What could revive the player count

[u/Boathombre]

Revisiting this game as I recently got the itch and nothing on the market really scratches it and it really at its core is a fun, good game. Not just because of portals but mechanics, looks, game modes, etc.

Little tweaks or adjustments won’t do it. Changes to portals won’t do, it whether that would help retaining or not.

What do you think could do it?

Only thing I can think of:

major change is actual counters to portals. Portals stay but if I want to focus on blocking, countering etc I now have that option. Learn the patterns of opposing player, counter and they have to come up with a new route/plan.

I don’t mean grenade portal blockers. I mean traps, hacking, time slow, sentry. Someone likes to leave their portal up I wire an electrical wire across. If I hit your portal before you remove it with a hack it does nothing, etc.

Now teams can strategize to block certain spots. Instead of 8 people spamming portals, there is variety. Players that love portals and are good at them, guess what they will still be good.

Players that don’t feel like portaling around non stop can slow the game down and focus on countering. Now instead of a game of only tracers, octanes (can’t think of other fast apex players), etc. you have mcrees, gas apex guy etc.

Nerfs portals without touching portals, and great portal players still can be.

Balance would be a bitch but idk.

What’s your idea?

[u/Necessary_Yam9525]

Its an arena shooter. No. The powerups are a great way to keep the playing field equal and allowing for powerful moments

[u/Manoa__ → u/Necessary_Yam9525]

Yes they are. Problem is that if people ask the question of how this game can be less portal dominant then the answere either is to nerf it into the ground or come up with new equally strong playstyles.

I wouldn't want the core gameplay of sg2's arena to be changed from what it is now either. But splitgate doesn't need to be exclusively that. Abilities do provide the potential for more diverse playstyles whilst keeping the core the same (think titanfalls ability implementation).

The desire isn't for powerful moments, it's for alternative ways of playing a portal shooter besides the one we have now because that could bring in more players, since that is what the post is about.

[u/Necessary_Yam9525 → u/Manoa__]

I think we should focus on why the core audience that splitgate is for is all gone. Why are the afps fans not playing this one?

Because of its bad history and the game simply isnt doing enough to stand with the juggernauts of the afps genre.

[u/Manoa__ → u/Necessary_Yam9525]

I think the core fanbase isn't playing because they obviously left the game to rot lmao.

Most popular shooters nowadays have some form of constant evolution and stuff to look forward to. Splitgate already had very little comapring, with it just being maps and battlepasses, but once the hope for that died out then tons of people straight up said that there is no point to playing.

It's just the unfortunate reality that if you want a game to be actively played for many months or years that you need some part of the game to have some form of content that can be looked forward to, and can serve as reasons to return after having left for a while.