66 replies to this topic

[Suprentus]

Normally, I defend MWO from incessant QQing and complaints that mostly stem from a lack of appreciation of the core game. However, since before closed beta, I had certain high expectations for the game myself. Telling myself it was closed beta with only the core game in place, I kept holding out hope that the game will live up to my expectations.

However, as so much time as passed, I've witnessed the slowest production crawl I've ever seen. I even entertained the possibility that the reason for the slowed production crawl was because of secret work being dedicated to the clan invasion, which would suddenly be unleashed on the playerbase. Like it would have been an ace up their sleeve that would have made us all go "OH! So THAT'S what you all have been working on all this time. Well played!"

But alas, even that hope was dashed with the recent confirmation that clans won't be coming until August or so. Sigh...

So to prevent this post from being entirely negative, what has MWO gotten right?
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• The combat does indeed feel like MechWarrior.

Slow paced, methodical combat is there in all its glory.

• Great balance and variety!

I know a lot of people deny this, but considering that every weight class is viable in this game says a lot. I think it says even more considering all the oh so "clever" quips that people rename MechWarrior Online to (ex: AtlasWarrior Online, RavenWarrior Online, ECMWarrior Online, AC20Warrior Online, GaussWarrior Online, PPCWarrior Online, MinmaxWarrior Online, SpreadsheetWarrior Online, SRMWarrior Online, LRMWarrior Online, AlphaWarrior Online, PoptartWarrior Online, etc). Lack of originality in those names aside, to have such a variety of everything considered OP refutes the very point those quips try to make.

• The MechLab is awesome.

I'll spend most of my time in the MechLab alone, tweaking builds, experimenting with new ones, etc. It's not as dumbed down as MW4, and it's not as ridiculously unlimited as MW3.

Things I expected from MWO and will likely never get:
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• PvE along with PvP.

Expanding on that with the next point...

• Actual missions.

Ex: Destroy a base. You and your team can either: launch a full out assault, or soften them up before moving in by sabotaging the defense grid with a small lance of stealthy light Mechs, destroying an enemy supply convoy to limit their battlefield effectiveness, or both.

Perhaps your team can make a mini campaign out of it and are allotted some mobile field bases to rearm and repair with between each mission. Pack enough ammo or replacement parts and weapons (for those that get blown off or destroyed) to get you through the long haul, because if your team is beat to hell by the final mission without enough supplies to complete the campaign, you'll have to cut your losses and abort.

Naturally, this would require NPCs as well, all land, air, and sea (though according to the unofficial upcoming content thread, there will eventually be NPCs) that will factor into these missions.

• Destructible environments that would dynamically change the flow of battle.

Remember what we saw in the MechWarrior 5 trailer? That.

• Dozens and dozens of maps, one for each playable world in a persistent galaxy.

Seriously, when CW comes out, how are we expected to be immersed into a galaxy with only 8 or so repeating landscapes to represent the entire galaxy?

• Small touches of immersion everywhere

Such as walking around your Mechbay, dropship, or small live-in quarters in your cockpit, experiencing an actual drop instead of just spawning on the map, having the first person perspective actually jerk back and forth when accelerating or decelerating, ejecting upon your Mech being destroyed, etc.

• Locales to explore outside your Mech.

Want a Dragon? I hear you can buy them over at the planet Pinnacle. Go jump there, buy the Mech and equipment you want, maybe even stop by the bar and see what the latest news, rumors, and holovids are.

Basically, I suppose I actually expected this game to sort of be like a MechWarrior MMO in a way, instead of a bare-bones arena game. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fun arena game, and I will continue playing it, but it's not the definitive MechWarrior experience I was hoping for.

I wish this game could have those things, but development is moving at such a snail's pace, that I realize that it's simply too much to ask of PGI to implement them. Do they really not make enough money from this game to hire more and more developers to make this stuff happen and add more content? I mean, I don't know anything about their finances, but I'm guessing they should make enough for a great deal of growth. I've seen the same "we're hiring" banner at the bottom of this site for ages now, but I have to ask: are they really hiring? I have a hard time believing there's no one who can fill the positions they're hiring for.

Look at Star Citizen by contrast. It's also being crowdfunded, uses cryengine 3, and it appears like it will have a vastly more immersive universe than MWO will ever have. Why is there such a disparity between these two games?

As much as I love this game, there is one key thing that I think is sorely lacking from it: ambition. I wish PGI was aiming for the stars with this one, expanding its team and scope to make an ultimate MechWarrior universe. I've come to accept that it will never be everything I had hoped for, but I am still happy enough with the game.

