So lets talk about player retention in this mod...

[noel]

skill cap* sorry for my england, I meant that everyone plays the same once they master parries, because there isnt a better way (or not as effective/worth) to defend, which means that you reach a skill cap, because if you master parries, there isnt any way you can improve in them, unlike MB, Pb and timing, which you could always improve it, no matter how skilled you were, which also encouraged people to develop their own playstyles rather than current build where most of the people(for 1000th time said) plays the same

Oh right yeah that makes sense

Yeah I guess thats true, although I don't think parrying is the only important thing in dueling, you're kind of overemphasising its importance, although it is one of the most useful/overpowered things I think you can pretty much always get better at pb/swingblock/mb and that's why these mechanics should be placed at the forefront of dueling, not parrying.

That's why I've always liked the idea of a small bp regen on a perfect block to encourage people to play more pb-heavy and not rely on spamming parry, it obviously takes a lot more skill that way

 

[MuscBodypillow]

Oh right yeah that makes sense

Yeah I guess thats true, although I don't think parrying is the only important thing in dueling, you're kind of overemphasising its importance, although it is one of the most useful/overpowered things I think you can pretty much always get better at pb/swingblock/mb and that's why these mechanics should be placed at the forefront of dueling, not parrying.

That's why I've always liked the idea of a small bp regen on a perfect block to encourage people to play more pb-heavy and not rely on spamming parry, it obviously takes a lot more skill that way

Honestly sabering in open is more about getting a hit from the back, surprising someone, pushing them off or hoping their block register too late so your swing goes in. Even if I land 3 blue lunged and a roll-stab or two, my opponent always have enough bp to block anything so I must resort to stalling until someone else come to break it up.

This is why I find support jediing to be more fun than dueling currently and that may contribute somewhat to the situation. But I'm eager to see what the next patch brings. And new people should be encouraged to try gunner but those class are more vulnerable and may seem less appealing to some player.

 

[Tempest]

Honestly sabering in open is more about getting a hit from the back, surprising someone, pushing them off or hoping their block register too late so your swing goes in. Even if I land 3 blue lunged and a roll-stab or two, my opponent always have enough bp to block anything so I must resort to stalling until someone else come to break it up.

That's almost entirely because of how little damage you do until you have ACM (also because nothing timing-related can actually kill people quickly anymore like the interrupts of old). The way the sabering is currently designed really only works out in 1v1 situations.

 

[eezstreet]

I'd like to know what the average 10-15 years retention % of a digital game is. For MB2 it's probably remarkably high, can confirm in 2030.

On a more serious note, OP is very much on the right track.

Yeah. Just my two cents here, but this is probably the more important thing to focus on, is keeping the long term veterans here. If people have a reason to stay for years and years, then they will have a reason to stay after an influx of players.

 

[Jaikanatar]

I introduced a friend to the game recently and after playing on his own for a while, he came back saying that MBII has the most toxic community he's ever seen, "even worse than League of Legends."

I imagine the community is a huge factor in driving new players away, lol.

 

[noel]

I introduced a friend to the game recently and after playing on his own for a while, he came back saying that MBII has the most toxic community he's ever seen, "even worse than League of Legends."

I imagine the community is a huge factor in driving new players away, lol.

Honestly I don't think the community will have the much of an effect except where it refuses to help new players. I've seen noobs ask questions and purposefully not answered them to see if someone answers, simple questions like 'How do i get a lightsaber' get ignored frequently and that can cause people to leave and never come back.

Unless a noob is getting mass murdered by the community, getting tk'd or lamed or whatever I doubt shit talking really puts people off, and if it does theres a mute function which should/could be advertised more

 

[Jaikanatar]

Honestly I don't think the community will have the much of an effect except where it refuses to help new players. I've seen noobs ask questions and purposefully not answered them to see if someone answers, simple questions like 'How do i get a lightsaber' get ignored frequently and that can cause people to leave and never come back.

Unless a noob is getting mass murdered by the community, getting tk'd or lamed or whatever I doubt shit talking really puts people off, and if it does theres a mute function which should/could be advertised more

I agree in the sense that for many the chat doesn't even impact them. When I started I could care less about the chat (we all know what that consists of, no need for examples lol)

But in this scenario where the demographic we're considering are new players, specifically cool peeps who are good for the mod and the community, I would argue that the toxicity does play a decent role in deterring them away, maybe even more than we might realise.

I agree though, the things you listed impact it more than the community probably. But with that, and the community added on top of it, we start to see people leaving in flocks

 

[Jaikanatar]

Another factor is consistency. I don't like to point this out because I have great respect for those involved and their efforts, but the fact of the matter is the tendency to revamp/redesign systems each patch instead of hone in on what is established and make small, careful tweaks to it also plays a role in the player base. There is security in consistency and when the system changes so significantly each patch, people likely feel it is unstable and would rather wait it out or just not play at all.

 

[noel]

Another factor is consistency. I don't like to point this out because I have great respect for those involved and their efforts, but the fact of the matter is the tendency to revamp/redesign systems each patch instead of hone in on what is established and make small, careful tweaks to it also plays a role in the player base. There is security in consistency and when the system changes so significantly each patch, people likely feel it is unstable and would rather wait it out or just not play at all.

