I was watching a Rocket League pro game the other day and one of the commentators said something to the effect of "the skillgap in this game is so enormous" That got me thinking. Despite this gap, rocket league has millions of players. What makes it different from Hawken? How does a game like that succeed where Hawken fails so abysmally? Here's my list of things that we can do to dampen the crushing force of the skillgap.
1. Make sucking at the game fun. When you fail really hard in Rocket League or any other arcade type game, it should be (and usually is) fun! You should be able to laugh at your mistake, and despite the fact that you suck, still enjoy your time. Hawken does not provide an environment where being bad is anywhere near enjoyable. Players have no idea what they did wrong and only see their opponents crushing them into oblivion. It is very hard to laugh at a silly mistake when EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE IS A SILLY MISTAKE. The game is so complex, that at the beginning most players won't be doing ANYTHING correctly. The solution is simple. Better tutorials will lead to a better understanding of the game for Newbies. The more they get off the bat, the easier it will be for them to learn from / laugh at their mistakes.
2. Have certain servers designated for certain level ranges ex. 1-15 15-29 30. These servers would ease new players into the game before they were exposed to any high level players (with the exception of smurfs which I will talk about later). They would get hooked on the game by gradually progressing rather than instantly being crushed. Side note, servers open to all levels would still exist, these new servers would simply provide options for people who do not wish to be crushed.
3. The "Mech Credit" System. This system would replace all of the ridiculous HC bonuses at the beginning of your account. Instead, every player unlocks a "Mech Credit" after they play their first 5 games. This credit can be applied to any mech, and will grant you ALL non cosmetic items for that mech. The catch is that the items and mech will ONLY be unlocked while the credit is applied to that mech. Once the credit has been on a mech for a certain amount of time, it can be switched, but you lose the ability to use that mech and its items unless you have bought them with HC or MC. Additional "Mech Credits" Could be purchased with MC. This also deals with P2W quite nicely.
4. Possible "Training System" Where new players can get into a queue and have their questions responded to / be trained by high level players. The High Level Players would simply be opt-ins from the top 50 MMR or so in each region.
5. Smurf Discouragement. They will never be eliminated entirely, but there are ways to discourage their creation. The most obvious of which is making high level lobbies more accessible to all players.
TL ; DR New player experience sucks. Any one of these things would go a long way to improving it.
Comments, questions, and constructive criticism are welcome. GGs. See you on the battlefield.
Merl
Edited by Lil Wizzy, 07 September 2015 - 12:23 PM.
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