Suggested improvements for WZ classic: 3 stages of progress

1. stage: WZ classic "boot camp" (L1-L20)
mandatory tutorial & training phase for PvP games. Cannot be skipped, not even with coins. Will greatly reduce creation/use of alt accounts. :-)
a bit similar to tutorial levels in single player andidle mode, but more comprehensive.
New players have to go through BOOT camp. First 20 WZ classic games will be pre-defined, unrated!, practice games vs. AI (of suitable play strength). Newbs will be guided through "SEAD balanced starts" (3x), SEAD (3x), "SE1W balanced starts" (3x), SE1W (3x), SE ComBomb (3x) and S1v1 templates (5x) - with in-game AI hints provided at every single turn [much better and specific to situation than long written tutorials that most newbs will not read anyways].

Winning these games will be reasonably easy, with difficulty gradually and moderately increased every time a template is repeated. After every win, player advances 1 level. At end of boot camp new players graduate at L20. I expect at least 1/3 of new entrants, maybe/hopefully even 50%, would not drop out but complete boot camp phase, typically within 1-3 days.

Upon graduation - but not any sooner - the following features will unlock:
* ability to post in GC [would save all of us from quite a bit of peepeefarting and similar troll spamming]
* post in forums
* play PvP games vs. other players, EDIT: including CW games
* play arena games in idle maps [for levels lower than 20, they would link into boot camp]

Yes, there could and should also be additional, optional! boot camps for a) commerce and b) diplo games and c) "advanced strategy" games. I am aware, that this would require considerable effort, but am optimistic that many in WZ community would be willing to help building it.

2. Intermediate stage: (L20-L52)
QM games: like now, but player is always offered choice of match vs. AI or human player, when either no match possible for longer than 30 seconds and/or when no match available vs. human player with rating not more than 30% higher [yes, having a meaningful rating/ELO system would be great].
Additional QM games: "SEAD balanced" and "SE1W balanced" (with balanced start combos) will be added.
No auto-enable whatsoever. Just a pop-up "new qm template XYZ unlocked, you can add it to your selection of qm templates now or anytime in future".
No participation in ladders, CL or other similar events

3. Advanced stage (L53+)
unlocks ability to participate in ladders, CL and similar competitive WZ classic activities
otherwise as is, plus any improvements to rating/ELO system or other worthwhile improvement - as suggested in other threads.

Effect: new and intermediate/casual players will go through a guided and assisted learning and training phase and no longer just be served up as cheap cannonfodder to advanced & "elite" players. Lots of incentive to learn and progress all the way to "advanced stage". Much more enjoyable game experience and less frustration. Much improved environment for all WZ players - games/matches, global chat, forums.

So, what do you think?

[Edited upon otto's objection re. unlocking CW games]

Edited 3/29/2023 10:03:13

I agree with most of your ideas (who would have thought) but one:

2. Intermediate stage: (L20-L52)
...
No participation in CW

Why would require an idle player (I still assume that the need/desire to play CW comes from idle and not from classic due to the idle-focused rewards) to play a significant amount of classic until they are able to participate in what they want: CW?

I agree for ladders and CL, but not for CW. Progress in idle is already super slow. Denying newbies the most significant buffs you can get in the idle game is not helping but frustrating instead imho.

But the other ideas sound great for me!

All the boot camps should be possible to skip, especially for players that have more account and players who are coming back after years to Warzone and forgot their old account. The system the way it is now is already good. Maybe better AI players could work. The first thing many new players encounter is the singleplayer section, there you already have the explaination of certain things. By for not everybody is making direct an account. So it will lead to less new players than now if you add many hordes for them. Global chat and forum are really nice to ask for help.

Custom games are much better than QM. You can choose your opponent(s) and it's much easier to play with more people. You can choose every map you like. On QM the choice is really limited and it takes long to unlock a lot of templates. You can choose the settings you like instead of kinda forced settings.

Do not start new topics with the same message as in another thread. Post instead in the original thread: https://www.warzone.com/Forum/682682-expansion-warzone

Edited 3/29/2023 09:50:41

@otto
* agree with your objection re. CW for idle players. edited it out of my initial post.

@vena
* Successful completion of WZ classic boot camp should be mandatory, not least because it would greatly diminish value of alt accounts and lower incentive to create/use them.

* started new thread bc the other one got mired down in controversy over rating system. I want to primarily make and collect ideas to quickly improve game experience and retention rate of new and casual players here

Edited 3/29/2023 10:02:52

No, boot camp is litterally the worst idea, improving singleplayer is so much better. There you also get explaination about the different functions. Better AI players would improve the singleplayer and multiplayer sections.

Besides, you should really play and not only get booted in Clan Wars (same goes for Good news). The free win system should be removed, so that players have to fight to earn points (no match = no points). And if there is a pattern of giving wins to eachother, these people/clans should be punished and ultimately removed from Clan Wars

Edited 3/29/2023 19:25:58

Bootcamp is a great concept, but it should always be optional.
If there is one thing that turns players away its being forced to suffer through a million tutorial before you can play the game...
Perhaps the bootcamp for a given setting/map could be offered automatically when they unlock it?

Also, why would you put ComBomb in the bootcamp after SE1W? Surely suddenly having to deal with commanders and bomb cards is way harder than jumping to S1v1. Strat 1v1 is the logical next follow up, cause they just learned how to pick in SE, and now they can practice on making picks when the map has more than 5 available picks.