Unofficial NS2 Player Survey

CrushaKCrushaK Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167195Members, NS2 Playtester
edited October 2013 in NS2 General Discussion
Just out of curiosity and because I still had similar surveys lying around from my SMNC times, I made a survey for NS2 as well:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?usp=drive_web&formkey=dFV6bGNQYTgyTTJXd3J3ZGhwXzFfUEE6MA#gid=0

It should take about 15 minutes to complete. I don't have any expectations that this is going to be representative of the whole NS2 playerbase, since a big part of the community is probably not even frequenting these forums. But it's nice nonetheless to see how some things about the game are perceived by other people here.

The survey starts with some questions about you and your experience with the game. Then comes a section that goes over your gameplay habits and end with a section where you can state your opinion on individual balancing topics and some theses that I postulated (some of them intentionally worded in a negative way).

At the end of the survey will you get a link to a page that shows the summarized results, which I will also post here later after enough initial participation, so the results don't get flawed right away. (It also may say that 122 people already participated in the survey in the spreadsheet view, but that's just Google Docs being a bit buggy. Don't pay attention to it. It will probably skew the percentages, but the bars will still be correct.)
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Comments

  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Interesting to look at the results, although with so few people in right now it seems bound to change. Thanks for doing this, though, it's a good idea.
  • NarfwakNarfwak Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5258Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica PT Lead, NS2 Community Developer
    Very well thought out. I hope lots of people respond as I'm very interested in seeing what people think on such a wide range of stuff with fairly neutral wording.
  • littleevilwolflittleevilwolf Join Date: 2013-01-17 Member: 180231Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    .-. first female out of 29 males a total of 30 people have done it when i did this.
  • ellnicellnic Join Date: 2010-07-19 Member: 72559Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Some useful information about what people think after completing it. Nice Survey, Nicely structured and asking all the useful/important questions
  • GORGEousGORGEous Join Date: 2012-02-19 Member: 146762Members, NS2 Map Tester
    edited October 2013
    Good survey. Lots of interesting and comprehensive questions. I'm very curious of the results.
  • ns2isgoodns2isgood Join Date: 2013-04-16 Member: 184847Members
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited October 2013
    Kind of sad the graph looks that way a year into development but what are you gonna do.

    Crusha - is there a way to see the results without taking the entire survey again?
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Don't think anyone should be surprised by that though.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    I like the survey. As we all know the sample population is only going to be the more hardcore players.
  • BensonBenson Join Date: 2012-03-07 Member: 148303Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    edited October 2013
    Good questions on the survey! This should be tweeted officially (or whatever PR magic gets worked) to get more people to take it.

    I think it's pretty comprehensive about including many of the various viewpoints about the game and can give a great generalization of what the players really want,
  • xBlueXFoxxxBlueXFoxx Join Date: 2013-06-07 Member: 185497Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    This is actually a good survey, I think it may actually become useful.
  • CD121CD121 Join Date: 2013-04-04 Member: 184635Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    This survey is a good thing- it's comprehensive, stands in the middle ground, and is quite complete. More people should know about this, however it may be facilitated.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Just did this, however I'd like you to take this into account, I also wrote it in the final question box,
    Next time add reason boxes to choices, since many of the questions are situational. For example, "Rate the following (taking into account cost)" "Grenade Launcher". Well, in my opinion, if used in a group of 4+ to siege a hive, yes, it is way too strong and can take out a hive and the surrounding structures in no time with backup from the other players. However, on it's own, it's extremely underpowered as you would die instantly. There were SO many questions like this where it depended very much on how something was used, or were you asking if whatever it may be was used in the best possible way how powerful is it and does it need changes?
  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    edited October 2013
    Ghosthree3 wrote: »
    Just did this, however I'd like you to take this into account, I also wrote it in the final question box,
    Next time add reason boxes to choices, since many of the questions are situational. For example, "Rate the following (taking into account cost)" "Grenade Launcher". Well, in my opinion, if used in a group of 4+ to siege a hive, yes, it is way too strong and can take out a hive and the surrounding structures in no time with backup from the other players. However, on it's own, it's extremely underpowered as you would die instantly. There were SO many questions like this where it depended very much on how something was used, or were you asking if whatever it may be was used in the best possible way how powerful is it and does it need changes?

