Live stream is up.
Will be going for an hour or two
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The best players can be expected to showcase the best gameplay, and streaming that can inject more life into a game, invigorate the community, and help promote it to potential new recruits. There is a way to implement automatic selection of such players, e.g., for streaming on Twitch.
The purpose of this comment is to draw attention to an interesting opportunity. In addition to there hopefully being a lot of dedicated streamers solidifying Crossout’s presence on Twitch.
For over two years now, I’ve been trying to promote an idea which has this as an integral part. It could’ve been done years ago, brought in more players and more money, resulting in more in-game content, and not having to host Crossout on backup servers for War Thunder (on 2022.09.24, IIRC, WT got DDoSed, and Crossout got hit with a ricochet of that attack, when WT had to use its backup servers).
A league system for different kinds of players. That’s what’s needed.
- A common league for everyone to use. Whether someone is new or not, good or bad, cares to win or not.
- A ‘pro’ league for those who do their best to win. Players would have to apply, or could be invited to this league. In the case of applications, existing members would evaluate applicants, a community service of sorts, to decide if they qualify. I won’t get into the details right now.
- An ‘elite’ league, which would be a group within the ‘pro’ league, whose purpose would mainly be to determine which battles to stream. So basically an invisible tag. Battles with the most of such players would be selected automatically, and their gameplay would be streamed straight from the battle servers, with the chat hidden - just the combat feed.
A valid point has been raised in this discussion - why watch someone else play a game one plays on a regular basis? Someone who does that is a watcher, not a player. Their non-combat time would be better spend on learning the maps and working on their tactics in custom battles. But there are substantial benefits to streaming battles as described in this solution:
- To have a 24/7 advert campaign being played for free on a popular streaming platform.
- To launch Crossout into the e-sports domain. For a proper e-sport experience, such battles would have to be narrated by commentators, like a other sport or e-sport match. Those commentators would have to be paid, which is why it’s so important to only show the gameplay of the very best players. As to what is “best” - there is some breadth to this term, but a community striving for excellence wouldn’t have a problem with establishing that. I’d expect candidates for the ‘elite’ league would need to consent for their battle feed to be streamed.
- To get more action going in the community. Playing a game with elements such as “e-sports,” “pro/elite league,” and a 24-h live Twitch channel should feel markedly different to playing one without those elements. Just think, “Starcraft in e-sports,” and replace that with Crossout. That would be so much better.
- To give everyone something to aspire to. So that it’s not just unlocking parts for 2 years and 9 months (that’s how long it takes at 70K XP a day, I calculated it myself) or buying packs and trying out new stuff. Being aware of the existence of higher leagues would serve as motivation to do better in combat. A sense of higher purpose. Which would additionally help with player retention, and could result in the game making even more money.
- An incentive to behave, both in battles and in the chat. A lot of problems with players misbehaving would go away instantly - because who wouldn’t want to be admitted into a higher league?
Some have told me that this is an elitist attitude, and it’s not fair or something. The ‘pro’ league would have no player limit, but the ‘elite’ one would have to be limited, for the sake of efficiency, and to show the very best gameplay. That number would depend on how many of them there would be in PvP battles at any given time, to always have someone to show, but also to avoid always showing a small group of players. Fundamentally, the main thing such a league system would introduce would be a fair chance for anyone to participate in cooler battles, alongside better players. By becoming one of them, with time, and with practice. I recently switched to the Omni, because Hans being sent off to a gulag, along with the Volcano map, invalidated boosted Clarinet cars. While still learning to use it, I started noticing how noob most everyone else is with this wheel (even before braking it got nerfed). I also had to spend hours on every map, practising driving and figuring out the best tactics for my new car. The more time I put into that, the more it upset me to see teammates rushing in with no plan, or sense. I’ve even started recording a new series of videos, which I’ll use in a forum post in the future, where I show what I learned in custom battles. Here’s an example:
Crossout feels like a low-grade fake game that doesn’t focus on the fun factor, and just wants to sell packs and battle passes. And as long as the 50/50 matchmaker is in place, we’ll know that those in charge don’t care about that. Or maybe it could at least be disabled for the ‘pro’ and ‘elite’ leagues, to smooth things out.
