New Tutorial Feedback

[Panagrammic]

Want to try the new tutorial?

Make sure you're out of any existing games, and then go to this link to try the tutorial.

(If you don't remember the old tutorial, you can bring it up here).

Give us feedback:

- better or worse than the old tutorial?
- does it cover the essentials?
- anything we should add and/or remove?
- did you go "off script" during the tutorial and get into an odd game state?

[PhoenixRising07]

I kind of like it. It's well done and guides a player carefully. Nothing went out of script, you weren't able to retreat during the forced pining (as designed). It's small, but I noticed if you exit the tutorial, the next time you load it, you jump right back to where you were before (unless you forfeit).

If the Kingdom faction is going to be used, I suggest that abilities be at least mentioned briefly. (I.e. veteran, scout, etc..) Since Corwin gains stats every battle, it may confuse a new player why his attack/health, etc is going up. The "defender" ability should also be addressed as that reduces damage, and new players may not know this.

The three different color of portals was not mentioned either I don't believe (blue, red, and purple)

I think its self explanatory, but there is no mention you need 6 victory portals to win the game (although there is a counter). There should be a mention of how one can win (defeating opponent's army or finding 6 portals) (I'm a bit rushed at the moment so I sped though the tutorial, but I do recall Iona mentioning that the enemy was weak and that I should wipe their army out, but I don't recall her ever mentioning victory conditions)

Goods:
How to summon units
How to use mana points
How pining works/attacks/magic spells are used

Bads:
It does end a bit abrupt, I thought it would explain a lot more.
Doesn't really explain abilities much (such as veteran, fear, etc. I had the hardest time learning this, took a lot of trial and error with flamewing and belphagor to finally understand it)

Compared to the old tutorial, I think this one is a bit better. You jump right into a real battle, instead of a fake one, so players can get used to the game mechanics before hand. The old tutorial had a few points that were more detailed than the new tutorial though (the only one I can think of is the portals explanation).

(I'll edit this later if I spot anything different. I will use color to mark my changes.)

[Chili Chip]

I quit after Iona left me on my own because I didn't want to inadvertently bump up my level so I can't say anything about what happens after that.

After the cataclysm, I'm told to bring my attuner and move my herald. I can also summon units but it doesn't tell me to do so, but Iona describes what I summoned. If I refresh the page Iona temporarily disappears, but then comes back.

Iona tells me that units attack "randomly" but that's misleading because units move by how fast they are. Maybe say "appear to move randomly" or something?

Good job for mentioning auto attack. Two things to potentially mention: you can summon two units on base portal and double clicking moves all the units in a spot. I like it; it's an improvement.

PhoenixRising07

The three different color of portals was not mentioned either I don't believe (blue, red, and purple)

I think its self explanatory, but there is no mention you need 6 victory portals to win the game (although there is a counter). There should be a mention of how one can win (defeating opponent's army or finding 6 portals) (I'm a bit rushed at the moment so I sped though the tutorial, but I do recall Iona mentioning that the enemy was weak and that I should wipe their army out, but I don't recall her ever mentioning victory conditions)

Edit: Yes this. ^

[Silk Kanishk]

Pan! I loved the dialogue ingame. Especially Sir Corwin's which was very much in character. I really hope the campaign will have a similar style of dialogue in game. sad

Panagrammic

- better or worse than the old tutorial?

The new tutorial is fantastic, Pan. Rather than simply explain the game in a blast of text that would be forgotten once people played the game, the tutorial now follows the action explaining things as they happen. Fantastic work! Exactly the kind of tutorial that HOC needed.

Panagrammic

- does it cover the essentials?

Yes, it does.

Panagrammic

- anything we should add and/or remove?

Could you maybe add the description for victory portals after the player finds one? So that they know for sure they've found one or at least a confirmation message of some sorts?

Panagrammic

- did you go "off script" during the tutorial and get into an odd game state?

Nope. Nothing out of the usual happened.

[Shintouyu]

The only thing I find odd is that Mage Orion is playing Flameborn.

[Sagebomb]

I dont really have anything to add, mostly seems pretty straight forward.

