52 replies to this topic

[WarHippy]

What are everyone's impressions so far for CW?

I will start by saying that so far the games I have been in have been extremely fun and at times very stressful since I have been dropping alone so far.

I do have some concerns about balance between the attacker and the defender. In a game where the attackers get pinned down and forced to be in a stand up fight they are at a pretty stiff disadvantage with equal numbers of enemy mechs plus turrets and plus dropship cover. That being said if the attackers are able to push past the defenders and just keep moving it is really hard to prevent them from taking the final objective. I'm not sure how to fix this, but I don't think removing some of the turrets, or the dropship cover for the defenders is an option do to the hard push strategy the attackers can use.

CW is definitely not a place to make c-bills efficiently, nor is it a good place to earn xp for your mechs. The rewards given for the amount of time it takes to get in match and how long the games last is simply not compatible with making progress toward earnings.

Looking at the map and the list of places in need of attackers and defenders seems to be rather misleading as it takes generally a long time to get a match even though a particular planet seems to have a lot of action taking place. We really need more info about what is going on, and where people are at. I also had a game where there were no defenders...? Easy win I guess, but it seems nobody knew we were attacking that planet and it was left to rot.

So far I am having a blast and I see a lot of great potential, but there is a lot of work to do to truly make this great. So far I would give it an 8/10 for the newness factor and the amount of fun the games have been so far, but I really hope to see some improvements in the near future.

[DaZur]

Fair and objective without either a copious amount of hyperbole or zealotry... Kudos.

[Blakkstar]

After blundering around for a while unable to find a game, I got in one full game that was competitive and came down to the last 50 seconds.Tons of potential. I like what I see so far. The problems are fixable and the overall design of the interface and game mode is attractive. I made over 300k for the game, which isn't great for 30 minutes of play, but at the same time it was my first game and I didn't perform as well as I could have.

Pros:
- Love the style of the UI, and it will be even better as it gets refined
- The alert system to draw people into games is great
- The bigger game mode is a nice change from the usual 12v12 (I know it's still 12v12 but that gets sustained over a much longer period)
- Dropping into the action is much more immersive than just appearing in a random spot

Needs Improvement:
- Tutorial, directions, tips, anything! Confusing even for a Battletech and MWO veteran.
- Need to show players in lobbies before the game is full. I thought games were empty and kept leaving.
- Explain how the ceasefire and time schedule in general works, lots of confusion there too
- Maybe consider multiple or better covered spawns (or something)...I was being fired on at spawn from the gate early in the game
- Lot of little bugs that need attention

Overall my impression is favorable. I'm eager to play again and try some new things with my drop deck. I see this as a big step in the right direction for the game.

Edited by Blakkstar, 12 December 2014 - 09:28 AM.

[Kirkland Langue]

I had fun overall. It seems there are some issues with memory leaks leading to client crashes.

Attempting to defend as a group didn't work very well - we sat in queue for a very long time. I suspect that the existing queue + our group was greater than 12, so we were put on the back burner and had to wait for a different attack on the planet. But once we broke up our group and sync dropped - most of us were able to get in on the same battles.

Overall, it seems that Attacking is meant for 12-man teams, and defending is more geared towards small groups and solo players. This gives attackers a very significant advantage - but defenders get the turrets to help them.

I get the feeling that 12-man defenses will be very very strong once teams come up with dropdeck compositions, though defending as a 12-man seems to involve very long wait times.

[dubplate]

I joined two games last night, one lasted the full 30 minutes (we were defending and won), the other was shorter, we were attacking and lost fairly bad. I noticed a lot more communication on teams, I currently play solo so my side was all PUG except one game where we had a lance that was a group. I think that is promising, it will never match voice comms but at least people are trying. The first match was very exciting, the anticipation of combat while defending was something that hasn't happened in ages.

There definitely needs to be a lot of fine tuning though. Being attacked by drop ships when you're just on a regular attack run isn't too fun. Big lag issues, especially later in the matches. Wait times need work. It was still more fun than the regular matches, I can't wait to play some more.

[Mirkk Defwode]

I wouldn't know, I sat on a queue to defend Turtle Bay for an hour before giving up and going to bed.

[DaZur]

Mirkk Defwode, on 12 December 2014 - 09:54 AM, said:

I wouldn't know, I sat on a queue to defend Turtle Bay for an hour before giving up and going to bed.

