First off, let me say that I’m loving the game.
That said, can we acknowledge that we’re charting some new territory here? The FPS-melee-MOBA-PvP-PvE-Co-op-Campaign-Splitscreen genre isn’t exactly well explored as of yet. Most new players are going to be lost, especially when jumping into a PvP match for the first time. As such, it would be immensely helpful to introduce new players to some of these concepts in the Intro stage.
It doesn’t need to be a full PvP match or anything, but a short 5 minute minion push scenario would put new players in the right mindset. Put a sentry-bot in the intro stage, as the Final Boss maybe (tune the stats down for a single player, obv.) It should to require 2 or 3 waves of minions with NPC!Deande helping so that it doesn’t take too long. Maybe toss in some Thrall NPCs along the way to teach players to protect the minions. Just ensure that multiple minion waves are required, so players learn not to tank the sentry.
For a bit of flavor, there should be dialog explaining that these little minion bots were specifically designed and programmed to handle rogue spider sentry bots … not that such an event is a common occurrence or anything … ahem
You could even go a step further and escort the remaining minions into a recycling center once complete. For bonus points, have the players summon a Giant minion (or take a Thrall Merc camp) to help the push.
And just like that, new players have (an admittedly basic) understanding of the two new game types. You could do something similar to teach Capture, but I think those mechanics are a bit more self explanatory.
What do you guys think? Would adding some more PvP-esque elements to the Intro Stage help alleviate some of the well documented woes both here and on Reddit (“PSA: This is not Team Death Match”)? Or do we just need to wait out the toddler phase until people learn on their own.
Anything else you think could help the intro stage draw in new players and ease the learning curve for this new genre?
edit: spelings and gramer