While there are many good ideas and suggestions in this thread, i think it got a bit sidetracked by the "rating" question.

I'd like to return to the initial point: what improvements could bring down the current rate of 98-99% new players leaving after their first or first few PvP games?

I think most - if not all - new players joining expect
* an online version of the risk [board] game
* turn-based, in real-time (not multi day!)
* on a compact template
* with short game time [5 to max. 10 minutes; not half an hour or even longer]

What frustrates new players (and also intermediate, casual players) and makes them leave are the follwing factors:
1. no game available immediately when they want to play [= definitely less than 1 minute, ideally less than 10 seconds]
2. losing all or almost all of their first few games due to (much) more experienced/OP opponents (matchmaking) and/or due to subpar start combo [SEAD/auto distribution] or pick distribution [SE1W]
3. total confusion when they find themselves all of a sudden in multi-day games and/or on bigger / more complex / different game mechanics - anything like commanders, bombs, commerce, 2v2 instead 1v1, etc. [auto-enable]

Any improvemements on these three issues makes game more enjoyable to new/casual players and will immediately and dramatically increase retention rate.

In order to not further overload this thread, i open a new one with my suggestions for improvements - totally focused only on the 3 issues above.

https://www.warzone.com/Forum/683266-retain-more-new-casual-players

Edited 3/29/2023 09:31:37

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 (this thread)

qm games are the most important game type for new(ish) and many casual players . I don't think many create their own games before reaching L20 at the minimum. If you don't have a network of friends/other players and are not in a (decent) clan yet, qm SEAD is your only chance to quickly get a game match (within 1 minute).

Edited 3/29/2023 10:08:33

No, it is not. The amount of open games varies thoughout the day. You aslo do not need to be in a clan to have fun with playing at this site. QM is really limited at the beginning too and it could be quite boring to only play at a few maps with forced settings

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. And if there is a pattern of giving wins to eachother, these people/clans should be punished and ultimately removed from Clan Wars

Since it has been mentioned open games can be quite overwhelming for new players, how about an option to join them through Quickmatch? Obviously, these would not be on set templates, but then players could search for games based on parameters (for instance, a game with no more than x players, or with local deployment enabled) and they would show up, or they could maybe automatically be invited to games which meet their criteria through the "invite me to multi-day games" checkmark (perhaps up to a specified limit of games they are already in, that would be a good option to add alongside the "invite me to x matches at a time" option). Overall, I think that the game could benefit from having those options (quickmatch and open games) to be more intertwined, so that it's easier to access one from the other. Perhaps open games could also have a "quickmatch" section (hideable), where you can just queue for a game on one of the templates you have unlocked, not entirely dissimilar to the 1v1 auto game, since I feel like some players who have played pre-QM might not be aware of its existence, or use it a lot. Could also help with templates which are larger than 2 people, since it could show "x people queued for that template", and it would help fill them out since in open games, people tend to join games faster if they already are filled up enough that they won't take forever to start. But, coming back onto the idea of making open games accessible from quickmatch, i think it would help players who perhaps only play quickmatch to get into the open games scene as well, since they are perhaps unaware it's a thing, or too overwhelmed to join.

It would be great when Quickmatch games would be shown at the open games tab, then you could join the Quickmatch games you like more easily and see the opponents beforehand. Then you could avoid the too strong players also much easier. And it would work for larger games with more people too. Although this could also be misused by cartain players

Edited 3/29/2023 11:25:31

What vena just said is quite a cool idea actually, as an addition/alternative to a random game

I don't think it's the good idea to show the players for those matches, vena, since quickmatch is rated and therefore would be abused like you said. I'd only show how many players are queued, similar as for CW.

You could create a crossing point of open games with QM. For example, when you create a game and select a template from the "QM templates" list, you could be given the checkbox "make the game a QM"

It could be abused by farming points by only playing your own alts, but that behaviour should be easily bannable. Any other advantage from this should be compensated by the rating system, if it was a good one. For example, on lichess you have the option to play open ranked games with a visible opponent, which works just fine.

That would actually be a good idea in terms of wanting to play on a specific template, since the QM template list always has to be modified whenever you want to be sure you get or don't get a specific template from the list (another thing that could be added is saved template presets, to decide what you do or don't want to play or a given day)

I believe Fizzer said the changing list of templates for QM thing will be fixed in the next update, or did I dream this?

