Retaining casual players post-Legacy of the Void without manipulating skill floor/cieling

I think we generally agree that in order to increase our viewership, we have to increase our casual playerbase with hopes that we 'retain' some of these people by getting them interested in the competitive side of the game.

I believe LotV will be a harder game for everyone across the board, but we needn't try to make the game easier or 'less punishing' for the sake of retaining casual players. Indeed, the brutality of SC2 is something many of us appreciate as kind of a good thing, and perhaps a reason that we like that game. We don't have to settle or compromise this to be more popular as an eSport in my opinion.

In order to retain more casual players introduced to the game by LotV release, Blizzard must commit to some major fixes and changes.

• The Arcade System It's been said over and over that the current system promotes a 'rich get richer' mentality that leaves only a popular games visible. Even these games can get stale but remain in the 'top played' list for longer than they should. I have no other idea really than to reintroduce a B.net 1.0 style lobby system. Sure, there is an open games list in the current set up, but I think the system would benefit from named lobbies, X/Y player slots available stats, and even ping to host like they had in BW. In SC2, the sterile titles imo lend themselves to having sterile lobbies where people are essentially queuing up for another ladder game, not talking to each other.I think more personal or original titles would help break the silence in the arcade system, and it would certainly give more attention to niche games that are deserving of a following. Either way, I think we can all agree that this area of the game NEEDS some improvement. After all, it's not as though the casual base of Brood War were b.net ladder monsters. It was all Protect Bob/President/Bush/Obama, Random Micro Battle, NR20noclutter, Strip Hermione Granger, etc, that kept people in b.net and communicating.

• Chat system: I won't speak too much about the Heroes chat system, but I believe they are going to look at the chat system again iirc at least.

• Dropping New Players into a chat for brand new players: I think this is a good opportunity to make SC2 seem like less of a ghost town. I think it's important for a new player to know that people do exist and talk outside of the game itself, and that they can get help if they want. The last thing we want is for a new player to get rekt 15 games in a row by players who don't say a word to him. While we can't necessarily capture the 'team' aspect in SC2 (without Archon Mode anyway), we can still provide some level of communication to players who are completely ignorant to the game.

• Archon Mode: I'm not sure that Archon Mode will even be popular for too long, but the recent Redbull Archon Mode games are probably going a long way to give that mode legitimacy before it even hits release. It remains to be seen whether AM will help retain players or whether the new player will just feel like dead weight in most cases. I feel that AM is a stop-gap measure from Blizz to attempt to retain casual players despite the difficulty of their game, but whether this gambit pays off, again, remains to be seen. I think they Blizz should try to promote the fact that they have VoIP in the game, and maybe even give you a choice of what level player you want to play with? I don't know if we'll ever have enough players for that, but imo Archon Mode shouldn't be a crapshoot where you're either in a game with a really shitty or really good player. Matchmaking for Archon Mode, if it's coming, seems like it will be really important.

• Allied Commanders...: I don't really know what AC is yet, but I believe it's going to be a cooperative campaign experience? I don't know, but I think if it's close to that, it's heading in the right direction, in a more social direction.

• Free2Play/Reduced price sooner rather than later : Look, I think SC2 will never truly be F2P, ever. But I think that after the initial hype sales of LotV, Blizzard should consider dropping the price of LotV early and often to incentivize trying the game for a bit. The sooner Blizz gets away from triple-AAA title prices and goes into cheaper options like CSGO and their damnable steam sales, the better imo. How Blizzard is going to recoup this money lost, I don't know, but it may even be that they make more money selling more copies at a cheaper price. The fact of the matter is, for an eSports fan to try out the multiplayer in it's totality, it's far too expensive. Blizzard tried to get around this with the Starter Edition of the game, but I have a feeling that this venture was not very successful, but Lord knows we'll never seen numbers from SE.

The above are things Blizzard can do to retain more users post-LotV. Below is a copypaste of a comment I wrote regarding what we as a sub can do, if anyone still cares about that.

The sub could have weekly build-order discussions because builds are going to be in total flux with Legacy. We can and are almost always are welcoming to new players. We should probably have updated mechanics videos for new players. We all know that they're exactly the same, but I feel like new players may be possibly put off by learning from the 'old version' of the game. We can keep the bitching in check knowing that the beta will be long and that Blizzard appears willing to make drastic changes.

TL;DR Make the sub more amenable to new players. Perhaps revamp our new player wiki. Keep the balance whine to a minimum when it's rational to do so.

Another really important thing, I think, is to encourage lots of Archon Mode AND arcade games. I think 90% of new players will be intimidated by ladder and mildly patronized/anxious with Archon Mode. Regardless of how shitty the arcade system is with Legacy (I expect no improvements to the system ever, especially not from the start of the beta), we should encourage new players to try out games and perhaps be more lenient with posts that are making groups for specific UMS games. This is ostensibly our last chance to give the arcade a shot of adrenaline. If we want new players to be retained they MUST play arcade games.

TL;DR Encourage/get involved in UMS games, especially with new players. Share the arcade games that you think are worthwhile and shake up the 'most played list.'

IIRC the chat channels in BNet for reddit specifically are empty as fuck. It's almost as though no one on the sub even plays.... but if we could make a conscious effort to start going there, and if more than ten people can stick to this effort, we can very easily become one of the most active channels on BNet (because it appears there aren't as many). This is a possible avenue for retaining players and actually strengthening our community.

TL;DR The reddit channel on BNet should be more active. Ideally, it should be a community priority (if such a thing could exist)

When the beta opens up, there's almost no doubt we'll be matched against people who've never boxed units in their life. They'll be anxious, ready to lose, perhaps even ornery. You may have played against these new guys lately because matchmaking is fucked. If it is the case that you match against a player like this, remember back to when you were bronze in 2010, and give the player all the advice/links you wish someone had given you at the time. It's best to try not to be patronizing with this. Imagine you were playing Eve or something and someone was talking down to you because you don't know the basics. That's enough to sour someone from a game. Try to phrase it so you don't sound like douchebag. I think most players will be happy for the advice.

TL;DR You're going to match with a new-to-RTS-player in the beta. Be generous with your advice and sensitive with how you give it.

Be prepared for the hype to die down quickly. We've been waiting for Legacy for what seems like an eternity. I personally don't think the hype will last too long, and I don't think this expansion will necessarily 'save our game' in the way that we'd hoped/dreamed. That's okay, because we're still here and we're playing what we enjoy. Be sure to help other players so that they may perhaps get the same enjoyment out of the game as you do. The game is not and will not be ded, not yet, and not while we're still around.

TL;DR The hype may die down really fast. The gaem will not die though. It will be less ded that it was a week ago, a month ago, half a year ago. Just enjoy your passions and proselytize them with a good heart.