Dear EvilMojo,

Paladins game is going through hard times. The game’s online player count has dropped to record lows. We, the players, really love this game and ask you to solve several issues below that are the reason for such drop:

1. Broken matchmaking

a) The coefficient of elo increase for a party of 3-5 people is too large. Therefore, a party of low-ranked players is matched up against masters. Example

b) Unranked and low-ranked players shouldn't be in one match with masters/gms. It’s a simple rule.

c) In some cases, simply swapping players in the two teams can improve the balance and even out the teams’ average rank. For example, 2 masters+3 diamonds vs 5 diamonds. 

2. Hackers/dodgers

a) Drophackers who carry out a DDoS-attack on the server, which leads to the crash of the match. The match does not count and isn’t even shown in match history. The problem is that the information about the IP address of the server is public and accessible by anyone. This exploit needs to be fixed.

b) Aimbot/wh/etc. It's the real problem. Sometimes there are 3 or even 4 cheaters in the same match. Example

We need the tech support to react faster. You could also pass the part of its responsibilities to the Assembly of Champions (or well-known streamers/ex-pro players). For example, they could watch replays with cheaters and report them directly.

3. Lags/packet losses on EU servers

There are huge lags for a lot of people on EU servers (can’t provide any info regarding other regions) since the beginning of 2020 (the lags were almost non-existent from 2015 to the beginning of 2020). Shots don't register, movement abilities are lagging, etc. This problem appeared after the servers had been moved to the cloud (we don't know if they are still in the cloud). Please, just look at the screenshots. First one is traceroute to the actual servers. You can see huge packet losses and ping spikes. Second one is traceroute to the servers that EvilMojo were testing on September 22-23, 2021. There were almost no lags those 2 days.

We understand that not everyone experiences these issues but a lot of people do and a lot of people quit the game because of these lags. We ask you to find the optimal location for the servers, where most players would not have lags. According to the survey that we conducted, the server migration in September (to the servers on 2nd screenshot) improved the situation for 20% of players.

4. The Hunt

It is impossible to fix all the bugs, because the game code is initially broken. But you could fix at least those bugs that players encounter all the time. For example, the ones in the main menu (notifications), in the match history (the last match results constantly keep popping up when a player tries to view the match history), in the match lobby (background, etc.), in the UI, bugged collisions on reworked maps, etc. 

In addition, we ask for a faster feedback in case of global problems. For example, a problem with sounds or endless loading into a match. The sounds problem has been around for more than a month and is still not fully fixed. Same about the endless loading. We have not received any responses from the developers since 3rd of the Dec (now its 8th).

5. Tutorial for new players

Old tutorial is outdated (bushes, really?). It is not difficult to create a new tutorial with bots on one of the existing maps. You just need to add some voice and text notifications.

6. Diversity

A large number of new champions does not benefit the game, because it is difficult to make them qualitatively. As a result, the champions turn out to be too strong or with a bunch of bugs. 1-2 champions per year is enough. Quantity is good but you you should not forget about the quality. 

Some talents are not popular because they are much weaker than others. Each talent must change the gameplay for the champion. This is the basis of Paladins. This is what makes the game unique.

Some of the limited modes need to be made permanent. For example, where you can choose any champion (even five same champs).

7. Ranked rewards/account progression

It is necessary to make a variety of rewards (crystals, avatars, skins, etc) for rating games so that players would have incentives to rank up. Same about account progression.

We strongly believe that the changes suggested above will help the game become popular again without big investments. Especially now, when the main competitor (Overwatch) is not in the best condition.

Thanks in advance.