315 replies to this topic

[Bilbo]

We still run drops, in all time zones, regularly. Also, this thread is not about how perfect the game may or may not be.

[Jasen]

Bilbo, on 13 June 2013 - 01:25 PM, said:

We still run drops, in all time zones, regularly. Also, this thread is not about how perfect the game may or may not be.

Oh. LOL.

You still haven't learned how that attitude negatively affects your crew have you... either that or you just mad at Corvus =D


Maybe.. just maybe... because the game isn't that fun... the numbers _ARE_ falling. Imagine that... you might actually be wrong, ya know... Or you can just keep pulling classic Bilbo, bury your head in the sand while being an ***, and watch the rest of your corp failscade like it already has... pretty much exclusively because of you.

your move.


(EDIT: if you don't realize, i don't actually care about anything you have to say next... heading home for the day, will try to check back up and read your reply sometime tho)

Edited by Jasen, 13 June 2013 - 01:29 PM.

[Deathlike]

All I have to say is...

Welcome to PGI's meta within the meta.

Edited by Deathlike, 13 June 2013 - 01:37 PM.

[Fastidious]

Jman5, on 13 June 2013 - 11:43 AM, said:

The biggest thing I use to judge a game's success is it's hiring/firing situation. The fact that in the last two months PGI has already or is trying to double it's employees from 50 to 100, is the biggest indicator that the game has a healthy population and financial security. You don't double your employee numbers for a dying game.

How many work at PGI now? It seems like they aren't doing that much for 50+ people. I hope there are some big surprises in the works.

All I know is the 20-30 guys in my unit don't play much at all anymore. If I log in (rare now) way less people in my friends list are on compared to a few months back. I'm not burned out I just don't enjoy how the game play and balance are changing. Not a fan of stuff like random jump shake, seismic sensor, coolant, PPC dominance, weak SRMs, etc or the newest boating penalty (which won't do much except make the game more confusing).

They put much more effort and thought into their weekly/bi weekly sales than game balance. We need more varied gameplay! Not just new mechs, new maps or new things to grind. We need new modes of play that are actually different (Assault and Conquest are 99% the same). Grinding new mechs is relatively pointless now as well as there's not much difference beyond tonnage and hard points. They are running out of meaningful permutations on variants. Mechs need strong unique characteristics to make them worth taking.

I still follow the forums some and r/MWO but I don't play much. What I see lately from balance and gameplay changes has just dropped my and my units interest even further.

[Felbombling]

Gallowglas, on 13 June 2013 - 12:29 PM, said:

That's a faulty way of looking at the data. Remember that pageviews are cumulative. Thus, you would absolutely expect that there would be more pageviews for something over time. If you could look at the number of pageviews for each mech 1 month out from their release, then it might be relevant. Even so, when something is new and novel, you're likely to sit and marvel at it more often, show it off to your friends, etc. 15 mechs in? Not so much. Even so, the Highlander views seem pretty healthy. And look at the announcement thread for the Quickdraw: 27963 views.

I just noticed that the Victor views were way down compared to the other artwork, so I presented the information. I have no clue what it means, but people can draw any conclusion they like. I just have to wonder how many people in that Quickdraw announcement thread were there to b!tch about the Orion being delayed?

[Petroshka]

I am, on 13 June 2013 - 11:54 AM, said:

Ouch. Funny thing is I never looked at any of the concept art, but yesterday at work looked at the quickdraw, curious to see what kind of mech it was (no BT exp.). So to me that says, external interest in MWO has died. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Irrelevant until you divide number of views by the number of days the image has been up.

[Splitpin]

Yes agreed numbers have dropped through the floor in the last few weeks. I hope PGI are watching their stats and notice this, but will they draw the right conclusions? IMHO while every change they make to the game is negative, a nerf, this will continue. It's simple really, people want to enjoy the game. Take away what makes the game fun for them, they'll go play something else. Nerf team players out of the game, you loose teams of players. Nerf missile pilots out of the game, you loose missile pilots. Nerf jump jets out of the game you loose people who like JJs - this one would seem to have had a huge effect, the last week to 10 days it's been very dramatic. There needs to be a change in mind-set, instead of negative fixes and only negative fixes they need to look for positives that balance the perceived issue. eg Missiles were a problem ? buff AMS, and provide more cover not just remove a whole way of playing the game.

