Posted 05 November 2014 - 08:45 PM
I will be filling in the answers to these questions throughout the night.
After Phase 2 is out, will future CW content be released iteratively (i.e. smaller additions that occur more often - say, monthly), or more like expansion packs (i.e. larger bundles of content dropped every 3-6 months)?
More than likely we'll be adding bigger stuff with longer intervals. At the same time we'll be fixing and addressing current features that need to be revisited.
How are contracts structured? i.e. is there any point in staying loyal if the faction you chose loses every significant engagement in the first month? I haven't seen any mention about whether CW combat provides C-Bill / XP rewards or should I just assume that it will be similar to the Public queue rewards? If a player loses the LP of the Faction they just left when switching, how does the player continue to lose LP for that Faction since all of the Faction's LP would already have been lost after the switch?
You will be earning XB/CB like you do in public play. We are working on balancing the reward system for CW to make sure you don't notice a significant difference from public play.
Faction alignment will not affect you if the Faction is always losing, only the IS map will change to reflect that.
Players will not ZERO out LP if they leave a Faction. They will take a penalty amount initially and from that point on it will depend on which Faction they switched to, to determine any further losses. If you have 100 LP in Kurita and switch to Davion, you will take the initial hit of, let's say 20 LP for example leaving you with 80 LP. If killing a Kurita player as a Davion player costs 1 Kurita LP, then your Kurita standing will be 79LP but you will be climbing in Davion LP.
Why can I not create a Clan persona and an Inner Sphere persona?
This is something that was discussed internally. It is a HUGE rewrite of our database/back-end systems and much larger than the plan we have in action right now. It was originally designed to have an IS profile, and a Clan profile for CW but due to technical hurdles that would have to be implemented, we moved away from profile selection to what we have now.
Can I get more information about the LP boosters from the Phoenix packs? And, finally, will Loyalty Points degrade over time?
LP will not degrade over time. As for LP booster, if you got one with your Phoenix Package and equip it when you're aligned to that Faction, you will get your extra LP per match from the booster on top of your normal earnings. This operates much like XP/CB boosters in Hero 'Mechs for example.
Regarding Loyalty Points, have you made any provision to insert loyalty medallions for Clan players who bought the Phoenix Packages or are these boosters going to be restricted to Inner Sphere Factions?
This is something I can bring up in the next production meeting with Russ and Matt.
How will faction loyalists who commit permanently be rewarded above contract players?
The thing about permanently aligning with a Faction is that you will earn higher LP per match than part-time contract players.
So, what's the point of Loyalty Points if you plan to be a Mercenary unit for a Clan?
Clans will be giving out rewards just like IS Houses do.
So for us Mercs that means, that Faction Rewards can only be used while we are contracted with that specific faction... if we are playing our role properly, we would be fighting for a lot of houses, which means all faction rewards will just be senseless for us?
If you keep switching Factions then you won't be able to maximize the awards you get from the Factions if you were to stay with them longer. Constant flipping of Factions is something we do not encourage but it's up to you the players to choose what to do. If you do frequently flip Factions, you will have low LP totals for numerous Factions instead of high LP for a single Faction.
Is the LP system only going to be counting CW matches?
LP is Loyalty Points, this is part of the CW part of MWO. So yes, LP will only be earned in CW gameplay.
On behalf of the large and lively Nova Cat faction existing within your playerbase I´d like to ask:Should we go for timed clan loyalist contracts and hope, or go permanent?
This is up to you but I would suggest going for the longest part time contracts for now. Once we add Clan Nova Cat to the game, you can then switch to it when you see fit.
Will specific mech chassis used mainly by a specific faction give you any bonus or boost to LP earned for each faction during CW play?
Not at this time but it is something we could add in a future expansion.
Have you considered placing Ammo Supply Points (ASP) on the map and allow the units to either attack it or defend it? Maybe one on each side of map or just one located on the map. It then becomes a decision of securing the ASP first or take out the gate first? Or try to do both. Make the players decide and fight over the ammo.
If and when we do add an ammo supply system into the game, we probably will do it as you mention where they are vulnerable to attack.
So... what is CW for a newb like me and will it modify in anyway the way I play now? I would not like to be forced to join a faction because I don't know nothing about any and I don't feel to do some intensive reading about where all this is originating from.
Community Warfare is an Opt-in section of the game. You are a public/PUG player, you can continue to play as such without any interference from CW if you so choose. If you do not launch into a match from the Faction tab, you will launch as you do right now.
StalaggtIKE(Big set-up block of text for a question but here's the answer):Is such a system being considered? Will there be any incentives to choosing one over the other?
Half of your question relates to items we would include with logistics. As mentioned in other updates, logistics would be a large undertaking which we'd have to do in a Phase 3 type of expansion.
