[MUST READ] Easy fixes, basics missing & main problems

[novationx]

( long post @ NADEO )

I would like to address some things NADEO should really change. Mostly obvious things that arent even worth discussing about or dont take any time to be changed and are just so logical.
It basically annoys me that they havent changed these things already!
I often dont understand the way NADEO thinks, because I would do so much things differently eventho I know making a game is extremely hard. So here we go:



A. EASY FIXES

1. Y-scale = default 1.0
--> New players will have a better first impression about the game, because they can actually aim better.
2. Accellaration = OFF by default
--> New players will have a better first impression about the game, because they can actually aim better.

These 2 fixes are so easy to change. Open the file;change 0.4 to 1.0, change the accellaration boolean to "FALSE", save the file & voila. Done.

3. Add back the defender counter and make it an option to display it or not.
--> How long can this possibly take to do? What is the possible harm in bringing this back?

If some people ask to remove it, then dont just completely remove it for all players please

4. ...

5. ...



B. BASIC FUNCTIONALLITY MISSING IN THE GAME:

- COPY/PASTE/SCROLL/MULTILINE in all chats. + Chat history with option for timestamps.
--> The userinterface already looks bad, the chat only makes it worse.

- Chat overlay

- Ingame voice client. A lot of gamemodes really need teamwork.

- Customization of a lot of stuff ( mostly hud )

- It misses a proper design too, which i consider to be a basic functionallity.


C. WHY MANIAPLANET IS BAD FOR THE COMMUNITY:

- MANIAPLANET is all about the community & tools. In every article I read about NADEO/MANIAPLANET I see the word "community" and the word "tools" popping up.
Now why are all those MODS/MAPS/SKINS/HORNS/... hidden away? Nobody knows about manialinks.

example 1: To get , probably the best gamemod, combo u need to type "getcombo" in the manialink-browser? How can a player find out about the mode combo? AND how can that same player know he has type "getcombo"? Where is this information shown? Nowhere.
Who comes up with this? No wonder nobody playes combo... Nobody knows about it.

Why would somebody like STEEFFEEN ( who is awesome btw ) even bother making another good gamemod? It will not get exposure and its purely a waste of time. (his words)


example 2: to get a replay you forgot to save u got to type "replay" in the manialink-browser.
Lets say 10% ( and thats a lot ) of the shootmania players registers on the forums and of those 50% will actually read the post Magnetik made about how to get the replays....
So in other words.... Magnetik made this awesome features, but NOBODY uses it... because its tucked away in manialinkbrowser
This is purely a waste of time for Magnetik eventho its an awesome feature. Dont create smth if nobody will use it. DUHHH!

I bet all my planets that more than the HALF of the community & surely ALL new players dont know that the manialink browser exists. This means they dont get the new horns/skins/avatars/signs/mods/maps/replays!
If players actually knew about allllll these extra features they are getting they might stop complaining about the prize being too high and they would surely love the game more.

Solution: Lose the titles & Make a nice homescreen that displays:
- Most Played Mods - Newest Mods ( + download link )
- News about upcoming events & stuff within the maniaplanet.
- Newest skins - Top skins
- Create 1 serverbrowser with good filters like every other game (CSGO is a good example.)
- Show price-drops...
- Show ESWC footage/montages
- Announce new events
- ...
Be creative!! Maybe show more content like usermade videos, or implement active streams...
The current homescreen is bad!



D. NO MOTIVATION TO PLAY THE GAME

1. U dont receive LP on a lot of servers.
= Motivation?

2. No ranking on servers ( or at least not decent )
--> I wanna type '/rank' or '/top10' in the chat on a server to see how well I am doing compared to others. It makes me come back to rank up and be better than others.
= Motivation

3. No achievements ( arguably not rly necessary, but a lot of people want this. People that dont want it, can just ignore it. )
= Motivation.

4. No statistics ( every game has statwhores, that relaunch their game everyday to improve their stats. ) It allows the player to see if he gets better over time.
= Motivation?

5. NADEO could easily design cool skins , armors, badges etc to "UNLOCK" at some point.
= Motivation?

6. 200 #1 of the world.... Nobody cares anymore about the current ranking-system. The #1 of the world isnt the best player , but the one who simply played the most. Why would someone bother to rank up? Give the number 1 a reward or at least SOMETHING. Motivate us to rank up!!! Be creative
= Motivation?

