Mentor Program / Improved Tutorial on Outpost

Technically a mentoring program has always existed in the form of open crew. At least that was Rare's hope and vision. Was that experienced pirates would crew up open crew and teach the newer players. Granted we all know what a cesspool of trolls and nonsense open crew is but that was the general idea.

The Captaincy tutorial with The Pirate Lord was brilliant.

New players should have a tutorial like that for the basics. Maiden voyage is NOT enough anymore.

New players are clueless. Most just do 1 gold hoarder mission, find it Boring, sink and quit.

I think a Ramsey tutorial that teaches ALL the basics like each trading company, tall tales, blunderbombs, the sandbox, fishing ETC. And sends you to a seafort as the finale would be great.

I think a good little tutorial from the Pirate Lord on the Outpost for a new player would be beneficial. This could replace the now somewhat outdated tutorial that happens now.

Have him meet them in the Tavern, right after the Mysterious Stranger chats with them. He can encourage them to check the Barrels in there for some basic supplies (and note that there are Barrels all over the Outpost with useful things they can stock up on). He can also explain the Mysterious Stranger a bit more, and that he is who they should come to see once the time comes for them to join the ranks of Pirate Legend.

He pops outside, and introduces them to Larinna and explains what her role in the world is. Let them know that she is a good place to get an idea on some of the new things happening in the world, or a place to start off an Adventure. He should do the same with EACH of the Factions, and encourage players to buy a single Voyage from each one of them so they can get a taste of what types of ways they can make Coin out on the Seas. Even explain that more challenging tasks will become available for each as they raise in ranks with them or Crew up with those who have already achieved those ranks. And that they have rewards you can get from them as you raise in those Ranks. Have the tutorial encourage them to open the menu and check out a Faction details, including seeing the Commendations available to them.

Explain the Shipwright and how they can customize their own Ship. And make a hint toward being a Captain, nothing that when they can finally afford to purchase a Ship of their own they can visit here to make it their own (still leave the Captaincy tutorial when they become one though). Also pop by the Merchants and explain that they can acquire some supplies from them as well to get their journey started.

Let them know that in time they could choose to become an Emissary with any of these Factions, and that doing so can bring increased rewards for working with them, garner them even more special rewards via the Leaderboard, but that it comes at the cost of increased risk because the Flag itself is potentially loot for other pirates if they can sink you.

Maybe point out whatever World Event is active on the server at the time - the strange Cloud/Tornado you see on the horizon. Explain that all pirates on the Seas can see these like a beacon, and that they are valuable but could easily be contested by others looking to secure that loot for themselves. Make sure they get that it is a server wide event.

Pop down to the Ship and encourage them to start their first Voyage, but now it could be any of the Faction Voyages that apply as opposed to the Gold Hoarders only. Let the players embrace the sand ox of the game and decide what they want to try out first. And then before they finally set Sail, remind them that these seas are filled with pirates just like them making their way in the world. Those pirates might be friends or they might be foes. Always be looking to the horizon for the sails of other Ships and aware of your surroundings because you're never really alone out there.

This would cover the bulk of the basics of the game at that point. Sure, there would still be plenty of stuff to learn and uncover on your own, which is a good facet of the game, but there needs to be a better grounding in what all of the core experience is now that there is so much more to do. It was fine when the game launched not holding our hands at all - there was very little to do so it was pretty easy to figure it all out on your own. That is not the case anymore, there is a load of stuff in the game.

Someone give @redeyesith a proper up-vote / thumbs up he absolutely nailed it! :D

@thorumsu said in Mentor Program / Improved Tutorial on Outpost:

The Captaincy tutorial with The Pirate Lord was brilliant.

New players should have a tutorial like that for the basics. Maiden voyage is NOT enough anymore.

New players are clueless. Most just do 1 gold hoarder mission, find it Boring, sink and quit.

I think a Ramsey tutorial that teaches ALL the basics like each trading company, tall tales, blunderbombs, the sandbox, fishing ETC. And sends you to a seafort as the finale would be great.

This is exactly the point I am trying to clear out, I started not too long ago but I got hooked because someone spent the time with me to learn me the ropes. And that's why it is important to have a better tutorial to explain people the ropes and if needed someone learning him the ropes to improve his gameplay and others as well.

@techpotion autocorrect typos that I was too lazy to go back and edit aside. Thanks though, I just happen to agree that there should be a bit more that you get advised of these days.

