79 replies to this topic

[Gut]

LordBraxton, on 26 May 2015 - 10:43 AM, said:

Because december was the only month in the past 3 years where we saw respectable progress.

I enjoy MWO, and have spent far too much on it. At this point I know not to expect impovements. I'm still waiting for the quality we saw in CLOSED BETA to come back.

JK, gave up last year.

Now we are back to the honest truth, it wasn't all IGP's fault after all was it?

Why did all your programmers leave, crippling the game with massive sections of unmodifiable code?

I checked today, from at least the bottom half of the list, here are the coders still around (again, may only be half of them, maybe)

Brian Windover - Lead Programmer
Kristofer "Krist" Smith - Lead Engineer
Omid Kiarostami - Gameplay Engineer
Paul Inouye - Lead Designer

And that's as far as I got going down the list in reverse alphabetical.

The question is, what are these guys doing that takes so long.

[White Panther]

Gut, on 26 May 2015 - 12:36 PM, said:

I checked today, from at least the bottom half of the list, here are the coders still around (again, may only be half of them, maybe)

Brian Windover - Lead Programmer
Kristofer "Krist" Smith - Lead Engineer
Omid Kiarostami - Gameplay Engineer
Paul Inouye - Lead Designer

And that's as far as I got going down the list in reverse alphabetical.

The question is, what are these guys doing that takes so long.

Probably not much of anything Gut. If they were actually focused on developing (if they are even competent enough) the game instead of selling mechs, we would be seeing a whole lot more to MWO.

[Burktross]

Anjian, on 26 May 2015 - 03:11 AM, said:

I don't really feel this game captured the feel of a mech. In fact, I feel the animations look funny sometimes and the sounds all wrong.

I consider the mech in Battlefield 2142 as the gold standard of what a video game mech walker should feel and sound like.

You know why?
Headbob.
Give. Me. The headbob.

[White Panther]

Russ Bullock, on 26 May 2015 - 09:10 AM, said:

I think these sort of threads naturally show up when the perception of new features has slowed down. There likey wasn't many thinking this way in December when CW launched, but the last 5 months although loaded with features and polish there hasn't been very many big items to sink your teeth into.

That happens because the bug fixing and polishing is super important but also because bigger items take a long time behind the scenes.

I expect people will have their fears put to rest again over the coming months as features such as Mechlab and CW phase 3 are released.

Not sure why you would even bother with CW phase 3 at this point. When there is a poll going whether to shut down CW or not, things really arnt looking good are they?

[Burktross]

White Panther, on 26 May 2015 - 01:18 PM, said:

Not sure why you would even bother with CW phase 3 at this point. When there is a poll going whether to shut down CW or not, things really arnt looking good are they?

Because with all the work they put into it, giving up less than a year after release is developmental suicide.

(not having enough headbob is also suicide)

[stjobe]

Burktross, on 26 May 2015 - 01:23 PM, said:

Because with all the work they put into it, giving up less than a year after release is developmental suicide.

(not having enough headbob is also suicide)

There is such a thing as throwing good money after bad, you know.

Last I heard, only about 10% of the population even bothered with CW, and all of PGI's resources are focused on it. That seems a little sketchy to me as regards prioritizing.

For it to be worth it, they need to put out something out of this world to pull a large chunk of the other 90% in - and when was the last time PGI batted something out of the park?

[Burktross]

stjobe, on 26 May 2015 - 01:34 PM, said:

For it to be worth it, they need to put out something out of this world to pull a large chunk of the other 90% in - and when was the last time PGI batted something out of the park?

Er....
Uh....

[Rebas Kradd]

LordBraxton, on 26 May 2015 - 10:43 AM, said:

Why did all your programmers leave, crippling the game with massive sections of unmodifiable code?

Programmers leave for better opportunities all the time. Good talent gets poached by bigger operations. In fact, a lot of programmers only stay at one studio for one or two projects.

And just because you don't think a bevy of social tools, performance improvements, and a map per month are respectable progress doesn't mean it's not.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Gut, on 26 May 2015 - 12:09 PM, said:

Put out a map of each type every month.
Make a new play mode once every month. (king of the hill, stock mech mode, w/e)
And also improve the game all while doing it.

I know it hurts when your own words come back to haunt you (not the above poster but someone else):

Quote

At this point, how often would you guys like to introduce new content/store items/features/etc. per year?

[PAUL] A bi-weekly release schedule would be ideal. I’ve played numerous on-line games where content stagnated and it became very frustrating waiting for promised items and not having them show up. We’ll be working with our art team and content teams to make sure we get items and maps out in a timely manner. Content is the longest game development process so we’ll be working diligently to get you the stuff as soon as possible.

