5 replies to this topic

[Skribs]

I can't play this game anymore. I've always mocked people who make the "I'm quitting" forum posts (usually because all they do is rant about how stupid the game is), but I felt that since this game is in Beta, I should provide the feedback for the reasons why I deem this game unplayable.

Let me preface this by saying I am not a mechwarrior geek - I liked MW2 when I was about 8, and I think mecha are awesome. So when I heard MWO was in Beta, I jumped on board. I've spent some MC to help bring this game to fruition, and at first I enjoyed it immensely. However, there are some glaring issues that exist that are either new or have been ongoing pretty much the entire time. I am posting this so the devs know what my problems are with the game and that they know it was enough to drive me away in the hopes that they could fix them.

1) Hit registry. Against heavy mechs it's okay, but against lights hit reg is absolutely terrible, no matter how much HSR attempts to resolve it. Sometimes it's not even based on movement - I've fired salvos at lights that are STANDING STILL and hit them with the majority of my projectiles, and they shrug it off with just a couple components blinking to yellow armor. I'll hit them with an alpha strike of large lasers and it's like I hit them with a single small laser at 150m. I've also noticed when piloting lights and mediums that sometimes I'll get hit in the back when facing an enemy (or vice versa) which makes it pretty hard to torso twist accordingly.

2) Corner hitboxes. Seriously, shooting two feet to the left of a hill and having your shots explode in midair is incredibly frustrating. Buildings are somewhat susceptible to this, but I notice it a lot on hills and the like. The cave in Forest Colony is the worst. Both entrances and the rock have hidden walls around them.

3) Stability issues. Depending on the patch, it is quite common to see one person disconnect quite early in the game. It's gotten to the point where instead of expecting 8-on-8, I hope to be on the team with 8 against 7 (instead of the opposite). Sometimes there's multiple disconnects on either team. While I rarely have disconnect issues, I routinely have full system crashes while playing this game, that neither PGI nor nVidia were able to troubleshoot. To be fair, I've had some issues with other beta games with this card, but those issues were fixed in later patches. The issue is that MWO triggers a fault with the driver that causes my system to crash. The root problem is the driver, but it could be avoided if MWO didn't trigger it.

4) Emphasis on merchandising. From my unofficial polls with most people I play with, the tournaments are basically regarded as high score scavenger hunts that do not test skill or teamwork, but rather test your ability to game the mechanics to get a high score. While skill is required, the winners are not the best players, but rather those who were in a condition to capitalize on getting a higher score.*

Furthermore, the weekend events have exclusively been sales on MC and have quite often included these tournaments. The MC sales often exclude what the community would like to see (MC-only purchases), and I haven't seen a straight MC sale or a CBill sale ever. It's also very rare that we get something not related to making more purchases, i.e. a CBill boost or a double XP weekend.

Some of this may be my opinion and conjecture as I don't see the numbers you guys rake in for each sale. However, it would be nice to see stuff on the weekends that doesn't just say "spend more MC at better value." Your non-paying fans deserve some perks, too, because they provide word-of-mouth advertising and a better community.

*The tournaments remind me of a flash game I played with some guys at work a while back. The game is one of the artillery games where you control pitch and power and try to hit the targets. Two of us got so good at this game that we could hit every target every time. At that point, high scores were not about who was better - because we were equally skilled - but rather who got the highest value targets. I feel the tournaments are similar. All of the high quality players have the potential to get high scores, they just have to be in a position where they can make use of their skill.

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There are other issues which I can largely associate to growing pains with the game. This includes movement issues (some maps really weren't set up for the changes), the heat scale (needs to be there IMO, but is terribly easy to work around at present), and how complex the game is becoming to make it balanced (you can't just make a build and understand it anymore, you have to know the hidden rules). Since a lot of these issues in this paragraph are new (or new-ish) and there's been discussion about fixing them, I'm not including them in my long list of grievances.

However, the hit registry issues, corner hitboxes, stability issues, and the marketing scheme have turned me away. The first three especially (I could ignore the marketing, but thought it needed to be here for you to get my feedback). When I lose because I'm an inferior player, I get upset and try to get better. When I lose because I'm the only player on my team with any sense, I get upset and wait before requeing so I don't get the same group. When I lose because the game fails (i.e. bug, glitch, or a simple failure to register a hit), I get angry with the game.

PGI, I had good hopes for this game. I hope you can take my feedback and make the game better. I might try back in a couple patches to see if things have improved. However, as for now, I will be looking for another game to occupy my time.

[Havok1978]

I went back to Modding skyrim for the time being, i refuse to play with the way hit registry is at the moment.
I have said it more than a few times, i have spent ALOT of money on this game, plan on spending alot more.. but in the state it is in, I cant justify giving anymore money to PGI till the game works properly.

thats not to say it has to work perfectly.. but the hit registry really bothers me, the invincible lights that kill me bother me...
the boating issue i used to be angry about has been resolved, so i play a bit now and then... but when a jenner rushes me and i hit it with 3 gauss rounds and 9 LPL bursts, and it only has light yellow armor thats not cored, then goes on to kill me.. ya i got issues with that.

I dont mind losing a game and i certainly dont mind being killed... but it needs to be becuse the other guy<s> were better than me, not cuz of hit registry or lag issues.

I feel like having a 68ping is a punishment now for having a good reliable internet connection.

[BINDLETORC]

i want to add my 2 cents. i agree with all of the above and a few other issues. it seems to me that instead of fixing the glaring bugs in the game... hit registry, lrms coring you when you are behind a 10 story building, stopping dead on a pebble, HSR, textures disappearing and many more that are and have been in the "Known Issues" section, someone in charge at PGI/IGP is more interested in managing the loudest complaints in the forums. a poll to decide whether to fix a bug or increase the damage of a particular weapon that will bring that weapon back to the place it was before some in the forums said it was way too powerful and needed to be adjusted. man. . really. seriously. it is a vicious circle of trying to please the loudest people who in reality make up (statistically speaking) no more than 2% of the players.
someone at PGI had a vision. for better or worse. Stick to the vision and the objective. have a goal and achieve it. stop offering '2% solutions' to problems that do not exist and fix the issues that do.

PS ****. this game gets worse all the time. i can't imagine what someone new would think......

Edited by bindletorc, 20 July 2013 - 08:43 PM.

[FREDtheDEAD]

Whatever the issues and pet theories (and I have many) we know that:1) is a huge game-breaking problem; 2) is an annoyance - I find River City the worst for building hit boxes being bigger than the buildings but it doesn't bother me that much; 3) is a pain -but some people deliberately DC if they don't like the look of their team, the enemy or the map so working out the percentage of DCs to do with crashes is difficult, 4) it's a little irritating, but it's how they pay their staff and keep up the office's fresh bagel supply - I do like how important stuff is free and only fluff (colours and cockpit items!) and hero mechs (which aren't a huge advantage) require money - other F2P games, beta or not, are not so kind.

[KingCobra]

I agree with all of you on your gripes I refuse to play except on patch days to see what PGI has done. I have stated the game now is so dumbed down it is just boring as hheell. And without a live vibrant community leagues and real tournaments its just a waste of money and time to continue to hope PGI understands the MechWarrior IP or a community that does not want a dumbed down FPS with mechs. MWO has become the new F2P money maker for company's that prey on great older IP'S for money and do not even deliver the great content of the past IP games.

[Skribs]

King Cobra, I'm going to disagree that the game is dumbed down. Up until this latest patch I'd agree, but now they've made it incredibly more complex with how their heat scale works.