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Apologies if this has been said. Only skimmed over the thread.

As I understand it, the purpose of the Academy is to improve player retention. We want players who are absolutely new to the game, have never had an encounter with New Eden, to not rage quit and never come back. The Academy serves to reduce the level of prison r4pe new mercs will inevitably experience.

While I know no one wants to separate the player base, and many knee-jerk bittervets will cry HTFU (and in most capacities I agree), people do need to realize that this FPS is radically different from anything most gamers have ever played. To the uninitiated, DUST514 is as hardcore and unforgiving as it gets. EVE would probably give most people here a panic attack.

That's not to say we can't educate them.

The trick is we need nubs to stick around long enough to get New Eden in their blood. 20,000 WP and a couple Skirmish matches doesn't accomplish this. We need a controlled environment where new players can acclimate to "New Eden" before being thrown the sharks. New players should be isolated long enough for themselves to see the difference that SP and teamwork mean. They should have incentives to play frequently, they should be exposed to AUR gear and 1 day Boosters.

Currently there is no hook.

The Academy should be a controlled ecosystem that reflects the ideals and philosphy of New Eden without immediately burning out anyone interested in getting involved. We want people to acclimate to the cruelty and the harshness. We want these players to want to get r4ped.

Increasing the requirements for graduation is one way to accomplish this. Let people stay in the academy until they have 4-5 million SP. Raise WP respectively. This gives them some core skills, a proto weapon and suit.
This also creates a healthy SP gradient; old members of the Academy have a noticeable edge over noobs, and so helps people understand that there will always be older, SP richer players. The current problem with the Academy is that this gradient is almost non-existent. New players do not understand there is a gap.

Create boosters, and AUR items locked to a character. Get new people spending AUR.
Drug dealing 101, CPP. Drug dealing 101.

My biggest problem is that there's clearly organised groups of veteran players forming alts and joining Academy matches in squads with the express purpose of stomping newbs purely for the lols.

Aside from this being rather low (the argument that it teaches them the harsh realities of New Eden holds no water with me) its also counterproductive in terms if what the academy matches are trying to achieve.

I'm beginning to be in favour of not just limiting Academy access account wide but going beyond that and limiting access based on the MAC address of individual PS3's.

Developing a game where people fight at what level they are comfortable with, like eve's different sectors and ratings will be a hard adjustment to make. I don't feel i'm in the hardend vet level. I'm good because my team is good. Most shooters I'm at a 1.5-2 kdr. So I usually dish out a little more than i take, but when it came to dust there was a steep and long learning curve.

After 3 months I was certainly not a noob in the way that I was familliar with some of the lore, how battle worked, and the different weapons, but I still do not fight on a proto vet level. ADV gear is usually the max I'll go, rarely will i break out the proto. But that is the level I am at. And If I had to jump in with the vets at 1 or 2 mill sp there would have been no challenge for them and a hell of a lot for me. It has taken me some time to learn and deal with the tweaks to play decent. I rely on the cheap kills, kill helping, camping, surprise attack, etc. I get a hell of alot of assists too. 1v1 most people can out juke my inability to aim.

Fighting proto vets is the same. I still don't have the skill to keep up. If there was a skill balanced or KDR balance mode I would be there. I don't want to fight proto vets, and I don't want to fight noobs either.

There is truth in that you must fight against better skilled players to get any better yourself... but at some point it feels like the equipment gap supremely enhances the skill gap. And that is what new players will struggle with. The perfect fits for their playstyle.

I'm a dedicated logi, in all honesty I should probably be a scout with knives and a shotty. Quick hits, quick kills, but this role is more challenging and I like that. but it is not for everyone. So I'm glad you'll be data mining and finding new solutions.