New Player Experience: Tutorial Stage 2

I will be taking the Career agents one at a time and working from top to bottom in the navigation window.

Starting isk: 9,000

Career Agent 1 – Jouvelen System, Anmon Otsi

The first message I receive is an Important Information popup. Nice and simple.

Mission 1, The Swap

Clear the area of hostiles.

Reward 1 x Propulsion Jamming, Bonus 41,000 isk available.

Tutorial, Acceleration Gates

• Screen 1 of 3. Tells me what an Acceleration Gate is and tells me to undock. I learned what an Acceleration gate was in Part 1 so I don’t think this is necessary.
• Screen 2 of 3. Tells me how to warp to the mission. I learned how to do this in Part 1 so this isn’t necessary.
• Screen 3 of 3. Tells me how to activate the Acceleration Gate. I learned this in Part 1 so this isn’t necessary.

I complete the mission easily, though the overview layout if awful as I can only see 1 red cross at the bottom of it due to the customs offices without scrolling down. A tutorial screen mentioning how to learn to target more ships would be great instead of the acceleration gates one we’re given. Perhaps even giving me the skill. Docking back up I receive my rewards and request the next mission.

Mission 2, Angel of Mercy

Fly the Frigate I will be provided with into the pirate base, once the explosive charges are set the mission will complete.

Granted: Condor. Reward: 38,000 isk, Bonus 37,000 isk available

Tutorial, Minimizing Your Losses

• Screen 1 of 6. Tells me that I should fit my ship for the task I need to face.
• Screen 2 of 6. Tells me to read the mission description to determine how to fit my ship. Also tells me that I have to fly the ship I have been given for this mission.
• Screen 3 of 6. Tells me to board the ship I have been given. This is outdated as it refers to the ship hangar in the Neocom which has now been replaced with the inventory, which also impacts on some of the narrative which follows.
• Screen 4 of 6. Tells me to strip the fitting on my ship. This doesn’t make much sense as I only just assembled it and it therefore isn’t fitted.
• Screen 5 of 6. Tells me that it’s always a good idea to check your fitting before you undock. Nice and simple, but I don’t know anyone that does. Goes on to tell me to undock and complete the mission.
• Screen 6 of 6. Directs me to the EVElopedia to find out more.

I warp to the mission and sue the Acceleration Gate. Three red crosses on my overview, nothing to indicate the Control tower is there if you have your camera pointing a different direction. Large Collidable Structures need to be added to the overview, or at least tell me how to. There is also nothing to tell me to approach the aforementioned Control Tower; an Agent conversation popup would be good.

I return to the Station in my Pod and complete the mission to receive my reward.

Mission 3, Your Undivided Attention

Catch the NPC using your Warp Disruptor; do not kill the main target. Other NPC’s may be destroyed.

Granted: Civilian Warp Disruptor. Reward 40,000 isk, Bonus 33,000 isk available.

The NPC tells me that I should get a new ship if I haven’t already. I’ve got my trusty Ibis so use that.

Tutorial, Warp Disruptors and Warp Scramblers

• Screen 1 of 6. Tells me that warp scramblers and disruptors can help to prevent enemies escaping. Tells me that I should have a Warp Disruptor in my hangar, which I do.
• Screen 2 of 6. Tells me to fit the Warp Disruptor to my ship. Upon trying to do so my ibis doesn’t have any free slots as I have one mid slot which has the Shield Booster in it. I am not hold how to unfit a module.
• Screen 3 of 6. Tells me how to activate the module and its range.
• Screen 4 of 6. Tells me about Warp Core Stabilizers and scramble strength, also tells me the range of Warp Scramblers is lower the Disruptors.
• Screen 5 of 6. Tells me to undock and complete the mission.
• Screen 6 of 6. Tells me where to find out more on the EVElopedia.

I undock and head to the mission. Please fix the overview. I Disrupt the Fleeing pirate and get a popup saying leave him alone and he’ll go away. The Agent Conversation window appears and I head back to station where I complete the mission and receive my rewards.

Mission 4, A Friend in Need

Find the missing Agent and repair his vessel.

Granted: Civilian Remote Shield Transporter. Rewards: Shield Emission Systems skillbook, Bonus 19,000 isk available.

