12 replies to this topic

[renahzor]

The NPE in this game is suffering from both missing and poorly designed features that have existed since closed beta. Many of these things should have been changed before open beta and had plenty of discussion, but now going forward they are hurting every new player coming into the game.

1) UI is truly terrible, lacking even the most basic of necessary information on the front end. The Mechlab is the biggest offender here, however the entire thing is a mess. I realize this is slated for a redesign, but this needs to be the number one priority, there is no excuse for going to "Open Beta" with the UI in such a state. The lack of tooltips on weapons alone is enough to make this completely broken for anyone new to the franchise, however every weapon in mechlab should have all of its stats as well as some flavor text, or a reason you'd want to use this weapon over another.

Additionally, Mechlab itself is confusing and convoluted, it is completely unintuitive even for experienced players, and causes making changes to a mech loadout to be more an exercise in frustration than something fun to do. Trying to explain this system via voice chat to a new user is next to impossible.

Suggestion: Push up the UI overhaul immediately.

2) Lack of chat lobbies within the frontend is unacceptable. This should be minimum feature level stuff. In a multiplayer game there needs to be pre game chat which allows players to form groups of their own as well as request information and chat in general. This would ease players into the experience allowing them to immediately ask questions and get in the action before the shooting begins.

Suggestion: Add ingame chat lobbies to the frontend game launcher ASAP.

3) Mech prices are ridiculous. I will not purchase MC to buy mechs within the current price scheme, they are so expensive as to actually turn me away from thinking about buying one. A mech chassis should be $1-2, $5 on the outside for custom variants. Ranging upwards of $30 for a single chassis is simply breaking the value proposition put forward by the game. Obviously I can grind for any mech I really would need, when the prices are this high players will do anything they can to avoid spending money on the game.

Suggestion: Get real on mech pricing. $2 per chassis, $10-$12 for an entire chassis line with mech bays to hold them would be more appropriate. Current pricing is simply something I will not pay for, I am probably not the only one that feels that way.

4) Suicide Rushes are still the most efficient way to earn cbills. This cannot be fixed by a bandaid punishment that hurts new players (IE: locking trial mechs). Infact, this has caused me to play more recklessly with trials I do not like to pilot in order to earn some cbills waiting for my preferred mech to come out of lockdown. I usually base rush with a commando or cicada waiting for one of the better mechs to come off Cooldown since I don't like piloting them anyway. The game and its one game mode still encourage base rushing which is a valid and viable tactic, unless of course they start TOS banning base rushers now. The "fix" actually encourages me to play in a way that isn't necessarily the best way to win a match.

Suggestion: Fix the broken rewards system. Move rewards to be nearly purely performance based. Win/loss conditions come from playing well, and will thus be rewarded anyhow. Add in rewards for daily, weekly, and lifetime milestones. A daily milestone would be 10 spots in one day, giving a cbill bonus, and a lifetime reward should ramp up starting at 10 spots, then 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1k, 2500 etc. The rewards should ramp up with the quantity achieved on the lifetime goal. This would coax people into actually playing the game, instead of dying quickly to max cbils, and without punishing new players with ridiculous systems like the trial mech lockout.

5) Finally, the trial mech system in it's current state is bad and not fun. We're forced to grind cbills in horribly optimized mechs, while earning 80% of the rewards AT MAX(usually closer to 50% considering their lack of performance coupled with no salvage bonuses) with no access to mechlab and without earning any XP. This combination of limitations makes them simply see like a desperate attempt to pry a person's wallet open with brute force to buy a mech and stop the terrible experience. In my opinion, and from anecdotal evidence presented by friends who have tried and left the game, this is simply a bad way to treat trial mechs.

The baseline problem is the stock variants are designed around Tabletop play, and we're so far removed from those concepts now as to make the stock variants completely obsolete. No one who has the option will run a stock mech, and 90% of them will be custom designs so wildly removed from the baseline counterpart as to be a completely different playstyle. Trial mechs are laughable, and typically present little more than a moving target for an experienced player in a custom mech. They typically combine too many range options while additionally being too heat inefficient to effectively put their DPS on target. They tend to favor weapon systems that, while great in tabletop, serve a lesser role in our current MWO combat system.

