We need to revamp the academy. New players are getting thrashed by vets and have next to no way of fighting back. They need a safe haven where they can go until they have the experience/sp/ISK to compete with the long-time players. So what we should do is introduce multiple levels, or "tiers" of the academy. As you gain SP, you can queue for the next tier of the academy and can no longer queue for the previous tier. For example, after you reach X lifetime SP, you can now queue for tier 2 but lose the ability to queue for tier 1. This is to prevent stomping; new players need a place to practice their skills against "equal" opponents, at least in terms of SP and money. If they so choose, they can queue for regular matches right away. The tiers are outlined below.


Tier 1 - 500,000 to 2,500,000 lifetime SP. Let's the newberries fight each other without too difficult competition. 2.5 million SP can only take you so far. Game mode is Ambush. All they need to do is slay, to get used to the controls, learn how weapons work, etc. Don't overwhelm them with things like vehicles/AV and hacking points. Slow and steady learning curve.

Tier 2 - 2,500,001 to 5,000,000 lifetime SP. More difficult fights since more people have some SP, but still relatively balanced. Game mode is Skirmish. Introduces the concept of hacking to newberries. Now they must incorporate hacking and defending points into their strategies. NO VEHICLES ALLOWED. Even a militis fitted SOMA would be nigh immortal against the newberries at this point, especially since they don't likely have many points into AV. Again, slow and steady learning curve.

Tier 3 - 5,000,001 to 8,000,000 lifetime SP. Now they likely have at least an advanced suit, some advanced weaponry, and a good amount of support skills under their belt. Game mode is Skirmish. VEHICLES ALLOWED. Now they must learn about how vehicles affect the battlefield, and can either spec into vehicles themselves or into AV, whichever they choose.

Tier 4 - "Graduation" as it were. 8,000,001 to 10,500,000 lifetime SP. Domination game mode. VEHICLES ALLOWED. Now they can fight against similar leveled players and learn about how domination works. No longer can they spawn on the point, and no longer is the battle spread out over a large area. Everyone is clustered together, and things like uplinks become necessary in order to secure victory.

At 10,500,001 lifetime SP, they can no longer queue for academy, and must now face against vets and pubstomps. However, they now have some SP, some ISK, and most importantly, some know-how about the game in order to fight back more effectively. We could do many other things that would be helpful, like actual tutorials and such, but this tiered academy would help player retention by giving them a place to learn how the game works before they are fed into the meat-grinder.