Shield Transporters Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 5. Tells me what a Shield Transporter does and that I should find one in my Hangar.
• Screen 2 of 5. Tells me to fit the Shield Transporter to my ship, remember I’m in the Ibis? The Shield Transporter will not fit due to a lack of fitting resources on my Ibis.
• Screen 3 of 5. Tells me how to activate the module and advises caution over range.
• Screen 4 of 5. Tells me to undock and complete the mission.
• Screen 5 of 5. Tells me where to find more information on the EVElopedia

I warp to the mission, approach the Damaged Vessel and activate the Shield Transporter to complete the mission. I head back to station to complete the mission and collect my rewards.

Mission 5, The Stand

Go to the pirate base and make a last stand, destroying at least one enemy ship. I’m given a Condor and told I need to fit it myself using cheap fittings. 

Grants: Condor. Rewards: 49,000 isk, Bonus 45,000 isk available.

Medical Clones Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 5. Tells me that losing ships is inevitable and that once I lose a ship I escape in my Pod. Tells me that NPC’s don’t attack Pods but that players will.
• Screen 2 of 5. Tells me about the skill point limit on Clones and the consequence of not having at un to date Clone if podded. Instructs me to open the Medical window.
• Screen 3 of 5. Tells that once podded I need to buy a new clone. Tells me to upgrade my Clone, whilst I appreciate that this is difficult to explain without doing so it isn’t necessary as the base “free” clone covers up to 900,000 skill points. I would also change the default sort order so that the lower skill point Clones appear first so we don’t need to scroll down. Tells me that I can change the location of my Clone and tells me about station lockouts.
• Screen 4 of 5. Tells me that I’m safe against skill point loss if podded and that if I get podded I should follow this process to update my Clone.
• Screen 5 of 5. Points me to the EVElopedia article where I can find more information on skills.

Insuring Your Ships Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 5. Tells me that all ships have a 40% default insurance pay out. Tells me I should upgrade my insurance if I’m undertaking a high risk activity. Perhaps it would be good to mention that it is recommended to fly with maximum insurance at all times?
• Screen 2 of 5. Tells me to select the ship I wish to insure from my hangar.
• Screen 3 of 5. Tells me to open the insurance window.
• Screen 4 of 5. Tells me to select the ship I want to insure and click the insure button, reading then accepting the terms of insurance. Goes on to tell me about the range of covers available including the duration of insurance being 12 weeks.
• Screen 5 of 5. Directs me to the EVElopedia article on insurance.

Note: for this mission I have the Condor and can  only use blasters as I have no skills trained other than Shield Operation. This ship has one turret slot, two launchers and I have not been told anything about Launchers. I manage to kill the enemy ship using my Condor with one Blaster (I stripped my Ibis). I will admit to being surprised at this!

I head back to the station to complete the mission and receive my rewards.

Mission 6, Don’t Look Back

Use your Afterburner to reach a location within the mission.

Granted: Civilian Afterburner. Reward: Light Missiles Skillbook, Bonus 22,000 isk available.

Afterburners Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 5. Tells me that Afterburners are modules that increase speed and cost capacitor to use. Tells me that I have been given a Civilian Afterburner.
• Screen 2 of 5. Tells me to fit it to my ship, now I’m currently in my Pod after my Condor got exploded so maybe tell me to board a ship. My only other ship is the Ibis so that’s what I use.
• Screen 3 of 5. Tells me how to activate the Afterburner and that the speed boost persist while it is active.
• Screen 4 of 5. Introduces the Microwarpdrive as something that is faster but more capacitor consuming than the Afterburner.
• Screen 5 of 5. Directs me to the EVElopedia for more information on fittings.

I head to the mission in my Ibis fitted only with my Civilian Afterburner fitted.  I get the following message “Alright, once you enter the next area, you should see an Asteroid Station. Head to that as quickly as you can. The area surrounding it will be dangerous, but once you make it to the station itself, you will be safe.” I make it to the Station with 9% armour. It is also worthy of note that the Asteroid Station does not appear on the Overview.

Mission 7, Weapon of Choice

Granted: Civilian Light Missile Launcher. Reward: 22,000 isk, Bonus 24,000 isk available.

