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Original Podcast can be listened to here:
http://www.nogutsnog...hp?topic=1739.0
Disclaimer: I do not work for PGI or NGNG, and while I attempt to stay informed like the majority of you reading this, I may make mistakes in my interpretation (which is in parenthesis.) [Any words in brackets are my editorial notes, and not the words of PGI or NGNG and are signed. - Peiper] This one also has [see Editorial Footnotes] and editorial footnotes at the end of this transcript. Some stuff I was so irritated about that I had to move them below to prevent it from mucking up my attempt and reporting the summary as evenly and unbiased as possible. This is not a word for word transcript; it is a summary, paraphrased and the like for maximum information sharing with minimal reading. I transcribe this for the hearing impaired, or those who are reading this at work or whatever and can't put on a headset/broadcast the podcast. -Peiper
Duncan Fisher talks about his favorite moments as a Solaris Jock, and how the Steiner Colosseum has no safety barriers between the spectators and the mechs.
6:30 Cockpit Glass and immersion factors: community feedback? Mixed feedback, and they're going to make it optional, and movie-makers will be very happy. He admits that those who are trying to maximize framerates and ignore the immersion will be able to exploit this (twitch gamers). This may help others who have frame rate problems, and that should help speed up their game (gamers with inferior PC's). [See Editorial Footnote 1 -Peiper]
9:55 What other immersion features are in the works/being considered? Ejection: no. Bryan would love to add more immersion and graphical effects. When CW is done, they'll be looking at the HUD, giving it an artistic pass. At this point, PGI is working on critical tasks like Community Warfare and not worried about that stuff. It takes engineer time to put in graphical enhancements, and cockpit glass went in basically because they had downtime and could fit it in between the big, important projects. He suggests we make a well-written post on the forums about what we want to see in terms of immersion / audio / video effects on the MWO forums of what you want to see and (maybe) they'll take a look at it.
11:15 Most effects are client side. For example, explosions are on your computer and may look different to another person seeing the same thing.
11:50 Base turret feature feedback? Didn't answer, just described why they're putting them in. and how they want to bring out more 'total warfare' stuff. This is building toward bases in community warfare. They want to push toward the idea that players who want to defend a planet will have to buy turrets and equipment. Building blocks of base-assault/defense mode.
13:25 Any new types of turrets or AI going to be introduced? Yes, more turret types, more weapons, ecm bubbles, etc.. This will create a need for scout mechs to find the turrets/assets and call in missile support to knock them out. [Wait: role warfare? No way... - Peiper] Short range turrets for small maps, long range turrets for larger maps.
15:00 Mobile HQ? Escort mission? Absolutely. They have endless designs/ideas for matches. They are working to make the current game modes more interesting/perfect – like adding turrets to assault. Says attack/defend mode will be asymmetrical, and just that strategy will help bring out different gameplay, different ways to use your mechs and builds and what else.
Phil mentions a moving train, that's a capture point in Battlefield 4. Picturing something similar on canyon map? He guesses we'll see more with attack/defend and when we get closer to that. (Doesn't give a chance for Bryan to answer!!! and moves on.)
16:40 Weapon modules. Any plans for more modules? They are very carefully adding more modules, not just range modules. They have ideas for enhanced equipment too.
18:15 Changes to the module system? Three phases planned. 1. getting more weapon modules out there 2.more content. 3. overhauling module system. This includes segregating consumables from modules. Current system makes you choose between them, but because so many people use consumables, they want to give them their own home. They may Tier the module system. So a mech might have 2 type III module slots, and another 3 type II module slots. 'Micro flavor' and 'micro role warfare' to help vary the variants of mechs and make them more unique. Currently many modules are ignored because some are useful and some not. They envision all of the modules being useful in the future. Phil asks: Why should I give up artillery for a five meter range buff on a laser?
22:20 Re-balance module pricing? Yes, as time goes on, they will adjust costs according to how useful they are in the current game. When the tier 5 weapon modules are out, they may actually compete with artillery for usefulness. Current prices are set up to give the newer player access to some buffs with less cost, but veterans, where c-bills mean very little, will go for the big-buck items. It gives different level players SOMETHING to put in their module slots until mech/pilot leveling systems are put into the game to allow for high tiered weapons modules, for example.
24:00 Examples of future weapons modules? Refire rate, refresh time, heat, range – all with a tradeoff like more range = more heat. Less range = less heat. They have to worry about whether one module will negate the negative aspect of another, so it's tricky.
25:35 Will mechs with certain roles, like lightly armored scout mechs, get more modules to make them more useful on the battlefield? “The rigidity of Battletech is incredible. Despite having millions and millions of options, it is quite a challenge to work within their systems. So we introduced the module system to allow us to have a metagame. You know, to allow us to add things to the game that fit outside of the canon and don't break the very sensitive; the incredibly sensitive tonnage rules and critical space rules that you can't really monkey with because it just breaks everything.” [See editorial footnote 2. -Peiper] So they focused on role and information warfare by really changing around the modules to really make mechs more unique and useful. So, like Phil suggests: give the scout mech 6 modules instead of 3 in order to really give them more purpose and a role in the game.
27:40 March 4th is Direct X 11 release. Will it have SLI/crossfire support? Not out of the gates, but after the initial release they will be able to add to it to include SLI/Crossfire.
