NA Competitive Community State of Affairs - *New Poll*

[Kovyjack]

Salt is ruining the community. THE WORD. Throwing it around like it's Amber Rose's pussy.

[Locust]

Literally nothing to keep players around. Unless we can create ACTUAL matchmaking. Incentives to play ($$ from tournaments isn't enough) Also if there was a way to introduce newer players to the competitive side of the game. I.e. NA_Groupfighting

Agreed, but there also has to be a way for the newer players to actual enjoy competitive play. I mean it sucks for new players who only have a few months of playing time to hop on NA_GF and get stomped by players who've been playing for 3-4 years. I wish there was a way to filter by skill, but it's unlikely. Maybe a noob groupfighting server?

A lot of this. It also don't help that NA1 is dead and most players don't like the server. Who wants to sit around for 10 minutes each round, because you got shot across the map?

There are no servers that are "noob" friendly.

The game itself is very anti-noob. Realistically, it takes someone around 500 hours to become proficient in melee. Outside of our relatively small community, most normies simply don't have the patience to invest that much time into a game not many people have even heard of. The solution? I'm not really sure at the moment. Really I think we need a new game altogether.

[BabyJesus]

It doesn't take 500 hours to learn how to melee. I have 800 hours total in m&b. Most of it is single player with auto block on. When I joined my first regiment in 2014 I had over 500 hours. I didn't even know how to block. Now look at me. 300 hours later and I'm an 84 on a melee list

[Kovyjack]

Can you force regiments that have 300+ members to disband plox

63e is the only big regiment on NA and it probably does more good than harm for the NA community.

I disagree, when their siege server was up, they had a monopoly on recruiting therefore no other regiments could tap into the flow of new players.

[Thundersnow]

Striken from the record!

[BabyJesus]

How do the 63e help the community? The 63e made it 10x harder to get new people to join a regiment. They hosted the only server that people played on and refused to allow regiments to recruit on it. That right there almost single handily kills regiments, especially the ones who struggle to have a consistent attendance. And it's not like the 63e do 1v1s with their new recruits so many of their members are never even introduced to the competitive scene. But atleast the 63e are doing ok right?

[Karth]

Well, I have only been back like 2 weeks, but thus far I dont see an issue with the number of competitive regiments, they are still around, just different rosters as usual.  I would say in order to drive the competitive scene forward a notch, maybe partner with a famous twitch streamer or youtuber to commentate competitive matches, create an overall competitive ladder (its easy to custom create a page like that, I am sure one of you guys has a coding nerd in your reg), and have a committee oversee that ladder weekly, to ensure up to date statistics, which can include regiment wins/losses, and maybe even player data (if regiment leaders can submit player data most of this would be seamless, also if any way to track k/d during linebattles using a script).  And yes, prize money should be involved at some point if you really want to turn it up a notch, you can get some sponsors to offer a reward, maybe steam gifts or actual $, but this is what I was going to do a while back. 

Clean up the shit. (pardon my language)  but the amount of shitposting and trolls since I was gone increased 10 fold, its pretty amazing.  People also need to stop reg hopping every few months, I think the new league rule will be quite effective with stopping that on the competitive side. 

Also for those calling 63e biggest NA and stealing all members, that is not the case.  In the beginning, a lot of them watched either diplex's or speirstheamazing's 63e videos and were instantly attracted to us, regardless if they used to play on our siege server or not, they knew what type of community we had prior to that.  And on our siege server, it was strict but we tried to make it as fun as possible (unfortunately it died since I was gone), but again we were not the first regiment to use that monopoly strategy.  I also was already acquainted with several youtubers who wanted to play with us, thats not my fault or the regiment's, in fact it probably did even more to get those audiences into NW, probably hundreds of new players. 

Retention rate in this game is one thing that will always be a struggle, and to fix that you need to have a community united and structured in a way that makes it immediately more enjoyable and immersive for a new player. 

Just my thoughts, bash away if you like, but just from what I am seeing since back (and personally I dont have time to do whatever I said anymore which is why its all out there in the open)

[Kovyjack]

Well, I have only been back like 2 weeks, but thus far I dont see an issue with the number of competitive regiments, they are still around, just different rosters as usual.  I would say in order to drive the competitive scene forward a notch, maybe partner with a famous twitch streamer or youtuber to commentate competitive matches, create an overall competitive ladder (its easy to custom create a page like that, I am sure one of you guys has a coding nerd in your reg), and have a committee oversee that ladder weekly, to ensure up to date statistics, which can include regiment wins/losses, and maybe even player data (if regiment leaders can submit player data most of this would be seamless, also if any way to track k/d during linebattles using a script).  And yes, prize money should be involved at some point if you really want to turn it up a notch, you can get some sponsors to offer a reward, maybe steam gifts or actual $, but this is what I was going to do a while back. 

