Player Survey Results April 2020

Comments

• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020 edited April 2020

  How did you discover PVKII? (Required Question)
  

  Majority of players discovered PVKII through Steam either as a recommendation, stumbling upon it, or seeing the Recently Updated marketing plug. Word of mouth, telling a friend/ family member about the game is still a significant part of our marketing of the game. Youtube is surprisingly low at a combined 7.7% We do know Youtube brings in players, though perhaps not sustainably according to Steam Stats.

  When do you play PVKII? (Not Required Question) (1027 Responses)

  

  Sorted Highest To Lowest

  210 Players (20.4%) - I don’t play anymore *
  175 Players (16.6%) - A few Times a Year
  131 Players (12%) Rarely (+16 more maybe)?
  125 Players (12.8%) - A few Times A Month
  66 Players (6.4%) Only after every major update for a short time
  55 Players (5.3%) Almost Everyday
  51 Players (4.96%) 1 or more Weekdays
  42 Players (2.33%) Weekdays and Weekends (Frequently)
  37 Players (3.6%) Once a month
  23 Players (2.2%) Everyday
  21 Players (2%) Only on the Weekends
  19 Players (1.85%) Only after every update for a short time
  6 Players (.58%) Only after I see Official news posts/media, dev journals
  3 Players (.29%) Only when I see scheduled community plays (Play with Devs & Testers, etc)
  56 - Other/ Uncategorized (i.e. random, lan parties, intermittently, etc.) 

  While it may seem at first glance the highest percentage shows 20.4% for “I don’t play anymore”, you have to take into account the fact that every number is a unique survey entry. A total of 354 players, approx 34%, in this survey participate in the game consistently. That being said, it is important for us to know why you don’t play the game anymore. This should’ve been a required question.. We did our best to try to measure to see how often you play and when you play.

  *Some mentioned in other that they "didn’t play anymore" so we added it here raising the percentage.

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020 edited April 2020

  Do you continue to play PVKII or have you lost interest? Why? If you continue to play, what brings you back? If you have lost interest, what would bring you back? (This Question is Optional) (799 responses)

  Common Reasons for Losing Interest (Sorted Highest to Lowest Based on Frequency in Results)

  1. Many have lost interest because of lack of updates, new features, and lack of players and servers. A majority note a larger player base would bring them back.

  2. Too much island. Desire for more vanilla and custom map rotation.

  3. Lacking servers with good ping in my region (South America, Australia, Asia)

  4. Need a rank system and good players to challenge but also matchmaking to play with players of similar skill because some new fans get easily discouraged. Leaderboard as well as rewards and progression.

  5. Need more replay value, players feel they “see all they need to see” and game gets repetitive

  6. Competing for time. Hard to compete with new games, some noted they want new graphics or a new game. Some players have moved on, busy with work, and have families.

  7. There is no golden community, a lot of people leave games because of toxic players

  8. Concerns about team/class/map balance

  9. Game changes: some players have issue with aspects of the game being too silly i.e. Man At Arms Special. A few players are still very attached to the pre-personality patch voice lines, some players don’t like rolling 

  10. There are bugs/issues, game crashing issues (specifically on linux)
      
      

  Most Common Reasons for continuing to play  (Sorted Highest to Lowest Based on Frequency in Results)

  1. Enjoy unique 3 team gameplay, combat mechanics, personality, and comical violence

  2. Nostalgia, loyalty, curiosity, boredom with other games, it brings me back

  3. I play only when servers are populated

  4. Game is great with friends, works on everyone’s pc’s, but friends may not want to play. A lot of players only play with their friends or when their friends are playing.

  5. Bots have been a great addition, especially for those with terrible internet, though players think they still need some improvement. Some want a way for players to be able to vote the bots off.

