DUST Search - From ~5000 to ~4000 players? 1.4 working as intended

Cosgar wrote:

DootDoot wrote:

Jack McReady wrote:

its september, kids have to go to school again and do homework.

This is silly understanding... Most people during Summer vacation aren't even home to play video games... When school and work roll's around, then you get a consistent playerbase logging on in the routine of life.. almost everyday for their daily recreation.

Dust hasn't focused on player retention... they have focused on new player's experience... and core game mechanics... There really should be no surprise that a mass exodus occurred of players who have been here for a while. Choices and actions...

Hit the nail on the head. We wouldn't have the issues we have now if they didn't outright throw NPE out the window, spent more time in beta, (or people STFU about merc packs) and player feedback was taken into account on crucial game mechanics. (CaLogi suit, anyone?) I'm not saying the game is dying, but we'd probably have a much larger player base, not to mention more positive reviews. Still, CCP is doing a better job with this game than Capcom is doing with their company. Guess which one will survive past the next fiscal year?


Author	Thread Statistics \| Show CCP posts - 0 post(s)
Vrain Matari ZionTCD 952	Posted - 2013.09.24 13:08:00 - [1] - Quote +1 IWS. That was a good summary article. It's sad to see Hawken struggling like that, imo their devs produced a solid mech shooter right out of the gate - one wonders what it could have developed into if they had the time to grow and refine it. DUST, like other online multiplayers, is seeing the effects of multiple big releases and the start of the school year. Our numbers should be a lot lower, tbh. My interpretation of this is that two factors are at play: new player retention has improved owing mainly to the revamped/refined shooter mechanics, and DUST, flawed as it is, has more staying power than traditional mmos. Regarding the NPE, i'm finding it hard to gauge the effects of the academy, even at an intuitive level. And as far as match making goes, my purely subjective impression is that when online population goes above ~4000 peeps matches start to get more balanced and more fun. Below ~3300 it 'feels' like the matchmaker is struggling. I'm joining matches solo and the matchmaker most likely identifies me as an average player - peeps on the far ends of the spectrum or squads are prolly having a rougher time of it.
Vrain Matari ZionTCD 952	Posted - 2013.09.24 14:56:00 - [2] - Quote Cosgar wrote: DootDoot wrote: Jack McReady wrote: its september, kids have to go to school again and do homework. This is silly understanding... Most people during Summer vacation aren't even home to play video games... When school and work roll's around, then you get a consistent playerbase logging on in the routine of life.. almost everyday for their daily recreation. Dust hasn't focused on player retention... they have focused on new player's experience... and core game mechanics... There really should be no surprise that a mass exodus occurred of players who have been here for a while. Choices and actions... Hit the nail on the head. We wouldn't have the issues we have now if they didn't outright throw NPE out the window, spent more time in beta, (or people STFU about merc packs) and player feedback was taken into account on crucial game mechanics. (CaLogi suit, anyone?) I'm not saying the game is dying, but we'd probably have a much larger player base, not to mention more positive reviews. Still, CCP is doing a better job with this game than Capcom is doing with their company. Guess which one will survive past the next fiscal year? 100% agreed, but to be fair whoever is setting direction for Shanghai now has inherited the sins of the past. I'm impressed with the direction that has been set since 1.3, focusing on core mechanics and NPE, followed by vehicles, corp tools, squad tools, comms tools - it's exactly the order i would have chosen. I and many other have been hammering at CCP for more than a year to get the core mechanics in order, and that is finally starting to happen. The tragedy is it took the game tanking on release before CCP started to listen. But core mechanics is the foundational component of the NPE, so i'm seeing it as a big positive notwithstanding the fact that it's long overdue.
Vrain Matari ZionTCD 952	Posted - 2013.09.24 15:53:00 - [3] - Quote Because of CCP/New Eden, DUST is genuinely a different product than what the market hase seen before. This is why we get the endless arguments on what pigeonhole DUST falls into: it doesn't fall into any of them, it's a new animal. Unlike virtually all failed releases, DUST has a large ex-playerbase that 'polls' the state of the game: they talk to friends still in and log in on a two, three, four, six-monthly basis to take a look around. CCP has mined login data and quantified this, ofc. As core issues get repaired, as content gets added, as gameplay is refined, these ex-mercs make a decision on whether to stick around and re-guage the fun/frustration ratio for themselves. Everything CCP has revealed about its short term priorities are focussed on the core mechanics and NPE, but also affect this ratio. Imo, this implication of this is the DUST has an ability to haul itself out of a grave of its own making - far more so that many other online games that are not connected to an entire freakin' virtual universe. I wouldn't expect the growth in playerbase to be fast over the next 6 months, but i do expect it to be steady.