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My first impressions of DU


CasraTX

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I saw a trailer or a youtuber popped up when I was not paying attention and it auto-rolled to the next video.  I was intrigued.  Old school gamer here (Atari 2600 was my first console, we were first on our block to have one sort of OG gamer)  so I've been playing for quite a while and play many genres but tend towards MMO's and shooters, I still play Overwatch, pretty regularly and was dragged back into wow by my wife so, there's my background for my comments.

1.  I have a 1080ti rig with an SSD, so graphics, lag, slowdown rarely saw.  Load times were what I'd expect from an under optimized beta experience. In regards to the "look" I get a real homage to Anarchy Online sort of vibe from the game which I love.  I miss that game.   Obviously the other games and genres that DU is obviously building on are there, MC, NMS and even a hint of plantfall in the mix.  That's kinda my vibe of the game and I like.

2.  I got in yesterday to the game, went out and found me a tile, was hope for one with a water view but c'est la vie I settled for one near some hills and I dug it.  Nice valley view.  I plodded in and planted my marker then started getting into the tutorial. I gathered stuff, went to market and sold but then due to slow speed of the speeder and I hadn't at that point figured out how to set Cruise control, I logged off.  I still don't know where that first speeder went. I KNOW where I parked it.  It was gone.  Poof.  Dunno.   I shrugged, bought a Dragonfly, and promptly fueled it, hopped in and flipped it over because I didn't realize the ground speeder didn't need W to go forward.   Thank you for the easy, hop out and tap the force young padawan power to flip it over.  That was VERY appreciated.    So I got back home and started building.   Got a house planted, windows VR Sim, respawn point, a bed.  Noice.  It's a basic one each lunch box design but hey... 

3.  I decided to try finding out if there were minerals under my land!  I dug all the way down to hitting water, and kept going.  I think I filled my pack twice with soil and made sure the sensor was on T4-5 minerals.   Yeah... nothing, took FOREVER to get back up.  At that point went back to my house and logged.   So I decided to then go digging around this forum and the wider interwebs to learn some more before trudging back to the hub to do the rest of the tutorials.

It was at that point, I read about the long travel times to do anything, the fact that PVP, which I don't mind pvp I really don't.  I've played EVE and other games... but in the end, after reading, I'm figuring I'll be taking a pass on the game moving forward.  Oh I'll probably play out my time bought, see if my first impression is in error, but right now, as a new player looking at the hour glass of information and time required to do... simple things I'm really leaning away from the game.  But why?

1a.   Two words, Time Sink.   My kids moved out, I spend 4 hours a night wrecking face in OW, or running instances and such in wow with my wife and guild.   But in those its 4 hours of active doing things.  Reading the "fun" people are having traveling to new mining areas, only to end up either empty handed or the PVP angle just doesn't appeal, to me.  I'm not asking for things to be handed to me, but if I'm going to be investing time into a game, I'd like to be entertained, not wasted as a rule.

 

2a.  When I go to the hub, I now have trepidation of misplacing my ship.  You get close and there is literally a blue blob of ships, and I've seen people land into other peoples ships and making a mess of things.  I don't relish losing another ship and having to either buy another one OR hoofing it home should I have spent mah monies on things and lack the resources.

3a.  The time loss problem.  Eve has this, other games of this genre do to.  If you can't or don't invest the hours early in you're gonna be behind the 8-ball real fast.  I know that for the above to concerns I'll probably not be looking to spend 4 hours a night traveling around doing little but hoping to get lucky... and that means I'll end up playing catch up the entire time... not appealing.  

I will keep an eye towards this game, watch as it evolves and yes I'll pop in during beta probably everyday to tinker, but as of now I feel this may not be the game for me, but if it is for you, ACES I will enjoy the youtube videos down the road of the amazing things people make in game, I've already seen some stunners.

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Wow, reading your post, I was thinking that I wrote it.  I’m still debating on sticking it out or not as it is a big grind.

 

on finding your ship... look on the map under constructs and you can set a nav marker to it.  There is also a way to recall it from 4 k away but on a time limit.  I forget how off of the top of my head.

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I mean, to be fair, you are choosing the grind life. Have you considered playing with other people? You can join an org, or you can even stay solo but make contacts to do projects. One thing our org does, is set up a small 100% automated industry that only takes T1. It produces 7mil quanta a day selling to bots. We then use that quanta to buy things we need. When we divvy up the mining duties its maybe 1 hour of mining to keep the machines on. And if they shut down for a little it's not the end of the world, they turn right back on. With that quanta we use to purchase everything we need, and work on other projects that interest us.  Not saying everything is 100% ez but with some effort trying to meet people, you can find things you enjoy and monetize it to a degree. The biggest mistake I see brand new people do is thinking they need to build every thing themselves.  I only make fuel and voxels. Every thing else I find on the market. And usually at pretty good prices.  Ya I have to mine a little, bit that becomes a very small percentage of my game time. My alt with industry skills make it more efficient too.  

