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[Paul Inouye]

Hey folks,

Russ and I would like to clear up the top concerns we saw in the feedback thread for Community Warfare - Phase 2.

Faction Switching - Making use of all of your 'Mech Inventory
We were looking at how the IS Map changes over time and how slow the pace would be if we controlled the release of planets to follow the actual invasion timeline. We had reservations about this for a while and with the current feedback from the community, we have started investigating the ability for units and players to switch factions at the end of a season. Seasons would last for [3] months (still to be determined), and at the end of the Season, the IS Map will reset and players will be able to change factions for participating in Community Warfare. This allows players who have plenty of 'Mechs in each faction stable to use them all in Community Warfare in stages. We think this is a fair tradeoff for both role playing aspects and player inventory aspects in relation to Community Warfare.


Inter-Faction Combat
While the primary conflict in Community Warfare is the faction war between Inner Sphere and Clan forces, we do understand the player desires to include the inter-faction conflicts between the Houses/Clans. These are the skirmishes between Davion and Kurita for example. We currently have the ability to put any planet/system on the map up for contention and can use this feature to kick of conflicts along the house borders and clan borders as well.

While our focus is Clan vs IS, there will be opportunities in Community Warfare for players to engage in inter-faction conflicts as well. Why shouldn't Liao be able to push into Davion space? We believe this will add some very interesting dynamics to Community Warfare along with the main Invasion conflict and will be adding this ability with Phase 2.


Respawns
So yesterday when I posted the information about Community Warfare - Part 2, I mentioned it was a copy and paste from the high level design doc. A few items were still being discussed so I pulled them to not put it out there quite yet. I wanted to release those other bits in the next update. But low and behold... 20 minutes after posting... Karl walked up to me and said... "You left respawn in there." After turning various shades of white/grey I saw the error. Too late.. people already commenting on it. Here's the clarification:

Originally it was planned to have 1.. ONE... respawn when the attackers breached the gate in the Invasion game mode. This gives the feeling of re-enforcements arriving because the respawn would happen in the player's respective bases. Basically players who died before the gate breach, would go into a stasis mode and observe like the current spectator mode. Once the gate was breached, everyone in stasis would respawn one time. People who had not died would have a "respawn in their pocket".

Now keep this in mind... I personally am not a fan of respawning but it just made sense for this type of game mode. Russ HATES respawns and when he saw the first design he was like "WOAH!!". So we were in talks about it. Engineering support is already done for it but everything was on hold until we made a concrete decision. Then I made the copy-paste error...

I met with the engineers involved with CW-Phase 2 and we started talking about the game mode and the idea of respawn. Wayyy back in closed Beta everyone thought Drop Ship mode would be very cool... the ability to bring in up to 4 'Mechs (1 of each Weight Class) into a match and choose non-destroyed 'Mechs to respawn back into the match with. This was a high technical risk back then and Drop Ship was put on the back burner.

In the meeting today and planning out how we will be incorporating the new game mode into Community Warfare to make a unique experience... Drop Ship came back up. Now let me tell you this... every time I mention Drop Ship, the engineering team (I'll call them Karl & Friends) would cringe back in fear with eyes that would make an anime character jealous. We all started talking.. what's best for the game?.. what would have to get done?.. everyone agreed the community would love something like Drop Ship.

I'm happy to let you know... Karl & Friends have decided bite the bullet and fully investigate the complete system requirements for Drop Ship mode. During this discussion we have found that this mode is not only cool, but it also helps with some of the match creation process that would be needed for Planetary Conquest matches. It's a scary undertaking but it's something that we are all passionate about in creating a very cool gaming experience for you the community.

Some players may have concerns about being forced into playing one of each 'Mech weight class during a Community Warfare match. Keep in mind that we've spent a lot of time creating a MechWarrior title where lights, mediums, heavies and assault all have a viable role to play on the battlefield. Bringing in your favorite 'Mech is not going to be hindered in any way and that the rest of your Drop Ship provides you with a means to support your Unit if you do happen to be destroyed in combat. Full 12-man Unit groups participating in CW might be able to ensure that they have exactly 12 'Mechs of each weight class among the 48 total. Random groups and Units that are showing up to defend will have little to no chance organizing which 'Mechs to prep and some people may end up needing to take nothing but 4 lights when they only pilot Assaults. Therefore the most balanced solution that will allow the most strategy amongst teams is to have each person bring one of each weight class into battle.

I cannot 100% guarantee Drop Ship mode at this moment, but everyone on board is going to try to make it happen. I will update you all on the final discovery in the next CW update.

Please leave your feedback here: http://mwomercs.com/...pdate-feedback/