359 replies to this topic

[Furball42]

Ok, I like this change.. I really do and that surprised a couple of people online last night. Here are my thoughts on a couple of the maps I played:

Firstly, although a cool map, Alpine is essentially a bit broken now. I mean, it was big to begin with, but now meeting another party is a 50/50 chance. Maybe this will be less of a problem with 12v12, but now, because om the limited movement, the map is just a curiosity.

Secondly, River City... Boy, have things changed.. Running into the city full blast is not an option anymore - it is more of a slow cautious approach and I like it. City fights are precarious things - you don't know what lurks.. and your movement is supposed to be limited. If you want to run, go into the river. Interesting play.

Canyon.. although I only played it once, I have to say I approve. Although I have to agree with many of the threaders here that getting stuck on the smallest of outcroppings and rocks piloting a 'las is quite annoying. BUT, and this was awesome, our assault lance got ambushed by a Victor 'mech.. He managed to deal out quite a lot of punishment standing up upon the ridge before he fell down and we blew him sky high - Jumpjets are really quite a powerful tactical tool...as it should be. Will have to play this a little more methinks.

It took me a couple of games to get used to the new movement mechanics, and I played with my Raven, Catapult and Atlas. it is going to take some getting used to, but I approve of what it brings to the game.

/5c

EDIT: think they should run over the maps a few more times and just smooth out certain things. as with everything else, it is going to take time. but it needs to be done.

Edited by Furball42, 02 July 2013 - 10:28 PM.

[ptrainenator]

I have really had trouble trying to justify not being able to move up the pathways carved into the rock faces. I used to be able to go up them, like they were carved into the map just for a path for me to go. lol. Now next to none of the paths work, and I can no longer walk up anything a baby couldn't crawl. With that out of my system.
Please increase the gradient to something more like what we are used to, the maps just don't work with the new rules. Don't take it the wrong way though, I want new maps. Just not this rediculus change in the gameplay, that was almost so close to being balanced.

Other than the lrm speed recently/ but I can deal if you just change movement back.

I was just getting back into this game too. I had almost completed my 2nd chassis type maxing with my ctf's after doing hunch's early beta. Planned on doing atlas's next since I have purchased all the equipment I should need for any chassis type after this. Back to single player games unless this gets changed back or changed somehow very soon.

Edited by ptrainenator, 02 July 2013 - 10:36 PM.

[QuaxDerBruchpilot]

A good idea poorly implemented. Good concept in general, but there is imminent need for finetuning and map reworking. E.g. at Canyon, you simply get stuck at little rocks. Right now it's a game of lucky guesses where you might advance uphills and where not.

Again I wonder how this could pass quality testing at PGI.

[bickie]

i hate it

[ravineh]

overall great, just make the slowing effect start a bit later and the speed decay also slower. this way moving mech wont stop on any pebbles and can cross small craters

[TheCaptainJZ]

ProfessorD, on 02 July 2013 - 12:56 PM, said:

The question about whether or not QA happens is, surprisingly, now totally easy to answer. They told us in the last AskTheDevs that

http://mwomercs.com/...77#entry2500477

That's their whole team. Look at the credits of a full-sized-studio game sometime, and you'll see more people than that just on QA, with teams of similar size working on each other major feature. So no, no meaningful QA happens, and we get stuck on rocks.

I thought I read that IGP, the publisher, has the QA team, not PGI.

[POWR]

ProfessorD, on 02 July 2013 - 12:56 PM, said:

The question about whether or not QA happens is, surprisingly, now totally easy to answer. They told us in the last AskTheDevs that

http://mwomercs.com/...77#entry2500477

That's their whole team. Look at the credits of a full-sized-studio game sometime, and you'll see more people than that just on QA, with teams of similar size working on each other major feature. So no, no meaningful QA happens, and we get stuck on rocks.

