State of Play: Closed Beta, Communication, & Community

[Rex]

… (and hopefully an NDA lift to start getting the word out more)

I personally don’t really want to see an NDA lift before the game isn’t fun for us.

The biggest problem is lack of players, the servers are almost always empty, and even when they’re not there’s usually only enough people on to fill one server. IMO the main contributory factor for this is that the player-base is almost exclusively ET / ET:QW, who want a no recoil, no spread, no IS, low damage, long TTK tracking based game, whereas XT by it’s very nature (diverse Mercs and weapons) will never be able to deliver that.

The lack of players is only a consequence, not the source of the problem. That the only playing communities should be responsible for the low player count is just pure nonsense. :rolleyes: Why shouldn’t Xt never be able to deliver that in the future as it’s still in development? I can only see this game fail when these communities stop requesting and SD stops implementing essential features for the better of the game. But I guess you have a different opinion here…

The game needs a HUGE influx of players, and it specifically needs players from other games besides SD’s traditional player base.

The game can’t even hold their hardcore fans, so how should it appeal to new players? The whole last months have shown that it isn’t attractive for new players yet, as they just left the game again. (CoD players etc.)

An XT website would be a good start, i.e. NOT hosted by Nexon or SD; a separate www.extraction.com website, dedicated to the game, where EVERYONE (Alpha + Beta players + SD staff + Nexon staff) gathers to discuss the game.

So if neither Nexon nor SD should host it, who else?

Then a major campaign to get beta keys out to the wider gaming community.

Keys and more players don’t improve the game…

…, as at the moment there’s too big a skill gap between the best players on the server and the worst. The game is seriously good fun if you’re playing with like-minded and similarly skilled players, but it gets boring real quick when it’s not.

Please what? :eek: How long have you been away from playing? The current skill gap is super low, everyone can get killed by everyone.
I think we got a good mix of pros and noobs in the beta, so can’t really see the problem here.

[Protekt1]

When is part two of this update thread dropping!?

[INF3RN0]

Players from other games are much less critical of the same details as ET/ETQW people. I don’t hear much dislike from those people, but the retention issue usually seems to be partly frustration, performance, inability to organize games, or a lack of interest in the mechanics/goals. It’s true that most testers are indeed past SD players and many of these people really don’t think kindly towards other games. I personally am not too picky about the details per system as long as they make sense, prove to work as intended, and offer a healthy skill curve to be mastered. I think overall the game holds my retention better than the beginning, but I still feel like it’s much too shallow compared with previous SD titles that felt more well rounded and deep in all areas. If all goes according to plan I’m not that worried about this game.

[Kendle]

stuff …

Rex, without cherry picking your post I’d like to reply in perhaps a slightly different way so you can see where I’m coming from.

The mistake you’re making is assuming the things you like about a game are the same as the things everyone else likes about a game. For example, there is a large body of players out there who genuinely believe that having to stop and take aim (down sights) takes more skill than shooting from the hip (the complete antithesis of how an ET player’s mind works). There is an even larger body of players who believe the more lethal the weapons are the more skill needed to use them, because then reflexes play a major role (a “skill” widely regarded in almost all “real world” sports), again the opposite of what an ET would say.

The problem for XT at the moment is that it’s not “ET enough” for the hardcore SD fans, but it’s far too “ET like” for non-ET players. And the problem for us here is that the non-ET players far outnumber the hardcore SD fan (I’m generalising players into 2 groups, “ET” and “non-ET”, just to make a point, I know it’s not as black and white as that in reality).

The proof of the pudding will come in open beta, as I expect that’s when the forums will become flooded with comments like “the guns are too weak”, “IS is too weak”, “movement is too fast”, etc.

As regards a dedicated website …

So if neither Nexon nor SD should host it, who else?

Of course one of them should / would, I just meant a dedicated website, like ET:QW (and dare I say it, Wolf 2009) used to have (even though they were hosted by Activision). So a website that’s not branded Nexon or SD, and within which the XT forum is not a sub-section of some other forum. A dedicated website for the game is all I meant, sorry for the confusion.

