Suggestion: update and make mandatory Hall of novice tutorial

[KageTokage]

From what I've seen and personally experienced, if there's no desire from an individual to improve they simply won't, regardless of how much tutorials or progression walls the game tries to shove in their faces.

[RobinMalvin]

While we're at it, how about making it so Active Help windows can't be permanently turned off and can't be closed without first reading it?

I really can't understand people who claim there is no in-game informations, when the devs already put at least the basics of almost everything in the Active Help.

[Genz]

While the hall of novice is nice, a good game is a game that is learnt by playing, so the best update to progression they could do is un-nerf older content.

[Gula]

While we're at it, how about making it so Active Help windows can't be permanently turned off and can't be closed without first reading it?

I really can't understand people who claim there is no in-game informations, when the devs already put at least the basics of almost everything in the Active Help.

From what I've seen and personally experienced, if there's no desire from an individual to improve they simply won't, regardless of how much tutorials or progression walls the game tries to shove in their faces.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't force it to drink.

[Jojoya]

And this is why I recommend having the hall of the novice reinforce aoe usage. But stating that people don't read the plain text numbers in front of them doesn't make me understand why they don't. :T

Because the "plain text numbers" in front of them aren't plain. Tooltips are expressed in terms of Potency. Well, what does Potency mean? Nowhere in the game are we given a definition for Potency. Logic says bigger is probably better when it comes to DPS/HPS but we still don't exactly what we're dealing with.

As a new player, I though Potency simply meant "damage". I couldn't understand why my attack with a Potency of 200 was only doing 67 damage. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong to cause my attacks to end up so weak. It finally took going to google to find out what Potency means and how it worked with my stats to produce a damage value. If I hadn't already been familiar with damage calculations from playing WoW for years, I might still have not understood.

There are other things on tooltips that can be likewise confusing, possibly because of term holdovers from other FF games that the devs just assume everyone will understand without thinking about how many players new to the FF franchise have been attracted to this game and don't have that prior knowledge. I brought up Limit Break as something to be added because it wasn't until I did Aurum Vale for the first time and the group was yelling at me to "LB" the last boss adds that I became aware the Limit Break existed. I kept looking through my BRD abilities list trying to find one that might be abbreviated as LB and could only apologize to the group that I couldn't find an attack that was "LB". It was then they explained Limit Breaks to me. It doesn't help that Limit Break is listed under General instead with the other class/job combat abilities. It makes little sense to group such a powerful combat ability with non-combat options.

It makes even less sense to force players, especially new players, to go to outside sources to get an understanding of basic game concepts. The problem is the new player, especially if they've never played a MMO before, isn't going to know the right questions to be asking. Yet here we are and so it's little wonder that so much of the player base struggles between the lack of transparency within the game itself not to mention a mentor system where the majority of mentors have no desire to actually be mentoring.

[SamRF]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't force it to drink.

Indeed, which is why a mandatory instance where you need prove yourself capable of performing your role before being allowed to continue in other (DF) content would be the best solution for the community.

[Gula]

Indeed, which is why a mandatory instance where you need prove yourself capable of performing your role before being allowed to continue in other (DF) content would be the best solution for the community.

Yes, but what about the company?

I know I stopped playing for several months before you could get through the MSQ without doing any side content or extra roulettes. There is a balance to consider between over loading the player with things they wont care about and what they can offer as a suggestion. This is not a single player game, it's a game built on accessibility and getting the most money from the largest possible group.

I say this with a single instance per role in mind. I do not think it should be mandatory for all jobs unless there is a spectacular reward like the role quests of Shadowbringers. One role, one instance. Make it on par with solo instance duties without the nerf. Once you go into a dungeon as, say- a healer, you shouldn't need to sit through it again for tanking or DPS when you can just see what your fellow players are doing. And if you make mistakes, then oh well you just make mistakes. Because remember, this is an mmo. I think there should be a push for talking to people.

[Limonia]

While we're at it, how about making it so Active Help windows can't be permanently turned off and can't be closed without first reading it?

I really can't understand people who claim there is no in-game informations, when the devs already put at least the basics of almost everything in the Active Help.

But then they need to make the timing of them better. When I last leveled an alt character and was in the first dungeon the active help window about what an LB is popped up in the middle of a fight. How is a new player supposed to read and get it then of all times? And if you close the active help windows you have to manually search for the last entry, because the new ones are neither marked as new, nor can you just click on the chat notice to open the new entry.