Suggestion: Allow Trials to earn GXP based on performance rewards. Adding in the above suggestion for milestone rewards will help ease the reward difference. And the big one, rotate trial mechs as often as possible, however do not use stock variants. Institute a voting system for players to vote on the newest batch of trial mechs from custom designed loadouts. These can be popular builds or simply submitted ideas from the community, keep repairs free but add in ammo resupply. If you wish to keep the mechlab locked until we own our mechs AND still have some version of this trial system, this is the best suggestion I can come up with.

The lack of a proper matchmaking system, no tutorials, and many other issues also plague the NPE in ways that make the learning curve on this game extremely frustrating. I know "It's Still Beta™" but at this point everyone I've introduced to the game is simply uninstalling or waiting several months to try again.

[HRRxStormBringer]

Eloquently stated. Good post.

[PerryRaptor]

Add to the list:

- Joystick reliability and performance improvements along with an interface put in the UI
- All weapons and electronic components put in immediately

This is low hanging fruit that will extend the mileage of all players.

[HRRxStormBringer]

This topic needs a bump.

[renahzor]

HRRxStormBringer, on 13 November 2012 - 09:21 AM, said:

This topic needs a bump.

Unfortunately I think these might be issues people already know! Hopefully we'll see some of them addressed.

[Volthorne]

renahzor, on 12 November 2012 - 10:19 AM, said:

Suggestion: Get real on mech pricing. $2 per chassis, $10-$12 for an entire chassis line with mech bays to hold them would be more appropriate. Current pricing is simply something I will not pay for, I am probably not the only one that feels that way.

Suggestion: If you refuse to buy something, and wouldn't otherwise, quit ******** about it.

[renahzor]

Volthorne, on 13 November 2012 - 11:30 AM, said:

Suggestion: If you refuse to buy something, and wouldn't otherwise, quit ******** about it.

Thank you for your insightful response, but I feel you've either failed english 101, or simply thought your reply was FAR TOO WITTY to wait and actually read what was written. Reading comprehension is a tough thing, I'll spell it out a little clearer.

The value presented by the stuff I can buy in game is out of whack. What is available to purchase is too expensive, otherwise I would buy it, and lots of it at that. Upwards of $30 USD for a single mech is well beyond what I consider reasonable, and is so far beyond the value I place on the product being sold as to be laughable. It has made my decision very easy to NOT spend money on the game, when impulse buying is what many of the most successful F2P games run on. Were the prices more grounded in reality, I would buy not one but many mech chassis.

[p4r4g0n]

Good post but one big critical issue you missed out is no text chat shortcuts and I am a little disturbed by their absence in a game that supposedly emphasizes teamwork.

Before someone says "Join a group, jump on TS / Ventrilo", not everyone wants to or can use voice comms and in fact, I'd bet the majority of new users giving MWO a try wouldn't bother.

What is the issue with having:

F1 = enemy spotted (if targeted, system inserts coordinate. if mech info available, insert mech name)
F2 = capture base (system inserts enemy base coordinate)
F3 = defend base (system inserts home base coordinate)
F4 = etc, etc.

Make it as simple or as complex as you wish but have SOMETHING please.

Even better, if an option was available in "Settings" for different language settings, these standard messages could actually be understood by people who aren't fluent in English. Translation of at most 10 lines of text for standard messages shouldn't be too much of an issue surely?

To be brutally honest, IMO the lack of a lobby and the text chat shortcut keys are killing MWO as far as new players with zero prior BT / Mechwarrior game experience is concerned (maybe even those with prior experience). Going on the forums to seek guidance is probably not doing the game any favours either given all the hating on PUGs that goes on there.

Don't get me wrong, I love the game, am having fun with it even if I'm 100% PUGging atm and can't wait to see the rest of it. I just don't want to go through the MPBT: 3025 beta experience again.

Edit: My comment about the forums in no way is intended to belittle the fine work put in by some members of the community in making guides and actually helping newbies. My apologies if it sounded that way.

Edited by p4r4g0n, 14 November 2012 - 06:37 AM.

