3PV
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
Viper69 : If we are going to be able to choose to play against people using 3PV or not to, how are you going to address the then fractured and smaller groups that then have to wait in queue for a match that meets their perimeters?
A: There will be two modes Normal and Hardcore (FPV) only. We anticipate most players will play the first mode leaving the hardcore mode for the those wanting a challenge. 3PV will be going onto test servers in the next 60 days and we’ll see how it goes from there.
Wait. So they acknowledge that they're splitting the playerbase AND that most people are going to be using the third-person mode, leaving the first-person only mode as a deserted wasteland for "those wanting a challenge"?!? How is that supposed to be a positive change?
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
aniviron: You've stated in the past that you don't want to give players using third person view a competitive advantage by being able to see around corners, behind them, or in their far periphery. Do you have any concrete plans for how to do this? It seems like this will be an unavoidable side effect of having the camera located behind the mech, and it is the main reason that almost the entire forum is against having it in the game. You could assuage a lot of upset on the forums if you detailed how you are going to do this.
A: Once players get their hands on 3PV, I think most people will be pleasantly surprised how little the camera impacts gameplay. Early tests are showing that there is not much of an advantage. That being said, until we get this viewmode in the hands of 1000s of players, we’re not going to see how it fully gets used.
I've been on both sides of the 3PV debate. On the one hand, I want to be able to take screenshots/video of my 'mech (in action if possible), on the other hand, I don't want to actually play from a third-person view (or be stuck in a battle with people making use of the inherent advantages just b/c I want to get some screenshots).
Can't there be a way to record the movements/actions during a match, and then replay that back after the match, like in HALO 3's multiplayer, where you can move the camera freely, take screenshots, and make video/machinima after the battle, where it doesn't effect the actual gameplay? (never got around to picking up HALO 4, not sure if they still have that feature).
Star Trek Online even has a "demorecord" feature where you can record a length of gameplay, and play it back later with a free-moving camera (not attached to your character) so you can re-watch certain moments from a different perspective or get screencaps from an angle that wouldn't normally be available to you in-game.
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
Warge: Are any plans to encourage future 3PV players to use 1PV? Maybe slight XP or/and CB boost, that sort of things...
A: Probably not, however we’re going to emphasize that both view modes are essential to a well-rounded experience, with FPV being something that you use if you are a true sim-head.
???
They said above that Merc Corps would be "Hardcore Mode" only, and House Units would be "Softcore/Hardcore". If players want to play as a Merc Corps, apparently they need to be "Hardcore", so I guess playing with friends/guildies is the "encouragement" to play "Hardcore"
UI 2.0
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
Azshal: The Atlas D-DC has 3 missile hardpoints in the LT, but each hardpoint seems to have a different number of tubes. In UI2.0, will there be the ability to choose exactly which hardpoint an LRM/SRM goes into, and the abilty to see how many tubes are in each hardpoint?
A: Right now there a no plans to allow players to pick which hardpoint items are equipped to.
I would like to see mechs with multiple hardpoints in the same location (For example: YLW's triple ballistic arm, HBK's triple ballistic shoulder, SDR-5D's double energy arm, etc) be modified to actually show multiple weapons when more than one is mounted in that location instead of having all the weapons being crammed into the same barrel.
Community Warfare/Clans
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
irony1999: Currently it seems that CW Phase 1 is primarily delivering features for the "clan" (Merc corp) experience, from the current reveals. Will there be any enhancements for Faction members, or will that be delivered in Phase 2? Can you discuss these faction member enhancements?
A: Phase 1 will be the meta game (levels, ranks, loyalty points etc). Phase 2 will encompass association (being a part of a faction, whether a merc unit or house).
What purpose do loyalty points serve if we have to wait for another phase to be part of a faction? Should "Lone Wolves" or people planning to be in Merc Corps select a faction now so they have some "loyalty points" to play with whenever Phase 2 starts (so they can grab what they can with whatever they earned in Phase 1 and then drop that faction to join their Merc Corps whenever it has some actual functionality)?
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
Trufast: I was wondering how merc corp sizes would matter in community warfare. I understand that you guys can't reveal too much about that stuff yet, but I was wondering if a merc corp of say 20 members would be at a disadvantage compared to the 2-300 member corps. Is there a minimum requirement to be able to function as a merc corp? (more than twelve active members that is)
A: The minimum requirement will be 12. We don’t want size to play a major role in the CW meta game. Zerging the universe with masses is not really what we are trying to achieve. More details will follow when we outline CW to the public.
Hrm... I guess I need to start recruiting. I had wanted to start a Merc Corps whenever being in a Merc Corps actually got some meaning, but I've only got 6 people interested so far. If we have to pick factions (and I'm not sure why anyone would pick being a lone wolf over a faction unless they're really not interested in the game as anything more than a "robot shoot-em-up"), we're split between FedSuns, Lyran Commonwealth, Free Rasalhague, and I think we've got a Drac too, so being a Merc Corps was going to be the way we could all play together.
I guess I'm also concerned that it sounds like Merc play means that you have to have at least 12 players online at the same time to play together in a way that matters, or has any impact at all toward CW. What happens if you have less than 12 players online? Does that mean you just play as a lone wolf? Can you switch back to a faction and gain some loyalty points until the rest of your team comes online? What if your merc unit has a company (12 players) already engaged in a battle and you have an odd amount of players left over? Do you just sit and wait for an opening to become available?
I was thinking that the way CW (for Mercs anyway) was going to work was this:
- You select a contract.
- This will determine your pay and "reputation/loyalty points" for the faction that your fighting for during the next match.
- This also selects which planet your victory/loss effects on the Inner Sphere map.
- You drop into a match.
- The matches work pretty much like they do now. If you're in a group, you drop with a group and the rest of the players on your team fill in with:
- Mercs fighting under contracts with the same House
- Faction players matching the contract holder's House
- Lone Wolves
- Meanwhile the opposing team fills in with:
- Mercs allied with the House that you're fighting against
- Faction players allied with the House that you're fighting against
- Lone Wolves
This way, each player is fighting for the world they selected the contract for, they don't need a full company of players online to play as a Merc Corps, and Merc Corps as a whole can work for several employers if they want (although reputation progress would go a lot faster if they concentrate on one faction at a time). Also, they wouldn't need to separate out Merc and Faction players, which would increase the pool of available players and cut down on wait times for matches). Yes, this means that not everyone on the same map is fighting for the same world, but unless PGI makes over 2000 maps to represent a portion of each inhabited planet, each map is already going to represent a tiny area on one of hundreds of planets anyway.
`Mech's and Mechbay
Bryan Ekman, on 14 June 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:
MrTarget: Why ditch the Orion from June's update?
A: We wanted to offer a mech with a slightly different meta game.
Just a quick question: What does "meta" game mean for people? For me, the "meta game" has always been "Community Warfare", or the part of the game that is not the actual "shooting people in the face" game. The game that happens around the actual game.
I keep seeing "meta game" being used in reference to what I observe as "Flavor of the Week/Patch" build/'mech discussions or arguing about weapon stats... which I don't consider game-like or even part of the game at all.
(...more commentary to be continued)
Edited by DirePhoenix, 16 June 2013 - 12:35 PM.