"Guns of Icarus" fans, holding game back.

[Aythreuk]

Hello.
Some of you may be aware that "Guns of Icarus Online" was basically the featured game of Indie Royales latest bundle.
Which, as of posting this had sold 11,112 bundles. That's 11,112 new players coming into Guns of Icarus this week and at least trying it out.
http://www.indieroyale.com/
You can see the exact sales numbers on that link for the next 2 days of posting this at least, after that the bundle will be off sale and you probably won't be able to see the sales statistics. It's the "Mash Bundle"

Usually, there is maybe.. what? 100-200 players online at some of the games busier times. So you might ask yourself, where is this flock of players who were probably playing Guns of Icarus for the first time at some point this week. Where did they go?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=130962903

This is what you did to them. Guess where they went? To play the other games in their bundle.
This game could of potentially received a healthy boost to it's playerbase this week, but it didn't due to these kind of team stacks.
If you try to tell me team stacking isn't common in this game, while I can't provide evidence of that (not sure how I would anyway, conduct a huge survey?), I will just laugh at you.

[Captain Smollett]

I'll admit that I often play on a stacked side, since I generally like to fly with the people I know and have met through the game, and I have been more or less flying with since I bought it.  For me it's enjoyable to socialize and chat while flying through the skies and vanquishing foes.  That being said I usually don't mind evening out teams if asked.  It often only takes two ships switching, with one going up and one going down to balance out experience levels and I'm always happy to do that.

[Aythreuk]

I'll admit that I often play on a stacked side, since I generally like to fly with the people I know and have met through the game, and I have been more or less flying with since I bought it.  For me it's enjoyable to socialize and chat while flying through the skies and vanquishing foes.  That being said I usually don't mind evening out teams if asked.  It often only takes two ships switching, with one going up and one going down to balance out experience levels and I'm always happy to do that.

I'm glad to hear that . . . kind of?
Usually I would say something and be ignored as the blatantly and shamelessly stacked team continues to blabber among themselves.

[Captain Smollett]

Yeah, I can't speak for everyone in the game but I find most people easygoing and agreeable.  That being said I really learned a lot by flying against all those stacked teams that I flew against when I started.  I had a lot of losses flying in those games but it definitely made me better.  I can't tell you how proud I was the first time I made Firestone rage quit.

[Aythreuk]

Yeah, I can't speak for everyone in the game but I find most people easygoing and agreeable.  That being said I really learned a lot by flying against all those stacked teams that I flew against when I started.  I had a lot of losses flying in those games but it definitely made me better.  I can't tell you how proud I was the first time I made Firestone rage quit.

I would say you could learn a lot more in balanced teams because then you have experienced people on your team and you can see what they're actually doing on board. You can't see what the enemy is doing on board.

That and you know, balanced teams would make people want to actually play the game.

[Shinkurex]

I cannot speak for everyone unfortunately, but I do attempt to help educate newcomers whenever they ask questions... even if I'm on the opposite team... you can learn a lot from playing with those high level players, I will not argue with that... it's true.... Will you always (and I mean always) commit to crew with newcomers when you are a high level?

[RearAdmiralZill]

Problem is you just missed the fact they won 5-4 against us in a very good match.

Posts like this are why the community isnt that big. No one is forcing you to press the ready button. The title of the match is not "New player game!" Is it some kind of sin to play with friends? Should the game be full of people who arent "Fans?" You have to learn the game. And in this age of FPS's, no one really seems to want to except the "fans." We tirelessly train new people who are willing to learn,  who communicate, and accept advice instead of charging head first into 2 ships and wonders why they die. Stacked teams is a poor excuse for not learning from defeats. It certainly didnt happen for me overnight. But I never claimed all the high levels were either targeting me, or forcing me to leave.

Just because 11k people bought the bundle does not mean they bought it for GOIO either, so claiming that we as huge fans and regular players of the game are somehow responsible for the player count diminishing is pretty insulting. I dont care if you disagree with me, and I probably sound like a horrible person right now, but whining about stacked teams will not make you a better GOIO player. Wins will not be handed over to you so you can feel some fake sense of accomplishment. You earn them like every other player, new and old has.

Heck, join my ship, follow orders, and Ill teach you something. I speak for myself and my friends when i say we do not "Stack teams" to steamroll over new players. What fun is that? The real wins are when the score is close, and youre playing your tail off to gain a victory.

[N-Sunderland]

Ugh, I just spent forever writing a reply on my phone, and then I lost the Wi-Fi -_-

Anyways, when I was new to the game, I got better by searching for stacked teams and intentionally playing against them.

Zill, you're getting a salute for that post.

