the game p2w or cry about cheaters. There's still people that think ranks have anything to do with threat level..

[Farbon Ciber 65]

On 4/7/2020 at 1:35 AM, CookiePuss said:

the tutorial, or lack thereof, is probably the least of APBs problems when it comes to new player experience (imo)

 

 

 

True, but new players do need to have a guide on what to do....before they are thrust in to their first Ops. I have been in a number of missions as a max rank against a Trainee that is just driving around trying to shoot at things that he/she cant damage. I have tried to help them, but they are probably horribly confused by our chat commands and don't know how to respond back, or perhaps don't even know that my comment is meant for them. I suspect that they end up frustrated and leave 

 

 

[Acornie 490]

I've been planning on making a thread about this, so I'm glad I saw this thread. The tutorial, or introduction to Apb for new players needs a rework... but just as important as that is, beyond that I strongly feel that the free to play experience needs to be reworked.`

 

Tutorial: it's a bit hard as a more experienced player to put myself in the shoes of noob who doesn't grasp the core basics of the game, but I think it's pretty obvious that what we have now is not sufficient. An important note is that lack of language supportsis a big hurdle non-English speakers and I hope this is something being addressed soonTM. Even pop-ups from the tutorial, that explains to a player first time joining to explain what Apb is might benefit but I don't know, I'm not too... sure what's best other than the tutorial is insufficient at helping noobs in it's current state. I feel like even mentioning this idea is going into a pipe dream but something that could benefit Apb a large amount, and what Flaws has already mentioned is some sort of 'Training Grounds'; say there's a room, guns to test on the table, or some sort of way to access weapons you don't currently own, and a shooting range to test them on, players won't instantly thing that (x) gun is OP because they could then to try it out as much as they want in the testing area

Gun lease setup and it's issues: I know that to most players this might seem that important, but the problem is we're all experienced in Apb, most of the uninitiated try this game, leave it and never get to this point. It's too hard to get to those slotted weapons. I understand that every game needs to make money, but that shouldn't be the only thing that you set out to do; the longer people stay the more likely they will give financial support instead of them feeling like they're $150 away from finding any enjoyment in the game, and quitting.

[CookiePuss 5373]

6 hours ago, Farbon Ciber said:

True, but new players do need to have a guide on what to do....before they are thrust in to their first Ops. I have been in a number of missions as a max rank against a Trainee that is just driving around trying to shoot at things that he/she cant damage. I have tried to help them, but they are probably horribly confused by our chat commands and don't know how to respond back, or perhaps don't even know that my comment is meant for them. I suspect that they end up frustrated and leave 

 

 

fuck, I meant to elaborate on that, but got distracted. I'll do a long post tonight on my thoughts regarding the tutorial.

[Fortune Runner 796]

On 4/7/2020 at 2:20 PM, ezmegaz68 said:

you know how? I read it

is it translated to foreign languages now ? because if not then many do not understand English

 

like Americans

[LilyRain 669]

On 4/7/2020 at 12:35 PM, CookiePuss said:

the tutorial, or lack thereof, is probably the least of APBs problems when it comes to new player experience (imo)

 

On 4/7/2020 at 8:06 PM, Crusadeer said:

the problem is the players.. i don't understand how you can invest hundreds if not thousands of hours into this game and not grow as a player.

Facts