Ive seen a lot of discussion about rune availability and balance(maps/rank system too), and frankly me bringing it up would just be a waste of time at this point. You know what this game doesn't have (anymore?) compared to other games? Guides which are either easy to read or Fun to watch, that cover basic game-play and even more advanced game-play/tactics. This game is hard to learn, but giving them a quick( important... walls of texts and 1hour videos don't appeal to new players) read or watch will really help them get in to the game, the game being hard to learn is FUN.... its rewarding when you finally beat a player you could never beat before because you got better.. and knowing there is always more to learn but you just gotta keep trying. If we as a community don't give them that little "push" with Guides regarding topics all over the game, they'll never get that spark to want to keep playing. Ill give a League of legends example since i used to play it years ago ( quit) ( youll understand even if you don't play) When i first started ranked i was having so much fun......there was so many aspects to master in your gameplay, Farming , warding , ganking , teamfighting ( positioning) etc etc and the list goes on...BUT i could always look up a guide on ANY topic and read about how to get better at it and this made it less frustrating and more enjoyable ( BTW pox has many aspects like these too , they are just less obvious) Also Counter guides...... we've all lost to something before and felt it was just so OP and unbeatable.... in reality it could be beaten but you were just playing against it wrong. if you could just easily open a guide on "How to counter: KF" this would not only help the new players, but also some of the current players. ( DMR said he is gonna try to make some...but he surely can't do the entire game alone !) TL;DR Don't make the exam easier , make the learning more enjoyable.
Balance. Some stuff missed the powercreep reduction somehow. Removing the nora discount from heroes and changing sibling to not make 2 superunits would be a good start.
I'd like to see a recent guide for new player's on getting gold what campaigns to do what you need to do to get the maximum amount of gold. This would be awesome and would introduce new player's to the game and help them earn the extra gold a little quicker.
LoL got loads and loads of streamers and good streamed tournaments, where u learn alot. Also LoL is alot different and is a great game indead, but I dont belive it attracts the same kind of players like Pox.
Small anecdote - I was at a local netcafe where I like to game occasionally, and sat next to a couple of 9-11 year old kids. The screens are pretty big over there so I managed to see that they were all playing LoL. This has completely changed the way I consider players in LoL .
I think more focus on guild mechanics would also help new players learn the game or at least find other new players to play with. Bringing back the guild subforum might be a good start.
There are quite good guides in the forum at the moment. I have spent hours and hours reading through the majority of them (even the ones of the champions I don't even play). I think they should be more highlighted to allow new players see them easily.
I'll give a shout out to @Sepulcher amazing guide to playing UD. It was pretty easy and quick to read through and really helped me step my game up quite a few notches in a short period of time right when I started getting into the game. It didn't get transferred over sadly and is probably fairly outdated at the moment.
I've been playing for a year now and the way I learned was playing, reading guides on forums and playing, there is no other way and I did all that because I liked the game. Not every new player is going to like the game to bother learnin it. I like this game because of the art and game play style. Im sure there are many many people out there that would like this game, but just haven't found it. This game needs a serious ad campain to find those players.
I think it also needs client updating. They need to focus on how to take Pox through the next 10 years. They will need to eventually go mobile/tablet, they need some UI updates, etc. The core game and design is very solid. Pumping out runes forever won't work. I'd rather be on this side of things than a game like Conquest of Champions though. More features, advanced client, going mobile, but no soul and weak cards imo. If they could revamp the end user client so that it could get on consoles, steam, mobile/tablet, and add a sync/async mode then the sky is the limit with this game. I am not even talking about graphically. I don't mind the graphics in game.
It looks like there's already short term plans to hit steam. Consoles can be difficult since each platform requires its own localization and they all use different libraries to get things done. As for mobile that's a little easier since there're platforms that'll handle the individual localizations for you so you only have to localize once. Not sure what you mean by sync/async.
I mean the mode where you can have 5 games running and you take a turn and then you wait for your opponent to take a turn (could take 5 days or 5 mins). Something that sits well with mobile users and more casual players.
Ah. I rather like that idea and it's been suggested before but usually rejected. I suspect that it's because most of the players that're active on the forums are the competitive players (and the trolls of course). I do think that it would be a good thing for the more casual players.
Yeah it's been a good game mode for a lot of different games. I prefer to play full matches, but if you have the option to run say 5 of these simultaneously while also being able to play a live game I see only benefit. It's great for mobile, go to the bathroom, take a few turns, come back later, etc.