Player Retention

It's no secret that KAG struggles with player retention.

http://www.steamcharts.com/app/219830#All

From the chart, we can see that player count spikes during sales and then drops within a couple weeks back to the previous number. Also note that the max number of players is on a steady decline. According to @Geti, a sale will probably happen this November or December. What can the community and devs do this time around to increase player retention?

 

Try not to be condescending assholes nagging about every mistake the new and confused players make. Try to help/teach them instead.

When I say this I am referring to the "ur fucking retarded wtf are you doing dumbass" instead of "try to play spikes on dirt instead of stone so that it doesn't hurt your teammates".

 

I'm pretty sure it's the other way around lol. Rush and I will have tutorials up by then so don't worry. I might get a job since the interview went well so I'll be able to get a new computer soon. Then I'll be able to edit my own videos and what not so I plan on making THD vids for the most part

 

Perhaps well established clans can hold some clan VS public events so that new players can game with some regularly active and friendly players to pick up some tactics/ get destroyed initially as a welcoming bash?

Also as a less constructive yet equally important tactic, spam love hearts to all. Constantly

 

some clan members were sarcastic assholes when i first joined especially the well established

 

I agree that something needs to be done about player retention. Of all my friends that I convinced into buying this game, none still play it. (although a friend convinced ME to play , and I still play tons)

 

easy
we let them rek us and pretend we're shit
then, in a few weeks, we slowly let our skill (aka the knowledge of spam) show and they will follow
it's the perfect plan, just make more assholes like us

 

Basically everyone who joins kag is criticized and yelled at to all hell. It's only the people who think "I need to get better" rather than "wow these guyz r mean i quit " that survive. It's the classic 'dad is mean to make his son tough' scenario.

 

If kag actually had goal and achievements it would give people something to strive for. Or at least have states for your total kills etc. ATM it's just cap the flag, hall, gg ,leave , or make heads unlock-able depending on how many total kills you have. It should keep the noobs around long enough for them to get half decent and get addicted

 

this is my favorite idea so far

 

I like the idea of some sort of achievement. Something to strive for and ChargingLocket's unlockable heads idea sounds pretty good. Another thing I think we should incorporate is beginner only servers where people only with less than a certain amount of kills can access. This way we won't have all the vets reking all the noobs.

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IMO the only way were going to keep a good majority of new players is if we add at least 3 of these things:

1. An Official Map Creator/ Forge Mode (read down below)
2. More intuitive Tutorial Section (Current Tut. Section is lacking)
3. Achievements (Gives players something to strive for)
4. Easy to set up LAN servers (For LAN parties!)

I've gotten 4 (and soon 5) of my friends to buy this game. They all loved it! They all thought it was a really fun game and they played it constantly for about 2 weeks. Now none of them play regularly. Why? They got bored of Capture The Flag and TTH. The thing with my friends is that they only really played the game for about 2-3 weeks and they got bored of it because the only thing that is really available was Capture The Flag and Take The Halls. On top of that they also were constantly slaughtered by players that were better than them; and because they only played for 2-3 weeks, they never learned any of the more advanced knight/ archer techniques which would allow them to compete with other players.

Guys (more specifically Devs), if we want to keep players we need to stop them from quitting when they're still a noob 2-4 weeks after purchasing the game. The only way we'll be able to do this is if we PROVIDE OPTIONS. We need to get these guys completely sucked into this game and a good way to do this is by providing an official Map Editor or Forge Mode. Once you create some sort of map editor that is easy to use (yet intuitive) for the community, you instantly have your different "game modes" that would keep players constantly coming back. You'd be surprised at what some map makers can create. Give the us an intuitive Forge Mode and we'd be creating games types, objectives and Minigames that would make you instantly fall in love with the game. Incorporate a Map Creator and it'll start up a cycle that draws more people into the game.

Just image how much fun it would be to create a obstacle course map where everyone is on the same team and everyone has too work together in order to complete the course. Or a CTF map that's already pre-build. How about a defend the island map where you only have 4 knights spawn on a small island in the middle of a ocean and must defend the island from incoming hordes enemies? There is so many different games types that could be generated from the community all with a single map editor.

The main idea behind this is that we need to find a way to keep new members from becoming bored of the game quickly. Minigames are a good way to stop that and there is no better way to create Minigames than to give the community a Map creator to create the Minigames themselves.

The idea is that Map Creators will create Minigames servers that deviate from regular KAG game modes. Take a look at it like this:
First you'll get the vets here who have already been playing the game for months and years creating really sweet Minigames with the Map Creator. The really good Minigames will get popular. Noobs will see these Minigames and will play them aside from the regular Capture The Flag and TTH that they're already starting to get bored off. Once noobs start playing Minigames they'll start to see more of KAG's potential and won't become bored as easily. Like I said before, we really just need to provide options. If someone gets bored of CTF or TTH they can easily switch to a Minigame server where it's more laid back back more about "fun" rather than who can achieve the highest KD. Because people won't become as bored with the game, they'll spend a lot more time playing the game gaining more experience. Soon those noobs will no longer be noobs and you'll have all those guys wanting to create their own TTH, CTF, or completely different map idea on their own. From there they'll tell their friends to buy the game. As the game grows larger, more and more youtube videos will be produced and soon enough, we'll get a popular YouTuber to play the game showcasing how much fun the game can be.

I believe an intuitive Official Map creator that allows you to set spawns and limit certain classes, would be really nice to have and it would provide a great deal to the community.

 

We've (The players) been trying to get an official map editor ingame for years now. Dunno if the devs wanna invest time into it this late in development or not. But I goddamn hope they do because it was awesome in classic kag

 

YES! Just reading this I already have tons of ideas for minigames.

But seriously, this (I think) would really help with player retention.

 

I wrote down 6 things and then realized I have no idea what people want.

Who wouldn't want to build and collapse towers with siege weaponry and explosives? I'm not even joking, I actually can't understand why more people aren't playing this game...

One of the large commonalities of the top games on steam is in-game voice chat. I'd post the rest of the list but it's almost insulting and I'd actually be afraid if some things were implemented because I probably would stop playing.

 

To this matter I have started a CTF Beginners server. The script will kick anyone that has over 10 points in BD ranks system. "Pros" can not play there, you can tell anyone new, or not so good player to give it a try. You can find the server in the list, called "Black Death CTF - Beginners server".

 

Uh. 10 points doesn't sound like a lot. How do you gain points?

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 6, 2014, Original Post Date: Sep 6, 2014 ---

but chukka this is the opposite of protecting teammates

 

Well, to give you the picture, player with 11 points is around rank 1000 of 20000 players in database.

 

i was typing too fast i guess i mixed em up