The current approach has not lived up to what many of us believe MP could be, and due to the extent of its failure, proportional changes are required.
I realize this concept is a dead horse, but I hopefully I make some new points.
PROBLEMS
Bannerlord is too expensive
Why buy a very niche game for $50? A $50 game has almost no mainstream appeal, when current multiplayer games are usually cheap or free.
Ignoring the mainstream, if someone's interested in medieval combat, Mordhau is $30, For Honor is $15, Conqueror's Blade is F2P, and Chivalry 2 is $40.
I don't think these games are better than BL, and I consider CB outright bad, but if you're looking for a new game to play, what are you more likely to test out? A $50 game or a game you can download and play for free?
Bannerlord is rarely updated
Current online games constantly have new content and updates. It's a requirement to stay competitive in the market. I don't know how often Mordhau, For Honor, CB, or Chiv2 are updated, but I'd wager it's more frequently than Bannerlord, even when it's in EA and probably receiving the most updates it ever will.
When TWs ships BL, most of the devs are going to want to switch to new projects. Being a developer for a starved, angry, userbase isn't appealing (all the respect to badbuckle for taking the position) when you could work on something new and fun.
As I've said before, what motivation would TW have to update and improve MP after launch? They've already sold the game and have zero to extremely limited advertisement campaigns remaining. The best argument to continue is a flimsy moral obligation to make a good game based on their one sentence Steam description that essentially just states that the game will have multiplayer. After launch, they will have sold almost all of the copies that they ever will, improving MP would result in negligible profit.
How are we (as the mp scene) supposed to convince people to buy a niche $50 game they probably won't like, is rarely updated, and they need to spend 100s of hours to start to be decent at?
Mods and custom servers won't save the scene
They will improve it, but growth is limited.
Expecting modders to create, publish, advertise, and grow the multiplayer scene on par with full time studios is a next to impossible -- and inherently selfish -- request. Unless a number of talented devs quit their actual jobs to work full time on MP for free, I don't see mods being competitive with other games, or maybe even TW's lackluster support for the existing MP.
The best mods at a respectable level of polish are still years out, 2024 by estimate, which is a painfully long wait and could easily be longer.
Additionally, mods and custom servers will fracture the already tiny competitive scene as people chase what they consider the right way to play. Even if some servers/mods are considered having "saved the game," can it really be considered "saved" if 0.01% of the people who bought BL play it and it has no external appeal?
PROBLEMS LIST
Addressing the problems
I'm sure the odds of TW considering these options has to be around zero.
Sell MP for $0 to $10.
MP and SP have separate launchers, so this may have been considered at one point. This would draw in more players and may even help SP sales.
If you're worried about lost income... what lost income? Who in their right mind would buy $5 worth of MP for $50, that doesn't already own the game?
Generate Revenue off New Content
Players like new content. Companies like money. How about a system where if TW doesn't make new content, they won't make money? So yes, I'm proposing a battle pass.
Here's some ideas of how to do this with the loot system:
Again, this helps keep TW accountable. If they do nothing, and there's no new content, then there's no reason for players to buy a pass. And for the players who would never buy a pass, they could just ignore it and play normally to gain loot and unlock content.
This should go without saying, but the current loot gain would need to be increased with more things requiring loot to obtain.
Taking a look back at the problems
Summary
The oldschool approach of "high-cost limited-updates" for online games is antiquated and less beneficial for players and game companies, compared to the newschool approach of "low-cost frequent-updates."
I realize this concept is a dead horse, but I hopefully I make some new points.
PROBLEMS
Bannerlord is too expensive
Why buy a very niche game for $50? A $50 game has almost no mainstream appeal, when current multiplayer games are usually cheap or free.
Ignoring the mainstream, if someone's interested in medieval combat, Mordhau is $30, For Honor is $15, Conqueror's Blade is F2P, and Chivalry 2 is $40.
I don't think these games are better than BL, and I consider CB outright bad, but if you're looking for a new game to play, what are you more likely to test out? A $50 game or a game you can download and play for free?
Bannerlord is rarely updated
Current online games constantly have new content and updates. It's a requirement to stay competitive in the market. I don't know how often Mordhau, For Honor, CB, or Chiv2 are updated, but I'd wager it's more frequently than Bannerlord, even when it's in EA and probably receiving the most updates it ever will.
