80 replies to this topic

[Bishop Steiner]

UNLEASH THE URBANMECH!!!!!!!!

[RealityCheck]

The combat feels EPIC. I love pugging in a match that starts off with two distinct battlelines. Then, with no warning, escalates into a full on brawl with everyone everywhere . Love the perilous, chaotic, and death filled combat!

Fast mechs are viable. I say fast because I pilot a Cicada. I LOVE CICADAS.

The look and feel of each mech and map is spot on. So are the weapons (not talking about balance though).

Its funny because I tried playing MW4 mercs again when I couldn't play MWO. I just couldn't do it seriously, the game can't compete : )

PS. Remember this is beta. Mistakes happen and its our duty as Mechwarrior/Battletech fans to keep this game alive along with PGI and IGP!!!!!!!!!

RealityCheck.

[Tekadept]

They did right by not making the mechs gundam style like tactics.

[Alois Hammer]

Hawkwings, on 30 March 2013 - 11:22 AM, said:

Honest question here: what has PGI done right with this game, in your opinion?

Rake in teh moneyz.

[Roadbeer]

Actually, they've done a lot right.

I'm just bored with it and pissed with their decisions, so I'm a bit cranky after having invested a year waiting for CW only to find out that the houses are 'passive'.

[John Norad]

Artdesign

Mechdesign

Sound

Those are ranging from awesome (mech models) to very solid (sounds).

[jakucha]

Roadbeer, on 31 March 2013 - 07:03 AM, said:

Actually, they've done a lot right.

I'm just bored with it and pissed with their decisions, so I'm a bit cranky after having invested a year waiting for CW only to find out that the houses are 'passive'.

To be honest, that should be expected. We can't change the timeline history so drastically. Most of the fighting will be small skirmishes and the biggest will likely be against clanners.

[Agent 0 Fortune]

The only thing that PGI has really misstepped on is ECM. Other things like LRMs they fix quickly, but for some reason ECM is allowed to be the uneven brick that they try to build a foundation around.

ECM in itself is completely unbalanced, and at the root of the issue with the ELO match maker. I believe if they removed it completely until they have an opportunity to implement informational warfare the game would be much better, and many of the other symptoms would disappear.

My only other issue is ELO, but again, I think that is a symptom not the root problem.

[Alois Hammer]

Roadbeer, on 31 March 2013 - 07:03 AM, said:

Actually, they've done a lot right.

But does trolling their players like pros really count?

[Ngamok]

Making this game.

[BFett]

Things PGI has done Correctly:

Updating the community with how new features will work
Being patient with beta testers who wish to test new features
Listening to community suggestions for features and content
For telling us what the plans were for Mech Warrior Online are via Dev Blogs
Making a Mech Warrior game without the support of a well known publisher

Features:

Line of Site
Indirect LRM fire
Lasers acting like lasers
SRMs having a cool spread affect
Eliminating “Circle of death” for the most part
Eliminating “jump snipers” for the most part
Making each mech weight class feel unique
Force First Person (No 3^rd person in competitive play)
Minimum range for LRMs
Ability to target enemies to determine damaged areas
Not having coolant built into the mech by default (shouldn't be in the game)
Ballistics with travel times (round moves slower than a laser)
Destructible street lights, barriers and lamp posts in River City
Working Key bindings
No more 4 FPS bug every 3 games!
Information Warfare
Role Warfare
Mech Warfare
The BEST Mechlab I have ever seen!

Look where we have come from since open beta!
http://mwomercs.com/...88#entry1174988

[MeiSooHaityu]

LordBraxton, on 30 March 2013 - 11:27 AM, said:

Art direction

I second that. Made the Catapult actually look awesome and not like crap like the other games

[Ganja Ninja]

Most importantly they nailed the MechWarrior feel.

Every weapon is satisfying and fun to use. Lasers feel great when you're raking them across an enemy torso, leaving molten metal in its wake - ballistics have that satisfying impact and partical effect - PPCs explode in dramatic fashion. All the weapons just feel right and the partical effects and debris make each kill shot or component destruction feel awesome.

For any successful game, it's important to build around a simple, core gameplay mechanic. For a shooter, you can't go wrong with "make shooting things fun" as your core mechanic and building up from there. The fact that MWO moves a bit slower than your typical shooter just makes all these moments that much better. Each movement, each volley has so much more tension attached to it. You might choose to take a shot, despite the fact that it may overheat you... If you choose to take a shot, there's a split second where you're wondering whether it hit its target or missed completely. If the shot lands, there's another instant, which can feel like an eternity, where you're sitting there wondering whether you did enough damage to strip that component or core the enemy's engine. It's like baseball; slow, strategic, and methodical until there's a flurry of action... and the moments hang so much longer than in other games. It's almost like the dice are rolling in the background - and if they've done this well with their translation of the classic table-top experience, then they're definitely on the right track.

As much as I'd love to see some destructable terrain and more "explodey" mechs, everything else is simply icing on the cake when the game is this much fun to play.

Edited by Ganja Ninja, 01 April 2013 - 10:35 AM.

[El Death Smurf]

I would say they have shown loyalty to the image and ideals of the battletech universe; Ravens and Jagermechs and so on can be recognized but are more practical looking. Wepons all feel unique, and they are working to make sure each wepon has a place and role on a mech.
This game deffinatly pulls you into the feeling of controlling tons of metallic death.
I appreciate the mech lab and the level of customization coupled with balance that we do have.

you may argue some of these things could be better, but i like them just how they are.

my only complaint so far is the Jagermech's bicycle basket/ fannypack. Why is that there!!! it's not like he has lower arm actuators and can rach back and get his chapstick.

