I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d***, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are.

To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily.

As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d*** row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload.

The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered?

Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game.

I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d*** about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d*** thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour?

It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again.

Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become.

~Athelian