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[Sevendy Seven]

If it wouldn't create too much lag, I'd love to see AI out on the battlefield fighting for each House. It wouldn't have to be elaborate. The same basic model representing infantry, tanks, turrets, etc would work...just different House colors. (Empire Strikes Back opening scene comes to mind just now for some reason...)

First, it would provide a sense of scale. I read a comment from a new player that described MWO as 'FPS BF3 (or COD) in slow motion'. Which...is pretty astute. Obviously the tactical style involved in MWO is a large part of the draw due to this 'slow motion,' but I think his observation is telling.

After playing for a few weeks, I can honestly say that I might as well be in my Mazda 3 when I'm looking out the cockpit of any size Mech. Buildings are simply corridors, highways are trails...an Atlas is the same size as a MAX unit in Planetside 2...at least he is, from my point of view.

Regular size units are lore, so why not include them and reinforce the idea that we are Mechwarriors piloting 20-100 ton machines cutting swaths of death through them?

Going back to PlanetSide, the original - there were a lot of lessons learned when they introduced BFR's to the mix. Long story short...nobody was happy but the people in the BFR's to put it succinctly. (Star Wars Galaxies Jedis) MWO solves that problem handily by its very nature, but there was still something to be said for piloting a BFR on the field of Planetside, and that was the respect you were given, and the absolute feeling of dominating on the field of battle...until you ran into a superior BFR pilot, or an Infiltrator shot out your shield generator and ignited C4 under you.

TLDR: NPC infantry would be fun to shoot. Make them a little dangerous, make them a distraction, and give some points for shooting them. Provide a sense of scale to the game. Only limited AI is necessary to create tons of different battlefield scenarios. Later on, recreate famous Battlefield lore with faction specific armies and battlefields.