Messages

31

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: 2nd Gunner Midmatch Join

« on: November 05, 2017, 07:13:30 pm »

I'm glad that this feature has been employed. It is definitely a relief to not have to worry about a second gunner joining during the battle.

However, I still find a few issues with how this system treats returning to the lobby. When the gunner is in slots 3-4 before the match begins, when we return to the lobby they auto-switch back to engineer. This creates problems when trying to manage crew roles, because I've already experienced cases of gunners not realizing they were auto-switched to another class by the time the match starts, or there's a mad-dash for a giddy crew member to become the gunner when they ought to not be.

Why doesn't the crew lineup just reshuffle after the match to put the current gunner in slot 2?

32

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: What about to include the mechanich of aboarding to other ships?

« on: November 05, 2017, 05:56:33 am »

33

Feedback and Suggestions / Extinguishing the most critical component

« on: November 03, 2017, 11:01:34 pm »

This is the most important feature request you have ever received.

The helm should glow blue when extinguished. Even for a split moment. This will achieve two very important things:

• Deliver unto me great happiness
• Literally nothing else

This is mission-critical.

34

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Beep Beep

« on: November 01, 2017, 03:15:24 pm »

Horn? You mean the hello-hwacha? Friendliness-flares?

35

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Is world conquest fun?

« on: November 01, 2017, 08:56:08 am »

I've been thinking more about this. Without upending the current system completely:

I think it's important to introduce a sense of agency to this game. The faction leaders have a certain say in decision-making, but it's largely a landslide process. The way the multipliers work, there's absolutely no point in endorsing any other location than the dog-piled one. For the normal player, there's no point in endorsing a location that isn't leader-sponsored, because then your bux are going towards what amounts to /literally nothing/. The driving theme here is that the pot is too big. There's no feedback - cause and effect - and there's no decision making - dogpile or be worthless.

So how do we introduce a sense of agency and purpose? How about a system where each sub-territory has a number of "ship slots" that pilots can commit to when they join an Alliance lobby? Crew gets to decide where their points go as well, but coordinated ships and lobbies are rewarded with a tasty multiplier. Once the crew is disbanded the "slot" they occupied to assail/defend a territory is up for grabs. This way, ships and lobbies can be coordinated so that players can work towards a unified goal and receive visible and social feedback for their effort.

In the "World" view, the players working towards specific goals are displayed like a large team of active ships. This pulls the Alliance GAMEPLAY to the foreground of the world view, showing important details like "oh, that likeminded ship needs help" or "this area is saturated, I better deploy somewhere else." This also creates a social /narrative/ beyond "oh, those guys in discord all chose to go here so I guess I should too..."

A system that only accounts for active players of Alliance also gives a bit of wiggle room to shrink the pot, making a good session with faction-mates feel worth something. At the same time, you'll know that some other group will be working to serve up a cold world for you while you're gone.

36

Feedback and Suggestions / Is world conquest fun?

« on: October 30, 2017, 01:39:54 pm »

I don't know about you guys, but I'm completely and utterly disappointed in the whole "World" aspect of the game. Turning colored blobs into other colored blobs does not engage me, especially when it has no (no, right?) impact on the game proper. If I'm gonna get bux from playing the game, it should at least go into something impactful and that encourages you to do well.

As-is I have absolutely no reason to spend my winnings. I can't be assed if it doesn't affect me.

And while my complaint is about the complete feature, if I'm to look deeper inside of it:

Even if I do partake in the conquest "minigame," I still feel like I'm doing jack about nothing. My contribution of points means practically nothing. There's no feedback to spending points, or funding a location. My bux just go into a pot that's way too large for me to feel useful contributing to, thus I abstain.

Is there any way to rejigger this facet of the game to - for lack of a better term - mean something? I'd like to discuss how you find this fun, or what you would change in order to make it so.

37

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: An Onslaught Mode

« on: October 30, 2017, 01:21:18 pm »

I believe there is an "endless" version of either Blockade or Search & Destroy in Dev App. It would be neat if this was employed in the actual game.


This would require some modification to existing mechanics, but it could also be interesting to have a game mode similar to this where each ship only has one life, and when it is destroyed the players enter a spectate mode. After the fleet is destroyed, it's game over. There wouldn't be a base to defend, which would make running for your life a viable strategy until you're completely overrun.


A mode similar to Infiltration - where your goal is to get as many ships as possible to the end point across the map - could also be fun.

38

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: 2nd Gunner Midmatch Join

« on: October 15, 2017, 10:56:48 am »

I don't believe any system that actively bars users from playing an already-dead game is superior at all. When there is only one PVP lobby, and that one remaining player online tries to join your lobby and can't, what, he's supposed to just fuck himself?

39

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Character Compasses

« on: October 10, 2017, 09:59:04 am »

pulling out is a risky thing, especially if done slowly.

40

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Scout Occulus Impossible

« on: October 05, 2017, 03:25:01 pm »

48/50 here.

I only wear full-face masks so it's not that big a deal. Looking dapper in-universe is cute, but it's not gonna help once you get a mug fulla shrapnel, fumes, and dust

41

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Recent Complaints and Whatnot That I've Seen

« on: September 30, 2017, 04:02:06 pm »

The "gotta win, so play with the best people I can find" mentality is very very rare.

