after consulting the steam charts, and waiting on queue for 2v2 until this very moment, im afraid that the game is almost empty with 225 players having played this game in the last 35 minutes, which is a shame because i actually enjoyed playing the MP.

maybe, as a suggestion, for the next update we could get a new cinematic trailer to get some attention on hopefully a new gamemode to pump some blood in the game, i always like to watch all of bfg 1 and 2 trailers. other than that i dont know what else could be done, because some big changes/additions are going to be needed to bring back the players

Or get rid of the garbage "cap points" that no one wanted and yet are forced to play in multi. I was so damn excited to hit multiplayer hard in this game and I am completely turned off by it.

It also seems that all those that really enjoyed the cap points aren't even playing the game based on the numbers you cited.

In the end, people will only keep playing this game for the single player and all the mods that are coming.

A new game mode will do absolutely nothing to add new players to the game. Hell. We can build massive fleets now and it seems like nobody batted an eye. You would think the UA fanboys would eat that right up lol. But NO.

I think whats really holding the game back is

1. The Meta is incredibly stale. Lets face it. You are screwed if you dont play the best current build or "flavor of the month builds" with your faction. There is hardly any variety and some factions like admech and others suffer from 1 trick pony syndrome because they are so gimic and any other option in that fleet is dumpster tier. Like again im gonna bring up Admech. Players only use probably 1/4 of the fleet roster and that is Cruiser only. Admech Light Cruisers are hardly ever utilized because its about the GIMIC NOVA CANNONS. And its a shame cause im pretty sure Tindalos can do something to make admech Light cruisers very fun to play and give them more functionality to allow maybe a more flexible play style.

2. This is something that could have been added to point one. And this is just my oppinion. But i feel like the way the devs patch this game takes a bit to long. Its been like what? 3 months almost and problems like Ordnance and some perks that the devs are being made aware of still have not been addressed. It sucks because this is the reason why i hardly play the game cause i cant play the factions i want because they are just not competitive and getting any attention.

3. Lack of content developing opportunities like Observer/ Replay mode dont exist so the game automatically is going to get less coverage.

Giant heaps of content for the sake of content wont fix the games multiplayer. IT will probably only make it worse. The only thing that will help BFGA 2 are adjustments and fixes to the essential pieces like balance, mechanics and etc etc.

@ultrascythe said in the game MP seems to be dying:

Or get rid of the garbage "cap points" that no one wanted and yet are forced to play in multi. I was so damn excited to hit multiplayer hard in this game and I am completely turned off by it.

It also seems that all those that really enjoyed the cap points aren't even playing the game based on the numbers you cited.

In the end, people will only keep playing this game for the single player and all the mods that are coming.

Personally i think cap points was one of the better ideas that tindalos had for BFGA 2. It forces Engagments and adds another strategic layer to the game. in the first BFGA. you would get endlessly kited by eldar or chaos. This game mode was put in place to manage this issue.

Im telling you this. If Cruiser clash becomes primary game mode. Eldar and Drukhari will become the Number 1. Cancer faction all over again because they will dictate every single thing in an Engagement. Where with Cap points i can hunker down and hide in a cloud and not play their games.

Its not perfect and certainly needs some tweaks but i find it better than cruiser clash by a long shot.

Really, the lack of a replay system or observer mode is the biggest problem right now. It's not going to explode the community size, but it's definitely going to help retain and slowly grow it.

Also, having some kind of global chat in the game might be ok. Just to see people online. The UI has a very solitary feel as you don't see ANYONE at all until you've already got a multi game loaded up.

@admiralatlas aah yes i knew i forgot something. General chat is also pretty important.

@admiralatlas this brings me memories of wargame red dragon chat, not family friendly at all lol

In my estimation there are several issues that are leading to the game dying

1: The "Meta" and Competitive Seasons - For most people the way to play this game is the mp battles. However, the mp battles are not balanced at all and every patch seems to have a secret sauce build that is basically the designated big bad bully of the Meta. Some factions are also completely and utterly garbage in comparison to others. This by itself is bad, but combined with the super competitive nature of the mp ever since the devs have implemented the "competitive seasons" aspect, it is just brutally bad for the mp imo. New players enter into mp trying to figure out what they can make work and it isn't welcoming at all, because the game is extremely punishing if you aren't following "the meta" for the current patch. That stops new players from joining and probably causes people who are better at the game to drop it as well (for example as much as I like this game I haven't played in the past couple of days because I'm tired of facing the same pyro acid tyranid fleets).

