Now that I've had a little time to cool off...
I'm very sorry for the community. I take that as a personal failure, as I try my hardest to make each game fun for everyone, and yes, the die-hard players often make the game lack-luster.
You see, the community of any game is often the most looked-over aspect of it, and though it doesn't seem like it, I promise the HAWKEN community isn't built of people who just want to wreck players because they can. We're filled with good, honest, and thoughtful players that want to see you do better. It's really easy to look over, because those players are indeed often upper tier, and don't get to play with new players very often.
That's not your fault. You're only one person, and can only control so much. It probably doesn't help that, for the moment, most of the players are either die-hards or complete newbies who are just getting the hang of the game; there seem to be very few "average" people, at least not in MA and Siege. I don't play much TDM, and don't to free-for-all DM at all, so I suppose it's possible that they exist here, but I don't see them very often.
The economy is difficult to get used to, and the mech's are often very difficult to earn.
If I had an HC for every time I've said, "I get paid the same either way!", I would probably have bought every mech in the game already! If there were a link between performance and HC earnings, that would go a long way as it would actually incentivize proper play rather than just YOLO-ing. As it stands, I've developed more bad habits and feelings than good mech skills. Why? Because lack of effort doesn't affect my paycheck!
Outside of DM, wins are determined by the Matchmaker (team composition), so wins in and of themselves don't really mean much, and KDR and damage ratios are easy to fudge too. Therefore, it would probably be best to base HC off of one's contribution towards the objective, whether the team as a whole wins or loses. For TDM, damage contributes more than kills since an enemy doesn't die from just one shot, so any damage dealt puts the team closer to victory; the person who was lucky enough to fire that final shot doesn't deserve much unless they also fired the shots that took the enemy's HP down to where one shot could kill them. As for MA and Siege, well, damage and kills are merely a means to an end becuase Capture/Defense points, EU transferred, and anti-air missiles launched are what wins those battles.
The pricing does need fixing. Between many mechs costing less than some items and a lack of correlation between price and quality, the pricing sheme makes no sense. I don't mind it taking a while to earn a new mech, but 61/2 hours of grinding for a new gun that costs more than new Reaper is... wrong.
Unrelated to economics, the radar setup is useless. Minimaps beat something that can't even reach to half of visual range any day. Also, with 247% of the matches being TDM or DM, it's really hard for me to find a server period. Hopefully a higher player population will fix that, but as it stands, the only way I can get a match in is to play modes I detest. I prefer objective-based play; if I just wanted to get in a brawl, I'd skip video games and just do PCP. To me, DM is nothing more than a reflex test where you just spam Dodge while doing your best impoersonation of an Aimbot with zero tactics at all while TDM is the same thing only with peopel who will have your back one second then leave you to die the next. At least MA and Siege require more than just having a seizure with the left hand while using the right to glue your crosshairs somewhere. Maybe doing somehing to fill the non-DM/TDM servers would help things since I know I'm not the only one.
It's been my personal goal to make HAWKEN's community as friendly as I can, though I don't really have power to do anything with it, I try to pop into threads where there is indeed anger and try to make jokes when I can. Maybe I rub people the wrong way, but I don't care. This game has more potential than any other game I've played, and I mean that. I won't bore you with a list, but please, take my most sincere apology, as I have failed you as a player in helping you enjoy HAWKEN.
You do what you can, and that's all you can do. As for potential, I see that, and it's that potential that kept me around. Maybe at a future date when it comes closer to the potential that you and I both see, I will find Hawken enjoyable once more.
It's a sad fact, but yes, HAWKEN is indeed not what it could be. You see, it's a game of progress. One that is only just now on the upward swing, and though it's not what it will be, trust me when i say it WILL be great.
The new developers are already working on making games more accessible to players everywhere, all the while trying to figure out just how the actual story line goes, and how to keep the current game a float. I know it's hard, and I don't think I could ask anymore of you, but if you would please keep an eye on this game, I promise it will be fixed shortly.
Being effectively abandon-ware for months has had an effect, and not a good one. My brain says you're correct, but my heart just doesn't feel it.
I'll keep an eye out for changes though since, despite how I may sound, I am an optimist.
Edited by Jerv, 07 April 2015 - 01:10 AM.
Still recovering from a neurological incident, spent a couple months learning how to walk without a cane,
figured I'd try a fast-paced game to see if I could get my reflexes back to where they were.
Garage:
A - Infiltrator, Reaper, Technician, Scout
B - Assault (x2), Predator, Raider
C - Brawler, Vanguard, Incinerator