The promises, trust us, rebalance etc have all be promised before and quickly broken, or made worse.
You will be judged by your immediate actions and not your long-time promises. You have little real understanding how upset the community is and how so many are barely hanging on by a thread.
I believe that you will just develop more content to force us to pay for your mistakes. We have seen it all before, many times. You do not have time for a grand plan! The communities patience is exhausted and we don't trust you. This is probably your last throw of the dice for most players I know.
So here is my challenge for you, take some immediate action by:
#1 immediately abandon your proposed FM changes so you don't leave even more players behind
#2 return the Draconian bases and Draconian Uranium bases so that players can get the necessary resources they need to play
#3 drop the repair times on your current PvE hulls by 50%
One little question: HOW do you want to do the raids from the next skirmish raidformat? Guess what: probably with skirmish ships which can do the current uraniumtargets? Which will ask me an other question: HOW did you do the raids from the LAST skirmish raids in 2017?
DUB´s are history...nobody need them if they would play the game.
If you are doing the raids from all raidformats, you will have the fleets for all maptargets (uranium, titanium and baseparts) If you want to refuse to build a fleet for uranium targets, you will not be able to do any from the raids in the skirmish raidformat.
To the FM changes...it will only affecting the top players with the top fleets...which are the minority!
I have to admit, that it was a major error to put the new armor for the Inferno Dragons way to late into the game... that armor had to be released at the same time like the IDs...like the com armor for the Manticores. Now its to late, the damage is done...we have to refit or to build the Inferno Dragons.
In my case, i had built two IDs, but i will not refit them with the new armor, nor i will refit the weaponsetup to fit into a fleet with the Greta`s ID. Its easier for me to build new IDs for that purpose to have a complete balanced Greta`s ID fleet. I will keep the IDs with the charged armor, just in case there are TLC´s which NEED ships with charged armor...who knows?
A lot of pirates doesnt even have started to build IDs, because of the 111´s. As long as the 111´s are existing, you shouldnt have a problem with the FM, because you can use your old IB´s or Zelos/Monolith fleets till you have a ID fleet ready.
Keep in mind, that next year, the IB´s and the Zelos/Monoliths will only be able to do the lower level FM targets.
You Sound like a developer more than a player .... Just saying.
dam yall are a tough crowd ...give kix a break after all this is a game and it will never be perfect.... in my humble opinion BP is a high level strategy game (builds ...advanced tech..and so on) that is not apealing to the general gamer........ enough ranting go'n on here I want to thank you Will and look fwd to a better BP expeirence
We have seen this message before yet we always seem to end up in the same place, trust is something that is built and earned and we have lost almost all of it since we have been I this stupidity loop for a looong time.
Transparency is key, we need to know what's going on, we need to know that things are clearly being tested. The excuse that the test server is different is one which is nonesensical, what is the point in testing in an environment which does not fully represent the live servers....this is why we keep getting broken things.
Listen to us, the community voices it's opinions very clearly on multiple livestreama....call into them say hi show us you are there, open Mic livestreams are open kix come have a chat, might seem scary but we are only frightening because we are passionate about the game.
The promises, trust us, rebalance etc have all be promised before and quickly broken, or made worse.
You will be judged by your immediate actions and not your long-time promises. You have little real understanding how upset the community is and how so many are barely hanging on by a thread.
I believe that you will just develop more content to force us to pay for your mistakes. We have seen it all before, many times. You do not have time for a grand plan! The communities patience is exhausted and we don't trust you. This is probably your last throw of the dice for most players I know.
So here is my challenge for you, take some immediate action by:
#1 immediately abandon your proposed FM changes so you don't leave even more players behind
#2 return the Draconian bases and Draconian Uranium bases so that players can get the necessary resources they need to play
#3 drop the repair times on your current PvE hulls by 50%
One little question: HOW do you want to do the raids from the next skirmish raidformat? Guess what: probably with skirmish ships which can do the current uraniumtargets? Which will ask me an other question: HOW did you do the raids from the LAST skirmish raids in 2017?
DUB´s are history...nobody need them if they would play the game.
If you are doing the raids from all raidformats, you will have the fleets for all maptargets (uranium, titanium and baseparts) If you want to refuse to build a fleet for uranium targets, you will not be able to do any from the raids in the skirmish raidformat.
To the FM changes...it will only affecting the top players with the top fleets...which are the minority!
I have to admit, that it was a major error to put the new armor for the Inferno Dragons way to late into the game... that armor had to be released at the same time like the IDs...like the com armor for the Manticores. Now its to late, the damage is done...we have to refit or to build the Inferno Dragons.