  6. Some players come back specifically for achievements.

  
  

  Common “What would bring me back” Answers (In no Particular Order)

  • Need more servers with good ping in my region (NA, SA, Australia, Asia)

  • More Players

  • Game updates bring players back

  • Players want more character customization (appropriate cosmetics, new weapons)

  • Players enjoy and want to play new: classes, maps, seasonal events, and gamemodes, aids to variety in content

  • Rank System, Matchmaking

  • Engaging objective modes

  • General improvements in quality and polish

  • Changes to combat (reverting some, improving others)

  • Need more replay value

  • Some more complex controls or aspects of gameplay require more teaching for new players

  • Some players want a developing competitive aspect of the game that could bring some experienced players back. Like creating teams, having a league. Streaming the matches that occur, establishing statistics. 

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020 edited April 2020

  What is your favorite thing about PVKII? (Required Question) (1,030 Responses)

  

  Sorted Highest to Lowest

  268 Players (26%) Combat & Mechanics
  224 Players (21.7%) Personality
  159 Players (15.4%) 3 Team Gameplay
  138 Players (13.4%) Variety of Character Classes
  34 Players (3.3%) Whimsical Weaponry
  25 Players (2.4%) Unique Game Modes
  22 Players (2.1%) Gore & Dismemberment
  19 Players (1.84%) Bots
  15 Players (1.45%) Maps
  10 Players (.97%) Achievements
  8 Players (.77%) Steam Workshop

  86 Players (8.3%) Other - Chose to give more than one of the above
  22 Players (2.1%) Other: All of the Above/Everything 
  
  

  Is there any particular thing or things you don't enjoy about PVKII? (This Question was Optional) (595 responses)

  Common Answers (In no Particular Order)

  • Toxic Players

  • Class Balance Issues, certain classes or weapons need nerfs/buffs. Common frustration with: range classes, a full team of range classes, certain teams or classes being too mobile or too strong especially Pirates.

  • No matchmaking or Noob Friendly Servers, play against high/low skilled players

  • Small Playerbase, lack of servers in certain regions, bad ping

  • Too much Island, more rotation and variety needed

  • Combat could be improved, Hit Detection, hit boxes, some players don’t like roll/roll spamming

  • “Not really” or “No” or “Nothing”

  • No interactive tutorial for new players

  • Source Engine shows its age 

  • No ingame progression

  • Bot Intelligence needs work (bots chasing the player), want to be able to play online without bots

  • “Bunny Hopping”, crouch-jumping players

  • Man at Arms Fart

  • Game doesn't emphasise the importance of teamwork enough

  • Some players don’t like teammates or teams that don’t play objective

  • Lack of a singleplayer like experience

  • No healer/support classes

  • Crashing issues

  • Some players mention they don’t like auto-parry (which was removed)

  • Map Optimization, mainly with Glacier’s center area

  • Some Achievements are too hard

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020 edited April 2020

  Did you find the game's combat and game modes easy or difficult to learn? Please share any thoughts you may have regarding the Accessibility of PVKII. (This Question was Optional) (760 responses) (In no Particular Order)

  • Majority of the responses say the game is easy, and “easy to learn, yet difficult to master”. While second to that is it was difficult/ medium at first, but got easy.

  • Many players say a lot of problems with new players and reducing “learning time” could be solved with tutorials, more explanations/information, and a training map

  • Many of those who talk about certain aspects of the game being difficult state the combat system being hard to learn. A lot say its "satisfying", "challenging" once you learn it.

  • Players note introducing some friends to the game can be tricky at first, new player guide helps a bit to explain

  • Controls similar to Mount & Blade helps some players

  • About 12% of responses said the game is difficult. Some players say they feel it's difficult facing off against players who are really good. Some players find certain things easy to pick up like gamemodes and other things difficult like combat and parrying. Most of those who said the game was difficult mentioned combat and parrying causing this. Some players who state the game is difficult like it that way, because it's “challenging”, “rewarding”, and “difficult but fair”. 

  • Some players mention the game has a learning curve, high skill ceiling. A few players think the skill ceiling is low and it's boring.

  • Many players didn’t know how to drop their trinket. 

  • Some game modes are easier to understand than others

  • A few players think that auto-parry is in the game, it is not.  

  This question should’ve been on a scale ranging from Very Hard to Too Easy so it's easy to measure, but in keeping it open ended we still got a lot of great feedback!

