Derived from recent new player questions & comments:
Icon info: Explanation of the icons on their screen. They need to know what the nav bar is, what the icons are on it, that the symbol on the bottom is for gleam club, energy bar, buffs, etc. These icons currently exist with no labels, no mouse-over, & no explanation.
Item list access: The Knowledge Tab (which lists all items, ingredients & machines required to craft them), needs to be more apparent.
Item interaction/info: The ability to mouse-over or use a keyboard shortcut to get more info about an item. ie: player sees a new plant or another player’s machine. If they get close enough, they should be able to hit “[x]” for info.
Pin recipes/list: The ability to pin items or recipes to your screen.
Boundlessverse: Make it clear that there are 50 worlds that they can fully access 24/7. Some don’t know there is more than one world. Some players don’t know they can travel to a different world, from the one they started on.
Beacon info: A more intuitive way to learn or get started with beacons, fueling beacons, plots and building rules.
Building codes/info: A building codes/wiki since this info has changed a few times & is somewhat complicated when compared to other/similar games. There is nothing that explains plot protection, compactness, auto reservation, permissions, being a good neighbor, things that are against T.O.S. etc.
Forged gear: A clear way to tell forged tools from non-forged tools. They need VFX auras in the UI and in the world when you see them.
Email notifications & an account page with info about expiring Gleam Club, planet fuel, rental planet purchases/status, etc.
Additionally:
Add a new player starting area/world/island.
Add T2 starter meteors. They should only spawn a couple of rounds of T1 spitters and T1 livestock. They should reward players with 1-3 raw oort, a few raw metal/gems,and supplies (tech, spark, foliage, sand, flint, etc). Since we can’t mine oort, this would help introduce players to meteors and help them have more confidence when joining larger hunts or going to higher tier planets.
It seems like a lot of this is here, and much of it’s covered in the tutorial now. Big focus then on the key phrase “needs to be more apparent”.
@majorvex do you not see the VFX auras in inventory, storage, and when held in hand? I’m asking because I’m not sure if you’re talking about something different from the sparkling/crackling aura that’s already on all forged tools.
Still there’s nothing I would remove from this list. Maybe meteors at T2 - we could talk all day though that’s going to be a “matter of opinion”. The rest of it definitely needs to have some attention.
Also a big shout out for the days when “if it’s not plotted, you can plot it”.
Correct There are many things listed that currently exist in some form, but they are either not intuitive enough or not apparent enough for new players (as this list is mostly compiled from their questions/comments).
Yes, forged items have slight vfx on them. However, there is no clear indicator in listings and it’s not very noticeable on the item. I’ve seen many new players say they cannot tell a forged item from a non-forged item. I’ve also seen forged gear accidentally being sold on stands for the same price as non-forged gear (which means even experienced players also have difficulty noticing). Perhaps the icons/listings could have a gold background or outline and the item in-hand could have a different handle or topper.
If new players, that have gone through the tutorial, don’t know there is more than one planet or that their beacon/items will disappear if they don’t fuel a beacon properly, then some things might need to be adjusted. I know we can’t retain every player, but when there is a pattern of the same issues/questions, it should probably be addressed.
The items listed under “additionally” are purely subjective. Many players have expressed that they aren’t confident enough to hunt meteors or don’t understand it. I figured T2 starter meteors might help with that.
I wonder what will happen with plotting & world access if they do bring in 10k+ players
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a suggestion for a really obvious way to pause and restart the tutorial.
It’s super annoying when you’re wide eyed new and trying to check out the world. I think plenty of people look for a way to disable it, or click through the “informational” parts as quickly as they can.
A very obvious, un-skippable graphic window explaining how to pause/restart the tutorial would mean it’s quickly addressed, the player is reminded a tutorial does exist, and then when they’re ready, they pay attention.
I haven’t seen anyone mention that yet, but I think some players would definitely use it. Like @ginabean pointed out, there are some of us that are happy to figure things out on our own, as we play the game. I’m guilty of skipping the tutorial in most games (that allow it).
I like the notice idea. Maybe it should include a line about the rewards: “You earn rewards for completing tutorial tasks”.
perhaps a new player could be given a readable book from sanctum dude that includes some of this? So they can skip if they want, but come back and read as they need? That way they can be reminded about the benefits of completing tutorial tasks.
My concern would be that this might confuse/interfere with items you can interact with.
Maybe hitting the knowledge hotkey (k) while looking at something could open the page for it?
As for the plotting info, add prestige to this list. The beacon itself covers some of this, but maybe it could have an info tab that goes into more detail - maybe a duplicate of one that is always available.
On the topic of NPE and QoL - a color picker similar to picking soveregn world colors when creating a new character would be nice, so you dont need to click 200+ times to view all color options for a character.
This is one of the very first things new players are introduced to, and I think it can be improved.
When players rent planets, there isn’t enough info on the type of planet, when they select “Predefined/Simple”. There is no info on fluid types or atmospheric protections that are required. This is especially bad for new players. This is all they see:
There are many things listed that currently exist in some form, but they are either not intuitive enough or not apparent enough for new players (as this list is mostly compiled from their questions/comments).
