Personal opinion regarding the 3v3 news

Disclaimer: Thoughts are my own

First of all let me quickly introduce myself. I am Amaterasu, playing Trackmania on/off since 2009 and currently coaching the BIG duo Massa and Granady. I am very passionate about the game and deeply involved in various community events. Trackmania has given me countless awesome opportunities which I'll always be grateful for. Yet the direction we are headed the last months is very concerning to me. The game becomes more and more casual and I just fail to see the pay off...

Let's start off with a general timeline

Nov 29, 2022

INTRODUCING THE TRACKMANIA WORLD TOUR 2023

https://www.trackmania.com/news/7250

'Matchmaking 2v2 will replace the current 3v3 game mode at the start of the Stage 1, on January 21. TMWT tracks will be available for the highest ranked players, easier versions of all tracks will also be available for high ranks. Campaign tracks will remain the Matchmaking standard for the first ranks.'

My thoughts:

It is the first time the 2v2 got mentioned and I know a lot of high level and aspiring high level players were very happy about the change. I personally thought the new format is a good step in the right direction since it gives a clear path to pro. In other popular games you are also able to play exactly what the pros play - it gives a connection to your favourite player.

Dec 14, 2022

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRESTIGE SKINS

https://www.trackmania.com/news/7267

'A new seasonal skin will be available every 3 months! The very first seasonal skin will be the Winter 2023 one. To unlock different levels, you need to collect as many medals as possible, in both the official Winter 2023 Campaign and Tracks Of The Day between January 1st and March 31st.'

My thoughts:

That ultimately led to the death of AT hunting, a project a lot of people were invested into. Either by trying to get as many as possible themselves or by watching their favourite streamers strive to get every medal. Now, however, maps get declined because the AT medal is too hard and people have to make ATs easier on purpose which defeats the name 'Author' time in the first place. It was the first time I really noticed that maybe the game is being catered too much to new players instead of the people who try to make various kinds of content to keep it exciting and refreshing.

Mar 30, 2023

SPRING 2023 CAMPAIGN OUT ON APRIL 1ST!

https://www.trackmania.com/news/7439

'New season means a new official campaign in Trackmania with 25 new tracks to race on and 100 additional medals to earn for free! Spring 2023 campaign focuses on fun and creativity with tracks designed to be welcoming for the future console players. Thrills guaranteed throughout this 25-track long campaign!'

My thoughts:

A campaign that is widely considered as the worst campaign we've had. 25 maps where 20 of them felt like the same map, we had the whole 1 drift meme in the community and quite a lot of people publicly spoke out against it which led to a statement by Hylis: https://twitter.com/Hylis1/status/1645797163618938882
I also heavily disliked the campaign but I liked the transparency by Hylis, something that is sadly missing a lot of times. Although I think stats like 'On Turbo, nearly 9 out of 10 players miss silver on white tracks.' can be read in multiple ways and I am not entirely sure they got the right conclusion out of that. It could also just be that the white maps aren't necessarily good or people just didn't like the game.

MAY 15, 2023

TRACKMANIA IS NOW AVAILABLE ON CONSOLES AND ON CLOUD PLATFORM

https://www.trackmania.com/news/7525

'Depending on your achievements, you will unlock prestige skins, medals & trophies.

And, if you are searching for even more challenges, you can join the official Esports circuits, in addition to many events organized by the community itself.'

My thoughts:

Console is finally out, we have special TOTDs for the new players to give them an easy introduction to the game. The world is fine and we can go back to normal.

July 25, 2023

Dear community,

We want to take a moment regarding the Ranked format which will remain a 3v3 game mode.

https://twitter.com/Trackmania/status/1683816543430270977
'The console release brought an influx of new players, bringing fresh perspectives and insights into the game. We closely observed their gameplay experiences and listened to their feedback.'

My thoughts:

In roughly 2 months the console players apparently brought more important input than the majority of the core community did in the 7 months prior to this. These new players have never seen a different mode, so how do we know for sure it's better if they haven't seen the other side yet Which leads me to the reason I actually wanted to do this post.

Personal rant/opinion:

Before the console release we had around 2500-3000 players playing the main COTD, which increased to like 3500-4000 now 2 months after console release. That's a solid increase of regular players but it's only like 25% of the community. Why are the opinions or data of those 25% more important than the rest of the community, a community that tries to make the game exciting for everyone. In the last 2 years Nadeo didn't have a single content update to the game, yet the community made a variety of gamemodesevents like Bingo, RMTRMSRMC, Flagrush and plenty more. My question is why can't we implement those in the actual game so the casual gameplay is more than satisfied.

In my opinion Ranked is a tryhard gamemode and a way to play what the pros are playing, the easy versions of TMWT maps were already a step in the right direction, why do we have to go back two steps now. I am currently at ~3500 elo and rank ~50 and have not played a single black map in MM yet but I played 01-05(excluding 04) countless times. It is not fun to play against people around your skill level on maps that are made for players way below your skill level. It sadly creates an atmosphere that noone cares about MM and takes it seriously.

Which leads me to following suggestions:

1) Make a 2nd Ladderqueue for 2v2 where you exlusively play whichever maps are played in competitive at the moment. It gives all the players a place to practice and hone their skills.

2) Have it either available above a certain rank or have it open a limited amount of time during the day(for example for 2h after COTD and reruns).

There are probably a lot more suggestions which will also create different difficulties to overcome but at the end it would be more content for everyone in the game. The Players in Master+ can actually compete on maps that will improve their skill and new players can play the maps created for them until they reach that level. Ultimately we have an amazing game and amazing esport and I just want that the game is as enjoyable for everyone as possible. Sadly at the moment we try to make the game enjoyable for new players which(if they stay in the game) will get to a level that they are also not satisfied with the current situation.

Final words:

I am aware that I come from an elitistveteran point of view and I try to obviously not exclude new players. At the end we all want a good and healthy game. The majority of the core community is awesome and I've met so many amazing people through the game. I still am more than worried about the general direction the game is heading to. It's worth mentioning that with every new addition we cause more problems but we shouldn't shy away to tackle those problems after instead of doing nothing and ultimately stay stuck. I wasn't too sure if I should type all of that but I'm glad I did it now. Hopefully we can get slightly more transparency in the future.

We have a core image, uphold that, improve it, don't lose it.

Sincerely, Amaterasu