Edited by Suprentus, 03 April 2013 - 01:00 PM.

[Chavette]

Dont wanna open a thread about it, so I'll just post it here:

Quote

Players will now see there lancemates name, health status, and grid location on the HUD

Thats so awesome, I'd never of though of that!!!

[von Pilsner]

Suprentus, on 03 April 2013 - 12:59 PM, said:

Basically, I suppose I actually expected this game to sort of be like a MechWarrior MMO in a way, instead of a bare-bones arena game. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fun arena game, and I will continue playing it, but it's not the definitive MechWarrior experience I was hoping for.

I think your expectations of an MMO may be part of the problem, I was expecting a tactical FPS with some campaign elements. I know some MMORPG sites have been calling MWO one of their own, but I don't recall PGI/IGP touting MWO as an MMO.

[MentalPatient]

To the OP, I totally agree with everything you said, and I would have thought PGI would be aiming for something more like this rather than an arena game with tacked on features. I'm still holding out for the CW, but not holding my breath for all the aforementned features. To me, that is the dream for a mechwarrior fan, and I wonder if anyone over at PGI also has that dream. They have taken the safe route, and although fun, its not going to be one of those games I remember with nostalgic fondness in years to come.

I am tempted to look at mechwarrior living legends, as it seems a bit more fleshed out, though maybe not as polished.

[Suprentus]

von Pilsner, on 03 April 2013 - 01:08 PM, said:

I think your expectations of an MMO may be part of the problem, I was expecting a tactical FPS with some campaign elements. I know some MMORPG sites have been calling MWO one of their own, but I don't recall PGI/IGP touting MWO as an MMO.

Yeah, I realize that. It just could have been so much more.

[uebersoldat]

I too long for MWO in an EvE-style universe complete with player-driven economy etc. But look how old EvE is and they've just barely begun to scratch the surface of walking around in stations.

This is a fantastic mech arena-sim. Pretty much this might as well be Solaris games at this point. Let us hope they are ambitious and a few years down the road we have a huge meta-game.

[Phaesphoros]

An MMO would probably be too much for casual gamers. But one could include (and maybe we'll even see) some features of a more immersive universe. I'm not talking about a meta-website-CW-game, but rather an "immersion" mode switch in the client for things like climbing into your cockpit and moving the mech out of its bay instead of "loading caustic valley map" plus non-casual non-random (planned) battles & missions (not just hitting the launch button then wsad+mouse).

[Davers]

The Clans are not just new mechs. They work on very different mechanics and completely different weapons. It's almost like creating a whole new MWO. Remember how long it took to get Endo/FF working right in mechlab? It's quite a bit of work to do before they even make the first mech.

If you are upset by how long it takes to code the Clans, how would you feel if you heard they put all that on the back burner so they could make live in quarters in everyone's cockpits? Maybe I am alone in this, but I preferred EVE before they had an avatar to walk around with.

PGI has limited ambition because it was a game NO ONE WANTED TO TOUCH. No one was willing to fund Mechwarrior 5, despite it's longstanding community. I hope Star Citizen comes though on it's promises. But lots of game companies promise the world. Look at Battlecruiser 3000AD.

[PappySmurf]

I don't expect anything anymore I just soon will move on to a more fun and exciting game that the devs try to understand there fanbase and make content instead of pink mechs and items that cost 4x times what there worth.

[Davers]

PappySmurf, on 03 April 2013 - 01:22 PM, said:

I don't expect anything anymore I just soon will move on to a more fun and exciting game that the devs try to understand there fanbase and make content instead of pink mechs and items that cost 4x times what there worth.

You do know they need product to sell, right? It is a business.

[Suprentus]

Davers, on 03 April 2013 - 01:19 PM, said:

If you are upset by how long it takes to code the Clans, how would you feel if you heard they put all that on the back burner so they could make live in quarters in everyone's cockpits?

Well it's not that I expected them to deprioritize important content for fluff, it's that I expected them to expand their team enough to do both. I think it would be awesome if they have a guy or two dedicated to adding fluff while the senior staff work on the Clans and CW and all that.

Edited by Suprentus, 03 April 2013 - 01:27 PM.

[Valentyn]

I like the OP's post.

Also in regards to the clans? I for one would prefer if we were never able to play them. Instead they could be AI units and events that are part of CW, where we have to try and stave them off, and try and fight the other houses, and mercs for control of systems.

