How can new players enjoy this game?

Roll back the time to May 2017, the time of Global Launch, a surge of new players joined the game. Remember how we were having fun in our MK1s & MK2s against opponent MK1s & MK2s all the way until 1000 infamy? We could make infamy gains as we played & as we leveled our ships & gear because there were enough new players, enough competition. Those who are better than others, their infamy increased. Those who are worse, their infamy dropped.

Right now this is not the case.

Based on first hand experience & multiple reviews from new players.
This is the new player experience right now:
After you create a new account, you go against bots until ~200 infamy, takes about 1 hour for an average new player. After bots, your infamy steadily increases until ~600 infamy, then the bay is filled with MK4s&5s and then there is nothing you can do. Your infamy climb just stops. After a FEW WEEKS you’ll probably be lucky and hit 1k. Then after a FEW MONTHS you’ll barely reach 1.2k. All that’s left to the game is to wait for your captain level to train and acquire high tiered gear for MONTHS before you can make any significant gains. Not to mention that during all this time you’re significantly underpowered and will spend 90% of your battles running and hiding.

How is this even fun?

Some people will think that the MK5s dropping to that low infamy means they are that bad so in the end it’s still a fair fight to the new player. That is not true.
Infamy can only represent strength to a certain degree by comparison to other players. What happens when you’re so bad that there’s no player comparably worse than you, the average strength is slowing increasing and a lack of new players? There will be a gap in the infamy climb. And that gap is still expanding. Sooner or later, if no significant changes are made, new players will be facing MK6&7s.

Which means even less new players, then a dwindling player base and in the end, a dead game.

I call out all players who care for the game and the developers to take serious note of this problem and think of new solutions. I know that they’ve been trying to fix this (increasing slots on Mk1&2s, new MM algorithms) but the problem is still worsening. New players are a minority, most will just stop playing when it’s not fun so it is our duty as a community to voice their concerns and also Rovio’s responsibilty to maintain longevity and integrity of the game.

TL;DR
new player experience sucks
game is dying pls send help
edit: spelling

 

Infamy doesn’t mean everything. You’re probably stuck behind the giant wall of Global Launch players, who have accumulated gear & ship levels for 10-11 months. For whatever reason they’re still low in infamy, could be inactivity/inefficient setups/lack of skill or something that I never thought of, that 5 months head start compared to you is a huge advantage in a game modeled like this and may not reflect directly to infamy due to lack of players. Infamy only has meaning when competition is frequent and continuous.

 

This is a very good analysis. And indeed the matching system needs improvement. I hope people on top can read this.

 

Just a bit of patience, devs are working on improving the game.
OMEGALUL

 

I really hope they are working on it but it’s been like this for months with only minor improvements merely treating the symptoms but failed to reach the root cause of the problem. The longer it takes, the bigger the gap is getting, the harder it will be for newcomers to get on track.

 

I had a battle with that big gun dude as unfriend and I happy to have it again, he's noob

 

So in order to create a "fair" environment you want there to be a MK restriction in lower infamy? So then that mk7 Big gun dude for example, has absolute zero skill for some reason but wil be forced to fight at nightmare level players and never gain any rewards like normal and always be a liability for his team. This will eliminate high MK in low infamys but what can be done for these players? Do they just suck it up and quit?

Edit: Remember the devs arguement, this game algortithm is based off of matching you with stronger and stronger players, the game does not care what gear you run for 99% of its calculations, you can be mk1 and reach nightmare if you have aimbot and hacker like skills. Theoretically, so really they are asking you, if they matched people less by how they perform and more by the items they have, there will then be a hard limit that you simply cannot progress past until you hit the next MK up. That is not their algorithm, the heavily modified Glicko 2

 

.

If thats the case then their infamy will drop accordingly base on their skill and game is once again balance interm of skill, level and equipment.

 

What's required right now is not a long thought modification but more like an emergency fix, the game has become a monster out of control of it's creator.

 

nope, because that will have MK7 back in low infamy range. In fact, what you stated is how it is now, all the mk7 and mk6 in low infamy are just bad players with low skill. but even so, EVEN SO, people do not wish to fight them just cause of the big difference in levels training and equipment. but rovio argues that skill if lacking enough overcomes this difference, what says you?

 

I guess they could make an option to retrict the matchmaking to player's level. Because the players who choose it would have to wait way longer than others to face only players of their level. The global wait would also become longer and I'd hate it because the matchmaking seems fair where I'm playing right now (3k).

 

Hi, i would to see how that big guy dude play in that low infamy, if its okay.
A few days ago i played with mk4 shooter in my team while other player are mk 5 and 6. However he surprise me when the game end and he have the highest damage in the game ( i was just ranked 3 while i have mk5 ship). It prove that he definitely have the skill to play in my infamy level and with higher level ships.
However it still doesnt make sense how an mk7 ship have that low infamy since you have to be at least level 40 to acquire mk7 ship. With a level 40 captain you definitely have accumulate skills and items to equip your mk7 ship. Unless he is throwing his game to get higher reward at lower infamy i dont see other explanation. But i might still be wrong because im also just a noob.
Anyway, above is 2 different case where players play with different level ships in a game but which one make more sense?

 

As I already said long time ago, there needs to be a natural limit, that defines how low can a specific ship drop.

For example make MK5 limit 1000 infamy, which means, that when there is any MK5 with 0 skill, and has 1010 infamy, and loses a battle, his infamy will be 1000. If he loses another one, it'll still be 1000.
This would clean the space under 1000 infamy for new players.

MK6 limit can be 2000, MK4 limit 750, MK3 500 (numbers can be changed, idea is important here)

 

This is the best solution so far, somebody tag the devs pls

 

I'm sorry but Devs Won't do Anything dude don't even try I try telling them but they think it's fine

 

I'm Just Being Honest So