Why we REALLY need playerbase growth

quackdamnyou · Post by **quackdamnyou** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:55 pm

RoyBrown wrote:QUOTE (RoyBrown @ Apr 28 2011, 10:35 AM) Slower growth in the early stages prevents bloated egos (heh, funny for alleg I know), also it helps more inexperienced comms get more realisitc expectations out of the novice players- basically if it takes a month of full time play to go from (0)-(5) then the comms have more understanding of ability. I realize this is part in parcel with less experienced comms not understanding how/when to accept players for balanced games and as such is partially another issue- it will help though.

I don't know if I'm being wise here or just jaded, but this is not the first suggestion that we could fix any/all of Allegiance's problems by tweaking the ranking system. There was a Big Deal around the move from (H)ELO to AllegSkill. I was among those convinced that it would take away the incentive to stack and fix everything. I don't honestly know if it has helped; from what I've seen it's been impossible to tell because prime time games suck all around compared to what they were in 2007. But it certainly didn't "fix everything" like most of us really hoped.

I guess my point is, newb comms spamming is the least of our worries. At least those guys WANT TO PLAY, unlike the hundreds of lost vets who left, mostly out of frustration for how few and far between quality games are. So stop worrying about managing their egos, and focus on guiding them in the right direction.

fwiffo · Post by **fwiffo** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:23 pm

why dont we make it so that newbie comm games dont count no matter what the size. that way we can let them comm and they wont cry about why people dont hop on their team. this way 30 folks dont have to sit around in noat waiting for the next game.

SpaceJunk · Post by **SpaceJunk** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:28 pm

The problem with AS is that the fate of the game is decided first by the commander, then by luck, then by faction imbalances, and to remove that noise from the pilot performance you need to play a gazillion PUG games. Preferably not 20 vs 20.

In the end it doesn't improve on just giving rank points by unlocking accomplishments. I.e. get 30 kills/hour in a +1 hour long, +30 players game and you unlock a rank point.

BillyBishop · Post by **BillyBishop** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:42 pm

HSharp wrote:QUOTE (HSharp @ Apr 28 2011, 06:42 PM) Got any names?

Sure, go read the other couple threads on the topic, some names in there.

MrChaos · Post by **MrChaos** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:54 pm

Post by **BackTrak** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:08 pm

Showin' how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

quackdamnyou · Post by **quackdamnyou** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 3:17 pm

fwiffo wrote:QUOTE (fwiffo @ Apr 28 2011, 11:23 AM) why dont we make it so that newbie comm games dont count no matter what the size. that way we can let them comm and they wont cry about why people dont hop on their team. this way 30 folks dont have to sit around in noat waiting for the next game.

Badly uneven command matches make people leave the game for less depressing/infuriating things.

SpaceJunk wrote:QUOTE (SpaceJunk @ Apr 28 2011, 11:28 AM) In the end it doesn't improve on just giving rank points by unlocking accomplishments. I.e. get 30 kills/hour in a +1 hour long, +30 players game and you unlock a rank point.

Accomplishments reward total time played far more than skill, and are a horrible way to quantitatively assess the impact a player will have on the game. The more you play, the more opportunities you have to meet the conditions of the accomplishments. Not that they wouldn't be fun, or interesting in some ways, but I think they would also make players - ESPECIALLY newbs - inclined to alter their playstyles away from what good Allegiance requires. Newbs should not want to be whores. Yeah, sure, the accomplishment could be "drop 30 probes", but then you've got all kinds of opportunities for abuse.

BillyBishop · Post by **BillyBishop** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 3:58 pm

For a laugh maybe...

New Skill System;

Boob; Expected to ram rocks (unintentionally) and generally good for a laugh, great potential!
Noob; Accidentally rams rocks while trying to kill miner in his Dis1 FTR (instead of the hvy ints researched).
Voob; Knows when to ram rocks and when not to, generally get's it right. Knows the basics of Alleg.
Vet; Usually in the right place at the right time with the right equipment for the right job.
Expert; Doesn't really need to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment for the right job (he has magic!!1!!).
Master; Hacker!!1!!!

Actually having a basic ranking using the asgs (upgraded for it to do so perhaps) feedback system.

As for rankings overall, mostly I honestly don't care except when it creates a problem (noobs gaining ranks too quickly and also booted earlier in their alleglives because of (and you hear this often); "he should know better". When BEFORE with allegage they got 1-3 months of semi-active playing to "know better" instead of the 1-3 weeks (I personally think this is part of the playerbase droping). Heck even HELO was gentle because the newbies still had a gentle curve out of their newbieness.

Again, not saying go to allegage, saying use it as a maximum cap on a players rank (this primarily helps the newbies anyway).

The haha rank system at the start of this post could actually be simply done with asgs feedback (or something more serious than haha. And it'd probably be more accurate than what we have anyway. Not that I'm advocating for it but it sounds interesting none the less.

Sindertone · Post by **Sindertone** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:55 pm

quackdamnyou wrote:QUOTE (quackdamnyou @ Apr 27 2011, 11:41 AM) In my opinion, we chose to give certain unruly veterans room to stroke their personalities and in turn we burned out some of our best people and lost a lot of opportunities.

Sooth

lexaal · Post by **lexaal** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:24 pm

RoyBrown wrote:QUOTE (RoyBrown @ Apr 29 2011, 05:58 PM) For a laugh maybe...

New Skill System;

Boob; Expected to ram rocks (unintentionally) and generally good for a laugh, great potential!
Noob; Accidentally rams rocks while trying to kill miner in his Dis1 FTR (instead of the hvy ints researched).
Voob; Knows when to ram rocks and when not to, generally get's it right. Knows the basics of Alleg.
Vet; Usually in the right place at the right time with the right equipment for the right job.
Expert; Doesn't really need to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment for the right job (he has magic!!1!!).
Master; Hacker!!1!!!

Actually having a basic ranking using the asgs (upgraded for it to do so perhaps) feedback system.

As for rankings overall, mostly I honestly don't care except when it creates a problem (noobs gaining ranks too quickly and also booted earlier in their alleglives because of (and you hear this often); "he should know better". When BEFORE with allegage they got 1-3 months of semi-active playing to "know better" instead of the 1-3 weeks (I personally think this is part of the playerbase droping). Heck even HELO was gentle because the newbies still had a gentle curve out of their newbieness.

Again, not saying go to allegage, saying use it as a maximum cap on a players rank (this primarily helps the newbies anyway).

The haha rank system at the start of this post could actually be simply done with asgs feedback (or something more serious than haha. And it'd probably be more accurate than what we have anyway. Not that I'm advocating for it but it sounds interesting none the less.

I fully support your post.