I saw this video in a thread a few days ago and did some thinking on it, and on retention and some of the things that the video mentions. Specifically, skip to the 2:30 mark to see Extra Credits describe something that sounds eerily familiar.
The point that the video makes is that new players should be able to kill experienced players using techniques/weapons/skills that are very easy, but that there should be techniques/weapons/skills that are stronger but require more skill. This gives new players an in to compete against skilled players without feeling helpless, and it rewards skilled players for taking the time to learn skills.
There are several places where GoIO fails in this regard, though not through individual efforts. In fact, GoIO does a pretty good job of following those concepts on an individual basis. However, it fails on a team diagnosis.
Consider: as a gunner, experience shows you how to use ammo types and improves your aim, making you better with harder to hit weapons that deal more damage (mines, lumberjeck, heavy flak, hades, etc). Another gunner will still do serviceably well, and could still beat you with a lucky shot, but you are distinctly better. As an engineer, experience shows you how to maintain chem sprays, how to balance shooting and repairing, how to optimize your repairs, etc. An opposing engineer might get lucky and hit a critical repair just before you, but probably not. As a pilot, your ship depends heavily on arcs. An experienced pilot will be very good at staying out of arcs an maintaining their own arcs, but may occasionally be caught and killed by a less experienced pilot.
Now consider, in the video there is a reference to the CoD noob tube (? I never played CoD...). Presumably, a less experienced player can get a kill through a lucky shot or a mistake by the more experienced player. It probably wouldn't turn the tide of the battle, but it feels like progress.
In this instance, success is had through luck and/or mistakes by a single individual.
Looking back at GoIO. A gunner may make mistakes, but an experienced pilot/engineer will keep the ship alive until the gunner fixes their mistakes. An engineer may mess up, but a good pilot and good gunner will keep the ship out of fire or finish the kill before the ship goes down. A pilot may temporarily find themself in a bad position, but a good engineer can help keep the ship alive long enough to put the gunner in a position to end the engagement.
In GoIO, success is had through luck and/or mistakes by an entire ship.
On top of this, consider that often experienced ships stick together to support each other. You have added an extra dimension of safety from teamwork.
Individually, GoIO seems to meet the standards of a game that provides an in for new players. You may cite flamethrowers or gat-mortar builds as examples of how new players can beat experienced players. But these kills really only happen when an entire team makes a series of mistakes. They minimize the window a team has to recover from these mistakes, but they do not open the window in the first place.
Question being, is GoIO a game that can be conventionally balanced to offer new players an opportunity to defeat experienced players, or is the teamwork too intricate to ever provide that opportunity in a way that makes a game big?
Does this make sense to you? Am I wrong? Can you think of a way GoIO could better entice newer players to stick around? Discuss!