11 replies to this topic

[Arcturious]

So, the Phoenix mechs have been announced, and they include a 10% bonus to Loyalty Points.

These I believe are the currency used in community warfare by representing the various great houses while fighting under their banner.

However, as far as I know, not much info is out there on how these accumulate and what benefit they provide to Lone Wolves and Mercs.

I can see a lot of these players buying into the Phoenix program and yet we don't have the information available yet to make an informed decision.

If I want to remain a Lone Wolf, what do Loyalty points give me? How can they be spent?

The FAQ states:

Quote

Players will be able to work with and/or pledge allegiance to one of the major factions within the game's universe.

So the "work with" bit needs clarification I believe to make sure these players aren't being disadvantaged now that cashy money is involved.

Ideas: Perhaps a Lone Wolf or Merc group can store these up just like GEXP. They can then be spent on items from any great house specialty.

For example, if say the Davion faction gets a cheaper rate or a unique Ultra class auto cannon for 20 loyalty points. Perhaps Lone Wolves or Mercs can get it for 25 points. Someone from Kurita would need 40 points etc.

So Lone Wolves and Mercs become generalists and can buy from all houses etc?

I just don't want to see this system negatively effect certain play styles now that real money is involved. Also, not enough information has been released yet so I'm hoping some clarification is on its way from PGI!

Edited by Arcturious, 25 June 2013 - 04:56 PM.

[Deathlike]

I'm not loyal to PGI, so consider my loyalty points at -666.

[Arcturious]

I'm hoping its something like each house has a separate pool of points. If you are pledged to say Davion, you get say a 50% bonus to Davion pool, also a 50% reduction at the Davion store. You may then get a 50% increase at any other house store. Lone Wolves and Mercs can allocate any points earned to any house pool, without any built in bonus. They don't get any discounts to any house store, but they also don't get any penalties either.

That sort of easy to understand and balance system would make it easy to see how a 10% bonus could benefit all players equally.

You could even flesh it out by having scaling benefits by length of pledge. For example, a 1 month pledge to Davion is worth 10% bonus. 3 months, 20% etc up to the year giving 100%. So for a whole year you wouldn't be able to change affiliation except back to lone wolf, which is the default 'cancel' faction. When your year / month expires you can go to any other faction.

Or as an alternative model, you don't get locked in when you pledge and you get a flat benefit. Then when you want to change factions, you have to spend 1 month as a lone wolf first before you can rejoin or similar.

There are quite a few easy options, I would just like something, anything really to be confirmed before this new deal expires.

Edited by Arcturious, 25 June 2013 - 06:34 PM.

[Lord Ikka]

One idea I've heard tossed around is that you might need a certain amount of LPs from a Faction to bring a bigger Mech to any battles you fight for them. Have 100 LP for Steiner but only 46 for Davion? Then you can bring a Heavy or lower to Steiner battles but only Medium to Davion. Might be a weight balancing mechanic for CW.

[Arcturious]

Lord Ikka, that would depend on how they handle lobby mode.

My preference would be for the lobby to require you to bring one of each class of mech. Assault, Heavy, Medium and Light.

Tactics would exponentially increase. Do you all bring your assaults in first? Do you bring in the lights, saving assaults till later? Do you bring a balanced mix? We would see much more variety in matches, people have to cross skill, fulfil roles and other benefits to the metagame. They have already confirmed lobby is four mechs, it kind of makes sense to restrict them by class.

Also, some people won't have one of each weight bracket. That's ok, because there is always a trial mech of each weight available.

This would then have a flow on effect of encouraging people to own mechs of different weights. Tired of bringing the trial assault to a match? Go get your own etc

Finally, the latest Pheonix program sort of leads me towards this thinking as well. They are almost perfectly setting it up for this type of lobby system. Drop $80 - get a matched set of hero mechs in each weight class. It adds its own awesome factor to your lobby drop if all are the same unique Camo etc. It also provides a kind of 'hidden' buff to those who bought the $80 pack. They will forever have a matched set to run in a lobby if they choose.

The cynic in me can see this being a great way to have people buy the 'ultimate' packs in the future also. If they look back at this one and say "Damn I wish I'd bought all four", they are more likely to go for the top tier next sale to mitigate these sorts of synergy bonuses.

Edited by Arcturious, 25 June 2013 - 07:53 PM.

