What can be done to get more players?

Some good ideas in here that could help.

Opinions from me, some will echo what others have said.

Im brand new to the game with 9.2 hours in as I type this. I have a lot to learn but I can say this from exactly that standpoint, a noob who knows nothing (isn't that what you want? New players and retention?)

#1 thing for me are game modes and maps. There is nowhere nearly enough. I rate this game as great to amazing but that is the biggest disappointment. You need more game modes and maps. I love the unique game modes that we do have but what about Demolition? What about Bomb Squad or simply elimination? Freeing hostages maybe? There are Many more modes you could add to this game.

I can see others getting bored quickly with what we have. Not to mention a $30 price tag is borderline ridiculous for the lack of content this game has. Yes, it is a great game but I'm pretty sure you could play everything the game has to offer in that 2 hour window and refund. I almost did myself but the game is fun so whatever.

$30 will keep people away period. Don't make it expensive AND have a lack of content.

#2 For me is a couple of things consolidated, Competitive play and general confusion.

In another thread someone mentioned this and I agreed. Coming into this game there are many things that leave you thinking wtf? What is this? What do I do? Add some hints to your loading screen maybe.

Regarding competitive play. This is a big one for me and may be a drawn out reply so I apologize in advance.

I see many games ending with a tie score. I think the winner is decided by points?

Obviously I can't decide what you should do with your game but I think this is a very bad choice. I understand some game modes may take a very long time but there has to be a better way around this.

Another thing is the Competitive lobby/matchmaking system that this game has.

Ive tried to join the competitive room a few times with no success. Add this to the general confusion section. What am I missing here?

My background starts with a very competitive old school game that some of you would probably laugh at (Socom) but that game was as competitive as a game can possibly get and they had a Lobby System. I just can't see any game being competitive with a matchmaker system. It's not possible to truly have a #1 best team.

Esports is esports but when is the last time a #1 conference team in the NFL played a completely random team for the super bowl trophy? Never.

I'm not sure how to get in a competitive game here or get a party going and I feel whatever system is in place needs to be a bit more user friendly.

For now, with such low hours that is all. I really do find this game very good but it needs a few more things.

A battle royale mode will only bring in players who want to play that, not the actual game.

Battle Royale would be the worst idea for the game.

Sandstorm is a niche game and that is where the game has it is strong points. Battle Royale is currently dominated by Fortnite, Apex Legends and PUBG. Then you have unsuccessful clones. The market for BR is big, but it is not endless. Meaning there is only a limited amount of players for it, which also have a limited amount of time. Sandstorm "Royale" would not be able to get any players stop playing Fortnite or another BR game , you would only potentially loose existing players.

The game needs way more content and more polishing. It still feels rough around certain edges. Content alone is great, but the communication with the community must also massively improve. It is pretty bad in my book. You need to interact way more with the community and also show what you are doing and why you are doing it. Just teasing a two guns and a firing range on Twitter is not enough at all.

@suade

Great that you take the time to give NWI feedback from fresh eyes. I think you are on point both regarding amount of maps and game modes. It takes many hours to be good at pvp and sharpen skills and tactics, especially if you have a team, so that’s where the content often comes in these types of games. Maps and game modes are just a frame where the real game is to outsmart your opponents. You may have seen all game modes and maps in 2 hours, but you need 100s of hours to master them in pvp 🙂

Matches will normally have sign up page and will not be random, there was seasons with finals in the last Insurgency 2014, you can find it if you dig around. I don’t have time for comp, but if you do wanna play comp and have time and dedication I am sure you will find a competitive scene sooner or later, though esports from home computers is not fair, in the sense that no developer in the first person shooter genre have the means to provide hack free events (no example exist so far, in any of the games I have seen anyway,), so there’s that:0 I have the most fun playing casually in these types of games.

Get it out to the 90+ million console owners who screams for a more tactical milsim.

@point_man There is no crossplay. This does nothing.

Increase sale, more money to develop and support all platforms, more money for marketing....

Nah your right kiddo, it does nothing.

Keep up your narrow minded PC elitist thinking.

@point_man You're right. Reinvestment into marketing is a good option

@point_man
I would like to give you some insight on the business side of different platforms.

PC Market
The PC market is very open, you can pick your tools and engine and you also have a lot of stores that are very accessible.

Console Market
The is fixed and the markets are pretty closed. You need to hit certain requirements in order to be able to sell your game on consoles.