    Yeah i also looked for the Checkbox "Depends" there ;) BTW you can look up results here

  • AsranielAsraniel Join Date: 2002-06-03 Member: 724Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
    Interesting poll! more people should fill it out to get better results
  • CrushaKCrushaK Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167195Members, NS2 Playtester
    edited October 2013
    Here are the results from the text fields, since not many answers are shown in the summary:

    too many to count
    1k+
    Played for years, every night.
    500
    Was young, tons.
    1000+
    100-200
    400-500
    500+
    3000+
    300
    ?
    100
    5000
    300
    1,000-2,000?
    Hard to say, around a couple of hundred hours
    0
    more thani could guess
    countless
    a lot
    400
    400
    500
    i dont really know but i think over 1000 hours
    800
    How the heck would I know?
    1000
    300+
    250
    3000+
    3000
    400
    way too many
    2500
    200
    ~200
    My entire childhood
    100+
    Several thousand
    600
    not sure
    Thousands
    200+
    Can't remember
    thousands
    500+
    2000
    over 1000

    don't ignore NS1. The semblance of complexity comes from the sum of simplistic qualities.

    "It's a great concept for a game and many, many aspects of it are excellent. It's just such a shame that UWE is so boneheaded as to make numerous awful business decisions and hurt its chances of succeeding.

    It might already be too late, but if this game is going to survive to its second anniversary it needs performance updates and balance fixes, not silly tournaments."

    Surround sound hasnt worked right for over a year now and still mo proper key binding system.

    I don't think UWE knows what the game should be like in the end and how to release a build w/o crashes/new bugs. And that after all this time...it is frustrating!

    Your survey was really long!

    "Honestly I visit the forums one a week after the Reinforcement patch but do not play at all or keep up with the latest news anymore. They literally killed the performance that took so long to fix with the Linux garbage and they have nothing to show for it given the player base is even lower now. They ask for money in reinforced and yet none of it is going towards performance? Why pay for something they broke in one patch? Then asking for money for ANOTHER comp tournament that most of the remaining player base do not give a shit about? Seriously?

    Not to fucking mention they killed and fucked over docking for competitive and left it a mess that neither the normal players or competitive players use. Fuck UWE and I hope everything goes wrong with their games just for ignoring the needs of the average player. Good performance and good balanced FUN not competitive shit that gets nowhere after constant attempts to make it relevant. I am glad they drove NS2 into the ground. "

    Help community mappers instead of the tiny competitive community.

    Awesome! Thanks for doing this!!!

    My name is It's Super Effective, and I approve of this survey. But it's timing is very suspect, like it may be skewed because of the current discontent of recent events. Just saying.

    I had more fun with NS2 during the beta, than I do now nearly a year after release.

    Nope.

    "Feels like only half the spectrum of NS2 ""issues"" were covered.

    The game's development is destructive to its player base. New bugs are introduced while old bugs are not fixed. Released updates are rushed and tend to be extremely unstable. Modifications break consistently with new patches. I feel like the team makes more excuses than advancements and this appears to be common thought on many discussion forums that are not moderated by UWE. Small team, little time, etc.....there are a ton of indie games with smaller teams that produce much higher quality work and do not ask for additional donations conveniently before discussing a decrease in game specific development."

    From the south side US

    Gorge love!

    I'm a playtester. so take my input as such I suppose.

    Cysts and Power nodes restrict gameplay heavily. Why in gods name is a fast paced multiplayer fps/rts game written mostly in lua (aside from the engine of course). I want more than garbage 30 tic rate. Probably lots of other things to complain about forever but oh well.

    Improve the state of the tools. You forgot to add that as an option on the last question.

    Keep it up UWE, Great game

    MORE FPS!!!!!!

    no

    hugh needs to stop putting so much UWE marketing into competative play

    #fireHugh2013

    performance sucks for this game

    Performance improvement ASAP!

    Good work CrushaK!

    Game is shit cause of shit engine.

    The grenade launcher is actually a very powerful tool when paired with a jetpack, it is the bilbebomb of the marine team. It can be used to direct impact upgrades and change the game for aliens.

    Awesome survey. Good luck analyzing the data :)

    Aliens need ways to recover lost Personal Res from dying advanced lifeforms.

    "I refrained from answering many of the questions considering I don't have enough hours of play (neither I'm playing much lately) to give a meaningful opinion.
    Apart from that I believe that performance improvements are still a much needed thing (many people have the game but don't play it for the sole reason that - they can't), and there needs to be a bigger player base."

    ns2 blows and the people that play it suck.

    Ns2 is life!

    The new skulk movement is so good.. it's like flying.

