29 replies to this topic

[Void Angel]

Interesting ideas, though some of them may be problematic - allowing players to choose not to fight on hot/cold maps, even in Faction Play, could create problems related to weapon balance, for example.

[Darth Futuza]

All I want is a more functional ui that uses asynchronous threading so that we can chat to people, do stuff while waiting for the matchmaker to find a match.

[Brody]

http://mwomercs.com/...-communication/

There's my rant on similar subject. Been self bumping a lot. Also had some love from other distinguished fine gentlemen.

Let's agree to support this idea as I think it should be a very simple add that would bring the largest beneficial return for the community and the company's purse alike.

[Jiyu Mononoke]

~ PGI seems to have forgotten us forum folks here, even it is their own forum, that they created for us to use and communicate to them (and they used to use with us in the past to communicate to us). I fear we are almost abandon here in forumland.

- If they had developed a robust chat interface from the beginning, I dare say the game would have twice the community size that they have today because people would log into the game to simply be there and enjoy the ambiance, that encourages longer game play and emersion. Since the ambiance is a distinctively cold first person shooter game with big stompy robots, chat and real community have taken a back seat .... and now they are wondering what to do about the damn "buckets" (a.k.a match population affecting que times) and still don't get the simple fact that they need to grow the population... but how??? Oh snap, maybe having a place to hang out... and actual Community Access Point to be precise, a place to hang out and call home between matches, a place worth hanging out in... because guys, the mechlab and micro-chat just don't really cut it. expecting us to use third party programs to support YOUR community is just lazy... really.... lazy... and surprisingly ignorant that you guys cant see it, don't seem to care, and wonder where your community is... where are they? ... um, not here.. they on third party progies, and that don't help you or your silly buckets.

Luv ya guys, but starting to get bored with FPS grind ... MechWarrior has a devout community, you should have catored to that more, it would have made your game so much bigger and better (more money, more money).


- Still playing, just not as much ... just when I feel like a few laps of blowing stuff up (FPS remember), then off to whatever else... keeping an eye on it and hoping community can be supported, I mean really supported.... for real... like seriously. Make us a home, or else stop wondering where we are and why buckets can get filled easily.

Love Ya Guys for giving me some MW outlet, but.... hey.
- Free.

Edited by Freebrth, 11 August 2016 - 08:46 AM.

[Void Angel]

No, they have not "forgotten" us; just because they are not petting and talking to us in this modest, two-page thread doesn't mean we're being ignored. PGI has shown time and again that just because they're not responding (which frequently results in their being swarmed by toxic feedback) doesn't mean they're not tracking forum trends.

I'm also invariably annoyed by attempts to claim True Fandom as a way to spin criticism or advocate for features and changes. This isn't, never was, and never could have been a LARP accessory. It was a successor to the MechWarrior series of games, and while it was built as closely as possible to the tabletop rules, the Mechwarrior sub-genre necessitates a certain style of game. This in turn makes certain conventions (like lock-on Streaks & LRMS) reasonable, if not downright required.

PGI has had their shortcomings in developing this game, but "not catering to the Battletech fan base" really isn't among them. Heck, just look at the Reseen 'mechs they put out; that was a long-term project that had to be batted around with legal and who-knows-what behind the scenes - but they made it happen because they knew we'd be ecstatic about having Warhammers and the like again.

We certainly do need a better chat interface, and it's possible (though not certain) that a more robust social system integrated into the game would have helped keep people and socialize them with each other - but let's restrict ourselves to that topic instead of spinning grandiose theories about "What Might Have Been - if they'd only listened to me."

[Jiyu Mononoke]

Well, it's not just me... just most that supported it (real community chat tools) in the past have largely given up on pushing it because we feel it'll never be addressed short of Russ's periodic acknowledgements that "Ya, it needs to be looked at" during random town halls. Most successful online games have structured communication tools built in, and regardless of bein a "fanboy" larper, TT-head or some new guy that's never heard of BT/MW, the simple fact is that if you make a game that's fun to be "logged into" outside of matches and battles, well, then people stay logged in longer, play more... and spend more money. PGI making more money gives us a better game, bigger player base, faster matches etc. Never expected them to do it "My way" - just tossing out fun ideas and food for thought to stir the imagination. Base of my complaint is that they (to date) have barely addressed chat/communications and expect a community to form (teams, units, clans etc.) but then cast them to depend on third party/outside programs to support themselves on their own volition (sometimes costing money for servers/websites etc) when it should have been built in from the beginning as was indicated during early beta. - FPS games are fine, I play them to some degree... but this game during beta times made big deals out of the community aspect, and then offered little in the way of actual structured tools to support that original business model, and it dove into QP-FPS land leaving the "community" to build and support itself on it's own steam. I do firmly believe that had they built the game with actual community tools built in, that CW/FW (whatever were calling it today) would have been a thriving success ... but apparently it is struggling in that regard, and ya that saddens me, and bothers me a bit. I do still play, I still buy a little MC here and there ... but I treat it like a very cool FPS game built around one of my favorite genres .. cool, fun, but not really as immersive as it could be, and defiantly not as immersive as the beta (and pre-beta) made it sound... that's where the frustration comes from (not my fan-boyish larping TT-headed stubbornness) ... BTW, I've never tried larping, though it does sound fun and looks cool, I have a car to restore and real life keeps me a bit too occupied (sadly). MW:O has been one of my few remaining online gaming outlets since leaving WoW some years back and I've always hoped the "community" aspect would be someday realized (inside and built into the game). Fallout calls to me periodically as I do enjoy the solitude of the wastelands.... I just don't want that to be MWO too, and without good community tools - well, FPS MW it is for now... I enjoy it for what it is, just wish they had done more with it... and I have my moments of frustration in that regard. As for the forum, it's widely known that that PGI largely communicates on twitter and twitch, and though that's fine to do so, they should make a presence known on their home turf more... I luv me some MWO, I just wanted it to be more than MW-FPS is all.