28:00 What changes, if any, will players experience with Dx11 release? Not a whole lot, but some players will experience performance boosts, windows 8 has better compatibility with Dx11. But, the Cryengine version MWO uses isn't optimized/doesn't have a fully implemented DX11 pipeline. The glitz and glam, like particles and effects you'd expect from Dx11 won't come online right away either, and because they are cosmetic they're not implementing those right away. (Matt Craig is the guy to answer this.) There are performance buffs that will affect some higher end players, but for most players it will be business as usual.
29:00 Are their benefits to PGI in using Dx11 for MWO? No, because they still have to support Dx9 which means more dev time, more costs. They can add more features and effects, but they have to test it on TWO pipelines now instead of just one, it takes more resources, and takes longer. [See Editorial Footnote 3. -Peiper]
29:30 Breakdown of achievement system? Creates a pretty cool engagement feature made up of a bunch of mini-challenges that don't even have to be actively pursued. Basic ones might be 'get ten kills' or 'get 100 kills in an assault mech.' So they're just mini-goals that you try to achieve each match. If you ever played any console game, you'd know what he's talking about, but for those of us who don't, think: if I complete said achievements or number of achievements, I'll unlock something – like something from the store or a title or a piece of mech bling that you can show off or brag about with your fellow players. Currently, they have little things planned like kill and assist counters that give you bonus c-bills or GXP. There will be an achievement list with numbers in a list like in the pilot lab. You will also see it flash during games when you achieve something (not like big, flashy numbers, just something in a HUD log (text box?) so you know you achieved something.
32:28 Will you be dropping breadcrumbs and achievements right away into the game to help new players get bonus C-Bills or help them pick their first mechs and stuff? Yes, part of the FTUE (first time user experience). He says the player tutorial has been waiting for the achievement system. [see Editorial Footnote 4. - Peiper] An admittedly bad example by Bryan is: Oh, you won your first match? Here's a laser for you! [I admit, I kinda laughed. -Peiper] Play your 15th game? Here, have a mech! For those of us who already have completed a billion matches, he will be able to give us big rewards too. [I hope that means achievements are retroactive! Coming up on 6000 matches for me since they last reset the counter. -Peiper]
“The Gold Mechs that we're offering for sale are just the tip of the iceberg for what we can do with the achievement system” and giving rewards to players who have truly mastered a mech or done something very significant a really nice reward. Like getting your epic sword in Everquest, a multi-month mission that took 30 people-plus to get it for you. [Bryan's example, not mine! -Peiper]
Phil suggests that one of the achievement rewards could be mechbays. Bryan doesn't say anything.
35:40 STAT RESET?!?!?!!??? Bryan says that because of the achievement system there will be a stat reset, which will include archived stats. This might be a seasonal or yearly thing. Current stats will be archived on another page of your profile for reference, but we'll ALL be starting all over again when achievements are introduced into the game. They haven't decided how this will be done. Bryan apologizes for all the players who are proud of their stats. [He doesn't elaborate more, and Phil doesn't ask for some reason! If this is an 'easter egg' it smells pretty rotten. Grumble....-Peiper]
36:55 When will gifting be available in the store? It's pretty close to being ready. We can't gift MC because of tax laws. But being able to buy mechs and stuff for friends: that is in the works.
End of summary.
Editorial Footnote 1. He defines the 'core guys' as those who want to turn down their resolution and graphics to get those framerates up. This is an interesting note, as I always thought the 'core players' were those who appreciate the emersive, simulation qualities of the game. If he sees the core players as the super-competitive, score driven twitch gamers, then that explains some things about their design decisions in the game like why they haven't sized hardpoints to prevent the boats that ghost heat was designed to control. This also may point out the bias between PC gamers (simulator junkies) and console gamers (PGI/score driven players). I say this because PGI wanted to make MW:5 a console game, and only reluctantly made it a PC game due to their inability to put it on Sony's PlayStation/lack of financial backing. Perhaps that's why I am on an island? See Russ's interviews for my source on that stuff below and try to figure it out for yourself. I could have misinterpreted it, as he could have made two different statements that ran together: Here is my best attempt at a transcript of that run-on statement. 7:44 ish Some players love cockpit glass “those core guys who are the, you know, huhuh, I always think back to the Quake III where they would turn down their resolution to the lowest setting...” best framerates, etc.. I'd like to know, Bryan: do you consider the core players as the Battletech simulator, we love planetary warfare and stock mech guys? Or are the core players the ultra-competitive types who could care less about the simulation, planetary warfare, stuff and want to pilot the alpha-boats that never existed in search of that One-Shot-Kill perfect mech build? -Peiper My statements that PGI may cater to the console gamers first, battletech players second stems from the history of this game as described in the following linked interview with Russ Bullock. http://mwomercs.com/...lock-interview/
Editorial Footnote 2. Okay, so you can't break tonnage limits, but you can change the way equipment works? ECM? Ghost heat? Double the armor values? Clan tech? Frankenmechs??? This [redacted] makes Peiper a dull boy.
Editorial Footnote 3. [Hindsight is 20/20 By the time this game is fully operational, no one will have a Dx9 capable machine anymore. Peiper is getting really grumpy tonight. Will this interview ever end? I see why NGNG broke it into 3 parts. -Peiper]
Editorial Footnote 4. [OOOHHH, is THAT why new users walk into their match and shoot their neighbors in the back, because they're waiting for the achievement system to put in a tutorial? /snicker - Peiper]
Edited by Peiper, 21 February 2014 - 12:57 PM.
