I noticed that the admirals have a lot of their skills locked and you need to level up to unlock them. Doing Skirmish vs AI does not grant xp, unlike in the original BFG:A where you could level skirmish admirals. Leveling up your level to unlock skills, shouldn't that also be available through skirmish?

Are you seriously enforcing PvP to unlock admiral skills? That is going to alienate a lot of players like me that prefer PvE over PvP. I know PvP lacked players in the original, but forcing players to play PvP for unlocks is not the way to go.

(Leveling up Skirmishing admirals and creating unique fleets for them were one of my favorite things in BFG:A, sad that is gone. It gave the game a soul. I really miss naming my ships and customizing them. Must say this feels simplified...)

I think this is just going to be a beta thing they did say this beta was for balance and there's no better way of doing that than having players fight each other. I would be shocked if there wasn't a separate leveling system for those who don't want to play online.

Not so sure this is unique to the Beta, since Skirmish vs AI, and PvP fleet setup share the same setup and ability-customization screen, and the entire difference is whether you pick vsAI or Ranked. If these had separate screens, then yeah, perhaps. As it is? I am almost certain this is an intended future, to "solve" the lack of PvP.

If this is the case..
What it actually does is reduce game replayability and longevity, by forcing players to do something they don't like. The simplification of customization may also reduce replayablity. In BFG:A I not only leveled up admirals for every race, but several admirals with different fleets. I poured hundreds of hours into that game.

If this game locks stuff like this I doubt I will enjoy it for as long or as much. I am probably not alone, some players will probably be disappointed.

Its not all bad; I very much liked the new races! Necrons might actually be a bit squishy, but its fun. I like the larger fleets and I enjoy the larger maps and the new game mode. I am glad I don't have to do any more intelligence snatches or assassinations. I might be missing convoy raids and star base assaults, but that's OK.

But enforcing PvP to unlock skills and talents for your fleet? That really leaves a bad taste.

so this would be stupid cause people stopped playing the first game cause of the massive balance problems with the factions so like i said i would be shocked if they did that and yes it would hurt the game a lot many people simply wouldn't get it for that reason.

You could just play in offline mode. Everything unlocked there.

I know that actually; but having to disconnect with the internet to fully enjoy all the abilities isn't positive. All the abilities should be unlockable whether or not you play PvP or PvE.

@atherius I agree, but it's a solution in the meantime at least.

I am with Atherius on this in either enable rank leveling in skirmish or just enable them all while in skirmish. You should not have to disable your internet to get access to this. Lol Fix if bug, enable if by design.

For me this is game breaking. I really do not want to play PvP, but if I don't I cannot unlock skills and modifications.

It seems this is intended, as there is no separation of PvE/PvP setup. They are treated exactly the same except for the experience gain. So if one wants to enjoy vs AI fully, one has to play PvP.

I can only hope Amerial is right, that this is temporary for the beta, and that they do implement experience gain for PvE as well, but I have my doubts.

I am also the same way I hate PVP with a passion.

I agree with this post. I think Skirmish should award XP and unlocks.

Also for those saying "Play offline", that is not an option. The game won't go into offline mode even if you tell Steam to go offline, for some reason. The only reason people was in "offline mode" at the start of the beta was because the game servers went down.

My guess is that if you completely shut down the internet in your computer that might do the trick (I tried to block the game from the Windows Firewall, that didn't work either). But what if you want to play 2v2 with a friend against the AI? You can't go offline and invite friends at the same time.

bring back skirmish from #1 please, flesh it out, make it better. All the reviews for #1 were how great the skirmish mode is, how can destroy it like this in #2???? Gonna get totally review bombed and make no money and the franchise is gonna die... LISTEN TO YOUR PLAYERS!

I second this. I think it's nice to level up to unlock both abilities and portraits, but tying them to a single game mode is not a good design in my opinion. Not everyone wants to play that game mode, epecially when it's competitive MP we're talking about.

I vote for gaining XP in any game mode equally. So, if I play faction A, I will get XP with faction A no matter if I play SP or MP with them, Ranked or not. The first example I can think of is the sci-fi racing game GRIP: Combat Racing, in which you level up as a player by playing all game modes (Campaign, vs AI, vs other players) and said levelling up unlocks more vehicles and customization options. No game mode provides more XP than others: only your performance is important, so if you don't want to play MP or you don't want to play SP you can still get all the content, and if you play all modes (like I do) you'll also get all the content.

@thebeaver all these mechanics changes for pvp are listening to their players... the MP crown whines the most after all. at the end of the day they fell for the trap now i fear its too late for them to turn back.

You can turn cap points off in skirmish. Once they enable full skills/upgrades in skirmish, it should solve all your concerns, no?

I agree that PvP shouldn't forced upon the gamer in order to level up their fleet abilities. The PvP scene just isn't for everyone, and people who want to play PvE in order to explore different fleets without having to grind PvP should be catered for.

no because from what i understand at least the take and hold style will be ingrained in the campaign random battles as well. also this version of scrim is a shadow of the old one which will always be a problem unless we are given a different mode to progress races that are currently irrelevant to SP progression i.e. any race that does not have a campaign. Its either we have everything and play the same limited scrim battles or we have nothing and still have the same limited scrim battles. All the magic the last one had is gone.