Perpetual Death Match entry-
A massive problem I have encountered in NA East from returning and skeptical players is that they enter into the game and STILL see the same empy game.
While there may have been people who are in battle at the time, this first impression is understandably very poor for some how have already lost hope and require some real bait.
Now the current lobby map is very pretty and all, but as a first impression place it really lacks a punch.
That being said, why not make a first impression a real punch: INTRODUCING PERPETUAL DEATH MATCH ENTRY
this idea is to make it so that as soon as any player pushes "Fight" from the barracks, they are brought into this "lawless land" which could be the new free for all map. They will be literally thrown into the fray and see that there are actually population running around!
Now obviously this will be confusing hectic and possibly scary. But lets be real here: that is what made those of us who stuck with the game stick with it because we felt that UTTER CHAOS in our first conquest circa august 25 2016.
I want all new and returning players to experience that same rush!
And you might say "well thats not really feasable, fair, salt salt salt" but then why not make it somewaht objective based?
Add a pop up when pushing fight like in fallout or something "you are about to enter the lawless lands where you can be attacked and attack anyone. in order to reach the stronghold from this area, look for the "NPC" guide (a guard near the fringe of the map that lets you get back in.... to avoid being killed, there is a safety zone around the fringe of the map.)
-OR-
you could even give the option outright to let players over lvl 20 to be able to "skip" the lawless lands and be "escorted to the stronghld" by their trusty npc guard. [ this is all UI ]
I don't believe that coding wise this is extremely difficult. just tag the value that brings "fight" into the lobby and make it just go right into FFA map. Add a safety zone to the map and put an npc to it. then add a UI popup.
- personally, i think its unfair to the devs that poor first impressions still occur due to the perceived low population count-
That being said, maybe change that pop count too... 3 people in a server is NOT medium, and 5 people is NOT high.
Customer support service by UserEcho
I think they wanted to implement something along these lines with the wilderness, but the problem therein lies the connection between initially coming into the game where you're dropped into the lobby surrounded by bots and other pathways leading to other game modes. The wilderness is going to be much the same thing, so being dropped initially into a crowded melee might be a good introduction to the game; since, lets be real here, the game does not work based on the concept of the honorable 1v1 duel all of the time.