There are far more issues with the NPE than just what you described. From the top of my head I can name at least the following:
completely useless default overview settings
tutorial/career agents flat out giving incorrect information or no info at all to newbies regarding some crucial game aspects (such as how the manufacturing process works, trading etc…)
no explanation about how stats like Inertia Modifier, Signature Radius etc… work and what they affect
borderline useless info on how crimewatch system works. Pretty much the only thing tutorial tells you is “high sec = concord, everything else = no concord”. No information how various flags and timers work, how killrights work etc…
All of the above needs dev attention, but instead they decide to drop Expert Systems…
Imagine a tutorial where all of this is explained in detail… most newbies would run away before they could finish the tutorial.
There’s a good reason the more detailed (and less necessary) information like that is not included in the NPE. EVE is complex enough for players to keep learning new things after years of playing.
All a newbie initially needs to know about safety in EVE is
‘CONCORD’ will kill people that attack you in 0.5-1.0 high sec systems and
keep your safety settings green.
If the newbie is interested in criminal activities or exploring other regions of space they’re free to do their own research, but it’s definitely not needed to include all of that in the NPE.
And neither are the damage application formulae for resistances, speed and signature radius necessary for a day old newbie in the tutorial. The things they need to know are in a far more basic level: this is how you fly around, this is an enemy, this is how you can shoot them. Maybe add ‘optimal range’ into the mix, but that is the most complex a short basic and interesting tutorial should go.
Are laws of nature written in nature? People are pretty good at observing and writing stuff down for others.
In this case all those things are written in the code of the game and you can observe it.
I agree that CCP could add documentation for those things, but (1) I’d rather have them work on improving the game rather than documentation for players, (2) the documentation would quickly be outdated and wrong, (3) players, the observers in EVE, are far better at keeping structured and updated documentation of everything in EVE and (4) sometimes the sense of exploration of new game features is a large and fun part of gameplay for the more explorative players amongst us (and I don’t mean exploration in the EVE sense of scanning and hacking here).
To be short: we have EVE uni wiki and other sources like Pyfa that explain for example the mechanics of damage application far better and more detailed than any CCP source.
I mean, there could be a base level of information available about mechanics in the game, possibly with references to better sources outside the game. But anything more than that is redundant information and a waste of CCP time.
I know this is probably inconceivable idea for you, but it would be really nice, if CCP simply went and pasted all the external community tools into the game. And no, those are not just some side tools that you may or may not use, some of them (Dotlan, Marketer, Pyfa/EVEMon for example) are critical to your gameplay.
This would definitely help more people than just total newbies. Hell, even I (playing from 2008) would like to boot up EVE without having to open 6 browser pages and 2 external apps just to be able to play it efficiently…
None of them are critical though, at most they’re really helpful. Marketer I use once in a blue moon, EVEMon I’ve downloaded once, looked at it and never touched since. Pyfa is really nice, possibly my favourite tool but the ingame fitting tool is usually more than sufficient, especially for people who copy corp or community fits instead of making their own.
Dotlan is definitely useful but there are alternatives (and I know I may be weird, but I like the ingame map…).
The only external tools that are required for my EVE gameplay are slack and mumble, but that will be different for other players.
Integrating tools into EVE takes development time and maintenance time that could better be used elsewhere. I mean, is it that hard to open a browser in the background to see your zkillboard?
They are critical if other players are using them. A trader that is using Marketer or industrialist using IpH are getting massive advantages over other traders/industrialists that are not using them.
Pyfa is critical for both PvE and PvP because not only you can create fits in a much more editable environment, you can also run simulations on how such fits will perform against certain damage profiles, ships flying certain speed/angle or just under different fleet boosts. None of which the in-game fitting tool allows.
Critical for some styles of gameplay. Not critical for most and definitely not critical to the level that CCP should bloat EVE by integrating those 3rd party apps.
If I were to get into industry more seriously, it would be critical to create my own spreadsheets. Does that mean EVE should integrate Excel?
If almost everyone I met in EVE is using either Pyfa or EVEMon and every bloody industrialist I know is running IpH then I’d say they are critical for most.
Regarding spreasheets, actually, yes. Some internal advanced calculation tool where you can calculate material costs yourself would be nice, because the price estimates given by the game are completely bonkers and not true at all. Hell, if you decide to do industry just with those estimates and the default market graph you are guaranteed to lose ISK.
Except that Uniwiki got most of their basic info from Evelopedia. CCP even had links in-game to Evelopedia so players had quick access to info when needed.
However CCP kept making changes to the game and never bothered to update Evelopedia with their database causing all ship, module, munitions and NPC info to become outdated. Meanwhile players kept updating all the other aspects such as missions, Exploration sites, etc. Eventually CCP decided to discontinue Evelopedia and used the excuse that Uniwiki was a better source for info simply because CCP didn’t want to update their own Official Wiki.
Ironically CCP is cheap and will do as little as possible to get by. Hell, they won’t even fix the multitude of bugs currently plaguing the game because those bugs are more of an inconvenience that doesn’t stop the game from being played.
Yea, I’d prefer CCP to work on such bugs rather than that they waste time keeping a knowledge base up to date when players can do it better, faster and cheaper.
I’m paying to play the game. If CCP offered an up to date extensive wiki full of knowledge in addition to the game I would welcome it, but I wouldn’t pay extra for it. And I don’t blame CCP for cutting those costs.
Cheaper and better. CCP has no intrinsic motivation to keep the knowledge base up to date, if they’re high on workload other things may get priority.
Players on the other hand will gladly figure out how new content works in this competitive game for their own benefit. Whether they share this knowledge immediately with other players on a wiki is not a given, but they have more motivation to do so than CCP.
I agree it won’t be faster; CCP would be able to add new wiki info before something is released, unlike players. On the other hand, players will be financially motivated to figure out new content if there’s profit in it. Or just for the fun of exploring new content, which is motivation enough for the players who enjoy exploration in a game (and not just in the EVE sense of scanning and hacking).
I don’t disagree that the NPE could certainly be improved, and it probably will down the line. Think of the “whole” tutorial as a 3 step introduction:
New Player Experience or NPE - an introduction into basic controls of your ship, how to navigate the universe and how to “use” the UI
Career Agents - an introduction to various activities that a player can do with minimal skill sets and/or finances.
Tutorial videos as well as Help Channels (this has not been mentioned in this thread yet) - there are many “EVE Academy” tutorial videos available (through the F12 menu) that explains many of the game mechanics, that also have been brought up here. I do recall that players are directed towards the help channels at the end of the tutorial (NPE or Career Agents idk), that aside, all new characters will automatically join the Rookie Help channel until they reach 30 days of age, this is a great place to ask questions and for the most part you’ll be able to get quick and precise answers. Interstellar Service Department (ISD; Player Volunteers) and Game Masters (GM) personnel are frequently present in the help channels, on special occasions, like on release days of new expansions, CCP employees (Devs) may also pop into the help channels.
FWIW, I created an alt a few weeks ago and a CCP GM sent me a convo. I freaked out and thought I was breaking a rule, but it turned out to be a really great experience. They were very helpful and pleasant. I let them know I’m not really a new player so they didn’t waste too much time on me. I did appreciate the offer.
Great experience for new people! It’s critical in EVE with all of its complexities. Though this level of help is extremely difficult to scale.
Not under f12 but in agency, “help section”. While it’s hard to call it video, only available tutorial there is scanning. Old explanation videos are removed from client and YT, for at lest month