Prehaps something about crits and grazes (unless I missed that) since corwin gets so many in this setup.

I too think its weird that you are fighting a human controlling dragons, prehaps a couple lines saying why...since near the end you can summon a light infantry (who mage is right), which is like...wait...a tratior in the mists?

[Spike_Vein]

I like it but it does have flaws. I would say this new tutorial is better.

I like how it explains battle. How it shows pinning. I definitely like how it shows attuning.

I dislike how you have to do certain things to trigger explanations. Like how you have to capture your opponents portal to actually get an explanation on how points still count for your opponent even if you have their portal. Also you have to summon a scout to get details about it. I'd also like an explanation on the properties. New players who haven't read the FAQ on them will get confused.

Overall a better tutorial then the one I remember.

[Grimsbok]

I like how Corwin responds to what Iona is saying during the tutorial, be great to have some other type of campaign or tutorial where Raykle or Death Dealer are speaking.

[gataka]

Better, more to the point.
Now, nitpick:

---

You do say you have to find 6 VPs to win, but you don't explicitly say that they're hidden.
Becomes obvious fast but I still think it's worth mentioning.

Quote:

Now: Victory Portals are the key. Be the first to capture six of them with your army and you will stabilize the land and win.

Maybe: Hidden Victory Portals are the key. Be the first to capture six of them with your army and you will stabilize the land and win.

Alternatively: Victory Portals are the key. Be the first to find and capture six of them with your army and you will stabilize the land and win.

Or: Who's been sleeping in my bed?

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You mention the citadel, currently the only use of the citadel is to differentiate the home portal and that's evident, therefore not worth mentioning.

Doing so just brings attention to it, raising expectations that it'll mean something later, which isn't true, unless I'm missing or forgetting something.

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In the first fight, you can click on the dragon instead of selecting your unit. That throws Iona out of sync a bit.

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Going to echo the need to better explain how portals work. You do say enough is just that the last crucial bit of information is hidden behind a trigger that's not guaranteed to happen. Rig it up.

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There's more to teach. I find the tut is perfectly as it is, nothing major should be added, but you need a way to cover the details, the lobby, advance topics, and such that's better than the info dump forum FAQ xP

Right now your just dumped into the jungle lobby, or so it seems.

When new players get to pick their first army seems like a good time to go into explaining the cards themselves.

Rule of thumb is to teach something at the last possible minute.

---

"What? I glow with some new power."
"That's right, Sir Little Jimmy McHam. It's a little thing called "PUBERTY"

[LeBlaue]

Its ok, the orginal one was pretty "walk you through". I think a mix of both would be best.

[2_twins in a ball]

The new tutorial is better in that it gives Iona, Corwin, and the other units depth in story, even character, as others have said.

From the old tutorial, the categorization of units, portals, mana wells are necessary.
A mention of dual attuner-scout units & distinction between heroes <---> heralds would be helpful too.

In general, the new tutorial, given various outcomes to victory/defeat makes me want to play the tutorial again. I would suggest combining the two, as others have said.

I appreciate that the new tutorial is like a new player's first match, with exp and some essence. An explanation of victory/defeat page would help [other than Iona's ending statement]. yum_puddi

[xx rainbow a v a r i c e-]

I'd have to say I prefer this tutorial to the original one. Everything seemed to be covered, how to win and what not, so new players should be able to get the hang of things pretty easily biggrin

Now to be nit picky, I would LOVE for the opening tutorial to include the especially fun game dynamics of final battles and armageddons, but that's just me wink

The new tutorial has my vote, I love this game!!!!!

[icekoldozy]

I really like it I think its much better. I have only one issue though..Stop bad mouthing the dragons we didnt come to steal we came to test our might.

[ryry Kenny_McGroot ryry]

much better, but could still go into a bit more detail about the different factions (Such as out-of-faction mana costs), essence, XP, and abilities. other than that, well done! 3nodding

[Knight of the Horizon]

Please please please remove the cheating from the dice.. stare

I've been telling people for ages that the AIs never cheat on the dice rolls, but they obviously do in this tutorial... So now I can't say that any more with any certainty. -_-