In my case, i had built two IDs, but i will not refit them with the new armor, nor i will refit the weaponsetup to fit into a fleet with the Greta`s ID. Its easier for me to build new IDs for that purpose to have a complete balanced Greta`s ID fleet. I will keep the IDs with the charged armor, just in case there are TLC´s which NEED ships with charged armor...who knows?
A lot of pirates doesnt even have started to build IDs, because of the 111´s. As long as the 111´s are existing, you shouldnt have a problem with the FM, because you can use your old IB´s or Zelos/Monolith fleets till you have a ID fleet ready.
Keep in mind, that next year, the IB´s and the Zelos/Monoliths will only be able to do the lower level FM targets.
You Sound like a developer more than a player .... Just saying.
he sounds like someone who at least has a bit of an idea on how to play strategy games.
makes a pretty good point on building new versus refit too. i might need to consider it.
I don't believe a word of anything that comes from Kixeye any longer, you have made the game beyond difficult for anyone who doesn't drop loads of time and/or coin into the game. New players? never going to happen with what they have to go through just to get current enough to compete or even adjust to the constant changes every week or month on a whim. If you truly cared about the players , you would listen to us and quit fixing what aint broke and start fixing what truly is....your customer satisfaction. I remember when the game was fun to log into and see loads of people in every sector ENJOYING the game, now it is a chore just to log in and see what new BS you have thrown a wrench into each day.
dam yall are a tough crowd ...give kix a break after all this is a game and it will never be perfect.... in my humble opinion BP is a high level strategy game (builds ...advanced tech..and so on) that is not apealing to the general gamer........ enough ranting go'n on here I want to thank you Will and look fwd to a better BP expeirence
Meh. You're level 120, so the existing system has worked well for you.
Strategy game? They killed strategy when they forced us into narrow cookie-cutter builds for fleets. If you don't have the right fleet, you can't do the target without massive spending --- which, of course, is the point. You either pay to build and refit quickly, pay to repair a lot during the event, or skip the event and get further and further behind.
No, it's not going to be appealing to the general gamer, but it should be very appealing to those gamers who enjoy combat strategy games. And it fails there -- very, very expensive; massively complex; changes much too rapidly; incredibly unfriendly to new players. It's a fail.
enough ranting go'n on here -- I don't believe for a minute there will be the significant changes needed and I think this is all window dressing to pacify the mob.
Wonder how the letter to the shareholders explained the falling revenues and player participation rates?
And how is someone who calls himself "WrongThinker" meant to instill us with any confidence at all that anything will improve?
Since it's a privately held company, there are no shareholders, which is part of the problem -- if there were shareholders, they'd have forced change a long time ago. Fact is, they'd probably have dumped a failed executive mgmt before now.
Yeah -- it's telling when the new staff has to hide behind an alias.
Maybe what you should do is seperate the whales on their own servers and leave middle to lower players together. Or do what some games have done. Seperate PvP from PvE. Have seperate servers for that. Base it on tech lvl, spending, alliance size, whatever will make it fair for players not to be farms for whales.
i agree with some comments here especially one ...stop listening to the coiners that plough a fortune in every raid the big whales as there called , your mid level players who put money in constant are a big value to your company give them something too play for , many mid players now say i would coin more if it was worth the coin but sadly its not , fm changes and dubs are horrific and drac bases nedd to come back i see some players spending a whole day to get titanium , base parts and uranium , where the fun in that ??
A lack of planning has forced the team to wildly over-tune stats, targets, and events in order to shoehorn value into new content.
Bull. Read the reviews on GlassDoor and elsewhere. the interference of the top exec in micro-managing his staff is pretty well documented. It wasn't a lack of planning -- it was inept planning and the assumption we'd continue to buy anything they tried to shove down our throats.
All because of complacency. Well, complacency isn’t going to cut it and it’s time for us to right this ship. So what are we doing to fix this?
I didn't know "complacency" was a synonym for grossly ignoring the customers and utter arrogance.
First, I’ve put a new leadership team in place. Our issues don’t stem from the talented individuals working long, difficult hours to execute on the nuts-and-bolts of the game, it’s about how we’re deploying those resources.
Would those talented individuals have been working those hours if not pushed into impossible deadlines by a avaricious management?
When the captain of the Titanic ordered his crew to keep sailing and hit the iceberg, did he throw the crew under the bus like what we're seeing here?
First, I’ve put a new leadership team in place.