Racial Weapons: Missiles, Tutorial

1. Screen 1 of 5. Tells me that there are a variety of Missile Launchers available and that there are short and long range varieties, that Launchers use no Capacitor but that damage is delayed by flight time. Awards me 100 Civilian Scourge Light Missiles.
2. Screen 2 of 5. Tells me that missiles can do every different damage type. Tells me how to load missiles.
3. Screen 3 of 5. Tells me that a target’s speed and size impact upon missile damage and that both Target Painters and Stasis Webifiers assist with missile damage.
4. Screen 4 of 5. Tells me that different ships allow different weapon system layouts. Tells me to check my ships information and match weapon types so that they take advantage of bonused weapon systems.
5. Screen 5 of 5. Directs me to the EVElopedia for more information on fittings and missiles.

NOTE: I only have an Ibis and I can’t fit my Launcher to it. I haven’t been told how to buy a new ship! I’m forced to go outside of tutorial imparted knowledge and buy a Condor from the market.

I fit my Launcher to my newly bought Condor and set off. I complete the mission using two missiles and return to station to complete the mission and collect my rewards. 

Mission 8, The Pacifist

Acquire 10 hostages by following the Concord Commanders instructions.

Reward: 18,000 isk. Bonus 14,000 isk available.

Damage Types Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 6. Tells me that there are four different damage types.
• Screen 2 of 6. Tells me how resistances work.
• Screen 3 of 6. Tells me that I can fit hardeners to raise resists on both shields and also on armour.
• Screen 4 of 6. Tells me about the different weapons systems and the damage types which they can deal.
• Screen 5 of 6. Tells me that trial and error can inform the optimal damage type to use against enemies but also that the wrong type will take them down but take longer and use more ammunition.
• Screen 6 of 6. Refers me to the EVElopedia on damage types.

I warp to the mission and receive a message when I approach the acceleration gate:

“Welcome to the fray, egger.

I've ordered the fleet to hold its ground for the time being, but we're going to send you in to recover the hostages shortly. Move out to the next area where the pirates are. They're expecting a negotiator, but we're sending you instead.

You are not to engage unless I give the order. We need to maintain the appearance of peaceful negotiation until the safety of the hostages can be confirmed.“

After a few moments I’m told to rescue the hostages from the Prison Facility. With the hostages safely aboard I return to base. I complete the mission and receive my rewards.

Mission 9, Glue

Use a Stasis Webifier to interrogate the pirate.

Granted: Civilian Stasis Webifier. Rewards: Destroyers skillbook, Bonus 19,000 isk available.

Stasis Webifiers Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 5. Tells me that the web will slow the enemy down but not prevent them from warping. The tutorial also grants me a web so I now have two!
• Screen 2 of 5. Tells me to fit the web to my ship.
• Screen 3 of 5. Tells me how to activate the module and tells me its range.
• Screen 4 of 5. Tells me to undock and complete the mission.
• Screen 5 of 5. Refers me to the EVElopedia on fitting and electronic warfare.

I warp to the mission web the pirate to complete the mission before returning to the station to complete the mission and receive my rewards.

Mission 10, The Exam

Kill the terrorist leader.

Granted: Cormorant. Reward: Rapid Firing skillbook, Bonus 121,000 isk available.

By the time I got to do this I’d trained Destroyers to skill level 1 so I used the Cormorant to attempt the mission, please do bear in mind though that theoretically I didn’t know how to buy fittings for my ship. I fit 7 x 75mm Railguns, Civilian Launcher, 2 x webs and a Small Shield Booster as this is what was available off the market in station. I also insure my Cormorant at maximum level.

Combat Tactics Tutorial

• Screen 1 of 6. Tells me that my abilities are about to be tested and that I’ll be webbed and scrambled. Gives me suggestions on different targeting strategies and tells me about blitzing.
• Screen 2 of 6. Suggest the use of an Afterburner and tells me of some of the advantages of using speed to dictate engagements and about kiting.
• Screen 3 of 6. Tells me of speed tanking and transversal velocity and briefly how it works.
• Screen 4 of 6. Continues on the subject of transversal velocity by telling me how to close range and take less damage. Reminds me also that my speed will also affect how well my weapons track their targets.
• Screen 5 of 6. Tells me about aligning out, for worst case scenarios. Tells me some about how a ship gets into warp and that being pre-aligned at full speed will enable instant warp out when pre-aligned. Reminds me that being warp scrambled will prevent me warping.
• Screen 6 of 6. Tells me that more information on combat tactics can be found on the EVElopedia.

