25 replies to this topic

[Suko]

I read the developer tweets and posts about the low number of people participating in the latest PTS. I understand that it helps you (PGI) make a better game when there's a lot of people on the PTS to give you better data. However, you need to do something to entice players to spend their valuable time on the PTS instead of actually earning XP/C-bills/etc on the True servers.

First: You just released Clan mechs. So many of those who bought the clan mechs are now eager to level them up and enjoy their new aquisitions. Asking them to leave those behind for even a couple of matches really isn't going to work without an incentive.

Second: Incentives. You need to give players a reason to hop onto PTS. Why don't you unlock Clan mechs for everyone on the PTS? (This is not my idea, I saw it posted somewhere else on the forums) I did not buy the Clan packs, but I'm definitely eager to test drive a clan mech. That would entice me (and many of my friends) to load up the PTS to get a chance to drive the Clan mechs and see how they feel.

This would accomplish many things. Those who feel the Clan mechs are "OP" will be able to understand how Clan mechs really are by piloting them first hand. They could see which Clan mech they like most and this will certainly push a few people over the edge into purchasing a Clan pack because they don't want to wait another 3 months to get another taste of Clan mechs.
Additionally, I'd consider offering people 1 day of Premium time if they commit at least 2 hours to testing on the PTS when you open it up. This would probably get more people involved, even if they own Clan mechs already.

Third: This is speculation on my part, but I think a lot of the guys who were waiting around for the Group Sizes of 5-11 got fed up and left a few months back. I'm not sure what you could do to entice them to return to the game, but this shows the importance of NOT burning bridges with any segment of your community. I may be wrong about these assumptions though, and I'll let some of these "mid-size group" evangelists offer their own thoughts and opinions on the matter for themselves.

Fourth: Weekends are better. Like a lot of people in the world, I work. Trying to fit the PTS into my schedule is challenging enough on the weekends, but doing it during the work week almost garantees low numbers. You saw it yourself with the Clan tests, didn't you? The first one was huge, but wasn't the weekend one even bigger!? I don't know if you're worried about strain on the servers or what, but if you truly want a good test sample of users, you have to work around our schedules.

That's all I had to say. I want to help you guys out, but you need to help us out, too. Free mechbays and premium time is awesome (and much appreciated), but instead of giving them away for free, make it a reward as part of civic participation for the greater good of the game.

Edited by ShadowVFX, 30 June 2014 - 10:28 AM.

[Mechteric]

I agree with all the above, also they should give everyone a boat load of CBills _AND_ GXP. People will not only want to test the new features, but can also use it to test new mechs they want to test drive.


But I would definitely say the number one reason for low turnout is due to number "fourth" from OP. 4 hours for an evening is just not near enough time, a whole weekend is the only suitable solution.

[Hellcat420]

they pretty much always have the pts sessions while im at work.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

i uninstalled test server a few months back when they offered drop in 5 matches get a free day of premium time and it took 90 minutes to get into 1 match.trying clan mechs would have gotten me to reinstall.but there was no incentive to do it when i could earn cbills in the game...knowing you couldnt play the clan mechs in test then getting the june 12th email 'try the clan mechs'then you click the 'see details' and see that you couldnt unless you purchased them sorta pi$$ed me off and sealed the deal.

[TLBFestus]

ShadowVFX, on 30 June 2014 - 09:23 AM, said:

I read the [url="http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/162923-publictest-matchmaker-update/page__p__3504356#entry3504356"]. Third: This is speculation on my part, but I think a lot of the guys who were waiting around for the Group Sizes of 5-11 got fed up and left a few months back. I'm not sure what you could do to entice them to return to the game, but this shows the importance of NOT burning bridges with any segment of your community.

That's what the smell has been for so long. I just couldn't put a name to it.

[Kraven Kor]

PGI adds something other than new mechs - like, oh, I dunno, more maps, more / better / more immersive game modes that include actual military-style objectives... and I'll be there with bells on.

Want our help tweaking yet another iterative change to matchmaker when PTS population cannot possibly ever match live population? Eh... I'll pass.

[Almeras]

I didn't test because, I don't think the MM works and the update will make it worse;
- It doesn't factor in BV or Tons.
- It'll throw 3 odd teams vs a 12man
- ELO has too many blind spots
- Haven't had the promised elo reset
- Because of the way ELO works you'll keep getting thrown in against the same mis-stacked odds all night.

Here is an example of what I can expect to see repeat on a bad night


Thats 2 full meta/ high elo (teams a 3 and a 4), with a High elo ringer making the 4th guy for Alpha lance.
vs
Our non meta 3man medium lance plus all pugs or duo's whose names I've never seen before or since.

