Messages

46

General Discussion / Re: No love from MUSE on these Boards?

« on: October 25, 2013, 10:12:27 am »

Yeah it is, but you mentioned the game losing players as a result of the lack of information on updates when I don't think that's the root cause of that particular issue (besides, I think Muse do a better job of keeping players in the loop than many other developers out there). It's tangential but related.

I think if you head over to Facebook Echoez, you'll see that there aren't many (if any) big announcements that haven't been mentioned on the forums or the front page somewhere. A lot of the updates on Facebook are just nuggets and yeah, they could certainly appear on these forums or the front page but I get the impression this place is more for solid News and Announcements rather than PR confetti, which social media kind of lends itself to.

Finally, the social media pages are public. You never need to sign-up or log-in to view them:
https://twitter.com/GOIOnline
https://www.facebook.com/GunsOfIcarusOnline
So no biggie if you don't 'use' twitter/facebook. You can still see everything. If one's hatred for Facebook/Twitter is so intense that they can't even view a public page on the sites, that sounds like an entirely different issue

I concur. Why reproduce the effort of mirroring the updates on these highly visible and accessible sites when you can check them out yourself at the click of a button, or hell, the tap of a screen? The forum isn't that nice to use on your tablets or phones either.

47

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Tutor/Pupil system

« on: October 25, 2013, 06:42:31 am »

This sounds like a fantastic idea to me, very much in the spirit of GoI and playing to its strengths. You get a salute from me Vaina!

I'd personally go for matches played as that seems the most reliable metric of experience. A couple of great suggestions from Thomas too.

48

General Discussion / Re: No love from MUSE on these Boards?

« on: October 25, 2013, 05:42:03 am »

Not to mention that it's a bit of a pain to keep checking on different sources..
So most people can't be bothered.

Exactly, and that applies to the forums too. As somebody who's relatively new to them, I find them pretty horrible to navigate and keep up to date on. There's the Feedback and Suggestions board, The Classroom and its child boards, Gameplay, General Discussion, Community Guides, News and Annoucements -- and they're just the boards I tend to gravitate towards. It's just a pain to keep abreast with what's happening here because everything is so spread out. I'm not a particularly active user on Facebook (and don't have a bloody clue about Twitter) but it's an incredibly easy thing to just hop on and get a good idea of what's going on in the world of Muse and Guns of Icarus Online. It's one page you scroll down. Done.

The thing is, short of Muse making Guns of Icarus Online pay to win, you folks aren't going anywhere, you love the game and know waaaaaay more about it than the average player. You don't need carrots, you really don't, because you appreciate the game as it stands and know the developers well enough to see where it's heading. And besides, as far as I'm aware, every player of Guns of Icarus Online get those e-updates detailing what's going on with the game and what's planned and being worked on. As far as I'm concerned those emails are instrumental in bringing people back into Guns of Icarus Online if they've drifted off for whatever reason (school, GTA V, life, cheese sandwiches). They brought me back a few patches ago after many months away. Emails popping up in your inbox and Facebook/twitter updates are far more pervasive than blog and forum updates for most people and that's what's ultimately keeping the community ticking over/expanding (and it is expanding, albeit slowly http://steamcharts.com/app/209080#All. And if it's not expanding, it's certainly stable and healthy -- there are few communities I know that are as civilised, accommodating and friendly as GoIO's).

I'm not saying the forums aren't important here, they absolutely are, but we're talking about where Muse should be 'directing its love' which translates to me to: 'where they should be spending their energy'. It'd be great to keep everywhere updated but I believe that the more centralisied all the info is, the better. Same goes for all the ships and guns stats -- I'm hoping Wilson's notes etc. are where the accurate up to date info is rather than in some wiki or a forum entry.

The facebook page brings in new people, while the forums makes them stay.

I'd rather the game make people stay!

This lack of information about update material is an other factor this game loses players rapidly each time, there is nothing to keep them hooked if they don't at least know what's coming, we barely got any info about the Hades before it came out and only people in the test server actually knew what it was about before it got released. That's costing MUSE a lot of players that don't have the same patience as others.

