New player retention: What should be done?

[DarkRebel]

Even better would be if they would fix the root of the problem. Why are imperials hiding on green and why are rebels hiding on desert?
I can answer for the rebels and make a guess as to the imperials. But it will probably boil down to "Fix the massive Armory and Guard Reserve imbalance."
If rebels could actually defend on green we'd be much more likely to go there leaving tat for the beginning players.
If attacking didn't take 10 minutes baking time and wasn't a one size fits all solution (ie actually fun to attack) Imperials would be more likely to leave the green planets.

For IMP, it' not so much about defending, but more to do with attacking and getting 3 stars for conflict gears, on green planets.
For conflicts or events, the goal is to achieve maximum points for a given playing time window. So you want to get as many 3 star wins as possible.
Having DEV bases on green and ice planets made it easier for IMP to get gears.
So that's an explanation.

Well, the root cause is ... player population (not enough active rebels to spread out on all the 6 planets and most rebs stay on Tat).

[TNT]

Even better would be if they would fix the root of the problem. Why are imperials hiding on green and why are rebels hiding on desert?
I can answer for the rebels and make a guess as to the imperials. But it will probably boil down to "Fix the massive Armory and Guard Reserve imbalance."
If rebels could actually defend on green we'd be much more likely to go there leaving tat for the beginning players.
If attacking didn't take 10 minutes baking time and wasn't a one size fits all solution (ie actually fun to attack) Imperials would be more likely to leave the green planets.

For IMP, it' not so much about defending, but more to do with attacking and getting 3 stars for conflict gears, on green planets.
For conflicts or events, the goal is to achieve maximum points for a given playing time window. So you want to get as many 3 star wins as possible.
Having DEV bases on green and ice planets made it easier for IMP to get gears.
So that's an explanation.

Well, the root cause is ... player population (not enough active rebels to spread out on all the 6 planets and most rebs stay on Tat).

It's not immediately clear from my post, but

If attacking didn't take 10 minutes baking time and wasn't a one size fits all solution (ie actually fun to attack) Imperials would be more likely to leave the green planets.

Referred to the imperials mostly.
Like you said, why attack a rebel base with a full load and a high chance of loss when you can attack a dev base with a half load. Sure, you might get a few lesser gears per attack, but you can make up for that in sheer numbers.

All the more reason why at least 2 planets need to go.

[DarthHunter]

The problem with reducing the armory buffs and/or improving matchmaking to take armory buffs into account is that the entire armory/frag system would almost completely lose any appeal. There's be practically no incentive to chase fragments anymore as it wouldn't do anything for you except make some of your units look pretty.

Frankly, if they nerfed all the equipment after the many many hours I've spent grinding away at it... Well, that could be a game breaker for me and send me running into the evil EA arms, who have a proven track record of fleecing the hell out of its players.

[spootieho]

1. Something like a heroic offence would be a nice new feature. make this very challenging for level 10s so they have a challenge to look forward to.
2. Make it easier for lower levels to move up, or improve the matchmaking process on wars. As teams base scores on their war teams improve, lower levels can't even participate in the wars. Too often a team with a few HQ4-6 goes up against a team that's all 9/10. The 4-6 people have no chance and will more likely drop out than care to improve.
3. Lower research times in the research center. Droid build times are acceptable, but the research center is slow.
4. More new stuff (characters/hq levels/planets/events)
5. Lower prices on stuff. I don't spend money on these types of games other than buying the intro package. The crates that you can buy, though, seem ridiculously blatantly expensive.
6. Better customer service. Being accommodating can go a long way.

[Tomato]

from a rebel perspective (could be I suck at attacking). I find that its impossible to attack and win now without a full SC (hard to do b/c my squad has stopped playing), full air (don't like to Gem), and huge cook times.

So all I play is HD. The game is boring, it takes too long to cook and can't to seem to win without paying.

[DeathStriker]

from a rebel perspective (could be I suck at attacking). I find that its impossible to attack and win now without a full SC (hard to do b/c my squad has stopped playing), full air (don't like to Gem), and huge cook times.

+1000 - I agree immensely as I found out battling for Arctic Jetpack Trooper Frags - it took a lot of work but I got my reward (see here).

Personally I wish that we had Armory Buffs for Units for Offensive Use Only and that for Defense we are left with only those from Basic / Advanced Equipment and Elite Equipment with no additional Unit Buffs.

Bases were hard enough just handling SC Units (pre-Armory) and it would be OK by me if we could Attack Bases using Armory Unit Equipment Buffs for say, Jets / Jumps, or Sharps / Snipers, Heroes, etc... but the use of Armory Unit Equipment could not be used in 'Defensive Mode" (i.e. in SC or even Structure Equipment that spawns Units).