[Squash]

Hold the phone. We all appreciate what you're saying, and we all had to start at level 1, knowing nothing about how the game works, and dealing with stacked teams. It's obvious the game has retention problems and this is a big cause. But having said that:

You don't get to dictate how we enjoy a game. If you want to level this accusation on CA's that's one thing, but the rest of us are still just playing a game, we don't have some kind of social responsibility past that. Most people I know help new people learn to play, but what you're talking about goes to a level beyond that.

For instance, while I love teaching one or two new players, being on a ship of entirely new players is the pits, and I endeavor to avoid that.

Also, I mean, come on. Firestone's on blue team. That's gotta at least cancel out Zill.

[Captain Magellan]

Ummm. Less players? The week before the purchase there was 17 to 30 players waiting on the busiest times when I played. Now there is usually over 1 hundred. I'd say MORE players my friend.

Stacked teams is either usually two things. One: you jumped into a clan match where a trained and experienced clan is practicing (sometimes against another clan). Or two: the culmination of ol' pals slowly getting on and joining games. Experienced players stack teams not because they want to crush all oncomers (what fun is that, it's the close hard won victories that are the sweetest), we stack 'cause we know each other, want to play with each other, and have a blast doing it (literally).

One factor that will help with stacking is mics. If you get GOIO I HIGHLY advise you purchase a mic. You'll be MUCH better and the game is just loads of fun. I played a game today with three guys I'd never met, all three relatively new. They had mics and IT. WAS. A. BLAST. I honestly had some of the best games today. I like to join teams and crews with mics, cause it's just fun to talk to people.

[N-Sunderland]

Yeah, mics are important. If you have one, you instantly gain a good deal of credibility and are able to communicate better. It's hard to get to be successful without a mic, and I say that from firsthand experience.

[Aythreuk]

Posts like this are why the community isnt that big.

Please provide evidence and explain.

Problem is you just missed the fact they won 5-4 against us in a very good match.

That definitely isn't normal, not sure why you would post that.

No one is forcing you to press the ready button. The title of the match is not "New player game!"

Quite often there will only be two-three matches up at all. And when one of those is Asian and another is European, my options are very limited. Me and my friend actually did what you said a few times this week. We didn't hit the ready button, had to just go play something else.

Stacked teams is a poor excuse for not learning from defeats.

Quote the part where I don't learn from my defeats.

Just because 11k people bought the bundle does not mean they bought it for GOIO either

I knew this point would come up, feel free to knock off a few thousand from that number, it doesn't really affect it that much.

but whining about stacked teams will not make you a better GOIO player.

You can say that I was whining, you're clearly going to say what you want regardless. I'd like to believe I was simply informing you of the reasons why your community is small and didn't grow at all much in that huge sale.


I knew posting here would bring about these kinds of responses, due to the fact that only veterens will search the forums, and veterans probably don't like having their attention brought to these facts. Basically, my thread was doomed from the beginning.

Maybe I'm illogical.

[Aythreuk]

Ummm. Less players? The week before the purchase there was 17 to 30 players waiting on the busiest times when I played. Now there is usually over 1 hundred. I'd say MORE players my friend.

Stacked teams is either usually two things. One: you jumped into a clan match where a trained and experienced clan is practicing (sometimes against another clan). Or two: the culmination of ol' pals slowly getting on and joining games. Experienced players stack teams not because they want to crush all oncomers (what fun is that, it's the close hard won victories that are the sweetest), we stack 'cause we know each other, want to play with each other, and have a blast doing it (literally).

One factor that will help with stacking is mics. If you get GOIO I HIGHLY advise you purchase a mic. You'll be MUCH better and the game is just loads of fun. I played a game today with three guys I'd never met, all three relatively new. They had mics and IT. WAS. A. BLAST. I honestly had some of the best games today. I like to join teams and crews with mics, cause it's just fun to talk to people.

This may surprise you, but playing against your pals is actually still a form of playing with them.
There are clans that all stack up in a public game and just sit there waiting for... anybody? No comment.
Clan vs clan practice? Game passwords.


Next please.

[N-Sunderland]

You can say that I was whining, you're clearly going to say what you want regardless. I'd like to believe I was simply informing you of the reasons why your community is small and didn't grow at all much in that huge sale.

I'm sorry, but you're in no position to judge the growth of the community. It wasn't that long ago that I was getting seriously worried about the size of the game's community. The recent influx of players from various promotions has reignited the game. I hadn't seen 300 players online since... Well... When the game launched in October.

[N-Sunderland]

This may surprise you, but playing against your pals is actually still a form of playing with them.
There are clans that all stack up in a public game and just sit there waiting for... anybody? No comment.
Clan vs clan practice? Game passwords.


Next please.

If a clan is practicing for an upcoming tournament, they're going want all their players on the same team. They're preparing strategy and teamwork and all that, and battling against themselves won't do anything to help that.

As for clan vs. clan matches, if they aren't private, that's because they know there'll be open spots and want them to be filled. Why would that matter, anyways? The teams will probably be balanced regardless.