Now with the power of decision, what would you change to make MWO a better game?
Here is my list:
GAME BALANCE/GAMEPLAY:
- Double Ammo (from TT values*) First thing I would do as I step into the PGI building is demand the ammo to be doubled to the TT values (it is already 50% the TT values). Why? 1) Double ammo will make stock variants and trial mechs viable; 2) Double ammo will value mixed loadouts (as people won’t need many tons of ammo for each weapon); 3) Double ammo will diminish the importance of energy boats (as people will feel safer to use ammo weapons – now with less ammo criticals); 4) MWO doubled the armor and internal structure of the mechs, so you need to shoot them twice more to destroy them; 5) 12 vs. 12 battles. *MGs don't need double ammo from the current values.
- Missile ports: a mech should launch as many missiles at the same time as there are missile tubes in the stock variant. For instance: Centurion CN9-A has 10 missile tubes in the Left Torso (because of the original LRM10 there): it can fire only 10 missiles at once (like 1 SRM6 plus 1 SRM4 or 2xSRM2s, not the absurd 3xSRM6s that is currently).
- Balanced Variants: all variants should be valid. If it is not possible to balance a variant by the number/disposition of hardpoints, give it more modules. There are indeed some variants in game that are worse than others and are a waste of C-Bills – why not to fix this?
- Balance Chassis: some chassis are worse than the others, unfortunately. Trebuchet, Dragon and Awesome, for instance, could use a buff (in form of more modules, better hitboxes, better maneuverability, etc.)
- More Modules: most of the variants (specially the weaker ones) should receive 1 more module. Some modules could be improved (as nobody uses them) and several new modules added. This is a part of the game that could be better explored. In fact, modules are way too expensive now... I would appreciate cheaper options.
- Adding the Missing Variants: Commando, Hunchback, Victor, Blackjack, Dragon, Atlas and Centurion have missing not-redundant time-wise variants – let’s add them to the game. The Stalker STK-4N, on the other hand, should be removed right away, as it is just a STK-3F without 1 hardpoint (troll mech, devs?).
- Rework the Yen-Lo-Wang: replace the crappy CN9-YLW3025-50 by the CN9-YLW3051-52, a better mech, with more hardpoints (2 extra energy hardpoints in the left arm), and sufficiently different from the CN9-AH to allow them both in the game.
- Hardpoint Sizing: hardpoints would exist in 2 sizes: small and large. Large Hardpoints can have any weapon, but Small Hardpoints are restricted to smaller weapons.That would give a lot of diversity to the variants, at the same time keeping their original roles and avoiding the abusive boating. Let's elaborate more: Small Missile Hardpoint = SRM2, SRM4, SSRM2, LRM5, LRM10, NARC; Small Ballistic Hardpoint = Machinegun, AC/2, AC/5, UAC/5; Small Energy Hardpoint: Small Laser, Small Pulse Laser, Flamer, Medium Laser, Medium Pulse Laser.
- Heat Penalty: with hardpoint sizing, there is no need for the heat penalty for grouping weapons as it will be impossible to have anything like a 6 PPCs Stalker. To be honest, I think too much effort was spent on that confusing and artificial solution.
- Weapon Balance: all weapons should be valid. Flamers, for instance, should be an option for smaller mechs. Machineguns are still underpowered... and who uses Small Lasers?
- Ferro Fibrous: should have some advantage to make it a real choice instead of Endo Steel. It was suggested that it could give a very small bonus to maximum armor (something like 2%) - as fluff itself says the Ferro Fibrous gives better protection. Why not?
- NARC: it is heavy, hard to use and takes a missile hardpoint - so it must be useful. Greatly increasing the time of effect would be a start. EDIT: I even don't see why the NARC beacon should be destroyable.
- Command Console: it is a placeholder item for too long. If no big features are planned for it very soon, just give it the ability of jamming enemy ECMs or something. Another idea: make UAV, Artillery and Air Strike only available for mechs mounting Command Console.