  
  

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020

  Which gamemode(s) do you enjoy the most? (Required Question) (You may check more than one)

  

  To add to the previous question, please tell us why. (This Question was Optional) (558 responses)

  Common Answers (In no Particular Order)

  • Booty is unique, simple, fun, relaxing. A 3 way twist on CTF, dynamic. Great when teams work together, strategize, but sometimes players just dm. 

  • A lot of players express that they’ve never seen anything like booty in any another game

  • Enjoy attack and defense of base, stealing booty!

  • Enjoy teamwork required for Booty, Trinketwars

  • LTS brings added intensity to the gameplay, competition, feeling clutch, sudden death changes the map

  • Trinket Wars and LTS put most emphasis on combat mechanics

  • Some say they haven’t played much beyond bt and lts, especially obj_push

  • Many players enjoy the chaos and teamwork involved in trinketwars

  • Some players mentioned they like respawning in the same round/quickly. Some players don’t like waiting around after death in lts, while others enjoy it and prefer the competitive lts servers

  • Players play what is active/popular which is usually mostly booty/island and arena

  • Some prefer fewer players in gamemodes like lts, territory 

  • Tdm is a classic, good way to up your skills

  • Most players like capture objective gamemodes while some like more open, simple, combat oriented dm & lts

  • I like booty, gold, and treasure.

  • Island is well designed

  
  

  Which game mode do you not enjoy or feel needs improvement? (You may check more than one) (This question was Optional) (559 Responses)

  

  To add to the previous question, please tell us why. (This Question was Optional) (558 Responses)

  Common and Standout Answers (In no Particular Order)

  • Territory lack of teamwork, maps too large or too many zones, not rewarding

  • Territory could have defense weapons

  • Lack of Official Territory Maps

  • Some players feel Keg clearing occurs too much on territory 

  • More on screen advice for new players in all game modes

  • A large quantity of players state they don’t like waiting around after you die in lts_

  • Lts_ easier for more skilled players, discourages new players, encourages hiding tactic

  • Booty can be prone to have teammates who don’t play objective which can make things one-sided

  • Booty griefing

  • Possible improvement is to make it so you are discouraged from attacking the losing team in bt_ and te_

  • Booty/island is all I play

  • Lts_ - A potential comeback mechanic to the last player of a team so he doesn't just hide in a corner
    Booty need better reward/display to the one who actually attack

  • Consumables could respawn in lts_ and/or kills restoring some of your health or overhealing, some don’t like the pickups in lts

  • Booty Bonus - benefit aura effect around chest carrier (weaker than tw_ effect)

  • Characters with the trinket become too powerful. If you ask me they should be MORE vulnerable and rely on their team to protect them when they have it.

  • Some players don’t like choke points

  • Trinket wars can be hard to understand for new players, can be too chaotic, lacks feedback to tell player if they’re scoring, winning/losing

  • Game Modes can get repetitive, need unpredictable/fun things to add variety

  • Some issues are with map design, some players feel certain bases are too easy to defend

  • Some players don’t like class stacking - i.e. team of sharpshooters attacking a base, army of heavy knights in trinket wars

  • Some expressed they are happy with the gamemodes

  • Distance to carry chests can feel too long

  • Some players state they haven’t heard of or don’t get a chance to play other game modes

  • Some would like to see obj_push given more support and more maps to play, when players do play it some mention it is confusing

  • Defending in booty can be boring to some players 

  • Adding Wave Spawning and Perhaps an advantage to multiple players rushing at the same time other than Combat Advantage.

  • Levers and buttons on island are hard to notice for new players

  • Some players feel chests respawn too quickly

  • Rotating team spawn locations in lts_

  • Some players feel lts_ is a haven for range classes

  • A lot of players feel Deathmatch is boring, lack of objectives, while some enjoy the turn your brain off style

  • Some players were confusing obj_push with territory

  • Tw_ - Add clearer markers that you are in the aura, and maybe draw the outer limit of the aura. Add special moves to the person carrying the trinket as well to spice it up. 