Clean up the shit. (pardon my language)  but the amount of shitposting and trolls since I was gone increased 10 fold, its pretty amazing.  People also need to stop reg hopping every few months, I think the new league rule will be quite effective with stopping that on the competitive side. 

Also for those calling 63e biggest NA and stealing all members, that is not the case.  In the beginning, a lot of them watched either diplex's or speirstheamazing's 63e videos and were instantly attracted to us, regardless if they used to play on our siege server or not, they knew what type of community we had prior to that.  And on our siege server, it was strict but we tried to make it as fun as possible (unfortunately it died since I was gone), but again we were not the first regiment to use that monopoly strategy.  I also was already acquainted with several youtubers who wanted to play with us, thats not my fault or the regiment's, in fact it probably did even more to get those audiences into NW, probably hundreds of new players. 

Retention rate in this game is one thing that will always be a struggle, and to fix that you need to have a community united and structured in a way that makes it immediately more enjoyable and immersive for a new player. 

Just my thoughts, bash away if you like, but just from what I am seeing since back (and personally I dont have time to do whatever I said anymore which is why its all out there in the open)

Yeah, I said something about eSports & sponsors. I think that would help, however I'm not sure if it could be possible on a larger scale (bringing in big $$$ people).

[Thundersnow]

63e is the only big regiment on NA and it probably does more good than harm for the NA community.

Opps!  I misread that...I thought you said "does more harm than good"   hahah  Sorry!  So sorry!!!   63e is great for the community.   


Still, you are partially to blame, mixing up a common phrase like that to confuse quick-to-leap-to-another-regiments-defense posters like myself.  Shame on you!

[Coconut]

I got a great idea, back in Musket madness and mount & musket, there were public linebattle servers. Anyone could join, you lead through the chat and it was really fun. We tried this once in NW in like 2012 with the 92nd, we populated it with like 30 92nd and the server filled up to like 50 people. We slowly left and the population was stable around like 30 people for a couple hours. We kinda killed the server since we constantly kicked everyone off for our events and trainings.

ALSO, in mount & musket in the NA scene specifically the friday Linebattles WERE HOSTED ON THE NA 1 SERVER. around 7:30 every reg that attended joined the server and it would fill up to 250 people. around 7:50ish they changed it to the linebattle maps and all the pubs that wanted to play were on a pub line. Good ol 5arge line

My main suggestion for the NA community would be to bring back friday linebattles on NA 1. This would give a huge population boon around these times, it would allow the pubs that stay in the server to get a taste of a pub line and maybe even move onto a more well developed regiment. The publine would however have to be lead by someone very friendly and someone that would help ease them into linebattles, such as 5arge or Thundersnow.

Also those trainings at the start of the event were AWESOME
I'm talking about these in which a bunch of regiments trained togetherish on the same map

Spoiler

[close]

[Thundersnow]

Perhaps have the FSE sanction an OFFICIAL medal system, given out during a much-anticipated "Seasonal FSE Superbowl" streamed live on Twitch.tv and moderated by the most respected in-game moderators, as voted by the community, every three months!

Official 2016 Heavyweight Spring Champions
Official 2016 Middleweight Spring Champions
Official 2016 Lightweight Spring Champions

Official 2016 Fun-Round Spring Champions 

Along with special "Melee Hero" /  "Cav Hard-charger" / "Arty Marksman" type medals for exceptional feats of heroism during the Event.

Nothing says "Community" like an endless drive towards collecting next seasons individual medals and peacocking the "Official FSE-Sanctioned Signature" for three months.


Toss in some perks like the winners get to use a custom map next season (Home field advantage), name-color changes on the forum, and/or a banner at the top of these forums announcing the winners and you've got a recipe for renewed interest on a massive scale.

[PapaBean]

Well, I have only been back like 2 weeks, but thus far I dont see an issue with the number of competitive regiments, they are still around, just different rosters as usual.  I would say in order to drive the competitive scene forward a notch, maybe partner with a famous twitch streamer or youtuber to commentate competitive matches, create an overall competitive ladder (its easy to custom create a page like that, I am sure one of you guys has a coding nerd in your reg), and have a committee oversee that ladder weekly, to ensure up to date statistics, which can include regiment wins/losses, and maybe even player data (if regiment leaders can submit player data most of this would be seamless, also if any way to track k/d during linebattles using a script).  And yes, prize money should be involved at some point if you really want to turn it up a notch, you can get some sponsors to offer a reward, maybe steam gifts or actual $, but this is what I was going to do a while back. 

