Overall game feeling from randomly returning longtime player based on dev and gaming experience

[HelloPie 5]

Hello there! I'm a longtime player since the initial open beta. I check on the state of the game every now and then (abt once per 1-3 years). This time I've decided to share my thoughts. I played the game yesterday and think I had some good revelations to share. You'll have to excuse me, I'll be harshly honest and straight-forward, a little unstructured.

In the past 5 years, I've had an opportunity to work in two indie teams (3-4 different projects) on different roles (2d artist, tech artist, level design). As well as have invested some time into a few multiplayer and single player games as a player.
 

First of all, whatever updates were made since the ownership transition to LO are barely noticeable. I noticed a new car sure (exaggerating a little here), but game feels exactly the same to me. 64-bit upgrade - idk what was that abt. I know it may sound inconsiderate, there surely has been put a ton of work, but I'm being honest, to me it made no difference. I log in, I play, I log out. I've played this game on i5-2400, R5-5500, i5-12400 currently. Not bad/good, just the same from most perspectives. Maybe I'm just lucky.
 

Matchmaking is awful as usual. I'm forever silver and kinda comfortable at that. I was being constantly given bronze teammates and golden enemies, despite almost full district. There was always an option to call for a backup, but it barely worked. By the time the backup arrived, it was too late. And whenever we got a backup - guess what - enemy team was also getting a backup - which again made us underpowered and requesting more backup - this is pure nonsense!
-> This lead me to the assumption that maybe what could solve the balancing issue is the amount of players. The bigger the pool - the better the chances to get the right team/enemies. Time for marketing? Or maybe it should be constantly ongoing, maybe it should also be aggressive, not sure abt this.
 

Level design. Having worked on a few projects, and dived into the theory, I must say, you can often bump into some level design decisions, which simply break the game flow and just feel like they spoil the fun. One has to be an experienced player and know where not to go. I believe It's not supposed to be that way nowadays, and for a new player this experience is infuriating. The level design is supposed to aid the player, direct him, provide guidance, and not mislead or confuse. This applies mostly to the mission objectives, how to approach and defend them. One example would be player spawn locations: if spawned in the open space without any opportunity to find cover, you're just being shot at sight, losing time and any chance to reach the objective. Also, it often takes too long to reach the objective after being killed. Also, dead-ends, also misleading positioning of secondary game objects and walls. There's more. It must be seriously addressed.
 

Cheats? I'm not sure if the anti-cheat is working correctly, but sometimes I couldn't help but notice how some players simply aim at you like aimbot. I remember this has always been a persistent issue with this game, but I really didn't expect it to still remain. I couldn't even find how to report someone, until I remembered that there's a command in chat. Why is it so hard and ambiguous?
 

Why was I killed? Who killed me? How did he see me? Where is he? - very frequent thoughts. Kill cam maybe? Not sure. But still an issue.
 

Confusing new player experience. It's still an issue. A person gets lost when just starting. I helped a few guys to make sense of the mission assignment system (press K), because they were just aimlessly running around the initial spawn area without any clue. It's one example. I don't think it's how it should work.
 

Everything aforementioned (and I barely scratched the surface) leads to frustration, dissatisfaction and feeling of injustice. This makes you want to leave and never come back. I know the game is different and unique to the current market, but it must make sense and adjust to the modern practices (call it trends/criteria/mindset/generation), if it wants to gain new audience, fill the player base, and stay relevant. A game is not supposed to bring so much frustration. If it does, it must be justified and compensated somehow. Look at CS, OW, Valorant, APEX, Fortnite, Elden Ring, GTA V, even some MMOs (for ideas on how to monetize, e.g. Lost Ark, ESO, Runescape, etc) or whatever else is now popular, relevant and proved itself, and how it deals with its issues. I know the games are different and have their downfalls, but there's something to learn from each of them.
 

There's much work to be done here. If the current team doesn't see it, I think it's better to find someone, some respected and trusted professional from the modern industry, who can take the whole thing and give it a fresh look. Maybe even third-party company outsource service (to give an example, Sperasoft comes to mind). I'm not really sure who and how. I seriously believe that it needs revamping and possibly overhauling. The game must be game-tested, reviewed, deconstructed, re-positioned and solved. The game feels like it's in a vacuum. So much potential being wasted from every aspect. Something must be done. Seriously.
 

With that being said, I really love this game. I also have a lot of respect to Little Orbit and Matt for his approach, dedication and hard work. Thank you and best regards!

Edited June 13 by HelloPie
minor typos and additions to make better sense