76 replies to this topic

[osito]

I am iffy on the whole mechlab. I don't want full customization avb. kinda kills the point of choosing a your fav. mech then turn it into something totally different. I am okay with some mods. If it is not a variant i want only to change out similar systems. like switching lrms for srms. so missiles for missiles, ballistic for ballistic and so on and so forth.

[NikkoKilla]

Dlardrageth, on 09 March 2012 - 08:12 PM, said:

Ever played the very first in the series, MechWarrior1? And its awesome MechLab... oh... wait...

Ahh fine.. granted i didnt know much about the game when i played but i do recall. I suppose much of my enjoyment playing mech hames came from the customization aspect.. thats all

[Thorn Hallis]

Think we should wait until we know how the mechlab will work exactly,

[Larry Headrick]

Thorn Hallis, on 10 March 2012 - 12:23 AM, said:

Think we should wait until we know how the mechlab will work exactly,

Untill we know more... I will wait and see.

[Soviet Alex]

If the Mech Lab doesn't let us build every "canon" variant, a lot of us will be annoyed. And because Battletech doesn't limit what type of weapon goes where, I don't see how this game can either.

Oh yeah, & Mechwarrior 1 on the Playstation featured non-canon variants of some mechs.

[Black Sunder]

Dunno about the rest of you but I'd be willing to spend 20-30 bucks per mech if it let me use the lab to design the mech I want within the confines of the critical system that 2/3 used. Before someone accuses me of wanting to put all lasers or PPCs or all missiles, etc etc on a mech I prefer balanced loadouts of weapon systems.

Would it make PGI alot of money? YES!

[Lorcan Lladd]

A customization system changes little, with regards to gameplay.
There's canon boats and custom boats alike.

[Dlardrageth]

Black Sunder, on 10 March 2012 - 05:33 AM, said:

Dunno about the rest of you but I'd be willing to spend 20-30 bucks per mech if it let me use the lab to design the mech I want within the confines of the critical system that 2/3 used. Before someone accuses me of wanting to put all lasers or PPCs or all missiles, etc etc on a mech I prefer balanced loadouts of weapon systems.

Would it make PGI alot of money? YES!

That argument goes both ways though. A lot of people will leave the game and spend no money at all if you can build fantasy FrankenMechs at heart's desire. At a certain point the result will have nothing to do with BattleTech any more, and then you can as well go play a random other Mecha game. So in summary between you spending money for "special designs" and people quitting MWO, it is highly doubtful which alternative will be more profitable economically for PGI.

[MaddMaxx]

If as Russ stated, "you can upgrade your engine for more speed" sticks, then fine.

Adding Engine weight is GOOD. Being able to reduce Engine weight... to add Weapons...BAD!

Add me to the "wait and see" list as well.

[Maximilian Thorn]

I liked the colored-coded hardpoint system of the MechWarrior 4 Mechlab (e.g. green hardpoints for missiles, yellow hardpoints for ballistics, orange hardpoints for energy). The system prevented players from placing ten medium lasers on Mechs that were designed for missile and ballistic weapons. I hope MWO's Mechlab system is similar.

[Polymorphyne]

Yeah, but MW4s mechlab is still incredibly innaccurate and easy to abuse, and this results in severe boating and abuse in multiplayer- only around 4 or 5 mech chassis get used and they are all loaded up with PPCs 99% of the time, and anyone who tries to fight them just gets one shotted. I even tried piloting a fully armoured Annililator and still got one shotted.

[Dlardrageth]

Longsword, on 10 March 2012 - 07:09 AM, said:

Yeah, but MW4s mechlab is still incredibly innaccurate and easy to abuse, and this results in severe boating and abuse in multiplayer- only around 4 or 5 mech chassis get used and they are all loaded up with PPCs 99% of the time, and anyone who tries to fight them just gets one shotted. I even tried piloting a fully armoured Annililator and still got one shotted.

This plus the MW4 MechLab was a petty joke in that it actually prevented you (re-)building a couple of the canon variants of the chassis featured therein. Still wonder which "genius" came up with that idea...

[Stormwolf]

I've never been a fan of the MW4 mechlab, but I suppose that the MWO mechlab isn't going to be a MW4 carboncopy. On second thought, hardpoints would make more sense on non-omni designs.

