34 replies to this topic

[Kyrie]

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.

[Uleric]

I could see the F2P method strictly being arena matches for credits. No pilot or general xp, no faction increases, nothing. Just straight up arena pvp. Whereas, the P2P mode being everything else. That should be enough to garnish interest from newbies whom may want to convert to premium and see what the rest of the game is about. If faction play is done right, it should generate enough interest in keeping enough P2P layers running the universe.

[Kyrie]

In general, the F2P approach in the USA abhors P2W, and PGI has committed itself to this gospel at every opportunity. So, without discussing anything related to closed beta, I will predict that PGI will offer time-saving opportunities for players to earn XP, LPs, and c-bills via some form of purchases out of Real Money. This is drawn directly from what the developers themselves have said publicly so I am not exactly being clairvoyant here. :-)

This will be of benefit particularly to those who are "forced" into a casual participation due to lack of available play-time, but do want to get involved in the meta-game. It is perhaps unrealistic to expect a restriction of store items to only one aspect of the game such as an arena mode. PGI, to survive and prosper must offer "convenience" consistently across the game.

In essence, the "whales" in an F2P community subsidize the game for everyone. The key to acceptance of the PGI Store in MechWarrior lies in not breaking faith with the fundamental concept of selling only "convenience" and "aesthetics": as described by PGI themselves, something which I am quite confident PGI will succeed in. And that's my 2 c-bills on the subject. :-)

[Lord Ikka]

Love the ideas. This is the sort of thread that needs to keep going, giving the devs stuff to work with! Good work everyone.

[Kyrie]

We may need to get a moderator to help organize the discussion. There are three main threads going now that hold what I consider to be the key ideas. Primary source material: SS' epic 3025 post, secondarily Pringles thread on merc Comm. Warfare and my own thread both in General Discussion advocating for a system more akin to EGA/MPBT 3025. All are addressing different but key issues. At the moment, one of the key points in contention is the basic framework of the map mechanics resulting in a fairly major split in the discussion.

Along one path, we have Pringles approach advocating some form of World of Tanks-Clan War Map tournament system following the devs original idea of having completely split battle space by classifying planets as "merc", "faction" or "Core" (untouchable/dev controlled). Key concerns are setting a timezone for scheduling attack/defense battles, unlimited Corp size, and separation within "merc space" based on clan size possibly (among other alternatives mentioned.) I reiterate my opposition to this approach in the strongest possible terms on the grounds that I hate a system that schedules my play time for me; and it also by implication demands that faction and mercs operate in non-intersecting planes. I advocate a unified approach.

On the second path, we have a more House centric approach distilled in SS' posts on MPBT: 3025. I personally want this system. However, I posted a detailed set of suggestions that de-emphasize top-down authority in favor of a softer rewards based approach before seeing SS's post. I would suggest merging my thread with SS's thread as these are at least internally consistent and restart the discussion on how heavy a command authority is suitable for this environment. As outlined above, the key distinction is the use of one single map with mercs operating for the Houses; shared attacks and defenses for both merc and faction.

Too tired to report the links to everything, but I have posted the links in a previous post ... at least I think I did. :-)

At some point I hope PGI will give us some clarity to know in what direction we should focus ourselves on when they are able to do so. I understand fully that the priority is getting work on the fundamental framework of the game so I know this will be weeks in the coming.

[Cerebus179]

I dont know if theyll implement this but it takes quite a while to travel from each jumpoint to a planet. It may take weeks in real time to travel in a dropshop to reach a planet, let alone jumping across from one front to another. Jumpships are fast but they have to recharge their drives with jump sails out. So its not like you can jump like a machinegun.