[Kyrie]

All we know for sure is that PGI will tell us, eventually, what Loyalty Points are. :-) That being said, my speculation is that LPs will be a pool that will determine rank for faction players, and privileges for both factions and mercs for that particular House. I suspect mercs wont have ranks in the same sense as faction players will, I would further speculate that ranks in a merc corp will be determined internally by the commander of the corps.

Defining what these privileges are is a very interesting question indeed -- could be things like being able to pilot a particular mech class, discounts on various House specific items, and so on.

I suspect it will not be a currency as in trading points for items or whatnot, more like a level system.

[hammerreborn]

Loyalty points i suspect will go with their "endgame" items, mainly, manufacture specific weapons, along side other probably minor bonuses (such as c-bill boosts from fronts or the like).

[Arcturious]

Perhaps it will be both modes (levels and purchases). They could do it like EXP and GEXP. Your current loyalty points can be spent on purchases of items, mechs, camo etc.

Then you have a permanent loyalty total similar to GEXP which is basically just a counter of all your points in a faction for all time, you can't spend it, it's a stat.

Then certain items, mechs, camo can only unlock at certain tiers of global loyalty points - it's reputation grinding hooray

[Kyrie]

Arcturious, on 25 June 2013 - 08:36 PM, said:

Perhaps it will be both modes (levels and purchases). They could do it like EXP and GEXP. Your current loyalty points can be spent on purchases of items, mechs, camo etc.

Then you have a permanent loyalty total similar to GEXP which is basically just a counter of all your points in a faction for all time, you can't spend it, it's a stat.

Then certain items, mechs, camo can only unlock at certain tiers of global loyalty points - it's reputation grinding hooray

Its definitely going to be a huge grind, it is going to be the key end-game grind. Faction players will probably spend more than a year grinding their way up to the top General rank (Tai-sho for Kurita) ; at which point we can only hope PGI tries to do something more in-depth than has been promised to date for faction players.

What is going to keep mercs grinding is hard to say. Presumably the main interest for mercs will be the conquest system -- with house players being "passive" and mercs having "active" participation in CW, I sense a lot of scheduling in mercs' futures to try to make the key battles.

I still wish PGI hadn't reversed the importance of mercs and houses.

[irony1999]

Loyalty Points were explained way back in the initial conception of the game. While details may have changed, its probably close to the original concept in most ways:

From Dev Blog 1:http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/2247-dev-blog-1-community-warfare/
Loyalty Points and Ranks

Loyalty Points are used to determine how devoted you have been to a particular faction. The more loyal you are, the greater the reward. LPs are earned by engaging in activities that further the goals of a particular faction.
For Example: Killing an enemy faction player would earn 1 LP.
Loyalty Points decay over time if a player is not active. Participating in negative actions can also decrease LPs.
Faction Players

As a Faction Player, loyalty points are earned by playing and winning matches. As the player accumulates loyalty points, they will gain a military faction rank at pre-determined loyalty point totals. If a player loses LPs by decay or negative actions, they will be demoted.
Gaining ranks earns special privileges and items, including membership to special units, unit skins, and bonuses to C-Bills and XP. These are all non-permanent and subject to the player maintaining a certain rank level. At the highest possible levels, players can begin to influence their faction by controlling which planets are targeted in territory conquest.
Mercenary Corp Players

As a Mercenary Corporation, all members’ earned loyalty points go to the Merc Corp. The Merc Corp must have a minimum amount of loyalty points with a faction before they are able to engage in planetary combat on behalf of that faction. Loyalty points also determine the type and level of contract a Merc Corp is permitted to bid on. These loyalty point restrictions mean that a Merc Corp’s membership, must remain active in order to maintain the required level of LPs.
Ranks are created within a Merc Corp by the Merc Corp leader. The naming of the ranks is entirely up to the Merc Corp leader who can assign Merc Corp level permissions to each rank.
Lone Wolf Players

As a lone wolf, the player can earn loyalty points through participation in random matches, however these LPs have no positive or negative implications. A lone wolf player does not have any ranks.

[Arcturious]

Hmmm, I was worried that was the latest information. If so, they really need to revisit the Lone Wolf rewards. I'm hoping for a way to sign up on temp contracts, get LP for the various pools etc

More complicated than just a 'meh' that they have now. It certainly doesn't bode well for all the LNW's who have purchased the Phoenix package that's for sure!!

Edited by Arcturious, 28 June 2013 - 07:22 PM.

[Zerberus]

I`m expecting loyalty points to work similarly if not identically to reputations in WoW... grind it up, get access to special items for gold (in this case c-bills)

Edited by Zerberus, 29 June 2013 - 01:14 AM.