A system with higher leagues would benefit from their members being more visible in battles, e.g., by displaying their nicks in yellow, or just the highest-ranking player in the team (e.g., based on their PvP battle count). Less-skilled players could use such a ‘commander’ as a reference point, for smoother teamwork. I didn’t want that for me, just in general. I got this idea when I was still able to use boosted Clarinet cars, and that often put me way ahead or away from the team. Such a solution may not be needed in higher leagues, where everyone should already know what to do, but those that are still learning would benefit from such a helpful marker.
With all the good players being locked away in a higher league, there could be an issue with getting noticed and getting in. There could be ‘tryout battles’ with ‘pro’ league members volunteering time to evaluate applicants. It could be a requirement for staying in that league. We’d find a way. I’m sick and tired of being teamed with lazies, and even more of the 50/50 matchmaker.
I was also told that ‘art’ players need a separate league, because they don’t want to fight competitive ones, with their combat-optimized wedgies and whatnot. After considering this concept for a few months, trying to keep an open mind, it started to seem to me it’s just an excuse. But I don’t consider myself an ‘art’ player, so… maybe… there is something to that argument, and I just don’t feel it.
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Well thought out response…
I don’t think I need a separate league when I’m playing an artsy build. I just don’t wanna be forced to play against anything not in my PS. My artsy builds are very competitive. All-out ART builds, however… yeah, I don’t try to compete with those.
When I ran my own company, I found during the day, I had plenty of down-time. Tons of it, in fact. The people who worked for me probably thought all I did was sit on my butt sometimes. Most of my running was done after hours when they were asleep. Adjusted for inflation, I probably made the same dollars per year as I did back then, but I have stupid good benefits now, and very little stress. I don’t miss it. Those were the days before you could play video games on laptops, though. If this technology existed back then, I’d have probably lost my business. 
I’m in that situation quite a bit… even at home. So, I’ll watch videos on my phone or laptop wherever I am. I rarely watch gaming videos, though. No judgement for anyone who does, they just bore me. I’m easily bored with a dozen projects going on at any one time. Sitting still isn’t my thing. Don’t get me wrong… I can burn an entire afternoon enjoying a rocking chair, but generally… nah…
This was my fear when I ran my own company (a small remodeling outfit). I’d get my crews up & running in the morning, making sure they had the right supplies & equipment. Then, “sit around” while they worked. Every now and then - especially early on - I’d take side jobs I could knock out on my own for a couple hundred bucks. Then, I’d make sure the sites were closed down at the end of the day. In the afternoons & evenings, I was hustling for the next few jobs - making sure my guys had work lined up in the future. Then, there was the financing, collecting, advertising, etc… all the things that make a business run.
Alas, during the middle of the day when they were working their butts off, I’d often be napping.
Pretty sure most of them got it, though… I was continuously invited to their homes for dinners, birthday parties etc. This is how I learned Spanish since my crews were exclusively Latino. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school & a couple of semesters in college. None of it compared to full-on immersion.
Anyhoo… glad I’m not doing that, anymore. I can get away with playing XO at work legitimately, now, and get paid to do it.
What would you consider not your PS.
In another thread we where talking about how 2k PS spreads are expectable.
This does not mater in 14k+, that is where the match maker stops grouping people.
Good thing for me I’m a contractor and do 90% of my work myself. I don’t have to worry about what employees think.
The other work that is not done by me is done by one of my family.
I haven’t really thought through what a proper Powersport spread would be, but it would be a percentage of your power score, right? So a 2000 powerscore spread on a 4000 power score build would be insane. 2000 powerscore at 14k would be manageable.
I’m not to sure about that.
4K - 6kPS seems like a reasonable PS spread to me.
6k - 8k, 8k-10k and so on.
That’s what I mean by 2k spreads.