[Vectoron The Black Minister]

For as much flak as I've given PGI and IGP of late I will say one thing, they are having staffing issues. It may look like they have a ton of people working on all this but they really don't, so even getting around to the smaller stuff of community warfare has been hell for em.

Me? I'm with you 100% about trying to maintain a supportive attitude and sometimes I do fall short of this, but I do know that they have their hands full, like really full.

Many would say that "They waste time building MC for money and less stuff for the actual game! F*** em!". I have taken a step back and thought for a moment. They need money, the rights to use those mechs won't buy themselves. Also, they got staff to pay, and need more of them.

(Keep in mind, I totally understand and feel the frustration.)

We want so much of them, but many of us aren't willing to give anything in return. So basicly I think the reason why you are finding this lacking is more due to a money issue. Even though they got 5 million, something of this scale doesn't pay itself and people are forgetting that they have workers to pay too, as well as the other stuff in between like servers, and rights.

Again, if we want them to give us what we want faster, we gotta give in return too.

This is just an observation. I could be completely wrong that cash has anything to do with this.

Edited by Vectoron, 03 April 2013 - 01:38 PM.

[Aim-Bot]

Expections are indeed a huge problem. When you have no idea where the devs aim and you hope and expect a perfect mechwarrior game with 300 maps a great timeline and nice support wich have to be created from scratch in 1-2 years its clear that you will be disappointed. The core game isnt already done. They went open beta much too early. MWO was maybe 30 % done when they went open beta. We will have the "core game " in august this year when they leave open beta step and all bugs are eliminated,clippings,crashes...etc. and when they have implemented the " start " of comunity warfare.
Once we leave open beta and all runs well and we let 1-2 more years pass we will have 300 maps,clanmechs,clanweapons and all you wished for OR the game will be dead and given up cause people get impatient.When you buy a new game like skyrim or something else in the stores the whole game from the idea to the ready product sometimes take 2-4 or more years it just feels better because you dont go the long way with the developers with all joy and desperation.
Lets say that this is an oportunity to create a game together because once when we leave open beta and we have a good core product wich can be build up you can say : i was going this way with all the veterans together.

I love it, i support it and i beleave in pgi. lets see whats goin to happen.

Edited by KuritaGuard, 03 April 2013 - 01:45 PM.

[Suprentus]

KuritaGuard, on 03 April 2013 - 01:39 PM, said:

Once we leave open beta and all runs well and we let 1-2 more years pass we will have 300 maps,clanmechs,clanweapons and all you wished for OR the game will be dead and given up cause people get impatient.

I really hope you're right on the former.

[Davers]

KuritaGuard, on 03 April 2013 - 01:39 PM, said:

Lets say that this an oportunity to create a game together because once when we leave open beta and we have a good core product wich can be build up you can say : i was going this way with all the veterans together.

I love it, i support it and i beleave in pgi. lets see whats goin to happen.

This is why I was so excited about MWO. Too often if you get into a game that has been around for a while you end up at the bottom of the ladder with a really long way to climb. I am very happy to have gotten in 'on the ground floor' so to speak.

[KingDerp]

Back in Oct./Nov. I thought the gameplay would be to join a house, do missions, fight for territory control, etc...

Nope, simple arena game is the core and that is what it will stay until it is dead and forgotten.

[Garth Erlam]

Quote

However, as so much time as passed, I've witnessed the slowest production crawl I've ever seen.

Show me a game this far into development that is further along, with a staff of this size (IE. now tossing EA games into this, heh.)

..

Go ahead, seriously. I want to see this game.

[Aim-Bot]

KingDerp, on 03 April 2013 - 01:45 PM, said:

Back in Oct./Nov. I thought the gameplay would be to join a house, do missions, fight for territory control, etc...

Nope, simple arena game is the core and that is what it will stay until it is dead and forgotten.

that sounds pretty pessimistic. maybe pgi wasnt able to implement promised stuff in the time window that they told us but at least they implemented it. CW will come and clans will come the only reason why your words could be reality is if we all let pgi down.

[Suprentus]

Garth Erlam, on 03 April 2013 - 01:47 PM, said:

Show me a game this far into development that is further along, with a staff of this size (IE. now tossing EA games into this, heh.)

..

Go ahead, seriously. I want to see this game.

A staff that size is exactly what I'm on about. Do you guys really not make enough money to hire a larger staff?

I totally get that you guys are overworked with developing the game with so few people, and I, along with many other fans, appreciate that. But does it really have to be done with so few people?

Edited by Suprentus, 03 April 2013 - 01:54 PM.