So when I'm in a lobby with level 1-25 players as a 38 pilot, a 45+ that I've never played with enters and /immediately/ repositions to my ship, it's not because they want to win? I have been a witness to this behavior time and time again.

A lot of vets would use this, since self nerf through silly builds is quite common. This is because a stomp isn't fun either.

I mostly agree with you here, and partake in the same behavior myself. I will say though, I still see stacked meta ships /all the time/.

The other reason vets play with each other is you don't play a game to be frustrated. GOI can be a VERY frustrating game playing with new players. An easy way to avoid frustration is to play on friends' ships.

And make it infinitely more frustrating for those who are still in the process of learning. I mentioned this aversion strategy in a previous post.

There is no "culture of the game". It is just people coming online to try to have fun playing a game. The easiest way to do that is to hang out with friends. Full stop.

You may be assigning a more specific context to the word "culture" than I am here. Having friends/familiars in-game and choosing who to play with /is/ culture. Behavior that is not directly propagated by un-contestable game features /is/ culture. The fact of the matter is that the game promotes teamwork without regulating who you actually do that with, and the response to that is that proven players tend to stick together. That has no implication of superiority or seniority; it naturally emerges from the architecture that we have been provided.

I think this is behavior /good/ thing. The issue is that there aren't enough players to keep that behavior from making it seriously unfun for anyone else that plays against the stacked crews that appear. This could be resolved by spreading the talent - /immersion/ instead of /aversion/. Yes, it's challenging, but it's also building everyone up together for long-term rewards at the (immense) sacrifice of game-to-game camaraderie. This is exactly why I believe that it is not possible. It sure as hell doesn't keep me from discussing it however.


Footnotes:
To pose another example of my application of culture: suggesting proven loadouts to new players /is/ culture. There are no systems in place to guarantee or even ebb a player into taking an effective kit. Other players teaching them the dogma is outside of the game's architecture, but imperative to the actual gameplay. Hopefully these examples help pin down exactly what I'm talking about.

As well, I clarify in voice-chat a lot when these kinds of discussions come up and I'll do it now: I hope that I don't sound like a jerk or whiner when I bring up things like this. I genuinely enjoy conversations about engineering and design, and particularly how behavior emerges from and influences interactive systems. Sometimes my points land a little funny and it makes me sound like a more combative person that I'm actually trying to be. I probably don't have to mention this now but here I go anyways.

42

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Recent Complaints and Whatnot That I've Seen

« on: September 30, 2017, 01:12:06 pm »

And now I can see what you guys mean, which the population being so low that stacking becomes a necessity-ish.

I want to clarify just in case I was misunderstood. I'm not saying it's a necessity(ish) to stack. I'm saying it's a side effect of experienced players wanting to /win/, not necessarily every player having fun equally. It was a point of criticism when I said that the primary tactic was aversion.

just trying to disperse the more experienced players to the new ships would help in some manner.

This is what I'm saying. The challenge is that it disrupts the culture of the game. More players would solve this, but I'm afraid the population may never climb enough to reach the desired effect. 

43

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Recent Complaints and Whatnot That I've Seen

« on: September 30, 2017, 09:23:02 am »

The stacking issue is rooted inside a much deeper population issue.

If there were enough players to satisfy more running lobbies, it would be significantly easier to naturally filter these players by their experience, or employ an engineered "tier" system that discourages matches that are significantly under or over a player's abilities. Problem is, there aren't enough players to satisfy this kind of system.

This is compounded by the fact that experienced players are drawn to other experienced players. People want to /win/, and it appears to me that most of the prestigious players don't really care how that happens. There are plenty of occasions where the (perhaps only) lobby has only one full ship, and it's full of veterans. They can't be bothered to split their experience amongst the lobby evenly (and actually get a match started) because they don't want to lose their security; they /risk losing/ in a fair setting.

We know how frustrating it is to learn and later mentor new players. Because of that, the chief tactic is of /aversion/ rather than /immersion/. And obviously so - even though I do my best to join green ships and counterbalance experienced players, there's still the odd ship or player that bust my resolve. I positively despise stackers, but it's hard to level the playing field if you're not having fun doing it, nor when it's a dire cause to pursue alone.

It's hard to satisfy the core value of this video game when there aren't enough players to effectively realize it. But at the end of the day it's a /cultural/ problem over a mechanical one. The driving concept of the game promotes camaraderie and synthesis. You're not going to get around this by shoehorning in a countercultural mechanic that separates players. As has been mentioned, they're just going to find a new match - or hell - a new video game to play.

44

Gameplay / Re: Exclusively using Burst in the Heavy Hwatcha?

« on: September 28, 2017, 09:40:47 am »

Surely. As well, my initial point was on utilizing ammunition for /application/, not stuffing my nose in a spreadsheet. The jitter numbers may have shifted, but that video could have been from pre-change and my point would still be valid.

45

Gameplay / Re: Exclusively using Burst in the Heavy Hwatcha?

« on: September 27, 2017, 09:22:58 pm »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQzD-x90c4