The purge in leadership stopped before it got to the root cause of the problem.
Additionally, our new Lead Designer WrongThinker will be putting up a post on Wednesday introducing himself, as well as the second part of our correction strategy, which I will now spoil.
Typical arrogance, typical lack of respect for his staff, typical micromanagement.
If the only answer to why we’re putting something in the game is money - I don’t want it in the game.
ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!
Finally, we’re tripling down on our community engagement efforts. Expect to see more developer presence, more AMAs, more live streams, more unadulterated proof that the Battle Pirates team is exactly as invested in the continued success and longevity of this game as you are.
That sux. Live streams are mostly a waste of time, the ones I've seen so far could have been summarized easily.
Increased developer presence will be nice, but have you made them aware that for the first few weeks they'll be walking into a firestorm of pent-up frustration and rage?
The fact that we’re in this position is no one’s fault but our own. The time of complacency is over. You’ve shown us that you’re here for the long haul, and it’s time for us to show you that we’re here for it too.
You do NOT get to use words like "our" and "we". Stop trying to blame the crew for following your orders. This crisis is no one's fault but YOURS and you're still to chickenSnot to own up to it.
One of the immediate problems we're going to see is that there are 30,000 angry, frustrated, irritated customers who will see this opportunity to vent and each and every one of them has a list of suggestions on how to improve the game. There will be a deluge of comments that will be nearly impossible to sort thru and make sense of. (Impossible for an organization that has a long history of arrogance towards its customers).
Surveys and polling might help, but the ones we've seen so far have been so poorly constructed they'll only make things worse.
I predict lots of Public Relations bullSnot, lots of clever marketing campaigns, and some changes to stuff that doesn't matter. Then once the sheep go back to quietly grazing, they'll sit in their offices and have a big laugh at how gullible we are.
I am waiting for the apology from all the moderators that threw complaints and opinions back at players over the years... I feel I will be waiting a long long time.
Please do not blame the mod over the years Kix has treated them as mushroom keeping them in the dark and feeding them bull poo. The gd team have often told them no change made only to have to admit later map changes,speed changes and damage changes
Yes, that needs to be re-emphasized. They're just doing their job. Often a lame excuse and TBH, the feeling of power they get from access to insider knowledge must be very, very nice, but in the end, most of them have tried to be fair.
Think this post from kix almighty has come too late for many players. There were less than 100 players in our sector that even bothered to do the raid. Many of my alliance have already created accounts and formed clans on World of Warships. We are finding it both fun and playable without cost. Something that Kix lost interest in providing long ago. Your cash cow is drying up as us punters move away
This whole thread is fishy......There's something strange afoot. Why's Destro not posting from his own account and this doesn't really sound like him....Have KIXEYE hired Steve Bannon and are we going to see strange goings on on Will's twitter feed next? I reckon there's Russian collusion going on!
I find it ironic that NOW were finally getting some feedback; wonder why, my guess is because it's FINALLY hitting his wallet!! Too many people are walking away from what was once a glorious game. I remember setting my alarm in the wee morning hours, just before my ship made contact with a base to attack, that I sent before I went to bed. I remember whole sector wars where 100's of battles were taking place simultaneously. I remember when U could coin a repair for a reasonable amount and keep the battle going. Where have those times gone? That's when the game was FUN!! Talk about complacency!! This is the mess you created, is there time to fix it? Who knows, but, in order to increase revenues, you're going to have to take a cut in the beginning, reduce build times, reduce repair times, slow down content overload, and maybe you could attract NEW players to the game. That's my thoughts for what it's worth!!
I find it ironic that NOW were finally getting some feedback; wonder why, my guess is because it's FINALLY hitting his wallet!! Too many people are walking away from what was once a glorious game. I remember setting my alarm in the wee morning hours, just before my ship made contact with a base to attack, that I sent before I went to bed. I remember whole sector wars where 100's of battles were taking place simultaneously. I remember when U could coin a repair for a reasonable amount and keep the battle going. Where have those times gone? That's when the game was FUN!! Talk about complacency!! This is the mess you created, is there time to fix it? Who knows, but, in order to increase revenues, you're going to have to take a cut in the beginning, reduce build times, reduce repair times, slow down content overload, and maybe you could attract NEW players to the game. That's my thoughts for what it's worth!!
And improve customer service so players not frustrated every time something goes wrong then get blamed for it happening.
Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
Wow, 8 pages with a lot of negativity. Mr Harbin, I sincerely hope that Kixeye learns and grows from this. Unfortunately, history is on the side of those with negative opinions here. Words sound nice, and we have heard them before, but we have seen little action to back them up. You have a lot of work to do to regain the communities trust.
There have been poor turnouts the last three raids. They tuned up the damage too high to try to make money on coins and overdid it.
I actually REALLY like this raid format. It requires driving, can't be consistently autoed, and has a neat and new feel to it. If the damage were tuned to an appropriate level it would be one of the best raids in the last three or four years. It's hard to beat the Garrison raids of 2016, but this would be close.
The issues, as Harbin correctly point out, stem from the failure of the Dev Team to fix problems and, I think, to *test* in the game environment. Time and time again I and others have pointed out bugs, lags, broken things, and other crap that was shoehorned into the game without being appropriately tested. How many times in the last two years have we seen "the update has been rolled back" or "such and such a target has been removed"? More than any good game should.
As another example, look at the countermeasure fix. It was long overdue but as soon as it went out players started complaining that their boats weren't performing like they did and they couldn't do as much game work. That's a reasonable complaint - but one that could have been avoided if the Dev Team had looked at how the new countermeasure rules would affect *actual player fleets*. They clearly didn't look at that and had to make a fix to the damage output of the targets on the fly in the real game environment.
And how many changes have been rolled out without fixing the core issue: player loss at level 50? Going from 49 to 50 is a death sentence for many players these days because the hulls are stronger but the base defenses aren't any easier to get. The TLCs bring out important and some might say necessary hulls, but the campaigns smaller players can actually do are at this point almost completely worthless. The Mercury? Vassago's interdictor? Those are collectors' hulls at this point and worthless in the modern meta. Even a bunch of the hulls in the foundry are now worthless - lookin' at you, hellwraith. The Campaign system actually sets players up for failure because they spend time and gain levels on garbage.
The game needs to re-evaluate how it prepares the smaller players to enter the big boy world, and it needs to ditch the level system. It's time to go to a Tier system where player bases are Tiered, where hulls and fleets are Tiered, where PvP is tier-gated, and where raid targets are tier-gated (or hitdown penalties are applied based on tier rather than base level). They already have all the data they need to make these changes, they just need to do it. I have made a suggestion in the past which, if I may be so bold, would fix a lot of the current level-based nonsense.
Player complaints are nothing new, and in the past the team has responded - the build times of new hulls are SIGNIFICANTLY less than they used to be. Some of you whippersnappers won't remember when hulls took a month - literally - to kit out completely. Two days' build time for each component was not unheard of, and these were boats with three or (gasp!) four special slots and 6-8 weapon slots. Today's builds are much shorter. The use of the hull class system is actually good - it's realistic and while it takes away some flexibility it helps streamline build decisions. It also helps players understand what is coming up. I want to believe, because I love this game, that the new team can fix these issues.
Look, credit where it is due: Harbin is trying to fix his golden goose. And there's a chance that this could do that. But the content has to be evaluated, top to bottom, to see where it fits and what is necessary to fix it. This is going to take time.
As a Missourian....I am at my core a skeptic. I hope all of this is good news and Will can follow through with what this letter says. I am skeptical however i will wait and see.
Mr. Harbin your player name is Destro, your base level is 69,
purposely or otherwise is a moot point, however, my question is how often do
you play?
Had you played regularly then you would be level 129 (map ranking) by now.
Have you tried doing the FM as is with the tech in your long abandoned base?
Have you tried an FM target with a fleet that you spent ages
building only to find out that an unannounced target change has been made and
the fleet that you once took pride in is now worthless?
Have you tried obtaining Uranium with the very fleets rusting in your long
abandoned base?
Have you tried gathering base parts with said same rusting
fleets in your long abandoned base?
Have you tried harvesting Titanium to feed your Hyperion?
You probably don’t have one.
Have you tried obtaining sufficient uranium for R&D
progression and completing the associated objectives?
Have you tried gathering any of the required resources to
upgrade turrets, walls, retro fit of all the hulls, specials and armours?
Have you tried grinding out an event?
Have you started an event one day then to find out that the
next day the damage dealt has increased significantly?
Have you tried a TLC for further advancement in the game?
Have you watched your best fleet die in a nano-second because
you made the slightest of mistakes only to find you have around 20 hours of
repair?
Have you tried building a single ship that has a build time
of 20 days or more?
Have you tried engaging in FvF with your fleet that has over 20 hours of
repair?
Have you tried engaging a target to find you cannot because
of a restriction put in place to prevent what you could do last week you cannot
do this week?
