Lindonius, on 18 December 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:
I think it's too late though. Thinking about demographics, non-battlech fans.....There were quite a number of them around during closed beta who just liked stompy robots = gone. Casual BT fans, people aware of the franchise, probably played the previous games but not really hung up on the IP = gone. Islanders, big BT fans who have stopped supporting the game due to PGI's development issues and awful community management = these are the ones that might come back if PGI really do pull their collective fingers out. And finally we have the obsessive hardcore fans, who will lap up anything with the BT label on it, regardless of quality. These are the guys who have kept this game alive so far, but they're not enough to maintain it forever.
So the Islanders might come back but that's it. The quality of the product isn't good enough yet to float on steam if they want new players, and I don't think the hardcore Gold's and the trickle of returnees will be enough to keep it alive.
If they go to steam before they dramatically improve the new player experience and the UI, then going to steam will do nothing for player numbers. This game has a steep enough learning curve on the mech combat, weapon group management and mech design but let's count what layers of complexity have been added since closed beta:
1) Movement archetypes are last I checked not explained in the movement tutorial (aka what hills can I climb and how fast in what mech). Last I checked the movement tutorial doesn't cover this.
2) Consumables... again, not really covered anywhere you just sort of have to learn the hard way.
3) GXP vs. XP vs. Cbills, vs. MC vs. LP vs. the Washington Generals - which is useful for what, why and when might you rather use the other if possible? This will baffle a new player.
4) Skill unlocks and the rules around the 3 chassis for basics, but then once you have one chassis of a weight class mastered you can... etc.
5) Clan tech versus inner sphere.
6) Dat UI2.0 mechlab... even as an old time mech designer I find it impossible to design a mech in there. I invariably have to jump out to a site like smurfy to figure out if stuff will fit.
7) Quirks.... lots of data there that isn't presented in the in game UI. New players probably won't even know these exist yet for many inner sphere chassis they are now role defining.
8) Game play modes - there's a bit to learn there.
Assuming they get past this initial barrier there's another big problem at the gates of CW>
A 'new' player is hopelessly outmatched even after their cadet bonus is claimed. They need 4 mechs customized to take advantage of quirks and with doubled basics unlocked before they get thrown in the shark tank - let's not even consider how much more it will cost to add modules to those mechs. Basically CW is forming up like a MOBA but to borrow terminology from league of legends it is putting new players at level 3-5 with 1-2 runes against level 30's with full pages - results may be messy.
TL:DR; All the things PGI has added to the game since closed beta to further push monetization and to add 'end game content' via a deluge of weapon modules has built a pretty impressive wall to entry for potential new players. Add this on top of the UI2.0 frustrations and MW just being a pretty complex game to begin with (even when mech customization isn't involved) and it's clear the current single movement tutorial won't cut it.