New Player Experience

Started playing the game about a week ago so my nephew and I can play together. Seemed pretty fun until I was being paired constantly with Mk3+ ships when I have a Mk1 Shooter...some how I managed to finish last season with over 500 Infamy b/c my teammates kept winning despite me dying to the first two weapons of almost any kind to land a shot on me. Getting two-shot and fighting ships with 5 times my hit points sucks. I was promoted to Warrior or something where I at least have a Mk2 now, but still get destroyed by superior firepower and much stronger ships. The worst is when I die in the opening minute or two and my team still manages to win. I spend a LOT of time spectating now...

Bottom-line the new player experience is pretty awful after the opening ~20 matches...

 

Use all sniper on shooter, it worked for me. Maintain the distance and keep spamming them

 

While I appreciate the advice, it's a really boring way to play. Not to mention the fact that the Sniper doesn't do much dmg to ships with 2500-5k HP ships which I see all too regularly.

 

I know but currently you don't seem to have much choices. Playing at safe distance while doing damage is better choice until you get good weapons and ships

 

Well, tbh - my nephew and I are probably changing games b/c this is awful. I appreciate the advice, but the game isn't fun after the opening few matches. According to the Rovio support:
"You accumulated a huge number of infamy for your level and unfortunately, it means that you surpassed your peers (In regards to level) and now fighting tougher ships."
I spent most of my time dead...

 

Impossible!
I was personally assured by Miika that my experimental new account only got such ridiculous matchups because of my exceptional skill, and that this just doesn't happen to actual new players..
I'm pretty sure that his word is bulletproof, so you must be making this up

Seriously though, I can't believe that they manage to hold onto any new players at all.
Entry level matchmaking needs a massive overhaul, and has done for ages.

 

I can understand, the patience it demands from new players.500+ Infamy with mk1 is quite and rovio is not totally wrong here, you will face difficulty. You reached 500 with mk1, meaning you are good player. I hope you keep playing man, don't lose hope so fast. Mk3 isn't a long way, maybe give it a try

 

I don't feel like I'm a good player when I spend a LOT of time dead spectating. I'm not doing any of the winning when I am 1 or 2 shot by almost anything. I think I'm better than ppl sub-300, half of the time I don't think they even shoot back, but I see Mk3-5 a LOT. I love the Fixers who have so much healing that I can't even kill them assuming I hit everything. The game was fun, but this is awful. My nephew and I just enjoy playing games together, but now we spend most of our time staring at the screens b/c we're both dead.

I appreciate the encouragement though and know you have the best of intentions, but it's very frustrating. Neither my nephew or I play games to not have fun lol.

 

I don't understand how being able to use my Cannon & Blast Cannon well equates to competing against players with Mk3-5 ships and Lv II & III weapons though. I'm not even sure if I use the guns well tbh - I fire when it's green...I try to keep moving, but I'm still adapting to the simulated joystick on a flat surface.

 

If you play for long enough, even bad players can eventually upgrade their ship mks. When starting hp is everything. Focus on using all sugar to level crew so you can buy a new mk asap. Then once you are the same mk as others, you can focus back on weapons and honing your skills.

 

How do they not progress in Infamy though...? I can barely scratch a MK4+; if I'm flanking and not focused I can assist with Mk3 on occasion.

 

lol
I Started To Play with my 7 year old brother... match making does suck ( BTW This is Not My Actual Account ----> This is ) My Bro Is Still Noob So He Cant Aim Well, we gained 0-200 infamy yesterday but As A Pro... Seeing this matchmaking... all i can think is it wasnt like this 3 months ago!!!!

 

Right Now Im Using My Bros New Account To test Out Weapons... it doesnt matter since he is still playing bots
I learned im actualy good at torp aiming

 

What's a decent Shooter loadout to aim for then...? I've tried using Torpedoes, but I don't like them. I like the cannons though, and do okay using grenades. Mortars I get myself really screwed up aiming while moving and disoriented, obviously I can practice, but I haven't used one I feel hits harder than my cannons though.

 

While it's still possible for anyone to progress, I can see how it's not fun. The infamy system combined with vertical progression leads to a fundamental flaw: the whole playerbase gets stronger over time, so new players get tougher and tougher matchups. A year from now there will be mk7 down there, and they'll be sending the newbies with their 100 HP ships against 10000 HP ones. So, I do agree with @Stelmo . Entry level matchmaking needs an overhaul. I can see a few ways to do this:

1) Put new players in a "bubble", matching them only with other new players. This bubble could break when they reach some designated power level, for example an mk3 ship with certain requirements for item levels. They would then get thrown into the normal matchmaking.
Pros: progression remains intact; early play becomes as fun as it was for us veterans
Cons: when the bubble breaks, it creates the same situation as now, be it less severe

2) Accelerate low level progression, speeding up the process of getting to mk3 or mk4 (by speeding up the crew training and item leveling up to that point).
Pros: no "bubble" to break, difficulty progression is smooth
Cons: starting out would be the same as it is now and a certain amount of time playing as underdog would still be required

3) Create a numerical estimation of a ship's power, and implement minimum infamy levels based on that
Pros: new player experience improves a lot as high mk ships can't get that low anymore; perceived fairness improves across all levels of play as people will face fewer ships that are far more powerful than their own
Cons: 50/50 win ratio is broken, meaning that low skill players will start to lose more than they win, which will lead to a certain amount of them quitting the game

 

I really want to like Battle Bay, b/c when I was being matched against players of similar ships & weapons it was fun. Mk1 & 2 felt close enough...3+ seems like a pretty significant jump though.

 

Personally what I want is to be matched against players of BOTH similar skill AND similar level gear. And I believe most everyone wants that.

But how will Rovio make money then, you say? A number of ways- I don't need to go over all of them here but for example enhanced VIP. Or add PvE. LOTS of ways. They aren't idiots they don't need me to list them all, but they should make some better choices from the different ones of which they are probably aware.