Edited 3/29/2023 11:29:55

What does that mean exactly?

Looks like cool new ideas emerged, don't mind me if I make my own commentaries on them :P

@NONO
1. no game available immediately when they want to play [= definitely less than 1 minute, ideally less than 10 seconds]

- Yeah, that's why QM should be improved. Improvements can be made through;

• Increasing the emphasis on QM and decreasing the emphasis on Open Games
  
• Making QM's not effecting WR
  
• New original templates (i.e. Diplo template, Players vs AIs etc.)
  
• Terminating auto-changing template settings
  
• Tutorials for QM templates
  
• Bonus points by participating[ in QM (for level-up)
  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. losing all or almost all of their first few games due to (much) more experienced/OP opponents

- Again, this problem can be mitigated with QM, through;

• Increasing the emphasis on QM and decreasing the emphasis on Open Games
  
• Improving the player ratings & matchmaking
  
• Focusing on Auto Distribution & Small Maps on early templates (already done, I believe)
  
• Focusing on Diplo on early templates (diplo is not about wining, its about having a good time)
  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. total confusion when they find themselves all of a sudden in [...] commanders, bombs, commerce, 2v2 instead 1v1, etc.

- This can also be eliminated with QM, through;

• Increasing the emphasis on QM and decreasing the emphasis on Open Games
  
• Terminating auto-changing template settings
  
• Tutorials for QM templates

---

@vena
Global chat and forum are really nice to ask for help.

- Absolutely! We (the experienced players) are probably the greatest help new players can ever get. Since this game has a great emphasis on winning (WR, Ratings, Levels determined by wins etc.), I thought community would be too edgy and stayed away from it for years. After the initial tutorial game, the new player should be forced to choose a clan to enter from the "Join a Clan" page (they can leave whenever they want). I remember a game doing this, and it helped me learn the game and the community instantly. Moreover, we can create some clans, dedicated to teach new players how to play the game

It would be great when Quickmatch games would be shown at the open games tab

- As waffle 2.0 said, if this happens, good players can find bad players in QM (through open games) and intervene their games. This is an incredibly dangerous idea which can be exploited easily (and its not as "easily bannable" as alexclusive states, what if I simply click on any game I see and people happen to be worse than me. This would create unnecessary confusion).

- However as alexclusive stated, opposite of this would be nice. Which is; when creating an Open Game (identical to a QM template), a checkbox can appear that says "include QM players" (only if created game is 1v1). When clicked, game can search QM players with same/similar to your ratings in addition to people, joining from Open Games.

---

@waffle 2.0
open games can be quite overwhelming for new players, how about an option to join them through Quickmatch?

- Your suggestion sounds like Open Games but with a better filtration system. It sounds amazing and it shouldn't be very hard to implement but I wouldn't wanna see it in QM for the sake of simplicity. I would prefer seeing some popular diplo games as a template on QM and wanna see this "detailed filtration system", implemented on Open Games

Players should not be forced into a clan. Same for forcing certain games to players. When they do not like that, the chance is much greater that they leave.

A page with some helpful information and tips could work, with links to certain subjects. Here could be the tutorials shown and lots of other helpful information and tips. Information of players that likely help new players could be added too.

That's much easier than changing half of this site. and it does not to be done by Fizzer himself :) Maybe only provide a linke where the information could be found.

Edited 3/29/2023 15:01:48

yes he did @stef

@Norman:

IMO Warzone has too many features which are holding it back from becoming a bigger success. If I don't grasp an online browser game within the first, let's say 1 minute, I'm gone.

I completely agree; and I think the Single Player does a good job at doing this. I still think there needs to be a far-better tutorial that explains aspects of the game in more depth. The tutorial should be multiple levels and many different scenarios that show an efficient way to play. I think there should also be just a better explanation of the game's features - I don't think there is anything in the Tutorial that mentions Single Player and Multi Player or how to create games and stuff.

Better AI's in general would help to improve both singleplayer and multiplayer.

@Benjamin628

Looks like you're still on the page 1, we already talked about these on page 3 and 6. You can directly jump to the middle of the page 6, there should be an executive summary there

Edited 3/29/2023 19:10:16