New Player First Impressions

CaptStrongShaft · Post by **CaptStrongShaft** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:45 pm

So I use to play allegiance when I was a kid and just started playing again. I mainly have been playing with 4 other friends that I dragged to get into the game. We played a bit last night and another night before that. I've got a pretty busy life and actually don't play games often at all, but I've had the week off so I decided to really dive in the Best Game No One Has Ever Played (so spot on). I normally don't register on any forums but I definitely want to see how active this community is and try to find some people to play this game with.

I've quickly became familiar with all the new factions I haven't seen since the original game, they all seem pretty cool. I've also read a lot on the wiki, and I have some first impressions to give out.

This page.... http://www.freeallegiance.org/FAW/index.ph..._learning_curve And this quote I made from the wiki (forget what page) "it takes the average player somewhere between 3 and 6 months to firmly grasp the basics"

This turned off 2 of my 4 friends to the game who will now be going back to Dragon Nest and Don't Starve on steam even though I believe it to not be so true. Sounds like the author of this almost seems to be bragging about the learning curve of the game instead of getting players to play the game. No way in hell does it take months to grasp the basics of this game, I'd say maybe 4 days for a quick witted person, a week for slower learners. You know what takes months to learn? Eve Online. F that game. Yes I'm sure it takes months to be competitive and useful online since I'm betting my top dollar that everyone who's active in this community are pretty damn good. Months? No. And that graph is funny but WHaaatttttt.... Left 4 Dead has a stronger learning curve then WoW???! You can learn Left 4 dead in a day. Learning curve is learning the game mechanics, not a measurement on how hard it is to be good at the game or how long it takes.

No one wants to play a game they never heard of made in 2000 that requires 6 months of learning the basics.

Anyways, when my friends all downloaded the client and started playing a helpful guy name Toad joined our game, we didn't give him too much attention since some of us were literally trying to figure out how to change the res to something higher than 800 x 600, and basic controls and so forth and we were so excited that the ~ made voice messages, that was a blast from the past. So we were surprised that there was at all a community, and so far everyone seems really nice. Toad where ever you are... sorry for not paying more attention to you.

I will continue to familiarize myself and keep active with you beautiful people who are attempting to resurrect this hidden masterpiece that is Allegiance. Totally get your high-res pack or whatever going. This game is still pretty gorgeous looking, but the textures are the eye sore currently in this game. I would go full fledged with ship and rock models.

Zixzix · Post by **Zixzix** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:12 pm

FFS, Toad actually got to play with you while I was bitching at Blacksun for not being able to join you since you password locked the game last night.

I'm sorry to hear your friends were discouraged by the "6 months to firmly grasp the basics", which I agree isn't true.Maybe the person in question was thinking what it would take to have an impact on the game compared to Babel, rather than the actual basics of the game.

I look forward to playing with you and hopefuly, your friends as well.Oh and welcome back!

Post by **MagisterXF94** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:40 pm

Welcome back capt!

I'm glad you rediscovered Allegiance and you are familiarizing yourself with the game.

There are tons of graphical updates available here:

http://www.freeallegiance.org/forums/index...showtopic=70252

as Zix has already mentioned, don't password protect the server, that prevents people from joining.
If you have any sort of questions be sure to ask a player with either the@Help or @Alleg tags.

They will answer any question you might have.

Again Welcome

!

CaptStrongShaft · Post by **CaptStrongShaft** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:30 pm

Sweet, yeah next time we play we won't lock our game.

So questions I have...

When are the most active times to see players playing? What is the main core, is it Cmnty 16 or whatever? How many players typically accumulate to one game?

Zixzix · Post by **Zixzix** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:37 pm

The most active times are around and after midnight GMT+0 , with fairly populated games Fri,Sat and Sunday(which might get 15-25 players).Weekdays are a gamble...

Main core is PCore009.

Games during weekdays may be just 3v3s or 4v4s, while on the weekends(Sun) it's mostly 8v8(ish?).

Post by **aem** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:31 pm

There is a high learning curve compare to many modern games like Call of Duty. However, it is also easier to get into that a good number of games. Having started playing 15 years ago it is hard to think how long it would take to be able to contribute to your team in Allegiance. Part of the problem these days is the game just is too dead to get into. In its prime you could play as much as you wanted and always in large games. Of course that made learning Allegiance much quicker.

I'd guess it would take like 7 to 10 good games to feel like you know what you are doing. In its current state I'd really think it would take a solid month of playing regularly to get a decent feel for the game. If you could play good games more frequently, yes a week or less could be possible. To get good at the game it would easily take most three to six months at a minimum, again being heavily limited to how much you get to actually play.

But yes, anything describing the learning curve should never be that severe. There is a LOT to know about Allegiance, but it is not that difficult to learn enough to enjoy it in a short amount of time. Being able to command well in Allegiance is another story... that can be a massive learning curve since you have to know so much more to be successful.

spliffyhat · Post by **spliffyhat** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 10:55 am

I think the problem this game has is not enough Good commanders.

what about AI commanders , could that Work?

Zixzix · Post by **Zixzix** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 12:26 pm

We already have a small playerbase of regulars, good commanders are rare and people are afraid of commanding due to drama, if you know what I mean.

Having said that:

"The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem."
...So when people complain and there's 10+ people waiting in noat for a commander, then hop in with an average, or less-than-average commander and start complaining about imperfect tech choices and whatnot then of course we don't get enough commanders.Furthermore I'd rather not believe this, but lots of not-so-good commanders would rather sit in noat or wait for someone else to step up instead of commanding a game vs Champy, or Toad for example.And not everyone has enough patience or time for that, so what happens?People leave, people go afk, games don't start...you get the picture.This I think is the main reason we don't get enough commanders let alone "good commanders".After that people start saying "Oh alleg is dead... oh we don't have any comms again?" when they are part of problem.

AI commanders wouldn't work for @#(!.And it's easy to figure out why.

This is just my personal opinion and observation, it's my no means absolute and it's not accurate for everyone here.There are people who aren't that good at commanding who take up the chair more than we could ask for, and for that I am grateful.

finisher2 · Post by **finisher2** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 5:03 pm

Zixzix wrote:QUOTE (Zixzix @ Jun 13 2015, 09:26 AM) "The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem."

+1

Psychosis · Post by **Psychosis** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 11:52 pm

CaptStrongShaft wrote:QUOTE (CaptStrongShaft @ Jun 12 2015, 11:45 AM) No one wants to play a game they never heard of made in 2000 that requires 6 months of learning the basics.

Absolutely agree, and I think that allegiance in its current state no longer requires as long as it took to learn before. The average amount of players and skill level in any given game are so vastly lower than what they were that many of the advanced playstyles and knowledge are no longer applicable.

who gives a s*** what the scan range of an op vs techbase is and how using an asteroid to shield you can get you closer.

Think about playing something like DOTA, LoL or HoN. Sure you can pick it up and be playing in minutes, but someone who really understands how the game works will dismantle you. Allegiance is like that. Yes you can jump in and play and have a great time, nothing wrong with that. But there is another level of gameplay that when applied, will shred you.