Mobile Market
Pretty open and good tools to create games, but you are in competition with a lot of games and a lot of stores. It is very hard to get exposure on that market. Also most Mobile games are F2P with microtransactions.

This is not meant as "what is bettter", but I just wanted to give a very basic understanding of how different it is. You cant just say: im gonna put this game on console, like you can put a game on Steam. Then you also would have to do a lot of work to make the game work properly and good on consoles.

last edited by MeFirst

Brand new to the game . I just starting playing multi last night . One of my teammates cursed me out and called me an F'n idiot . He said guys were running by me and I wasn't shooting them , even though I was in the middle of 2 or 3 smoke grenades and a mortar strike . I couldn't see a thing . I'm a level 2 player and have no idea what I am doing , you figure the level 120 jerk would realize that . 2 or 3 others in chat were yelling and screaming the N word the entire round . It was a horrible experience . I can see this as part of the problem with the population dropping . When I jumped on the game population was around 800 . Make it 799 now . Not good .

Ill just play the bot mode it's a pretty fun game .

@herc728

Learn to use the mute button, just mute anyone who’s annoying. Understand that whatever some stranger tells you of negative feedback it means nothing. Literally no reason to care. Keep on playing and beat them in pvp one beautiful day=)

@pacalis said in What can be done to get more players?:

@herc728

Learn to use the mute button, just mute anyone who’s annoying. Understand that whatever some stranger tells you of negative feedback it means nothing. Literally no reason to care. Keep on playing and beat them in pvp one beautiful day=)

Yeah I'll do that . I just thought I could actually learn some things in the chat . Guess not . Thanks !

More game modes, custom game modes, more options for custom games, mods, and workshop items.
Also, I think more interesting things can be done with the vehicle system, and that only having a MG-technical in the game (which randomly spawns in co-op) is a waste of potential.
(An up-armored van with gunports would be fun, for a start).

More varied maps, like Peaks, Heights, Sinjar, and Ministry from Insurgency (2014), different times of day (I know devs already commented on this, but changing the time of day to night changes everything), weather effects like sandstorms (duh).

Recent vids and images from the Middle-East with insurgents operating in sand/dust storms to avoid air support were not only aesthetic (it looked like the apocalypse), but could add a twist to the air-support system, for example:

  • No air-support, or unreliable support that have issues with targeting (due to limited visibility)
  • Highly unpredictable artillery support (wide and random impacts)
  • Even more unpredictable chemical mortars (wide and random impacts, and moving pockets of gas that are hard to see)

@herc728 said in What can be done to get more players?:

@pacalis said in What can be done to get more players?:

@herc728

Learn to use the mute button, just mute anyone who’s annoying. Understand that whatever some stranger tells you of negative feedback it means nothing. Literally no reason to care. Keep on playing and beat them in pvp one beautiful day=)

Yeah I'll do that . I just thought I could actually learn some things in the chat . Guess not . Thanks !

For your consideration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive-aggressive_behavior

last edited by shangster949

just put this beautiful work of art on console and watch it kick ass

@herc728

You can definitely also learn in chat, and it’s cool to cooperate with friendly ppl. No need to mute all ppl right. Though in a game it’s rarely time to learn by explanation, so it’s better to learn by either

  1. Just play the game for a lot of hours, learn all maps, game rules, get familiar with all weapons, classes etc.
  2. Find useful videos either casual tips like Andreafps on youtube or finding skilled players to see how they play like LTB lick the butter.
  3. Read tactics in forums like this. I have a few if you visit my profile though the tips are well hidden among my 200+ posts.

@herc728 Good news is the voice block actually works after the update. We can finally block the attention seekers whos only material is saying the N word over and over.

There's plenty of people that will answer your questions in voice chat. Don't be afraid to ask.

brb putting posters up on some telephone poles

Well, their biggest issue is Advertising. They're an indie studio with a relatively niche (albeit excellent) game. They can't really blow the same money as Activision or EA, or expect to have the same kind of market impact per release.

What could be done to grow this playerbase? Well, once the console port comes out (hopefully adding in more variety and maps), I would think that the game being streamed and promoted by popular streamers would really do the trick here.

That said; it is a niche game. You're not looking at the same population or target audience as CoD or even Battlefield. So a bit of targeted advertising may do quite a bit of good. Additionally, the console release could be used to build up a decent hype train.