Progression 2.0 DISCLAIMER: Alpha/Beta mockups, nothing set in stone. NONE OF THIS IS GAURANTEED

• Tech Trees
  -- Talent trees in essence, unlocking ships. Each 'tree' will be based as a manufacturer tree.. with so far, 3 manufacturer's (only shown 1, Jupiter arms)
  --- Deeper into the talent tree = Higher tiers (over 50 ships... altho apparently just the same 15 ships +multiple reskins 'looking', as well as BEING more powerful)
• Each Ship has its own sub-tech tree for its module unlocks.
  -- In order to unlock the NEXT tier ship, you have to work through the previous ships sub-tech tree. Earlier tiers sub-tech tree are smaller then later tiers. (BETA)
  -- Sub-Tech tree = modules AND officer briefings.. basically each ship will have its own limited module selection per slot... with higher tiers having more options. Unclear if unlocking module X on a dreadnought tier 1, also unlocks module X on dreadnought Tier 2+ ... Hinted that lower Tier abilities/stuff will at least be available (if having to be repurchased?) in your higher tier ships.

Something about having multiple fleets? (Sets of 5? loadout slots.. perhaps set per tiers so you'd have a T1 fleet, T2 fleet, etc etc..and given reasons to go back and play your older/weaker? fleets)

Example tier stuff: Tier1 Athos ->T2 Rhea ->T3 Ares ->T4Hades ->T5 Invader.. all of which appear to be a 'medium destroyer'

Basically just reskin (looking better and better in higher tiers).. again, with more options for selections within its sub tech tree

Hero ships

• Hero ships locked into higher tiers of gameplay (based on module selection? Shown 2 hero ships under the manufacturer umbrella set as T4 and T5).. may cause matchmaking issues.. eg; at game launch you cant play your hero ship without waiting 40minute for MM
• Can play hero ship to gain xp to spend on other tier/ship stuffs.

Matchmaking

• Split into tiers
  -- Tier 1-2
  -- Tier 2-4 (may have been 3-4.. was mumbled)
  -- Tier 4-5
• Will of course also have some sort of ranking system/MMR

Monetization

• Cosmetics
• Hero ships
  -- Some vague mention about xp transfering.. was unclear if you could give xp to friends?.. was unclear if it was hero ship specific... was extremely brief and dev's did not answer my chat question.. but was able to 'pay to transfer a higher %.. eg; instead of costing you 100xp to give 50xp... pay to cost you 100 xp to give 75xp.. etc etc..
• Fleet repair costs (costing fp OR Real money)
  -- Implied higher costs to higher tiers.. eg; World of Tanks having more expensive ammo for higher tiers.. making it so you can't just play your highest tier all the time. - Note; Devs vehemently saying NOT having premium ammo, and always able to play.. will never be held back/unable to repair supposedly.. but obviously is an added FP drain which you can pay IRL money to remove... eg; pay to progress faster. (FP is ingame currency)
  -- Hits you harder on losses
  -- You will be able to 'break' a ship in some way .. it just won't be perm.. You will be able to repair it.. (promising dev diary/blog about this)

PVE/Campaign

• Confirmed Campaign... no details QQ
• Confirmed PvE Co-op

Random:

• Higher/later tiers have more dmg.... eg; Torpedo abilities might fire MORE torpedoes.... will somehow be more tactical (likely positional/movement tactical due to being caught in a bad position = death)
• Early/low tiers are faster? more manuverable / cloaky/sneaky? (this was very unclear)
• Primary weapons still locked per ship.. but somehow improved/changed/more powerful as you take that 'ship type' into higher tiers.
• Implied different tiers will 'play' differently.. eg; you wouldn't want to bring your T1 into T4 gameplay, or T4 into T1, because it simply wouldnt perform/play correctly for that new style of play.
• No 'concrete' plans on built in VOIP.. its an idea, they'd love it.. but it also can't lag the game if it was implemented... eg; prefer you to use 3rd party over causing gameplay issues/lag

This makes me very sad...

Anyway, thanks to you for the summary!

Taken from the Community Stream broadcasted the 13th of July. The VOD can be found here

Jupiter Arms Progression Mock-Up

Corvette Tier Ships

Destroyer Tier Ships, T2 & T5

Module Progression Mock-Up

Patterns Concept Art

As I stated on the Twitch channel, Fleet Repair worries me.

What I really don't want to see is players on a winning streak effectively gaining FP at a dramatically faster rate. Those who hit a losing streak end up not only earning less FP, but then have some of that FP taken away by having to repair.

It just feels like a horrible positive feedback loop.

There's no problem at all with Elite status etc. giving an FP gain. That's the point. But when players actually have FP taken away for losing? That starts to cross a line.

I know the guys said they'd go into more depth on this, but I think that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Well, that upcoming economy is basically a 1:1 copy of the World of Tanks model so if you ever experienced that you'll know how this will play out.

@Snib, for those of us who have only 'heard' about WOTanks model stuff (both complaints and people who were fine with it)... do you have a brief synopsis of what it is like and what we can expect if they model closely on it?

Jeslis#8939 posted (#post-40409)

@Snib, for those of us who have only 'heard' about WOTanks model stuff (both complaints and people who were fine with it)... do you have a brief synopsis of what it is like and what we can expect if they model closely on it?

I've played WOT since the beta. The model is as follows.

Three currency types in game: XP, Credits, Gold.

XP is typical experience used to unlock tanks, modules. You earn a 5% bonus every game as "Free XP" which can be used on any tank. Otherwise your XP is locked per tank. Once a tank is elite with all upgrades bought you can bank XP which can be transferred to free XP via Gold. Transfer rate is 1 gold = 25 xp.

Credits are the in game currency used for purchasing tanks, equipment, modules, retraining crew, insignia, camo, etc. All purchases in game outside of premium tanks are made with credits. You can transfer gold to credits, I don't remember the transfer rate.

Gold is the premium currency. You can make all of the same purchases as credits but generally for better results. For example: For gold you can get permanent camo on you tanks, where as for credits you can only buy a max of 30 days. Previously the game had in game gold ammo which was only purchasable with gold, but they changes the price to include credits.

As for the cost, yes, higher tiers are more expensive in terms of credits. However, if you aren't running full premium ammo and consumables you can make money even in tier 10s unless you are doing zero damage per game and dying. A large amount of complaining I see in the WoT community is people are frankly are not very good at the game lamenting about how hard it is to make money.

Personally, I like the WoT model. They removed the one P2W mechanic in the game and it's not difficult to earn credits. Aside from that, they hold regular tournies, contests, etc to earn gold. I know others don't, but I haven't heard good arguments against it aside from, "I don't want to buy premium time."

Nice summary. And second Jeslis request for one on WOT please - oh thanks that was fast

Not sure how I feel about all of this. If they are going with the WoT model then I probably won't be sticking around after beta ends. I don't have that kind of time to invest into a game. I just want to be able to play and have fun. I can understand a progression system of some kind but this is just to much. Having tiered ships that are superior to others is going to kill this game.

Yep, that was a decent summary of the WoT model, as a good player you'll always make credits even if you go free but the average (or worse) player probably has to pay or grind with premium or lower tier vehicles to maintain the balance at the top tier.

Due to the tier system there is a power curve so the match-making deliberately creates the incentive to get on top of the curve and have the strongest vehicle on the field rather than the cannon fodder. Having to upgrade your vehicle adds to that.

Having the tier overlap in match-making is important in that regard so players do not deliberately stop their progression and play at a lower tier (as in Star Conflict where most of the player base ended up parking themselves in Tier 3 for the longest time).

tl;dr: Carrot and stick designed to keep you either grinding or paying.