222 replies to this topic

[Hellen Wheels]

BladeSplint, on 11 July 2013 - 09:52 AM, said:

Mop-up is absurd. Pretty much whoever gets two mechs downed on their team first loses.

Not true. We were down three mechs and came back to win the game.

Another game, we were up 4 mechs, and they managed to take our Geraniums.

Teamwork plus base defense are even more important in 12 v 12.

Some other observations, just from my limited PoV:

There are now three lances, but Alpha and Charlie lances are the same color on the mini-map and on the satellite grid, making it difficult to distinguish between them for command purposes. This may seem superfluous to those who cannot, will not, or refuse to use the in-game commands, but for those of us who do, it makes a big difference. Please make Charlie lance purple or some other color.

Small maps need to be expanded in size. Large maps are lots more fun.

Also, I was not entirely surprised to see the same old "tactics": moving to the generally accepted "battle zone" and duking it out there. While 12v12 opens up more strategic possibilities, apparently no one thinks of using them. Same ol' same ol' in that regard, at least until "commanders" (and I use that term loosely) think beyond Team DeathMatch and start considering more complex strategies.

Finally, in one match, I noticed that between the two teams, there were 11 Steiners scattered amongst the nine lances. That would have been a great opportunity to show off some Match Making programming skills, by clustering the Steiners on one team, all together, as it should be in an Inner Sphere match. Shame on PGI for not figuring this out yet.

All in all: same ol' stuff, just with more mechs on the map. Color me unimpressed.

[Karl Berg]

Phaesphoros, on 11 July 2013 - 11:08 AM, said:

My FPS depend on the map and situation, I don't think the single number in the poll is good to reflect that. On Alpine, my FPS have never been high (in normal "MWO Beta", not this test, referring to as 8v8), but it's next to unplayable in 12v12: FPS drops in brawling or with 'Mechs and buildings to RED and 20 FPS. (Note however that I've no issues on testing grounds with FPS stable > 50.) Canyon, where I played one match, is better, albeit not good. Forest Colony... why do we even have this map on 12v12? I thought only the big maps would change from 8v8 to 12v12? It's really cramped. I know you can collect statistics and will find out the effect on FPS, however I'd appreciate if you'd rather optimize 8v8 to a level where it's stable at > 40 fps for the so-called lower-end specs (my specs are still better than the minimum requirements). Deactivating the HUD boosts FPS (not tried in 12v12 though) considerably, maybe you want to consider using a more effective way to render the HUD. It shouldn't result in such a FPS drop.

A lot of the 12v12 optimizations did indeed focus on HUD and render costs. Would you mind posting your CPU/GPU, as well as anyone else who noticed a significant drop in performance for this test? It would be very much appreciated.

[Galen Crayn]

I had 2 crashes and 2 games i started but not came in. It was nearly as on the live server, only 3 times in 7 matches i had short lags (2-3sek).

[Ghost Rider LSOV]

NoBodie, on 11 July 2013 - 10:10 AM, said:

Having to reset all of your weapons groups, video options, etc. Should have all of our groups and controls transferred with our setting saved.

It might have been said already (I'm still on page 3), but you can copy/paste your profile from live version to test version (game closed) and settings (keys/weapons) will be copied.

[Rushin Roulette]

12v12 LRM Trolling (Last round we dropped with 1 Raven and 11 Trial Atlai

http://youtu.be/ViED_WAhJO8

[tuffy963]

I only got about 30 minutes of play time, 4 games.

In the final game, I crashed to desktop during a very large melee on the large snow map. I can no longer log into the PTS. It now says "This account is not authorized."

Filled out the survey. Nothing overwhelmingly out of whack for me in terms of fps, ping, and hit detection.

Interesting Meta Side notes -

• I broke a 1000 points in two of my four "winning" games due to all the extra bodies to shoot at, and had 700+ points in one of my "losing" game.
  
• The extra bodies forced me to rethink my ammo load out. Specifically, SRM ammo as 1 ton of SRM ammo is no longer sufficient for an SRM 4 or SRM 6 (for me). I am regularly running out of all ammo now. Increases the value of beam weapons significantly
  
• Getting caught alone is much more dangerous now as you are likely to run into 3-5 mechs instead of 1-3 mechs.

