The ratio has changed. In 2017 and 2018, the forum was very popular, with some updates getting more than a dozen of pages of comments (25 per page). Then interest in the forum started to drop, perhaps because of some regular posters quitting or becoming increasingly disillusioned with the game, and in 2021 there was barely any of it showing. At the same time, serious players were being replaced by more casual ones, and that seemed to accompany the turn to a more negligent development trend for Crossout (e.g., removing voice chat, removing the Ship Graveyard, the Fortress and the Old Town for over a year for no serious reason, the introduction of the crosscrown). The Pewdiepie promo in late 2019 caused a wave of new arrivals, and the release of the first season in early 2020 made that a cyclical process. The Battle Pass mechanic has allowed players to rapidly advance into high-PS battles with premium gear, which may have made those caring less for a serious attitude to gameplay and, in some cases, good manners, feel at home. In 2021, I noticed the phenomenon I call the âsqueakerâ to emerge. They pontificate about the game despite having just started playing, attack others for imagined reasons, and generally seem not to care about the game - perhaps because spending USD 10 has granted them quick access to otherwise very expensive gear. Also, on this new forum, there is no separate section for console players. Once I saw a screenshot of the general chat from one of the console Crossout versions and it was a deluge of negativity. When I try looking up a forum trollâs profile in the game and donât find it, there seems to be a correlation.
I donât expect the situation to improve, as the developers have been adjusting the game to be more oriented toward new players for nearly a year now - and Iâm purposely avoiding the phrase ânew player-friendly.â When they started releasing these new temporary brawls in Q3 2021 to give them a sense of achievement and thus keep them logging in in hopes of inducing them to spend money, it was clear they were turning a new sheet, but this one is single-ply. (And ending Operation Ashen Ring 3 days 18 hours early, or Santaâs Secrets a whole 14 days early showed us how much integrity has left in the management group.) The quote from the preliminary news post about the new co-drivers could suggests the develoepers anticipate a permanently high player turnover rate:
"Why do we make these changes?
As weâve mentioned earlier, the updated co-drivers will have a stronger impact on the gameplay and the effectiveness of your armoured vehicles. Sometimes the right co-driver will determine your performance in battle. Such changes inevitably affect the in-game balance.
At this stage of learning, the new co-drivers system can greatly affect the balance in battles. Those players who are close to reaching max level and have unlocked one or more co-drivers may have too much advantage over those who are at earlier stages of the game and cannot unlock a co-driver yet."
Does this mean unlocking co-drivers will progress faster? With a greatly increased player turnover rate, long grind to that end would have become obsolete, or even counterproductive to player retention. Which would suggest the change will accommodate less patient players.
The default news post comment links now redirecting to reddit (English) and VKontakte (Russian) are a clear sign that it was more important to use players for free advertising on social media than maintain meaningful communication. That step showed a drastically dismissive attitude toward the playerbase, and it certainly didnât help with maintaining high standards of forum discourse.
