How long will GoI last? What happend to May players?

[RomanKar]

I am a May purchase.  One of those from the TGS wave.  I too was a little discouraged at the severe drop off in numbers online after a few weeks.  However, what I have noticed is that as those numbers went down, the quality of the players seemed to go up. 

Suggestions:  Cultivate your friends list.  People that you like flying with, or against, tell them you are friending them and encourage people to do the same with you.  The only time I turned away from playing one night was because I opened the game, went to the social tab, and no one was online.  Since then I have developed a rather large base of people to play with. 

I can honestly say that I play Guns with none of my friends from other games or irl.  All the people I play with in Guns, I met in Guns.

Also, don't be afraid to get your butt kicked.  I know it can be frustrating.  The learning curve can be a bit steep, but once you get to a certain point you will realize that the supposed "best of the best" aren't all that much better than you.  The curve is steep, but there is a bit of ceiling (a mallet can only repair so much no matter who you are). 

Use the voice chat in the lobby. Get to know some folks.  Give and take advice.

I have no fear of this game disappearing because I am involved with a very active group that will not let it disappear. 

[Serenum]

Another May player here, one that really loves the game and has no intention of stop playing it anytime soon.
One thing I think would help new players a lot is constructive criticism, this is a game that is really hard to master expecially as a pilot and there are a lot of small things that one should know in order to perform better.
I had a game where just for a change I gunned instead of piloting and ended up with 2 newbies against 2 high level veterans. The game was a slaughter, I did my best to advise my captain via voice chat but the other team had this smug "L2P" attitude that made the poor guys (evidently a group of friends) leave.
That isn't anything new in online games, but in THIS game I think it's a toxic attitude that serves no purpose.

A fair bit of sportsmanship in this game is really needed.

Also, in an ideal world Muse should really promote the game even more, I think it sort of went under the radar for many people, advertising would be a very good thing indeed. But I understand that resources may be limited.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Roman hits it on the head. The difference is not super great between vets and newbs. But there is a perception of it being really vast.

That is when problems come in and the L2P attitude gets used. Vets do try to help out and teach but often we find players who just don't want to learn. One of the CAs tonight I piloted for found out why I have one player on my block list. When he joined and the CA tried to help the player told him repeatedly to F-off and took heavy offense to being helped.

I've ran against a lot who QQ all the time but when you try to help them they respond harshly or they just spout a lazy line that they don't like it so they don't want to learn. Mostly this involves pilots. They perceive it to be too hard so they never want to try. Then they just twiddle thumbs on guns shooting clouds.

When you have to deal with a lot of that, you just stop caring and say..."read the manual, watch a guide" or "L2P"

I'm glad the surge is down a bit because yes it weeded out a lot of the crap players from the quality ones. Trouble is, how many quality ones got lost because of the crap ones? Can't have CAs giving everyone a good experience in game when you have numbers in the thousands.

[Serenum]

Roman hits it on the head. The difference is not super great between vets and newbs. But there is a perception of it being really vast.

That is when problems come in and the L2P attitude gets used. Vets do try to help out and teach but often we find players who just don't want to learn. One of the CAs tonight I piloted for found out why I have one player on my block list. When he joined and the CA tried to help the player told him repeatedly to F-off and took heavy offense to being helped.

I've ran against a lot who QQ all the time but when you try to help them they respond harshly or they just spout a lazy line that they don't like it so they don't want to learn. Mostly this involves pilots. They perceive it to be too hard so they never want to try. Then they just twiddle thumbs on guns shooting clouds.

When you have to deal with a lot of that, you just stop caring and say..."read the manual, watch a guide" or "L2P"

I'm glad the surge is down a bit because yes it weeded out a lot of the crap players from the quality ones. Trouble is, how many quality ones got lost because of the crap ones? Can't have CAs giving everyone a good experience in game when you have numbers in the thousands.

What you describe is a troll, not a regular newbie.
In the situation I described both newbie palyers were actively asking for advice and trying to understand what they did wrong but what they got where answers like "we know how to use our ship, you don't" and things like that. When I politely pointed out that they were being a bit douchey I got more elitist smug crap like "we were just pointing out facts" and stuff like that.
Don't justify the L2P attitude, if it's a troll you ignore it, if it's a legitimate inexperienced player you have no excuse for not trying to help him and no justification to insult him. At most, you can just ignore him if he seems uncooperative or too stubborn.