Almost all smaller competitive teamplay centric multiplayer games lose players rapidly after sales and content updates. And I say this as both a Guns of Icarus Online and Natural Selection 2 player. They're games that pretty much live and die by communication and co-operation; without those two, they're considerably less satisfying. Games like Chivalry, TF2 and Counterstrike hit a sweet spot where teamplay is important but monkeying around on your own is still a hoot too. Those things simply aren't possible in GoIO or NS2 (less so with the latter). Without a commander or captain, you're screwed. Without decent comrades, you're screwed. And in pub games, neither of those things are guaranteed. This, I believe, is why these games bleed players after large influxes: the uncoordinated newcomer pub game versus how the game is ideally played.

Depending on how Adventure mode works and the upcoming co-op mode I think Muse are going down the right track to appeal to players who aren't keen on focused competitive play. I think with those pillars in place the game will be in a much better position to maintain players of all kinds. At present, Guns of Icarus Online demands a certain type of player which explains why it has such a good community and why I'm not too concerned about PS4 players joining the fray. I don't think that that type of player is one who constantly needs reassuranace that new things are coming because the game is already unique, deep and downright awesome as it is. If those things aren't enough, then they probably weren't going to stick around anyway to be honest.

Eeesh. That was long.

49

General Discussion / Re: Do you use any custom keybinds?

« on: October 21, 2013, 07:22:38 am »

I switched the map key to the back button on my mouse and had crew chat assigned to CTRL, party chat to SHIFT and captain chat to default. I wouldn't mind shifting captain chat to ALT or something because C can pull my finger off right turn...

I might have to try the left/right mouse buttons as accelerate/decelerate, but I can relate to wanting to put that on the scroll wheel. That'd feel quite apt and given that I don't use the scroll wheel for tools I don't think it would interfere with anything.

I very occasionally slip from the helm so retiring E sounds like a good idea too. I recently created an 'autoclick' on middle mouse button using Setpoint for my G400 so that repairing, rebuilding and buffing wasn't so hard on my finger/hands/tendons.

50

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Match sorting options and info.

« on: October 21, 2013, 05:33:51 am »

Sorry Richard, I saw this post some time ago but forgot to comment! (Saw it linked in the Team Stacking thread.) I think this is a great idea and a much better way of making sure people are joining the right sorts of games without forcing anything (not to mention, filters/arrange bys are always handy). I really hate joining games just to see what's going on in them only to hop back out again. I think this would go some way in alleviating that.

51

Gameplay / Re: Drogue Chute

« on: October 18, 2013, 11:41:13 am »

Head to head I was able to keep my guns in arc as we slowly fell downward.

As a Mobula pilot, that's pretty much how I use them if I get caught up in carronade fire. Full throttle backwards, drogue chute on, yell for help from other captain(s), balloon engineer camping balloon while the other two crew members try to blast/fire stack the carronade(s) out. The drogue chute has saved our ship so many times, usually buying us enough time for our ally to come and save us, or for us to out-gun the enemy. I don't leave home without it!

52

Guides / Re: Cheesys Guide to Ramming with Finesse

« on: October 18, 2013, 11:35:26 am »

That's something I'd like to try shadowsteel!

53

Guides / Re: Cheesys Guide to Ramming with Finesse

« on: October 18, 2013, 05:58:23 am »

Great guide Cheesy, and nice tip on the Drogue Chute. I hate rising or falling too much! I sometimes use Drogue as an additional air brake to slow myself down quicker and come to a stand still.

54

Gameplay / Re: Where is a "Ramming guide"?

« on: October 18, 2013, 04:34:14 am »

Yeah exactly, it's a very wide ship to ram with, with tremendous vertical movement. With good timing it can be instrumental in securing a kill. I did it last night against a Squid on Paritan Rumble and a Goldfish on Dunes. It's funny hearing your crew's reaction as you start picking up speed towards your enemy "We're too close! We'r-- oh, ah. Whoa." It's usually a desperate measure for me rather than a go-to tactic because my Mob's not built for brawling. Sometimes kerosene backpedaling while shooting just isn't enough.

