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Sadly, that having been said, I do not think this game will have a long and successful life in its current incarnation. These are my reasons for thinking this:
In the current incarnation, PUGs are greatly outmatched by pre-made teams and groups. While this is fine for the pre-made groups and the fan-clans, it is not good for the casual gamer. The game must appeal to the casual gamer since they provide the highest revenue to resource use of your customer base. Basically they are the profit in the game. The current setup only encourages elitist attitudes and quickly alienates any non fan-clan player. It doesn’t take long for it to get around the gaming world that you might as well not play if you aren’t in a clan. While most other MMO games have a guild/clan system, not being in one does not directly affect your playing experience. In this game it does and that is bad design. This will, if not entirely kill the game, regulate it to being one of those marginal games that languishes.
The lack of true customization of avatars (mechs) is directly against the direction that every successful MMO has taken. The reason for most MMOs allowing for greater customization of their avatars, including weapons used, armor worn etc., is to have your players bond to their avatars. This makes a player emotionally buy-in and in company terms; spend more money on the game. While the battle Tec universe is very strict on load outs and customizations this is not the way you win fans across a wide spectrum of players.
Short, repetitive games do not allow sufficient time for players to become immersed, specially if they are a non fan-clan/elite player. Running to the middle and brawling gets monotonous very quickly and will cause your players to drop off quickly.
The lack of useable in-game communication tools hinders the game-play. Stopping to type is real deterrent to communicating, specially if you end up dead because you were typing.
The lack of true arena choices puts players in environments that they may not find enjoyable or, worst case, are frustrating to the point of damaging the players view and or attitude towards the game. By this I mean that a player who enjoys playing a lite mech is currently, and quite often, forced into a game where s/he may be pitted against nothing but Heavies and Assaults. A more Solaris-esque approach would be better where a player can choose to participate in weight-class matches or, the current ‘anything goes’ match. Likewise and for the same reasons a player should be able to choose the terrain that they wish to play on.
Capturing, in either capture the flag or capture resources, has absolutely no real benefit for the player(s) doing the capturing. Being relegated to taking the hill or capturing the resources often means that you give up experience and money, which is something that most players don’t want to do. The end result is that you end up with giant Turdballs going at it in the middle of the map. This gets quite monotonous quite quickly and damages the long-term playability of the game.
There is no long-term, ultimate goal to the game. Most successful games have a defined end-game that players strive for. Be that level 50 and killing the great dragon of grue or proceeding to the defense of the realm, an end-game is essential. This is the spot where mature and reasonably competent players go to play. It provides a wall between the advanced, and most often ‘noob intolerant’, players and the casual and new gamers – who tend to be more forgiving. A defined end-game gives a pathway for skill progress and game mastery.
There is no sense of US and THEM in the game. In a game of inter-player conflict a defined sense of US and THEM gives players an in-game identity. This causes the players to bond closely to their team and to the game itself. In MWO THEM can be US in the very next game and that either eliminates the emotional imperative of the conflict or, even worse, carries an interpersonal conflict from match to match. Nothing will detract from a player’s enjoyment than having a grudge from the previous game carried into chat in the next game.
Very poor PR. Communication to fans should be often, repetitive and timely. Currently the communication seems to be spotty, at best. Now, I’m aware that a game like this, one where there are extreme fans, will produce some very annoying posts on your board and this is going to get very tiresome to deal with – but you have to keep dealing with it. Likewise, upcoming features should be easy to find, on their own page, with dates for implementation. Communication from the game manager should be weekly and there should be someone, not a developer, designer or manager, who is dedicated to facilitating communication between your fan-base and the development team. If you don’t do this well your boards end up being a ***** and complain zone. New players who come and read your forums will stay away from the game thinking, either right or wrong, that your game is a mess.
I am sure I can think of more if I tried, but I am reasonably confident that I have hit the major issues that need to be addressed.