[Onmyoudo]

It's currently a set of very solid mechanics with potential. Once they add in a bunch more content and an actual game, it could be something great.

[MischiefSC]

#1 - Look and feel. It looks and feels more like Mechwarrior/BT than any of the prior games ever did. The weapons, how they work, what they feel like... a tiny gripe about pinpoint accuracy but that's not really significant in this concept. It FEELS like you're in a giant robot loaded with artillery guns and weapons that no 1 person should be pushing the button on all while stomping around environments that feel like a doll house suddenly playing host to mating rhinos.

#2 - Pace of development. We're at the end of beta. Changes need to be a bit slower and more methodical but steady. Two updates a month is PLENTY. That gives time for the last round of changes to get well chewed before swallowing. The issues that have come up have been, IMO, very well handled. Not knee-jerk, not reflexive but considered and resolved. A willingness to have ECM reviewed for rebalance soothed my concerns with it completely. I have faith that it'll be addressed in a fair way for example. Same with missiles. It's not reasonable to expect anyone to get everything perfect the first time. A willingness and ability to carefully consider and review things is critical and shows a lot of professional maturity. Especially in the face of a consumer ****-storm.

#3 - MC/Consumables. They are significant, enough to make you feel like you got something for your money (not just different colored hats) but not game balance impacting. I know a lot of people are fussy over Coolant Flush and the like but the in game impact has been nearly non-existent save in a few very subtle ways. I bought the improvement with GXP but spent MC to exchange GXP to do so. I felt it was worth it as I find myself using coolant flush a bit more. I've bought some paints, mech bays and premium time as well as XP to GXP conversions. I haven't regretted any of it nor do I feel like I have some big advantage over the time I spent without having bought any MC at all. That's a very, very tough line to walk and I feel PGI has done it very well.

Those are general answers to cover what is in practice a lot of things. I believe MWO is an awesome game and I've been recommending it to my friends. That's not something I do lightly.

[Arcadinal]

Two more items;

A new hero mech that has a lot of personality, and at least bassed on how my clan-mates have been raving about it is apparently very fun to play.

Offering the hero mech before the other varients - This is a good and unobtrusive way for PGI to raise money, it makes a lot of sense.

[The Schwartz]

The weight and feel of the mechs is fantastic. Each one has it's own character and it's noticable. Even though the raven might be just as fast as a spider and carry a heavier payload, the spider is just more fun to play imo. I don't think I've ever played a game where I had to worry about crashing my ride into something bigger that could kill me so easily. It's frail, brittle, a little scarry to operate, nimble, fast, jumps... etc.. Stuff like this for each mech makes this very fun to play.

The weapons system is excellent, the difference in how arms move for each mech really ads character and you can pull off some sweet action flick LCtrl moves with arm mounted weapons, especially on the commando and spider. The missles on the cataphract when using srms gives it that satisfying gut shot feel when brawling. The way the weapons are deployed on the mechs is supurb and actually makes you think of what you want your mech to do and where you should put what weapons due to mobility/stability of the arms/torso.

The team oriented aspect is fantastic, there's alot of gripes about ecm...the counters... personally I find it does add an element of teamplay where people have to be actively attentive for mechs vs the screen blaring out where each unit is... I like teamplay, I'll even hop in an awesome just to tank a ton of damage to let the team have easy shots.

The ambient temperatures on the maps effecting heatsinks throws something else into consideration and forces changes in playstyles for overly specialized mechs. Not knowing if my 6x erppc aws will wind up in the desert or in the snow is part of the fun imo. Yes it's a bad build and I don't care, it's fun (stripped the armor off the back instead of the legs for lulz.)

They didn't add exclusive "golden guns" for $$$ and generally keep the game interresting no matter which mech you're in. I hated the SPD-5k with a passion, but with an ac/2 it was very trollable. (hide behind something, jump jet and shoot into the back of a couple people in a group and watch them open up on each other thinking it's friendly fire)

Other than the current FPS issue and the having to beat down the door to get any sort of meaningful response the game itself is probably the best MW I've played.

Edited by The Schwartz, 04 April 2013 - 02:44 PM.

[StalaggtIKE]

Done right:

Vassago Rain, on 30 March 2013 - 11:29 AM, said:

Art and sound.

Done wrong:

Agent 0 Fortune, on 31 March 2013 - 09:50 AM, said:

The only thing that PGI has really misstepped on is ECM. Other things like LRMs they fix quickly, but for some reason ECM is allowed to be the uneven brick that they try to build a foundation around.

ECM in itself is completely unbalanced, and at the root of the issue with the ELO match maker. I believe if they removed it completely until they have an opportunity to implement informational warfare the game would be much better, and many of the other symptoms would disappear.

My only other issue is ELO, but again, I think that is a symptom not the root problem.

ECM is the constipated brick that PGI needs to push out and flush.

Edit: I would say balance in general leaves a bit to be desired. MG? Flame? Splaser? But ECM does take the cake. ECM is fine it just needs to be balanced, however they refuse to do that.

Edited by StalaggtIKE, 04 April 2013 - 02:51 PM.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Hawkwings, on 30 March 2013 - 11:22 AM, said:

Honest question here: what has PGI done right with this game, in your opinion?

No snarky posts saying "nothing" or similar, I am genuinely interested in what the forum community thinks about this topic, considering we all know that PGI has done a lot of things wrong.

I'll start with this:

PGI has made the difference between ballistics and lasers simple, elegant, and meaningful. Hitscan DoT is a great way to do laser damage, and neatly differentiates it from ballistics/PPCs that do burst point damage with travel time.

The overall FEEL of the Battletech universe translated into real time combat.