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1 hour ago, JohnnyTazer said:

I mean, to be fair, you are choosing the grind life. Have you considered playing with other people? You can join an org, or you can even stay solo but make contacts to do projects. One thing our org does, is set up a small 100% automated industry that only takes T1. It produces 7mil quanta a day selling to bots. We then use that quanta to buy things we need. When we divvy up the mining duties its maybe 1 hour of mining to keep the machines on. And if they shut down for a little it's not the end of the world, they turn right back on. With that quanta we use to purchase everything we need, and work on other projects that interest us.  Not saying everything is 100% ez but with some effort trying to meet people, you can find things you enjoy and monetize it to a degree. The biggest mistake I see brand new people do is thinking they need to build every thing themselves.  I only make fuel and voxels. Every thing else I find on the market. And usually at pretty good prices.  Ya I have to mine a little, bit that becomes a very small percentage of my game time. My alt with industry skills make it more efficient too.  

Wait, you don't even need to move the goods to the markets? Sounds like an exploit.

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11 hours ago, JohnnyTazer said:

What are you talking about? I said we sell the item we make to the market bots. Reading  comprehension. 

Common courtesy..  Would it really have cost you that much to phrase that reply a little differently?

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17 hours ago, JohnnyTazer said:

I mean, to be fair, you are choosing the grind life. Have you considered playing with other people? You can join an org, or you can even stay solo but make contacts to do projects. One thing our org does, is set up a small 100% automated industry that only takes T1. It produces 7mil quanta a day selling to bots. We then use that quanta to buy things we need. When we divvy up the mining duties its maybe 1 hour of mining to keep the machines on. And if they shut down for a little it's not the end of the world, they turn right back on. With that quanta we use to purchase everything we need, and work on other projects that interest us.  Not saying everything is 100% ez but with some effort trying to meet people, you can find things you enjoy and monetize it to a degree. The biggest mistake I see brand new people do is thinking they need to build every thing themselves.  I only make fuel and voxels. Every thing else I find on the market. And usually at pretty good prices.  Ya I have to mine a little, bit that becomes a very small percentage of my game time. My alt with industry skills make it more efficient too.  

It's not choosing the grind life, I was giving the Dev's an honest "first impression" that's all.  I'll dig a little deeper into the game proper, and probably join an org to get the most of the time I am in the game.   I think, for them, it would be useful to hear feedback from people in a beta, as honestly as can be done.  That's why I laid out my gaming experience, and my "first impressions".  First impressions are super important in life, you don't show up at a job interview in slacker attire, and then expect the boss to hire you because maybe later you'll be well dressed...

(Not saying that applies here just an example of First Impressions)

I know a lot of gamers whose first 2 hours with a game makes or breaks their interest in said gaming experience.   As I have a lot more experience in games and know that maybe if I push a little harder, there is a gem to be had I'll play out the beta, but my initial feeling on the matter is not a mostly positive long term view of the game.  Maybe it will change and I'll post an updated "My on going impression of Dual Universe".

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Thanks for sharing! I think honest first impressions are totally valid and do hope NQ pays close attention when new players come to share their experience. 

 

Personally I always find it hard to join orgs/guilds in MMOs because I FEAR PEOPLE.

 

I think a lot of new players are in a similar boat where they want to have a good understanding of the basics on their own before joining up with an org.  

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On 10/5/2020 at 1:31 PM, michaelk said:

Thanks for sharing! I think honest first impressions are totally valid and do hope NQ pays close attention when new players come to share their experience. 

 

Personally I always find it hard to join orgs/guilds in MMOs because I FEAR PEOPLE.

 

I think a lot of new players are in a similar boat where they want to have a good understanding of the basics on their own before joining up with an org.  

Yeah I've been spending a bit of time daily hoping on. Made a mistake of buying an Extra large container.  Mistake because I plopped it in my little lunchbox house... it doesn't fit, so my house looks...  very very odd.

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On 10/5/2020 at 7:31 PM, michaelk said:

Thanks for sharing! I think honest first impressions are totally valid and do hope NQ pays close attention when new players come to share their experience. 

 

Personally I always find it hard to join orgs/guilds in MMOs because I FEAR PEOPLE.

 

I think a lot of new players are in a similar boat where they want to have a good understanding of the basics on their own before joining up with an org.  

This is a fundamental issue with new players experience and what the game is trying to do as a whole, the new player experience for a solo player trying to do everything themselves can be frustrating and very long winded.  Simply by engaging with the market from the start can save new players days of work.  This is something I see a lot with new players joining our org, there is an understandable need for them to 'learn' the game at the start, when actually they arent really learning anything that will be useful once they start playing the game.  Most of the early issue are trivial once established.

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16 hours ago, Moosegun said:

This is a fundamental issue with new players experience and what the game is trying to do as a whole, the new player experience for a solo player trying to do everything themselves can be frustrating and very long winded.  Simply by engaging with the market from the start can save new players days of work.  This is something I see a lot with new players joining our org, there is an understandable need for them to 'learn' the game at the start, when actually they arent really learning anything that will be useful once they start playing the game.  Most of the early issue are trivial once established.

That might be true.  On the flip side, this game had a steep initial learning curve.  It can be daunting to people.  Most people feel less sure of themselves when facing a mountain of "What the hell am I supposed to do..." and then face that with joining an org full of people who do... with online games being notoriously toxic, the last thing a person wants is to join an org and have a negative experience for "you don't even know how to do that?"   

I'm getting a handle on the basics, learning at my pace before I reach out and find an org, explore the game further.  I want to have a good grasp of the basics before I add in another learning curve of trying to meet expectations.

 

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