Star Conflict has some of the most fun gameplay of any PvP game that I’ve ever seen yet it makes me want to scream for how bad it’s infrastructure is.
Way, WAY too much time is spent just waiting around in order to play a match. Here’s my solution:
Do away with the current game system. I mean, rather than trying to wait for a full team of pilots, have games start with a minimum of just 2 people and have others join as they enter the queue. Instead of having rewards be based on points earned in game, have them be based mostly on time spent in game with modifiers based on how well you did. Also, get rid of the reward distribution system. Why does it make sense that the reward is lessened if everyone gets close to or the same score? This isn’t an MMORPG where people care about story elements like your employer having to pay you based on your contributions to the battle compared to your fellow mercenaries (that’s the only explanation I can think of for why it is the way it is right now). We should not be penalized if one game we have an amazing game and kill 20 people but someone else was better so I get a crappy pay off.
Anyways, in order to reduce waiting time and have your players be having fun rather than sitting around aimlessly (you can’t even mess with your ship configurations while waiting but you already knew that) change the matchmaking system. Make rewards time based not efficiency based.
Also, the way things are, people are abusing the fixed payout regardless of game length. They just get a few people together in a custom game, set it to combat recon, and have everyone suicide right off for instant payout. I mean, hey, free monies! Anyway, does it make sense to have the hardest fought most intense battle that takes over 10 minutes reward the same as a 2 minute game? Sure, you want to reward being fast and skilled but more than that, you punish being slow. You punish all the players that get stuck in long drawn out games.
I guess it’s a good thing leaving a battle penalizes you, right? I mean, most games settle for giving rage quitters no rewards for the time they just spent in battle. But SC? Nope, you can’t even start a new match till the old one is over! You can’t even re join! Why even leave? No reward AND no fun. I spend way too much time explaining to new players in chat that it’s not a bug that their ships are stuck in battle and that the game actually does that. Not one person has ever said, “Ya know what, that’s a great idea!” Not one. In fact, most people despise it. You should be allowed to leave a game if you are hopelessly outmatched by your opponents. You should be able to surrender rather than face a crushing defeat. And you should be allowed to play after leaving. If you’ve been pushed the point where you would rage quit, chances are you’ve had enough. Enough of everything. To get it off your mind, you want to jump into a new match and keep going while you try to have that one good game that can put an end to the night. You want to keep going but you can’t. Not only does matchmaking take FOREVER, if you get stuck in a bad match, you just have to wait it out. It’s one heck of a frustrating road block. Personally, I can’t believe I still play this game. If it weren’t for the great game-play and stunning graphics, I would be miles away by now.
That’s it for the important part. Really, it’s that stuff that is keeping me from even considering spending money on this game.
In regards to the new synergy system:
You made it worse, not better. It is now not feasible for the casual player to have more than one type of ship at the T3 level due to the incredible amount of time it would take to rank up each ship in one tree to get there. Luckily for me, I was playing before that happened and had a few already close. Let’s say I’m a player that plays T3 as a Covert Ops pilot but wants to change it up and fly in T3 battles with a guard or long range frig. NOPE. No can do. Why? Not only are you penalized for flying as a lower tier ship (which makes absolutely no sense and I will explain in a bit), but in order to get a feasible version (the corresponding T3 version) you have to sink hundreds of hours flying a ship for almost no rewards (the payout is horrible at anything less than T3).
Shouldn’t you reward people for being so good that they can take out higher tiered enemies with a lower tiered ship? What if you are seeking a challenge and decide that you want to try a T3 pve in a T2 ship? Well, you can’t even try that because the game doesn’t let you. This should only work one way: down. You should not be able to fly a higher tier ship in a lower tier match. You should, however, be able to fly a lower tier ship in a higher tier match for the same if not greater reward. The rewards should be based solely on how well you do in this regard. On top of time spent in game, your performance should dictate the reward. If you can complete a T3 match objective (like capturing a beacon) with a t2 ship, that should be rewarded, NOT penalized. If you can kill a higher tier ship with a lower tier ship, that should be rewarded (and not just with a fancy but useless medal). Isn’t that what you’re already trying to do with the efficiency ratings? REWARD skill? Skill should be rewarded but those without it shouldn’t be punished. You do that enough already with the pay to win ships. If you changed the system as I’ve outlined here, it would make it more feasible to play as and level up other ships. Not only more feasible but more FUN. It is not fun to grind through leveling a low tier ship when you know you could be making hundreds of thousands of credits playing in the much more fun higher tiers.
If you don’t do this, have free synergy be generated at a MUCH higher rate. Whatever that is is up to you. But since keeping true to the RPG nature of the game is so important to you, it makes more sense to have the old system.
I also believe that having a durability rating that can run out and require that a ship be repaired makes no sense whatsoever in the context of the game. You ship blows up in combat and every few deaths you need to repair it? First of all, any smart pilot realizes that it’s a bad idea to auto repair since you can die any number of times and not have to repair until after the next battle. Secondly, it comes off as a money hungry tactic to motivate people to buy premium ships. The only advantage to premium ships should be that they are cooler looking and maybe stronger. We don’t need to have a “repair” mechanic to help drain free players credits and encourage people to buy premium ships. Premium ships are “premium” enough already. I bring this up, not because it’s a big problem, but because it’s the only reason I can find for having rewards be tied to the rank of the ship you fly and not the tier you are flying in.