7. Give us the option to invite players to join our game via steam AND maniaplanet. It will make people start their game because they got invited.
= Motivation

-------------------------------

These are my main problems with the game and I believe if this is fixed the game would be soooo much better for both current as new players. The community-content would grow because players would actually be able to see the new stuff that was made & would be extra motivated to create their own stuff to share. Eventually , ofc, the playerbase will grow which is the most important and lucrative for NADEO.

I sincerely hope someone of NADEO reads this and reports this to his boss. I dont want new blocks in the next update. I want what we have NOW, but improved. A lot.


Im open for any discussions, but I dont think anyone can convince me that Im wrong. I made some strong arguements here. If you agree with the stuff I said then please do make a reply so we can give this thread the attention it really needs & deserves.

Good night community.

PS: This thread is not about B2/B3, 3-dot-laser or bugs. Nor is it a whislist thread. Please keep this in mind when replying. Ty.

[Wabbitface]

My first impression of this post "ZOMG I totally aggree with you"

My more detailed opinions, suggestions and feelings followed:

If you read novationx's post within an hour of posting please excuse his 'rant'-style and whatever may seem disrespectful to Nadeo, he does not mean it and It only comes out when he brings these issues up (things needing fixed) as it goes to show how much frustration these little things in Maniaplanet annoy the heck out of players.

Frustration, anger, sadness, feeling like a dumb-ass and totally worthless, confusion are many of these things experienced when encountering these 'issues' with Maniaplanet and ShootMania. I totally understand that creating an FPS out of a Car racing game engine must be a near-impossible task and I do (I think we all do) admire what Nadeo have achieved over the past couple of years developing and improving this one amazing f*****g piece of beauty.
Games are made to be fun, make us feel happy and achieved something, not the negative ones as they haunt us forever

Nadeo I know we can look like annoying brats to you, I know you might not find it enjoyable to fix issues, tbh I would be more excited to add more features and I would hate to fix broken stuff.

Now to continue on to the reply post I will hopefully keep to a minimum and not write an essay as friends have told me its a waste of time.


Understand that novationx has only scraped the surface of issues and technical difficulties of players have experienced ingame both Maniaplanet and ShootMania and that he highlighted what he thinks are the main issues. There are many more issues that already have been noted in the ManiaPlanet forum but as we know not all issues have been discussed, discovered and undiscovered (Obviously starting on fixing main parts first, but we should aim to find everything).

Quickie - Please fix the Displayed Ping between players in the scoreboard in the current server so we can tell who is causing all the lag, yes I know its already a feature in maniaplanet but it is broken I tell you, click here to find out. Also implementing this as standard will make soo many people happy.


I Totally Agree with everything novationx has said, I also want to add something important about motivation in the Echelon System:

Since there are bronze, silver and Gold, what if a player that plays the game a lot, gets to gold now (that player may not be good enough for gold) since that player should not be displayed as gold please make it so when they start playing badly against players their level, they lose LP and be brought down to silver and even bronze. I know the competitive atmosphere is popular in FPS and I have already heard new players talk about "omg I am so good, look I made Silver today!"

The sad thing they will soon realise is that its ridiculously easy to get to gold, all you have to do is play, you don't even need to play well either. Following that feeling they will also lose that sense of achievement, which I can tell you is not a good thing. So I beg of you, Nadeo! Pretty Pretty Pretty Please Pleeeaaaseeeee!!!! do this for me?

ok do this for all of us


Peace !

[plopp]

Those are very good points.

Also making skins and horns separate so that you could have only one or the other would be great. (thought i'd say it even though this wasn't a wishlist thread )

[Zechs]

A lot of good points.

I think the title system should be dispensed with. It'd be easier for players if there was a server browser with a simple drop-down menu of available gametypes; elite, royal, combo, joust, battlepro; the player chooses what they want, and then the servers load.

+ I do think they've made good improvements with the matchmaking for example; that is really good right now.

You're right about the ranking system. Most players i talk to agree that the rankings are irrelevant. Rather than continually awarding endless LP, doesn't it make more sense to give and take it?

They could also implement team rankings, and take records from official cups to establish positions.

For example, a points system where players steal from each other when they win.
For illustration, we'll use a fictional match between CPlay and Alpha Mantis to describe the process.

Step One: Check pre match ratings (these are made up below, but accurate ratings can be calculated)

Position (last month) Rating Point
1(1) Paragon Esports 93.99
2(2) CPlay 90.12
3(3) Avant 86.58
4(4) Alpha Mantis 82.71
5(5) Mysterious Monkeys 81.23

The ratings of the top 5 teams, immediately before the match, are shown. Cplay were on a rating of 90.12 and Alpha Mantis slightly lower on 82.71.

