So, I’ve come back for a patch-test and have a few suggestions after having left the game a few months back.
First things first, good changes that I’ve noticed after logging in.
Changes for the better
- Death Screen.
Hey, it’s nice to know how I died, and from what sources.
- Missions/Contacts.
Not that I care for them, but they help guide newbies along a little.
Changes I’m not sure about
- Speed changes.
At first I thought they were great. I still think what they did was admirable, but they’ve greatly shifted the feel of combat. Enemy ships are a lot harder to hit. A flat 10% cut to speed across the board(afterburners and everything) would be good. This change might just be confusing because of the camera change…
Changes that must be worked on
- Camera. (Must be reverted for me to return)
The game was designed for distant 3rd person. Technical limitations ruin reasonable attempts to let you get in the cockpit. Give us an option to return to the old camera and leave the current camera as the default. I’m not coming back for good unless this change is implemented. I can’t see anything (that matters in combat) with the camera as close as it is. I don’t need to see my ship cover up 1/4th of the screen.
- Refunds.
Any galactic standards (gold) that have been spent needs to be completely refunded every major patch (0.8.0, 0.9.0) because so much is changed. In 0.8.0 I had a lot of my ships change roles that I was no longer interested in playing. That’s not fun to see what you earned turned into something you don’t want, and is now worthless. Players are willing to continue spending money when they see that you respect their purchases.
- Cross-Tier Matching.
No matter what this “feature” feels bad. Always. Whether you’re the newbie to the next tier or near the top of your current tier you feel screwed. Give the newbies in the tier a 10 game power bonus on that tier specific first ship in the tier. You either feel like you’re put in with really over-equipped players, or that your tier is low. Don’t let that happen.
- Ship Tech “Trees”
Did someone say paths? Seriously, the tiers in patch 0.8.0 became paths. Give us the option to actually branch out. While you’re at it, let us buy ships that aren’t equipped with anything, and let us buy them with the basic loadout as you currently have. Make the basic loadout ship cost only more than it would be if you’re going to sell back all the modules it comes with.
- Healing.
Remove AoE healing for a patch. Ask players whether they like the no-healing gameplay better. That is all I ask.
Suggestions for alternate healing modules:
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Make the shield generator and nanoparticle cloud use a ton of energy, maybe heal 2x as much. Let most ships only sustain those modules for 2-5 seconds before completely running out of energy. Set the overall cooldown on those modules to 12-15 seconds.
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Make the shield generator and nanoparticle cloud modules only repair the nearest 2-3 most damaged ships.
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Ships that have taken damage in the last 5 seconds only heal for 50% of the healing aura.
- Reward players for advancing tiers
Currently money-wise there isn’t always an advantage to advancing a tier. Make it worth it to get into the next tier. Reduce repair costs, just make it so you always make more money by investing into the next tier of ships.
Suggestions:
-Give a week license for buying your first ship in the next tier.
-Make that ship earn x2 as much gold or reputation.
-Free Galactic Standards (Something that feels like a reward. 500-800 is rewarding. 100 is insulting)
- Loot System
Don’t show me a piece of loot that I’m not going to get. As far as the odds go, 10% means I’m not going to get it, and 30% means I’m not going to get it but spent real money on it.
Suggestion:
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If you spend galactic standards, you have 100% chance of getting it, If you try for free, 10% chance. If you spend normal credits, you have a 30% chance.
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Revert the system, but if you invest galactic standards, make sure it’s more obvious part as they helped you to get certain modules.
- Mailbox
We care about combat, our ships, and modules. Not about picking up every credit and rep we should have gotten anyways.
Suggestions:
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Make a single click, take all button.
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Automatically get all money and reputation without clicking through the mail system.
- Special Modules (Pure suggestion)
Make the special modules on each ship completely arbitrary. Let me have my Covert Ops Swift with warp drive. Let me have a command ship with stealth. Go ahead and give bonuses for certain modules on classifications on ships. The reason why special modules were moved around in the first place was for balance. Guess what, it’s still imbalanced with each race only having 2 roles in each ship.
Suggestions(List format, properly outlined):
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Let me choose my special modules and role in every ship. Open it up so I can have an Elf ECM class with Plasma web.
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Certain ships do certain roles better.
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Don’t limit each race to 2 roles per ship type. Going Jericho should let you get an ECM, Covert Ops, AND Recon Interceptor.
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Make certain races have slightly better classes. Federation should have slightly better engi frigates. Empire should have the best long range frigates. Do that, it’s great.
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Encourage us to choose our faction by what type of ships we like to fly.
That’s the end of my list of problems that have not been properly addressed. It’s not quite complete, but it’s a list of problems that drove me away from a game that I have over 300 hours clocked in on Steam. Some of the problems aren’t critical. Most are.
I know this game is in beta. However, to maintain interest, these issues must be addressed to grow a beta-community that still enjoys the game and follows it through it’s changes.
Most players write a game off forever after trying it once. Don’t lose future customers because you wont’ fix what needs to be fixed.
My Hopes and Best Regards,
Saikaici
