Please watch the video I linked above, it may give you some insight into why Defiant and I are saying what we are saying.
Mace,
I appreciate you providing insight into the business side and related your ideology on how developing functions.
3 key points i'll make and I will keep it brief:
1. Funding.
There is no such thing as MB2 funding.
You don't have a Patreon, you cannot do paid-for-content.
Therefore, any motivation for product management is out the window.
This is a passion project.
2. Community
You have 2 extremes.
-Players who play for years and stick with the community
-massive new player fall off
Your community is low as is, even over the past 6 years.
You have a reactive update patch for not only mechanics of your main game modes,
but for the more competitive side, you change Saber build frameworks like popcorn,
and expect the community to bounce back every time you change something on them.
This is a player feeding community. Without player drive and interest, and experienced players
leading the way on the games core functions, you just have a dead game.
3. Gameplay, Content, and this video you showed me
The current build R20 is now being populated only by duel servers, and legends mode.
once every blue moon on EU and NA side, there's one server with open.
Your game modes separate the community and its content, especially when mass changes
make the players reactive to changes, that literally flips the table on how its played.
You have added features that most older players would agree on, especially gunning sense, and duel sense, have affected the way people play significantly, and almost every time massive changes that lead to extremes, kill your player base.
You have a Dev that was the main saber focus, leave.
All this video is showing, is the competent nature of an actually marketable game, that plans on having a strong community basis, with funding and all the bells and whistles.
Without your players in this game, give or take 60 is a number im going with now, your game is dead.
Without the guidance of experienced players, your game is dead.
Without stable content and gameplay, you kill your player base.
"don't make your game boring"
You did. We've had empty promises leave our hands for years now, and now when passionate players, from a passion project mod, show their discontent, ask for reverting, ask why the hell all this shit happened in the first place, the answer is "From a business and community standpoint, players shouldn't govern the decisions the developers make in accordance with their content."
That only works when you have the numbers to back shit.
You're losing developers and players.
Open your ears.
Pretty much everyone thinks its a fucking joke.
All of the vets who have retired, and even vets that still play, only see it as disrespect, ignorance, and a waste of time.