Step Two: Calculate the Rating Gap
The Rating Gap is the difference between the ratings of the two sides
In this example it is 90.12 - 82.71 = 7.41 (in favour of CPlay).

Step Three: Check the possible Core Rating Changes
We can look on the graph below to see how the rating for these teams should change, based on their current rating gap.

You can see that because CPlay are rated much higher than Alpha mantis, their rating should only improve by ~ 0.3 if they win. Alpha Mantis' rating would go down by the same amount.

If there is a draw, CPlay would go down by ~0.75, whilst Alpha Mantis would go up by this amount.
If Alpha Mantis beats CPlay, their rating would go up by ~1.7, and CPlay's would go down by this amount.


So Core Rating Changes should be based on the match result and the Rating Gap. Cplay, as the higher rated side, would pick up fewer points for a win than Alpha Mantis, and would give away more points if they lost.

Step Four: Apply weighting factors:
If it was a 3-0 victory, we multiply the Core Rating Change by 1.5. So if Cplay win 3-0, the points exchange would be 0.3*1.5 = 0.45
If the match is a Cup Final, we would then double the rating change.

Wouldn't it be cool if Cup owners approached Nadeo to become accredited, and have their results impact the rankings for teams?

Even if team rankings is a bad idea, I think Nadeo should apply this ranking method to players. It'd breathe new meaning to player rankings, and encourage more competitive play.

[viperozza]

Good stuff in here. Yesterday I had a match after having a month break from SM, well.. Once you get used to csgo/sc2 level of interface the maniaplanet one looks really poor, bad made and flat. I really hope that NADEO will read and use this topic to improve the game for real, we dont need new features. We just need to fix big and small things (user interface, user experience and gameplay) in the actual game version.

[Rots]

I'd like "rep points" or "thanks" button on the forum to click on this kind of posts. Good post... lets see if somebody reacts.

[novationx]

I'd like "rep points" or "thanks" button on the forum to click on this kind of posts. Good post... lets see if somebody reacts.

Haha, thx mate

The same goes for Zehcs his post. It looks like a good ranking!!

[Hylis]

The post is valid on many points, but it globally takes time to achieve progress in all the fields that cover Maniaplanet. Always keep in mind that we are making this 2.0, I mean that it should work for custom maps, modes, servers, titles, skins etc.

It is not only complex & long to develop, but also complex to make it simple to understand to everyone. So, it's a long development, and Maniaplanet 3 will address some parts of it (like for exemple, to see that Combo is played and be able to install & join more easily) For example, if you go in editor/replay of Elite, you can download the replays there, without having to know about the manialink replays. Even you is not aware of the right solution of what you were saying should change. It's really a wide - wide array of things that are ongoing.

And this is why I am open to wishes with priorities, because it help me to determine the global priorities, among hundreds of different things.

Here is the place for this, and you are welcome to link more detail on your wishes if needed.
http://forum.maniaplanet.com/viewtopic. ... 26&start=0

It takes time because Maniaplanet is ambitious, but it's interesting because it is, since that it can get much better with time. And this is why I believe a lot in Maniaplanet, even more with players ready to share their wishes in the best way possible.

[Zechs]

Thanks for replying, Hylis.

I understand that the more ambitious changes can take some time, that's fair.

What about the OP's quick and easy suggestions, such as changing a single value to fix the default Y scale?

[novationx]

Hylis, I agree with some parts in your post and Im happy to hear that some issues will addressed in future updates & MP3.0

But u make it sound like MP2.0 is in beta? The idea/vision behind MP2.0 and some features are just wrong/bad and should be done completely different ( read my first post )!
This is not because of a lack of time. This is because NADEO had different ideas/plans & did things less conventional.


My first post is about that maniaplanet should be different as it is now. What I am trying to say is that you ( NADEO?, Hylis ) thinks differently than me. ( and some players of the community )
Your ideas/approach werent all good and I wanted to show that some things in maniaplanet werent logical or smart at all; not because of time, but because you had different ( not so good ) ideas.

example:
Hylis: Developing the title-system takes a lot of time.
Dreammy : titles shouldnt be made in the first place and should be done completely different ( with maybe(?) a giant serverbrowser )

You see? Time is not the issue.