I just ran through the academy about 10 times, and I gotta say it seems pretty balanced.

I think match making will solve alot of issues people are having with the game. Things will be much better once we are allowed to battle people in our own SP range.

its not SP range its gear based u aren't facing full proto suits at most an advanced weapon

matchmaking will fail if CCP takes the path they want it doesn't balance it makes it more one sided

gear based matchmaking would make more sense than the well we factor everything in one big math problem :P CCP cant possibly calculate even matches but if they gear based its still skill based but more even

The academy isn't an accurate reflection of the game's balance...

- people don't have maxed out or well allocated skills.
- people are generally new and have less experience.
- they are likely to have less ISK for equipment.

True but you can't deny the academy is way more fun than the regular game.

Is it balanced or are you just performing better against newbies?

Is it balanced or are you just performing better against newbies?

Balance. You don't see lopsided matches like you do in the regular game. Mainly because everyone has the same limited SP pool.

GEAR!!!! its about gear lol its not SP people can make bad SP choices but the gear makes a difference trust me ive played enough PC battles to know lol

My bad your right. Is CCP gonna base the new matchmaking system on total meta level? It would be cool if they did.

GEAR!!!! its about gear lol its not SP people can make bad SP choices but the gear makes a difference trust me ive played enough PC battles to know lol

Regardless of your opinions on the academy being "balanced" let's not forget that average player counts cannot support SP based matchmaking. Do you really want to wait 20 minutes for a battle only to play the same people match after match?

Or the problems that would arise for squads looking for battle. Say I want to squad with a guy straight out of academy, I cannot play in the same battle as him simply because I have more SP? Where does that leave training corps with veteran players dedicated to helping noobs get acclimated to squad play?

Like it or not any form of matchmaking will further segregate the playerbase considering the average amount of players online.

I'm not saying matchmaking wouldn't help but it's a tough nut to crack. Personally I believe the answer is to get new players up to a more competitive level ASAP. Rather than confine them to the "kiddy pool" so to speak.

Limited SP pool results in limited gear (try running full proto with less than 2 mill SP).

lol i heard its a bunch of factors in a giant math problem like i said above :P they said doing gear based would segregate the players too much but i think they r wrong if they just do a militia mode

but like others said most items don't have a militia item yet

The game really does feel PERFECTLY balanced in the Academy.
Especially when you're taking on other experienced players on their alts.
All it boils down to there is the LITTLE you have unlocked with the small amount of SP you are given.

I'm so close to just making an alt every day to go play there.

Actually...... makes me wonder if SP should be a limited resource.... hmmm.

The academy isn't an accurate reflection of the game's balance...

- people don't have maxed out or well allocated skills.
- people are generally new and have less experience.
- they are likely to have less ISK for equipment.

I disagree with this for some of the reasons listed in this thread. The game can be balanced even in the presence of high SP, ISK, or experience. In the academy, the population is relatively even when you consider those three metrics. In "New Eden" High SP, ISK and a wealth of Experience are the fringes of the scale. And while high SP players are the majority of the game right now, we are still the anomaly.

If there was a sudden, massive influx of new players (who stayed), the game might feel much more balanced to them than it does to us. They would be in the next "generation" of merc who all have about the same SP, ISK, and Experience. And if the academy is so much fun because those three metrics are balanced, then the game will feel more balanced over all when all players feel the separation between "generations".

Long story short, those three things have merit, but players with tons of ISK, SP, and experience are the exceptions to the balance rule. Fortunately, as more people join DUST our population will become a smaller percentage of the total population. Just think: how many players still have over 100M ISK? Only people with tons of salvage from closed Beta would have that much, and a regular merc of the next generation would take months to get to that status.

CCP is making this way more complicated then it has to be. The best solutions are usually simple ones.

Yeah it really is fun. Most academy matches I ran into 2-3 vets on the enemy team. We had a blast going toe to toe with the limited gear we had.

If it's so simple then by all means please lay it out for us. So far your thread merely points out a problem rather than providing a solution. I think you haven't fully considered the factors at play here.




Not trying to instigate an argument but how do you know they were vets and not simply player's with better than average FPS skills? Considering the relatively matched gear what exactly was the dead giveaway?

In my experience in Academy battles I occasionally encountered players who's capabilities surprised me but that does not necessarily mean they were vets.

Personally I would set up 3 tier system: Basic, Advanced, and Proto. Basic, you can use any basic gear you want. Advanced, you can use gear up to advanced level. Proto, anything goes. Also I would base earnings off which matches you decide to join. You would earn more from joining Proto matches then you would Basic ones.

To those that say this would fracture the player base, I would argue that in the long run, more new players would stay there by increasing the player base and negating some of the fracturing you would see.

What would your solution be? I gave you mine.

To your question of how do I know. You can tell who is a vet and who is not. Most new people don't spec into anything an just run militia assault rifles. When I see someone who has speced into a shotgun and scout suit getting massive amounts of kills, I assume they know what they are doing.

My solution would be to give players a better start. Starting SP should be the same but time in academy should be SP based and set at 1 to 1.5 mill to graduate. At which point players would be gifted 500k SP, therefore entering the real world of new Eden with a healthy 2mill SP. I Also would propose they earn 2x SP and weekly cap until 5 mill at which point they are offered a one time only respec which would be available until 5.1 mill.