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Player Ranking And Priority Drop Weights


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Poll: should there be a player ranking / leveling? (172 member(s) have cast votes)

Should there be a player ranking / leveling system? (E1 to O9? Green to Ace "Black")

  1. Yes. (123 votes [71.51%])

    Percentage of vote: 71.51%

  2. No. (49 votes [28.49%])

    Percentage of vote: 28.49%

Should Higher Ranked players be given "Tonnage Priority" over less experienced players?

  1. Yes. (37 votes [21.51%])

    Percentage of vote: 21.51%

  2. No. (135 votes [78.49%])

    Percentage of vote: 78.49%

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#1 CrashieJ

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Posted 17 July 2013 - 06:29 PM

This is going to be easy to understand but complex to draw it out.

Military Branches have ranks from E1 to E9 and then officer ranks from O1 to O11. In Battletech, Rank determines your skill as a pilot and a leader, with heavier chassis being available the higher rank you hold.

in short, your rank should determine what weight chassis you can hold.

Say for instance You have a drop weight of 320 tons with 3 Stalker and a Locust for S&Gs and a pilot pool of an O5 an E9 an E5 and a noob I mean E1.

in a game without ranks we would most likely see that E1 in an Stalker forcing other players to conform to a now diminished team due to weight limits.

in a game with earned ranks, that O5 (which for the sake of gaming is an E9 + 5) and that E9 can jump for those Stalkers leaving the E5 and E1 to fall in their respective places. the O5 can vouch for lance (4/4) and maybe even team (4/8/12/16) command if he's ranked high enough, OR he can pass is down to the E9 who needs a bit more practice.

TO CONCLUDE: by adding a mechanic to weight limits in which players with higher skill (given by rank and some other math) are given weight priority over those who are less experienced can increase the value of heavier chassis AND light mechs, while giving those who are less prestigious something to work for, on top of mech experience.

#2 Volthorne

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Posted 17 July 2013 - 08:13 PM

How about: **** no?

#3 CrashieJ

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 02:53 AM

View PostVolthorne, on 17 July 2013 - 08:13 PM, said:

How about: **** no?



How about: THEN GIVE A ******* SOLUTION.

what would you implement to for balance, playstyle, and adding immersion?

just going

View PostVolthorne, on 17 July 2013 - 08:13 PM, said:

How about: **** no?


is as blatantly ignorant as a human being can get.

#4 Hammerfinn

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 07:59 AM

Some sort of ranking? Yes.

Another for for elitist ******** to lord it over noobs? **** NO.

#5 Volthorne

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 10:49 AM

View Postgavilatius, on 18 July 2013 - 02:53 AM, said:

How about: THEN GIVE A ******* SOLUTION.

what would you implement to for balance, playstyle, and adding immersion?

You're looking for a problem to your solution. Forcing bad players/newbies to pilot lighter tonnage 'Mechs is a ******* terrible idea. Not only would it make bad players artificially worse (and good players artifcially better), but then you're locking out a huge portion of the playerbase from a large portion of the game, which is guaranteed to kill it off.

I would rather have a newbie in an Atlas where he/she has SOME chance of contributing than in a Jenner where he/she will probably get fragged instantly upon contact with the opposing team. Also, there are some players who are absolute garbage in Lights (I personally can't really pilot anything lighter than 40 tons), but wreck face in Heavies/Assaults. What do you say to them? What if a player who JUST JOINED is like that? "Sorry, your skill level isn't high enough to pilot this, you need to go pilot a Light, and if you don't like it then **** off"?

Seriously. Your idea is ******* terrible and you should feel that way for even SUGGESTING it. Adding immersion? If anything, this takes away from it. Same for balance and playstyle.

Edited by Volthorne, 18 July 2013 - 10:51 AM.


#6 Roland

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 10:51 AM

In fairness, it does kind of suck when your team's tonnage gets sucked up by some guy who is incapable of even doing his mech's weight in damage.

If you consistently fail to get three digit damage, you really shouldn't be playing an assault mech.

Quote

Forcing bad players/newbies to pilot lighter tonnage 'Mechs is a ******* terrible idea. Not only would it make bad players artificially worse (and good players artifcially better), but then you're locking out a huge portion of the playerbase from a large portion of the game, which is guaranteed to kill it off.

