TL:DR: No TL:DR Read the Whole thing.

As we all know, FreeJam has made some questionable updates to this game that they have implemented without community opinion. What they should do is to create a poll for what people want on the next update. Also, they MUST add the pit sooner. It is a superior gamemode to the new meta.

Also, these points will be presented:

(Posted By someone in the comments section of the update page)

Alright Free jam, and you other peeps out there, I don’t know if you will read this, but I am gonna give my opinions about what is going wrong here. I’ll try to organize it into a couple of sections and sub sections.

1. You are removing the foundations of fun in hopes for “competitiveness”

The new Meta update was probably the the biggest turning point, other than the bugs that were present initially. The new mode was a change that no one really asked for. This video while almost a year old (back when there were repair cost) still captures the essence of robocraft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8HSn89n9uo . The three words of the slogan was BUILD, DRIVE, and FIGHT which are all agreeably three things in a video game that people would agree that are fun. In the video for instance, remember when you first made a dick craft? Childish it may seem now, but you probably had a stark grin on your face when you were building it, driving it, and killing people with your dick craft. All of that was damn fun, just damn fun, not saying that Robocraft needs dicks, but it resonates the problem with Robocraft now then what it was.

A. Your limitations on BUILD

This is probably the biggest topic of this thread, the limitations on on what you can make. This is not only an attack on art bots, but just about any other bots that use armor that is more two tiers below the current tier. A white bot in t5 for instance, can he be destroyed easily, yes. Is he actually good with it, maybe. Should he not be allowed to have white blocks in t5, why should he? he may be gun rushing that tier, in which that case is is not focused on having fun. He would eventually up tier his armor or move up to the next tier. He might be in t5 for a troll build, in which he is having a blast trying to kill people with his white blocks. The point is when you allow creativity to flourish, then the player can find many ways to have fun. Limiting his creativity means you have limited his fun. It is generally fun to make whatever you want, limiting that is to remove the fun.

B. The limitation on DRIVE

lets face it, The only bots that seem to be best are tracks and helis, why? Well first of all the speed cap of 250. Was the practical speed Nerf on everything necessary? is a hover craft moving at about 180 mph too overpowered? Now hover crafts can barely surpass 140 mph even with thrusters. There is a holy trinity for vehicles meant for fighting, Firepower, Armor, and mobility. A vehicle can have a balance of any three of these aspects, done correctly a player can have a craft that fits their play style. They can go for all mobility and firepower and be a glass cannon which is fine, or they can go for being extremely tanky by maxing out their CPU limit. Speed has effectively now been removed, not only making armor and firepower the two viable options, but also practically shafted all the players that enjoyed going about 200 mph. Now you are also limiting the swing a player can have with being all armor and all firepower. Freejam, you are effectively limiting the choices what a player can drive, let them be a fast glass cannon, they will have a blast performing hit and runs, but it seems in your vision everyone needs to be a more balanced craft, that diversity is prohibited. The reason why treads and helis are so popular now is that they are the movements that don’t focus on speed.

C. Limitations on FIGHT

The old game mode was fun for a reason, they were very short, they main goal was to kill the other guys or cap their base if you really wanted to win the game, but always there was more enjoyment in killing the other team. In the new meta however, that focus was effectively switched to capturing towers and destroying the base. In the old game mode when you killed someone, you actually removed him from the battle, and made a contribution for your team. Now, you kill someone, they re spawn, not much effect has been down other than making him was some seconds. In fact, the team does not win by killing the other team, the team that pushes towers wins. Who really enjoys taking towers? they are always going to be there, and they are the same every time. No, everyone enjoyed shooting at other players, because they spent time of their own to make their bots to fight you. That was one aspect effectively shoved aside for the aspect of working together to win, which brings me to my next section.

D. The player base was never ready for a Moba

Mobas are popular for allowing people to work together as a team, usually with friends, and picking a hero to specialize in a certain part of the game, through their coordination and teamwork will they win the game. If you looked at what people liked about Robocraft, its the building and the fighting. The teamwork of Robocraft before the meta was simple at best, just follow the group, if you were a healer you healed your team. Overall it was basically a free for all, but it was awesome. I believe some of the best battles were when everyone was distributed across the map trying to do their own thing. No problem dying, you can queue into another battle and go bananas again. The new meta however requires people to actively participate with the team that they have gotten into with. Again you have made more of a focus on winning than actually having fun. you’d either have to stick with your team as best as you can, or you can simply just leave. The community never asked for more team play, even if they did, you have not implemented enough to promote team play. You can’t really play with your friends because platoons are still broken to this day, not to mention how badly the friends list lags the more you have. The curse team speak just is a short sight that it seems like barely anyone uses. Overall you added this game mode that relys on teamwork without having people be in real teams.