One thing that needs to be realized is the ratio of time spent to progress in game. If you require too much time to advance, you either get people to pay or play less when they realize it would take an inordinate amount of time to progress. If it takes too long to get another viable ship at T3 (where games are the most fun in my opinion) you might give up on getting one and simply play as your only ship that has a chance. Once you get bored of that ship, you’re done. Again, fix by having more free synergy generated. Also, in order to prevent the increase in free synergy generated make leveling the current ship even easier, have free synergy only be applicable to ships other than the one that earned it. That or re-balance synergy gains/costs.
Another point to address:
It is really, REALLY cruel torture to be forced to play a capture the beacons game when you might only have one ship (or one ship in the tier you’re in). Naturally you are at a huge disadvantage and I know a lot of players would prefer to avoid such situations. Your custom game lobby system was a good try but overall a failure. The average player wants to be able to play their favorite game mode when they want to play it. They don’t want to be forced to play capture the beacons when they aren’t capable of doing anything. No one wants to fight a battle for which they are ill -equipped. The average player, however, is precluded from the possibility of choosing how they have fun. The average player does not have enough friends to get together and play a custom game that rewards them for playing it. The only time I have ever seen a group of people other than a corp in a standard rules lobby (and I don’t think I have ever seen a corp in a lobby that was standard rules) was when there were people attracted by the chance at quick games and quick profits. That’s pretty lame. Other than that, no one uses the lobby system.
Wait, never mind. People are forced to use it to make sure that they can get a group of 4 into the same PvE mission. Why? Because the squad limit was “balanced.” How does that balance the game? You prevent people from forming squads with other players they want to play with because they make the teams unbalanced? They are actually trying to use TEAM WORK and it works so well that you reduce the squad sizes. This game is all about teamwork and those that can organize a group of people and work together should be rewarded. If you are trying to prevent people from coordinating and having fun with a group of friends, you are doing a great job. Not only can they not all be in the same game together, they also can’t be on the same team to work together and play with each other without wasting time in a custom game that gives out no rewards. PvP games like this should reward coordination and team work because it’s hard to pull off. You’d be hard pressed to find any other MMO, PvP or not, that discourages and ever NERFS team work. In fact, most other MMOs have a voice communication system built in in order to foster communication and teamwork. Why not make teamwork easier for everyone instead of harder for the few players that love the game enough to play it properly?
Back to the matchmaking now. Why even have sector conquest? As of now, it serves no purpose except to make new players want to join corps on the winning side. There is no reward for winning a new sector or holding one you own. No incentive at all. Instead of having that, replace it with a list of server hosted lobbies. Picture this: a list of servers that shows a small image of the map alongside the name of the map and the game mode of that lobby. Next to that is the number of players in-game and the number of spots still open. Next to that is how much time is left in the match. There would be some lobbies that are in the 1 minute downtime between matches. A player with this system now has the option of waiting that 1 minute to play with the same group of people or moving on to find instant action. That’s right instant fun. No waiting around for the game to place you in some random lobby for a game that may or may not be fast and therefore profitable. If someone wants the old style of random game modes, have a “quick join” button that throws them into a random game. If balancing is an issue, why not have players join in to the team with the lower combined destroyed ships rating? Have teams be reorganized within a lobby based on how well each player is doing in between each round. That way there’s an incentive to staying in the same lobby. Every successive game gets more and more balanced and more and more fun. If you don’t like it, you can get up and move to another lobby. Having games balanced based on destroyed ships rating is unreliable. Someone could have a really high DSR from flying one ship in one game mode and being amazing but then switch to another ship for a different game mode and be average at best.
I think that’s it for my grievances. For now. I have some things to say about the nature of the P2W structure of the game but those aren’t nearly as important as what I’ve brought up here about making the game an overall more enjoyable experience for everyone.
Would you like an example of a game that operates along the above outlined methods? Check out Blacklight: Retribution. It’s a free to play game just like SC except it does matchmaking and game rewards/speed of progression properly. Its gameplay isn’t half as fun as SC but it was so good combined with its structuring that I spent more money than I care to admit on it. Here’s a link: http://blacklight.perfectworld.com/
My tone may have been a bit harsh at times but please take in to consideration the points I have brought up here. At this point I have spent over 2 hours writing this up after pulling an all-nighter because I care about this game so much and I want to see it shine! I have a lot of experience with MMO and free-to-play games and would love to help out in any way I can. I am also a college paper editor in my spare time and would love to help out polishing up the game!
If you’ve read this far, I sincerely appreciate it! Keep up the good work you devs!
Edit: I would like to let you know that I wrote this without ever reading anything else on the forums. After having done so now, I realize that i have reinstated a lot of the issues that others have as well. This makes everything all the more concerning.