MephillesGermanyJoin Date: 2013-08-07Member: 186634Members, NS2 Map Tester, NS2 Community Developer
ok I jump on the train of giving my oppinion of what ns2 needs:
atm we have the problem of a low player base and we have to tackle 2 problems to solve that.
player retention and getting new players in.
player retention is possible with matchmaking but won't work on a low player base, but raising the player base won't help cause they don't stay. meaning both has to happen at the same time or close to each other (I recommend retention before getting new players in)
following ideas are inspired/copied by CS:GO:
for retention:
we have the hive system working fine but personally think it's still not perfect. I mostly see players from woozas playground as most skilled players and I refuse to believe that they are this good. So I thought of redoing the quickjoin button.
That means the game will need to have some reserve servers like back then with the organized play system. This will put you into a waiting queue until you have 12 players. The players have to set there primary, secondary and tertiary lifeform in something that looks like a lobby (he can choose from: gorge, lerk, fade, onos and any). He also has the option to tick a box called "can command" (maybe a second box called "will command" so the game assigns him as commander automatically). The system will try to pick teams and should pay attention on: letting friends who want to play together play in one team; hive skill value (team average but prefered that individual players are on same level aswell); have 2 lerks, 2 fades and 1 commander in one team (at least, cause skulk, gorge and onos can be played by everyone to some extend) and location (meaning ping) in that order (if I forgot something feel free to add). This will send you into a game where 2 rounds will be played (1 as alien and 1 as marine).
Notice that you are not allowed to choose the side by yourself.
Also I would prefer to not let pub games effect the hive skill anymore and letting those "ranked games" (I call them like that now) be the only ones that effect your hive skill.
Also it should be possible to join an already running game in case someone of the players who joined first, left the game (those will be punished of course)
This should get rid of pub stomping and make an enjoyable experience for all players, which would help at retaining new players
I recommend on showing the rank of a player after the ranked game is finished. So no one can call stack and leave before the game starts but you are still able to show off with your number/symbol (or whatever you want to add)
Also another point for retaining players is a principle of hunting for loot:
I recommend that adding the possibility of winning custom weapon skins and new knife models for free (not like paying for keys to open crates you won). This is a possibility but the problem is that the game lives from atmosphere aswell (kinda). That means either we are limited on skins that don't kill the atmosphere or we might go crazy on skins and add an option to not show skins for clients (on alien skins we shouldn't do much. maybe add a frost and lava skin for aliens but that shouldn't be flashy since they rely on hiding). This also gives room for micro transactons if wished btw.
Once done that we can go to get new players:
We can do this by giant promotion and steam sales/ free weekends/weeks or going F2P at all.
Last thing: If you plan on implement all that stuff in one patch and get a free weekend (or similar) right afterwards, be sure the patch runs stable
1. tutorial improvement:
maybe a tutorial video could consist of 3 little videos side by side: how to do it wrong / how to do it better / how to do it right - example from beige: attacking marine as skulk in corridor - going front: completly wrong / going front with using walljumps: better / using vent: right. right now its just like: video saying "if there is a possiblity, sneak behind a marine by using a vent".
2. other type of rookie server:
human players VS bot-team, but bot team CANT win the match because bots wont capture the whole map... i dont know, but something like this, so all rookies are on same team & they are forced to win. dont get me wrong, the match should be still challenging, but the bots just dont kill the others main base or something like that -> for rookies: success ingame = fun to play ? and there could be a message: for a serious match join regular public servers.
btw: i am playing "planetary annihilation" right now as a newbie against bots only on the lowest skill - so i cant really lose and i still can try out all the tactics & units to get a basic knowledge before i join a real multiplayer match.
EDIT: of course, the bots should not hit 100% as it is right now and yeah its probably a lot of work the get this working with bots.
but the best idea so far was the tutorial map for each lifeform (from beige) imo.
Comments
atm we have the problem of a low player base and we have to tackle 2 problems to solve that.
player retention and getting new players in.
player retention is possible with matchmaking but won't work on a low player base, but raising the player base won't help cause they don't stay. meaning both has to happen at the same time or close to each other (I recommend retention before getting new players in)
following ideas are inspired/copied by CS:GO:
for retention:
we have the hive system working fine but personally think it's still not perfect. I mostly see players from woozas playground as most skilled players and I refuse to believe that they are this good. So I thought of redoing the quickjoin button.
That means the game will need to have some reserve servers like back then with the organized play system. This will put you into a waiting queue until you have 12 players. The players have to set there primary, secondary and tertiary lifeform in something that looks like a lobby (he can choose from: gorge, lerk, fade, onos and any). He also has the option to tick a box called "can command" (maybe a second box called "will command" so the game assigns him as commander automatically). The system will try to pick teams and should pay attention on: letting friends who want to play together play in one team; hive skill value (team average but prefered that individual players are on same level aswell); have 2 lerks, 2 fades and 1 commander in one team (at least, cause skulk, gorge and onos can be played by everyone to some extend) and location (meaning ping) in that order (if I forgot something feel free to add). This will send you into a game where 2 rounds will be played (1 as alien and 1 as marine).
Notice that you are not allowed to choose the side by yourself.
Also I would prefer to not let pub games effect the hive skill anymore and letting those "ranked games" (I call them like that now) be the only ones that effect your hive skill.
Also it should be possible to join an already running game in case someone of the players who joined first, left the game (those will be punished of course)
This should get rid of pub stomping and make an enjoyable experience for all players, which would help at retaining new players
I recommend on showing the rank of a player after the ranked game is finished. So no one can call stack and leave before the game starts but you are still able to show off with your number/symbol (or whatever you want to add)
Also another point for retaining players is a principle of hunting for loot:
I recommend that adding the possibility of winning custom weapon skins and new knife models for free (not like paying for keys to open crates you won). This is a possibility but the problem is that the game lives from atmosphere aswell (kinda). That means either we are limited on skins that don't kill the atmosphere or we might go crazy on skins and add an option to not show skins for clients (on alien skins we shouldn't do much. maybe add a frost and lava skin for aliens but that shouldn't be flashy since they rely on hiding). This also gives room for micro transactons if wished btw.
Once done that we can go to get new players:
We can do this by giant promotion and steam sales/ free weekends/weeks or going F2P at all.
Last thing: If you plan on implement all that stuff in one patch and get a free weekend (or similar) right afterwards, be sure the patch runs stable
1. tutorial improvement:
maybe a tutorial video could consist of 3 little videos side by side: how to do it wrong / how to do it better / how to do it right - example from beige: attacking marine as skulk in corridor - going front: completly wrong / going front with using walljumps: better / using vent: right. right now its just like: video saying "if there is a possiblity, sneak behind a marine by using a vent".
2. other type of rookie server:
human players VS bot-team, but bot team CANT win the match because bots wont capture the whole map... i dont know, but something like this, so all rookies are on same team & they are forced to win. dont get me wrong, the match should be still challenging, but the bots just dont kill the others main base or something like that -> for rookies: success ingame = fun to play ? and there could be a message: for a serious match join regular public servers.
btw: i am playing "planetary annihilation" right now as a newbie against bots only on the lowest skill - so i cant really lose and i still can try out all the tactics & units to get a basic knowledge before i join a real multiplayer match.
EDIT: of course, the bots should not hit 100% as it is right now and yeah its probably a lot of work the get this working with bots.
but the best idea so far was the tutorial map for each lifeform (from beige) imo.
1 or 2 years ago. The InternetS has memory.