The match maker obviously likes this set up as we would get it upto 3 times in a row and multiple times in a session over the last few days.

Edited by Almeras, 30 June 2014 - 03:08 PM.

[LordKnightFandragon]

No, if you want more people to participate in PTS, make it open for more then 4 hours for 1 day......and advertise it a little bit better. I honestly didnt even know of this last PTS until like 2 days after.....

They should keep the PTS open for like a week, all day long lol. Does Canada pay for internet service differently then the US where they cant keep the stuff up all the time or something? Why is their PTS time soooo limited and short?

Im curious to see if those TC will be worth the weight.

Almeras, on 30 June 2014 - 03:07 PM, said:

I didn't test because, I don't think the MM works and the update will make it worse;
- It doesn't factor in BV or Tons.
- It'll throw 3 odd teams vs a 12man
- ELO has too many blind spots
- Haven't had the promised elo reset
- Because of the way ELO works you'll keep getting thrown in against the same mis-stacked odds all night.

Here is an example of what I can expect to see repeat on a bad night


Thats 2 full meta/ high elo (teams a 3 and a 4), with a High elo ringer making the 4th guy for Alpha lance.
vs
Our non meta 3man medium lance plus all pugs or duo's whose names I've never seen before or since.

The match maker obviously likes this set up as we would get it upto 3 times in a row and multiple times in a session over the last few days.

What do the colored shields on the side mean? Ive seen orange, yellow, blue...and ive seen as many as like 5 or 6 in one match...I thoght it meant premade leader, but you can only have 3 leaders. Does that shield mean the person is a bad ass?

[Deathlike]

LordKnightFandragon, on 30 June 2014 - 05:53 PM, said:

What do the colored shields on the side mean? Ive seen orange, yellow, blue...and ive seen as many as like 5 or 6 in one match...I thoght it meant premade leader, but you can only have 3 leaders. Does that shield mean the person is a bad ass?

They are either Founders tags (blue-veteran, orange-elite, yellow-legendary) or Phoenix tags (claw-talon, lightning bolt-storm, shield-guardian, star-overlord).

I may have some of them wrong, but that's pretty much it. I don't believe Clans have such tags, but that could be available at some later date.

Edited by Deathlike, 30 June 2014 - 06:06 PM.

[Pjwned]

Personally I would award everybody who participated in at least 1 full match with 1 day of premium time; a very cheap but effective incentive to get people to come test things out so that when the patch goes live there might not be as many surprises.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Deathlike, on 30 June 2014 - 06:06 PM, said:

They are either Founders tags (blue-veteran, orange-elite, yellow-legendary) or Phoenix tags (claw-talon, lightning bolt-storm, shield-guardian, star-overlord).

I may have some of them wrong, but that's pretty much it. I don't believe Clans have such tags, but that could be available at some later date.

Oooooh, I see. So there is actually no way to tell if one is in a Pre made or not? It just seems when people have those shields, the team with the most tends to win...lol. Ofc, founder tags means they have been playing since inception..they have a clue.

That explains so much lol, ty.

[Sug]

Or maybe use the PTS sooner than a few days before releasing things so it doesn't seem like such a joke?

[ThermidorFallen]

We're cheap b*st*rds (at least I pretend to be), give us free MC for each PTS we enter! The longer we're in, the more MC is received, say max of 500 a test or something (I don't see this happening in a million years).

[Deathlike]

LordKnightFandragon, on 30 June 2014 - 09:53 PM, said:

Oooooh, I see. So there is actually no way to tell if one is in a Pre made or not? It just seems when people have those shields, the team with the most tends to win...lol. Ofc, founder tags means they have been playing since inception..they have a clue.

That explains so much lol, ty.

You kinda "learn the premades" over time, but it has been requested multiple times to PGI about making this visible/obvious after the match's completion.

[Ovion]

The simplest way, is giving a reward.
If you play 10 matches on the Public Test Server (or even win 10 matches) you get X.

X could be say, a Mechbay, some MC, even a Mech.
This would get a LOT more people in.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Star Trek Online offers incentives to those of us who have subscriptions to participate in tests of content by releasing small exclusives that eventually become available on the store, Often times it's an exclusive tribble that gives a certern boost.

MWO doesn't have that, but what it does have is incentives like C-bill injection for those who participated, MC injection, mechbay slot, or mech with slot. This would give people a reason to WANT to test, beyond the fact that "Oh hey, new feature."

Also yes, give everyone full access to all content in MWO on the private server, NOTHING should be locked for players, at all, all modules, all mechs, everything should be unlocked and ready to go. This gives a fully conductive playing environment for testing on the whole.

