Welcome to one more of my -every now and then- threads where i try to discuss issues that i find are the most problematic, at the time.
Today we are dealing with events and the more generalized population issue that this game has on my platform (pc).
As far as events are concerned, i dont know about the previous ones, but this last Dronapocalypse has been hands down the best event i have played in this game. I played both solo and in group and all of the times it was FUN.
It was so fun and such a refreshing experience for me in the game that i stoped playing randoms and farmed my scrap from the event for most of the weeks it was running!
Arena was ok, mostly decent if you had a team, and this last one thats running now (knights of something) is one of the worst things i have played in this game.
Why bring this up? Because the game not being FUN in a more simplistic-different way is one of the important issues it has from my perspective.
Devs, pick two or three of these simple mini modes-events, throw in some fun rewards+scrap and rotate them, there is absolutely no reason to invest time and efford in mini clan wars and that thing thats running now.
No need for bases, no need for advanced tactics, just some simple go-kill-the-levi fun is more than enough.
Right now the only things we have aside raids-randoms-clan wars standard, is bedlam (niche and if i recall correctly no rewards),story (another lets do it to get it over with borefest), and events which most of them are meh.
Make simple, different and fast fun events the norm!
No thank you, we dont want a three bases random match with bad premade vehicles, we have our own crappy ones if we want one, and another mini clan wars doesnt cut it, normal clan wars is frustrating enough.
As far as pop issues are concerned, lets face it, the population is slowly but steadily decreasing, us who play pretty much daily for a long time now dont even need to look at steamcharts to understand that we see the same faces and less of them as time goes by.
Yes, adding content has given the game some boost but its only periodical and does not solve the issue.
Imo the issue can be separated into 3 major categories:
1)New player experience.
2)Grind to become competitive.
3)Overall monetary policy.
My suggestions regarding these come as follows:
-
While the new player experience has drasticaly improved with the powerscore adjustments, its still far from being good.
The moment you step above 2,5k ps you get to deal with the blue fusion masters that love to sealclub, nobody in their right mind is going to deal with that.
The solution: 2 separate queues below 4k powerscore, one for those below 30 engineer level and one for those above.
Now new players get to try their blue weapons in a more fair environment, and sealclubers get to play with eachother.
The downside of that is that maybe new players will experience more bot games, but its much more preferable to play vs a couple more bots than with instadeath sealclubing machines that you have no chance against.
You can even put a choice for the new players to chose if they want to participate in the experienced players queue with the proper warnings. -
Raids have been nerfed a while ago, relics take several months even for uranium farming clans. And there is no way to test which relic you like before you invest all this time and efford into getting it!
Im not an advocate for the game to become a casual fest but we could at least have a limited testing mode for the players that want to see what to invest into!
Players could be given a limited (for example) 10 exhibition testing tries with no rewards to join a testers queue and see how the things they want to buy-craft can work!
And if someone want to extend those 10 trials then they have to spend some recources, just enough to make it so that people are not infinitely investing into testing mode to play.
Plus Overall resource income has to be increased by around 10-15% both with premium and without. You cant expect new players to sit and study market+ farm 8 hours a day to make an epic or legendary weapon in a semi-decent time even with premium. -
Remove crosscrowns. As simple as that. Makes the game look like a cheap mobile game cash-grab and damages the trust between the customer-company. Trying to “hide” what is being paid is just another reason for any serious consumer to ditch the product.
Pack prices need heavy readjustment. Asking someone to give a full AAA games price to get a pack is rediculus.
Yes, there are sales and cheaper packs, some of them are worth the price, some really dont, imo overall pack price-gold offered should drop around 25%. Focus on giving more items on packs, less gold. More sales, less gold inflation to come from those sales.
Add more small rewards which make the player feel that they get something meaningfull for “free”. Remember the engineer boxes that gave blue untradable items? Bring them back, make the fusion helping item (cant remember the name right now)be a very low cost craft.
If you dont like the blue item reward, give some resources straight up, make players feel appreciated for playing the game but not giving them a middle finger every time they level because they get something they will probably not use.
You could even be giving small rewards for badges, and similar unlocks, make the players want to play the game because the game appreciates the time they invest in it.
While these suggestions revolve around things that should (or shouldnt) be in the game since years ago, its still very salvageable if they are properly implemented.
Thats it from me, thanks for reading!