I'd rather build 2-3 weapons for 2-3 charcters each forge level. Am I the only one who thinks that would be more fun? It would at least FEEL like you were being proactive in the game. I just hate waiting so long to forge weapons between levels. I would probably expand my character selection too if it were easier to acquire and build guns. It seems like a win/win. Give us more to do than just grind our way to a new weapon every 2-3 forge levels... that takes forever and I know I lose motivation to play. Video games are about instant gratification - Spacelords likes to prolong our gratification it seems!
-Edit- I've been playing since closed beta. I know we have never been able to forge every level, but that's my point I guess. I think we should!

I have been playing Spacelords since the Raiders of the Broken Planet closed beta. I absolutely love this game – it is one of three games I play daily. The art is stellar, the game play is unique, and each character is compelling in their own way. I want this game to succeed and am writing this feedback post in hopes MSE will notice some of the issue myself, and the community, has with Spacelords.

I feel the biggest issue in Spacelords is the imbalance between high level players verses low level players. The passive buffs that high level players have gives them a very unfair advantage over lower leveled players, not to mention someone who is brand new to the game. This gap in skill is mostly an issue for people because the game is full of players who have reached the highest tier and play as the Antagonist. With full passive and full forge, these Antagonists absolutely STOMPS the Raiders. Furthermore, the Antagonist gets to see what stage and what Raiders they are going up against, leaving the Raiders with no counter-play options.

Some Antagonists like Harec/Easter Egg, Doldren, Ayana, and Rak have kits that make them excel at being an Antagonist and all it does is create a negative player experience for the other raiders. Balance REALLY needs to be looked at.

I enjoy the Antagonist, I actually really do. It adds a new challenge that creates a PVE/PVP hybrid I really want to enjoy but can’t due to the large gap in player skill when matchmaking. I have a couple of suggestions. 1) A player mentioned this on the forums, and I have had the same thought – the Antagonist should drop in and out of multiple games. He called it “Quick Invasions”. This allows the Antagonist to mess with Raiders and try to sabotage their objectives but not completely overwhelm them with their presence. An example would be to give the Antag 3 lives per game. Once the lives are up, the Antag is then placed in another ongoing game. Hopefully that would make both experiences better. It would be necessary to amend the rewards and objectives of the Antag. Another option would be that IF an Antag is in a match, everyone scales the same – either scale up to highest players level, down to lowest, or the average of all 5 players. If the game continues to place low to average players against maxed level Antagonists, the player base will get frustrated and leave.  Some already have.

Aleph and Ammo drops. This has led to animosity against my own teammates. It’s bad enough we have to fight an overpowered Antag, but because of the Aleph drops now, there has been a major increase in trolls who steal the Aleph you worked so hard to get. Worst of all, often times the thief dies before using the Aleph on the objective. Another player suggested a fix, and I cannot agree more. When you kill an Elite, you get the Aleph, up to the max stacks of 5, and any remainder can then be picked up by teammates. This is perfect solution because it allows you to help your teammates without hindering them or stealing their Aleph. Please, the current system turns your teammate into your enemy and I am confident that is not the type of community you are trying to cultivate.

The Team Up or Die patch is a failure, in my opinion. I appreciate you trying to improve communication, but it did not accomplish that. The “leader” system is confusing in an already complex game.

I love the 2.5 seconds wounded time. In my opinion this gives you an opportunity not to get instantly overwhelmed by grunts if you make one misstep.

Sudden death – I honestly thought I was going to hate this, but the truth is that I haven’t run into that being a problem … yet. So far, my Antags have all been so grossly over powered that I WISH I made it past a survival. However, please keep player feedback in mind. Just because my experience hasn’t been bad (yet) doesn’t mean it hasn’t been for others.

I love the new Space Store and want more cosmetics! I really like supporting FTP games and just hope MSE continues to update the store with new cosmetic items.

There are a lot of other issues tied to these. The Old Man in Fist Full of Sand, for example. If the Antag gets balanced, it may not be a problem, but right now it is too easy for certain Antags to literally two shot the Old Man and it’s game over. I cannot believe this is working as intended, and if it is, please rethink that.

Also, I know there might be a slight language barrier, but it seems when a MSE employee responds to a post on the forums, it completely misses the mark and makes it sound like the devs are clueless and not paying attention. For example, recently I saw (another) post on overpowered Antags and how it is unfair to new players who barely know what they are doing. A Dev responded and said that the upcoming Team Up and Die patch will help the new player experience. The response had nothing to do with the complaint, and instead it came off as flippant and a little crass.

I know that Antagonist Optional and/or tighter matchmaking would help solve some of these issues, but the player base is not big enough to split the queues. The problem is, the queues will never grow unless some of these barriers are addressed.

This entire post is meant to be constructive and positive. I love this game and hope to see you on the Broken Planet!

skorpio_ink (PS4)