Arkena Wyrnspire
Turalyon Plus
240
   |
Posted - 2013.05.08 21:03:00 -
[1] - Quote
Frankly, I feel sorry for the new players. I wreck them when I come across them, almost every time.
Nerfing may not be the solution - but the gap between basic and prototype gear is so ludicrously wide right now. With a gk0, ~500 armour, which is significantly less than some of the shield fits out there, I can wade through militia fire. Sure, they're not hitting every shot, but it's completely unreasonable to expect new players to hit every shot just so they can come anywhere close to competing. In the meantime, I can three shot some of the militia fits - Proto TAR + triple damage mods butchers newbies in the blink of an eye.
Gear progession is nice, sure. But when the people with the best gear are so vastly superior the newer people simply cannot get into the game. It doesn't help that it takes a ton of SP to get close to what I and a lot of other people have. The prototype gear right now isn't even limited by isk somewhat like it was previously. I have two hundred mil - this is enough to run prototype gear for months, even if I do awfully in every single match.
The other issue is that of squads. Squad gameplay is fun and rewarding, sure. New players can still get into squads, but again, they need to be shown how to get there, and if that's the case they're at the point where they can join a training corp. That leaves a bunch of people stuck against 6 man protosquads.
I don't think that 6 man squads in pub matches has been good for the game. Games are even more one-sided than in Chromosome - I can count on one hand the number of times I've had a balanced match. It certainly doesn't help that orbitals are even easier to get with 6 people, and so the newbies are also contending with unavoidable instant kill death from the skies.
Matchmaking and tutorials would solve a lot of this. A good tutorial system is crucial to getting new players in - this is a complex game, and people are just chucked in at the deep end and left to drown. EvE players are used to this - a large proportion of people still playing are also EvE players, compared to the newberry swarms previously.
Matchmaking is needed. Badly. I have had matches where there are two full protosquads on my team and it's such a slaughterfest that I'm genuinely sad for the NPC corp people on the other team. Segregation by SP and gear is against the spirit of New Eden, sure. Matchmaking won't be in planetary conquest and faction warfare though, due to the nature of how you get in the battles. But if it was put into pubmatches, where the majority of fights take place, this game would be so much better for everyone, pretty much. Higher end players have more competitive matches, and newer players have an easier time of things.
EDIT: Having gear actually properly balanced and core gameplay done properly would probably help new player retention as well. |
Arkena Wyrnspire
Turalyon Plus
245
|
Posted - 2013.05.08 22:04:00 -
[3] - Quote
Jaqen Morghalis wrote:A full SP/ISK Reset and Aurum refund on launch day, while drastic, would solve this problem by putting everyone back to square one, on an even playing field. Just throwing that out there... 
The newbies had the oppurtunity to join in January.
And it wouldn't solve the problem, it would just delay it a bit. |