Originally Posted by
Nicko
I'm not sure who this was referring to, but since I made a comment on number of attacks in the update thread I wanted to address it head on.
I've been here since beta. I was always one or two in beta and I've been top ten - most of the time top three - every week I've played.
I know what it is to get hundreds of attacks. It happened week-in-week-out until just over two weeks ago for me. And then I vanished - as did all the players at the top.
And honestly? From a mental perspective - it was just better. ALL of us at the top were invisible - so it was a level playing field for those in the top ten - and your rank was directly proportionate to how hard you worked. Fair to those in the middle? Absolutely not - that wasn't my point. It was that the FEEL of the game was so much better when it wasn't two steps forward three back - and everyone should enjoy that feeling.
So it wasn't "Boo hoo now I'm getting attacked" as a forum member stated. I was getting attacked a ton throughout most of PvP. 300+ times routinely. It was "Wow - this game is so much more enjoyable when you feel like your rank is proportionate to your effort" - and an argument - as I've made in almost every weekly PvP thread for the last month (even when I enjoyed the attack bug) - to adjust how defenses are calculated.
The greatest predictor of success in this game is how hard you're willing to work. Jofer has a determination like no other. No matter how things were set up, he'd be number one - I loved his analogy about giving his account to another player - wouldn't make a difference. They wouldn't duplicate what he's done.
But the SECOND biggest predictor is defensive losses. When you're at the top it's 20 points a loss. And even 12 points is a big deal if you're getting attacked 450 times and your competitor is attacked 300 times while making the same number of offensive attacks.
Kind of like going to work, and while you're making the same as the guy next to you, he's paying 25% in taxes but you're paying 45%. Suck it up? Guess you could do that - but I doubt you'd be happy about it.
So my point was we know matchmaking has been a work in progress and up to this point broken. Hellhound's immunity isn't working, there is a pop-up about reporting crashes - but we're going to trust that NF has the second biggest determinant of one's PvP success (one that we as players can't monitor other than my weekly thread) all fixed, tidied up and working smoothly.
Hmmm....
So my suggestion was to make point losses for breaks in defense minimal - ex 0-5 points - and continue to reward holds. Players will STILL have to buy Ironite to compete - but from a psychological perspective you will go forward much more proportionate to your effort, defense will STILL matter, and if the match lists are still broken it wouldn't matter nearly as much.
Circling back - my original point wasn't "Wahhh - I was invisible and now I'm attacked'. Absolutely not. If we had reasonable assurance the matchmaking lists were FAIR - we'd all be in the same boat. We'd all take a good hit during the night. I'm cool with that, even if I don't think it's the best from an "I love of this game" perspective.
And I really like how Spartan and Kaz appear here and keep us updated. I believe they really do want this game to succeed - and a win-win for both player and NF.
But until I see how things pan out, I will keep a skeptical eye on these lists. We were told before it will take a few weeks for things to normalize and they never did. Here's to round two...