But they could perfectly combine things like explaining LB with a mandatory novice hall.

[Roda]

Because the "plain text numbers" in front of them aren't plain. Tooltips are expressed in terms of Potency. Well, what does Potency mean? Nowhere in the game are we given a definition for Potency. Logic says bigger is probably better when it comes to DPS/HPS but we still don't exactly what we're dealing with.

As a new player, I though Potency simply meant "damage". I couldn't understand why my attack with a Potency of 200 was only doing 67 damage. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong to cause my attacks to end up so weak. It finally took going to google to find out what Potency means and how it worked with my stats to produce a damage value. If I hadn't already been familiar with damage calculations from playing WoW for years, I might still have not understood.

There are other things on tooltips that can be likewise confusing, possibly because of term holdovers from other FF games that the devs just assume everyone will understand without thinking about how many players new to the FF franchise have been attracted to this game and don't have that prior knowledge. I brought up Limit Break as something to be added because it wasn't until I did Aurum Vale for the first time and the group was yelling at me to "LB" the last boss adds that I became aware the Limit Break existed. I kept looking through my BRD abilities list trying to find one that might be abbreviated as LB and could only apologize to the group that I couldn't find an attack that was "LB". It was then they explained Limit Breaks to me. It doesn't help that Limit Break is listed under General instead with the other class/job combat abilities. It makes little sense to group such a powerful combat ability with non-combat options.

It makes even less sense to force players, especially new players, to go to outside sources to get an understanding of basic game concepts. The problem is the new player, especially if they've never played a MMO before, isn't going to know the right questions to be asking. Yet here we are and so it's little wonder that so much of the player base struggles between the lack of transparency within the game itself not to mention a mentor system where the majority of mentors have no desire to actually be mentoring.

Took me a minute to figure out what "potency" meant as well, but I did notice that my higher potency spells did more damage than my lower ones. Trial and error gave me my definition. /shrug

I do think the LB thing does need to be explained way better in the game since the tooltip basically just says "Does your role's team resource skill" and not exactly how effective that skill is or how it changes based on charge. But like where else would you put it, because it is a general command?? I have mine on one of my universal hotbars and I hate to have to write a macro for every single job change so that I could replace it with a job/role-specific lb.
(y'all my comment was solely on why people don't understand how to AoE properly, not "this game ar 100% transparent ppl is dum" so like this quoting me and then changing the subject is getting hella annoying.)

But then they need to make the timing of them better. When I last leveled an alt character and was in the first dungeon the active help window about what an LB is popped up in the middle of a fight. How is a new player supposed to read and get it then of all times? And if you close the active help windows you have to manually search for the last entry, because the new ones are neither marked as new, nor can you just click on the chat notice to open the new entry.

But they could perfectly combine things like explaining LB with a mandatory novice hall.

And to both quoted... er quotes, honestly I think this will come down to SE probably needing to have two types of tutorials (that a player can hopefully opt out of both when they've made alts). One being an "I'm new to XIV" tutorial and one being "I'm new to MMOs" With the "new to XIV" being similar to what we have here with the hall of the novice (but enhanced with the how-to-aoe, what-is-limitbreak, and other similar additions), while the "new to MMOs" REALLY holds your hand and shows you, like literally dims out your screen and points with flashing arrows and outlines how to walk, how to jump, what sprint is, how to interact with objects (and using the x button if they're using kb&m), how to parse tooltips, how to navigate each menu and window, how the chat box works, how equipment and stats work. Something more intrusive than "what's this green circle, get it out of the way." *clicks X on the pop up window* 'cause I think that's really the only way to get people's attention (It seems to work in other games that use it). It could probably take place in like that aetherial sea before your first cutscene.

(Though, I'd like to see a third tutorial like a "Hall of the Hero" at level 50 that shows you more advanced mechanics of your role, like tank swapping, how to avoid overheal, when to use addle/feint, how to deal with knockbacks, prey markers, earthshakers, proximity damage, and other various mechanics.)

[DPZ2]

And this is why I recommend having the hall of the novice reinforce aoe usage. But stating that people don't read the plain text numbers in front of them doesn't make me understand why they don't. :T

Greatest problem with this suggestion -- many classes don't have an AoE at the player level for which Hall of the Novice is designed.