When TWs ships BL, most of the devs are going to want to switch to new projects. Being a developer for a starved, angry, userbase isn't appealing (all the respect to badbuckle for taking the position) when you could work on something new and fun.
As I've said before, what motivation would TW have to update and improve MP after launch? They've already sold the game and have zero to extremely limited advertisement campaigns remaining. The best argument to continue is a flimsy moral obligation to make a good game based on their one sentence Steam description that essentially just states that the game will have multiplayer. After launch, they will have sold almost all of the copies that they ever will, improving MP would result in negligible profit.
How are we (as the mp scene) supposed to convince people to buy a niche $50 game they probably won't like, is rarely updated, and they need to spend 100s of hours to start to be decent at?
Mods and custom servers won't save the scene
They will improve it, but growth is limited.
Expecting modders to create, publish, advertise, and grow the multiplayer scene on par with full time studios is a next to impossible -- and inherently selfish -- request. Unless a number of talented devs quit their actual jobs to work full time on MP for free, I don't see mods being competitive with other games, or maybe even TW's lackluster support for the existing MP.
The best mods at a respectable level of polish are still years out, 2024 by estimate, which is a painfully long wait and could easily be longer.
Additionally, mods and custom servers will fracture the already tiny competitive scene as people chase what they consider the right way to play. Even if some servers/mods are considered having "saved the game," can it really be considered "saved" if 0.01% of the people who bought BL play it and it has no external appeal?
PROBLEMS LIST
- The game is too expensive.
- No new content and lack of updates.
- Devs personally won't want to work on MP.
- TW as a company has no incentive to continue development on MP.
- Lack of players.
- The game requires 100s of hours to not be rolled by veteran players.
Addressing the problems
I'm sure the odds of TW considering these options has to be around zero.
Sell MP for $0 to $10.
MP and SP have separate launchers, so this may have been considered at one point. This would draw in more players and may even help SP sales.
If you're worried about lost income... what lost income? Who in their right mind would buy $5 worth of MP for $50, that doesn't already own the game?
Generate Revenue off New Content
Players like new content. Companies like money. How about a system where if TW doesn't make new content, they won't make money? So yes, I'm proposing a battle pass.
Here's some ideas of how to do this with the loot system:
- New Classes
- SP troop trees are far more expansive than MP classes. There is room for many more classes even without new assets.
- Yes, this would change game balance, but that's the point of new content.
- Minor factions have no troops in MP and could also help this.
- Unlockable with loot.
- New Factions
- If TW is making constant revenue off MP, they'll be incentivized to release major content updates such as this.
- Player Banners (ex: APEX BANNERS)
- Before a Skirmish/Captain match starts, show 6v6 player banners as a splash/loading screen.
- At the end of all modes, including tdm/siege/battle, show the highest 3 scorers banners so people can flex their performance and their drip.
- There could be individual banners per faction, or just one overall.
- Players can buy borders/icons with loot.
- Have some special elements only available in a battle pass.
- Player Pictures
- NSFW steam icons can be a problem.
- Add in a bunch of pictures that are unlockable with loot.
- Add in some special ones that are only obtainable through a battle pass.
- New Skins
- Already in the game so not much to say here.
Again, this helps keep TW accountable. If they do nothing, and there's no new content, then there's no reason for players to buy a pass. And for the players who would never buy a pass, they could just ignore it and play normally to gain loot and unlock content.
This should go without saying, but the current loot gain would need to be increased with more things requiring loot to obtain.
Taking a look back at the problems
- The game is too expensive. -- now its cheaper
- No new content and lack of updates. -- now there is new content and updates
- Devs personally won't want to work on MP. -- with a non-starved community its less painful to be an MP dev
- TW as a company has no incentive to continue development on MP. -- TW has an incentive to develop MP
- Lack of players. -- more players
- The game requires 100s of hours to not be rolled by veteran players. -- more players means more new and intermediate players instead of just a small base of veterans. For the comp scene, more new and intermediate players means that lower ranks are much healthier
Summary
The oldschool approach of "high-cost limited-updates" for online games is antiquated and less beneficial for players and game companies, compared to the newschool approach of "low-cost frequent-updates."
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