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The new players are coming and going at an alarming rate, and the steam player numbers are less than stellar, and constantly dropping, often below 2000 players, as I am typing this its under 1000. Half the problem here is KEEPING your players in the game. My friends and I have discussed a few issues that we believe could easily fix the issue with player retention, and overall casual player enjoyment.
When we play as a group, MOST OF THE TIME we are matched up against highly skilled players, and they are usually in a pretty large group. Our group mostly consists of tier 3 or 4 skilled players, and a few 2 and 1's. But if we ever group with T2 or T1, we almost ALWAYS get matched against much higher skilled players. One of the big issues here is the lack of tiers. I understand that they are the way they are because of the amount of players, but we thought of a few ways to fix this issue.
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Aside from adding more ranks to the PSR (Tier) system, we also believe that group sizes MUST be limited back down to 4 maximum. Community Warfare is the place to run your 12 man groups, not public match making. By doing this, it will not only give us quicker matches, but it would reduce deathballing a considerable amount. 4 groups of 3 is not nearly as powerful as two groups of 6. Communication in this game is a huge advantage, and for the public group queue, its really hurting the casual / newer players.
Another feature we think would be amazing in this game is dynamic match sizes. Based on the PSR system / amount of time to get into a match, you could see match sizes anywhere from a 8v8 to a 12v12 (These numbers are only an example). That way you get into matches much quicker, and they are more evenly matched. I've seen other games do this, the first that comes to mind is War Thunder.
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A big issue I hear from many pilots is that they bought their first mech and just DO NOT like it. The issue here, is that it's a pretty huge purchase for a new player, and if its something they do not enjoy as soon as they are entering the grind phase of the game, they simply have no reason to keep playing. So what we suggest is that you allow players to build a loadout and TEST any mech in either the training grounds or against AI bots (I know they aren't in yet). That way the pilot is a lot better informed about the mech they are buying. (Also add mechlab tutorials).
Since so many mechs are now in the game (over 300+) we also believe that the amount of starting mech bays either needs to change, or allow the player to EARN mechbays for playing casually. Example - after 25 matches you also get a new mechbay, and also earn them by achievments, it doesn't have to be much, maybe only 2-4 to unlock, but give the player a GOAL to work towards. With the current system you CAN earn mechbays through Community Warfare, but you can't seriously expect a new player to be joining Community Warfare just to earn mechbays.
I understand mechbays are the bread and butter of the game, but it doesn't really matter much if the players are leaving before you can convince them to buy anything.
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One more thing we would like to see is a salvaging feature, collecting parts of mechs / weapons / engines, and allowing the player to build or sell this salvage, with a "Factory" section. Giving the player something to look forward to keeps the player engaged, and wanting to play more. "I just need the Cicada 2A right torso, and I could build the mech in the factory!". Something along those lines. Keeping new players engaged, and give them goals, means more long term commitment. A great example of this is Warframe.
Building a mech from salvage would cost c-bills, but a considerable amount less than buying the mech new. Also the parts would be pretty rare, so it would take a long time to collect these parts. We have more ideas for salvage and the factory, these are only examples. But you must remember this is a game, we believe it would make it more fun for the casuals / new players.
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Lastly is the pilot skill tree. As it is now, is well, not good. But what we decided would help, is a buyout option for the skills. Instead of investing A LOT of cbills into mechs just to mastery them, you could also have the option to buyout the 2x / elite / mastery slot with a lot of mech EXP. We wanted to remove the 3 chassis limit altogether, but since some people do want 3 of a certain chassis, instead decided a buyout option would be better.
Example - make it so you have to earn the basic tree, then to unlock the next section, the TOTAL amount of the basic tree to unlock the next section, etc etc. This would allow the free to play players to keep mechbay space, but grind a bit more to get skills. There is a trade-off, but I think it would be worth it.
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One last thing that I literally just thought of, is the mechlab. When a new player is experiencing the mechlab for the first time, it can be extremely overwhelming. Obviously a tutorial would help, but on top of that, how about a "Suggested Loadout" button? I know for every mech that would be a lot of work, but adding a simple button into the mechlab, allows the player to have a fairly decent loadout for the mech they just bought, and be an enjoyable experience with little effort. Then they can decide to tweak the loadout, or completely change it, when they feel a bit more comfortable in the mechlab.
That's about it for now, I think most of these ideas should be coming into the game no matter what at this point. If you want to keep new players, and long term casual players, I believe it would help tremendously. If you have any other suggestions please discuss. Right now I think PGI needs to seriously shift focus a bit here, because the game seems to be suffering from lack of population, and I personally want to see this game succeed. Without a strong base population, this game wont have a very big e-sports scene.
Please excuse my spelling / horrible grammar / scattered thoughts. Lets keep this post active, positive, and lets get the devs noticing this post!
Edited by Zakerystrife, 27 April 2016 - 08:22 AM.
and its funny. Hear that PGI your product is half baked! I can already hear the reply "We know!"