This is v v v true

I could name quite a lot of people who played pbc patch who left/gave up after the new update came around because all their ability in dueling disappeared

thats why i hope the new patch isnt too vastly different from the current one, it just needs some little changes and it would be a good system imo

 

[Defiant]

Another factor is consistency. I don't like to point this out because I have great respect for those involved and their efforts, but the fact of the matter is the tendency to revamp/redesign systems each patch instead of hone in on what is established and make small, careful tweaks to it also plays a role in the player base. There is security in consistency and when the system changes so significantly each patch, people likely feel it is unstable and would rather wait it out or just not play at all.

That's something I am aware of and we as a team are focused on. @GoodOl'Ben has a long old list of things that will be locked development wise - which would mean they wont be touched unless someone can provide a very strong justification as to why. We'd like to focus on small tweaks, and adding new stuff rather than reinventing the old. I'd rather give a class a new weapon to play with than I would redesign the mechanics of an existing one.

 

[Eazy E]

Honestly I don't think the community will have the much of an effect except where it refuses to help new players. I've seen noobs ask questions and purposefully not answered them to see if someone answers, simple questions like 'How do i get a lightsaber' get ignored frequently and that can cause people to leave and never come back.

Unless a noob is getting mass murdered by the community, getting tk'd or lamed or whatever I doubt shit talking really puts people off, and if it does theres a mute function which should/could be advertised more

This is specifically why we ignore new players when raiding a server for a lame/tkfest. It's just toxic and no fun killing fresh installs.

 

[noel]

This is specifically why we ignore new players when raiding a server for a lame/tkfest. It's just toxic and no fun killing fresh installs.

Well tbf me and House taught a noob the advanced dueling techniques the 'rawnsley swing' and 'MCQ Blast' so I'm being a bit hypocritical by saying that but I mostly do help new people where I can

 

[Eazy E]

Well tbf me and House taught a noob the advanced dueling techniques the 'rawnsley swing' and 'MCQ Blast' so I'm being a bit hypocritical by saying that but I mostly do help new people where I can

It was really nice of you to help them with their quests.

 

[noel]

It was really nice of you to help them with their quests.

they were mining stone too to build a better saber

 

[Eazy E]

they were mining stone too to build a better saber

Should've told them where the hidden diamond deposits were.

 

[Jacen Solo]

For me the problem is that the mod does not have much publicity
I hardly found this mod since I liked the Jedi Knight games

Another problem would be that there is not a tutorial on each class in the game for new players so a new player gets confused when he starts a game

Another problem is the community
there are many trolls, and elitists so a new player will always be killed because of them

Although there are also very friendly people but as there are friendly players there are players who play for ego and ruin the fun
I had to see that a whole clan ruined the fun in a duel server attitudes like these make a new player uninstall the game forever

I understand that this mod does not have to be taken so seriously
I play it for fun and I learned on my own I died many times but I got better over time
But we are all different maybe someone does not have the patience to learn slow or can not bear to be killed several times who knows

 

[QuoVadis?]

Real life is something that occurs, but i have still come back to JKA and MBII mod. There will always be people who are not necessarily MLG pros or 4chan trolls, but are concerned about the well-being of the community. I've just come back myself before the movie/battlefront 2 after a couple of years absence. Im glad to see that a lot of effort is still being put into the development of this mod. Despite the issues that currently exist, i'll continue playing this game and perhaps join the development community or a clan and actually put effort into trying to improve the community.

Clans have long been struggling and although i have not joined a clan for quite some time, they dont seem to be what they were. You'd get on a clan server and it would feel like home, with all your buddies... now its like a 4chan meme repetitively posted on everyone's facelook feeds. The community needs to clean it up. It's frankly embarrassing how much slack and degradation has occurred. As a result, people leave clans and splinter off into elitist groups or other, worse cults that discourage new players(or black players) who might actually have something decent to bring to the table.

Only ever recorded 1 video of a trial from about 8 years ago? We need to make more videos of casual and clan gameplay. This will show new players that this game is worth dying 999x in order to learn 1 aspect of game mechanics.

 

[Dorito]

Real life is something that occurs, but i have still come back to JKA and MBII mod. There will always be people who are not necessarily MLG pros or 4chan trolls, but are concerned about the well-being of the community. I've just come back myself before the movie/battlefront 2 after a couple of years absence. Im glad to see that a lot of effort is still being put into the development of this mod. Despite the issues that currently exist, i'll continue playing this game and perhaps join the development community or a clan and actually put effort into trying to improve the community.

Clans have long been struggling and although i have not joined a clan for quite some time, they dont seem to be what they were. You'd get on a clan server and it would feel like home, with all your buddies... now its like a 4chan meme repetitively posted on everyone's facelook feeds. The community needs to clean it up. It's frankly embarrassing how much slack and degradation has occurred. As a result, people leave clans and splinter off into elitist groups or other, worse cults that discourage new players(or black players) who might actually have something decent to bring to the table.

Only ever recorded 1 video of a trial from about 8 years ago? We need to make more videos of casual and clan gameplay. This will show new players that this game is worth dying 999x in order to learn 1 aspect of game mechanics.

I agree about the clan thing. But I don't think it's really anyone's fault. It's just the way internet toxicity has evolved. People will be in a clan and you can tell they're there just to be there and for no other particular reason other than maybe a false sense of camaraderie.

 

[Dorito]

What would be the ideal way to record in-game footage without using a retarded amount of gigabyte space and not having to jump through hoops of different programs just to get a few angles. Because, from what I understand, since the removal of JAMME, things aren't as simple as they once were/could be.

And yeah, I know I can just use a screen recorder, but what about capturing the angles? IIRC, when viewing demos you can basically free float around like you are there in the game.

 

[Defiant]

pug mod code is still available in the code base. We could start doing Camera Battles II builds again.