- Artillery Strike and Air Strike: improve the effects (strafing aerospace fighters would be cool) and power. BTW, is the smoke indicating incoming attack really necessary? If you played Battlefield 2, you know that Artillery Strike is something to be feared.
- ECM: it still has a big weight in the battlefield. Variants with ECM should be inferior in terms of hardpoints and modules. I think this equipment shouldn't have the ability to jam enemy ECMs (because it shouldn't be the sole actor of the Electronic Warfare – let other equipment have this ability). EDIT: maybe the ECM could start very "basic" and it is improved by modules. PS: and why the heck ECMs need to be mounted in a specific location?
No Ammo in the Legs: the stock variants don’t have ammo in the legs, so why should MWO allow it? Even if not against the TT rules, it is illogical (how the ammo goes from the leg to the weapon, anyway?). That would also make CASE more essential to builds. EDIT: actually, there are a least 2 variants in canon that have ammo in the legs... weird. (if that is so good, why isn't it standard issue?)- CASE: there must be a benefit to CASE mounted in mechs with XL Engine.
- Single Heat Sinks: must stand for themselves. Maybe the DHS should just increase the dissipation, not the heat threshold; or the contrary. One thing is clear: Single Heat Sinks must be a valid option somehow.
- Clans: very very careful to do not ruin the game with the Clans. First, IS mechs should not be able to mount Clan equipment. Ever. Second, IS is inferior, period. Clan equipment is far superior in everything (range, weight and damage) – so please, the solution is not nerfing the hell out of it. The way to balance is in the matchmaking. Smaller and/or lighter Clan-only team vs. larger and/or heavier IS-only team. I suggest 10 Clan mechs (2 stars) vs. 12 IS mechs (3 lances), with total weight advantage for the IS team. I also think Clanners should not use C-Bills, but a new “currency” called Honor.
- Mech Sizing: The size of the mechs should be calculated by their volume. Some mechs are much smaller than they should be. I know the light mecs were made very small to make them survive better, but they are realistically too small (a Spider is only 1/3 the weight of a Highlander - in the game it looks like 1/10).
- Speed: I think the "speed feel" in the game is weak. Mechs at 100 Km/h should be moving faster, right? Maybe because of technical limitations, the devs made the mechs move slower than in real life - but that should be worked out. There is no need of making light mechs so small if speed was treated correctly.
- Hand Actuators: give mechs with hands some advantage. Until we have proper melee, maybe some bonus in collision damage?
- Lower Arm Actuators: mechs without this component should have limited arm twist (but not necessary locked arms). Some mechs added lately (Highlander and Victor) just ignore this limitation, which is not fair.
- Consumables: nope. I agree with adding a module, for instance, that allow you to use Coolant Flush or Artillery Strike, once in a match. I don’t agree it should be paid for each battle - that's just wrong.
- (new) Armor Limits: for more diversity and in the spirit of the engine limits, there should be armor limitations for minimum and maximum (something about 1.5 of the stock armor?). So, mechs that traditionally have less armor (like the JagerMech) won't be able to maximize their armor.
- (new) Engine Limits: why opening an exception for the Hunchback? That's wrong!
- (new) No Ghost Heat.
- Triple Strength Myomer: the TSM was mass-produced from 3050 on. Time to add it to the game. Suggested benefices (that wouldn't break the game): increase the mech acceleration/deceleration; decrease the effect of terrain to your mech’s movement; make it harder to knockout; and/or increase the collision damage to the opposing mechs (and melee damage, if it is ever added to the game). Increasing the maximum speed would overlap with the MASC, so it’s not recommended. BTW, for TSM and MASC, I would add a new upgrade called “Myomer” (you can’t have both MASC and TSM at the same time).
- Manufacturer Weapons: this is a feature not necessary for the near future, but, like in Borderlands, each weapon manufacturer could have a quirk. Very small bonuses (something like 2%) in range, cool down, heat, durability or damage for each manufacturer would add flavor to the game. This is something the TT can’t do properly, but computer games excel. There are even more radical suggestions like adding weapon real variants, that would have a very distinct behavior. I'm not complete sure about that, tough.
