We need an official reference for the rule of this game. Anecdotally one of the major problems this game needs to overcome is its new player experience. The game's learning curve is very steep, and many new players feel overwhelmed, while false rumors and old wives' tales maintain a persistent presence. Heck, I've been playing for
years, and yet if I try to look up exactly how ECM works, or which LRM **** stack with each other, I'm in for a rollicking grand time of hunting through the forums for the information - which isn't always even in the path notes. A new player who doesn't have any clue when ECM was even implemented? He's going to be up the creek without a
canoe, much less a paddle.
To alleviate the massive amounts of frustration involved in researching basic game mechanics, we need an official rules reference for this game. This reference should be a point-and-click,
easy to use, encyclopedia which tells new and veteran players alike:
- How core piloting mechanics mechanics work. Basic movement and slopes, heat management, sensors and detection range, etc. Does shutting down let you cool faster? This is something a Mechwarrior would know, but it's not written down anywhere.
- How critical hits work. How crits damage equipment, how bonus structure damage from critical hits is applied, and how crit-seeking weapons interact with it all.
- How weapons work. Sure, you get the basic information in the UI - but not everything is there. Ballistic drop, LRM flight profiles, Gauss charging, and weapon lockouts (PPCs,) as well as LRM **** like TAG and Artemis would be in here.
- How ECM works. What exactly does ECM do? (If you think it reduces detectability to 200m, you'd be wrong.) How does it interact with its various counter-systems?
We don't need to have detailed mathematical formulae in here - it would basically just be a running summary of all the patch notes. Add a "Helm Memory Core" tab in between "community" and "support at the top of the MWO webpage, and you're in business. Basic weapon data would be pulled from the game files in the same way that Smurfy's website updates, while game mechanics would be hand-entered at the same time patch notes were released. Organize the front end with large buttons for the major categories, then subdivide into lists. Spruce it up at leisure, modify the format if needed, and we're set! It'll take some time/work/resources to set up, but once that's done, upkeep should be minimal.
With the Steam release on the horizon, we
need an accessible way to study the game rules in order to retain as many new players as possible.
Edited by Void Angel, 17 August 2015 - 02:48 PM.
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