[mack sabbath]

During the Assault Challenge, playing my Non-PPC STK's, I had a much longer queue time than on my Phract or Hunchies...also a lot of DC's.

Makes sense that more assault pilots were looking for billets, and kind of indicates that PGI has actually put in place an effective way to balance pug roster weights.


(possibly)

Edited by Die Primate Die, 13 June 2013 - 02:28 PM.

[Splitpin]

StaggerCheck, on 13 June 2013 - 01:51 PM, said:

I just noticed that the Victor views were way down compared to the other artwork, so I presented the information. I have no clue what it means, but people can draw any conclusion they like. I just have to wonder how many people in that Quickdraw announcement thread were there to b!tch about the Orion being delayed?

Well my conclusion re the Victor is that now JJs aren't viable ... the point would be, moot.

[Jman5]

Jasen, on 13 June 2013 - 12:47 PM, said:

You do realize PGI has been "hiring" since closed beta... and unless it snuck by, they haven't hired a single person.

http://www.youtube.c...1Mv0I#!&t=4m29s

This was an interview less than 2 months ago. The fact that they went all the way to GDC to bring in more people for mechwarrior online and expanding into other products means the company is in good shape financially. If the game was a complete failure and sinking, they would either be firing or shifting people from MWO toward their other projects.

Look, the bottom line is this: All the Chicken Littles out there don't want the game to be doing well because it invalidates their opinion that the game is bad/broken/dying. I am perfectly happy to discuss features that need to be implemented or rebalanced. But trying hoist up the corpse to act as a crutch for your suggestions, is entirely unhelpful and I believe it's pretty misleading.

If we want to talk about anecdotal evidence of exodus, I'll bring my own. The merc corp I'm in, QQ Ragequit Mercenary, has done nothing but grow over the last 6 months. Sure people come and go, but that's completely normal with any hobby group. The trend is still upward. In fact, we had to cut back quite a bit because we were worried that we were growing too fast.

The real reason Groups go bust is because the leadership fails to maintain a steady recruitment. Instead, they start off strong, and then just stop. As people naturally drift out to other games or activities, the group dies because they don't bring in new blood. There are new people joining MWO all the time, but if you're not leaving the gated community of your teamspeak channel, of course it will seem like the game is dying.

Edited by Jman5, 13 June 2013 - 02:45 PM.

[Jasen]

Jman5, on 13 June 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

*snip*

Wasn't aware of some of that. Thanks for the info...

Just realized I knew you from QQ mercs, kept trying to place the name... GG's with you guys every time we play you - much respect.


However, in reply... I see ads for other IGP games now all over the nets... who says they haven't shifted resources to other games? The glacial pace of MWO development would actually point pretty strongly to that.

Edited by Jasen, 13 June 2013 - 02:52 PM.

[Splitpin]

Jman5, on 13 June 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

*snip*

JMan5 I totally agree with what you say about team decline and recruiting but for evidence of population decline just look at the proportion of Founders in the games you play. If it's high, approaching 50%, then something is very wrong, that's what I'm seeing.

[Sephlock]

Quote

The Current Player Count Must Be Very Low

It's lower than you think. We're all figments of your imagination.

There IS no message board.

[Raijun]

DocBach, on 13 June 2013 - 12:36 PM, said:

I don't know about other groups, but there's been a remarkable resurgence in interest from Murphy's Law - where a couple weeks ago there would only be one or two players playing MWO instead of other games at peak hours, we've now been able to piece together an entire 4 man drop the last couple nights!

Of course, its a far cry from the five or so 8 man drops we use to have going concurrently nightly.

Ah yes, that "Murphy" guy. We must have the same ELO rating since he is in just about every one of my drops ...

I think it is only going to take a few good changes to turn the MWO population back on track. Just what those are ? Quem sabe ? But I do keep up hope for this game. As a community, we see a lot of disagreement and some tempers. But in the end, I feel we come together in sportsmanship. It is a very different community compared to other games. One I would not like to see splintered.

