First off, I would like to congratulate Little Orbit on having very big plans for this game, some might even say the game may not even be deserving of these plans- while a good base and concept, the execution was kind of poor and the G1-era community throughout all of its lifetime gave it a very poor reputation which you (Little Orbit) will have hell trying to fix. Furthermore, I have some faith in this operation because you seem to be implementing some of these changes already, have a road map laid out which you seem to be fairly faithful to, which is always good to see.
I was originally a player of the closed- and open beta of the original APB by Realtime Worlds back in 2011, located on Steam. Then still in college, I had a lot of input which the developers only ever partially seemed to listen to. Nowadays however I operate in the industry myself, which is in-part influenced by this very game. You know the story, the game failed no more than 4 months into its release before the extra-dark times came in the shape of G1 themselves, turning this game into a chaotic wallet-wrangling mess.
So, with experience under my belt now, I have a pretty good idea about this game. I've played as a new character for a week, and I have to say that the endgame isn't where you as a company should be turning your eyes. Player retention is nice, but you can't grow off of retention and the new player experience is one of the worst I have seen in any online game to date. There are very few players, but that should be no excuse to let the high-rollers play with the fresh meat. Repeated stomping isn't going to entice a player to keep playing, and with no attachment to the game that the older players have, offering more powerful weapons for cash is never going to work! The ARMAS pay-to-win element has been shaved off in some limited respect though, so that's a good start!
But new players should be encouraged to learn the game without having their face stomped in. Make it so bronze instances only allow stock weapons and 1-slot vehicles, limited player advancement to even the playing field with the rank 200+ players who currently just play there to club seals, with the silver instance allowing for 2 slots in both, and gold, ultimately, allowing access to everything the game has to offer. A player can then choose how advanced their experience is, with new players being dropped off in an environment where experienced players will be equals. Now. I'm certain that those high-rollers will say "oh but the gear doesn't matter, it's SKILL", but to that I say it's very funny that they say that while clutching their everything-slot equipment and would outright refuse playing with a slot-less weapon.
Matchmaking would largely be fixed by that, aside from some key exploitable locations on the maps. That's a trial-and-error issue, admittedly, so I can't fault you for not fixing an issue before it's widely known. So, lastly, the UI needs a massive overhaul. While the game is playable, it feels very dated and the interface is clunky and poorly optimized. This, again, is something fairly low-priority, but game feel can account for a surprising amount. A game that feels good to play will make players feel cheated if they fail far less often, than a game on which they can infinitely blame the mechanics for loss, causing for no real realization of gauge or personal skill, causing in players never improving.
tl;dr:
- Put less stock in your existing community and focus on new blood, dedicated players will stay, only those that demand constant catering will leave
- Limit Bronze, Silver and Gold instances by equipment so new players won't be farmed with the best gear
- Improve the UI to go through less different menus to reach destination, camera improvements, and improving mechanical feel (I honestly don't have too much input on this because it's subjective)