I complete the mission with 25% cap remaining and just over half shields. I loot the wreck of the terrorist and then head back to station where I complete the mission and receive my rewards.

Suggestions

• All the Career Agents say that they’re Event - Distribution Agents, Can this be changed so that you can tell which career path they relate to?
• Please sort the overview.
• Acceleration Gates Tutorial is not necessary. Can be removed from being shown at the acceptance of “The Swap” mission. Replace this with a tutorial about the max number of targets and award the Targeting skill, suggesting that I train t to level 1.
• Minimizing our Losses Tutorial. Alter the wording on screen 3 of 6 so that it no longer refers to the ship hangar but to the Inventory. Then perhaps use the text “Once the Inventory is open. Left click the Ship Hangar and right click the ship and select assemble ship, and then make active from the contextual menu.”
• Angel of Mercy Mission. Overview problems again. On warp into the deadspace pocket the control tower is not on my overview, please add it to the overview. Also a conversation popup from the Agent would be great to tell me that I need to approach the tower to destroy it.
• Warp Disruptors and Warp Scramblers Tutorial. At screen 2 of 6 I’m instructed to fit the Disruptor but have no free slots available. You need to tell me how to unfit a module to make space. Remember I’m only in an Ibis as I’ve not been taught anything about how to buy a ship. There needs to be tutorials added to tell me how to buy a Ship and also how to unfit modules. Thus far you’ve told me how to strip a fitting but that was on an unfitted ship.
• Shield Transporters Tutorial. Screen 2 of 5 tells me to fit the Civilian Shield Transporter; however it doesn’t fit on my Ibis which has 1 gun and the Disruptor fitted. Now would be a good time to tell me about Powergrid and CPU. I unfit the Civilian Warp Disruptor to continue.
• Mission 5, The Stand. You haven’t told me how to buy things to fit my ship and I need to do so for this mission.
• Medical Clones Tutorial, screen 3 of 5. Reverse the Clone Upgrade sort order.
• Afterburners Tutorial, screen 2 of 5. I would add a line telling me to board a ship as my last one got exploded on the previous mission.
• Mission 6, Don’t Look Back. Add the Asteroid Station to the overview. The reward is the Light Missiles skillbook, which I can’t train as I don’t have Missile Launcher Operation trained to 2 and you haven’t told me where to get skillbooks from.
• Mission 7, Weapon of Choice. I cannot fit the provided Civilian Missile Launcher to my Ibis.
• Stasis Webifiers Tutorial screen 1 of 5. I’m awarded a Civilian Stasis Webifier but the Glue mission I had just accepted already awarded me one.

Positives

• Racial Weapons Tutorial good.
• Damage Types Tutorial good.
• Combat Tactics Tutorial well put together.

Summary

So with the first Career Agent done there are a few points which I find at the forefront of my mind:

• The Overview is a problem and needs addressing.
• The order which the Career Agents are done does seem important, I would not have known about using the market to buy ships and modules.
• Many assumptions have been made on what I will know when I do this chain, that needs to be considered. Perhaps this Career Agent should not be available until Cash Flow for Capsuleers is completed (not that I theoretically have yet)

New Player Experience: Tutorial Stage 1

Caution, I doubt many will find this interesting. One of the CCP dev’s mentioned on Twitter that they’d be interested in feedback on the current NPE so I present it here. Detail is first followed by suggested improvements and any positives I found. I set up a brand new trial account to do this. This post is also, very long!

So on my first entry into the game after creating the character I’m sent into my captain’s quarters. This is an environ which I am not familiar with as on my system the captains quarters puts too much strain on my PC/laptop. Swiftly then I click to Enter my ship hangar.

In my ship hangar then the first thing that comes to my notice is the constellation window in the bottom left corner. I have never, ever used this and am not sure why it’s opened by default. I right click it and close it.

Aura shows her first four tutorial windows to me in the bottom right and as someone colour blind I find the yellow and white on black very easy to read. I would like to see the window in the centre of the screen though. At stage 4/4 of this first tutorial I’m told that my next tutorial will be about moving around my Captains Quarters, remember I’m not in it anymore so I feel that this shouldn’t appear at this time. I quickly next, next through the two screens.

