Please listen
Martigen
Australia Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2714Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Reinforced - Onos
Australia Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2714Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Reinforced - Onos
Ok. Deaf ears. Let's try again.
Perhaps a little more descriptive.
If you want to save what is left of NS2:
Oh, and for good measure, though the damage has been done:
Or, you know, we can call it quits now.
http://steamcharts.com/app/4920
Perhaps a little more descriptive.
If you want to save what is left of NS2:
- Remove bots
- Restore auto-balance limiting spawns
Oh, and for good measure, though the damage has been done:
- Add arcade servers back into main
Or, you know, we can call it quits now.
http://steamcharts.com/app/4920
Comments
We shall see.. but I fear you're right, and hope you're not
I can see it now. NS2 will be saved!
I just can't wait for the millions of players that are going to flock in now. This will be bigger than league!
No but seriously these "devs listen to me" threads are getting a little tired.
Oh my god, but, wait.
This was in the "pre Arcade Aera"
And it looks like this patch killed the game that time:
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138252/275-feedback
Well, looks like you liked the changes that time @martigen
Like >90% of my posts are since then
EDIT:
Btw, bots are cool, but it would be nice to see some kind if vote control over them.... Difficulty (needs implementation i guess), Kick all and Populate server
That strange otherworld called the outside and you know, holidays and such.
Actually if you compare us to last year, even with the latest July numbers, we've been up on last year's numbers for the last 5 months in a row. Summer is typically the worst time of year for multiplayer games numbers, so to have increased player numbers compared to 5 months of last year is actually a good thing. Admittedly, it needs to be much more than this to keep NS2 alive, but it's showing progress is working. If the game was dying, we'd have lower numbers for summer than last year.
Some people seem to forget, the entire NS2 Dev team is now made up of Vets from NS1, NS2 pub and comp play who still play NS2 and want the best for it. We might not always agree with the direction and issues, but it's always been like that since NS1. We just have to do what we think is best, based off community feedback & discussion, evidence from stats and our own thoughts and ideas.
Who needs the outside? Filthy casuals...
Let us agree you try to do what you think is best for player retention, not best for the games quality.
So you think we're consciously, actively, coming up with plans and means to try to make the game we all love worse?
As I said in the other thread: Yes because I think you think it helps your goal. It is all about player renention and you seem to think dumbing the game down helps with that. Maybe you are right, but the games quality suffers from it.
Obraxis but how can you consider a hitbox that covers the model much much worse than before an improvement?
I mean it's pretty simple:
You guys (as in the PDT) implement changes with the main objective of increasing player retention. The question is, do those changes make the game better as a whole? You guys may think so, but it's pretty obvious that the community doesn't always agree. (Case in point: HP bars, hitbox, etc.)
So no, you're not trying to make the game worse (obviously), but your main objective of increasing player retention can sometimes seem to be at odds with actually making the game better as a whole.
Stop that pale-skin shaming
One example would be the bots... We can't vote to turn them off, can't vote for a vs marine/alien bots mode, and admins can't even set up bots the way they want anymore (the way they previously were on TA and TF)
You just thew them in with the worst implementation imaginable and left them..
Same for hp bars... No attempt to lock them to the crosshair or hud (so they don't provide tracking assist) no attempt to make them fit with the look of the rest of the ui.. Just slapped em in and there ya go...
Then things like the ninja hitbox change (which made pubs pure **** and no doubt drove some players away) and the way you "balanced" it with more skulk hp. (which introduces other balance problems)
You have to admit that in some ways NS2 has been made much much worse.
This goes for anti-fadeball, healthbar, hitboxes, skulkhp etc.
I'm curious to know what UWE's end goal is here @Obraxis. I don't quite understand the business decision to continue with the current experimental development model. What are you guys ultimately trying to achieve as a studio? What is the end goal beyond new player retention?
Are you are trying to eventually hit the reset button on NS2 and relaunch the game?
Or is the studio moving on to another non NS game after subnautica and trying to keep NS2 afloat as long as possible with a minimum amount of manpower and cashflow?
Or perhaps you are trying to keep the game alive in order to transfer the active community into a new game in the franchise?
Or is it as simple as doing it for the benefit of the community?
Surely your data has shown that there is very little monetary gain left in NS2. So if it's likely not for monetary purposes, I'm inclined to think it's for the benefit of the community. If this is the case, then your current strategy is at odds with the remaining player base. If you can't retain your current population and risk losing them, then your goal of new player retention becomes infinitely harder, costlier and more protracted. This is not to say that your current strategy is wrong - it could very well work within the context of a healthier population, but with the size it is now, it's probably doing you no favors.
You're probably not in a position to answer these questions either, as they're probably better suited for @WasabiOne . That being said, I just don't understand what UWE as a studio is trying to accomplish here, because in any other industry, this kind of business model makes zero sense. Your game is 4 years old, the population is a fraction of what it used to be, consumer confidence is low and recovery under the current model hasn't looked promising. Is it just one big experiment ? If so, to what end? What are you trying to prove/disprove?
Throw us a bone. What's the long term goal here? What's really going on with your franchise ?
Oh please. Player numbers do not compare favourably at all now. Unless you have a 2nd Derelict in the works, player numbers are on course to decrease year on year in August. You have already lost your heralded 12% year on year gain in July.
And sure, ignore that for the same time last year we had no updates at all for months. Of course there is progress compared to being at a standstill. But how much of that is sustainable? Was there a noticeable surge in rookies? Are the rookies that stay making up for the veterans that left? Has there been an increase in veterans leaving? A year on year decrease is to be expected, but is it spiking up after certain updates? None of these is visible in steam charts, so you may still be right, but please do provide some statistics, because if you are pointing to steam charts, its not backing you up.
This is what I'm hoping for to happen with the end of phase 3.
Rereleasing the game as "Natural Selection II - Enhanced Edition" in the same way Divinity Original Sin did.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/230230/ (Divinity: Original Sin (Classic))
http://store.steampowered.com/app/373420/ (Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition)
New game, new release date, new reviews, new players.
Funny comment btw in this context.
For a dev team, having 200 beta testers is already enough.
Although I don't know what is next, either F2P, enhanced edition like you said, or even a NS3... But I really don't see UWE investing in a dev team just to grow the player base of a 4 year old game at 300 players.
Other than that, I'm not sure what to answer. Let's see what'll happen.
Oh crap I entirely forgot about the phases thing. Remind me what the individual goals of each of them were again?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Phase 2: Make the remaining player base angry with more unwanted, badly thought out and badly designed changes, while completely disregarding overwhelmingly negative feedback, essentially communicating "we know better, you're just angry elitists".
Phase 3: Make what is left of the game unplayable with even more unwanted, unwarranted, borderline random balance changes disguised under the pretense of "increasing player retention".
Seems like they're well on their way.