You know I love this game. Eve made me cry out for an opportunity to start at the beginning from a pvp and Market point of view and really give me the opportunity to compete with the people at the top of the foodchain. Perpetuum for me was that chance. Added on top of that is a pvp basis that really puts a decent amount of skill into pvp on top of eve through situational awareness and you really have a game worth having.
What turns me off is the blob mechanics of the game. I realise I'm in a blob that can be countered but joke have always been just a few guys. While corps like M2S reach 140 members we stick to the core of what we are - multiboxing hardcore guys who have a passion for success.
Since closed beta I have cried out for a change in mechanics to make blobbing worthless. Not the current status quo where a skilled entity can take a 'grab what's in the hanger' group to school but where you pick a select group of your Corp because the terrain and situation demand it.
If perpetuum doesn't get a handle on this right away it will die.
PO needs to differentiate itself and be a game of put together small to medium gang skill. Yes the massive fleet battles are a great PR tool but trust your playerbase. We will create those battles fighting ten twenty man groups vs ten twenty man groups on a battlefield rather than two hundred vs two hundred. The current 'fixes' are simply a reiteration of other games failures unless the implementation is pretty damn perfect. AOE is just an invitation to organised doomsdays and basically makes a blob vulnerable only if that blob doesnt react to the situation.
What it will create is a benny hill situation where the blob is built around speed and hits people from four or five different edges rather than one blob. In reality it takes some of the tactics from the game as the phalanx that worked so effectively in the hokk fight could never work.
I emplore you now make the fundamental changed needed now while the playerbase is still pliant and ready to adapt to them. History has shown that in established games even seemingly minor changes to pvp create massive community unrest.
That element aside what the devs have done is create a fantastic framework from which to build a truly epic game. The territorial warfare and mission systems are basic enough to provide that root from which a fantastic system can grow.
You have done a lot to make this game truly something that on the long term can really compete with the big boys. The mechanics are pretty much bang on as is the balancing.
Recommendations:
1) start focus groups around the main pvp issues with representatives of the main alliances and significant neutral pvp corps. Nobody knows better than these guys. To implement something significant without their input is to court disaster. One bad patch can sometimes kill a game. In order to prevent accusations of favouritism publish the convos and after the game is live six months get the playerbase to elect these people.
2) work with the community to implement a mechanic that discourages blobs. Everyone agrees that they don't want to fight in fifty man plus gangs. Help them with that.
3) hire people for the graphics. I personally don't care about the graphics but new players do. The one guy you have on it has done an absolutely fantastic job and I owe him plenty of jaeger but it's time to take it to the next level. Islands shouldn't be a mix of cut and paste plants and structures. They should be put together and planned. Teritory is too important to pvp to not be bespoke. If you don't want to hire then create a modelling competition on one of the major sites where successful modellers win a years subscription and perhaps something shiny or money. You will get eight to ten decent models of stuff to implement at least that would benefit the game.
4) expand the Corp and Market elements of the game. These two are fundamental to the games operation. Both can exist in their current state but there are glaring issues with the Market that will break the game if exploited currently. The barriers to a successful Market should be based on ep and not incomplete Market tools. The corporation tools are the same. When you operate a corporation like M2S with 140 members where the actions you take are the culmination of six months of play and countless hours of work having that vision thwarted or hindered by a lack of tools in the corporation you are supposed to manage is frustrating. Joke has issues which I'm sure are legion in bigger entities. It's our corps, let us manage them our way.
Those four points are just a basis of what some of the playerbase thinks. Point one's idea of engaging the playerbase is crucial. While on the one hand keeping your gm's and devs out of the games politics is something that many people find important on the other hand people like Styx, Annihalator, Akumata, Tamas and RG_SHA are the guys operating on the cutting edge making this game what it is and should be. Keep the staff out if you must (but I think they need to play) but keep the people who influence half your playerbase in the loop. Whatever pvp style or expected fitting you can think of they most likely have an alternative and counter.
Fundamentally though and right from the heart thank you for this game. It has the depth and substance to really be something worth caring for and that's rare.
