Jayboltz, on 02 June 2012 - 09:36 AM, said:
PvP is what will keep this game alive for years and years, not single player. All of the good games that I've ever played on a PC have been centered around PvP. Bf1942, SC, Diablo 2, Counterstrike, etc. I think the only people that would appreciate a single player campaign are the die-hard battletech fans who know all the lore. Most people want a competetive game to play against other people in matches, scrimmages, tournaments, etc... Having a clan (a game clan, generic term) and all that goes with it is a really fun part of online games. Thats what keeps people coming back to the game, and on a F2P model it is the most important factor. I doubt they'll add any significant PvE into the game beyond fighting against bots. Personally, I can't understand the mentality behind wanting to fight against AI, it must take an introvert. There is no real challenge in fighting against a scripted AI to me so it all feels very hollow and just pointless.
Starcraft and Diablo 2 were centered around multi-player? It seems to me that both games, and their successors, had rather robust single-player campaigns. The only reason I bought either game was to play the campaigns, and I never even considered playing multi-player. Pointless PvP bores me. I want to be immersed in a universe I enjoy, not fight pointless battles against 133+P1Mp|\/|@$T/\
It's the same with
every single Mechwarrior game I've bought. Never even considered playing the multi-player part of the game, because PvP is not, nor has ever been, a style of play I enjoy. I've got a builder-type personality, and I tend to enjoy those aspects of the game that others find "boring." I'm also a role-player, and far too often PvP attracts gamers who just want to blow stuff up. Throw in the fact that I tend to build characters as if they're real people in their game universe, and not a bunch of stats, skills, and equipment that need to be min-maxed, and you get someone who just doesn't have the personality to "thrive" at PvP.
On the other hand,
purposeful PvP adds spice to a game. It adds an aspect to the game that isn't predictable, a layer that isn't scripted by the developers, and risk in the game that can't be completely managed. Way back when I played Ultima Online, I played a miner and smith... during the period of the game where the Player-Killers were running wild. I got PKed a lot, and I didn't mind a bit, because I tended to mine far from safety, and those were the risks of doing so. It also meant that I was a very successful miner and smith, since I didn't work in overmined areas. The day the game split into a "PvE world" and a "PvP world" was when my enjoyment of the game waned. Being one "sheep" in a herd menaced by wolves was fun. Being one "sheep" in a world filled with wolves was not.
So why am I continuing to follow a game that is purely PvP, if I don't completely enjoy it?
Because this is Battletech. This is a universe that I have enjoyed for over 25 years (wow!) This is a universe where I'd be willing to dish out $60 for another four hour single-player campaign where I break out my HOTAS and pilot a 10 meter tall robot into battle. This is a game universe where I enjoyed designing 'Mechs and then testing them with my gaming group far more than than the boardgame itself. This is a game universe where my gaming group spend far more time roleplaying in the Battletech universe outside of 'Mechs, playing techs, soldiers, spies, and dropship pilots, than we ever spent laying out game maps and controlling a lance of 'Mechs each. This is a universe whose novels I devoured as they came out, and I've revisisted time and time again until the covers started falling off. This is a universe where I enjoyed playing Jason Youngblood in the Crescent Hawk's Inception, and where I won the original Mechwarrior by buying Battlemechs in the 'Core, and selling them in the Periphery. This is a Universe where I spent several weeks building a Leopard Dropship in Minecraft, just because I was always curious about how cramped or roomy the ship
really was.
I
want this game to succeed. I want those corporate executives to see that the Mechwarrior fanbase is still alive and kicking. Because if it does, then maybe the next single-player game won't take 10 years to come out. And I hope that the community warfare in this game will be purposeful enough for me to enjoy the PvP part of the game, so I'll stick around and be willing to pump money into it. And I
really hope that someday, if the game does succeed, that my character in the game will be able step out of that cockpit, and enjoy the other parts of the Battletech Universe that doesn't involve 10 meter tall robots blowing each other up.
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