~ cheers.

Free.

edit to add:
P.S. I actually DO respect and appreciate the efforts PGI has made to the MW series. I bought some of the reseen mechs, and will continue to play and support the game. I will also continue to push for better/enhanced full fledged community tools .. and yes, I do hope for a day when those are realized and supported, and feel it would help the game grow... I honestly do.
Lastly, I am not usually one of the toxic ones, I feel it's counter productive... only recently (in my barly 200 posts since 2011) mentioned being frustrated (or actually took a shot at PGI) for the lack of built in community support. I'd rather hang out and B.S. in game than on a forum, TeamSpeak/Ventrillo or the unit website - sadly, that's barely supported by PGI currently --- so, here's to hoping (or wish in one hand _____).

Edited by Freebrth, 12 August 2016 - 11:07 AM.

[Void Angel]

I see where you're coming from, but I can't see that the structural problems with Community Warfare ("in my day, we called it...") would have been obviated by a better chat interface. I obviously agree that we need one, too. My frustration is just that certain bad arguments keep cropping up - and that bad arguments are always bad, even if the conclusion happens to be true.

In short, it's the argument - and more, the faulty thought processes behind them - that I oppose, not the conclusions themselves. If the most vocal people PGI sees pushing a cause are also the same voices they see Throwing Up Disingenuous Objections consisting only of pedantry, or bitterly criticizing them for Setting the Topic of their own meeting, they'll be less likely to lend credence to their case. And that's especially important now that they're concentrating specifically on player feedback in order to fix Faction Play.

Don't be those guys, is all I'm trying to say.

Edited by Void Angel, 12 August 2016 - 08:33 PM.

[Jiyu Mononoke]

I got ya, and 90% I'm not. I do recognize, appreciate and respect the game they have brought fourth. Just think there are a lot of things they could polish or repair, I'd like to see that happen. I think it would be nice to play and have it be an actual "Environment" to enjoy too... I might even brave the CW wait times -as stands now, I'm a middle class QP guy that throws a few rounds, has dinner, and maybe runs a lap or two before bed. I remember before the game came out, the whole three pillar thing made it sound like there was going to be some cool quasi-mmoish/community thing to it, and sounded like a blast and was looking forward to it.... Then was kinda put off when that whole process turned into a massive wait-fest with nothing to do during the in-betweens, and that carefully constructed community tool (pillar?) could have made a world of difference there by keeping people entertained... The mechlab garage is cool, but only so entertaining after a while, and i'm sometimes baffled by their inability to see that fine tuning these kinda things might really help. Keeping people logged in would seem a primary goal, right? so what tools are available to make that happen? So, that's where it comes from when I have my periodic pop-offs at em, that's all. I do support the game, just wish they'd really do the whole community thing - make it cool for us to hand out, id be there more.

I'm not looking for crazy avatar walk around thingies or nothing ... just an actually good comm tool is all. I'd be super happy if it was room based with cool *** profiles etc so you can make friends and have info on em (v.s. who the heck is that guy again?), but would dare expect such glories. lol. sorry my sour spot - I liked the way EVE did profile stuffs, their comms weren't to bad when I played. 1/2 that here I'd be cool with it.

[Void Angel]

That's the thing, though - they do know that fine-tuning things will help. But it's about allocating resources; wants are unlimited, but resources are not. (This is similar to why they keep on putting out 'mechs while gameplay and mechanical fixes are still in-process: different resources are being uised.)

We've seen improvements to the chat interface, and I believe (off the top of my head, here) that more of that is in the works. But right now their game mechanics team is working on Faction Play balance as a strong priority, I imagine, so stuff like this is probably going to be completed either piecemeal or at a later time.

[Jiyu Mononoke]

I am sure at some point they will address it too - I just get pissy about it once in a while. I do appreciate the good conversation though

Kindly