I'd even go so far as to suggest that a Skelly Ship spawns on the player of the way to their first island as well. This would give a moment to practice some naval combat (which you don't get in the Maiden Voyage really, the bit in there is pretty minimal). And I might modify the first Voyage (for Gold Hoarder and Merchant) to have an assured spawn potential for that first Island as well (since the Order will feature combat anyways). This would give some pirate level combat training that is a far cry better than the Maiden Voyage. Combat practice is pretty minimal in the current tutorial, and I think it is good for players to experience both of these early on to start getting used to them.

Maybe also explain that you can raise a Flag on the Ship, and also explain the Alliance Flags to pirates. While doing that give a warning that Alliances are not assurances and that any Crew could attack and betray the others at any time and that you expose yourself in the Map to other Alliance members, but that you get bonus Coin and Reputation from anything an Alliance member sells.

I forgot those in my above post, but they are probably worth explaining to players. That still leaves Tall Tales for them to find, all the Bilge Rat stuff, the Reapers (aside from a warning, because they are the Pirate Lord's enemies, about them during the Emissary explanation). Not to mention Shrines, Treasuries, Sea Forts, Kraken/Meg fights, etc. So it leaves a fair bit to uncover on your own while hitting most of the things that can be major sticking points for new players trying to learn the ropes and getting mad cause they don't understand how some basic foundations of the game work.

We veterans take it for granted that we had all of this roll out over time, and that our lack of hand holding at the start was nowhere near as cumbersome as it is for new players now. It is much easier to keep up on new features if you are active, or play catch up on a handful of them after a small break away, than it is to come in completely fresh and be overwhelmed with all of this stuff in front of you and little general understanding of any of it until things blow up in your face (which there should be some of still, and as noted above plenty of potential for still with a more robust tutorial, because there is an aspect of games like that - but they also want a more casual audience to participate too so you need to hand hold at least a little for them).

Anyways, got to rambling here, cause this is something I have suggested before and remain somewhat passionately in agreement about. The game needs to set better expectations as you get going as to what to expect out there.

@redeyesith said in Mentor Program / Improved Tutorial on Outpost:

@techpotion autocorrect typos that I was too lazy to go back and edit aside. Thanks though, I just happen to agree that there should be a bit more that you get advised of these days.

I'd even go so far as to suggest that a Skelly Ship spawns on the player of the way to their first island as well. This would give a moment to practice some naval combat (which you don't get in the Maiden Voyage really, the bit in there is pretty minimal). And I might modify the first Voyage (for Gold Hoarder and Merchant) to have an assured spawn potential for that first Island as well (since the Order will feature combat anyways). This would give some pirate level combat training that is a far cry better than the Maiden Voyage. Combat practice is pretty minimal in the current tutorial, and I think it is good for players to experience both of these early on to start getting used to them.

Maybe also explain that you can raise a Flag on the Ship, and also explain the Alliance Flags to pirates. While doing that give a warning that Alliances are not assurances and that any Crew could attack and betray the others at any time and that you expose yourself in the Map to other Alliance members, but that you get bonus Coin and Reputation from anything an Alliance member sells.

I forgot those in my above post, but they are probably worth explaining to players. That still leaves Tall Tales for them to find, all the Bilge Rat stuff, the Reapers (aside from a warning, because they are the Pirate Lord's enemies, about them during the Emissary explanation). Not to mention Shrines, Treasuries, Sea Forts, Kraken/Meg fights, etc. So it leaves a fair bit to uncover on your own while hitting most of the things that can be major sticking points for new players trying to learn the ropes and getting mad cause they don't understand how some basic foundations of the game work.

We veterans take it for granted that we had all of this roll out over time, and that our lack of hand holding at the start was nowhere near as cumbersome as it is for new players now. It is much easier to keep up on new features if you are active, or play catch up on a handful of them after a small break away, than it is to come in completely fresh and be overwhelmed with all of this stuff in front of you and little general understanding of any of it until things blow up in your face (which there should be some of still, and as noted above plenty of potential for still with a more robust tutorial, because there is an aspect of games like that - but they also want a more casual audience to participate too so you need to hand hold at least a little for them).

Anyways, got to rambling here, cause this is something I have suggested before and remain somewhat passionately in agreement about. The game needs to set better expectations as you get going as to what to expect out there.

Your feedback / additions are amazing and really helpful if you asked me. Let's hope that Rare will do something with it cause you spent a quite a bit of time on this while I've only spit out the suggestion :D

Although, I've learned most through a couple of people within the "Iron Fleet" kind of stranded with them through digging through various of places. These guys literally helped me in a solid way and really hope that other people will have the same experience like I had through a system like this. :)