I was a late joiner to NS2. I really only picked it up a couple of months ago - I played in the alpha, but got put off by shaky performance. 2 months ago I bothered to reinstall and since then, I've been hooked. I play on average 15-20 hours per week and have done since the day I picked it back up again. Unfortunately, I fly to Africa next week to do a stint of 3 months working somewhere remote, and I'm seriously concerned about the fact I really don't think that there's going to be a playerbase when I come back.
I'm only going to refer to pub-play here - I'm not massively interested in competitive player (barring the occasional stream) - but it seems to me that NS2 as a game and a community has become completely and utterly unappealing to new players. Every game needs new players - a decent stream, as there will always be a level of attrition amongst vets regardless of game quality, and right now NS2 simply does not have it.
Why? Because they suck. Because rookies, newbies, and pretty much anyone that's played less than fifty hours get stomped hard due to the skill level of those people who have played a large amount. The skill differential is astounding. Far, far too many pub games are decided by simply which team one or two players decide to join. There's little competition, and it's driving new players away.
Most of my gamer friends I've tried so hard to get involved - some lasted an hour, some lasted fifteen. Noone lasted much longer than that. Most quit because they sucked, and they were sick of sucking in every single game. These are players that I've seen completely and utterly dominate elsewhere, in other games - and they just couldn't cope. People like to win, and newbies just cannot do that - they seem like they don't have a chance before they even start. When they do win, they see it as being carried to victory.
As much as you can tell people to "keep trying, you'll improve!" or "everyone contributes to victory!" it is both disheartening and demoralising to continually get your head knawed off by lerks or pinpoint accuracy. The server I regularly play on has a decent crowd that in many respects tries to help out greens, or those that don't seem to know what they're doing for the most part. I like that. Except for commanders. That's the worst. Everybody hates rookie commanders. Every time a green jumps in? Vote, eject. Or scream until they quit. Why? Because they SUCK. Noone ever gives rookie commanders a chance as they know they'll lose. Equally a rookie commander will almost never win, so will be reluctant to keep trying (and get shouted at!)
And that sucks in itself, it really does. Especially when they RTS element is one of the main hooks that draws people in - when someone is interested in playing because of the commander role they'll quickly get that idea removed from their brain after their first attempt.
However....
Skill is skill. You cannot equalise things so that everyone is the same - skill is hard earned. Experienced players love to dominate - I love to dominate. If the game were designed so skill mattered little, then where's the joy in advancement or learning to play? You enjoy a kill because you outclassed your opponent somehow - if the mechanics don't allow you to do that, and a newbie has the same potential to kill you as a vet, then where's the fun?
I think this is a catch-22. No fun for newbies as too hard to learn, decrease skill differentials and there's little benefit in keeping playing as you don't improve as much.
There's only one solution I can see - SPLIT EVERYONE UP.
Please, please - introduce rookie only servers. Or a server cvar that lets you dictate an "hours played" value. If there were rookie servers (<10 hours), intermediate servers (10-50 hours, 50-100 hours, 100-150 hours) and vet servers (200 plus) I really do think you'd get a significantly higher retention rate on newbies. People would progress, get better, retain balance.
I know it's imperfect - there's plenty of players I know who suck at 150 hours or are pro at 10... but short of ranked and matchmaking how else can you spread players through servers based roughly on experience?
(please note, before you say it - I don't advocate having this and solely this. Just let people have the option of playing with their own experience level).
Or maybe it's too late, and the playerbase has shrunk too much to even allow something like this.
I want a game to keep playing.
</rant>
I'm only going to refer to pub-play here - I'm not massively interested in competitive player (barring the occasional stream) - but it seems to me that NS2 as a game and a community has become completely and utterly unappealing to new players. Every game needs new players - a decent stream, as there will always be a level of attrition amongst vets regardless of game quality, and right now NS2 simply does not have it.
Why? Because they suck. Because rookies, newbies, and pretty much anyone that's played less than fifty hours get stomped hard due to the skill level of those people who have played a large amount. The skill differential is astounding. Far, far too many pub games are decided by simply which team one or two players decide to join. There's little competition, and it's driving new players away.
Most of my gamer friends I've tried so hard to get involved - some lasted an hour, some lasted fifteen. Noone lasted much longer than that. Most quit because they sucked, and they were sick of sucking in every single game. These are players that I've seen completely and utterly dominate elsewhere, in other games - and they just couldn't cope. People like to win, and newbies just cannot do that - they seem like they don't have a chance before they even start. When they do win, they see it as being carried to victory.
As much as you can tell people to "keep trying, you'll improve!" or "everyone contributes to victory!" it is both disheartening and demoralising to continually get your head knawed off by lerks or pinpoint accuracy. The server I regularly play on has a decent crowd that in many respects tries to help out greens, or those that don't seem to know what they're doing for the most part. I like that. Except for commanders. That's the worst. Everybody hates rookie commanders. Every time a green jumps in? Vote, eject. Or scream until they quit. Why? Because they SUCK. Noone ever gives rookie commanders a chance as they know they'll lose. Equally a rookie commander will almost never win, so will be reluctant to keep trying (and get shouted at!)
And that sucks in itself, it really does. Especially when they RTS element is one of the main hooks that draws people in - when someone is interested in playing because of the commander role they'll quickly get that idea removed from their brain after their first attempt.
However....
Skill is skill. You cannot equalise things so that everyone is the same - skill is hard earned. Experienced players love to dominate - I love to dominate. If the game were designed so skill mattered little, then where's the joy in advancement or learning to play? You enjoy a kill because you outclassed your opponent somehow - if the mechanics don't allow you to do that, and a newbie has the same potential to kill you as a vet, then where's the fun?
I think this is a catch-22. No fun for newbies as too hard to learn, decrease skill differentials and there's little benefit in keeping playing as you don't improve as much.
There's only one solution I can see - SPLIT EVERYONE UP.
Please, please - introduce rookie only servers. Or a server cvar that lets you dictate an "hours played" value. If there were rookie servers (<10 hours), intermediate servers (10-50 hours, 50-100 hours, 100-150 hours) and vet servers (200 plus) I really do think you'd get a significantly higher retention rate on newbies. People would progress, get better, retain balance.
I know it's imperfect - there's plenty of players I know who suck at 150 hours or are pro at 10... but short of ranked and matchmaking how else can you spread players through servers based roughly on experience?
(please note, before you say it - I don't advocate having this and solely this. Just let people have the option of playing with their own experience level).
Or maybe it's too late, and the playerbase has shrunk too much to even allow something like this.
I want a game to keep playing.
</rant>