J4yne C0bb
Molon Labe.
General Tso's Alliance
368
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Posted - 2014.06.12 21:23:00 -
[1] - Quote
The only viable solution for protostomping from the beginning was meta-level capped matches. We have Squad Finder, we have Battle Finder, and what we needed was "Room Finder" -- a place where you could setup your own public room (or private), and set your own requirements for meta-level gear, suits, weapons, game mode, etc.
Tiercide, while viable, was always going to take too long to implement the speed at CCP does things, and pure matchmaking (based on lifetime SP or WP or whatever other options were floated around) was never going to work because it's only viable when you have a big enough player base to draw matches from, and Dust never did, even in it's heyday. Meta-level capped matches were the only true solution to protostomping, which -- and this is just my personal opinion -- is what really killed Dust.
Why? What I think CCP and some of our playerbase fail to realize is that the kind of gamer Dust attracts is generally older, more mature, and competitive -- and our temperament is such that we don't mind losing or getting killed consistently, so long as the playing field is equal to some extent. As a mature, reasonable adult, I don't mind getting my ass handed to me on a consistent basis if it's due to player skill, not gear.
If I'm getting killed consistently because I'm getting outplayed, then I can accept that -- I try to perform better, which keeps me playing. If I'm getting killed all the time because I'm getting outgeared, and the gear/skills I need is months away from unlocking, then what was enjoyable turns into a miserable f'ing grind, and I have better things to do with my time -- and it seems like most of the noobs that tried Dust and dropped it agreed, cause our playerbase was always slowly tanking ever since 5/14, even before Legion.
Most players expect to die alot during the first month or so of starting any new game, especially a competitive one -- it's expected that you're going to suck for a certain period of time until you learn the maps and unlock skills/weapons/gear. But with Dust, the gap is just too wide between noob and vet. No noob gets to be truly competitive until about 10 mil SP, which is months of playing, and very few players, even reasonable, mature ones, have the patience to stuck it out for that long.
Meta-level gear capped matches were the only real way to narrow the gap between those with a limited amount of SP in core skills, and vets with 30-40 mil. IMO It was the only true solution.
Dust 514... another leaf on the wind.
PSN ID: B16D4mnHer0
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