    For that last option, I'd like performance as well. Well done on the survey.

    "Need Evolution Chamber in hives for lifeforms. (1per hive)
    Select spawn egg,
    More maps.
    gg"

    GORGE PLUSHY IN AUSTRALIA

    "Sounds and sound effects are important part of the experience. I miss old ns1 sounds such as the beeps from a frag or pressing 'use' on a door. Also, bring back weldables. I want to bind my mousewheel, bind chuckle, and bind 'need welding' among many other things.

    Even with the grocery list of items I want implemented, I still think the game is great and I do genuinely have love for Natural Selection and UWE. This game is apart of my childhood and I will always have fond memories with it. NS2 is a game that really indulges a fantasy of marines vs aliens fighting against each other in a futuristic world and the maps do provide a great setting which is why I really enjoy the visuals and the tiny details that go into the UI and maps.

    It makes for an enjoyable experience, however, I do believe that the extreme system requirements for playing the game with 60fps prevents many from taking notice of them. The majority of users probably don't have great PC's with the latest parts so everyone is playing on low settings.

    Tons of people love to complain about the game, but I believe the criticism is very undeserved. UWE is a great company and I believe the reinforcement program has definitely shown that they have tremendous supporters."

    Next time add reason boxes to choices, since many of the questions are situational. For example, "Rate the following (taking into account cost)" "Grenade Launcher". Well, in my opinion, if used in a group of 4+ to siege a hive, yes, it is way too strong and can take out a hive and the surrounding structures in no time with backup from the other players. However, on it's own, it's extremely underpowered as you would die instantly. There were SO many questions like this where it depended very much on how something was used, or were you asking if whatever it may be was used in the best possible way how powerful is it and does it need changes?

    I'd like to see balance / pub game enjoyability improved more than performance, but balance wasn't an option on the list.

    Take everything I said with a grain of salt. I haven't been playing much due to avoiding steam sales, college, and just not having as much fun in the game as before.

    We need more variety in strategies for aliens early/mid game.

    "A big problem with the game is finding a commander for each side. I tried to get friends to play the game but when we get into a game, everyone sits around waiting for someone to command. Usually it takes too long for someone to go commander and by then everyone is bored.

    Basically, as ridiculous as it sounds, the game needs an AI commander/in-game tech-tree voting for when a team lacks a willing player to go commander. I know, it's silly, but I'm dead serious. Waiting for a commander is BRUTAL for the average joe gamer that just wants to get in and play and have fun."

    Please fix alien vision.

    I had a dream last night I went on holiday to mars with Carl Sagan

    Keep up the good work

    "Many options are missing, some of the questions are biased.

    As for preference - no. 1 for me are bugfixes and balancing the game - getting out of alpha finally, and getting the fundamentals right. Some of the recent changes were good, others were horrible. Things that bug me most (I don't play so much anymore because of them):

    1) Marine strafe jumping - made melee horrible, unpredictable mess
    2) Alien vision - some mods out there are infinitely better
    3) Onos boneshield cannot be mapped to RMB - i have to switch weapons to defend? Seriously?
    4) I still think medpacks are a poor game mechanics, all deus ex machina buffs are. "

    ded game, pls touch (and buy) our bones on tournament, pls -- UWE

    Plushies!

    "1 Performance improvement
    2 Matchmaking

    Keep up the good work, game is great."
  • Omega_K2Omega_K2 Join Date: 2011-12-25 Member: 139013Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited October 2013
    Some options are bit vague, like lifeform abilities <-> lifeform balance, as they do affect the lifeform balance.
    Other then that, there should should also a be a redesign option, like no necessarily a buff or nerf, but a different version of something (i.e. old vortex, though that was an option in a different part of the survery). And some of these things are very situational to judge.
    Also regarding what @Ghosthree3 wrote, it would be nice to see a reason here and there as to why people think something needs a buff or nerf, and especially why it's balanced.

    Also you didn't go into other aspects of the game, juding from your OP it seems intentional, but still, UI, Options, Server Browser, Grafics (like one of the specific questions - effects obfusicating screen), Sounds are also part of the game.

    But anyway, decent survery overall.

    Also lol @results. Taking some of these options together (that were close to even to balanced or higher), would result in like 80% alien win again. Nerf Marine Jump, Nerf JP, Nerf Nanoshield, Buff Fade, Buff Web/Babbler, Cheaper eggs, Nerf flamethrower [hardcounter question], alien darkrooms, more stuff to counter arcs (and on the alien nerf side, researchable google tunnels again)
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    The other thing to consider when talking about buff/balanced/nerf is, are you asking if that was the ONLY thing to be changed, how would you change it (if)? Or would other things be changed too, because then they might counter balance and you find that changing one thing is no longer needed because of another.

