Improvement: Planetside 2-University (think EVE-Uni)

[Panda I]

I'm just going to copy and paste the original thread from the official forums. I've posted it on the official forums and made a reddit post as well, but I hope branching out to PSU doesn't bring this Idea flak for "fishing for attention". I'm not, I simply think this will be a great resource for new players and would like as much input and opinions as possible before this coming Monday.

Any Ideas, Suggestions, Links or otherwise helpful comments are insanely appreciated.

Thanks.

I am currently an experienced Beta player and regular Platoon Lead with T42 (VS) on Connery. As an old EVE player of 2 years, who had quit an amazing 4 times in 6 months starting out, I completely understand and appreciate player-run educational groups such as EVE-Uni. I find that one of the biggest problems currently affecting the game is new player immersion and education (the tutorials are not entirely to blame - you cannot explain everything there is to know about this game, from the get go).

I repeatedly hear from new players in our Public Platoons that they have no idea where to begin and I also read quite frequently on reddit about the same issues, so I decided to try and change this trend and offer what help I can to new players - just as EVE-Uni had done for myself and thousands of others.

What I propose is simple - every Monday (starting next week) fom ~7-9PM Central on Connery VS I will be hosting a Public Platoon only open to characters of Battle Rank 20 or lower (just an idea). I've yet to finalize exactly what will be done in this platoon, but I'm set on starting with 30-60 minutes of basic information (certs, vehicles, resources, lattice, outfits, squad/platoons, classes, the map screen and alerts), around 40 minutes of basic Platoon Ops and I'd like to finish with 15 minutes of open questions about anything.

I'll be talking with other PLs in my outfit as well as any Squad Leads to come and help with the whole thing. Depending on "class" sizes I may have only experienced Squad Leaders, or I may mix squads with new players and experienced outfit members. Again, undecided and completely voluntary.

I understand not very many day or week old players frequent the forums - so I'm asking the community to kindly direct any new players my way. If you have friends interested in joining, or friends who have uninstalled but would like to relearn the ropes, feel free to PM me on these forums or in-game. Better yet, if you've been playing for a month and still don't feel confident that you have a solid understanding of the game, feel free to platoon up as well.

As previously mentioned, this platoon will be hosted on the Vanu Sovereignty empire, Connery server. If there are any players interested, yet are located on a different server or are located on Connery yet are not VS, feel free to create a character to participate, then feel free to delete it afterwards.

I am a PS1 vet and as an MMO exclusive gamer I'd like to try and give back to the community and help any new players interested in starting out. I understand there are outfits on other servers who have (or do), essentially the same thing (training Platoons), although the idea here is not to simply send out invites and throw newbies into the fray. I believe an explanation of the game and all of it's systems should be essential to helping new players find a home here that they understand.

If any experienced Connery players (be it TR, NC, VS) would like to help out (PTS sessions perhaps? RvsB weekly wars between new players?), volunteer and lend some experience it would be greatly appreciated.

Thinking of filming the sessions and uploading to YouTube for further exposure to new players.

P.S: said Platoon will NOT be taking part in any Alerts that occur on the public server. Keeping it simple for now.
P.S.S: this is NOT a recruitment drive for the outfit I'm in. It is unaffiliated completely as of this writing.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks.

The link to the thread is right here.

Brainstorm!