If I am allowed to get back into the test server, I will provide more feedback....

[PEEFsmash]

Firing 6 MLs DOES incurr extra heat penalty on Test Server. I might have been wrong about it happening at 4. Here is proof that shooting 6MLs, (not OVER 6, but exactly 6) incurs extra heat.

Test Server: http://www.twitch.tv...smash/c/2560918

Normal Server same build: http://www.twitch.tv...smash/c/2560957

[Percimes]

First game didn't launch, after searching for a match I got a black screen and the map didn't load, got back to the mechlab. All others afterward went well though.

Frame rate was more or less the same (maybe a little lower) but I got a few spikes of lag, something I usually don't get on the live server.

Considering my PC is almost 5 years old, getting 30-40 fps at high settings I can't complain.

Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @2.83 GHz, 4 Gig of DDR2, GTX 560Ti and Windows7 64bits.

[Nightcrept]

soarra, on 11 July 2013 - 11:13 AM, said:

you have 4 other lance later making up for that, i ran a ballistic mech in a game and had no issues. But i also had Large lasers in case.

Sure if they are alive and or the game doesn't last long. Otherwise you're done.
Not the same if you aren't a true ballistic mech. But for ballisitc mechs soo many enemies with the same ammount of ammo meant to deal with 8 players is not cool.

You are good for a short ammount of time then you're useless.

[Monky]

Received some AC5 rounds not impacting a clear shot on a highlander at about 250 meters, visual impact seen but no armor impacts even after a few salvos.

Had some FPS chugging at random times - was not related to number of mechs on screen - at times it would happen even with just one mech on screen. Happened on River City Night and Forest Colony Winter maps.

Overall seems fairly stable. Only gameplay problem I had is that some areas are very tight (forest colony cave, bridge areas/shore lines around them in river city) and prevent any kind of movement in the event of a traffic jam. Perhaps some slight widening of the tighter sections to allow a mech to slide by another mech to prevent 100% bottlenecking in these crucial areas. Was mainly an issue due to higher number of players, which is why i'm bringing it up as it relates to 12v12

Edited by Monky, 11 July 2013 - 11:25 AM.

[Sprouticus]

Just to put my 2 cents in on the map size thing:


I think this is why we need longer test periods. People need to get used to the new play style. When people spread out more on the smaller maps, they work FINE. I would be willing to bet that those folks saying the maps are too small are blobbing up.


<WE NEED MORE TIME TO TEST>

[Roburn Bliss]

Karl Berg, on 11 July 2013 - 11:21 AM, said:

A lot of the 12v12 optimizations did indeed focus on HUD and render costs. Would you mind posting your CPU/GPU, as well as anyone else who noticed a significant drop in performance for this test? It would be very much appreciated.

Acer 7750G Laptop
i5-2410m
Radeon HD 6650M 1 gb V Ram
4 GB mem

10 - 30 FPS drop in game and in the Mechlab.

[Wales Grey]

Tank Boy Ken, on 11 July 2013 - 11:18 AM, said:

Mech need more Hitpoints Internal Structure!

Edited by Wales Grey, 11 July 2013 - 11:25 AM.

[Inhibition]

can anyone else confirm that boating heat penalty was added?
in test server my heat generated was 73%, and in the live server heat generated
with the same weapons was about 46%...
which might explain why I kept powering down in the middle of fights and getting destroyed in the test.
was wondering why my heat efficiency in brawls was so poor

Edited by Inhibition, 11 July 2013 - 11:31 AM.

[aniviron]

Karl Berg, on 11 July 2013 - 11:21 AM, said:

A lot of the 12v12 optimizations did indeed focus on HUD and render costs. Would you mind posting your CPU/GPU, as well as anyone else who noticed a significant drop in performance for this test? It would be very much appreciated.

FPS about the same, had been running 60+ constant no problem for months but the last few patches have dropped me to 55-60 out of combat, and 40-50 in combat. Still getting 55-60 out of combat, closer to 55, but getting 30-50 in combat, it chugs noticeably.

specs:
Win7 64 Ultimate SP1
16gb ddr3
i5 3570k
nvidia gtx 680

playing with everything maxed on the in-game menus, 1920x1080, no user.cfg settings or postprocess tweaks.