  • Add an alcohol collection aspect to tdm, like kill confirmed.

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020

  Please check the Official PVKII maps you enjoy playing the most. (You may check more than one) (Required Question)

  

  Please check the Official PVKII maps you don't enjoy playing. (You may check more than one) (Required Question)

  

  We recognize these questions could’ve had options saying “All of the above”, or “none". 

  Do you have a favorite custom map or maps created by the community? (This Question was Optional) (283 responses)

  Common Answers (In no Particular Order)

  • No

  • I prefer official maps over custom maps

  • I like many

  • Breakable Taverns/ Caverns

  • 300

  • Highway Bridge

  • Laser Chess

  • Custom Base Survival

  • Einarrsroom

  • Sky Pirates

  • Sky Henge

  • DeGroot Keep

  • Float

  • DonkeyKong

  • Te_keep

  • Crazybridge

  • Randomizer maps

  • Basalt Beach

  • Ragnar

  • Lts_shore

  • DactlyNightmare

  • Slammin Butt Pirate Custom Maps

  • Dragon Maps

  • Galaxy

  • PVK1 Maps

  • Maelstrom

  By far the most common answers were some form of “No”, “I prefer official maps”, “I like many of them”, “Float” and “Sky Pirates!” Other common answers were “DonkeyKong”, “Crazybridge”, and “Breakable Block maps”.  

  
  

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020

  Please share any additional constructive feedback with regards to game balance, combat, gamemodes, or maps. (This Question is Optional) (301 Responses)

  Common and Standout Ideas (In no Particular Order)

  • Rolling and jumping need balancing. Some think rolling should be removed

  • Some players think a stamina bar would help with spamming

  • Add a tutorial on how the combat system works, and what characters are meant for what playstyle (i.e. defensive, offensive, counter-attacker, etc...)

  • Players highlight certain classes in need of adjusting. Some players feel Archer is too strong, Bondi is weak, HK is too strong, Many players think skirmisher too fast in movement and attack speed, heavy classes too slow, vikings too well rounded, MaA weapons and special too good, gestir needs improvement, some feel range classes overall are too strong.

  • Remove sharpshooter roll+reload

  • Shields need improvement, should be better defense against range

  • Some players think certain teams are OP, some need nerfs and some need buffs
    Add vote for disabling bots

  • Some players think balance is fine, some think game is ok with minor balancing needed
    Players mention they would like a support class

  • Rotate Round Start Booty placement i.e. Winning Team starts with all chests, tickets adjust accordingly

  • Some players mention hitboxes need work

  • Some players have frustrations over combat in general, dynamic between range and melee characters needs work

  • Bt_island pirate base needs more cover for attackers, a couple of players think Knights have too many tickets at round start

  • Alternate weapons

  • More specials
    Add things that can make the game more complex and fully of content, make it addictive

  • Want to play something other than island

  • Games often end up very lopsided with one team massively dominating the other two,

  • More information to show that a player is improving, tutorial mode for new players

  • Multi gamemode maps

  • If you would die with a full special charge, you should get an automatic second wind or something as compensation for losing the charge.

  • LTS: Adding a "Class Scramble" option, so the teams will have to experience playing as all the classes.

  • TW: To spice up the gameplay, the losing team could get a "Blessing" from their Faction's Deities (a boost in damage, speed, etc), giving them a push to make a comeback. 

  • Many players like interactive maps. TW maps could add some sort of hazard to add more fun to the mix: Desert Ruin could have some sandstorms; Frostbite could have falling debris in certain areas from inside the castle and some small blizzards outside and Temple could have some random boulders -launched by catapults out of bounds, land in certain areas, blocking off certain paths and forcing the player to take alternate routes.

  • Bot intelligence needs work: aim to good even on normal, bot chasing, bots don’t respond if you attack them while they have a chest

  • Auto balance kicks the newest member of the team into another, instead of prioritizing players with high performance

  • Lack of nav meshes for community maps

  • Needs more players

  • add ranked matches and rank system and add character customization

  • Some players don’t like Skirmisher keg

  • Some players note they gamemodes that make you move around the map i.e. cara

  • Smarter contextual death hints telling you how to improve.