Tutorial 03, Skills (Caldari / Minmatar)

• On screen 1 of 6 I’m told I’m being given the Repair Systems skillbook. I’ve actually been given the Shield Operation skillbook and that is what shows in the display.
• Screen 2 of 6 I’m instructed to open the “items hangar”, whilst only a small grammatical point it should be the “item hangar”.
• On screen 3 of 6 I open my character sheet and am told to open my Character Sheet and then “skill queue”. At this stage to avoid duplication of stage 4 of 6 I would say to leave this at open your Character Sheet.
• Screen 4 of 6 makes sense with the amendment suggested to 3 of 6.
• Screen 5 of 6 tells us to drag the skill from our hangar into our skill queue; however it doesn’t tell us how to open it beforehand so now’s the time. Also, the screenshot tells me to add shield operation into the skill queue but the graphic shows me Repair Systems.
• Screen 6 of 6 simply tells us to move on once we’ve started training a skill. No problem there then.

Tutorial 04, The Pilot Certification Course

• Screen 1 of 2, probably worth mentioning that the agent can also be interacted with by double click.
• Screen 2 of 2, I would like to see mention of actually having to read through the mission text prior to pressing the accept button.

Mission 1: Covering the Basics

Fly to the location in space, retrieve your ship, and use it to carry back an item from a local Caldari Cargo Rig.

·        Seems nice and straightforward at the outset.

Tutorial 05, The Ship Hangar Balcony

Single page tutorial. Again, this refers to the fact that I’m in the Captains Quarters, which as you’ll recall I’m not. Thus this isn’t relevant to me.

Tutorial 06, Undocking From the Hangar

Single page tutorial. Wants me to go to a balcony. As I’m in the hangar and not the Captains Quarters it actually gets stuck and I can’t advance using the next button. As a new player I would have to guess at how to undock.

On undocking the station I find page two of the tutorial which explains nice and clearly how to warp to the mission location. 

Tutorial 7, Camera Movement

• Screen 1 of 3, explains nice and clearly how to move the camera around your ship.
• Screen 2 of 3, explains nice and clearly how to zoom the camera in and out.
• Screen 3 of 3, explains nice and clearly how to sue the “Free Look” function.

Tutorial 8, Basic Commands

• Screen 1 of 2, tells me to select the Acceleration Gate. As a new player how do I know what an acceleration gate is? The Acceleration gate on screen is called “Targeted Acceleration Gate”, I’ve no idea why.
• Screen 2 of 2, tells me how to activate the gate. Other than the naming description discrepancy above this is nice and clear.

Tutorial 9, Ship Movement

• Screen 1 of 5, tells me to board my ship and shows me a graphic of what I should see on my overview. The overview on my screen doesn’t even show the Ibis as, due to it not being sorted by distance it’s off the end of the page to me and I would have to scroll down to see it. There is also far more showing on my overview than on the graphic, largely due to Customs Offices. If they didn’t show up then my Ibis would also be visible.
• Screen 2 of 5, tells me about the HUD (Heads up Display). Overall I was pleased with the information presented, I only felt that it could be mentioned that shields naturally recharge themselves slowly in a similar vein to the capacitor.
• Screen 3 of 5, nice description of the selected items panel. Again the naming issue of the Acceleration Gate comes up when compared to the Targeted Acceleration Gate shown on screen; however the graphic matches even if the text doesn’t.
• Screen 4 of 5, Tells me to approach the “smaller structure”, the graphic below it depicts an Amarr Cargo Rig whilst I am presented with a Caldari Cargo Rig. I would suggest that instead of describing it as a “smaller structure” describe it as a “Cargo Rig”.
• Screen 5 of 5 was skipped and it jumped straight to Tutorial 10. I found the tutorial through the F12 menu and looking at it, it’s about manual piloting. Not sure if this would be the right place for this and that therefore is why it is skipped. If it’s not relevant at this point then it should be removed and this altered to a 4 screen tutorial stage, otherwise consider moving manual piloting to earlier on in this tutorial stage.