[zagibu]

If someone sticks a ridiculous price tag on pebbles, and people start buying them like crazy, can you blame them if they give up their day job and fire up the pebble sale business big time?

[Deathlike]

zagibu, on 26 May 2015 - 03:02 PM, said:

If someone sticks a ridiculous price tag on pebbles, and people start buying them like crazy, can you blame them if they give up their day job and fire up the pebble sale business big time?

Well, MWO is no pet rock.

[Voivode]

I think the core of the game is fun, but they are frustratingly slow at releasing content. They've made mistakes on balancing but as someone who's played the game since early open beta days, I'll take the current balance (convoluted and wonky as it is) over the balance they used to have.

Honestly, I'm one of those people who tried CW and gave up on it fast. It's cool they've released maps for it, but I stopped playing because I didn't find that game mode compelling.

Bottom line, more than anything else, this game needs game modes. That's the biggest factor holding it back. Counting CW, there are four game modes, and for the most part they don't play all that differently, either.

[Lindonius]

Russ Bullock, on 26 May 2015 - 09:13 AM, said:

Well this is incorrect. The product PGI hoped to develop in 2009 never came to be and it wasnt until the fall of 2011 that we started initial work on MWO. It has very different goals than the feature list you mention which belongs to the 2009 product primarily (some design goals were brought to MWO of course).

Sorry our mistake. It's not that you've done sweet FA regarding developing content for your game since 2009, it's actually only been since 2011 that you've been sitting around playing candy crush saga and churning out nothing but grab deal after grab deal.

Thanks for the clarification.

Edited by Lindonius, 26 May 2015 - 03:31 PM.

[Mister Blastman]

Sometimes... I feel like this...

[Team Chevy86]

Lindonius, on 26 May 2015 - 03:31 PM, said:

Sorry our mistake. It's not that you've done sweet FA regarding developing content for your game since 2009, it's actually only been since 2011 that you've been sitting around playing candy crush saga and churning out nothing but grab deal after grab deal.

Thanks for the clarification.

Aaaaand this is why Russ prefers Twitter. There is not a fine line between sounding like a sarcastic dirtbag and offering something constructive
Poor guy. We complain that he never uses his own forums, then he practically starts a flame war with two comments. The frustration is there, I get it, the slow pace has been a trend. He has a life and a family just like a lot of us, I couldn't imagine what he has to put up with on a daily basis. If it wasn't for the level of dedication he's shown there probably wouldn't be a MWO at all..

Edited by Team Chevy86, 26 May 2015 - 05:37 PM.

[Burktross]

Team Chevy86, on 26 May 2015 - 04:25 PM, said:

Aaaaand this is why Russ prefers Twitter.

Yup.

A shame a choice selection of scrubs decide to be unrelenting {Richard Cameron} to him.
I mean, criticize the game all you want, but this is just too much.

[zagibu]

Deathlike, on 26 May 2015 - 03:06 PM, said:

Well, MWO is no pet rock.

That's true, it is a cardboard box with holes in it.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Anjian, on 26 May 2015 - 03:11 AM, said:

I don't really feel this game captured the feel of a mech. In fact, I feel the animations look funny sometimes and the sounds all wrong.

I consider the mech in Battlefield 2142 as the gold standard of what a video game mech walker should feel and sound like.

Nope. That's not Battletech/Mechwarrior.

You're essentially saying "Battlefield mechs work this way, so should Battletech mechs." Sorry but we've had "Gold standards" for what Mechwarrior mechs should move and sound like from Mechwarriors 2-4.

[Elizander]

White Panther, on 26 May 2015 - 01:18 PM, said:

Not sure why you would even bother with CW phase 3 at this point. When there is a poll going whether to shut down CW or not, things really arnt looking good are they?

Because everyone should just give up and crawl under a rock whenever anyone says anything bad about you or what you do.

Edited by Elizander, 26 May 2015 - 09:00 PM.

[Void Angel]

Sergeant Random, on 26 May 2015 - 01:16 AM, said:

(Yes, I'm bitter with my TBRs and SCRs. I bought wave 1, I levelled and customized them... The nerfs sort of make sense, but I'm still bitter.)

I just bought my first Timber Wolf prior to the nerf - and finished them and my Stormcrows (sans one) during the sale. I'm still leveling them up, but they're very strong machines from the standpoint of picking them up, even with laser builds. I can only imagine how powerful and easy to use they'd have been for me prior to the nerf; I suspect the contrast from what they were before is warping people's perceptions - although ER Larges are just too long a burn considering the range available to other weapons/chassis on the field.