  • Map Issues: Some players enjoy Temple traps, some despise them. Viking base bottleneck in townsquare.

  • A more obvious winning team marker

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020

  How would you like us to engage the fan community more? (Required Question)

  

  Sorted Highest to Lowest

  213 Players (20.6%) More Seasonal Updates (i.e. Holiday Maps, Festive props)
  162 Players (15.7%) More PVKII Official Youtube Videos
  118 Players (11.5%) More Dev Journals
  91 Players (8.8%) In Game Tournaments
  88 Players (8.5%) More Play with Devs & Tester Events
  81 Players (7.8%) More Dev Recap News
  62 Players (6%) Increased Social Media Presence
  56 Players (5.4%) More PVKII Live Streams
  32 Players (3.1%) Discord Events
  27 Players (2.6%) Official PVKII Instagram
  14 PLayers (1.3%) More frequent trello usage

  86 Players (8.3%) Other - (Most Common - more than one of the above, new game, update more)

  No question, players want engagement in the form of content and unique ingame/community events, but they also want frequent opportunities to share feedback, concerns, and report issues. Players want to feel their ideas are being considered or implemented, questions are being answered in game, that they are a part of the community.

  
  

  What server do you play the most on? (This Question was Optional) (336 Responses)

  Common Answers (In no Particular Order)

  • 24/7 Island

  • 24/7 Booty

  • Whichever server has good ping and/or players, whatever is very populated

  • Slammin Butt Pirates

  • [EU] Servers

  • Rotation, custom, and not island

  • Kalastan

  • LAN, My own server, Play against bots

  • LTS Servers

  • Official Servers

  
  

  How do you interact with others in the PVKII Community? (A Check all that apply question)

  Please note the image below was cropped. View the full image here.

  [Image Not Up Yet]

  Sorted Highest to Lowest

  641 Checks (62.2%) In Game
  346 Checks (33.6%) I don’t interact with others in the community
  147 Checks (14.3%) Steam Hub
  138 Checks (13.4%) Discord
  36 Checks (3.5%) Official Forums

  49 Other (6.04%) Uncategorized (Common Answers: Teamspeak, Skype, LAN)

  Total Checks - 1,357

  
  

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020

  How often would you like to do Community Play Matches? (i.e. Play with Devs and Testers, Saturday Night Mayhem) (Required Question)

  

  We’ll keep this short. The main take away from this is that a lot of you probably don’t participate in these play events because of answers from the “Have you lost interest?” question, however most answers in the “Other” category mostly list they didn’t know these matches exist, but would be willing to join. We are moving ahead with a more consistent schedule of a Saturday Night Mayhem like event on the first Saturday of every month, and a Play with Devs & Testers event on the last Saturday of every month. 

  
  

  How do you think PVKII can grow its player base? (This Question is Optional) (593 responses)

  Common Answers

  • Advertising

  • Better social media presence

  • More updates

  • More content (maps, gamemodes)

  • More features

  • Youtubers, Streamers to play

  • More publicity

  • New classes

  • Improving accessibility for new players

  • New Game, new engine, new graphics

  • Cool/ Funny Youtube Videos (Trailer, SFM)

  • More servers globally

  • Improve balance, improve mechanics

  • Cosmetics

  • Telling/inviting friends, word of mouth

  • Seasonal Updates

  • Competitions like tournaments

  • Collaborate with other games
    
    

  We’ll do what we can to help promote the game. Promoting the game is a job itself. If anyone is interested in helping spread the word, please reach out to us on Discord. Do what you can! Tell your favorite Youtubers/Streamers and your friends about PVKII!