You realise that mostly QA people are a team provided by publishers, unconnected to the game studio? Also, the feature works, as in, there are no bug problems causing it to crash out the game, or break anything terribly. We are the guys who are supposed to test the implementation of it and provide feedback. Not cry like little babies. If you want to cry like a little baby, go wait till after launch, then you can cry if their game is pumped full of things you are expected to test.

Some people... man.

Edited by POWR, 02 July 2013 - 11:38 PM.

[arkani]

nice idea , poooooooooorly executed.

do you guys have a basic grasp of physics?? Forward momentum mean anything to you? More tonnage harder to stop, more time to stop, etc??

if ( slope>45º) { speed = 0 } // this is not an algorithim for movement, its just ..... ridiculous

[Flyto]

From a few plays (I haven't hit every map yet, and notably I haven't hit canyon - which I imagine was designed with this in mind), I love this change in principle! It's made things a whole lot more tactical on most maps.

My only criticism, as from a few others, is with the tuning re momentum - which seems too little in heavies and assualts - and in small-scale terrain. In a large mech I seem to get slowed down or even stopped by small mounds that I should be able to step over. Hopefully this can be addressed.

There's also a small niggle when driving mechs with jumpjets: if I try to walk up a slope and find that it's too steep and I've stopped, I can then try firing jumpjets, but becasue I have no forward momentum I just go up and down - which leads to the hilarious sight of a Highlander stuck on a hill that only comes up to its waist while people shoot at it... ;-) the solution, of course, is to back off and get a runup, or to traverse at an angle to the slope, but I wonder whether jumpjets could get a *slight* forward vector to help this to work better?

[Crimson Fenris]

I think you better have to set a max speed limit, in addition of the gradual deceleration, from 0% to max speed, accordingly to the slope angle.
But that must be more progressive, and include an acceleration in the other way :

That need to feel a realistic behavior of a machine climbing : when the slope is too steep, it stops after a while struggling, but as soon as the slope become softer, the movement must restart again slowly.

Example, you're climbing a slope that begin with 20°, then quickly begin to be 45°, and after a rounded edge is 20° again.
The current system will make your mech only decelerate until it has burned all its momentum, and render it impossible to continue to the final rounded edge.
In my intended change, the mech will gradually been slowed to 0% speed, but slowly regain speed as soon it reaches the last soft edge, to finally succeed in the ascension.

[Demuder]

This is a major feature. This was supposed to be exciting. Turns out, it's one step forward, two steps backward. Just like the LRM debacle a month or so ago. Good idea, poor implementation, putting the community through a hell of a grind until fixed. I mean, releasing a feature just for the sake of releasing it... is simply unprofessional imho.

What really bugs me though, is the releasing of a JJ capable assault together with this feature, adding the proverbial opportunistic salt to the disappointment wound. Not nice PGI, not nice at all.

POWR, on 02 July 2013 - 11:36 PM, said:

You realise that mostly QA people are a team provided by publishers, unconnected to the game studio? Also, the feature works, as in, there are no bug problems causing it to crash out the game, or break anything terribly. We are the guys who are supposed to test the implementation of it and provide feedback. Not cry like little babies. If you want to cry like a little baby, go wait till after launch, then you can cry if their game is pumped full of things you are expected to test.

Some people... man.

I would agree with you if this thing just needed tuning. However, the getting stuck on pebbles, unnaturally going from full to zero speed, getting stuck on slopes, no clear visual feedback about what is passable and what is not, quirky movement all around, doesn't need a whole community to test and tune. Playing one match on any map makes those problems more than evident.

[Rovertoo]

I think that the movement system should remain the same as it is now, but with the only change being no 'stop'. The mech should slow down linearly until 90 degrees, so going up a steep slope would feel really arduous and dangerous to be a target on, but wouldn't hamper play as roughly as a complete stop does whenever we hit an object.

