[skorpio_ink]

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)

[Angeles2099]

Bump**

I'm with you on this, well mostly. I think after some getting used to the new Communication system is actually very beneficial. At the very least i'm glad that the option to better convey strategy and what not is at least available should you want to use it.

But yeah Quick invasions really need to become a thing and as for the old man, I was thinking about the Change they made to Valeria's whip. Perhaps the Old man can become immune to shot damage if the enemy is too far away, this way Antagonist are forced to get in relatively close to do any damage to him.

Also, i'm glad this open letter didn't end with a "I'm leaving the Game" but instead was constructive. I really hope they see this.

[B30]

I also see a problem about the new communication/leader feature.
Now you are totally exposed to the arbitrariness of other players whether you end up receiving status points or not.
It doesn't matter if you did a good job as a leader or not, if no one of the other players gives you a thumbs up at the end, you do not get any status points anymore (unfortunately, the status points reward at leveling up were removed).
At the moment this is not that tragic for me (you only can obtain disco emoji's which I don't want/need), but that will most likely change in the future.

And what about the people who are rarely leaders, they get even less!

The status points that you got when you where leveling up you should continue to receive, and the thumbs up status points should serve as an additional bonus.

[Engelsgaard]

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.

The response was on point. Part of  the problem stated was that beginners don't know what to do. The communication system helps guide people what to do.
I'm not saying it's a great system or that the problem is now solved, but the answer directly addressed part of the problem stated.

I've not been in this game as long as you have. I feel however that here my voice is heard more, than in any other game I've played so far. I appreciate that.

[baconman1912]

I agree 100% with you on this post and on the vast majority of what the others have said. I personally think "Team up or Die" missed the mark in a big way, that being the whole "Improving thing" it really didn't add or change anything that much for the better. We still can't play with other people in other regions SMH... All we're teaming up with is the exact same people nothing's changed there.


Well I definitely support cosmetics I still can't deny that MSE is still a bit greedy I see the complaints about buying loadouts and agree having to pay real money for something so trivial is very METAL GEAR SURVIVE of you.

Well I'll admit to sometimes posting a bit aggressively on here I only do it because I really enjoy this game and the Community attached to it, I'm Sorry if I hurt a few egos here but heres my reasoning.

I came from Battleborn if any of you remember that Gearbox game, for those who never played it. It was very under valued despite of how good it was and the issues it had. The Community didn't push the Devs in the right, direction and the game passed away in the process. I honestly don't want to see that happen again to another great gem of a game.

Ha look at me getting emotional on a post likely long abandoned by those at large makes you think doesn't it? What's the point of putting faith into Developers when it seems like a waste of time? Is there any point in wanting to enjoy a game as well as wanting it to prosper?

Who knows this makes me need a drink.

[ScimitarSlice]

"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. "

Have you noticed in this game many times you will say "how could a game developer so very very smart do something so dumb?"

That is because the strategy is to humiliate and frustrate you into buying gold and experience boosts.  This manipulation tactics is a double edged sword, and will drive people away.  I wonder why their can't be a 1 on 1 pvp for better queue waits and to leave pve people alone?  Yes it would be broken but so is the 4 on 1 so who cares?  It would still be fun.  I wonder why they won't take my moneys so I can play pvp when I want to and pve when I want to, instead of making ,e nervously roll dice.  I don't like gambling gambling makes me frustrated.  We who love the potentials of this game wonder many things, and the answer of why is what I wrote above and that will not change.

[Asmun]

"how could a game developer so very very smart do something so dumb?"

I say this to myself every single day that I play this game. I really want to love it, but it really just seems like the devs have no idea what players actually want. Undo the downed timer changes. Make ammo and aleph only drop excess. Make difficulty scaling less extreme, especially with enemy spawn rates. Make miners easier to kill. Fix the spawn rates in Mind Over Matter. And for the love of god, just give us basic text and/or voice chat. I believe the issues with high player level/skill disparity would fix themselves once the player base grows, but that's just not going to happen without some of these other issues being addressed.

[sonofoz]

give us basic text and/or voice chat.

oh no, please.
don't let the game become more toxic than it already is...
i don't want to hear raging players all games long as it can be on so much pvp games, nor i want them to endure my own flaming about game's flaw.

[sonofoz]

IF there is mute and block...

and i have smthing else to do during mission than trying to mute .xXImeproHnounssableName3541Xx. or argue about it is  better to focus on the antag or rushing the mission, or anything else.
the time you'll lose typing, an antag can kill you 3 times.

you made a proposal i gave you my opinion.
chat on pvp game are always toxics.
i rather this bad communication system than a chat.

the current system as to be perfected. sentences are too longs. it lacks the regroup order, and they should find more generics order.
something like :
regroup
someone vs antag
focus objective
protect objective
find/use aleph
clear minions

i probably forget some importants orders, but these can be use to establish strategy on any mission

[L E T H A L ☆ C E N T A U R I]

IF there is mute and block...

and i have smthing else to do during mission than trying to mute .xXImeproHnounssableName3541Xx. or argue about it is  better to focus on the antag or rushing the mission, or anything else.
the time you'll lose typing, an antag can kill you 3 times.

you made a proposal i gave you my opinion.
chat on pvp game are always toxics.
i rather this bad communication system than a chat.

the current system as to be perfected. sentences are too longs. it lacks the regroup order, and they should find more generics order.
something like :
regroup
someone vs antag
focus objective
protect objective
find/use aleph
clear minions

i probably forget some importants orders, but these can be use to establish strategy on any mission

People are mean sometimes. That's life. Get over it and mute and let us ppl who can handle it enjoy it k kid? Thx.

