89 replies to this topic

[Voidsinger]

Mousehold, on 26 March 2013 - 05:10 PM, said:

And it's trivial to work something out that won't annoy those players: give existing accounts the free mech too or some amount of C-bills instead if they're going to be so petty. But seriously, if your options come down to ( A ) get more people to play the game with you so everyone can have fun, or ( B ) watch your game's community die out because it's got such a dumb, artificial entry barrier, and you choose option B, you really deserve it.

Actually, I envisaged something similar to what they did with the Cadet bonus. Lump sum it to existing accounts. It isn't really that much cash for well-established players. I'd rather have more people playing, and getting a decent chance, even at the risk of offending a few sensibilities.

[S3dition]

It's not a bad idea. At least it's a way to make it viable without MASC or extremely high speeds. Presently, it doesn't have the mobility or firepower to perform at the level of any other mech in the game. I wonder if they will give it ECM.

Either way, it's a pretty low value mech, so giving away a single variant would be a nice boon for new players.

[Warlune]

I'd rather have each player get a Centurion D

A new player could customize that mech to fit any role (as far as mediums go)

[Targetloc]

What if they made each new player do 1 round in each of the 4 original chassis (Jenner, Hunchback, Catapult, Atlas), and then they got to pick the one they liked best to start with?

[Kaarde]

I think the problem with that would be the one round the new player gets in a certain mech they could get gibbed badly by ELO and decide that the chassis is worthless.

If that were to be how it operated I'd rather the new player get x amount of games in a segregated queue with only other new players before being tossed to the ELO wolves. That way they could try the mechs out in a bit more controlled atmosphere first. Heck, add in the option of running them through the training course first before going into a live fire game.

[S3dition]

Honestly, my primary concern is that new players will not understand the heat/damage/fire rate triangle and unwittingly make suicidal heat monsters. This would obviously make them irritated and quit. The mech lab is great, but it's a double edged sword. I wouldn't be opposed to giving them a very heat balanced flea that they can only modify in stages after playing games. This falls more under a tutorial, but I can imagine a new player throwing a lot of lasers on a mech and getting frustrated and constantly shutting down/suiciding during matches.

[Lord Ikka]

Good idea. It's kinda a training Mech anyway.

[LanceUy]

I think the concept now is fine. You get trial mechs and can earn enough credits in the first 20 games to buy almost any mech of your choice. If you want a flea, then you can get one with that. If not, get something else.

[Phoenix Gray]

Davers, on 25 March 2013 - 04:49 PM, said:

It comes with 5 energy on it. With the tonnage saved from putting on small lasers (4.5 tons) and Endo+FF I think I will have armor and heatsinks to make it useful. Or at least more useful than a 40 ton mech with 4 machine guns and one energy weapon.

It may survive the current battlefield environment, but will it survive the

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Tired of those littlenoob anklebiters dancing around your shins ruining your expensive MC-grade paintjob? Now for just MC 325/827,000 CBills you can fend off those annoying midgets and get on with the serious business of farming mechwarrioring! Replaces one arm structure on any handed mech. Good for unlimited use (MC) or three swats between restringing (125,000 CBills) as a consumable!

PGI accepts no responsibility for misunderstood intrateam fanny swats or the cost of removing a stuck Commando from the strings.

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[Hedonism Robot]

I like this idea, give the player a mech they can modify and play with cheaply right at the start. I would almost go as far as to say make flea only matches where beginners play vs other beginners for their first 10 matches. Once the 10 learning matches are done they could then play with real opponents in their fleas or use a community designed trial mech.

Starcraft 2 used to do this for players who just started in pvp with a no rush mode. After a player got 10 wins they would move on to playing the game normally. It could even be a fun way to reinforce that they have completed their training.