My suggestion to alleviate this issue is for the devs to have more frequent balance passes (balance is something that is almost never actually reached as far as I can tell in mp games like this), and to have breaks from the hypercomptetitive seasons. New players aren't going to stick around in a game where they are facing someone w/ 100+ hrs facerolling them with the FotM fleet while they try to learn. Having periods where the competitive aspect is toned down will allow players to try out stuff w/o fear of ranking issues, and before S1 the variety of fleets and builds you faced was a lot bigger in my estimation, which lead to a more varied and better mp experience

2: Skills - The skill selection system the way it is now is incredibly punishing for anybody wanting to pick up the game and go into mp. Some factions are borderline useless without access to certain skills in genera/for certain matchups. (traktor for orks, for example) The fact that skills are still locked behind faction level is competely nuts and a horrible decision, just have them all unlocked at this point. Making someone have to grind through a faction to make them useful doubtlessly drives away new players that the game desperately needs

3: No replay system - This is something that has been brought up again and again because it is probably the biggest reason why the games playerbase is shrinking. Without access to a replay system or observer mode the only way for people to create content for the game is to record mp battles as they happen. This isn't ideal, and the fact that there isn't a replay system means that less people are going to make content for the game.

I bought and got into this game because several Youtubers I watched for other games (primarily Total War) were playing i, and I thought it looked fun so I picked it up. I'm sure there are tons of other people driven to the game in a similar manner. And yet now both of the channels I originally got introduced to the game from are no longer making video content, probably because their is no replay system. If there was one, content creators would be able to cast battles other than their own and make better videos showing off strategies and how the game looks because they'd be able to focus on that kind of stuff rather than their own gameplay. More content made of this game = more players

@kilroywh78 Good ol' wargame chat, It sure was fun. I could sometimes just sit there with people and shitpost for quite a while. Which is a good thing, it gives the feeling of always coming back to a lively place no matter what time, you'll see some people talking and you can easily just join conversation if you feel like it.

@sultanofsuspect said in the game MP seems to be dying:

(All the things sultanofsuspect said)

Yeah, I think this is a good list. I've been pretty lenient about the balance as I can understand the tremendous difficulty of making 12 factions relatively balanced to each other. I think we're in a better state now (with the exception of pyroacid nids) atm then we were when we started.

I'll do my own write ups on some suggestions for skills as I get gud at the game, and I would encourage everyone to do that really. Communication is always good.

No replays=no community =no tornements=slow death + less idea of how to balance as evidence of the meta is not discussed as well
made many posts about why a replay system is vital

I stopped because of the games meta and how fleets are built is very boring, for example the last time I played against a tau merchant my opponent brought nothing but the same cruiser in his fleet, its very boring, but it worked very well for him. Fleets would always perform better when every ship in the fleet excelled at doing one thing well, against chaos it would always be slaughters only or Acheron only, never a mix of ships, again very boring and takes barely any execution, low skill ceiling.

Also having no replays in the game or spectator mode is a knife in the back for the community. No content creators can analyse the game. And you can’t improve if you want to watch back your own games.

Patches are few and far between so the games balance suffers. There’s twelve factions which could take some time to balance but balancing the four main original factions like orks eldar chaos and imperial would be fine, have them as the competitive factions.

@nin6 said in the game MP seems to be dying:

I stopped because of the games meta and how fleets are built is very boring, for example the last time I played against a tau merchant my opponent brought nothing but the same cruiser in his fleet, its very boring, but it worked very well for him. Fleets would always perform better when every ship in the fleet excelled at doing one thing well, against chaos it would always be slaughters only or Acheron only, never a mix of ships, again very boring and takes barely any execution, low skill ceiling.

I think what the devs are screwing up on is they are not giving any ships special characteristics. So obviously the ship with the best weapon load out will always be picked over something like a lunar. They also need to rework alot of perks.

Also having no replays in the game or spectator mode is a knife in the back for the community. No content creators can analyse the game. And you can’t improve if you want to watch back your own games.

Patches are few and far between so the games balance suffers. There’s twelve factions which could take some time to balance but balancing the four main original factions like orks eldar chaos and imperial would be fine, have them as the competitive factions.

I think all factions should become decent enough to bring to ladder. Or else the devs should have just released the game with 4 factions only.

The playerbase is still decent from what I've seen. I haven't waited for more than half a minute to find a match during normal hours EU zone.

There's not much to be done to diversify fleet composition unless the devs add certain bonuses to encourage mixed fleets(or maybe penalty points?) for having too many ships of the same type). It could encourage people to try something new. Else, only other solution is to do regular patches to shift the meta. Some people will be pissed of course but it will "refresh" the gameplay.

