Sorry for the longwinded post, but take this as your warning that IGÇÖm going to take my time explaining what I recently experienced.

After being part of this game since closed betaGÇöI think November 2011GÇöI decided to create three new characters and enter the academy. I wanted to see what the NPE was like and get back to the GÇ£rootsGÇ¥ of this game. What occurred opened my eyes to some positives and negatives of this game.

First, the NPE (in the academy) was a very fun experience. It was a breath of fresh air to know that matchmaking actually worked and that everyone was on the same level of all-time war points. I didnGÇÖt experience any lag issues, hit detection issues, GÇ£weird things,GÇ¥ or spamming of any sort. Everyone ran Frontline suits or some of the MK-II stuff that Dust gives you when you first start. I only ran Frontline, and I did not put my SP toward anything.

My first observation was around the quality of gameplay in the sense there were no frame rate problems, hit detection issues, etc. My second observation was that I was truly playing against new players. I thought the academy was going to be filled with people like me that just wanted to get back and witnessGÇöfirst handGÇöwhat the NPE is about. Nope. Situational awareness does not exist in the academy. These players had no idea how to read their mini-maps. I wasnGÇÖt cloaked, again no skills put into anything, but these mercs would run right by me without thinking twice. Because of this, I went 76-13 with one character. I felt bad after a while, and even let some enemies run right by me without engaging them.

This, of course, continued until I was kicked out of the academy. I still did not put any SP toward anything and entered my first GÇ£realGÇ¥ match. Well, as everyone can guess, I was slaughtered. The character that went 76-13 in the academy went 1-16 outside. Not only that, I experienced all the game issues that werenGÇÖt there in the academy, like bad hit detection, GÇ£weird things,GÇ¥ and plenty of spamming.

The first game was actually a pretty interesting experience where a couple players from a well-known PC corp red lined us and then proceeded to run into our red line and kill everyone. LetGÇÖs be clear, I could care less about all of that. I have experienced that from the very beginning, and itGÇÖs like water off a duckGÇÖs back. What is worrisome is that I know truly brand new players, just coming out of the academy, experience the exact same thing. I donGÇÖt think I would ever come back, and IGÇÖm going to make a wild guess that there are plenty of people that try this game and feel the same way after a couple of GÇ£realGÇ¥ matches.

All of this is well and good, and IGÇÖm positive CCP knows that the NPE needs fixed. So, my idea is this: we need a better game mode for those coming out of the academy. My idea is that we create a new post-academy and open it up to veterans as well as new players. During this mode, your skills are not applied. Your suits are not there. You get nothing except Frontline outfits. No vehicles. Nothing. Everyone is on the same page. The payout and salvage should be less than regular pubs, of course, but this will be a good place for new players to learn the game even more so than the academy. Not only that, they can interact and squad with veterans and will have the chance to hold their own without getting smashed by high SP mercs.

Whenever they want to dip their toe into a real match, they have the ability to do so and get stomped. But, they then have the chance to go back to this other game mode and get better. IGÇÖm sure there are plenty of veterans that would love this new game mode, too, because it eliminates everything except FPS skill.

The truth is that this game will never survive without an influx of new players, and right nowGÇöafter walking in their shoesGÇöthere is no way weGÇÖre going to keep the majority of them when all they do is come into the real matches and die. I highly suggest that a lot of you veterans do what I did and play with a character that has no SP. DonGÇÖt change the Frontline suits; donGÇÖt apply any SP; and just play a regular match. You will then witness what a lot of new players go through.

Let me know your thoughts, ask any questions you want, and as always, Happy Gaming!!!