[Livewyr]

1: That was true.
2: I do not quite agree here. When I first hopped onto the PTS for clan mechs, I felt like the clan mechs were really overpowered. (Especially in Mechlab where I was throwing on half-weight SRMs, or wielding the very dakka sounding UACs.) It was only after several hours of exploring the new did I recognize that it was fairly balanced.

Dropping everyone into clan mechs for a couple of hours, I think, would do more harm than good. "OMG THEY'RE OP, AND I HAVE PLAYED THEM [a little bit] NOW SO I KNOW!"
2b: That said, some incentives could go along way. (Free mech bay on main account for 1 hour on PTS.. things like that.)
3:...
4: Weekends are better for us, but that is having extra employees come in on the weekends they could be spending with their families. (I think [rather hope] the clan weekend PTS was an volunteer exception because of the renewed excitement and "happy feels" going around the community- that also bled into the studio.) I do not think that will become the rule.

[ktKAPS]

ShadowVFX, on 30 June 2014 - 09:23 AM, said:

I read the developer tweets and posts about the low number of people participating in the latest PTS. I understand that it helps you (PGI) make a better game when there's a lot of people on the PTS to give you better data. However, you need to do something to entice players to spend their valuable time on the PTS instead of actually earning XP/C-bills/etc on the True servers.

First: You just released Clan mechs. So many of those who bought the clan mechs are now eager to level them up and enjoy their new aquisitions. Asking them to leave those behind for even a couple of matches really isn't going to work without

Second: Incentives. You need to give players a reason to hop onto PTS. Why don't you unlock Clan mechs for everyone on the PTS? (This is not my idea, I saw it posted somewhere else on the forums) I did not buy the Clan packs, but I'm definitely eager to test drive a clan mech. That would entice me (and many of my friends) to load up the PTS to get a chance to drive the Clan mechs and see how they feel.

This would accomplish many things. Those who feel the Clan mechs are "OP" will be able to understand how Clan mechs really are by piloting them first hand. They could see which Clan mech they like most and this will certainly push a few people over the edge into purchasing a Clan pack because they don't want to wait another 3 months to get another taste of Clan mechs.
Additionally, I'd consider offering people 1 day of Premium time if they commit at least 2 hours to testing on the PTS when you open it up. This would probably get more people involved, even if they own Clan mechs already.

Third: This is speculation on my part, but I think a lot of the guys who were waiting around for the Group Sizes of 5-11 got fed up and left a few months back. I'm not sure what you could do to entice them to return to the game, but this shows the importance of NOT burning bridges with any segment of your community. I may be wrong about these assumptions though, and I'll let some of these "mid-size group" evangelists offer their own thoughts and opinions on the matter for themselves.

Fourth: Weekends are better. Like a lot of people in the world, I work. Trying to fit the PTS into my schedule is challenging enough on the weekends, but doing it during the work week almost garantees low numbers. You saw it yourself with the Clan tests, didn't you? The first one was huge, but wasn't the weekend one even bigger!? I don't know if you're worried about strain on the servers or what, but if you truly want a good test sample of users, you have to work around our schedules.

That's all I had to say. I want to help you guys out, but you need to help us out, too. Free mechbays and premium time is awesome (and much appreciated), but instead of giving them away for free, make it a reward as part of civic participation for the greater good of the game.

Great feedback and agree with all of this.

Edited by Dragonhuntr, 01 July 2014 - 04:11 AM.

[AlexEss]

@ShadowVFX

I partially agree with you but you are looking at this purely from a player point of view..

1: This is very true, the timing was off... but not much you can do about that. Things need to be tested when they need, and we give them no slack in that department.

2: Here is the biggest thing. A test always have to be governed by what need to be tested, if they needed IS pilots as well as clan pilots for an example unlocking the clans mechs would be a very bad move, as that would push a set of data way out of bounds. If it is general stress-testing otoh releasing unreleased content or limited content is a very good idea. There is also the matter of not having too many people coming to the test server as a crashed test server serves noone. Again free clan mechs for everybody could very well cause this.

3: You always "burn bridges" at some point. It is unavoidable (according to one of my professors) and no matter how you do it some people will be up in arms over something. But i agree it could be a good idea to email inactive accounts... say give them a free set of paints and a day of premium if they come back and test update X on the PTR. After all very rarely can a burnt bridge not be rebuilt.

4: This again comes back to how much your actual PTS can handle, But i generally agree that weekends are better for foot traffic.

But at the same time you do not want people who are on the PTS just for rewards and bling, you want people who honestly have a interest in working with you to make the game better. It is a difficult path to walk.

[Screech]

It isn't really that complicated. They either need to be testing things people are really interested in or throw them a bone and give them free stuff to get them on. I did not get on the last PTS because there wasn't much I wanted to test out as opposed to the previous testing periods.