Actually, assault mechs tend to be bad rides for poor players. You aren't really doing them any favors by putting them into huge mechs where they are easy targets, and tend to be primed.

#7 Volthorne

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 11:14 AM

View PostRoland, on 18 July 2013 - 10:51 AM, said:

In fairness, it does kind of suck when your team's tonnage gets sucked up by some guy who is incapable of even doing his mech's weight in damage.

If you consistently fail to get three digit damage, you really shouldn't be playing an assault mech.

Actually, assault mechs tend to be bad rides for poor players. You aren't really doing them any favors by putting them into huge mechs where they are easy targets, and tend to be primed.

Would you rather have a bad player in an Assault where he can damage sponge or a Light where he'll get instagibbed and then then your team is down one with 0 benefits?

Edited by Volthorne, 18 July 2013 - 11:14 AM.


#8 Roland

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 11:18 AM

View PostVolthorne, on 18 July 2013 - 11:14 AM, said:

Would you rather have a bad player in an Assault where he can damage sponge or a Light where he'll get instagibbed and then then your team is down one with 0 benefits?

I'd rather have him in the light mech.

In the light mech, he's unlikely to be the prime target... folks won't focus fire on his virtually stationary mech. Thus, he will likely survive longer, and have more fun.

Additionally, the team's tonnage will then be more likely to go to someone who knows how to use it, which will actually support the new player, and further improve his gameplay experience.

#9 Volthorne

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 11:24 AM

View PostRoland, on 18 July 2013 - 11:18 AM, said:

I'd rather have him in the light mech.

In the light mech, he's unlikely to be the prime target... folks won't focus fire on his virtually stationary mech. Thus, he will likely survive longer, and have more fun.

Additionally, the team's tonnage will then be more likely to go to someone who knows how to use it, which will actually support the new player, and further improve his gameplay experience.

So... you want to unreasonably **** over new players by FORCING them to play in lightly armored, low-damage-output 'Mechs that are hard to pilot well. Yeah, that's TOTALLY going to improve his gameplay experience. I've never seen a player NOT take a potshot at a Light if he can get away with it, btw, so the newbie being in a Light actually decreases his survivability.

Remember the phrase "A stationary Light is a dead Light"?

Edited by Volthorne, 18 July 2013 - 11:25 AM.


#10 Roland

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 11:39 AM

View PostVolthorne, on 18 July 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

So... you want to unreasonably **** over new players by FORCING them to play in lightly armored, low-damage-output 'Mechs that are hard to pilot well. Yeah, that's TOTALLY going to improve his gameplay experience. I've never seen a player NOT take a potshot at a Light if he can get away with it, btw, so the newbie being in a Light actually decreases his survivability.

Remember the phrase "A stationary Light is a dead Light"?

The chief error you are making here is thinking that assault mechs are easier to pilot. They aren't.

This is a pretty common error made by a lot of new players.. and one of the reasons why they die almost instantly in their assaults.

It's almost like you didn't even read that last post I made.. I explained exactly why lighter mechs are actually BETTER rides for new players.

You are wasting his team's tonnage if he's in an assault, which will hurt him.. you are putting him into a mech that is likely to become a prime target, which will hurt him.... you are putting him into a mech which dramatically restricts his ability to move, far beyond what essentially every other video game does, which will hurt hum.

It's not simply that poor players being in assault mechs is bad for the team... it's that it's bad for those players themselves.
There is an idea among new players that bigger automatically equals better. This is incorrect, especially if you don't know how to use that tonnage effectively.

#11 Kyrs

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 11:58 AM

There was something similar in the old days of Mechwarrior 3, there was a starleague ranking site to which defined your rank and your experience. The experience base on win ratio and kill; this added tonnage increase your base tonnage. Premade group could share tonnage. There was a bidding system for map, weapons type ;(any, energy, stock, ballistic), type of engagement and etc.

It was a very fun system. Some elite you switch with rank with lower rank to increase the max tonnage. The low-rank/low-experience would generally play medium or heavies.

#12 Volthorne

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 12:51 PM

View PostRoland, on 18 July 2013 - 11:39 AM, said:

The chief error you are making here is thinking that assault mechs are easier to pilot. They aren't.