[sonofoz]

let's say you won't be patronizing again and i won't be mean with you. 

but i'm surprised, the only intervention i saw from you until know were stupid image (in fact the same image again and again by the way...) trying to despise people.
i thought you didn't even know how to speak.

anyway, genius, you'll explain that to the devs, since if they didn't choose to put a chat, there is a reason...
(and since this reason can't be their incapacity to do it, there is not a lot of reason to imagine...)

so as i said, there is not always a mute, and in quick games, it's pain in the ass to use, as it is to write. moreover, when there is a chat, is barely never used for usefull things like stratagy, and is 90% for useless things as complaints, insult and flaming.

oh by the way, here is how y'all look complaining about your impossibility to play with other without ordering them how they have to play to please you :

[Lehi]

If I remember correctly, there was an individual mute button in the voice chat. In a game, on PS4, press option button. On the list of the teammates, you could mute individually.
For some reasons, it was removed since Spacelords release in the last August. In anyway, I still can disable the whole voicechat in the game if getting annoyed.

I'm against Chat system. It's too wordy, and I do not want to populate the UI by stupid chat like thousands of repeated p-words and f-words. You know, SL is now F2P, so a lot of kids can enter this game.

I rather search for antag before he finds me. The current guidance system is already annoying because it is placed on the center the of screen and blocking the aiming.

By the way, I think this Dev really listen to their customers, but they still have their goals and reasons.

[L E T H A L ☆ C E N T A U R I]

If I remember correctly, there was an individual mute button in the voice chat. In a game, on PS4, press option button. On the list of the teammates, you could mute individually.
For some reasons, it was removed since Spacelords release in the last August. In anyway, I still can disable the whole voicechat in the game if getting annoyed.

I'm against Chat system. It's too wordy, and I do not want to populate the UI by stupid chat like thousands of repeated p-words and f-words. You know, SL is now F2P, so a lot of kids can enter this game.

I rather search for antag before he finds me. The current guidance system is already annoying because it is placed on the center the of screen and blocking the aiming.

By the way, I think this Dev really listen to their customers, but they still have their goals and reasons.

This game isn't for kids if you haven't noticed.

You would be able to turn both the voice and text chat off (for the millionth fucking time)

Yeah they listen... to a point.

[sonofoz]

Listen kid

it's funny. =)
because usually, there is 2types of people using always that word to adress people on internet...

first are adolescents. (that's why it's funny, cause they still are pretty childish, you see)
when they get used to their pubics hairs, they start craving for respect, want to be considered as grown up and try to show the world how mature and wise they are adressing all other as "kid" when they disagree with them.

and the second kind are adult, who are still craving for respect because they never aquired it irl, so they are trying to force respect by disrespect. pretty a lame move if you ask me... (and that's funny 'cause they are still childish in their behavior too, you see ?)
 
anyway i wonder which category you belong to...?

to come back to the subject :
first, i don't think it was mentionned you wanted a voice chat so i thought it was a regular typing one.
and if it was i miss the info.
by the way, in my own experience, voice chat are a bit less toxic. a bit...
people tend to try to keep a more calm attitude on voice chat. sometimes...
and if there already is a mute button on each name, so, ok. maybe it could be usefull.

and second, didn't it come to your mind that i'am on pc since i say i don't they put a chat ? so how could i know that it was already existing on console...?  cause, i don't think this was mentioned neither. and if it was... well i missed the infos...

but, you see, the two of you are the perfect exemples of why chat are not a good things :
immature people who just try to appear superiors, make fun of other if they don't share their opinions, never talk to be helpfull or usefull for others but just trying to always be the biggest rooster of the barnyard... why would it be different during a mission ?
you are the pure essence of toxicity in games and forum guys... =)
and muzzle you with a lack of ingame chat is still the best thing MSE can do for its community

 

[Asmun]

I'm fairly certain it would be extremely easy to implement an option to just disable text chat if a player so chose. As such, I can't see any good reason to not at least give text chat a try. I, for one, have had several games where people were wasting time or making poor decisions, and I could've helped them if I could just communicate with them in some way beyond the limited options of the current system. Even if every single person in the game were toxic in text chat, I would still have a higher opinion of the game as a whole, as not having effective communication in an online team-based shooter is just asinine.