Have you tried any of the above without the aid of coin?
In fact have you tried any of the above at all because if
you have then you would be in a position to feel the frustration we all feel?
Try it with a limited amount of gold expenditure, say $10 per month and see how
far you get. See if you would be entertained sufficiently that you might be inclined
to spend a little more. See if you were enjoying a good gaming experience when
lag suddenly and inexplicably kicks in and causes you to lose a fleet or suffer
horrendous damage.
Have you asked your GDs and other staff to play the game as
we do, probably not?
You are entitled to your opinion just not entitled to give it
Thank you for time and such a heart felt and informative letter . I guess we will see the future together for a bit longer. I hope it's brighter than it has been for fixed incomes such as myself... \c:
We have seen this message before yet we always seem to end up in the same place, trust is something that is built and earned and we have lost almost all of it since we have been I this stupidity loop for a looong time.
Transparency is key, we need to know what's going on, we need to know that things are clearly being tested. The excuse that the test server is different is one which is nonesensical, what is the point in testing in an environment which does not fully represent the live servers....this is why we keep getting broken things.
Listen to us, the community voices it's opinions very clearly on multiple livestreama....call into them say hi show us you are there, open Mic livestreams are open kix come have a chat, might seem scary but we are only frightening because we are passionate about the game.
makes a pretty good point on building new versus refit too. i might need to consider it.
Wonder how the letter to the shareholders explained the falling revenues and player participation rates?
And how is someone who calls himself "WrongThinker" meant to instill us with any confidence at all that anything will improve?
Strategy game? They killed strategy when they forced us into narrow cookie-cutter builds for fleets. If you don't have the right fleet, you can't do the target without massive spending --- which, of course, is the point. You either pay to build and refit quickly, pay to repair a lot during the event, or skip the event and get further and further behind.
No, it's not going to be appealing to the general gamer, but it should be very appealing to those gamers who enjoy combat strategy games. And it fails there -- very, very expensive; massively complex; changes much too rapidly; incredibly unfriendly to new players. It's a fail.
enough ranting go'n on here -- I don't believe for a minute there will be the significant changes needed and I think this is all window dressing to pacify the mob.
Yeah -- it's telling when the new staff has to hide behind an alias.
Maybe what you should do is seperate the whales on their own servers and leave middle to lower players together. Or do what some games have done. Seperate PvP from PvE. Have seperate servers for that. Base it on tech lvl, spending, alliance size, whatever will make it fair for players not to be farms for whales.
I didn't know "complacency" was a synonym for grossly ignoring the customers and utter arrogance.
Would those talented individuals have been working those hours if not pushed into impossible deadlines by a avaricious management?When the captain of the Titanic ordered his crew to keep sailing and hit the iceberg, did he throw the crew under the bus like what we're seeing here?
The purge in leadership stopped before it got to the root cause of the problem.
Typical arrogance, typical lack of respect for his staff, typical micromanagement.
ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!
That sux. Live streams are mostly a waste of time, the ones I've seen so far could have been summarized easily.
Increased developer presence will be nice, but have you made them aware that for the first few weeks they'll be walking into a firestorm of pent-up frustration and rage?
You do NOT get to use words like "our" and "we". Stop trying to blame the crew for following your orders. This crisis is no one's fault but YOURS and you're still to chickenSnot to own up to it.
Surveys and polling might help, but the ones we've seen so far have been so poorly constructed they'll only make things worse.
I predict lots of Public Relations bullSnot, lots of clever marketing campaigns, and some changes to stuff that doesn't matter. Then once the sheep go back to quietly grazing, they'll sit in their offices and have a big laugh at how gullible we are.
And he's already said he's not going to change that and he's not open to re-thinking the game's revenue streams.
He's already proven he's not listening and that things aren't really going to change.
The Almighty Spack
Spack is actually my Tyler Durden.
I actually REALLY like this raid format. It requires driving, can't be consistently autoed, and has a neat and new feel to it. If the damage were tuned to an appropriate level it would be one of the best raids in the last three or four years. It's hard to beat the Garrison raids of 2016, but this would be close.
The issues, as Harbin correctly point out, stem from the failure of the Dev Team to fix problems and, I think, to *test* in the game environment. Time and time again I and others have pointed out bugs, lags, broken things, and other crap that was shoehorned into the game without being appropriately tested. How many times in the last two years have we seen "the update has been rolled back" or "such and such a target has been removed"? More than any good game should.
