Small player base + More game modes = Bad matchmaking.

You people who keep suggesting 100-200k are missing the big picture, That's still less than 1m SP and everyone knows 1m SP is junk.

This is extremely pleasing. Personally I feel that warpoints is an excellent idea. I don't have any significant reason but 300K warpoints sounds like a good number. 300 matches if you managed to hit over around 1k wp per match. More likely you'd end up playing closer to 600 matches for those who obviously need the help more. 300 matches if played over the course of a month without boosters would have you around 2mill sp in my guestimation.

Anyone think KDR should play a part in it? Can we limit it so there are no tanks?

On Tuesday 14th of May we will be enabling a special instant battle queue for new players called the Instant Battle Academy. Entry to these battles will be limited by total war points earned per character and will prevent older players from joining. New players will not be presented with the existing instant battle queues however they can join a squad with veteran players and be pulled into other battles. Faction warfare and planetary conquest battles will also still be available to new players.

This is a first step at improving the new player experience. We are also working on a vastly improved matchmaking system which is designed to better separate players based on their actual skill level instead of just isolating new players. We will hopefully be rolling that out in an expansion later this year.

You may notice I have not mentioned the exact criteria for being a new player and I am very interested in hearing how many skill points, war points, battles or any other metric you would use to determine what constitutes a "newbie". Remember the goal is to give new players enough time to understand the game not necessarily become proficient at it. So if you have any thoughts on that please reply here.

REWIND: It sounds like people are pushing for two ideas.
1. a safe area to learn dust and learn an FPS. and
2. A place to grow in Dust before hitting the Veteran meat grinders.

Should we not then introduce 2 game modes?
The first could be the Nerf Field - only kid gloves here. SP/WP limit and Gear type limit to just militia. Here you can learn the mechanics of the game without going against the vets and have time to experiment with lots of different toys before you kinda get the feel of the play.

The second could be the Academy. SP/WP limit and Allocation Limit. You are now experimenting with higher level gear, there are still no vet level characters but Vet alts are there to guide the way and act as mentors and examples to the newbies and recruit. Here people can get a proto level of one or a few things and see the advantages it has in combat and figure out their play style a little more before feeling confident enough to hit the vet scene. If they have scored a corp that wants them all the better.

THAT being said - I want a militia mode for the vets. it just sounds fun.Many good ideas here.

1. I actually like the limits of 5million allocated SP or 4 million WP. That should be enough time to understand some of the game.

2. I do not agree with the Fitting Limitations for the academy. Everyone in game needs to see what the benefits are of getting to the proto level of something to give them something to work for.

3. Limit the academy to characters not accounts so that vet alts can recruit and help out.

What do you think?

Less than 5,000,000 as a new player, any more as a veteran. It's a good round-about number and about the number required to:

A.) Go Proto suit in a single class specialization (frame and type at level 5)
B.) Have all Core skills (Electronics/Engineering/Armor Upgrades/Shield Upgrades) to level 5.
C.) Have two weapons' Operation and Proficiency skills at level 5.

Edit: I would also say that it's -VERY IMPORTANT- that the 'Newbie' status not be restricted to character, but to the account. Most of us already have Alt characters or intend to create them in which we are very familiar with the game and are veterans despite our alts having <5,000,000 sp.

Part of the problem is the limitations of current Faction Warfare options. There are rarely ever any battles available. We are lucky to get into one a day. I know the availability of battles is subject to an EVE-side mechanic but wouldn't it be possible to increase the number of battles while decreasing the effect each individual battle has on EVE side standings. I am sure many organized corps would prefer to queue-sync multiple Squads and play against other teams instead of Instant Battles. So more Faction Warfare options could potentially bleed many veteran players out of the Instant Battle pool. Also making FW battles restricted to Squads with at least 3 players would keep the battles available from being populated with single players.

I am not against separate levels of Instant Battles...good initiative. But give Faction Warfare a little love and it might help aid the issues that are prompting it. Thanks.

On Tuesday 14th of May we will be enabling a special instant battle queue for new players called the Instant Battle Academy. Entry to these battles will be limited by total war points earned per character and will prevent older players from joining. New players will not be presented with the existing instant battle queues however they can join a squad with veteran players and be pulled into other battles. Faction warfare and planetary conquest battles will also still be available to new players.

