97 replies to this topic

[InnerSphereNews]

Welcome to April!  Teamplay takes a giant leap forward with the addition of new team structure elements.  After reviewing the test branch, I'm incredibly excited to get this very important feature into the game.  Since my last update, PAX East and GDC have come and gone. We have announced details about upcoming features like 12 V 12, Lobby, DirectX 11, UI 2.0 and Community Warfare.  Along with a launch date of Late Summer 2013!  This month we see the addition of several new features, consumables, and a new line of BattleMechs called Champions!

New Content:

• `Mech of the Month - Highlander (19th)
• Hero `Mech of the Month - Heavy Metal (2nd)
• Champion `Mech - TBA (19th)
• New Patterns - Digital (2nd) and Fractal (19th)
• New Cockpit Items - BattleMech Statues (2nd)
• New Modules - Air Strike and Artillery Improvment

Team Structure and BattleGrid Improvements

The team has been busy adding new functionality and roles into the command hierarchy.  The first phase allows players to join two lances, each with a commander.  Players will now see there lancemates name, health status, and grid location on the HUD.  Lance Commanders will be able to issue lance commands via the BattleGrid.  Company Commanders can now also issue orders to individual lances.

Artillery and Air Strike Consumables

Two new consumable items bring new tactical options to the battlefield, especially for scout players.  Using line-of-sight targeting, players can elect to reign down a damaging barrage of focused artillery or linear air strikes on their enemies.

Champion BattleMechs

We’ve decided to add a new style of Hero BattleMech, one that represents the community – the Champion.  Similar in nature to the Founder's BattleMechs, a Champion `Mech is based of an existing variant with a special permanent 5% XP boost and lower price point.  Our first Champion BattleMech will be revealed on April 12th.

Improved Night and Thermal Vision

We have adjusted both Thermal and Night Vision modes to be better in different situations.  Thermal Vision will no longer be the defacto standard, and Night Vision will have more uses than ever before.  These improvements bring these modes closer to their intended original design.

Community Events

March saw more event testing, and better results, including an MC event for solo players.  Expect two more main events in April as we continue to refine our scoring system!  We plan to roll out team events in the coming months after we allow player to officially band together in units.

Performance

Host State Rewind (HSR) for ballistics will be going live on the 19th.  Players with high pings will see a dramatic improvement in ballistic hit detection, similar to last month's HSR beam weapon fixes.

Behind the Scenes

A lot of work is going into UI 2.0, Community Warfare, and 12 V 12.  Expect to see more details and feature rollouts over during the month of May, June, July.  A signifcant portion of the team is dedicated to making these features happen.  First up will be 12 V 12!

 

[Butane9000]

Why is there a patch on the 19th (Friday) and not the 16th (Tuesday)?

Is this a typo?

Edited by Butane9000, 03 April 2013 - 12:23 PM.

[Hadjinim]

That´s what I thought...

[Krinkov]

Will low ping players see an improvement with hit detection vs. high ping lights?

[StalaggtIKE]

HSR for ballistics. Awesome!

[warner2]

Quote

a Champion `Mech is based of an existing variant with a special permanent 5% XP boost and lower price point

I'm not sure what to make of that. If it's just a regular variant with a 5% XP boost, it seems a bit pointless. Everyone has enough XP. The limiting factor is CBills. I'd prefer a 5% bonus to CBills. I can't imagine the point of buying it otherwise?

Quote

A lot of work is going into UI 2.0, Community Warfare, and 12 V 12.

I really really want some details on Community Warfare (in-particular Mercenary Corporations). RB's comments have really thrown me, you must have some sort of design in-place that you can share at this stage?

[StalaggtIKE]

warner2, on 03 April 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

I'm not sure what to make of that. If it's just a regular variant with a 5% XP boost, it seems a bit pointless. Everyone has enough XP. The limiting factor is CBills. I'd prefer a 5% bonus to CBills. I can't imagine the point of buying it otherwise?



I really really want some details on Community Warfare (in-particular Mercenary Corporations). RB's comments have really thrown me, you must have some sort of design in-place that you can share at this stage?

Agreed. Give us Cbills bonus, then were talking.

[FrDrake]

warner2, on 03 April 2013 - 12:33 PM, said:

I'm not sure what to make of that. If it's just a regular variant with a 5% XP boost, it seems a bit pointless. Everyone has enough XP. The limiting factor is CBills. I'd prefer a 5% bonus to CBills. I can't imagine the point of buying it otherwise?

Maybe it means a 5% bonus to GXP accrual? That would make GXP accrue at 10% when using that mech, which would be a pretty significant boost.

[warner2]

FrDrake, on 03 April 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

Maybe it means a 5% bonus to GXP accrual? That would make GXP accrue at 10% when using that mech, which would be a pretty significant boost.

Right, perhaps. That would be more attractive.

[OneEyed Jack]

Will ballistic HSR remove the fire delay?

[Rawyn]

+like

Especially this

InnerSphereNews, on 03 April 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

Performance

Host State Rewind (HSR) for ballistics will be going live on the 19th. Players with high pings will see a dramatic improvement in ballistic hit detection, similar to last month's HSR beam weapon fixes.

Behind the Scenes

A lot of work is going into UI 2.0, Community Warfare, and 12 V 12. Expect to see more details and feature rollouts over during the month of May, June, July. A signifcant portion of the team is dedicated to making these features happen. First up will be 12 V 12!

Time to kick *** fire mah laaaaazer and chew bubble gum...

[Tsunamisan]

all good but i despise the new white hot thermal it should be more colored. White blends to much with the backgrounds as the colors did not. Tha range of the new upgrade is not an issue as long as it works within 500m

[Daggett]

I really hope they fix the myriad of bugs the current patch brought us before starting any sort of competitive event.
In fact i don't want to see any new features as long as the game is only barely playable for many of us...

So i would rather like to see an announcement telling us what PGI's plans are on dealing with the failed patch instead of promising us new great features.

[zmeul]

let me get this straight ... we're gonna see CW before regional servers?
something doesn't add up

[Jonathan Paine]

No knockdowns... *sigh*
which means...

No Highlander Burial *cry*

[xZaOx]

Wasn't Russ supposed to post a command chair to explain CW today, or was this a replacement for that? Half the stuff mentioned here was already released April 2nd.

[Tremendous Upside]

warner2, on 03 April 2013 - 12:37 PM, said:

Right, perhaps. That would be more attractive.

Might also be a way to introduce MC mechs for chassis that already have "founder" versions without putting them in direct competition with them...

[Tuonela]

Whats the expected date on the "Team Structure and BattleGrid Improvements"? April or later? Otherwise sounds great.

[Joe Mallad]

Can we please get knock downs and DFA? And where is my hero mech repaint? Oh... And if I'm spending $35 for a highlander, I still want a free mech bay and I better not have to pay MC to repaint my hero mech. I already spent the MC for the mech and paint...please don't make me have to spend more MC to repaint it.

Edited by Yoseful Mallad, 03 April 2013 - 12:51 PM.

[Vassago Rain]

Tell me all about these champion upgrades. Please tell me I can stack a ton of upgrades on the mechs I want to play.

You'll have all my remaining founder bucks if you do this.