Tutorial 10, Looting

• Screen 1 of 2. Nice and clear.
• Screen 2 of 2. We are given this wall of text:
• “You are now looking at your ship's cargo hold in your Inventory Index. The cargo hold of the ship you intend to loot is also viewable from here. To loot an item, simply drag and drop it onto your active ship at the top of the Index. You may also press "Loot All" to move everything to your ship's cargo and remove that ship from the index at the same time.”
• I think it could be simplified thus:
• “You are now looking at your ship’s cargo hold. The cargo hold of the ship/structure you intend to loot is also viewable from here. To loot an item, select the ship/structure you wish to loot then drag and drop it into your active ship which will be shown at the top of the left hand window. You may also press "Loot All" to move everything to your ship's cargo and remove that ship from the index at the same time.”

Tutorial 11, Mission 1 Complete

• Screen 1 of 2. It tells us to return to station. To do so I must select the station on the overview. It would help if it told me what the station looked like so that I know it was the white square.
• Behind the tutorial window the Agent Conversation window had appeared.
• Screen 2 of 2. Again this could tell me that I can interact with the agent through double click. Also, as the agent conversation appeared when I completed the mission and I was not told to close it conversing with the agent again doesn’t actually do anything as the window is already on my screen.

Tutorial 12, Your Next Mission

Single screen tutorial, tells me to interact with the agent again, though the agent conversation window is still open.

Mission 2, Combat Basics

Destroy the fuel depot, and then destroy the pirates in the next area.

Tutorial 13, Fitting Your Ship (Caldari)

• Screen 1 of 3. Tells to open the fitting window, nice and clear. The second paragraph should probably be altered removing “Every station offers” and replacing it with “Stations offer” as not every station has repair facilities.
• Screen 2 of 3. I am given a Light Electron Blaster and a Small Shield Booster.
• Screen 3 of 3. I am told to drag and drop these modules into the fitting window to fit them to my ship. Nice and simple.

Tutorial 14, Undocking Instantly

• Screen 1 of 2, I am told to undock. Nice and simple.
• Screen 2 of 2, I am told to warp to my second mission. Again nice and simple.

Tutorial 15, Weapons: Hybrids

• Screen 1 of 3. Again the graphic doesn’t match, it shows a laser and multifrequency s not my blaster and antimatter charge s. Also, there should be a minor text change to from Antimatter S to Antimatter Charge S.
• Screen 2 of 3. Tells me a little about the ammunition and introduces me to how ammo type links to damage output.
• Screen 3 of 3. Instructs me to use the Acceleration Gate, again we have a Targeted Acceleration Gate so there is a text discrepancy.

Tutorial 16, Target Practice

• Screen 1 of 2. Destroy the Fuel Depot. The Fuel Depot doesn’t show on my overview. On selecting it I am told to click the “target” button and no the “Lock Target” button. There is no graphic for this as there have been for previous instructions like this. I do as instructed and shoot the Depot, which explodes and takes out a chunk of shields
• Screen 2 of 2. Tells me I’ve taken shield damage and instructs me to use my defensive module to repair it. It would be useful here to explain that the defensive module should be deactivated once the damage has been repaired thus preventing me from capping out. I am then told to use the Acceleration Gate to move to the next area.

Tutorial 17, Basic Combat

• Screen 1 of 4. I am told to find the red crosshair on the overview. My overview is still cluttered with Customs Offices and I cannot actually see the ship on the overview without scrolling down.
• Screen 2 of 4. Tells me how to lock an enemy ship. Nice and simple.
• Screen 3 of 4. Tells me to shoot then approach my target. Whilst ok, it works it leaves me stationary after the kill and taking more damage than I need to.
• Screen 4 of 4. Tells me to activate the defensive module to repair any damage. Nice and simple.

Tutorial 18, Mission 2 Complete

• Screen 1 of 2. Tells me to dock at the station. Nice and simple as long as I know what a station is as highlighted previously.
• Screen 2 of 2. Tells me to talk to the Agent and complete the mission. Pretty straightforward.

Mission 3, The Academy

Acquire Pilot Certification Documents from another system and deliver to the Agent.