This is a first step at improving the new player experience. We are also working on a vastly improved matchmaking system which is designed to better separate players based on their actual skill level instead of just isolating new players. We will hopefully be rolling that out in an expansion later this year.

You may notice I have not mentioned the exact criteria for being a new player and I am very interested in hearing how many skill points, war points, battles or any other metric you would use to determine what constitutes a "newbie". Remember the goal is to give new players enough time to understand the game not necessarily become proficient at it. So if you have any thoughts on that please reply here.

Why not give them the option to either do those "Academy Battles" or to jump into the real thing right from the start? Just make it perfectly obvious what they will be up against in standard Instant Battles. By doing this a veteran player who wants to use an alt won't need to join a squad first to play some "real" Instant Battles.

Yes i certainly agree with this, give them the option but make it perfectly clear what they will be up against. Personally i know id jump in a couple of non newbie games to see what the potential of stuff if, get face stomped, them go back to rginding the newbie games for a bit, thinking damn i want that proto gear that guy stomped me with.


That's a tough question. Maybe make those Academy Battles joinable until a player has like 1 - 1.5 mil SP. Again, if Academy Battles are optional instead of replacing Instant Battles finding the right criteria won't be as critical.

Part of the problem is the limitations of current Faction Warfare options. There are rarely ever any battles available. We are lucky to get into one a day. I know the availability of battles is subject to an EVE-side mechanic but wouldn't it be possible to increase the number of battles while decreasing the effect each individual battle has on EVE side standings. I am sure many organized corps would prefer to queue-sync multiple Squads and play against other teams instead of Instant Battles. So more Faction Warfare options could potentially bleed many veteran players out of the Instant Battle pool. Also making FW battles restricted to Squads with at least 3 players would keep the battles available from being populated with single players.

I am not against separate levels of Instant Battles...good initiative. But give Faction Warfare a little love and it might help aid the issues that are prompting it. Thanks.

On the subject of matchmaking, I have 2 suggestions.

Match squads against other squads: sometimes you just want to just play by yourself and relax, in those cases being matched against squads provides too much of a challenge to be fun, and too little challenge for the squad. If I'm just playing by myself, don't match me against a full squad of some elite corp.

Match players based on ALLOCATED SP: 1 million (allocated) SP or below players get thrown in one battle, 2 million SP and below players get thrown in another battle, etc. Right now I'm saving my SP before specializing so I'm still using militia starter fits, and I keep getting matched with people with prototype weapons and prototype specialized dropsuits; not a pleasant experience at all. Playing against these highly specialized players is too much of a challenge for most, and not enough of a challenge to the proto wearers.

The instant battle academy is a good start, but I really think basing it off allocated SP would be a really good way to put new players against other new players, and work as a good system for everyone else.

WPs is a really bad metric. If you really want to go that way, then perhaps 1M?

WPs is a really bad metric. If you really want to go that way, then perhaps 1M?

In case this wasn't clear, this wasn't serious. Ideally I would like to see the number be dynamic. Bottom 5%?

In case this wasn't clear, this wasn't serious. Ideally I would like to see the number be dynamic. Bottom 5%?

Noc,

You've been around a long time and are a very experienced beta vet. Why do you consider total WP earned a poor metric for gauging overall player experience?

Follow up: given your reasoning for declaring WP a 'really bad metric', why do you suggest 1,000,000 WP as the cut off for Academy matches?

It will be dynamic in that we can change the threshold very easily ourselves, we will absolutely be data mining how well this goes and adjusting accordingly.

Noc,

You've been around a long time and are a very experienced beta vet. Why do you consider total WP earned a poor metric for gauging overall player experience?

Follow up: given your reasoning for declaring WP a 'really bad metric', why do you suggest 1,000,000 WP as the cut off for Academy matches?

See my follow up. Sorry for leading with sarcasm. But in general, any fixed number risks sending players off a cliff if they are still unable to compete. Sure they *should* have graduated, but forcing them to so suddenly may be an experience that causes them to give up.