    Honestly, while the idea of a survey is great, there are just WAY too many situational results for it to ever be truly useful imo. Well, not in a yes/no a/b/c/d type of format anyway. Text answers maybe.
  • [AwE]Sentinel[AwE]Sentinel Join Date: 2012-06-05 Member: 152949Members
    I just hope UWE does a steam wide survey similar to this one but even longer before they do ns3 or another project. Learn from ns2 as much as possible I say ;)
  • |DFA| Havoc|DFA| Havoc Join Date: 2009-08-07 Member: 68375Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Seeing all the votes for 'buff fades' made me lose a little faith in humanity.
  • xBlueXFoxxxBlueXFoxx Join Date: 2013-06-07 Member: 185497Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Seeing all the votes for 'buff fades' made me lose a little faith in humanity.

    Fades are at a good stance currently, I'd like to see the old vortex however, teleporting back I have never been able to find strategic at all, stopping a beacon with the old vortex however is a game changer.

    I kind of lost it at the question asking grenade launchers being more of a waste to the marine team then a gain, upgrade rush anyone?
  • sotanahtsotanaht Join Date: 2013-01-12 Member: 179215Members
    edited October 2013
    ns2isgood wrote: »
    lol -

    dXHfrxL.png

    Why was there no BALANCE option?

    I voted for matchmaking, but then you tacked on all that other shit that doesn't affect pubs to the same option. I'm not really convinced matchmaking is an effective or viable solution though, and what I really want is BALANCE. New content sets balance back to ground zero so if I could vote AGAINST new lifeforms/maps/weapons etc I would. Performance has been acceptable if not really very good on my 3 year old machine so I am indifferent there.


    Speaking of balance, I ended up answering the individual mechanics balance question based on how good each mechanic felt to use and play against. I find that a vast majority of alien abilities feel like they need buffs, while it is mostly marine options that feel like they need to be nerfed. However on the whole I understand that the alien team is generally stronger than the marine team, so obviously going through with those individual changes would lead to a massively unbalanced game.
  • ezekelezekel Join Date: 2012-11-29 Member: 173589Members, NS2 Map Tester
    james888 wrote: »
    I like the survey. As we all know the sample population is only going to be the more hardcore players.

    you mean the players who stick with the game that they purchased from the start? The ones that care enough about the game to make these kind of threads, the ones who've put hundreds of hours into the game trying to help make it better? Yeah, a really bad group of people to sample from

    I know, lets get some samples from jimmy the rookie over there; the one who got this game traded for some hat in team fortress, who's going to play for a day and then move onto call of duty.. boy his input will be invaluable!
  • ezekelezekel Join Date: 2012-11-29 Member: 173589Members, NS2 Map Tester
    edited October 2013
    sotanaht wrote: »
    ns2isgood wrote: »
    lol -

    dXHfrxL.png

    Why was there no BALANCE option?

    I voted for matchmaking, but then you tacked on all that other shit that doesn't affect pubs to the same option. I'm not really convinced matchmaking is an effective or viable solution though, and what I really want is BALANCE. New content sets balance back to ground zero so if I could vote AGAINST new lifeforms/maps/weapons etc I would. Performance has been acceptable if not really very good on my 3 year old machine so I am indifferent there.


    Speaking of balance, I ended up answering the individual mechanics balance question based on how good each mechanic felt to use and play against. I find that a vast majority of alien abilities feel like they need buffs, while it is mostly marine options that feel like they need to be nerfed. However on the whole I understand that the alien team is generally stronger than the marine team, so obviously going through with those individual changes would lead to a massively unbalanced game.

    Balance is always being worked on, doesn't need to be an option

    edit: However, you won't see any 'massive' changes like 250 again AS FAR AS I KNOW
  • ezekelezekel Join Date: 2012-11-29 Member: 173589Members, NS2 Map Tester
    edited October 2013
    The only question I didn't like was

    "What is your preferred playercount"

    You should have made two separate questions, because 12v12 only really applies to competitive and I won't choose that option because that's a given, so I chose 16 players, because I generally find a 16-18 player game much more fun than a 12v12 which is atrocious

    andd I don't like how there's so many options 'rather no/rather yes' I prefer the, Agree, undecided, Disagree

    edit: I like how nanoshield got voted as balanced...... just kidding
  • CrushaKCrushaK Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167195Members, NS2 Playtester
    Well, it was a first draft and just meant to get a general overview about the player demographics and how they perceive certain things. I can still do another survey that takes the feedback here into account after the next meaningful update.