Tutorial 19, Interstellar Travel

• Screen 1 of 6. Tells me how to Set Destination. The graphic shown is again Amarrian and not for the system I’m in.
• Screen 2 of 6. Tells me a little about stargates and my destination stargate being highlighted yellow. Nice and simple.
• Screen 3 of 6. Tells me to undock. Nice and simple.
• Screen 4 of 6. Tells me to warp to the gate at 0m. Nice and simple.
• Screen 5 of 6. Tells me to jump using the gate. Nice and simple.
• Screen 6 of 6. Tells me to warp to my mission location.

Tutorial 20, Inside the Academy

• Screen 1 of 3. Tells me to go and retrieve my Pilots Certification Documents from the Academy Office. They’re way down on my overview under 5 stargates and 5 stations but they’re there.
• Screen 2 of 3. Tells me how to use the Look At function. It would again be helpful to have a graphic here to show which the Look At button is. In addition only 1 ship shows on my overview without scrolling down. It would be helpful to tell us how to cancel the look at function too.
• Screen 3 of 3. Tells me about the Show Info function at a glance. Subsequently I am told to return to Aura to complete basic training.

Tutorial 21, The Mission Journal

• Screen 1 of 3. Tells me to open the Journal and read details of my current mission. Nice and simple.
• Screen 2 of 3. Tells me to set destination back to the system I came from using the information on in the window which appeared. The graphic shown is again Amarr and is also misleading as it implies that I should choose the destination which is displayed above “Reward” which is in actual fact the objective system, the one I am currently in.
• Screen 3 of 3. Tells me to warp to the stargate, jump and then dock up and speak with the Agent. Nice and simple.

Tutorial 22, Further Training

Single screen tutorial. Tells me that I’ve completed basic training and will be sent to other nearby Agents for more advanced training courses.

Mission 4, Moving Onwards

Transport Clearance Papers to another system.

Tutorial 23, Moving Onwards

• Screen 1 of 3. Tells me about navigating multiple jumps. Graphic is Amarrian and little misleading but we’re used to that now. I also feel that this text “Remember that any items you've acquired so far will remain in this system unless you take them with you.“ should be highlighted.
• Screen 2 of 3. Tells me how to complete the mission once I arrive at the destination. Tells me to put the item in my Cargo Hold. This was a little misleading as I still had the Clearance Papers from an earlier mission.
• Screen 3 of 3. Tells me about my stargates being highlighted yellow and also gives me brief detail on how Autopilot works.

Tutorial 24, Career Agents

• Screen 1 of 2. Tells me I’ve arrived and that I should see the Career Agents in the station panel.
• Screen 2 of 2. Tells me that a variety of mission types are on offer and they can be done in any order.

TO BE CONTINUED...............