Though I hope that omni's will have a TT style mechlab that is limited by podspace and weight.

Edited by Stormwolf, 10 March 2012 - 07:16 AM.

[Polymorphyne]

Yeah, I have been trying to build all of the canon variants in MW4s mechlab for the purpose of uploading the data so everyone can have instant access to all of the canon variants- Only about 60% of canon variants of the mechs in the game are doable in the MW4 mechlab. Anything with an artemis LRM15, Rockets, Snub PPCs, Artemis SRMs/MRMs, machine guns, MMLs, and alot of variants just do to the hardpoints being plain wrong is just undoable.

I would actually prefer to have mechlab being limited to customising ammo types, paintjob and role modules, leaving weapons, armour, speed, heat sinks etc to a choice between various Canon variants. It would be alot more balanced and far more realistic to the actual fluff.

[Maximilian Thorn]

I see your point; however, I'm not sure from the devs' words that weapons-loadouts will be restricted to variants' original loadouts. During the interview, Russ appeared to talk about customizing a variant.

Either way, I'm not sure laser-boating or missile-boating will be prevented, given this stage of development.

We will just have to see.

[snakeman5150]

I think the Mech-lab from MW4 would be the best way to go for improving you mech and simple to manage. With different hard points for different types of weapons you would have to stick to the base role of the Mech but in your own way. Still having to by you upgrades from the "free market".

[Polymorphyne]

Quote

I think the Mech-lab from MW4 would be the best way to go for improving you mech and simple to manage. With different hard points for different types of weapons you would have to stick to the base role of the Mech but in your own way. Still having to by you upgrades from the "free market".

MW4 has the worst, most abused mechlab of any game. It also completely lacks mech "Roles". Instead it just has a tiering of mechs- mediums are better than lights, heavies are better than mediums, assaults are better than heavies.
Only 3 things matter in MW4 multiplayer when choosing a mech-
1# What weapons loadout it can have
2# How well armoured it is
3# Can it have jump jets?

Theres no scouting, or fire support, or line meching, or anything- its all just pop-tarting and PPC sniping.

[cyberFluke]

Having only just discovered MWO a few days ago, I can now safely say it is my most anticipated game in a *very* long time. The MechWarrior series captured my imagination when I was a kid, and has always been a fond memory. I enjoyed playing MW3, but frankly, was so dismayed at the *** backward, dumbed down, childish version of the MechLab in MechWarrior 4, I didn't play it.

<rant>
Colour coding the possible "hardpoints" on my mech? Am I f*cking five years old? Removing all kinds of Mech Customisation to make it more suitable to the moronic early console generation masses to try and make "A successful product". Mechwarrior 4 was, for a lot of old-time fans, the last nail in the coffin for the digital version of the BattleTech universe, thanks to Microsofts attempts to make a lowest common denominator product of our beloved game.
</rant>

I hope the devs are taking this into account, as their attention to detail I have seen so far is truly amazing.

Edited by cyberFluke, 10 March 2012 - 07:52 AM.

[NikkoKilla]

Dlardrageth, on 10 March 2012 - 07:14 AM, said:

This plus the MW4 MechLab was a petty joke in that it actually prevented you (re-)building a couple of the canon variants of the chassis featured therein. Still wonder which "genius" came up with that idea...

I really hope this is addressed somehow. The devs mentioned using a hardpoint system at least for the release mechs (non omni tech) and I assume they will want to minimize the fallout from a similar 'MW4s lab is broken' discussion.

Longsword, on 10 March 2012 - 07:34 AM, said:

MW4 has the worst, most abused mechlab of any game. It also completely lacks mech "Roles". Instead it just has a tiering of mechs- mediums are better than lights, heavies are better than mediums, assaults are better than heavies.
Only 3 things matter in MW4 multiplayer when choosing a mech-
1# What weapons loadout it can have
2# How well armoured it is
3# Can it have jump jets?

Theres no scouting, or fire support, or line meching, or anything- its all just pop-tarting and PPC sniping.

I had a hard time playing MW4 for this reason, and hope the focus on role warfare actually comes to fruition.

[Sp12]

There's Canon boats and Custom boats. No big difference in my mind, but a lot of the fun comes from working to get your mech loaded out just right.

And who cares about laser boats or missile boats. I'm still going to get one-shotted by a boat whether it's using missiles or lasers or both or neither.