    I also stuck with just modifying my last survey to suit NS2 for now, which might have been a bad idea retrospectively instead of just starting from scratch.
  • Omega_K2Omega_K2 Join Date: 2011-12-25 Member: 139013Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    xBlueXFoxx wrote: »
    Seeing all the votes for 'buff fades' made me lose a little faith in humanity.

    Fades are at a good stance currently, I'd like to see the old vortex however, teleporting back I have never been able to find strategic at all, stopping a beacon with the old vortex however is a game changer.

    I kind of lost it at the question asking grenade launchers being more of a waste to the marine team then a gain, upgrade rush anyone?

    I perferred beta fades with 200/50, reduced damage while fading, and high mobility. I felt like they had a much higher skill ceiling and more importantly a lower skill floor. Easy to take down if the fades are bad (which should be good for pubs), but also raping if in good hands.

    Old vortex was more useful yeah.
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited October 2013
    Well, this has been up for a little while and has elicited a good number of responses, so if I may be so presumptuous allow me to draw some conclusions from this... Of course this is a very small sample size and will be skewed towards the hardcore fanbase, since obviously players who don't go to the forums won't have input here.
    - Almost everyone who filled out the survey started playing NS2 during alpha, beta, and steam release. This means that the game has had a pretty consistent and loyal hardcore fanbase throughout its history. It's somewhat troubling, though, that so few people have joined that hardcore community in the year following release. There is clearly a player retention problem that has stopped this game from expanding to more than just the original players.

    - This is further evidenced by the fact that most people are holdovers from NS1... There's a lack of new players being brought in.

    - Of all the people who filled out the poll, only 7 were introduced to the game through a broadcast of a competitive match, the smallest group. Maybe UWE should think what they stand to gain by throwing so much money at live tournaments.

    - It would appear that interest in the game is declining among hardcore fans, with the majority of players playing 0-7 hours per week and confirming that they play the game less than they did when they first started.

    - A lot of the hardcore fanbase doesn't play on competitive teams, something I feel is sometimes overlooked in discussing balance. Also, way more Div 1 comp players filled this out than the others, which is somewhat interesting... Logically you would assume there would be more from the other divisions.

    - To be fair, most of the community enjoys watching comp matches, so maybe I'm being a little unfair complaining about UWE's careless spending on tournaments. I still think it's more important to bring in new players instead of catering to the established fanbase.

    - Of the 136 people who filled out the poll so far, 5 play on a 32-bit operating system. Makes you wonder if all these patches directed at solving 32-bit problems are really a good use of UWE's time and energy.

    - There is almost no interest in a Mac version of the game.

    - Ping is a bit higher on average than it probably should be.

    - "Balanced" received more votes than OP or UP for every single item except Gorge Webs and Babblers, which most people agree need more love. On the whole, it seems that the community thinks balance is in a pretty good place.

    - Biggest requests for nerfs: nanoshield, jetpacks, mucous membrane.

    - Biggest requests for buffs: gorge webs, babblers, fades (and all fade abilities), oni, cluster and pulse grenades, crag upgrades

    - Summit is one hell of a good map. Look at that graph.

    - Most popular ranking for each map: Summit (5), Tram, Veil, Descent, and Biodome (4), Mineshaft, Docking, and Refinery (3). In line with what we typically think of in terms of quality of maps.

    - On average, people think marines are more powerful and enjoy the early game more than the late game.

    - Almost everyone wants to see gorge webs come out sooner.

    - In case we didn't already realize, team stacking is a problem.

    - If UWE improves performance, adds matchmaking, and does nothing else, they've pleased 95% of the people who filled out this poll.
  • CrushaKCrushaK Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167195Members, NS2 Playtester
    You have to take the "interested in Mac version" with a grain of salt, though. People who only have a Mac would surely be interested in a Mac version, but since there isn't one they are not part of this community yet and thus also don't vote here. In general it is assumed that you get about 5-10% of the PC sales with a Mac version of games.
  • Blarney_StoneBlarney_Stone Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Yeah, the Mac version would likely bring in some new players, it's understandable that this community is not as interested as we play the game on PCs.
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