One time I had a 9 years old kid in my crew that constantly shouted ALL THE TIME and hardly followed orders but with a bit of patience and undertanding I was able to put him to good use, turns out the kid was a crack shot with the lumberjack...
I don't think that I should push my idea further, being polite and helpful to other players shouldn't be something that needs to be justified.

[Mill Wilkinson]

I'm with Serenum here.
I am a newbie myself and I hope the people better versed tell me what to do and what not to do with the guns or components. If the higher-up is being nasty, I just grit it until the game ends and vote with my feet.

But if we want to have a growing player-base, we have to endure the donkeys on both ends of the learning curve.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Then yeah you had some bad experiences there. I've maybe only come across a few vets who might act like that. Most of the time if a newbie asks a question, they'll get answered. Heck I'd like them to because I personally hate getting into the middle of a fight and then they ask how something works. Then it comes up...why didn't they ask in the lobby?

Only guess I have is some folks are scared to approach us. Then others don't have mics. If they don't have a mic thats fine, they can type and we can instruct.

[Plasmarobo]

I definitely get ornery if my crew isn't talking.
I tend to start not talking because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or something.
It's a cycle of terrible.

My biggest problem is tunnel vision. It's difficult to constantly watch the chat in a match. Even in lobby I tend to just glance at it now and then, messages are easily clobbered.
I usually try and help out newbies, but my inexperience as a gunner does not serve me well there. I can engineer and fly, but I'm pretty horrid remembering which ammo does what.

That said, I fly with people better than I am just so I can learn. I watch and ask dumb questions. I appreciate people who ask and question, rather than assume A) I know more than them cause my numbers are higher or B) They know more than everyone on my ship, in spite of our experience.

Either way, the best thing anyone can do is talk, listen, and generally be a stand-up guy or gal.

[Parkourwalrus]

One time I had a 9 years old kid in my crew that constantly shouted ALL THE TIME and hardly followed orders but with a bit of patience and undertanding I was able to put him to good use, turns out the kid was a crack shot with the lumberjack...
I don't think that I should push my idea further, being polite and helpful to other players shouldn't be something that needs to be justified.

Was that me? I think iwas on your ship once, when I was using the worst mic ever, which was from 2005 and low quality. and that was my first game.

[Serenum]

One time I had a 9 years old kid in my crew that constantly shouted ALL THE TIME and hardly followed orders but with a bit of patience and undertanding I was able to put him to good use, turns out the kid was a crack shot with the lumberjack...
I don't think that I should push my idea further, being polite and helpful to other players shouldn't be something that needs to be justified.

Was that me? I think iwas on your ship once, when I was using the worst mic ever, which was from 2005 and low quality. and that was my first game.

I don't think so, I'm pretty sure the nickname was something about Minecraft... Anyway even if it was you, as I said you did allright in the end, so that's what matters, beside I'm sure you improved a lot since then.

[Parkourwalrus]

True, when I was on your ship I think it was a double gat pyra.

One time I had a 9 years old kid in my crew that constantly shouted ALL THE TIME and hardly followed orders but with a bit of patience and undertanding I was able to put him to good use, turns out the kid was a crack shot with the lumberjack...
I don't think that I should push my idea further, being polite and helpful to other players shouldn't be something that needs to be justified.

Was that me? I think iwas on your ship once, when I was using the worst mic ever, which was from 2005 and low quality. and that was my first game.

I don't think so, I'm pretty sure the nickname was something about Minecraft... Anyway even if it was you, as I said you did allright in the end, so that's what matters, beside I'm sure you improved a lot since then.

And i didn't do alright, I was a second gunner who babysitted a side gun  half the match, then left to get my wits together in sandbox, and I'm not 9, though I sound like it.

[Lovex Lazil]

Ah, so in general there is no need to worry that in 6 months there will be no one to play with ^^.

I really don't even see this game in 2 years having nobody to play with; What we have here is a community of players who all Enjoy or dare I say LOVE! The current game; Myself including in the Love part.

