TYCHUS MAXWELL
The Fun Police
187
   |
Posted - 2014.04.26 19:03:00 -
[1] - Quote
In my opinion, the tiny player base this game has is based upon sp disparity which is primarily an issue because of gear tiers. It's obviously a subjective question on whether the game will be better, but as best as I can determine from anecdotes of why people I have met quit this game, making the disparity greater performance wise would only drive away more players, which is the best way to gauge such a question. There will always be a few people that like any game but objectively good games are well received by many.
That said what drives people away from this game boil down to 3 different issues which two I will explain are connected:
1. SP disparity: The other guys have better gear then you and dying over and over because of this doesn't feel good. There is definitely a difference in skill, however being able to turn around in proto gear after someone ambushes you in STD and starts widdling down your buffer and kill them skews any argument of skill > Gear.
2. The Nerf Hammer: This and Sp disparity are connected in my opinion. Why does it hurt to spend months on certain skill trees only to have them rendered impotent? Because, it will take more months to adjust and in the meantime you will get beat down by the SP disparity of you having chosen the wrong path that was "readjusted" by CCP. This is where the hate on FOTM and spotlighting comes from as well. So another suit gets to shine arbitrarily without any prior planning or knowledge, as marxistly fair as that would appear it literally ruins the meta game. This could be remedied if CCP refunded skills that they altered dramatically (Like 1.7 Swarms,) but that would cut into their greed to **** people over and hope they will buy boosters in response, which is part of why no one plays this game. Of course, if players didn't buy boosters, CCP wouldn't take issue with refunding SP when they drastically alter a tree. It's just good will but CCP has no interest in growing their consumer base with. Obvious money grabbing tactics always has its defenders but the majority of gamers backlash on these things. As has been said time and time again, it's impossible to live with the decisions you never made. But I digress, nerfing wouldn't be so severe if not for SP disparity and its massive arbitrary time sink.
3. Boredom: This is always an occurrence in every game and for the most part can and should never be too concerning. New content is good, but it shouldn't take priority if your game is buggy. Also general rule of thumb CCP ignores: Vertical progression (Game modes and improved NPE/matchmaking) would be a greater contributor to bringing back old players and bringing in new players then Horizontal progression (More weapons, suits, vehicles, etc.) In other words, Drone combat or custom matchmaking would be far more rewarding in the long term then a combat rifle.
So in conclusion and in a very round about way, I think gear disparity is fine, and that the real issue becomes what options players have towards this disparity (actual matchmaking) or how logical CCP can behave at a given time (An extreme phobia of "ruining" game balance with SP refunds while ignoring the absolutely trashed isk economy.)
As to the issue of requirements, if player skill is equal, it will require 2-3 STD fits to take down one proto fit on a level playing field, but there isn't any real matchmaking so it's moot.
|