55

Q&A / Re: Cross Platform Multiplayer

« on: October 17, 2013, 11:45:21 am »

I'm sure I read on Muse's Facebook page that it would be cross-platform with the PS4 as well, which is pretty darn awesome and went down a storm with my console buddies who have been keen to join me in the skies since they saw Guns of Icarus Online at the Eurogamer Expo a year or so ago.

56

Gameplay / Re: Where is a "Ramming guide"?

« on: October 17, 2013, 11:22:04 am »

I've finished off a couple of ships with a well timed kerosene ram on a Mobula. It's definitely possible but it's incredibly risky and I only did it because the blenderfish was right in front of us (side on), it's armour was down and our guns had been chipping its health down over the last couple of minutes. It was do or die, and we did. I didn't want them spinning that carronade on us again basically. I can't remember what the other ship was.

57

Guides / Re: Gunnery for dummies v1.3.2 - A beginner's guide to the common weaponry.

« on: October 17, 2013, 08:46:45 am »

Yeah this is a great guide Echoez. I read the last one too but it's nice to get a refresh after the update! Regarding the Hades: is primary damage fire? I thought it was piercing with fire secondary, hence the 'arming' flame effect on the projectile and the lack of a fiery splash on impact at closer ranges.

58

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Please, Remove Profle's Leave Count

« on: October 17, 2013, 05:49:43 am »

But, which of the three would you guys prefer on your ships: a, a constantly reconnecting player trying hard not to earn a left game on the counter and "going for points" during the whole match like I did in the video; b, a "former" quitter now staying afk on your ship to avoid getting a left game on the profile, who is watching/playing something else on the net in another window (not as if I wanted to suggest deconstructive ideas...); c, or an AI who comes when a player leaves your ship and at least helps with repairs. The leave count, in a way, encourages the first two.

All very well put Andika and I think seeing as there is no way of the game knowing what is a legitimiate leave and what isn't (and 'legitimate' can be quite subjective) the leave counter could be quite misleading. I know I've left captains and crew because there's been an intolerable lack of teamwork or a game's gone on longer than expected and I've had to dash or for whatever reason lag has made it unplayable and I'd rather an AI take my place, like you say.

59

Gameplay / Re: The Mobula

« on: October 16, 2013, 10:21:01 am »

It's always fun when everyone is in lobby talking about your Mobula and how trash it is as a ship, pubby teammates going to the other team to fly with the junker and whatnot. Then going 5 - 0 with all of the kills being yours and watching the complete change in tone in the post game lobby. Feels good man.

Quoted for truth. The problem is when you're in the lobby defending the Mobula saying 'No no! It's a fantastic ship in the right hands! Deadly, even!' then you get trounced in the next game...

My problem is getting pub players to understand how the ship is crewed. It's a great ship for compartmentalising your crew's roles and really quite easy to run once everyone's up to speed, but that first game where you're trying to keep everyone in their position is quite draining as a captain! 'Stay on your guns! Keep firing! Ignore the balloon! No no, get below deck! What are you doing stood in front of me?' But when it comes together it's great to see your crew -- often new players for me -- sticking around for a few more games.

60

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Please, Remove Profle's Leave Count

« on: October 16, 2013, 09:47:42 am »

[...] One has got to have a solid connection before attempting that [...]

One would assume you'd have a solid connection to play an online multiplayer game to begin with. And if you haven't, I think that's an important problem to address before anything else, whether it's on your end or the developers'.

As for the leave counter only factoring in players who click Abandon Match: I'm sure people will find ways of cutting off the connection or killing the match without having to hit that button to preserve their count. You could implement something that factored in not just quitting/connection dropping/crashing, but also if a player joins a different game while the previous one they were in is still running. That could work.