https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1AvEt8fr4g

A presentation of ideas for the game as a whole. Sorry for how long it is, but this was the best way for me to gather my thoughts. I will also post the bulletin points below for a quick glance that was discussed in detail and the "why" behind it the Video.

This will probably be my last feedback post for a while, I’m not leaving the game or anything like that. I just feel that any issues or suggestions that I may have has already been addressed by other members of this awesome community, or by the great team at MercurySteam themselves. I felt like I really need to make this, because I’m convicted that this is the most important issue that will make or break the longevity of this game. So please, take what I have to say into consideration.

Since the Patch 06, I have seen a positive change in the economy. I personally have had very little issue grinding Gold, Faction points, Character points, or antagonist rank. I have been heavily using the “invitations” with friends and new players I meet in the “Eternal Soldier” campaign, and have gained over 100k in a less than a week (plus I played a lot). Over all Patch 06 and Wardogs fury was an amazing leap in the right direction, and that the economy is in a good place right now.

However, the recurring issues that my friends and the new players I meet have is the way the antagonist rewards work; more specifically, players that DON’T like to play the antagonist that feel like they’re forced into playing a game mode that they do not want to play to build a blueprint that they worked hard to gain, or to buy lore (but I personally agree that the URAS-BEHERIT lore should be a requirement to unlock with antagonist rank because it fits thematically). Then there are the players that DO like to play the antagonist (like me) that feel unrewarded for playing the antagonist each week with no real reward, other than being high enough rank to build a blueprint that they already have. This I view is a major problem in keeping players involved and coming back to play week-to-week.

I do have a couple of ideas that could help with these two problems. The first is similar I a proposal that I posted about a month ago (that I could tell your team read it  ). For the blueprints, have the build cost change from “Antagonist rank=(X) + Gold=(x)” to “Faction points=(x) + Character points=(x) + Gold=(x), or, Antagonist rank=(X) + Gold=(x)”; for example, for HANS’S USU-21 have the build cost Faction points=(3,000) + Character points=(3,000) + Gold=(3,000), or if you have an antagonist rank of LV1 have it only cost Gold=(3,000) to build. This change will allow players to choose the way that they want to build the blueprints. For someone like me, I would rather play as an antagonist to only pay the Gold price, and for some others I meet would not feel forced to play the antagonist to build the blueprint that they want. This could also help diversify the economy.

The second proposal is asking a lot, but please consider it. As mentioned earlier, there is very little incentive for playing the antagonist. The main reason I see players play the antagonist is to be able to build certain blueprints, and after they build the weapon most player won’t play the antagonist again until they want to build another weapon. The other problem is that players feel that their antagonist is worthless, since players can build most weapons with a relative low rank; also, since the rank only last a week it really losses it’s competitive factor, so, what is the point of striving for a high rank each week?

My proposal is awarding Mercury Points to players depending on there antagonist rank at the end of the week, this does not have to be a large amount either. An example how this could be done is that you get 10 points per rank. So, at the end of the week, at antagonist rank 1 you would earn 10 Mercury Points, and at antagonist rank 18 you would earn 180 Mercury Points. These Mercury Points values are subjective and can be lower or higher, but this would encourage players to play the antagonist more, plus be more completive and try for a higher rank each week. There could be several other positives for this new antagonist reward system; such as, an incentive to purchase more Mercury Points to get little bit more that they need to get that item that they want, a reason to play each week, bragging rights that mean something that would instill friendly competition (it’s an Atlanta thing).

This won’t even be that detrimental in lowering the value to Mercury Points, giving an example, even if you had a player that could constantly get to antagonist rank 18 for four weeks (using the 180 Mercury Points sample), that player would only obtain 720 Mercury Points. That is still one full month of that player playing the antagonist in a more competitive environment, fighting their way in ladder to get the highest rank they can.

These two proposals would give players an alternative way to get the weapons they want to build, help diversify the economy, give a reason to play the antagonist each week, letting player have the fun in grinding the way they want to, and ultimately not feeling forced to play in a way that is not fun for them, so they can enjoy to the fullest of all the wonderful things that this amazing game has to offer.

These are merely just my thoughts and suggestions, and sorry again for the really long post. I know that the latest update just came out last week, so I personally don’t expect any major changes to happen any time soon, in the modern-day gaming market it is very hard for an independent compete. But reason I put so much effort into this post is that I see all the love and care into making this game. This has been somebody’s dream project for years finally come to light, and it is worth fighting for. I believe that this game once it’s polished will become a game that will never die; also, know that most (if not all) of us here believe in all of you at MercurySteam and are here supporting all of you!

