12 replies to this topic

[forcemac]

If the community is "breaking" the meta game by choosing lopsided mech builds (ppc, gauss, etc), why not introduce a dynamic pricing scheme for components that models real world supply and demand? There should not be an endless supply of ppc and gauss (insert any componet, mech) inventories...at some point the more people equip a single component, the price should go up....and at the rate they are destroyed on a dailt basis it should cost more to rearm after a battle.

This **** some people off naturally, but if you want an immersive game, players should be made to suffer some real econmics. So for example, say there is some reasonable number ppc's made availble per day, if the commu nity is over equipping them, make it more painful to do so...so that people will be forced to use more "available" less exotic weapons, parts, mechs, etc. Not every one should be go down to PPCs R' Us and buy a virtual gross on a daily basis. You break your ppc gaus boat in a match..maybe you are forced to equip with 6xSPL the rest of the day becuase you cant afford 6 new shiny particle cannons becuase some other clown bought the last 6 in your sector...and you cant afford to buy 6 "that fell off the back of a truck" from the blackmarget guy...

Now the devs will have find the right balance on what ratios to make components available to the per capita active players on a given day. That will take some serious modeling and sim...but they are capable of tracking it (% time equip stat is already tracked).

I look forward to the day where i open up the client and see a fictional newspaper talking about a certain weapon shortage plauging the IS....i want to see depth and immerision....

[Veranova]

This actually sounds really intelligent initially. But wouldn't solve the meta.

It would either make the best mech items, unusably expensive. And 2nd best, and 3rd best too, as a result of players trickling down to affordable tiers.
OR it would be such a small economical nerf that there would be no real point in having done it.

I don't see a middle ground here, as you can either afford to run your mech and make a profit. Or not make enough money for the game to be enjoyable. A dynamic meta would be as much of a disaster as ELO can be when implemented even slightly wrong. And ELO doesn't work perfectly 100% of the time, even when it IS implemented well.
World of Tanks is a good example of that. I get some good match-making and some bad matchmaking every day.

[Lostdragon]

So after a lot of people are already using a weapon charging more for that weapon is going to fix what, exactly?

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Way to fix Meta

Re-introduce Repair/Rearm costs.

Rework ELO to pair only players that are of similar rankings against one another.

This allows progression for pugs who fight others in their ELO bracket's, and allows "Vets" to quickly climb the ranks, and fight battles that are meaningful for them against opponents of similar skill.

This allows for a more dynamic experience, and introduces skill in when to bring out your good weapons and truely shows us a risk vs reward system.

[Royalewithcheese]

The issue here is IMO the issue with balancing any shooter on economics - there's the grindy + second job element and the emphasis on time investment as a major determinant of victory over things like skill/strategy/etc.

[Carnesy]

forcemac, on 04 August 2013 - 08:56 PM, said:

If the community is "breaking" the meta game by choosing lopsided mech builds (ppc, gauss, etc), why not introduce a dynamic pricing scheme for components that models real world supply and demand?

Because you're talking about PGI' coders/programmers. Really, look at all that they have done. Have you looked? Good. Now imagine them trying to program a real time, real world style commodities inflation/deflation, supply/demand function for in game items. Have you imagined it yet? Are you laughing hysterically, weeping uncontrollably or did your brain lock up trying to process the sheer unreality of them ever achieving something so complex?

[Lorcan Lladd]

Not the most disagreeable idea, except for the one nagging issue: most of us long-time players have already bought all of the weapons and engines we need.
This system would only impede the progress of newcomers and more casual players whom haven't had the time to acquire stockpiles of all of the worthwhile toys.

Veranova, on 05 August 2013 - 10:44 AM, said:

World of Tanks is a good example of that. I get some good match-making and some bad matchmaking every day.

As a side note, the matchmaker in WoT only tries to match platoons and tank tiers - it is literally blind to player skill and implements nothing such as Elo-based ratings.

[DeadlyNerd]

This could only work if R&R was still in game.

This supply and demand would reflect on repair and ammo prices.
Tbh OP, rework the whole suggestion and add the R&R into the equation.

[Veranova]

Lorcan Lladd, on 09 September 2013 - 10:29 PM, said:

As a side note, the matchmaker in WoT only tries to match platoons and tank tiers - it is literally blind to player skill and implements nothing such as Elo-based ratings.

Roger that. Thanks!

[Khobai]

this wouldn't fix anything since a lot of people have already bought the weapons.

[Theronlas]

Khobai, on 11 September 2013 - 04:41 AM, said:

this wouldn't fix anything since a lot of people have already bought the weapons.

Exactly, I have a half dozen of pretty much every weapon (and about 50 MLAS) so all this sort of thing would do is make it even harder for new players.

Besides, what do you do with the mechs that already include these weapons?

[Toong]

Making things more expensive doesn't fix the problem at all. All it does is lengthen the time required to acquire them. Since money in the game is effectively infinite as long as you keep playing, this would only delay things. Also, people who already have the meta are immune to this change. The only way this change would help is if repair and rearm were still in the game.

All this would do is make it harder to build the 'mech you want, while also tying up a lot of manpower in analyzing current popular builds and changing the prices accordingly. It wouldn't even hit the "overpowered" builds, just the popular ones, of which the overpowered ones are a small subset.

[Jestun]

This will make it harder for new players to have competitive mechs while most vets likely have a massive pile of cbills to spend.