Hey Ive suggested many things before that i think would help stop the death spiral, and those have been rejected. I understand the devs reluctance to implement vote kick or slot locking, and to be fair the system they had worked well in a higher player base, however it is failing miserably as its stands. I have a suggestion that i think could help with some of the larger issues of the game, and some of the most complained about. Long start times in lobbies, and team imbalance in those lobbies. here is my suggestion, a lobby ranking system.
Typically when any player looks for a lobby in any game they are looking at 2 factors, population of the server or lobby, and lag. Guns doesn't display lag in its lobby search however it does display player count, and that has become the only information available to a new player who has no friends in the game. What im proposing im going to call the Lobby friendliness meter would be a green bar or a numeric representations that judges the lobby based on its friendliness of play for new players. It would be implemented in conjunction with other lobby control factors such as vote kick and captain slot locking on ships. The more friendly the server the higher it would be displayed on the server list, and a pretty full green bar would be displayed next to it to encourage people to join. The factors that would be taken into account would be this:
Average player level: 40%
The more high level players in a lobby the lower the score would be, this is somewhat intuitive, but vets join games in the matchmaker or off their friends list basted on who, and not how many people are in the match generally. As this system is meant to segregate newer players from older ones it would lower the lobby level to keep them away from your Sundstroms, Xedeons, and Narayans.
Vote kick: 30%
Vote kick would automatically deduct 30 points from the score as this is an indication that whoever made the lobby was generally looking for a more organized match or to play with friends and this might not be as new player friendly. The reason for adding vote kick is self evident, based on the effect trolls can have in a smaller community where it might not always be practical to find or make another lobby, especially since there may only be 2 lobbies. In this scenario vote kick would be an option available to be enabled by a lobby creator.
Pilot slot lock: 30%
With the rise in mid match joins, and also the imbalanced effect that a new player can have in a veteran lobby the ability to lock slots would allow a veteran captain without a full crew to have some measure of control over his own ship, by knowing what the ai are capable of as engineers most veteran players can find a more predictable match with ai vs new players. It also will give them the ability to fight a higher level opponent and full crew without having to worry about training and just being able to focus on the match. This would also have the pleasant side effect of disabling mid match joins. However this isn't conducive to making new friends so it would result in a 30 point drop in the score.
So how will this decrease lobby time and increase play time?
By segregating newer players into their own lobby they will generally start the match faster with less pre planning. For vets this will give the tools to get rid of a disruptive player and not have to beg or wait for him to leave. It will also give you the ability to close slots and not have to wait for a full crew, which is necessary now as there are consequences to mid match joins. It will also allow you to take what you consider the optimal number of ai be that 1,3 or , 3. This will allow veteran pilots to be able to organize their lobbies and ships much more quickly than is currently realistic, and decrease lobby time.
How will this help new players?
New players currently are forced to play lobbies of icarus without really knowing how it works as there is no clear information as to the etiquette, and no tutorial for it, even tho its a huge part of the game. This system will allow new players to glean information from the match list about what lobby would be perfect for them. This will also give them the ability to really experience the game in their own way and not have to be forced into the way vets play it until they are ready. It will also alow them to start at the faster pace many of them want.
What does this score mean?
At 90-100 percent in means your in a lobby of new players without vote kick or lock slots, the way many of us experience the game when we first started playing. However a lobby that scores a 60-70 percent means that its filled with vet players, however they have no vote kick or lock slots so they are probably more willing to work with and train new players. As a player progresses in level and skill he can move to harder lobbies, sort of a more natural progression in the game.
What about CA's?
CA level would be exempt from the lobby calculations so they can go into newer lobbies and help?
Wont this just end up being abused and all lobbies turned into vote kick lobbies?
My intention is that the default lobby will remain vote kick and lock slot free. Any lobby created by matchmaker, hopefully which will become relevant again would be created in the default status. Also match maker searches would default to lobbies that are not vote kick or slot locked in order to keep players away from that. Those lobbies could be searched for thru matchmaker with edits in the filters. Hopefully once the population gets back to the point the matchmaker is relevant again these features would no longer be as necessary.
How will this help the game?
By decreasing player frustration of both vets and new players we can retain new players, and bring back vets who have left out of frustration with the current lobby scenario. I want to be clear that the current standard will remain the default and these lobbies would be the less preferred but still available option. If you created a lobby with vote kick or slot lock you would have to populate it and it wouldn't exist without the consent of those playing in the lobby.
I want to commend muse for their recent efforts in trying to revive the game. Ive seen the new content, tho to be fair i haven't played it a lot. I also saw the price cut for alliance in an attempt to bring new players. While i still think free to play for the base game would be best, I think that these changes would have a huge and immediate effect on the pvp side. I hope that the devs can understand just how important pvp is to the entire guns of icarus ecosystem. The friends most people play with in alliance are the ones they made in pvp, and pvp is what provides the best content in the game, other people. The system worked without vote kick and slot lock before, but was with a much larger players base, and I hope you will consider these changes now that the average pop is well below 100. I now leave it to the forum to be flamed.