A lot of players are unaware of the major and universal differences of the factions; so, I wanted a make a simple guide for the different factions in Raiders of the Broken Planet, teaching the strengths and weakness of each faction. Be forewarned that editing is not my strength. XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3YpcdITdAA

My background is in self-protection instruction and human services my job basically is to find a simple solution to multiple problems, so I apologize in advance if this post is wordy; I wanted to treat this like I would a report for work because I care about this game and I feel it deserves my best. Here we go.

First, I want to say thank you to our new community manager, Karen, for keeping us updated on new developments and reading our posts. You're greatly appreciated, and it helps the community a lot when there is some form of direct communication between us and the studio. Second, the recent 1.03 update I feel was a success and a big step in the right direction. I personally have seen less purposeful disconnections on the prologue level, (though it still happens more often than it should,) and much stronger players as well. Thank you for the update.

The people that are reading this far into the post most likely know what I’m talking about, so rather than going too much deeper into the details of what these problems are, I will touch on a few key points. The problems that I see players constantly talk about on the forums and in-game is the rewards system; most players go for the ‘Gold’ or ‘Blueprints’ because both Faction and Character Points are very easy to grind out quickly and become useless. Gold is needed for everything in the game, so everyone goes after it first—leaving small amounts being split between players. In addition, the grind/cost for items is frustrating to many players because many of the items require an Antagonist rank that has to be maintained. It is very difficult to maintain this rank because the Antagonist has little to no true advantage aside from working with NPCs, and it is very difficult for the Antagonist to win against competent players. The prices are inconsistent across the board, as well; for a quick example, Dr. Kuzmann costs 60,000 Gold, while Mikah costs 120,000 Gold. This can also be seen with other items/characters.

What I see as the consistent link between all of these problems is how the game values its content. Instead of doing major changes to the reward system or balance changes to characters, since this would require a lot of time and resources, what if we change and average the unlockable items in the game to use more of the Faction Points and Character Points? Similar changes could be made to the Antagonist rank, to make it feel more important and worth obtaining.

Starting with cards, instead of using Gold to lock the cards, we could use the resource originally associated with it in place of gold without changing other values. ‘Faction Points’ could be used for Faction cards and ‘Character Points’ for Character cards. Also, I think it would be better to have the additional loadouts cost either 15,000 Character Points or 250 Mercury points, to give players the option to grind for it or buy it instantly.

Now, before I give my suggestion on what you should get with the Antagonist rank, since it ties into these next few changes, I'd like to make a couple of suggestions regarding Playable Characters and Weapons. {Please bear with me for a moment and read through to the end.} As stated earlier, Dr. Kuzmann costs 60,000 Gold, and Mikah is double that at 120,000. I believe these Gold values should be reduced set closer to each other, as well as having them cost some Faction Points. For example, have Dr. Kuzmann cost 15,000 Faction Points and 45,000 Gold, and have Mikah at 20,000 Faction Points and 50,000 Gold. Splitting up the cost would make the grind easier to deal with for players. Now for Weapons, I'll be using Lycus’ “Shit Happens” weapon as an example. The current cost to make it is the Blueprint, an Antagonist rank of 6 or higher, and 12,500 Gold. I would recommend that you keep the Blueprint and Gold cost, but remove the required Antagonist cost and make it cost Character Points equivalent to the Gold cost. This would put the cost for this particular weapon at one Blueprint, 12,500 Character Points, and 12,500 Gold. I'll get into the 'why' behind having the Antagonist rank removed from the cost next.

As far as the Antagonist rank goes, keeping all of these other changes in mind, I think there should be an equivalence between the Antagonist rank and the Faction and Character Points when purchasing weapons or characters, to enable players to choose how they grind, instead of feeling forced into certain game modes in order to get the items they want. The reason I suggest the equivalency is so players with differing playstyles only need to spend the Gold value for any given item. Just as an example of what I mean, using the prices I suggested above, if you have Antagonist rank of 14, have Dr. Kuzmann only cost the 45,000 Gold instead of 15,000 Faction Points and 45,000 Gold. Likewise, have a player with an Antagonist rank of 15 only have to pay the cost of 50,000 Gold for Mikah, instead of 20,000 Faction Points and 50,000 Gold. To continue, the “Shit Happens” weapon would essentially have the original way of unlocking it with the Antagonist rank of 6 or higher, and 12,500 Gold.

These changes would not only make the Faction and Character Points more desirable, so less players are splitting Gold, but it would also allow players to choose how they want to progress in the game: do they want to earn rewards through honor, cooperation, and hard-work as a Raider? Or, do they want to take it with greed, determination, and by causing the Raiders misery as an Antagonist? In this way, people who want to play as the Antagonist are free to do so as often as they want, and not feel like they have to play as a Raider to get the things they want; likewise, people who prefer cooperative playstyles and prefer not to play as an Antagonist will not feel like they are being punished for their decision.

Thank you for your time and this wonderful game.