As another example, look at the countermeasure fix. It was long overdue but as soon as it went out players started complaining that their boats weren't performing like they did and they couldn't do as much game work. That's a reasonable complaint - but one that could have been avoided if the Dev Team had looked at how the new countermeasure rules would affect *actual player fleets*. They clearly didn't look at that and had to make a fix to the damage output of the targets on the fly in the real game environment.
And how many changes have been rolled out without fixing the core issue: player loss at level 50? Going from 49 to 50 is a death sentence for many players these days because the hulls are stronger but the base defenses aren't any easier to get. The TLCs bring out important and some might say necessary hulls, but the campaigns smaller players can actually do are at this point almost completely worthless. The Mercury? Vassago's interdictor? Those are collectors' hulls at this point and worthless in the modern meta. Even a bunch of the hulls in the foundry are now worthless - lookin' at you, hellwraith. The Campaign system actually sets players up for failure because they spend time and gain levels on garbage.
The game needs to re-evaluate how it prepares the smaller players to enter the big boy world, and it needs to ditch the level system. It's time to go to a Tier system where player bases are Tiered, where hulls and fleets are Tiered, where PvP is tier-gated, and where raid targets are tier-gated (or hitdown penalties are applied based on tier rather than base level). They already have all the data they need to make these changes, they just need to do it. I have made a suggestion in the past which, if I may be so bold, would fix a lot of the current level-based nonsense.
Player complaints are nothing new, and in the past the team has responded - the build times of new hulls are SIGNIFICANTLY less than they used to be. Some of you whippersnappers won't remember when hulls took a month - literally - to kit out completely. Two days' build time for each component was not unheard of, and these were boats with three or (gasp!) four special slots and 6-8 weapon slots. Today's builds are much shorter. The use of the hull class system is actually good - it's realistic and while it takes away some flexibility it helps streamline build decisions. It also helps players understand what is coming up. I want to believe, because I love this game, that the new team can fix these issues.
Look, credit where it is due: Harbin is trying to fix his golden goose. And there's a chance that this could do that. But the content has to be evaluated, top to bottom, to see where it fits and what is necessary to fix it. This is going to take time.
Longtime, 7 year, player here. I lead 3 ali groups, so I hear it all. Want to fix BP, below is a list of suggestions from my folks.
No more chores!
Space big events, raid, bounty, a little better.
Either finish the parts of the game that Kix started then drifted away from or get rid of the garbage! Foundry, R+D, expeditions, arena, gantrys etc!
Learn to balance the game! Easy things for lil guys as well as better things for the big players!
All that being said one last comment: I AM AN IDIOT! Because good, bad, indifferent, I am still a loyal player of BP. So I will echo our CEO
"Long Live Battle Pirates!!!!!!!"
Mr. Harbin your player name is Destro, your base level is 69, purposely or otherwise is a moot point, however, my question is how often do you play?
Had you played regularly then you would be level 129 (map ranking) by now.
Have you tried doing the FM as is with the tech in your long abandoned base?
Have you tried an FM target with a fleet that you spent ages building only to find out that an unannounced target change has been made and the fleet that you once took pride in is now worthless?
Have you tried obtaining Uranium with the very fleets rusting in your long abandoned base?
Have you tried gathering base parts with said same rusting fleets in your long abandoned base?
Have you tried harvesting Titanium to feed your Hyperion? You probably don’t have one.
Have you tried obtaining sufficient uranium for R&D progression and completing the associated objectives?
Have you tried gathering any of the required resources to upgrade turrets, walls, retro fit of all the hulls, specials and armours?
Have you tried grinding out an event?
Have you started an event one day then to find out that the next day the damage dealt has increased significantly?
Have you tried a TLC for further advancement in the game?
Have you watched your best fleet die in a nano-second because you made the slightest of mistakes only to find you have around 20 hours of repair?
Have you tried building a single ship that has a build time of 20 days or more?
Have you tried engaging in FvF with your fleet that has over 20 hours of repair?
Have you tried engaging a target to find you cannot because of a restriction put in place to prevent what you could do last week you cannot do this week?
Have you tried any of the above without the aid of coin?
In fact have you tried any of the above at all because if you have then you would be in a position to feel the frustration we all feel? Try it with a limited amount of gold expenditure, say $10 per month and see how far you get. See if you would be entertained sufficiently that you might be inclined to spend a little more. See if you were enjoying a good gaming experience when lag suddenly and inexplicably kicks in and causes you to lose a fleet or suffer horrendous damage.
Have you asked your GDs and other staff to play the game as we do, probably not?