A controversial solution could be enlarging maps and throwing additional points to fleets, so players could be forced to create fleets that should/could be split into several groups, each capable of fielding line ships, a carrier and escorts so they are prepared to handle engagements on all ranges/ speeds by themselves. Of course, this would also make matches against stealthy/kitey factions much more unbearable and would extend match time by quite a bit.

OR, as another idea, maybe they'll bring back individual ship upgrades in the future with a new(?old?) game mode. Skills should remain only on flagship though. On too many occasions I would dismiss the use of a fleet because the available upgrades would not properly suit all the ships.
The longevity of games like Dota and similar is assured by the frequent balance changes. Buffs/Nerfs here and there just enough to ensure that an established composition isn't as successful as before. Let the players have their fun for a couple of months then change it again.

@tr3iz said in the game MP seems to be dying:

The playerbase is still decent from what I've seen. I haven't waited for more than half a minute to find a match during normal hours EU zone.

There's not much to be done to diversify fleet composition unless the devs add certain bonuses to encourage mixed fleets(or maybe penalty points?) for having too many ships of the same type). It could encourage people to try something new. Else, only other solution is to do regular patches to shift the meta. Some people will be pissed of course but it will "refresh" the gameplay.

Penalty points isnt an option for fleet diversity. The only thing that can be done is to give ships more defined characteristics and roles. What would also help is to actually make other game mechanics like ordnance and lances viable...

A controversial solution could be enlarging maps and throwing additional points to fleets, so players could be forced to create fleets that should/could be split into several groups, each capable of fielding line ships, a carrier and escorts so they are prepared to handle engagements on all ranges/ speeds by themselves. Of course, this would also make matches against stealthy/kitey factions much more unbearable and would extend match time by quite a bit.

OR, as another idea, maybe they'll bring back individual ship upgrades in the future with a new(?old?) game mode. Skills should remain only on flagship though. On too many occasions I would dismiss the use of a fleet because the available upgrades would not properly suit all the ships.
The longevity of games like Dota and similar is assured by the frequent balance changes. Buffs/Nerfs here and there just enough to ensure that an established composition isn't as successful as before. Let the players have their fun for a couple of months then change it again.

Yeah i agree with that but cheeze flavor of the month gameplay isnt healthy. We need variety and we need it asap.

Game is dying because it simply isn't good. How long are devs going to let the current meta be dominated by Tyranids? They are clearly op and yet they do nothing. Why would anyone want to play the mp competitively when there is only one fleet to play to have a chance and the matchmaking is awful

If I can fight the same guy 4x in a row who has a fleet that hard counters mine and lose every time, sliding out of a high rank because matchmaking is telling me to go f myself, why would I continue playing this game? The game needs to have a system more like Total Wars, where you get placed in a lobby and can build/choose your fleet there instead of being locked into one from the start, which just encourages the kind of meta that the game has now, where only one or two builds are viable

Of course all of our suggestions are moot if devs don't do anything. They dropped a hotfix a couple days after the patch, but am I really supposed to believe they don't notice the state of the meta? Its the exact kind of thing that kills a game like this, yet its untouched and makes the whole season system a joke

@sultanofsuspect said in the game MP seems to be dying:

Game is dying because it simply isn't good. How long are devs going to let the current meta be dominated by Tyranids? They are clearly op and yet they do nothing. Why would anyone want to play the mp competitively when there is only one fleet to play to have a chance and the matchmaking is awful

Absolutly agree. The devs are not good at addressing players feed back or fixing big issues that the game is having. Its been what? 8 months now. And we still have broken factions and broken game mechanics that are unusable.

If I can fight the same guy 4x in a row who has a fleet that hard counters mine and lose every time, sliding out of a high rank because matchmaking is telling me to go f myself, why would I continue playing this game? The game needs to have a system more like Total Wars, where you get placed in a lobby and can build/choose your fleet there instead of being locked into one from the start, which just encourages the kind of meta that the game has now, where only one or two builds are viable

The problem with that is that BFGA isnt set up like TW WH. The game is far more assymetric than TW. Which means it will just open you up to counter picking factions anyway.

Of course all of our suggestions are moot if devs don't do anything. They dropped a hotfix a couple days after the patch, but am I really supposed to believe they don't notice the state of the meta? Its the exact kind of thing that kills a game like this, yet its untouched and makes the whole season system a joke

I agree. they should have focused on fixing the game first before going competitive seasons. The ladder atm is determined much less about skill but about what Broken faction you are playing.