Felt your pain... That said, this morning I've been having much better luck.

​I have to confess Texass' rally posts probably contributed to the improvement.

[Sandpit]

I'm hoping as the "surprise" factor wears off we'll see more units settling into their grooves. Has anyone found tips to decrease the wait times? I saw someone post in another thread about taking the attack and defend notifications that pop up on the screen to help mitigate the wait times

[girl on fire]

i havent had a chance to play yet but i am super excited to get home today even though I'll probably have an hour at most to sit infront of my computer q_q

[Mirkk Defwode]

DaZur, on 12 December 2014 - 09:57 AM, said:

Felt your pain... That said, this morning I've been having much better luck.

​I have to confess Texass' rally posts probably contributed to the improvement.

Well as I've brought up before I have very limited play time, so it felt like I'd wasted the play time for the night as I didn't get anything out of it. I started a thread with a list of UI improvements that could help here,

[Sandpit]

JackkyChan, on 12 December 2014 - 10:17 AM, said:

CW sucks assss major fail= wont launch attack or defend after trying 3 times 15 minutes each.

are you going to post this exact same response in every CW thread? This is the 3rd time I've seen it.

[James Montana]

I think it is fairly balanced. Things will get easier for the attackers as soon as everyone realizes that the attackers don't have to defeat the enemy forces entirely, just destroy the target objective. I keep seeing the attacking force trying to take on the defending forces head to head, instead of utilizing fire and maneuver focused on the objective. All in all, I agree that what games I have been in have been really, really fun, but getting into one seems to be the issue.

[Bagheera]

Sandpit, on 12 December 2014 - 10:21 AM, said:

are you going to post this exact same response in every CW thread? This is the 3rd time I've seen it.

Repetition really irks you, doesn't it?







Repetition really irks you, doesn't it?

[girl on fire]

would it make more sense for CW to just replace the old system entirely?

[SaltBeef]

Good observations here. C bills earnings lower than if I spent the the time puggin sometimes they are very rewarding. Like the Maps the premise of the attack and defense strategies. Attacker defiantly has a dissadvantage unless all attackers 1st wave is 12 JJ lights Heading for the Orbital gun. Lag definately a problem for me sometimes and many others in group. Memory allocation error complaints from several faction members. Attacker would benefit from AI assisted arial attackers. Some choppers, bombers or straifing fighters, maybe just as simple as the Dropship flying closer to one side of the Base to lend some firepower when pulling in to drop mechs.

[Sandpit]

Bagheera, on 12 December 2014 - 10:29 AM, said:

Repetition really irks you, doesn't it?







Repetition really irks you, doesn't it?

No, repetitive posts without giving ANY kind of constructive information does.

[Mirkk Defwode]

JackkyChan, on 12 December 2014 - 10:17 AM, said:

CW sucks assss major fail= wont launch attack or defend after trying 3 times 15 minutes each.

So a few attempts and false starts equate to sucks, Alright care to provide feedback that will help alleviate this as an issue?

[Sandpit]

sure thing chuckles


now for the rest

Would populating the lobbies before you launch into the game help? That's as far as I've made it thus far but it seems that would be helpful

[Kirkland Langue]

Sandpit, on 12 December 2014 - 10:06 AM, said:

I'm hoping as the "surprise" factor wears off we'll see more units settling into their grooves. Has anyone found tips to decrease the wait times? I saw someone post in another thread about taking the attack and defend notifications that pop up on the screen to help mitigate the wait times

Use the pop ups at the bottom of the screen to reduce your wait time - seriously, the longest I waited using those was about 5 minutes for one game - most took about 2 minutes. You can use them to sync drop as well, pretty successfully, though not everyone in your group might drop together.

Sitting on a planet and waiting for a queue to load is NOT the way to go. You will sit there for 20 minutes or longer.

[Sandpit]

Kirkland Langue, on 12 December 2014 - 10:52 AM, said:

Use the pop ups at the bottom of the screen to reduce your wait time - seriously, the longest I waited using those was about 5 minutes for one game - most took about 2 minutes. You can use them to sync drop as well, pretty successfully, though not everyone in your group might drop together.

Sitting on a planet and waiting for a queue to load is NOT the way to go. You will sit there for 20 minutes or longer.

Thanks!

I'll give that a try