Very simple. Remove autojoin from the game. Makes it impossible to run mentor squads, because the game is full of empty, leaderless mentorship squads that keep recruiting players. Remove the autojoin and change it for a pop up join option or something. Please RPG, every platoon leader in the game hates this feature. It would make the new player experience much better if they could join dedicated mentor squads instead of any random leaderless squad.
External link →This x1000, I'm actually very surprised this has received the silent treatment from the devs since it's such a major barrier to improving the NPE with such an easy fix. /u/wrel /u/a_sites everyone agrees this hurts the NPE, please consider having it unchecked by default.
everyone agrees this hurts the NPE, please consider having it unchecked by default
Prior to this "everyone agreed" that it would be helpful to have it on. And indeed, it has been more helpful than hurtful. However, the problem with orphaned squads is very real, and we will need to take steps to solve for that.
The current filter is that, new players that log into a game are placed into Mentor squads first, unless none can be found, in which case they're placed in a normal squad. With veterans being willing to help new players with Escalation, it's important that we have a way to get those new players into squads right out the gate.
One of the steps we should take in the future, is that if the mentor leaves the squad, we immediately disband it and place players into a new one. This way squads will stay filled with leaders who are intentionally creating these squads, instead of getting the orphaned, inherited squads you're seeing now.
Thank you for the in depth reply. I absolutely agree that the core problem is orphaned squads and not necessarily having autojoin checked by default.
It's just that escalation will bring in a lot of new players and I feel like the implementation of automatically disbanding orphaned squads will not make it in with the update. Sorry I should have been more clear about this, but when I suggest to have autojoin toggled off be default, it's only as a temporary measure as long as orphaned squads are still prevalent. I personally agree that once orphaned squads are dealt with, it should absolutely be checked by default. I disagree though that currently it is doing more good than harm as a greater proportion of mentor squads are orphaned which means the probability of being placed in an orphaned squad is higher. Though to be fair this is anecdotal evidence, and if you have actual data on the proportions and how they change over time then I would change my position on the topic.
Perhaps a compromise is to have it unchecked be default at least until orphaned squads are auto disbanded and then have it re-enabled.
Again, thank you for the response Wrel I really do appreciate it a lot. I go out of my way to help new players so I hope you can understand why I am so adamant on this topic.
Though to be fair this is anecdotal evidence, and if you have actual data on the proportions and how they change over time then I would change my position on the topic.
This is what it comes down to. This feature resulted in an uptick in average playtimes of new players at launch, and given the renewed interest of veterans to get new players into their squads and start showing them the ropes, it continues to make sense for us to leave this on for now. This problem is totally something we should resolve in the near term though, and I can make sure we look into the feasibility of getting it done with the next content update.
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