5 replies to this topic

[Karandor]

For a start I'd like to state that I like the game a lot. It's very good but I think it could be great.

I'm an old MW2 vet/fan who played the game to death online. I had 2 joysticks, 1 of which had 3 hat switches and making that **** all work wasn't easy but totally worth it. If you didn't play mech games in the 90s with a double joystick set-up you're missing out cause that was badass.

Anyway enough about the past, MWO is a great mech game. Controls are good and responsive, graphics are amazing when not forced to use heat vision (more on this later) and while the mech lab interface isn't great there is a ton of customization available. I have very low ping (20-40) so I can't comment on the net-code.

There are a few things, however, that I think could really make this game more successful.

The first thing the game needs to do well at all outside of a fairly limited crowd is a tutorial. Basic controls, setting up weapon groups, vision modes, targeting and some basic strategy could easily be covered in a very short tutorial. Accessing the mech lab could open links to videos and in general more "help" needs to be put into the client directly.

I know some people like the burden of knowledge and feel special because they know more than the noobs but suck it up. We want the game to make money so every mech ever created can be in the damn game and we can have massive 20v20 or larger battles. Without money that **** never happens and without a tutorial this game will make MUCH less money.


The second thing I think needs to be improved is that this game is gorgeous, it is really very pretty and the weapon effects and explosions and smoking armless mechs all look amazing except you end up playing in infrared mode 70%+ of the time because it's just way better than normal vision. This is another fairly terrible business decision. Great looking game that looks like a game from the 90s when you actually want to play it.

They need to either make IR look a hell of a lot better or get rid of it. ECM doesn't help this either as it forces IR a fair bit for longer range fights since locking is nigh-impossible. I would get rid of IR and increase the zoom. While IR is great and handy and wonderful, it looks like *** and is a horrendous waste of a beautiful game. You want this game to make money, you want it to look sexy as hell. Either IR needs to look awesome or it needs to go. Right now the game designers have wasted a hell of a lot of time on these awesome graphics we get to look at for a couple minutes (seconds?) every match.


The third thing is just the ECM/missiles problem. Make more/better counters to ECM, reduce it's effectiveness at hiding groups of mechs and make it shut down sensors on only the target of the person with ECM or something. Right now there is no strategy with ECM except get as much of it as possible.

Missiles I actually don't have much of a problem with except for Splatcats (though once you know they exist are much easier to deal with). The problem is with ECM that is less strong LRMs become super winsauce on some maps. They already do win a lot of matches with just sheer quantity. They take very little skill to use (yes they do take SOME skill, at least to maximize their effectiveness) and are very low risk so I think the reward (aka damage) should be toned down a bit.

The fourth and last thing I think needs to be changed are the starting mechs. You're already bad when you first start, do we really need to force these terrible mechs on the poor and hapless newbs? The only decent one for a newb is the K2. The others feel terrible and don't really make people want to play the game. Also, if you have no previous MW experience it isn't going to help you find what you like to play. I would open up more options with more weapon types. I would also not make an assault mech available. Newbs should not be in atlases, it should be something they see and say "holy ****, I want me one of those" not "holy ****, what the hell do all these different weapons do".

The way I see it you have 2 light mechs, 2 medium mechs and 2 heavy mechs. Throughout the different models have a wide range of different weapon systems. A cataphract 4X is excellent with ACs, LRMs and lasers and that's what you want in each category. 2 mechs with lots of varied weapons so people can find favorites and then look for mechs to buy (with the help of the wonderful help/tutorial system) with the weapons systems they liked.

I'm having a ton of fun and will continue playing the game. The community needs to get behind ideas to open it up to a wider audience so that it can be as profitable as possible so that one day I can drive a totally ****** and retro Madcat. Don't worry they can make a Bushwacker too!

[Thirdstar]

Completely agree with your points about both the Tutorial and the Trial mechs. Training grounds should have been in since the start of Open Beta, we can only estimate the number of people who've bounced off of MWO because of this lack.

And if anyone thinks those Youtube videos are enough, they need to get their head examined.

Having said that though, there is apparently a Training Grounds map due next month. I'm still amazed that it wasn't a priority though.

[Antonio]

Karandor, on 26 February 2013 - 08:37 PM, said:

The second thing I think needs to be improved is that this game is gorgeous, it is really very pretty and the weapon effects and explosions and smoking armless mechs all look amazing except you end up playing in infrared mode 70%+ of the time because it's just way better than normal vision. This is another fairly terrible business decision. Great looking game that looks like a game from the 90s when you actually want to play it.

They need to either make IR look a hell of a lot better or get rid of it. ECM doesn't help this either as it forces IR a fair bit for longer range fights since locking is nigh-impossible. I would get rid of IR and increase the zoom. While IR is great and handy and wonderful, it looks like *** and is a horrendous waste of a beautiful game. You want this game to make money, you want it to look sexy as hell. Either IR needs to look awesome or it needs to go. Right now the game designers have wasted a hell of a lot of time on these awesome graphics we get to look at for a couple minutes (seconds?) every match.

QFT. I think thermal vision needs to be more situational. I use it 100% of the time on every map except Caustic because it is so much better than normal vision and radar is non-existant. I want to really see this game someday, not just blue blobs.

[One Medic Army]

Pretty much agree on all points.
Tutorial has been needed for a long, long time.
The prevalence (and necessity) of using IR is starting to wear a bit thin.
ECM/LRMs (and SSRMs) need to be looked at a bit.
(I personally don't mind LRMs, and at this point any decent LRM boat has TAG so all they lose is the ability to indirect fire, which from Closed Beta I can tell you 90% misses the target anyway).
The trial mechs have been a thing players pick at for a long time.
Unfortunately they're all stock builds, so they weren't even optimum in the tabletop game.
Here they're quite bad at times, and at other times surprisingly decent.

Edited by One Medic Army, 26 February 2013 - 09:01 PM.

[Doc Holliday]

Karandor, on 26 February 2013 - 08:37 PM, said:

Snip

Nice post. I always like to see the impressions of new players, because that's the best way to get a fresh look at how a game is doing currently. Those of us who have been playing a while get jaded and start focusing on some of the glaring problems so much we miss a lot.

I agree, it needs a much better tutorial. I've introduced a few new players to the game myself, and just giving them enough of the basics so they don't feel overwhelmed usually takes at least 5-10 minutes. That should be in a tutorial.

As for the "starting" (trial) mechs, they change those out every so often so hang in there!

[MuonNeutrino]

Doc Holliday, on 26 February 2013 - 09:08 PM, said:

As for the "starting" (trial) mechs, they change those out every so often so hang in there!

Only problem is that, when they change, they almost invariably change to something equally bad. I think the OP's idea about having 2light/2med/2heavy is a good one, but what they really need to do is just to stop using stock variants. They don't have to be uber-customized, but even just popping endo on and using the weight for a bit more ammo or heatsinks, or rationalizing some of the schizo stock weapon layouts, would make a big difference. Just have someone spend a measly 5 minutes rectifying the biggest flaws of the stock designs and they'd be much more fun to drive.