Suggestions Thus Far

• Do not open the constellation window by default.
• Relocate Aura tutorial windows to the centre of the screen as default, players still able to move them when desired.
• Make the tutorial on navigating the Captains Quarters appear only when in Captains Quarters.
• Tutorial 3 screen 1 of 6. Told I’m being given Repair Systems, actually given Shield Operation.
• Tutorial 3 screen 2 of 6. Grammatical change “items hangar” to “item hangar”.
• Tutorial 3 screen 3 of 6. Change “Open your Character Sheet and proceed to open your skill queue. It is highlighted now.” To “Open your Character Sheet. It is highlighted now.”
• Tutorial 3 screen 5 of 6: 
• Needs to tell us how to open the skill training queue. I know there’s a white balloon that points to it, but something in the text to lead us to it would be helpful.
• Alter the graphic to show Shield Operation and not Repair Systems.
• Tutorial 4 screen 1 of 2. Mention that agent interaction can also be done via double click.
• Tutorial 4 screen 2 of 2. Insert a short paragraph between the two present indicating that the mission offered should be read through prior to hitting accept.
• Mission 1. I would highlight in the mission narrative the need to pick up the Clearance Documents.
• Tutorial 5 screen 1 of 1. As mentioned previously please detect whether the character is in the Captains Quarters and adjust the tutorial popups accordingly.
• Tutorial 6. As above, wants me to go to the balcony at the end of the walkway. Not relevant. Also at this point the tutorial will not let me advance.
• Tutorial 8 screen 1 of 2.
• Show the icon for the Acceleration Gate in the tutorial window so I know what to click on.
• The actual Acceleration Gate description in space is Targeted Acceleration Gate, it should either be called Acceleration Gate or the tutorial modified to give it the correct name as it appears in space.
• Tutorial 9 screen 1 of 5.
• Sort the overview by distance, nearest to furthest.
• Remove Customs Offices from the overview to remove clutter.
• Tutorial 9 screen 2 of 5. Expand the text next to Shields to mention that they naturally recharge slowly by themselves.
• Tutorial 9 screen 3 of 5. Adjust the text or Acceleration Gate name so that they match.
• Tutorial 9 screen 4 of 5. Adjust the description to change “smaller structure” to “Cargo Rig”. If it is possible to customise this by faction so that it said “Caldari Cargo Rig” then all the better.
• Tutorial 9 screen 5 of 5. My tutorial skipped straight to Tutorial 10 without showing this one. It’s about manual piloting so either needs to be removed and this made a 4 screen tutorial or the subject which this is about (manual piloting) moved to earlier in this tutorial.
• Tutorial 10 screen 2 of 2. Replace second paragraph with “You are now looking at your ship’s cargo hold. The cargo hold of the ship/structure you intend to loot is also viewable from here. To loot an item, select the ship/structure you wish to loot then drag and drop it into your active ship which will be shown at the top of the left hand window. You may also press "Loot All" to move everything to your ship's cargo and remove that ship from the index at the same time.”
• Tutorial 11 screen 1 of 2. Show me the icon for a station in the tutorial window.
• Tutorial 11 screen 2 of 2. Tell me that I can interact with the agent using double click.
• Tutorial 13 screen 1 of 3. The second paragraph should probably be altered removing “Every station offers” and replacing it with “Stations offer” as not every station has repair facilities.
• Tutorial 15 screen 1 of 3. Amend the graphic so that it shows a blaster loading antimatter ammo instead of a laser loading a crystal. Also amend where it says “select antimatter s” to “select Antimatter Charge S”.
• Tutorial 15 screen 3 of 3. Again either change the instruction to use the Targeted Acceleration Gate or change the name of the Acceleration Gate.
• Tutorial 16 screen 1 of 2.
• Add Large Collidable Structures to the default overview.
• Change “click on the target button.” To click on the Lock Target button.”
• Add a graphic showing the correct icon to press.
• Tutorial 16 screen 2 of 2. I would suggest altering paragraph 2 to something along the lines of “Use the defensive module you fitted to repair the damage, deactivating the module once the damage has been repaired. Deactivating the module avoids unnecessarily depleting the Capacitor”
• Tutorial 17 screen 1 of 4. Please organise the overview differently so that I can actually find the ship without scrolling.
• Tutorial 18 screen 3 of 4, Tells me to shoot and then approach target. This is not optimal for mitigating incoming damage so how about suggestion orbit instead?
• Tutorial 19 screen 1 of 4. Alter the graphic to be specific to the faction involved if possible as I was shown an Amarr graphic and not Caldari. I appreciate that this may not be possible.
• Tutorial 20 screen 2 of 3.
• Add a graphic showing the Look At button.
• The default overview also only shows me 1 ship as the rest would have to be scrolled down to.
• Tells us how to cancel the Look At function.
• Tutorial 21 screen 2 of 3. I should be instructed to Set Destination to the Drop-Off System and given an appropriate graphic.
• Tutorial 23 screen 1 of 3.
• Graphic is misleading as it shows an Amarr and not Caldari system.
• Highlight this “Remember that any items you've acquired so far will remain in this system unless you take them with you.” Text.
• Tutorial 23 screen 2 of 3. I still had Clearance Papers from an earlier mission, I would like to see this item consumed or destroyed in some way to avoid confusion.

Positives

• Colour use on Aura windows good from a colour blindness and clarity perspective.
• Tutorial 07, Camera Movement I found very clear and easy to understand.
• Tutorial 14, Undocking Instantly I found very clear and easy to understand.

Not so many positives there and that’s only the basic tutorials done. Over the course of the next week or two I’ll share my experience of each of the five Career Agent chains.

I bare no malice towards CCP in this exercise, I'm hoping that I can contribute to making the NPE a more streamlined one without re-inventing the wheel. Sure I'll have a few ideas at the end of this process but for the the time being this is about improving quality and removing annoyances.