  
  

  Co-Lead | Level Designer
• Colonel Finger Lickin' Good PVKII Team

  April 2020

  If you could only choose one, which new gamemode/ruleset would you like to see next in PVKII? (Have an idea not listed? Share it with us using "Other") (Required Question)

  

  Sorted Highest to Lowest

  301 Players (29%) Single Player / Cooperative Horde Mode
  201 Players (20.4%) Weapons Master Ruleset (Gun Game)
  134 Players (12.8%) Duel Based Gamemode
  89 Players (8.5%) Brawl Ruleset (Hand to Hand Combat)
  87 Players (8.4%) Relic 1
  84 Players (8.1%) More MultiGamemode Maps
  35 Players (3.9%) Relic 2 Alt
  17 Players (1.6%) Relic 2

  66 (6.4%) Other - Some common answers included: siege mode, king of the hill, free for all, duels, all of them, more than one of the above, none improve existing modes, payload, gamemode with ship)

  Apologies for the misspelling in the survey, there is no upcoming “Hoarders: PVKII Edition”. For this idea, the most realistic way to implement would be a simple defending or attacking objective with waves of bots, or simply just waves of bots as the objective. Some maps could be converted into linear experiences. We have discussed varying enemy types and weapons such as skeletons, zombies, animals, and bosses like a perma-rage berserker. As well as, a variety of maps the gamemode could take place. One of our programmers found passion in experimenting with a cooperative mode several years ago called Night of A Million Parrots!

  
  

  If you could only choose one, which feature would you like to see next in PVKII? (Required Question)

  

  Sorted Highest to Lowest

  211 Players (20.5%) Support Classes (Healer and/or Lord using existing classes)
  120 Players (11.7%) Class Loadouts
  101 Players (9.8%) Cosmetics
  99 Players (9.6%) Rewards / Unlocks
  84 Players (8.2%) More Combat Mechanics
  84 Players (8.2%) Interactive Tutorial Level
  76 Players (7.4%) Player XP Rank
  19 Players (1.8%) Leaderboards
  14 Players (1.4%) Challenges
  77 Players (7.4%) Other (Common answers: all of it, almost all of it, more than one of the above, add concepted classes)

  It’s clear from this sample of players, you want more variety in classes, weapons, and cosmetics! Have you seen Corvalho’s cosmetic concepts?

  
  PLEASE SELECT YOUR TOP THREE CHOICES. We will be working towards a 1.0 release sometime after Assassin and Buccaneer classes. Because of the substantial amount of work involved, these will be the last character models created. We will shift focus to features necessary for the game to feel feature complete. Which improvements do you feel PVKII needs the most to feel more complete for 1.0 and post 1.0 updates? (Required Question)

  Please note the image below was cropped. View the full image here.

  [IMAGE NOT UP YET]
  
  Sorted Highest to Lowest

  383 Checks - 37.2% - Support Sub-Classes/Loadouts (i.e. Captain Lord, Buccaneer Healer)
  362 Checks - 35.1% - Class Loadouts
  356 Checks - 34.6% - Rewards, Cosmetics, Taunt/ Emote Animations
  354 Checks - 34.4% - Some kind of SP / Cooperative Mode (i.e. Waves of Bots)
  315 Checks - 30.6% - Improved Combat and Shield Mechanics
  290 Checks - 28.2% - Refine existing Game Modes
  281 Checks - 27.3% - Better Accessibility (i.e. Tutorials)
  253 Checks - 24.6% - XP Rank, Leaderboards, Challenges
  183 Checks - 17.8% - More Unique Gamemodes
  168 Checks - 16.3% - A New UI (HUD, Menu, etc.)
  145 Checks - 14.1% - Upgrade map visuals
  116 Checks - 11.3% - Higher Definition Models of current weapons
  54 Checks - 1.65% - Other (Common Answers: More than 3 of the above, more classes/ finish concepted classes, remove roll, anything to keep players)

  3, 260 - Total Checks 

  
  

  Are there any other thoughts you wish to share? (This Question is Optional) (418 Responses)
  
  Players that chose to answer this question either wrote a kind sentence of support, reiterated their chief concern(s), or anything else they forgot to mention. 

  
  

  Thank you for your support, your time, your feedback, and your passion for PVKII.
  

  
  

  Co-Lead | Level Designer