Serenol Marwysgar
Imperial Combat Engineers Empire of Arcadia
10
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Posted - 2016.11.16 12:51:16 -
[1] - Quote
Feedback on NPE:
I like it. I ran it last night on a new Alpha account. The story was good. The voice acting was sufficient (I've heard worse from lesser games.) The threat and action was good. Overall, it teaches you the basics without having to do a lot of boring reading right from the start. Honestly, if the current Career Agents got this kind of make over, then it would be a very well laid out NPE.
My issue is the pacing. There were a couple times when my objective would be 60+ KM away, and my little Ibis doesn't fly *that* fast. The waiting around to get from Point A to Point B detracted, and immediately conveyed a sense of, "so all EVE is is flying huge distances? Lame. Quit."
I was also a little miffed at the ISK rewards. It felt like I was doing a lot of work for not as much gain - no desirable modules (like, even basic Tech 1, or non-reprocessable T1 equilivant gear?), and the small couple hundred thousand was just that - small.
I noticed a timing gap between the 'make an analyzer' job to complete and the speed of the text. I might have zoomed ahead, but i almost undocked, forgetting i need the analyzer to complete the job.
I was also annoyed that the tutorial didn't go into ship insurance! Such a critical part of the game, would be one small extra line in the NPE, and would net someone something when, at the end, your ship explodes (unexpectedly!) Knowing how to use Ship Insurance would mean I'd feel I got a little something for my "noble" "sacrifice." It would also continue the lesson into the career agents, where you're asked to suicide a couple ships. I head to learn through chat or such to insure my ships before the missions to get, basically, free ISK. Again, small reward for huge emotional gain.
The end battle was really cool though! I think, however, the capital at the end needs to actually move (it just kinda rolled around in the same spot for me.) I'm being told to web it to slow it, but there was nothing visible as an effect. Also, turn the HP up and let the NPCs do some of the damage too. The rest of the battle was very well done though (except, as said, the "your ship explodes" at the end. If I'd known that, I'd have not over fitted it, and insured it.)
I'd also like to see a change to expand the "how to use the skill queue" window. It asks me to slot one skill that takes almost an hour to complete. Start with something that takes a few minutes, and suggest adding XYZ other skills to get people used to navigating the window and adding more than one thing. Show how the queue works.
Lastly, I hope there's some quick follow up to the NPE. I recall seeing a comment before the patch that worried after the NPE, you're dropped right into...well everything. And that was true. It doesn't feel natural that you go from defeating the drifer hive, a huge accomplishment, to the career agents and their.....blow up this pirate. Now come back. No ferry this cargo. Now come back.
While I see you were looking to align the NPE to the Alpha clone rollout - I'd have been OK if you'd waited, revammped the entire NPE to gradually build a new player's rewards and more in-depth experience in the various areas of the game (coming out of the NPE, there was a lot I knew that wasn't even mentioned!) before dumping them into the rest of the 'verse. As a new player, I'd fight the drifters, maybe slog through the Career Agents (learning...not that much useful stuff - especially when it comes to 'business' and 'industry'), and then.....? Part of me likes being told what to do - so sending me off to the SoE story arc would be a start at least. Build into that some natural hi-sec cooperation where to complete some mission you need to fleet (no friendly fire) up and take out a target (granted, I hit a wall with SoE over a year ago. While I'm skilled for it now, i've just not yet gone back - so maybe this already is the case).
EVE is a big game, and the NPE needs to be proportionally bigger and thorough. It's a great start, just keep building on it. |