But what I'm trying to get at is that this game is still being updated and continuously improving itself (Adventure Mode) Is the next example. To myself somebody who greatly enjoys the whole Concept of being an actual crew on a ship instead of being the ship it's fun. Granted I still play other games but are you going to tell me that you play one game and ONLY one game at a time and don't get bored?

I have a healthy cycle of games I enjoy to play for the simple reason I don't get burned out or bored of the game. GoI is a great game to jump on and just fly with I also love the music !

Sorry if that seemed kind of rant-ish; that's just my personal opinion on this matter

[Serenum]

And i didn't do alright, I was a second gunner who babysitted a side gun  half the match, then left to get my wits together in sandbox, and I'm not 9, though I sound like it.

Then it wasn't you, the kid I was talking about explicitly said that he was 9 when asked in the lobby.

[Plasmarobo]

I'm of the opinion you should be at least 15 to be allowed on the internet.

Now I just need to get my dictatorship off the ground... anyone know some cheap island nations?

[roder]

As one of those may players, and someone who hasnt played for a month but just came back to see if there's an update, I had a few reasons why I stopped playing

1- lobbies. Most games you just jump into the action, but this game has a lot of downtime where you have to wait for that last 4th player, or wait for a pilot, or play with/against AI which is not fun to me, I like to play with/beat other ships with real people.

2- variety of gameplay. i got really tired of having to play engineer 90% of the time. pilot is usually reserved for older players, gunners are usually limited to 1 and then the pilot asks you to switch to engy. Also got tired of playing on pyramidions, and when I did get to play on a cool ship like squid we always lost. this lack of variety has mostly to do with balance of ships/classes/guns

--> If there were more classes (which I dont think is planned) or even sub-classes (Co-Pilot, Main Engineer, Associate Engineer, Main Gunner, Associate Gunner) and those classes had distinct sub-roles then itd be more fun

3- no social aspect. should really have an integrated clan feature. this game is really meant to be played with friends, then it gets really fun. if you're running solo, ur gonna get tired of it quickly. and thats what happened to most may players

[Plasmarobo]

1- lobbies. Most games you just jump into the action, but this game has a lot of downtime where you have to wait for that last 4th player, or wait for a pilot, or play with/against AI which is not fun to me, I like to play with/beat other ships with real people.

I guess this really depends on when you're playing. I don't mind waiting. I tend to chat or alt-tab while waiting for the game to start. This is a fair point though, there is a bit more downtime than typical.

2- variety of gameplay. i got really tired of having to play engineer 90% of the time. pilot is usually reserved for older players, gunners are usually limited to 1 and then the pilot asks you to switch to engy.

Balance is rough. I've actually found a large amount of room to experiment with different play styles/weapons.
Engineers can gun almost as good as gunners for most ship/guns. Two gunners... well, you might die a lot. I take enough damage that having two engineers is far more useful. That's just the way it is. You could always try asking people for a turn in a role.

Also got tired of playing on pyramidions, and when I did get to play on a cool ship like squid we always lost. this lack of variety has mostly to do with balance of ships/classes/guns

Yeah, Pyrs are easy, but not teh best ship. At least at the level I play at, each ship has it's own role and is useful/fun. Ship choice doesn't lose you the match usually.

--> If there were more classes (which I dont think is planned) or even sub-classes (Co-Pilot, Main Engineer, Associate Engineer, Main Gunner, Associate Gunner) and those classes had distinct sub-roles then itd be more fun

But what would they do? Why would you need them? This seems like an over complication that wouldn't make the game easier. Plus it's hard enough to get four good people on a ship. What would a co-pilot even do!? (Jesus take the wheel!)

3- no social aspect. should really have an integrated clan feature. this game is really meant to be played with friends, then it gets really fun. if you're running solo, ur gonna get tired of it quickly. and thats what happened to most may players

WOAH. False. False false false.
This is something you have to kind of be active about, but I play with an awesome clan. We chat and hang out, and I talked to them and played with them a bit even before joining the actual clan. I have lots of friends across the clans, and enjoy playing and talking to all of them.
You've got to put yourself out there man.