[Smooth]

Personally for me the following things are hurting (new player) retention more than anything else:

[ol]
[li]Poor performance[/li][li]Server browser friction (too many steps)[/li][li]Imbalanced teams [/li][li]Not enough fun maps[/li][/ol]

[Rex]

Okay, here is my list from a testers perspective:

[ol]
[li]Shooting[/li][li]Movement[/li][li]Maps[/li][li]Server browser friction (too many steps)[/li][/ol]

This represents my own opinion.

[Kl3ppy]

My List:

[ol]
[li]Shooting
[/li][li]Maps
[/li][li]Launcher
[/li][li]Performance
[/li][/ol]

[Mustang]

3. Imbalanced teams

I just want to say a big thanks to everyone’s vigilance on this point, in recent months I’ve barely played a single unbalanced game, at least in comparison to how it used to be, it has not gone unnoticed.

[Pytox]

1, Movement
2. Performance
3. Shooting
4. UI

[Erkin31]

And the problem for us here is that the non-ET players far outnumber the hardcore SD fan (I’m generalising players into 2 groups, “ET” and “non-ET”, just to make a point, I know it’s not as black and white as that in reality).

This is not a problem ! There are not other FPS like ET/ETQW. Xt could be our last hope…
In contrast, there are a lot of FPS like COD/BF (iron sight, slow, short ttk). So the fans of this kind of games have already a lot of choice.

But i’m agree with you, the game has the ass between two chairs. They need to make a choice if they want that one of categories of players likes the game.

My list:

1. Movements
2. Shooting
3. Performance
4. Class-less objectives

[rookie1]

1 Skill differential
2 missing originality in movement (need titanfall parkour movement)
3 objectives originality are meh
4 Base story is missing to immerse in game (and to develop maps on this base)

[Smooth]

Well yes, the guys who stick around will have these things as a priority, as do we!

I’m personally focussing on moving and shooting this month, so I hope to have some worthwhile changes for you all to test 3-5 weeks from now.

I’m talking about people who install, try to play and simply can’t because performance is unplayable or the servers are empty. They won’t even stick around to discuss things or post on the forums.

After that the next sticking point is simply having fun learning the game, which is much harder when joining a closed community of hardcore veterans (the only guys left) who will destroy you in a second

[Rex]

After that the next sticking point is simply having fun learning the game, which is much harder when joining a closed community of hardcore veterans (the only guys left) who will destroy you in a second

What about a server for beginners where players with more than 2 months (just an example) experience aren’t allowed to play?

[Kl3ppy]

What about a server for beginners where players with more than 2 months (just an example) experience aren’t allowed to play?

Basically it’s a good idea but with I think the total number of players to fill more servers is too low.
Maybe bring back the Veteran and Casual player servers, that would be a start.

[RasteRayzeR]

Maybe bring back the Veteran and Casual player servers, that would be a start.

Easiest, most practical way to do it at the moment imo

[Glottis-3D]

+1 For Vet and Casual servers.

but not at closed beta stage, imho - too little players

[Mustang]

Maybe bring back the Veteran and Casual player servers, that would be a start.

The problem we had were the so called vets would join the cazh server because they were the only one’s with players, but then they’d still rip it up because /care, L2P, QQ, or even “I’m not going to play deliberately bad”.

[Glottis-3D]

the Newbie Servers are good, when there are a lot of new players. I think at some point we will need those, and all players will start as newbs. The veteran servers will become available for a player after one of this happens:

• the guy gets X amount of XP
• the guy gets Y amount of XP or Z amount of frags in one game (so the actual pr0s can skip it very quickly)
• the guy plays 15(?) games
• the guy plays every map at least twice.

[DarkangelUK]

I know there’s not enough of us for this at the moment, but can servers be restricted by level/rank? I know technically there’d be no reason someone couldn’t just create a new account, but restricting a server to lower ranks would stop the pro-rage joiners.

[BomBaKlaK]

On a F2P model you need to have some levels/rank restrictions for servers acces,
diversity of player is huge ona F2P (casual to hardcore gamers)