InRev, on 16 January 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:
I don't usually (read: ever) post on the forums, but this statement concerned me enough to actually log in.
Am I the only one who thinks it's not necessarily the best idea to balance a game around the opinions of the hardcore, e-sport gaming elite? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against elitism itself, but considering the fact that the vast majority of a game's player base (and thus the source of the money) is not, in fact, those who play tournaments, I'm not convinced that "competitive" players are the demographic to which devs should be catering.
Min-maxers can always make the best out of game balance, but stupid puggers such as myself are not usually as adept. When we stupid puggers are turned off by game mechanics, we leave because, well, why play if we don't have fun? When we leave, the money dries up. I understand that dedicated, intelligent, skilled and organized players can quite easily counter ECM or whatever the FOTM game balance issue may be. Hell, a dual gauss barrage into a Raven does wonders. However, the majority of matches (and thus the majority of actual gameplay experience for most players) is not contested by dedicated, intelligent, skilled or organized players. It is the stinking, snivelling masses that forms the bulk of a gaming community so, yeah, they may be whining idiots, but they're whining idiots with wallets.
To point, upon reading the patch notes for this latest update, and seeing not only no ECM changes, no energy weapon changes, and no notable netcode fixes, but the addition of an ECM mech for which the devs included a disclaimer regarded the fact that it doesn't perform well with the netcode, my first reaction was "welp, I'm playing Anno 2070 I guess".
I do not for a second that the game should be dumbed down to the point of auto-aim or free-streaks-for-everybody, but I do think that there is a wide expanse of middle ground that will be missed by looking primarily to 8-man drops for feedback when the entire rest of the community is practically apoplectic about an issue. Obviously, I do not know for certain what the dev's feedback prioritization schema actually is, but rhetorically, the 1% should not be the first choice, but rather a choice.
TL;DR, "competitive players" should not be the preferred feedback source due to their niche nature.
Am I out of think with this reasoning?
You make perfect sense to me but my in my opinion, PGI doesn't seem to agree with you. I could be 100% wrong, but all I have to go off is my impressions of the game and their actions, I can't read their minds.
IMO, it seems they have tried to cater this game to the more "hardcore" crowd first when I think they should have tried to draw in the "casual" crowd first and then done things to make the "hardcore" crowd happy. Like I said, can't read their minds, only my impressions.
It seems that given their recent removal of RnR and adding the cadet bonus, they finally realized this and took a step towards changing gears. The question is, will it be enough? Personally, I think they should drastically cut MC prices, fix netcode, and add in a respawn option and/or get that dropship mutator out ASAP. That's just my two cents on the subject.
Edited by CypherHalo, 16 January 2013 - 10:27 AM.