Clean up the shit. (pardon my language)  but the amount of shitposting and trolls since I was gone increased 10 fold, its pretty amazing.  People also need to stop reg hopping every few months, I think the new league rule will be quite effective with stopping that on the competitive side. 

Also for those calling 63e biggest NA and stealing all members, that is not the case.  In the beginning, a lot of them watched either diplex's or speirstheamazing's 63e videos and were instantly attracted to us, regardless if they used to play on our siege server or not, they knew what type of community we had prior to that.  And on our siege server, it was strict but we tried to make it as fun as possible (unfortunately it died since I was gone), but again we were not the first regiment to use that monopoly strategy.  I also was already acquainted with several youtubers who wanted to play with us, thats not my fault or the regiment's, in fact it probably did even more to get those audiences into NW, probably hundreds of new players. 

Retention rate in this game is one thing that will always be a struggle, and to fix that you need to have a community united and structured in a way that makes it immediately more enjoyable and immersive for a new player. 

Just my thoughts, bash away if you like, but just from what I am seeing since back (and personally I dont have time to do whatever I said anymore which is why its all out there in the open)

Yeah, I said something about eSports & sponsors. I think that would help, however I'm not sure if it could be possible on a larger scale (bringing in big $$$ people).

The issue kovy is that I tried to talk to many of these sponsors out in the gaming community.  People are willing to give servers and shit but to full on give money for this game....thats a whole other story.  If the community wishes to get to that level than we need to be a bit more united than we currently are.  Nobody will sponsor a community that is divided and in shambles.  On top of that going off what karth said about youtubers, I have always been open to getting youtubers and twitch streamers involved with the competitive side.  I have been reaching out to the Native side and taking a look at how they have gotten esports sponsors with there tournaments/leagues.  They do have live streamers dedicated solely for the purpose of the league's and tournaments they host. 

But every side as a draw, for this it would be the fact that as far as I know that no one in the NA side has a large following on twitch or YouTube.  What I mean by that is somebody who is getting thousands of views per video.  People talk about getting new players involved.  Great....unless you have a successful youtube channel that gets 10,000 views per video or more than the influx of players coming into the game is going to continue to go down.

To simply put all of that together: If you wish to see the competitive scene of NW go on and carry on into bannerlord and what not that you need to have a big Public Relations person.  Someone who has those resources to bring people to the game not just for a single regiment but for the game as a whole.

[BabyJesus]

The problem NW has is no one wants to watch a hour and a half of 2 regiments sitting on a hill. Its just not enjoyable.

[AP0CALYPS3]

Perhaps have the FSE sanction an OFFICIAL medal system, given out during a much-anticipated "Seasonal FSE Superbowl" streamed live on Twitch.tv and moderated by the most respected in-game moderators, as voted by the community, every three months!

Official 2016 Heavyweight Spring Champions
Official 2016 Middleweight Spring Champions
Official 2016 Lightweight Spring Champions

Official 2016 Fun-Round Spring Champions 

Along with special "Melee Hero" /  "Cav Hard-charger" / "Arty Marksman" type medals for exceptional feats of heroism during the Event.

Nothing says "Community" like an endless drive towards collecting next seasons individual medals and peacocking the "Official FSE-Sanctioned Signature" for three months.


Toss in some perks like the winners get to use a custom map next season (Home field advantage), name-color changes on the forum, and/or a banner at the top of these forums announcing the winners and you've got a recipe for renewed interest on a massive scale.

You know what? I like this idea, +1

[Gokiller]

The problem NW has is no one wants to watch a hour and a half of 2 regiments sitting on a hill. Its just not enjoyable.

If you were to focus on 1vs1 line battles with recording. Then you could easily get some basic rules that would prevent that with an admin on.

I hope that Mikkel takes the same initiative and starts a thread similar to this for the EU-side of the community. Back in the days when the Official EU1 server started dieing out, I suggested various options to get interest back in the official servers. Special events etc (Around the same that Thundersnow has suggested). However the community managers back then just didn't take any initiative to start something off that could give an additional impulse to the decreasing server population and the increasing lack of interest. But perhaps with the CR's in place, something can finally be accomplished.