Maybe next patch we can get "Murphy" on our side

[Sephlock]

Gamgee, on 13 June 2013 - 12:56 PM, said:

No one wants the Quickdraw aside from a few delusional Dragon pilots.

[Steel Claws]

Sadly most of the people I knew from the closed beta have quit playing nerf warrior online. They have become disenchanted by how slow things are going, how many things keep getting broken, and how every time someone finds something that works it gets nerfed.

Don't get me wrong, we all would LOVE for this game to be successful. We are mech heads from way back, but unfortunately there is a need for to many in this game to want to turn it into the table top game with graphics. "I am now going to shoot my PPC at the atlas. Sorry your D20 roll failed to connect and do any damage. His return shot rolled a good crit hit roll so the entire left side of your mech is gone." Sorry, that just isn't fun for the majority of players.

[IceSerpent]

Steel Claws, on 13 June 2013 - 04:00 PM, said:

Don't get me wrong, we all would LOVE for this game to be successful. We are mech heads from way back, but unfortunately there is a need for to many in this game to want to turn it into the table top game with graphics. "I am now going to shoot my PPC at the atlas. Sorry your D20 roll failed to connect and do any damage. His return shot rolled a good crit hit roll so the entire left side of your mech is gone." Sorry, that just isn't fun for the majority of players.

Don't get me wrong, but every modern FPS game I can think of implements some sort of RNG, usually in a form of "cone of fire", therefore they all qualify as "TT game with graphics" according to your criteria, yet they seem to be considered fun by the majority of players.

That being said, "battletech balance" can easily be implemented without any dice rolls, so the whole point is moot.

[Zylo]

100mile, on 13 June 2013 - 12:32 PM, said:

<p id="board_stats">

• 2,358,094 Total Posts
  
• 483,158 Total Members
  
• Mk IV Ravager Newest Member
  
• 4,935 Most Online

• The moderating team
  
• Today's top 20 posters
  
• Overall top posters

1,536 users are online (in the past 30 minutes)



497 members, 1039 guests, 0 anonymous users (See full list)

And this is just the forums...you can safely assume that there's a minimum of 10% of the total population in the actual game the majority of the time.....

BTW...doesn't appear the stats are hidden on to me....

I would be surprised if over 2% of the forum population was online IN GAME at any given time. Back before the player counter was pulled in closed beta it didn't often get above 4k for extended periods of time. During open beta of course more players joined but other chose to leave.

I would estimate the typical weeknight population in MWO at any given time doesn't get above 8k and that is being generous.

I generally see peaks between 25k and 30k in WoT on an average night on the NA server, sometimes around 40k on weekends. Considering WoT is far more popular than MWO I don't think my peak estimate of 8k online at any given time in MWO around peak hours is too far off but again this is an estimate based on past observations when there was a player counter.

Edited by Zylo, 13 June 2013 - 04:53 PM.

[100mile]

IceSerpent, on 13 June 2013 - 12:42 PM, said:

1. We don't know what the current total population is.

Really.... so you didn't see the 483,158 Total Members in my post...or you didn't want to cause it doesn't jibe with what you want to say...

Facts are facts...there's almost half a million people signed up for this game....Last week the total was around 481,000...that's 2,000+ members a week...and yes the growth has slowed down some but it sure as heck ain't declining...

Anytime you want to know what the numbers are...just look at the bottom of the main page....

Edited by 100mile, 13 June 2013 - 05:02 PM.

[Zylo]

100mile, on 13 June 2013 - 05:01 PM, said:

Really.... so you didn't see the 483,158 Total Members in my post...or you didn't want to cause it doesn't jibe with what you want to say...

Facts are facts...there's almost half a million people signed up for this game....Last week the total was around 481,000...that's 2,000+ members a week...and yes the growth has slowed down some but it sure as heck ain't declining...

So, how many players have made multiple accounts to test out features such as new player Elo? I've done it and those accounts stay active even though they belong to the same player.

New players will come in to try the game but the real question is if they will stick around. I suspect most new players do not stick around long, even with the new player Elo system. While the total population may be growing I suspect the ACTIVE population is decreasing.

Edited by Zylo, 13 June 2013 - 05:07 PM.