WardenWolf, on 21 August 2012 - 08:05 AM, said:
@ Kyrie -
I am going to read through some of those links you sent - thank you! And I agree that the stuff I have suggested for the most part leans toward casual on the house side... but that is somewhat intentional. Here is my line of thinking:
1) There does need to be a place for casual players
2) The Devs have stated that they don't want to depart from canon in terms of the major territorial holdings of the houses and other large events
3) Merc companies, the 'guilds' of this game, are likely to require a fair amount of work on the part of players - not something that lends itself to more casual players
4) Lone wolf status would certainly be an option for casual players, but I don't want them to have only one option (and having a major portion of the playerbase be lone wolves doesn't really fit lore)
This leads me to think that the houses are the natural fit for casual players, but that there also needs to be some space in them for more hardcore / RP folks. To that end, I was suggesting that the upper-echelons of house players actually be able to make some impact in the game: deciding what planet to attack when the time comes, for example, and perhaps being able to make or run a few house units.
I guess that is all to say that it sounds like we have a fundamentally different approach to CW - at least for the houses - which may mean we won't really agree on how things should be done. But as I said, I will give your threads a look... maybe you can change my mind
Casual players would actually benefit from organized factions, IMHO. To draw an example, I first got into this universe back when "free online access" was unheard of unless you lived in a university computer center. I cut my teeth on BT by playing online in a dial-up based network called "GEnie", which was really just an afterthought to General Electric's Information Services division -- a way to get some money off idle servers after 6pm eastern. The hourly access charge was at first $6/hour (50% savings off the primetime rate of 12/hour).
In this environment we had a hardcore group that *had* to be casual --- since they didn't have a budget of hundreds set aside for online entertainment. The ones who were insanely hooked on the game, who did spend this then had to take up the slack to provide leadership within the House. The casual players wanted to roleplay being IN House Kurita (insert Your Favorite House here). They just wanted to log in, run missions by shooting off AI-droid legs and logout. And still paying tons of cash for EGA quality graphics.. go figure. :-)
I feel that the people who are able to make a hard-core time commitment to filling slots in a chain of command inside a faction would yield a net-positive experience for the vast majority of House members who want to roleplay being inside the House military but without time pressure commitments of command.
The casual player has a spot in any of the House militaries -- they will drive the mechs that actually win battles and wars. I just want there to be leadership to enhance the playing experience of casual faction players.
As to your point as to what the developers have stated regarding there being no discrepancy between the "historical canon" and our online game, I feel that this is easily resolved if the developers were to change their minds. To put it somewhat crudely, I am convinced that there is more money to be made by tapping into a deep faction role-playing experience than in not doing so.
In any successful F2P game that I can imagine, there is a link between "immersion" and actual revenues. The deeper the player gets into the game, the likelier he or she is to open their pocketbooks. Without attracting prolonged attention, the chances of "conversion" are lessened dramatically, IMHO. Many players will login expecting to find a significant roleplay opportunity within the Factions. The BT canon always emphasized the factions. Creating an opportunity for deeper Faction interaction will, I feel, translate directly into more conversion opportunities for PGI.
In summary, implementing factions in depth will hold more interest than only having merc corps available for hard-core players. The key demographic for F2P revenues is often the hardcore player as opposed to the casual player (IMHO).
Edited by Kyrie, 22 August 2012 - 03:35 AM.