J4yne C0bb
Molon Labe.
General Tso's Alliance
466
   |
Posted - 2014.07.14 22:49:00 -
[1] - Quote
First and foremost, a better NPE. Otherwise, all the rest of it is just lip service. If NPE is not improved, the game will die, pure and simple.
A steep learning curve is good for Dust, I think we can all agree on that. It keeps the playerbase more mature, as a general rule. However, that's not what this game has -- we have a learning cliff, and the simple fact is that new mature players that otherwise would have stuck around for the challenge decided not to, because the challenge of becoming competitive is near insurmountable, near-term.
CCP's 'HTFU' mentality has caused more harm than good in the long run, and it's high time they begin seriously addressing it, otherwise there is no point in continuing with this game. CCP clearly wants to cultivate a certain type of playerbase, and one which evidently they view as profitable long term. That's fine, I actually kinda respect their philosophy, to an extent. But their HTFU philosophy has always been short sighted with regards to Dust, and needs to be revised against profitability concerns.
We here in the forums talk a lot about the NPE in terms of building a community, so that we can get others enjoying our past time as much as we do. But community concerns are not business concerns, so here's a serious question for the brass at CCP, re-phrased in terms they may appreciate more: How much revenue would you estimate was lost in the last 1.5 years because serious, mature players with a reasonable disposable income found the NPE of Dust to be insurmountable? Because personally, I would estimate it to be just shy of 1 metric fuckton. And at this stage, after all that's happened, do you think it was worth it?
I don't. I could have gotten multiple people in this game -- mature, dedicated players that would have stuck around and spent money, if the NPE wasn't complete crap. And this story is as common as a protostomping Nyain ambush squad -- the forums are full of stories like this.
And as an aside: don't tell me to 'htfu' in reply. I've been here since January 2013, amassed 30 million SP on 2 toons and 16 on a third. I've spent real money on all of them, and I've played through slayer logis, murder taxis, massholes, TAC ARs, tower forge gunners, tank spam, flaylocks, LLAVs, protostomping, glitches, bugs, ps3 hard freezes, lag, the Rouge Wedding, ADSs, on and on and on. Your opinion of me falls on deaf ears. I've been through it all, and I'm still here. Take a good look at me, motherfrakers. You will not find harder. And if you're still here and reading this, that's probably true of you as well; I'm certainly not unique in this respect.
CCP is the one that needs to HTFU, swallow it's pride, and take a look at what they are really trying to do here. Anything else is a waste of ******* time.
Min Logi | aka Punch R0ckgroin, fatman
|
J4yne C0bb
Molon Labe.
General Tso's Alliance
466
|
Posted - 2014.07.14 23:27:00 -
[2] - Quote
Mikey Ducati wrote:HTFU is perfect. Because when a noob sticks his head out of the hole, I'm pretty sure your corporation and many others won't take it easy on him.
Let's not be phoney about New Eden here. New Eden is ruthless.
I don't care what you amassed. When I was a rookie going against the likes of your corporation, I had no choice but to HTFU or allow your guys to get the best of me, pushing me away from this game.
The current HTFU philosophy has irreparably damaged this game from the start, and driven away players that otherwise would have stayed, had the difficulty level been slighty decreased. You are the exception. Not the rule.
Min Logi | aka Punch R0ckgroin, fatman
|
J4yne C0bb
Molon Labe.
General Tso's Alliance
473
|
Posted - 2014.07.15 02:25:00 -
[3] - Quote
Mikey Ducati wrote:Don't want to mess up OP's thread with foolish back and forth about HTFU.
I don't think the HTFU discussion is foolish, I think it's essential. I think CCPs stringent adherence to it is one of the core reasons my favorite game is failing, and if Shad has the opportunity to talk with them directly, I'd like my opinion to be considered, at least.
You know what? You are absolutely right. Molon, Nyain, ERA, FA, AE, all the big well-known corps, both past and present, are guilty of making the NPE fraking miserable for new players. I'm guilty of it. I've stomped when I probably shouldn't have, and I'll tell you something: I regret it. I sometimes wonder how many new players I've stomped out of this game, never to return -- cool people I might have become friendly and squadded with, or tryhards that I disliked and still enjoyed fighting against -- and for what? Every shot I fired from my Six Kin ACR in a pub match might has well have been in our collective foots.
CCP is to blame for creating the game to allow stomping. But they aren't playing it. We are. And so yes, some of that responsibility lies on the community.
Even so, I think my original point still stands. Since the community is clearly unwilling to police itself, it's CCP's job to step in, if only for monetary concerns -- lose of revenue due to their game being unplayable for noobs. Just in case I wasn't quite clear in my OP: Dust's steep learning curve needs to be re-tuned, not discarded. Hard is good. Really hard is good. But Dust for noobs is an exercise in futility until enough SP has been accrued, and addressing this needs to be top priority with CCP these days, if they want this game to survive.
We need a more forgiving Battle Academy to keep the noobs isolated for a longer time, and meta-level gear limited pub matches to close the gap between 5 million and 30 million SP players, and that will fix NPE to a large degree. Otherwise, here's your marketing campaign:
"Dust 514: The Hardest FPS EVAR! Create a Merc today -- Then Come Back 9 Months Later So You Can Actually Play Him!"
Zion Shad wrote:Were a bunch of ruthless A Holes and Damn if I don't love you all for it
Likewise 
Min Logi | aka Punch R0ckgroin, fatman
|