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At first glance seems the META game has come back full circle. The game is really fun.
1) SRM Brawling is back
2) Long range is pretty dead in Quickplay, so it's actually fun to play
3) Poptarting is minimal
4) LRMs are minimal
One negative thing that remains, and I understand this more now as I see how statistics have been implemented in other games; is terrible player stat management.
Stats have become a critical part of the game and they drive very poor behaviour.
Being a DevOps exec, this is something that is critical for the Product team to foster. At least that's the coaching I give to my team.
There has been a larger shift to open, accessible statistics to players in all games but the way they are calculated in MWO still bewilders me. Time and time again you see posts on the forums and discussions on VOIP during matches about Stats and mental health. Yes your current stats model is negatively impacting mental health of players in the game to the detriment of your player base and thus your income. Let me explain why.
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Observation:
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KDR Calculation
---- Kill scraping is anti-competitive, and punishes performers because it effects their morale
---- Kill scraping works to the detriment of the player actually trying to progress due to multiple mechs crowding the kill
---- This causes heavy friendly damage, and causes players to focus heavily damaged targets even though they may be useless and other targets of much more valuable to the overall win scenario
---- Instead you see Kill diving, people running in, just to get the Killing Blow and then subsequently die themselves to maintain a positive KDR.
Assists
---- Why is this not displayed on Stats page?
---- You are recording this statistic and can easily pass through to Website and record in a db
Damage Done Per Match
---- Why is this not displayed on Stats page?
---- You are recording this statistic and can easily pass through to Website and record in a db
Support Mech Bonus "aka Healer Recognition"
---- Why are the "Healers" not rewarded with visible stats?
---- There is no metric to show that you are great at Scouting/AMSing/Base captures/Arti Strikes etc
---- You have these stats, average them and display them. Teamplay should be fostered. Right now those players look like they have terrible scores and bad KDR.
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Recommendation:
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KDR Calculation
---- A kill should either a) be recorded based on highest damage landed or
split from a Killing Blow into a separate visible statistic. You are already recording these under Most Damage DealtAssists
---- Should be recorded, on a per match average and total
Damage Done Per Match
---- Should be recorded, on a per match average and total
Alternatively open up the API attributes for 3rd party guys to look at it and compile in a 3rd party tool
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Conclusion:
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---- Foster team play behaviour through these stat changes
---- This is a quick and easy patch, should take no more than 1 iteration to build with 1 developer for UX and 1 developer for back end API
---- Announce and implement within 1 month and see how this positively impacts Morale across the game
---- You should also advertise these global changes to players via email, to capture old player base
---- For example the positive match maker changes were not advertised and as I read more about them, they actually are really good. That should have been an email to all old players. I would have checked the game out then too.