[Sable]

Conqeust-
I feel like this has been the single greatest thing to happen to mechwarrior since closed beta. Its breathed new life into the game for me. Not just most but ALL of the conquest games were very close. There was only 1 game where the other team got completely killed before the capture end. In the live environment most conquest games end with the other team destroyed before a capture win. If you managed to stay alive for the whole match there was always a good fight going on.

Map Sizing-
There was chaos on the smaller maps with people dieing almost instantly stepping out of cover. But on the larger maps 12v12 was fantastic. There were enough people to back you up going to any capture point on the map without it seeming like you're spreading too thin.

Support Mechs-
At first everyone was bringing their biggest baddest mechs to the fight but after the first hour the strategies started changing for the better. Support mechs started showing up more with lights launching UAVs and tagging for LRM mechs. I started to see more mediums moving fast to flank enemy positions. The last game before the servers went down my team had 4 lrm boats with 2 spotters and brawlers flanking to keep them distracted while we rained down death. It was great to see a lot more team oriented mechs.

Stability-
There were a few times where the screen went black like the match was loading and then went back to mechlab with my mech locked out but other then that performance wise it seem the same as the live environment.

Loadouts-
I'm already thinking about how to change up some of my loadouts and the reason being is that with so many people at varying ranges its much more important now to have a mixed loadout for long range, medium range, and close range.

Weapons-
PPCs... they are still very popular, almost too popular. I still believe their projectile speed would be the best approach to balancing them. When they are harder to hit with they would lose "some" of their appeal to lasers which are much more accurate.

All and all good job PGI. Keep the good stuff coming

[Protomartyr]

I am one of the three people who found the test servers to be a vast improvement when it comes to FPS.

I agree with the other posts that mention that the small maps are a little too small. There was less friendly fire than I anticipated and fewer ammo problems than I anticipated.

I don't think two hour sessions offer enough time to fully explore the mechanics of the new dynamic.

Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. Very little time spent searching for someone to shoot.

Niko Snow, on 08 July 2013 - 12:55 PM, said:

Please fill out the poll above to the best of your abilities, and leave any additional feedback in a reply in this thread.

This Poll will automatically open in time for the Test.

[soarra]

PEEFsmash, on 11 July 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

Firing 6 MLs DOES incurr extra heat penalty on Test Server. I might have been wrong about it happening at 4. Here is proof that shooting 6MLs, (not OVER 6, but exactly 6) incurs extra heat.

Test Server: http://www.twitch.tv...smash/c/2560918

Normal Server same build: http://www.twitch.tv...smash/c/2560957

good thing you showed your builds on both server..
i can put shs in a jenner and show similar results

Edited by soarra, 11 July 2013 - 11:30 AM.

[King Merrygold]

Crashed to mechlab several times, holding mech in game once for 15 minutes.

I like the shadows or whatever was added on the minimap to make everything easier to see.

I couldn't reproduce this, but one match I had a terrible sound bug lasting the whole match where all the sounds were repeating/echoing around 10 to 20 times. Either that or 12v12 gave me PTSD.

[KEYGETS]

Sable, on 11 July 2013 - 11:28 AM, said:

Conqeust-
I feel like this has been the single greatest thing to happen to mechwarrior since closed beta. Its breathed new life into the game for me. Not just most but ALL of the conquest games were very close. There was only 1 game where the other team got completely killed before the capture end. In the live environment most conquest games end with the other team destroyed before a capture win. If you managed to stay alive for the whole match there was always a good fight going on.

Map Sizing-
There was chaos on the smaller maps with people dieing almost instantly stepping out of cover. But on the larger maps 12v12 was fantastic. There were enough people to back you up going to any capture point on the map without it seeming like you're spreading too thin.

Support Mechs-
At first everyone was bringing their biggest baddest mechs to the fight but after the first hour the strategies started changing for the better. Support mechs started showing up more with lights launching UAVs and tagging for LRM mechs. I started to see more mediums moving fast to flank enemy positions. The last game before the servers went down my team had 4 lrm boats with 2 spotters and brawlers flanking to keep them distracted while we rained down death. It was great to see a lot more team oriented mechs.


All and all good job PGI. Keep the good stuff coming

+1... i had the same feelings... it was awesome to see so much teamplay and flanking maneuvers