Then put newbies in Mediums, but for ****'s sake not Lights.

Quote

It's almost like you didn't even read that last post I made.. I explained exactly why lighter mechs are actually BETTER rides for new players.

And it;s like you're not reading my posts because I've explained why you shouldn't put newbies/bads in Lights either.

Quote

You are wasting his team's tonnage if he's in an assault, which will hurt him.. you are putting him into a mech that is likely to become a prime target, which will hurt him.... you are putting him into a mech which dramatically restricts his ability to move, far beyond what essentially every other video game does, which will hurt hum.

It's not simply that poor players being in assault mechs is bad for the team... it's that it's bad for those players themselves.
There is an idea among new players that bigger automatically equals better. This is incorrect, especially if you don't know how to use that tonnage effectively.

This only becomes an issue once tonnage restrictions go in. Yes, I agree, having a newbie flail around in an Atlas is pretty useless. Having him run around doing ****-all in a Jenner is even more useless. He's got no armor, can't fight back, and is in a 'Mech that is hard to control when at full speed (he's going to be at either full speed or stopped, because throttle is disabled by default). Better players can adapt to having to give up a few tons to have a maginally useful newbie on their team - even if it's just as a bullet sponge/patsy. New players will have a much harder (if not impossible) time adapting to piloting a Light - like I mentioned earlier, I'm bad in anything lighter than 40 tons, as is a good chunk of the player base.

All this does is atrificially make bad/new players worse, good players better, and increase the number of Mediums and Lights you see. We don't need artificial solutions, we need ACTUAL solutions, where pilots have a REASON to pilot Lights or Mediums.

#13 Vox Scorpus

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Posted 18 July 2013 - 11:00 PM

If people want a ranking system to see how they're doing or compare themselves to other players by all means implement it. This is not however a FPS game where better stuff is unlocked only once you've reached a certain competency level. Anybody should be able to drop into any mech they want once they have the c-bills (lets not go into MC now). We want people to get into the game and have fun. A brand new player who has never played any battletech / MechWarrior or even a tank game is gonna take time to get used to it all and the training grounds only help so much. Lets not constrict new players.

#14 Hotthedd

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Posted 10 August 2013 - 07:09 PM

Lights are not exactly EASY to do well in either, although removal of collisions has made it easier, HSR and pinpoint group fire make an inexperienced light pilot a liability on a team.

IMO, heavies tend to be the best mechs for inexperienced players, as they don't die easy, and are not usually focused first.

#15 Mackman

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Posted 09 September 2013 - 10:29 AM

This would ONLY work if every player always had the chance of being able to play the mech they want. Sometimes, they'll be the best in a pool of noobs, and they'll get to pick exactly which mech they want. Sometimes, they'll be the worst in their lance and have to fill in. But regardless of skill level, you absolutely can't always force bad players to pilot a mech they don't want to pilot.

They have to have an equal chance of piloting exactly the mech they want to pilot. So they have a 25% chance of being the best and getting absolute priority, 25% of getting 2nd priority, and so on. Anything less will mean that the lower-level players will very rarely get to pilot the mech they want to pilot.

#16 MrBlonde42

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Posted 09 September 2013 - 01:31 PM

Let us know what rank we are and what ranks our team mates are!

#17 Wolfways

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Posted 09 September 2013 - 04:43 PM

Forcing players to play in a mech they don't like? Absolutely no...ever.
Completely new players having to choose from four random mechs is bad enough.

#18 Johnny Z

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Posted 09 September 2013 - 05:07 PM

I went with yes since I havnt thought of an alternative.

Using a drop class system(recon, medium, heavy...) rather than a drop weight system seems like a better way to me, but as to how a group will choose who gets what is a good question. The op seems to have an answer.

#19 Zarlaren

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Posted 06 November 2013 - 07:35 PM

I would like a ranking system but only as a vanity thing. Forcing new players to pilot a mech they don't want is a major no no and if you do that the game is dead cause bads will get worse and good players better. Believe me spend time in a locust you will regret every second wasted in that garbage can.

#20 Screech

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Posted 06 November 2013 - 07:45 PM

Tonnage assignment is going to be determined by the group not the MM. Hurt feelings will be had when folks get told they just ain't good enough to pilot 100 tons. Might want to set up the support group now.





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