As for reducing prices on items based on Faction play, this is something that our database is not built to do. It is something that we will continue to investigate but it will not be in Phase 2 of CW.
Could you not manage the CW, that if somebody wins a planet, they could it hold without fear (fight) for a [week] long or such... Because, fighting for a planet 90 days long day-after-day is just boooooring?
When a planet is successfully taken over, the game will select an adjacent planet to put up for contest next. So yes, if you do successfully take over a planet, it will remain in your control as long as the opposing faction doesn't push you back through counter attacks on the nearby planets.
This is something we can discuss and has been mentioned. I'll fill everyone in if anything comes of this. We do think it would not be ideal for a brand new player to drop into CW." Really? While I agree it might not be ideal, are we catering CW to the 1% ?
Miscommunication here... this decision has nothing to do with competitive players, it has to do with us not wanting to drop brand new players into this experienced/role playing aspect of MWO.
Butane9000: Map alternative suggestions
Great suggestions here and we'll look into this as we develop CW.
Jetfire: Consumable suggestions
Some good thoughts here, a few that would be problematic but thank you for your suggestions!
Can you expand on what you mean by zones?
What have you guys thought about or worked on to deal with population imbalances between the factions? Would it work to stagger the faction contract sign ups instead of doing them all at once? Do you have plans to use population and faction successes to determine the number of CW planets that are contested at a given time?
We recently pulled the data on Faction alignment from a Unit perspective. What is surprising is that currently Units are fairly evenly spread across the 10 Factions. There will be the Faction reset at the start of CW that may change this and we will be keeping an eye on this carefully. While the game system will be in charge of planet contention, we do have the ability to add/override any planetary conflicts. If Steiner has a ton of people defending their border, we could easily add more Steiner planets into a contested state and open the floodgates to attack Steiner.
Will Wolf's Dragoons ever be a faction in this game? If so, does the original plan of attaining a certain amount of LP in each of the IS houses before you can join them still hold true?
It is our plan to add Wolf's Dragoons but not right away. When they do appear in the game, they will earn and lose LP in a different manner than a "pure" Faction/Merc Unit player would.
Clarification: "You say that you keep your loyalty rewards, even after you change factions. You also say that you lose all loyalty points upon changing a faction."
Again, you do not lose ALL LP when switching Factions, but there will be a hit to your total.
I'd like to know, whether repair and rearm will be implemented in community warfare. So for all intents and purposes there aren't really any "house units" but rather "mercenary units" taking a "permanent alignment" contract?
First, repair and rearm is something we have to be very careful about. We do not want to cause a situation where players lose so many CB through RnR that they can no longer play. We bring this topic back up every 2-3 months and still are looking into a way of bringing it back in a manner that makes sense and is fair to the player.
If there are 36 players attacking a planet, split into 3 groups of 12, will I be able to view the members and choose which group I want to defend against?
Matches will be created by 2 groups of 12 players. How those groups are constructed is on a first come first serve basis. You will not know who is on the other team until the match starts.
What is your relationship with Catalyst Labs? Are they working with you to make the game more canon?
Randall Bills has been working with us since near the beginning of the project. He's an invaluable resource when it comes to lore and information not generally available online. Very cool guy and I'm lucky enough to have a picture of him and myself choking each other out. But yes, he's a go to guy for lore and was also behind the InnerSphere News items that we used to have running.
Some players are purist and will only play IS mechs (Maybe some will only play clan mechs as well. But I’m going just talk about IS purists). Others, may not want to put out the cost for clan mechs. So, if the unit leader picks an IS fraction for a month of contracts, everyone in the unit can participate. However if he changes it up to a month of clan contracts, now everyone in that unit who does not own a clan mech is unable to play CW for 30 days!
This is entirely up to the player Unit to decide on. It is no different than playing a guild in an MMO where every decision is made by the players and the leader of the guild.
Clarification: I read Paul's post and I didn't see anything that said you wouldn't be able to equip cockpit items you earned (or purchased) from factions you aren't aligned with.
Items that you currently have (and can still buy after CW launches), such as a Steiner flag will always be usable. It's the rewards that are given out by a Faction (i.e. not purchased) that will be locked to Faction alignment.
SovietArmada: Ammo Center suggestions.
Again, some good ideas and thanks for the suggestions!
What kind of Loyalty Points am I going to need to get my Wolf's Dragoons decal?
There will be full disclosure when we get around to adding Wolf's Dragoons as to how they will be part of the game.
With the rank specific items are we talking about faction ranks or ranks based on our individual unit basis?
Faction ranks are ranks given by the actual Faction. The Factions will reward players with ranks as they accumulate enough LP to meet their thresholds. Yes, you will be able to get Faction specific ranks that are pulled from canon.
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... yeah.. we can't be that mean. 
