proud gazelle
Issue: Causal players demand more AA, limb nerfs, and complain about clans 3v1 while stuck with randoms. Clan/sweaty players demand less AA, less limb nerfs, and complain about changes to satisfy the casual players.
Easy answer (but complex to implement): Instead of a new death match and the coming (voluntary) ranked mode , divide the game into 2 modes: Casual mode and Clan mode.
Casual mode would not allow voice chat or friends. Everyone in Casual plays with randoms, using only pings for comms. Everyone is on a level playing field.
Clan mode allows voice chat and invited squads, so clans can rage-stomp each other endlessly. They could return the clan mode to the older version of the game (faster RR, less AA, etc), while the casual mode could have their old mines that stick, no flight limit, etc. Increase the rewards/loot for clan mode, reduce a bit for casual mode (since clan mode requires more skilled play).
That (and some better tech to prevent ch34ters) would catapult this game into GOTY for the next decade, easy. While I'm sure this would double the work and headaches for the devs, the extra staff and hours required to manage these 2 modes would pay off 20x in the long run.
- just some thoughts from a guy whose spent 1000s of $ on gaming over the last 25 years.