[Daemir]

This change causes nothing but confusion and frustration, since it's so inconsistent and random. Getting stuck on a pebble, some invisible wall or a ******* TREE in a mech that weighs 85 tons is beyond ridiculous. Get your terrain physics done before you enforce stupid movement limitations. An atlas should bloody crush the car/tree/fence it got stuck on, it's 100 tons of metal!

[HRR Mary]

I like the change, as it means one has to plan his movements.

But the approach is too binary : if a minor rock, that your mech should be able to walk over, is in your path, you either slow considerably, or stop. The feeling is that a multi-ton mech, moving at speeds between 50Kph to 130 Kph has no momentum at all.

Could you please consider adding Speed+Mass to the effect, in a way that slow the movement over time, not as an instant stop.

[RedDragon]

Rovertoo, on 03 July 2013 - 01:23 AM, said:

I think that the movement system should remain the same as it is now, but with the only change being no 'stop'. The mech should slow down linearly until 90 degrees, so going up a steep slope would feel really arduous and dangerous to be a target on, but wouldn't hamper play as roughly as a complete stop does whenever we hit an object.

That's how it should be done.

[HarlekinEO]

The slowdown patch was to early implemented. The are a lot of buggy sites. The worst map so far is the Frozen City Map. You stop at ice clods (f.e. the ones at the canyon boarder) where you normally could step over and it should be no issue at all. There has to be done alot of finetuning on the maps.

All in all I like the idea, which stands behind this. But it should be better implemented.

[Muffinator]

Like everyones said this is a good idea but it needs urgent tuning. I've died a few times now from getting stuck on little pebbles in canyons or the snow drift around buildings in frozen city while I'm trying to brawl. I think it'd be fixed if the deceleration rate was reduced a lot - you should have more than enough weight to skim large boulders or even push up small steep slopes.

*Edit: I have now rage quit until this is patched. Combat has never been this frustrating. I can no longer navigate in heavy combat without my 65 ton war machine getting jagged on invisible pebbles and clumps of grass.

Edited by Muffinator, 03 July 2013 - 04:50 AM.

[Mechteric]

I think instead of going to 0% throttle at 45 degrees, it should be like 25% throttle. This way you'd get the same slowdown effect but not be completely unable to move since that means its easier to get stuck.

[Corison]

The 45deg change is nice, it’s making for some very interesting changes to map movement. Thumbs up.

IMO you wasted your time with the rest of it. The game fails utterly to explain the system as it doesn't make sense, and it isn't applied consistently across the board. In short, it’s an overly complex waste of time and code. The current system is an arbitrary joke that adds pointless complexity that the game fails to communicate to the end user. Thumbs down.

If you wanted to add slow down based on terrain, you should have done a simple system that was applied consistently across all mechs.

Over all? Nice general change but could have been done a lot better.

[Krazok]

I play Atlas only and I must say I really like the new movement. In the last few weeks I always had the feeling that people are going for heavier and heavier Mechs. Not because they want to but because they must. It was most of the time just running up a slope and then sniper. Taking a light mech fo that job makes no sense, so what you are doing is take an assault stick 6 PPC in and then wait. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING! Now you have to move and now you have to always be alert not only of enemies but also of your surroundings. The game just became alot more tactical. Thumbs up from me! With the old movement the advantage of being fast and mobile was negated a lot, now it feels just right.
Two to three month ago your team was always a mixture of lights to assaults. Now most of the time you have like 5 assault mechs in you group. With this patch people are forced to pick lighter mechs for better movement. It is awesome that my Atlas can't climb 80 degrees walls anymore. Now the Jump Jets for assault mechs to navigate terrain make sense!
The only map which is not working too great right now is alpine peaks. With the movement patch it is now too big, for 12 vs 12 it would be awesome though.
I play as PUG only so it's possible that 8 vs 8 groups have to deal with new tactical problems now, but this is definitely better and more real than how it was before.

Keep at it!

Edited by Krazok, 03 July 2013 - 06:06 AM.