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Hobbles v, on 10 October 2017 - 08:03 PM, said:
1. Separate queue was attempted, and was a dismal failure. Also it does nothing to teach new pilots about whats good in this game. So often I come across terrible builds from pugs, and even chat with pugs who love their garbage builds with 4 different weapon systems because the only basis of comparison they had was the stock build they replaced. If mechs came built with good practices in mind these pugs would be far more likely to realize how much their performance dips when they change their build to a bracket build with a weapon for every range.
2. I enjoy using the skill tree, because I am heavily into theory crafting and can happily spend hours tweaking that kind of stuff. The average player does not, and for a new player it's just too complex. I've seen a lot of pilots quit because they didn't want to learn it, seen others who have no idea what to do with their 4 types of currency involved and other new pilots struggle who have too steep a learning curve already without having to learn this mess.
3. one bucket is most certainly a problem right now. The IS side is giving up because there is no hope to tag planets anymore, previous iterations of FP had defense tags. Now tied phases result in no tags being given out. Since IS almost never wins a phase, no IS units gain tags anymore. When one side repeatedly loses all the time, that side will keep losing players. A small number of multiple queues actually gives hope that an IS team could stack one and pull off a victory somewhere. I use 4 planets as an example because 4 is the number of planets currently awarded each phase. If 4 buckets is too much 2 or 3 could work. we just need a system where both sides can make progress in some measurable way.
4. This post is about Practical solutions. Things that do not require a massive re-design of the mode to implement. Currently there is a faction imbalance, Clans have 1 more than IS. The simplest and most practical way to even this out is to add one to the IS.... Since PGI definitely wont remove any (unless we kill off smoke jag in a bulldog event).
Your suggestion of adding a two tree system is flawed, since it does not address the main point i was trying to make about loyalty trees; they dry up upon completion. The ends of trees need to have repeatable rewards or some kind of persistent progress. Something that doesn't lead a player having to bail on their current faction, or just stop playing if their universal tree stops rewarding them.
Actually just had another Idea that may be the simplest for PGI. Once someone maxes out their Loyalty tree, they start over. Loyalty is rewarded with repeated access to the easy to earn levels. instead of having to Desert for a week and move to a new faction.
I would rather just have them pay the cost of a properly equipped mech up front when they buy it. This counters the imbalance of IS mechs being initially cheaper. And a properly equipped mech gives new players an example of what works. Quirking up a stock in specific ways to try and make it better teaches them nothing and tries to prop up garbage.
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separate queues were not tested. the way it went down could not be called a test. they were up for 2 days during an event, and then taken down before another event started, and during the scouting mode debut. scouting queues were bloated and thats where the bulk of the players were. while this was going on anyone who did play invasion had the long tom to contend with. so anyone with any negative preconceptions going into a match with long tom against them would not return. this was not a fair test. it was less science and more like trying to test a pogo stick on the deck of the titanic while it was sinking, then trying to put fourth a definitive conclusion.
second i didnt say a damn thing about a second queue. freelancers would still slotted into normal games that meet certain requirements, with the exception of when there are enough freelancers to fill a team on both sides. otherwise theres no damn reason to have freelancer.
new players are going to have crappy mechs and trials, theres no way around that problem. you cant train for fp in the testing grounds, the training area or in qp. to learn to play fp you must play fp and gain experience. having a kiddie pool is a good idea. you dont have to split the queues to do that. you just have to be slightly more selective about where noobs and casuals get placed.
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i dont know whether the average player likes the skill trees or not and neither do you. i thought it was one of the more positive changes that pgi made to the game. the forum was very polarized. id need to see a poll to know what 'the average player' thinks.
3
again population is everything. you cant fix population by adding buckets. you cant even fix it by taking them away. the only way to get people back is to make it a mode people want to play. its a chicken/egg type problem. this puts this one at a very low priority since you need to introduce a 3rd thing to break the stalemate.
four buckets was my ideal solution because it would have great population balancing capabilities. but 3 might be viable. clans would have trials and is would have wars among the houses, and then the clan is war. this two might have load balancing abilities. if you dont get to choose your bucket then when you go to fight if there is any population disparity you can just fold the players on the over populated side into itself and create is v is or clan v clan game. of course this creates situations where one side cant fight a civil war type scenario if they dont have the majority. but thats not a huge problem.
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i dont think the two tree system is that bad of an idea. one tree provides incentive to play fp, the other gives you incentive to stay with your faction. both are incentives that fp needs. the rewards tree would keep paying out even if you complete it. the faction rank tree becomes a money multiplier that directly affects your mission payouts. its also a cut and paste job so its totally practical. they add a tree every time they add a faction, and they have been doing that a lot lately. its a cut and paste job otherwise they wouldnt be doing it. you could just as easily roll all rewards into a single tree and then have a rank tracker which is more or less the same but without goodies. sounds quite practical.
