Game breaking

When you loose a game you get such an insignificant amount of xp that it throws you off the game so you don't want to play it anymore. I want to invest my time in a game in order to feel stress relief and enjoyment, but if you practically can't progress without winning all you can feel is stress and dissatisfaction. The amount of xp you get when you loose is so pathetic that I feel stressed when playing the game, and that makes me want to cancel my pre order and play something else. You should at least triple the amount of xp you get when you loose.

Yea losing the game and wasting up to 30 mins of your time just gives you such pitiful progression.

It's an issue that has other threads talking about it already.

I wouldn't call it game breaking though. XP is only useful for unlocking cosmetics, there's no reason to stress over it.

Maybe there should be a "comeback bonus" when you win a game after going through a losing streak.

Lets say you get 300 points if you win, if you lose, you get 100 points, plus 200 in the "prize bucket". When you win after your losing streak, you get your 300 points, plus the comeback bonus (the contents of the prize bucket). It will make comebacks feel more rewarding.

@maa_bunny That's a huge part of why I play the game. Progression is just as important as gameplay in my eyes and if one out of 2 fails it makes me stressed when playing. I strive to rank up and that motivates me to do my best but when you get such a negative reward for all that time spent it throws me off.

I get what you mean. I think adding other things to strive for would help. Like the weapon challenges for weapon cosmetics from DOI. That way even if you’re making less progress lvl wise, you have another goal that you’re always making progress towards.

last edited by EyeofHorus

@eyeofhorus Why not just solve the issue by tripeling the xp you gain (strictly from loosing)? Also weapon cosmetics would make the game unimmersive.

last edited by maxxamann

Not necessarily, I don’t mean COD level weapon cosmetics. The weapons can have different realistic skins without breaking immersion. Also I completely agree that XP gain needs to be reworked, I was just saying that I wouldn’t mind having other objectives to work towards and giving out a suggestion based on the challenges in DOI.

This applies for many: Play your role and play the objective... then there is xp. Kills, camping and ego play leaves you with what is deserved when not beeing a teamplayer. Not saying its you, but I always play objective and I have no problem with XP. Objectives and the amount of time played is boosters! Like firefight for example.... many thinks its deathmatch... running around or camping or just killing, when its all about capturing and respawning your team. But most dont get it.... sadly.

sadly enough time played only applies with an significant amount when winning. When loosing you often get 1/10 of what you would have gotten if you'd won. It's a big problem in my opinion. Also campers are not necessarily always ignoring the objective. Camping is a strategy like any other and if you play well you will camp now and then. (I'm not a camper just making a point about campers)

whats worse than loosing is when your on the final objective and you all get the server disconnect error...............
and that happens alot

@musicnote That is actually a really great idea

I understand that progression and gathering is important for many players in most games, but calling it "game breaking" might be a bit too strong expression. For example I personally don't even look at my xp, I only play for the gameplay enjoyment during matches. That is when I don't suck like a total noob. 🙂


You can choose to think about the game from another perspective if you want. I only play games to relax from real life stress and to have fun. If I lose or win a game it is because one team is better, but this is not stressful for me, it's normal. But I don't care much about coins/xp points.

For me it is just a game with cosmetics that means nothing else than giving some variety for players who play a lot of hours, and as an extra option to support the developers by being able to buy coins (from what I've heard being discussed as a possibility to be present in the final version).

Maybe try not to think too much about the cosmetics? It is just a fun addition, not meant as the reason to play by design. Very few gamers cares how other players look in the game except themselves, and we can only see ourself in the menu anyway. What matters for most people is how you play to help your team.

I try to enjoy the gameplay and be better at the game and have fun. Your skill development is the only real progression in games like this, and you will get better no matter what clothing you have. The points will get reset when the game releases anyway. If you really care about the looks of your character, maybe think carefully before you spend any coins after the release of the game and the reset of points, and try to get only one cool outfit for each side to make sure that you get what you want.

Remember that when it takes a long time to unlock a piece of cosmetics, the chance that you will look unique after many hours invested will be higher because other players can not copy your looks without a huge effort. This can be better in the long run for players like yourself who sometimes cares about the looks on the character. Some people play a huge amount of hours, so it is cool to have a cosmetics feature that is also fun for those players - Maybe even several years after release.

Insurgency2014 was never a level-up game, this was on purpose, because the developers wanted to make a game that was focused on player skill and not rewarding players with many hours in the game with any extra advantages other than their own skills (said in earlier interviews).

I think that this is the vision for Sandstorm as well, they [the devs] have also said, in the weekly Q and A on youtube, that they will try to avoid cosmetics options that give any significant advantage in the game. They have already removed black clothing options that was "too good" when hiding in shadows.

Hardcore games like this takes a long time to be skilled in for most of us, especially in pvp, I enjoy the ride and expect to invest many hours in the game to get skilled - The clothing gets unlocked by itself in time and is just a fun bonus.

This is just my opinion, and I understand if you see it differently.

No worries=)

last edited by Pacalis

My view is, the progression system should be tied to progress.

If I play a game and don't help my team, and we win, I should get less rewards.

If I help my team, and we lose, I should get more rewards.

The rewards should encourage good gameplay, so that it's another way to incentivize players to play in a way which makes the experience fun for all players.

Yup. Just lost a coop game, and had almost nothing even though I played 50 minutes.
They say they want to reward mostly based on the time you play the game, and not so much with different bonuses, but when you lose you basically get nothing no matter how good you were during the match or how much time you spent playing.

last edited by Grumf

@pacalis This doesn't really solve the problem. Changing my mindset shouldn't be an alternative, this should just be fixed.


Hi. Could probably be a higher amount of xp, just pointing out there might be different aspects to consider regarding where the sweet spot for xp gain might be=)