- Experimental Weapons: there are some weapons that were used in a very limit scale in the timeline (like the Binary Laser Cannon). I think these weapons could be added to MWO, as much more expensive weapons (because of the rarity) or as weapons you need to unlock somehow. It would be unfair (P2W) to just make these weapons MC-only, even if they are not better than the regular ones.
- Customization Costs: replacing a weapon or equipment of a mech should cost C-Bills, like in MW2:M. Mech customization in the BT Universe is not something to take for granted.
- Solaris: I don’t know you guys, but I’m much more excited by the Solaris Championship than the Community Warfare. Strangely, it looks like it would be even easier to implement… (needing only some new, smaller arena maps)
- PVE: I would focus in the next year to add PVE to the game, like it was done in TF2, with the Mann vs. Machine update. A "Clan Invasion" mode would be a very cool way to introduce the Clans - imagine a team of IS players needing to survive waves and waves of superior AI-controlled Clan mechs?
- Third Person View: no 3PV in competitive games, just in Testing/Training Grounds. Maybe allow it in Private matches (if they add this feature).
- Stock-Only Game Mode: when launching a Stock-Only game, your mech is loaded with the stock variant loadout. The improved Single Heat Sinks and Double Ammo features are necessary for this to work, tough.
- User-Friendly Mechlab: why the heck can you mount ammo in your mech for a weapon you don't have? This is just an example of how the Mechlab could be improved to make things easier and noob-proof (not all players are experienced BT players).
- Singleplayer/Cooperative Campaign: with AI added, it's easy to add a full singleplayer (even coop?) game where you manage a small mercenary company, picking contracts, managing pilots and mechs, like in Mechwarrior 1 and Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries. I'm not taking about a full AAA campaign (much more complex to develop), but random missions in maps the game already has. I don't know you, but I would play this "game mode" even more often then the multiplayer one.
- Hero Orion: Looks like the hero Orion (because of the leaked red and black image) won’t be any of these exciting canon Orions: Lurch, Lady Death’s Orion, Kerensky’s Orion or Revenant. I would pick Revenant without thinking twice. Revenant is especially appropriate, because it was the mech of 2 of the greatest man in IS – however, the painting must be green and with a Kuritan dragon “tattoo” on it. For god's sake, why creating an out-of-the-blue hero Orion if there are these very cool actual heroes to choose?
- Kintaro: bad decision, IMHO. Not only add little to the game but has a somewhat uninspired translation to MWO.
I would delay it (indefinitely?) in favor of better choices.About the “Golden Boy” hero, I would let the Japanese hero spot for the Orion (Revenant) instead – which would make a good rivalry against the Dragon Slayer. EDIT: Goldenboy already released... :/ - Next Light Mechs: Firestarter and UrbanMech. Make the UrbanMech happen! (even if adapting the current engine system)
- Next Medium Mechs: Wolverine and Griffin.
- Next Heavy Mech: Lancelot.
- Next Assault Mechs: Banshee and Cyclops (if there is a 3rd new assault, Zeus).
- Heat Vision: why not a blue-to-red heat vision instead of the current boring one?
- Performance: investigate why the game demands so much CPU and GPU, even in the mechlab. The game itself could use some optimization.
- (new) Half Ton Ammo: to add half ton ammo options for all weapons (or at least for the MGs).
- (new) Champion Mechs never as Trial: never allow Champions mechs to be Trial mechs - that breaks the whole trial concept.
- (new) Value the Paying Costumers: Instead of desperate trying to get more players by dumbing down the game, I would invest in the hardcore fans and paying costumers. I would hear their needs and expectations. I would not let them down and NEVER lie to them.
(please keep the discussion civilized – even if I love the game and respect the work of the MWO devs, they are in no way infallible gods. Be careful with extreme opinions)
Edited by Odanan, 21 August 2013 - 11:18 AM.
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