It's really weird actually, isn't it, someone mentioned this last set but now we have two sets (4 months) of evidence... I mean this:

Set 11 (beginning Sept. 2011, three years ago): 892 players
Set 12: 775
Set 13: 940
Set 14: 1157
Set 15: 1111
Set 16: 1068
Set 17: 1108
Set 18: 1090
Set 19: 1086
Set 20: 982
Set 21: 1061
Set 22: 994
Set 23: 842
Set 24: 826
Set 25: 895
Set 26: 789
Set 27: 483
Set 28: 417

I mean the number of players was remarkably consistent, and then it started declining a little bit but nothing extreme, and then suddenly a drop-off of 50%. Wild.

Here's a possibility, did the players move to the Tournament server?

Did qzjul change a thing that previously sent new users to Primary, instead sending them to Tournament?

Set 26 ran March-April (789 players).
March Tourney players: 182
April Tourney players: 155

Set 27 ran May-June (483 players).
May Tourney players: 295
June Tourney players: 379

Set 28 ran July-August (417 players).
July Tourney players: 459
August Tourney players: 438

The swing definitely lines up...

Well, if you look at countries which finished with more than 1M nw (active players), things aren't so bad.

Set 11: 347 players
Set 12: 285
Set 13: 295
Set 14: 323
Set 15: 323
Set 16: 331
Set 17: 328
Set 18: 322
Set 19: 287
Set 20: 279
Set 21: 302
Set 22: 261
Set 23: 231
Set 24: 266
Set 25: 250
Set 26: 233
Set 27: 209
Set 28: 202

It's more like a 33% drop (300 to 200).

The decline is definitely worrisome.

I don't think primary is very forgiving to new players. If you fall behind early, you aren't coming back. Nobody likes playing a set for two months where you login to being farmed EVERY day.

The automatic GDI in tournament, and the shorter set time may be more n00b friendly.

alliance has lost ~500 countries since 1st reset and ~400 since 11th reset and whole game has lost players.

Yeah but this is weird to have a 50% decline in a single reset.

Based on what oldman showed, of the number of players getting past 1m not declining as sharply, I think it's just less new people joining Primary. Which I think points back to my 2nd post in here about new players being sent to Tournament...

Probably cuz EE is a game of math and doesn't try to hide it like other games. Also, they don't do a very good job of teaching the game to beginners. So people try it, get slaughtered their first reset, and leave. Here's my tips for modernizing it and to retain ppl:

- Really what's the point of the main menu page of your country vs advisor page? Why are there links at the bottom of this page also?

- Fewer categorical links with tabs on the category pages. For example
Country Settings: Preferences tab, combine GDI page with a CONCISE explanation and bullet points with tax/indy setup/govt options in another tab.
Military: Your military info, private market Tab, public market tab
War room: Spy tab, attack tab, news
Tech: Research, buy from public market
Allies: Relations, alliance (on other servers), message
Scores: Scores/Top players... or why not just show rank 1-25 and then everyone else. Top players just shows 15 extra ranks.

- Icons with links for these primary navigation

- For the love of God get rid of all the small wordy text and make it concise, formatted nicely where pertinent info is easy to locate. Like look at the build page. Who the eff would ever read that crap? Bold/make a different color the dynamic #'s. Put the "Advice" dude in a box with a different color background.

And COUNTLESS other easy front end fixes.

The advisor has more detail (inc. expenses, tech levels, etc.) that the main status page can't contain in a simple way. However, I agree with you that the main page should have ONLY country status and news/message alerts. The fact that it has links is confusing.

GDI and everything under preferences should be under "Manage."

Your categories make sense I think. Bolding or changing size of important things to make it stand out makes sense.



What do you mean about the build page?

Help Information on Buildings (help link)
Each building consumes one acre of free land and costs $26,317 to build.
Except for Construction Sites, you can build 60 buildings per turn.
Construction Sites require one turn each.
With your resources, you can build 0 buildings.

That's all necessary information!

Right but make it more readable. So have help on the pages as a 64x64 (?) icon in the upper right or something.

Shorten it and put it in a neat box or something:
_________________________
|Current Cost/Acres
|$26,317
|
|Current Bldgs/Turn
|60
|
|You can currently build
|0 Buildings
_________________________

Have construction sites in a separate form above or below the other bldgs. and say it takes 1 turn each. X more to gain +1 bldg/turn.

alliance server is friendly (outside wars due alliance x did something on alliance y on reset z) unless plays untagged (only handful of players can do that and not to get farmed) then it is very unfriendly. every alliance is willing to teach new players if new player is willing to learn.

Right but the process of finding/joining an alliance is very difficult. Having to apply on an external site isn't exactly a new user friendly way of joining an alliance

Yeah that might make the game more attractive.

Also, I think when someone first creates a country, they should be sent to the Manage screen, containing government choice, indy %s, tax rate, GDI join, and a 'More preferences' button for that other stuff. Or would having to go through a setup screen confuse people and scare them off vs. just dropping them right into the game?

Also, the server new users should be sent to, Tourney is a good choice since the lower level games don't usually have that many pros, and people are free to attack any way they want, but i think qzjul and us talked about this before, but if late coutnries could start with like 300 turns or something i forget what was discussed, but that so new players could get into playing right away... or they could be sent to Express

true that and some simple forum for alliances could be ingame and other stuff would be then on external. 1 option is to put players into random tags but many would be against that.

You know what would rly help the game.. it's relatively simple. Add server chat at the bottom or something when you're in game. You already have mibbit setup for chat. Why not just embed it in the game

Wow, that's a good one. You should post that one in the Bug/Sug forum. If qzjul is still reading over there maybe he could do something like that. It doesn't have to open automatically but click a "chat" button and a chat pane comes up covering the bottom 25% of the screen.

Honestly I've played this game on and off for years and the most probable reason I stop playing at any point is because of how user unfriendly the game is. Most strategies, unit strengths, alliance forums, and plenty of important information is found on 3rd party sites. It feels like such a hassle to learn the ins and outs of the game and to get ahead in a set is way too much work, at least to newer players.

It is a hardcore math and risk game, it is true.

It's very hard to win primary without knowing the ins and outs. The problem with dumbing it down is that it then becomes pointless to the veterans, etc...

I think though that people don't put an honest effort into understanding the game. There are so many forum threads that explain the game to the point of cruising into the top 100, but these days and this generation is made up of people with ADHD that want to be a winner by just showing up. If it's not as easy and dumb as an iPhone it's way too hard.

Harsh, but true.

While I agree with this sentiment, I don't think it's a matter of dumbing it down or this generation's mindset when it comes to this game. I think a big part of it falls on the game design. For example, all the pages have a "Help on ____" like research types, building types, alliances, etc, but why not simplify it.

So instead of making somebody completely new to the game (who is already overwhelmed) go to a different page, or a wiki, or a forum, just have a (?) icon after each bldg. type, research type, etc. so that when you hover over it, a tooptip box appears explaining what the building, tech, alliance does. So if I'm on build, and I hover over a question mark icon next to "Enterprise Zone", a small tool tip appears that says:

"Enterprise Zones help to increase the productivity of your population. Your total tax revenues are dependent upon the number of people you have, how much they earn each turn (Per Capita Income), and your tax rate. These buildings will help to increase the maximum Per Capita Income your people can achieve."

Much easier to learn this way no?