How to make Vigor more inviting for new players

[Bl_ToothGr_Tooth 0]

I've played Vigor on and off since Nov 2020 and as much as I love the game I always end up discouraged. I'm not a terribly experienced gamer and I don't have much experience with online shooters but I really enjoy the realistic physics and gameplay. I'm willing to put in the time to improve but there are several things that have held me back and could be improved. 

 

1. The matchmaking is often unbalanced. Most often when I'm killed it's by someone who's played several thousand encounters with hundreds or thousands of kills. I've played roughly 100 encounters with 22 kills. If new players had a better chance to play against each other they would have more opportunity to learn the maps and develop effective strategies. I often feel like I'm just being chased to the exits by a bunch of psychopathic killers rather than focusing on looting and engaging my opponents. 

 

2. I think body armour should be available immediately at the crafting bench and I think it should absorb more than one bullet. Not a lot more, maybe 3 shots or something, but it should keep new players safe enough that they have a chance to run and reposition. I'm almost always killed by someone I don't see until it's too late and it really spoils the fun of the game. Experienced players usually know lots of hiding spots and have traps set that new players haven't had a chance to learn about. When you're killed early in each encounter it's impossible to explore the game. For skilled players, not equipping armour could provide bonus xp and bragging rights, it would be a win-win situation. 

 

3. Bring back to xp bonus for distance traveled. I know some people might exploit this by running in circles or something but the rule could be revamped so that your distance is calculated by how many sectors you cross through. One of the only things I took pride in was my ability to stay alive with looting but there's no bonus for that now and I find myself leaving encounters early to avoid loosing my loot and loadout. A bonus for staying in the game would be an incentive to keep trying.

 

Anyway, that's just my opinion. I think Vigor is a great game and the difficulty is part of the fun but it would be more fun with a little more of a fighting chance. 

[Centar23 2]

Body armor doesn't really go away after one bullet. It's more like one bullet from an SVU or a Ventornez which are the strongest weapons in the game besides the new bolt action. Though I do agree, staying alive is hard especially playing against some of the ones I end up against. I'm running with maybe  142 kills total and I've played over eight hundred encounters. The grind this season especially is... miserable.

[Salvatore Ferro 2]

I'm ok with the current matchamaking but I agree with armor plates. I grinded so many Crates but haven't found the blueprints yet, it's too much of an advantage for people that have them when the majority of players can't craft them, even if you can receive them from the battlepass, it's a limited amount.