15 replies to this topic

[RussianWolf]

https://docs.google....dit?usp=sharing


pulled from the leader boards, tracking 60 matches and 100 matches.

Edited by RussianWolf, 02 October 2017 - 05:43 AM.

[Kiiyor]

Interesting.

The ebb between the civil war release and the next mechpack.

I've heard there's new maps in the pipeline. We need them. Mech packs can only sustain interest for so long - although I am shamefully excited for the Nova Cat.

I really think FP needs to be revamped to hold interest long term, and that quickplay needs to be a part of that - or at least add some form of MM to FP.

[Mister Blastman]

Matchmaker worsening is directly responsible for my lack of play. I have little patience or time for being forced to play with clowns or bus drivers who refuse to improve.

[The Lighthouse]

So we indeed lost 1/3 of players.

It is not coincidence that the decline began as soon as the Skill Tree came out.

[Asym]

This whole concept of balance is a joke. Life isn't fair nor is the MW universe....

An entire brand new team left MWO in May.... WHY? Because they saw what the STC (May patch) was actually doing: reducing the battlespace dynamics for specific reasons...... A gigantic facade. And, they realized that as a team, designed around a combined arms philosophy, would not be able to survive the change long term without having to completely change how they were going to fight.... MWO is becoming a brawling, close in, small arena FPS in an Arena sales model supporting a micro-transaction financial paradigm....

Just an opinion.

[TLBFestus]

The Lighthouse, on 02 October 2017 - 05:59 AM, said:

So we indeed lost 1/3 of players.

It is not coincidence that the decline began as soon as the Skill Tree came out.

I think that the skill tree certainly contributed to the drop, mostly among long term players. For myself, I managed to use historical XP to level up some of my regular mechs, but just can't be bothered on the others. My interest dropped significantly around the time of this "addition" to the game. I suspect I wasn't alone.

I played some games for the first time in months last night. Did it for the companionship of my buddies, not the game.

[Nemesis Duck]

The Lighthouse, on 02 October 2017 - 05:59 AM, said:

So we indeed lost 1/3 of players.

It is not coincidence that the decline began as soon as the Skill Tree came out.

Some players: This looks alright but a little daunting for casuals. Can we get an option to save skill profiles?
Russ's favs: Arr, it takes 10 minutes, arr stoopid, arr bunch of potatoes.
PGI: Crickets.

1/3 leave.

Same with all the new weapons. What's with doubling the weapons in 1 day?

[Bud Crue]

The Lighthouse, on 02 October 2017 - 05:59 AM, said:

So we indeed lost 1/3 of players.

It is not coincidence that the decline began as soon as the Skill Tree came out.

Welp, over the summer I am an active player by the OP's standards. So I guess you "lost" me and most folks I play with.
With the kids back in school I have far less time to play and thus drop to maybe 10-12 games a week and thus do not meet the 60 game per month threshold. Many of the players I regularly play with are in similar circumstances. While I agree that population has been dropping for sometime and will continue its gradual decline, where one places the cut off for what makes an "active population" makes a big difference in extrapolating those number. For example, the 10 match/month as a minimum puts us at less than 30K for example, but we have been flirting with that threshold all year using that definition. Meh.

[RussianWolf]

Bud Crue, on 02 October 2017 - 09:53 AM, said:

Welp, over the summer I am an active player by the OP's standards. So I guess you "lost" me and most folks I play with.
With the kids back in school I have far less time to play and thus drop to maybe 10-12 games a week and thus do not meet the 60 game per month threshold. Many of the players I regularly play with are in similar circumstances. While I agree that population has been dropping for sometime and will continue its gradual decline, where one places the cut off for what makes an "active population" makes a big difference in extrapolating those number. For example, the 10 match/month as a minimum puts us at less than 30K for example, but we have been flirting with that threshold all year using that definition. Meh.

Except that you made the cut in every single season. Lowest I saw was about 130 matches.

[FireStoat]

That's actually what I was looking for, so thank you OP. The trend of declining population most likely stems from multiple sources, such as age of the game, a lack of evolving map content, dissatisfaction with individual mech balance attempts, and so forth. All of those were present as the tracking was followed. The key issue for me was the skill tree making a positive impact on leveling out the decline of population and it did zilch in this area for retaining players. PGI's been saying one thing, white knights have been agreeing with that one thing, but the numbers are not supporting the claims.

