Where is this game going?

[djhubertus]

There is a "tm-karma" style plugin on the right of your screen. You can vote there.

Thanks Rots

Another question mainly to magnetik: Why there are no map drafts in matchmaking ? Matchmaking should have a big map database and in draft there will be 5 maps to ban in system A-B-B-A.

[Pedal]

If i am wrong than please explain and i apologize for messing it up

Sorry, my bad. No wonder anybody didn't understand.

[sadzealot]

A lot of people are enjoying the matchmaking (and the maps, and I have the votes to prove it) even if the matchmaker is far from being perfect.

Current votes from beginners :

|| 48 || Elite - NightWatch ||
|| 44 || Elite - Citadel ||
|| 38 || Elite - ArchWays ||
|| 36 || Elite - HouseKeeping ||
|| 33 || Elite - SolarFlare ||
|| 32 || Elite - BoxedIn ||
|| 28 || Elite - GreenValley ||
|| 22 || Elite - LadyStar ||
|| 17 || Elite - WetWork ||
|| 14 || Elite - AllYourBase ||
|| 1 || Elite - Fortress ||

Not that bad for "utterly terribly maps".


At the moment the biggest issue is the lack of players that cause the matchmaker to wait for too long.

1) Most of the players voting for those maps have zero idea what constituted a playable and good Elite map. One of the big problems being that they see them as "official" so they think this is how Elite is and is meant to be played. And that is probably one of the BIG problems by giving beginner players a whole set of maps that differ from those played competitively, they don't learn properly how the game mode is played at higher levels. Instead it's random blocks, lots of grass (this slows down gameplay even more, either change how grass works in terms of sound/speed or get rid of it alltogether for Elite maps), armor-rechargepads, arrowplatforms in the middle of nowhere etc. Some of the maps are simply on the verge of unplayable.

2)The fact many of those maps have positive votes alone proves my point #1. (I mean, Solar Flare has positive votes for gods sake)

3) The biggest problem is that the algorithm doesn't increase the difference in ladder ranking fast enough. You know you have few players, so why not make this change to the matchmaking-algorithm untill you get more players? Atleast then there wouldn't be as long a wait.

[magnetik]

You don't understand that different players have different needs.

Moreover when I have the proof that beginners like theses maps, you use it as it's positive for your argumentation...
That's why I won't say anything more.

[PapyChampy]

The maps on the matchmaking server will be reorganized depending on those votes. Most unpopular ones will be discarded.

I will surely build some Elite maps the "oldschool way" (Aka alpha/beta style, mainly with castle blocks.) as it is mainly that what players want.

Besides, magnetik is right : not every player want to play on competitive grounds. Just remember that the personal interest of a player =/= the best interest of the whole playerbase.

And yeah, I might consider adding some community maps.

The goal for everyone (Nadeo team and players) is to make the game better/fun.

[Ozon]

After 50 page long threads I think we can stop blaming maps.

The game needs improvement to make the players happy, and to create a solid environment for the players, that's sure. I hope for new blocks and features, aswell as many bugfixes. People don't like B3 Gameplay, some do; find the balance. Also, there hasn't been very mich activity the last weeks. More support and advertising please! Also COMBO -> This gamemode can really become one of the most popular ones; if it is included in the game + server support (a browser). The substitution system aswell as the ally system need improvement in matchmaking: It is buggy sometimes. I also mentioned very often, that the UI and Menu System is very difficult to follow for beginners and even for me sometimes: DOCUMENTATION! Even I don't know all the MT commands e.g., aswell as some editor features. The help page / the wiki has to have detailed tutorials and guides for creative tools. The UI also needs some work; The current Maniaplanet Menu is just not a good menu atm; definetly good for tablets, but "just" buttons would fit the game better. Title packs should be included in the game itself, aswell as every Trackmania. Means, you just go into Trackmania and play any map from any enviroment, and if you don't have the required environment, you cannot join the server or open the map. These things are just simple in comparisation to the current solutions in Maniaplanet. These improvements wouldn't necessarily make the game different, but more attractive and comfortable. More centralized instead of divided. Diversity is soo good, but you have to find solutions which keep the players in a big crowd instead of seperating the huge group.

Tl;dr : Maniaplanet is a great idea, but it (unforunately) fails at it's core. More crowding, less separation; more fixing, less new content (for the moment); Easy instead of complex.

I'm sure a big part of Nadeo's team can agree with this, also inside the whole community. This is a detailed collection of known issues in Maniaplanet, which you were told about in the forum. This is no suggestion, this is one of the only options.
Tbh, I am happy with the game atm. There has been alot of progress already, no question. But the player count drops day by day. Only thing I want to reach with this wall of text is that we have a solid community and a solid game. Trackmania United Forever could be the best example.

Regards,
Dennis

EDIT: Played Combo yesterday. It is so much more fun with 3vs3 or 4vs4. Only thing that should be changed on combo servers (not matchmaking) is that if the team is not balanced, the newest player has to be spectator.

[djhubertus]

(I mean, Solar Flare has positive votes for gods sake)

SolarFlare is a great map, one of the best. Of course more of the defenders camps near goal but it's balanced, attacker has few strategies to control the point or eliminate all. In actual "official" mappool it's very hard to earn point and teams play to point limit

[sadzealot]

(I mean, Solar Flare has positive votes for gods sake)

SolarFlare is a great map, one of the best. Of course more of the defenders camps near goal but it's balanced, attacker has few strategies to control the point or eliminate all. In actual "official" mappool it's very hard to earn point and teams play to point limit

Not sure if sarcasm or not, but to put it this way:

Any map where a random rocketbump can send you flying down several blockheigts with anything from a 5-20 second walk to get back up to the same area (Where pole is) is a terrible map.

[novationx]

Seriously , this makes me sad. Very sad. 0 players on a Saterday afternoon.

[Omnixor]

how about you go to matchmaking, see that there are 150 players right now, and stop complaining?