The Eunuchmaker
House of Dying Laggers
0
   |
Posted - 2013.05.26 07:18:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Nullarbor wrote:So the values we are currently going with are:
War points: 10,000
Skill points: 2,000,000
If a player is above either of these then they graduate the Academy. These are subject to change but are based on some preliminary data mining which should see new players participating in around 30-40 battles before entering the rest of the queues.
Like many others have pointed out, I feel that the 10,000 WP cap needs to be increased significantly, maybe even 3x or 4x. Instant Battle Academy matches are much different compared to the meat grinder that is the rest of Dust 514.
The Instant Battle Academy not only teaches you the basic mechanics of the game, but also allows you time to accumulate SP and, more importantly, grind the ISK to be competitive when you leave the Instant Battle Academy. Any half decent FPS gamer can get to 10,000 WP in a day or less and still not understand the intricacies of fittings and proper skill point distribution.
I can speak as someone who was thrown into real matches too quickly. As it stands now, my characters are at a disadvantage in standard matches because I would earn about 1,000 WP per match. That's only 10 matches before I graduate and I only consider myself a decent FPS gamer. I even created an alt today to test this mechanic and was going 18:2 or better in some matches, which earned me a lot of WP, but not much ISK or SP to supply myself for what I knew was about to come. So, because I did well, I was thrown into standard matches with guys in proto gear (not to mention TACs everywhere which you don't usually see in the academy) with limited ISK and SP and I'm lucky if I can go 2:1, usually I'm only 1:1. On top of it, like many others, I am waiting on my skill respec as I made mistakes with my skills and I sort of knew what I was doing when I skilled, so just imagine what someone who is completely unfamiliar with the skill systems of Dust or EVE's SP distribution is going to look like. They'll be severely gimped.
I've been playing EVE since 2005 and know how cruel New Eden can be, but I can see how this complete change of pace would turn-off the FPS crowd coming from games like CoD, Battlefield, and Halo, who, let's face it, are part of the target audience for Dust. You go from stomping guys in Instant Battle Academy and then are almost punished for doing well and thrown into the fire.
With the current system, I'd encourage any new players I speak with to do poorly in the Instant Battle Academy while they can, so they have enough time to get familiar with the game. Any half decent FPS gamer will hit the 10,000 WP cap quickly and then proceed to get stomped and outgunned in real matches only to quit the game out of frustration; which is the complete opposite of what I think CCP wants and the original intention of the Instant Battle Academy.
Just my .02 ISK. |