E. Competitive Sports are based from fun games

take a sport, any sport, say tennis. Is tennis competitive? yes. Does everyone play tennis competitively? no. People enjoy tennis because it is a fun game to play. When they want to enter a tennis competition is up to them, or they can continue to play for fun, no one is gonna prevent them from doing so? So why Freejam, why does everyone need to play competitively? Players love Robocraft for the reason of building a stupid bot and getting destroyed by another, there was nothing serious, but now you want to start steering everyone in the direction of competitive play. Already you are attracting the likes of the people who just want to play objectively, such as the AFK people in battles to earn RP without effort. Also one of the best things about Robocraft was the community who were all light hearted and shared each other’s bots, but now you want people to play seriously. Just look at how toxic the League of Legend community is. this whole push from just having fun to play competitively is just all wrong. Keep the classic game mode, all you had to do was add an optional ranked option instead of the ranked timer, add an actual matchmaker based on player ranking instead of limited everyone’s building options. No one asked for attacking protonium, they wanted more diverse ways of killing the enemy team like rockets and a system to show they are the best ranked player other than to their friends. I would love to play competitively. that does not mean that everyone has too as well.

P.S. The battle mode is played over the classic mode because 1) it was made the MAIN battle mode with a larger button 2) the queue times for classic are much longer since there are less servers for classic

2. FreeJam as an overall developer

Now that I have finished my discussion about the changes in the past couple months. I think it is now time to talk about Freejam’s faults

A. Attention Deficient Disorder

Lets face it, This armor and gun tier update is reactionary to the trends of “seal clubbing” yet we are still waiting for mega bots to be added, Still waiting on clans, Still waiting for a lava map, and Still waiting on the mentioned Rocket launchers. This is a thing that was always a problem with Freejam, they do one thing, then do something else and never do it again. Such as adding Mega bots which cost approximately 40 RP are now shoved into the attic since the new meta update. Also did anyone really ask for aero rods or curved cubes? and now what about those Roboshop crafts that everyone sent in, will they all still work after this update or will we never see Roboshop ever again. Freejam to me seemed like they lost their direction long ago, Robocraft is still an alpha, What is the released game supposed to be like? or will the be a never ending alpha with the design constantly being changed.

B. Actually helping new players

Listen, there is no tutorial for robocaft, There are those very old youtube tutorials on how to make stable bots that are like over year old, but that is one of the problems for new players, any information they want they have to search outside the game to find that information. I always find that new play who thinks the heavy chassis is more armor than the white cubes usually they end up figuring it out because someone told them or they realized it after 20 games or so. Robocraft has so much information that isn’t fully explained such as damage directing with triforce. You even had that one contest for people to fill out Wikipedias. Really? you rely on the community to put out game information onto a platform that can easily be untrue. The new player is practically a child lost in the supermarket.

C. Some Positives

You know I was thinking about adding that their updates are short sighted, but I can’t really be upset with every update. I remember that one time where an update literally broke the game for a day. and you gave out a code for three days of premium, how can anyone be upset for a developer making an actual apology and actually making up for it. Freejam I know you care about robocraft, and you still care. You made probably one of the best Free to play games ever, and you never had to resort to pay to win tactics, buying GC always felt worth it to build more and progress more. This is arguably one of the darkest times for Robocraft, but I feel like it can pass, I hope for the future of it. I just hope for you to just remember why everyone loves robocraft for the building, driving, and fighting. I just really hope the best from you guys, and for everyone that supports you.

-Tingle Kringus aka tinglekrin

(Also a article By SHOMOFO:)

Ok so I’ve already posted the video in the RoboEngineering Section but I just thought I’d post it here too with some additional feedback.

The video already contains some feedback & shows the Bays affected by tomorrows update but I wanted to go into it a bit more.

First off although I’m gutted about losing or having to modify bots it’s not the end of the world & I see no need to rage in anyway.

One thing I’ve learnt playing this game is ‘ALPHA’ = ‘SUBJECT TO CHANGE’ it’s just something you get used to & have to hope it keep going in a direction that still provides you with fun gameplay.

My biggest gripe is not with the update itself nerfing a lot of my builds but the timing of the announcement being so close to the actual update.

I’d have rather this part of the update was annouced first as it would have given me more time to play with the bots I’m losing & get some more gameplay footage out them before they’re Doomed.

As is I’ll struggle to get another one or two videos recorded tonight/tomorrow before the update kicks in.

Overall I’m happy with the idea behind the update to bring a level playing to new players though I’m really not sure what advantage a 30% buff to leveling will do when cpu can’t be leveraged as it used to so merely see this as a way to encourage new players into higher tiers faster?

In all honesty I think new players rush enough & there isn’t anything to encourage players to drop tier & learn the game since repairs were taken out.

I actually think this will encourage more frustration for new & old players alike.

I also think while the cpu limit isn’t too bad the armour requirement is a bit harsh. Many of my designs use much lower tier armour & effectively rely on tri-forcing & spacing rather than EP.

This allows me a little more wiggle room with my Robot Rating for extra components & a little bit of +1/2 weapon over tiering.

I don’t think this choice should be removed from the game as it will certainly limit creativity of design.

Speaking of creativity I’ve seen a lot pro/anti art bot stuff in the forums.

I don’t think either side should be too worried.

Those who want pure competition the work is in the pipeline.

Those who want to roll pure art bot the work is in the pipeline.

Those who just can’t abide an ugly bot – I see you guys! You look hella sweet & will always find a way to match deadly with great aesthetics!

But for those of you who doubt a creative bot can hold it’s own please check my video as the gameplay at the end features a creative bot that I am very sad to see affected by this update.

Unlike my Screaming Skulls & Halloween Pumpkin; not only does it look great as a creative build it really can hold it’s own.

Hopefully I’ll get some more footage of it in action tonight.