After being ignored in the patch discussion forum, I figured I’d try my luck here.
The new Warthunder style ship tree is an abomination. I have spent the last 3 months enjoying this game immensely. I spent quite a while figuring out what ship roles I was proficient at, figuring out the paths I wanted to take and working toward grinding out synergy and credits, etc. and in one patch all of my planning and grinding is made irrelevant because I now have to purchase 6 ships that I already know I have little interest in just to move up a rank to get the one a truly have been working for. After immersing in this game and even spending the money, time, and effort organizing a corporation, I’ve lost my taste for it. It’s like you guys are making these decisions with maxed out ships of every factions and role in full synergy, while the lower level players are now stuck in the mud to try and squirm our way up by wasting credits, time, and resources on things many of us have already decided we are not interested in. This move will not motivate your new players, but turn them off to the grind, which was manageable before, but with this move has become nearly insulting. I’m a graphic designer and was in the process of designing an impromptu ad campaign to get more new players interested, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort after this change. I always defend the devs in chat from all the players whining about this and that, but it seems I’m going to have to throw my lot in with the whiners this time. This is the first time I’ve become disappointed in a change made to the game since I started playing so much so that I’ve considered giving up on the whole endeavor and all my plans for improving its player base.
This is a feature of the baseline play of the game that was instituted which limits the player’s ability to control their progress. I spent weeks grinding out in ships I didn’t like flying to complete Miss Frost missions, and when I completed them, was happy that I never had to fly them again. Now, to even level up, not only do I have to purchase and upgrade ships I don’t enjoy, but I have to purchase and upgrade MULTIPLE ships I don’t enjoy just to move forward in the ranks. I’ve been grinding toward a R11 for a month, and the day I acquire enough synergy and credits to purchase it, I’m told that I can’t even move up a rank until I’ve purchased SIX MORE SHIPS. If I wanted those six ships, I would already have them. I’ve bought and sold ships after finding out I didn’t enjoy them so i could use the credits to pursue a line of progress that I enjoy. Now I’m FORCED to go back and spend miserable hours re-levelling things I never had an intention of flying again. The only justification for this is to make the grind harder and longer so people will be more likely to purchase licenses and premium ships to speed up their purchasing and levelling. There is ABSOLUTELY NO aspect of this game in which limiting the ship tree in the way it has been limited would add to the enjoyment of the game.
The institution of this feature is an inadvertent attack by the devs on their own game by limiting and hindering the low to mid level players, plain and simple. I’m afraid this feature will have an extremely detrimental effect on the already dwindling player population, and has already diminished my desire to play or to improve my corp. What’s the point in trying to start a new corp if it’s going to be a year before I have enough players of high enough rank to build a dreadnought? Had I known this was going to happen, I would have never wasted my money on building a corp. Guess the joke;s on me again, because the devs have my cash already. I know that I played for at least two to three hours a day before this patch, and now, the thought of even logging on irritates me because I know that what awaits me is no longer fun, but work. I’ve gone from praising the devs and enjoying this game above any game I’ve ever played to being absolutely disgusted in a matter of days, and I’m not the only player that feels this way.