WM leader board

[Logain]

I still cling to the belief that some portion of the playerbase might construct reasonably effective loadouts if they weren't pushed in the other direction by the scoring system and now the top player function. If this were not true we would not have any success helping our new members improve their setup. Trouble is, that kind of guidance can't be replicated on a greater scale for players who don't read the forums (ie Logain's guide)--as evidenced by the abject failure of the large clans to train their rank and file to do anything more advanced than zerg the fight with 50 players (and then rage at vets for rushing the encounter because they think packing the instance is still necessary).

Yeah I was hoping with the release of Alacatraz and with the permanent buff of WM to TL 10 (doesn't feel like it though) that Defiance would remove the ability to zerg and make it a meaningful race again. The guide was written before certain advantages were know to exist (i.e. the Zerg and Tanking).

The reason to Zerg is much deeper and harder to change then just trying to win now. Without damage numbers there is nothing to to shoot for. Score maxes out quickly without gaming the scoring system if you are doing straight damage so there is no incentive there either. I mean you get approximately your score right be fore the crystal armor breaks. In some cases its laziness, in others its the mob mentality of well let's get everyone in so they can participate and get a shot of top loot. It's everyone gets a trophy time so let's wait so we can have more people get a participation trophy.

That's it right there, we have no reliable means to teach a large amount of players how things work without going insane ourselves. For me, it was different. I was already trained to min/max an encounter during my past experiences as a hardcore raider in WoW. The idea of having to deal a certain amount of damage within a time limit (when you run out of time there, the whole raid dies) wasn't new.

Yes, there is no early guidance in game about how to kill things quickly. Actually there is not a whole lot of guidance at the start of the game period. No mention of EGO levels and how it plays out with you guns and shields. No mention of nanos and their effectiveness and utility in different situations. A little bit of an introduction to stims and spikes but no mention at all about rigs and chips.

Perhaps part of the problem is simply that the new player experience mostly takes place at such a low threat that any weapon can just about one-shot any trash mob. So the players don't really get a decent feel for relative weapon damage (eg, the guy that was marveling at the versatility and ammo efficiency of the volge battle rifle--who cares about dps when one shot at TL1 kills the mob?). They walk into the WM, get carried or zerged and get away with it, then go into expeditions, get curbstomped, waste their free HRs, and rage quit crying P2W.

It is easy for a new player without access to the knowledge of a veteran or forums (remember the minority of players) to be completely lost.

Thus they enter Expeditions (near end content) get pwn'd and complain or quit.

TLDR: Defiance approach is participation not excellence + No built in guidance for new players = learn as you go inferior builds. As well as sage well written posts and advice get ignored by the majority.