Newbies and the accessibility of Planetside 2

[EisenKreutzer]

Please don't start discussing the NDA-breaking video that spawned this thread. This discussion is not about the video, the guy or the NDA.

A recent thread, rightly closed by the mods because it referenced a breach of the NDA, managed to come up with some good points that warrant further discussion.

Specifically about what kind of experience Planetside 2 gives to complete newbies currently, and how that experience can be improved.

SurgeonX posted:

From the dev's perspective, this is actually quite interesting.
Without knowing it, this guy is performing a think aloud usabilty test.

He doesn't know what he's supposed to do.
He doesn't quite get the PvP aspect, and is concerned about where he gets quests from.
Discovers classes by clicking through each one.
He clearly doesn't get that everyone he has seen in the Warpgate is on his side, or he just doesn't care.
He wants to try out all his weapons straight away, even if it means team killing to do so.

Of course, the most pressing feedback should be how to solve the problem of what to do about bell ends who, within their first ten minutes will immediately team-kill, kill-steal and fire at Gal's because they haven't been picked up.

Definitely need a weapon lock in the WG though.

To which I replied:

This guy, not knowing what an NDA is aside, is actually the perfect beta tester. He doesn't know anything about the game or it's mechanics, he has no forehand knowledge about the game, and is in essence a blank slate. Thousands of players just like this guy will hear about the game, download it since it's free, and encounter the exact same issues he is encountering.

If we get lots of guys like this into the beta, the end result will be a smoother, better experience for newbies when the game is launched.

It is clear that currently, the game isn't very accessible to a completely green player. With no background from PS1, and not having followed the development of Planetside 2, a new player gets lost and confused by the way the interface is currently set up, the intro screen, faction selection and the way a new player is first introduced to the game world.

What can be done to remedy this? How could the game best communicate what kind of game it is and what it is about to a complete newbie, in as efficient a manner as possible?