[Plagueis]

Maybe the problem is that offensive and defensive armory equipment can make units far too good at countering too many things. I wonder if the armory would be better if the buffs provided didn’t add damage against all targets, instead providing a damage modifier against specific targets. That or allowing the buffed unit to be extra powerful but only being able to attack certain targets. Ex: mortars being useless against flyers.

If let’s say mortars got armory equipment that allowed them to do massive damage only to aerial units but as a result couldn’t target ground units, buffed jumps/jets woul no longer be the go-to as other builds would quickly become more effective against these mortar-laden bases. That means players could do more with let’s say, buffed heavies or sullies etc. provided the targeted base is vulnerable to that style of attack and not needing specific buffed units to have a better chance of success in general.

[XitLiteNtrNite]

I like a lot of these suggestions, but many seem targetted towards long-term players and not new, causual players. What SWC needs is to encourage more players to continue after they first start, and not feel a need to grind in order to be competitive and have fun. Grinders can certainly advance quicker in the game, but the casual player should be able to attack and defend at their (lower) level. If not, then they will tire of failing to win an attack or getting destroyed on defense and quit the game.

To that end, I have a few suggetions.

1. Fix matchmaking for PvP

Players should be matched with someone close to their attack or defense ability. A level 7 continually being rolled by a level 10 player with buffed jumps/jets is discouraging. A level 7 being shown dev bases (no resources) or level 9/10 bases where they can't recoup the lost resources from the level 10 attack is also an issue. Given the number of players, planet reduction makes sense. Concentrate players on fewer planets so dev bases aren't needed. And place a steep penalty for attacking down HQ levels. The penalty would cover resources that can be looted as well as conflict points and EP points. Basically, attack someone your level or higher or make 3-4 times the number of attacks to get the same results.

2. Reduce the grind

For PvP, it always comes down to who has the better amrory perks. Who has the better troop buffs on attacks, who has the better guard reserve on defense. A causual player can never compete, as getting frags requires griding - a lot of grinding. Heroic defenses on 6 planets, bronzium crate objectives on those same planets (usually requiring multiple attacks), getting ultra-chrome on conflicts, and getting 10+ elite conflict crates for the EP events. How can a causual player who logs on for 15 minutes 1-2 times a day compete with this? They can't, and they end up quitting. I would suggest making lower-level perks easier to come by, so a causual player can unlock the armory buffs. And make higher-level buffs less powerful and harder to come by. There will still be a benefit for the grinder, but it will be smaller and a causual player with good skill will be able to compete, and hopefully won't quit the game.

[DarkRebel]

I like a lot of these suggestions, but many seem targetted towards long-term players and not new, causual players. What SWC needs is to encourage more players to continue after they first start, and not feel a need to grind in order to be competitive and have fun. Grinders can certainly advance quicker in the game, but the casual player should be able to attack and defend at their (lower) level. If not, then they will tire of failing to win an attack or getting destroyed on defense and quit the game.

To that end, I have a few suggetions.

1. Fix matchmaking for PvP

Players should be matched with someone close to their attack or defense ability. A level 7 continually being rolled by a level 10 player with buffed jumps/jets is discouraging. A level 7 being shown dev bases (no resources) or level 9/10 bases where they can't recoup the lost resources from the level 10 attack is also an issue. Given the number of players, planet reduction makes sense. Concentrate players on fewer planets so dev bases aren't needed. And place a steep penalty for attacking down HQ levels. The penalty would cover resources that can be looted as well as conflict points and EP points. Basically, attack someone your level or higher or make 3-4 times the number of attacks to get the same results.

2. Reduce the grind

For PvP, it always comes down to who has the better amrory perks. Who has the better troop buffs on attacks, who has the better guard reserve on defense. A causual player can never compete, as getting frags requires griding - a lot of grinding. Heroic defenses on 6 planets, bronzium crate objectives on those same planets (usually requiring multiple attacks), getting ultra-chrome on conflicts, and getting 10+ elite conflict crates for the EP events. How can a causual player who logs on for 15 minutes 1-2 times a day compete with this? They can't, and they end up quitting. I would suggest making lower-level perks easier to come by, so a causual player can unlock the armory buffs. And make higher-level buffs less powerful and harder to come by. There will still be a benefit for the grinder, but it will be smaller and a causual player with good skill will be able to compete, and hopefully won't quit the game.

Your post makes a lot of sense.
+1
Good post, X.