[WardenWolf]

I think the most lacking thing is a 2-stage tutorial / training option:

Stage 1, which the launcher should push as the first game you play (not force, as there are some people who may just be making new accounts, but very strongly recommend) should be a solo match with the player in a trial mech on Forest Colony. There should be text or maybe voiced guides that walk through the basics of the HUD, mech controls, movement, weapons grouping, and firing. Then there should be a few stationary targets for firing practice.

Stage 2, after that is completed, should be again highly recommended... but should also be available later on to *everyone*. It would be effectively a normal battle, again on an easier map like Forest Colony, but where weapons did no damage and there was no capture objective. Just a chance for folks to see what it is like to get hit, fire at moving targets, communicate in-game, etc. This could also be used as training to some degree by more experienced players, or a way to test efficiency of new builds (there *would* be heat, but no ammo explosions).

Eventually I would like to see a really simple map made for use on these stages, and training in general, that would be sectioned off into quadrants: a part that was city-scape, a part that was forested hills, a part that was an open lake with some islands, and a part that was a desert with cliffs - complete with dummy targets and the like. That can come later, though, and for now a small map like FC would be a fine stand-in.

[Volthorne]

renahzor, on 13 November 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

Thank you for your insightful response, but I feel you've either failed english 101, or simply thought your reply was FAR TOO WITTY to wait and actually read what was written. Reading comprehension is a tough thing, I'll spell it out a little clearer.

The value presented by the stuff I can buy in game is out of whack. What is available to purchase is too expensive, otherwise I would buy it, and lots of it at that. Upwards of $30 USD for a single mech is well beyond what I consider reasonable, and is so far beyond the value I place on the product being sold as to be laughable. It has made my decision very easy to NOT spend money on the game, when impulse buying is what many of the most successful F2P games run on. Were the prices more grounded in reality, I would buy not one but many mech chassis.

Clearly you've never played LoL. $30 for a *functional* 'Mech that actually adds some value to your gameplay is REASONABLE compared to the $30 "epic" skins in LoL that add a few graphics and change some sounds. People still buy those "epic" skins, though, because they're - to be honest - pretty cool some of the time.

[ltwally]

renahzor, on 12 November 2012 - 10:19 AM, said:

3) Mech prices are ridiculous. I will not purchase MC to buy mechs within the current price scheme, they are so expensive as to actually turn me away from thinking about buying one. A mech chassis should be $1-2, $5 on the outside for custom variants. Ranging upwards of $30 for a single chassis is simply breaking the value proposition put forward by the game. Obviously I can grind for any mech I really would need, when the prices are this high players will do anything they can to avoid spending money on the game.

And that's for a stock mech.. which is effectively a trial mech that you get to spend your earnings repairing. After purchasing the mech, you're going to spend lots and lots of C-Bills / MC replacing its equipment.

[sycocys]

Volthorne, on 14 November 2012 - 10:08 AM, said:

Clearly you've never played LoL. $30 for a *functional* 'Mech that actually adds some value to your gameplay is REASONABLE compared to the $30 "epic" skins in LoL that add a few graphics and change some sounds. People still buy those "epic" skins, though, because they're - to be honest - pretty cool some of the time.

That game has also been gold for how many years with how many million of subscribers? With a massive player base you can get away with a little more of that sort of thing.

$15 is far to expensive for a mech in my opinion - I'd consider the heroes at $5-7, and the normal builds at $2-5. Might just be me, but for something with such a limited amount to do, I just don't see the value in anything more than that.

[Random Numbers]

Agreed. This is supposed be an MULTI-PLAYER Online game .. how about adding some multi-player support.

In game chat room is a must. How they moved to open beta without it is beyond me.
In game information on weapons / mech hard point layouts would greatly help new people. Alot of use TT players know the weapon stats by heart. New people have no idea the differences.

And it might be time to be brutal about light mechs. If your netcode is so BOHICA that light mechs are teleporting ... why not just disable light mechs for now until you get some fixes in .. or atleast slow them down so the issue isn't as prevalent?

Edited by Random Numbers, 14 November 2012 - 10:45 AM.