Also, engine decouple from agility has got to be a factor. When you run the game for several years with mechs having a certain agility profile trend and players base their purchases, time and again, off of that trend, only to have it altered in a huge sweeping change, the satisfaction of your string of purchases goes out the window. Players that bought heavy and assault mechs with Cbills and real money and spent months of time playing and practicing them have voted with their feet.

tldr; evidence is present that the skill tree + engine decouple from agility sent players off to other games at a rate higher than the changes attracted a flow of new players.

Edited by FireStoat, 02 October 2017 - 10:12 AM.

[Bud Crue]

RussianWolf, on 02 October 2017 - 10:04 AM, said:

Except that you made the cut in every single season. Lowest I saw was about 130 matches.

Hmm. Weekend benders I guess.

[RussianWolf]

Bud Crue, on 02 October 2017 - 10:18 AM, said:

Hmm. Weekend benders I guess.

lol... its actually pretty hard to fall below that 60 for anyone that considers themselves active. I work 8 hours then commute 5 hours a day and I was still hitting 130-150 per month just playing for an hour or so a couple/three nights a week.

Of course, then I stopped all together. So I am decidedly non-active now.

[Bud Crue]

RussianWolf, on 02 October 2017 - 10:22 AM, said:

lol... its actually pretty hard to fall below that 60 for anyone that considers themselves active. I work 8 hours then commute 5 hours a day and I was still hitting 130-150 per month just playing for an hour or so a couple/three nights a week.

Of course, then I stopped all together. So I am decidedly non-active now.

I hear ya, my point is merely that depending on where we put the cut off of the "active" population, the trends (not the numbers themselves, but their indicative trends) look very different. All negative for a certainty but one way looks dramatically and fairly suddenly dire, and another looks like a slow plod into the morasss of nonviability. I suspect the later is the reality of this games future rather than the former is all.

The end will come in a whimper not a sudden bang is how I read the numbers.

[Christophe Ivanov]

For me, there have been several times I was gonna call it quits and go back to my other hobbies. Why? PGI is changing too much with weapons, mech chassis and the skill tree too often.
Ok, I learned the skill tree and get it, But it's not better, JUST DIFFERENT.
The biggest problem I see is this so called, BALANCING...whut? WHY? Do you honestly think is real life in real war they are going to balance things? Umm no.
Make weapons work as they are intended, make the mech chassis work as it's intended. STOP with the buffing, the nefring of weapons and all that. Let the Mech warrior work out the success on the battlefield with their experience.

But DO bring on new and improved weapons as I explained last month. Say for example, Large Pulse Laser Mk. 2 with better cooling, but same range and maybe shorter endurance. An improved RAC5 and Ultra UAC's with reduced jamming with all this available for purchase. This is how real weapons are developed.

We get new better weapons, PGI gets paid.

Just my opinion folks.

Edited by Christophe Ivanov, 02 October 2017 - 10:30 AM.

[DAYLEET]

FireStoat, on 02 October 2017 - 10:11 AM, said:

tldr; evidence is present that the skill tree + engine decouple from agility sent players off to other games at a rate higher than the changes attracted a flow of new players.

Not really. You can see the spike up when it was introduced and then it went to where it would have been had nothing changed. If anything, the chart proves that there has been a steady declining numbers of people with or without change to the game play. I didnt need a chart to tell me population has been declining ever since forever.

[RussianWolf]

Christophe Ivanov, on 02 October 2017 - 10:29 AM, said:

For me, there have been several times I was gonna call it quits and go back to my other hobbies. Why? PGI is changing too much with weapons, mech chassis and the skill tree too often.
Ok, I learned the skill tree and get it, But it's not better, JUST DIFFERENT.
The biggest problem I see is this so called, BALANCING...whut? WHY? Do you honestly think is real life in real war they are going to balance things? Umm no.
Make weapons work as they are intended, make the mech chassis work as it's intended. STOP with the buffing, the nefring of weapons and all that. Let the Mech warrior work out the success on the battlefield with their experience.

But DO bring on new and improved weapons as I explained last month. Say for example, Large Pulse Laser Mk. 2 with better cooling, but same range and maybe shorter endurance. An improved RAC5 and Ultra UAC's with reduced jamming with all this available for purchase. This is how real weapons are developed.

We get new better weapons, PGI gets paid.

Just my opinion folks.

And in comes pay to win. The one thing PGI has actually gotten pretty much right in this game.

I need something to play on my train ride. I have this little game on my phone that's a good time waster. But I'd never drop a dime on the game because it allows people to pay to cheat. That's what I consider it.

Edited by RussianWolf, 02 October 2017 - 10:48 AM.