447 replies to this topic

[Mista Whizzard]

Update - 18/09/13

So it is official; Mechwarrior Online is now a 'release'. Whilst I have conceded to many that it was a pipedream of mine to have PGI postpone their launch having listened to us, but alas they 'launched' anyway. I watched the forums explode again throughout the day today, which could not have been good for PGI or IGP. They've also had a tough first day on metacritic, which I am yet to contribute to, but I will. From us at UniteAndDrop, we are still pondering our position given the results of the event, and have not yet decided on the best way to move forward. There has been no 'official' response from PGI at this time, and we want to allow a little more time to pass before we release statistics of our own, but background work on the website is continuing. Given the increased level of backlash after today's 'launch' there have been suggestions made that UniteAndDrop should settle in for a longer fight. Whilst this was not an initial thought process, this is now being considered. We have decided to leave registrations for the site open for the time being. Continued growth of the UnD community will show support and justification for further action and investment of time and resources by the team. If it can be demonstrated that there will be continuing support for continuing action, then we will consider implementing and executing several other ideas that were left on the table due to time restraints prior to the 14th. Hopefully there will be another townhall soon, where there can be some discussion on the matter.

Spoiler

Thankyou very much to all who participated. A couple of people have reported random crashes, but not enough to indicate that anything dire took place. If you participated and had not registered on the site, please do so to assist in data collation. A reminder that all collected data is confidential, and can only be read by one person, my web guy (who doesnt play the game.)

Those of you who have contacted me over the recent days with corrected information, thankyou for doing your part in ensuring we are as accurate as possible.

As a final note, we are participating in a blackout until close of launch day, which is the 17th.

Don't uninstall just yet, we may do this again. I will consult with the unit leaders at the next townhall meeting once anders is back.

Please guys/girls - this is chess, not checkers

Spoiler

Drop time is 1400hrs Zulu Saturday 14th September. (2pm GMT+0)


UPDATE: Registration is open for uniteanddrop.com This will definitely be the last update at this location - sorry, but it is too time consuming to maintain updates in multiple locations.

A reminder that registration is important for our collation of data. Now is the time to be counted guys.

PLEASE READ THE MISSION STATEMENT AND F.A.Q. BEFORE DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO REGISTER - THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

A couple of members only sections will come online next couple of days. But no forums are likely to be required. Any questions, contact uniteanddropAToutlookDOTcom and one of the team will respond as soon as possible.

Unit Leaders, I am endeavoring to send personalised correspondence out to all of you regarding contacting you AFK. If you have not received anything yet, it is only because I have not yet found an effective and time-effective means of contact. Please read below:


Greetings gentlemen.

It’s Mista_Whizzard here, representing the UniteAndDrop team. Although there is much to say, I will keep this brief.

The purpose of this correspondence is to let you know that registrations are up on the uniteanddrop.com website for all who want to participate.

Over the last week we have been watching the website tracking data, which is showing an increasing number of unique visitors in addition to repeated visits. This data indicates most referrals are coming from the MWO website, but an increasing number of hits are coming from social media and links provided by supporters of the movement who are posting in the press articles that have been popping up of late. All of this is good news for the movement.

Now that registration for the event is active, what I really want to be seeing referrals coming from unit websites – that is you guys. If you are new to the uniteanddrop initiative, please take the time to read the mission statement and faq on uniteanddrop.com carefully, as this should familiarise yourself with what it is about.

I am asking you guys as unit leaders to endorse this movement on your own websites and in your own forums as much as possible. I’m asking for you to send mass emails to your communities, even to e-mail addresses of pilots who may no longer be a part of your unit or even playing the game. There seems to be many different views on what is/has gone wrong with the game – one thing I think we can all agree on is that there should be better communication and feedback systems in place to help PGI/IGP create the game that MWO should be. It is my wish that we can reach out to all who have already left the game to come back just long enough to help us make a difference here, and potentially retain them for the future.

The simplest point of the exercise is to demonstrate why we who are unhappy with the state of the game should be listened to, and that we are not a minority. In order to do that, we all need to be on board.

I accept the possibility that yourselves as individuals are happy with the way things are going. If this is the case I still ask you to endorse this event to others in your unit. Even if you feel everything is okay, better communication and feedback systems stand to improve things for everyone, not just those who are upset right now.

Let us unite as a community – and finally be heard.

UniteAndDrop Team.

Update 30/0813

Spoiler

You will now be required to visit the website for further updates.

uniteanddrop.com

Whiz.

Update 28/08/13

Spoiler

Front page of website is up. http://uniteanddrop.herokuapp.com/ It should be accessible from www.uniteanddrop.com by the morning once propagation is complete. If you experience any delays, please be patient, we are working on it - constantly. The principle delay was due to us changing the web suite we were using for the site. There is more to come in the coming days...

Member Login and briefing, basic forums, and participation and investment databases.
Instructions on participating
Links section
Podcast section (needs community participation)
Other stuff I cant think about right now cos i'm too tired.

Goodnight gents.

Update 25/08/13:

Spoiler

Not a lot happened today - prior engagement with wife and daughter. Led to believe Six got some work done on the website, but I may have hamstrung him by not making him a super user... never mind. Got a basic UniteAndDrop signature sorted when I got home to help spread the word. Anyone who has something they would like to contribute is free to do so, Graphics, videos, blogs, links - we will utilise such things as best as we can. Please PM me with any details. If your not at all graphically skilled, please feel free to utilise my attempt below - The message is there: We need every individual that we can to support this event!

See ya tomorrow.

Whiz.

Event Information:

Spoiler

The date and time of the UniteAndDrop event has been set. The time indicated is the time of drop. You will each need to make sure to allow yourselves time to be organised prior - we wanna get this right the first time. Players will have a countdown timer on the website that will tell them when the time has come.

Saturday 14th September 1400Hrs Zulu (Check your local times)

A Table is provided below based on timezone:

-12 Saturday 14th September 2am
-11 Saturday 14th September 3am
-10 Saturday 14th September 4am
-9 Saturday 14th September 5am
-8 Saturday 14th September 6am
-7 Saturday 14th September 7am
-6 Saturday 14th September 8am
-5 Saturday 14th September 9am
-4 Saturday 14th September 10am
-3 Saturday 14th September 11am
-2 Saturday 14th September Midday
-1 Saturday 14th September 1pm
GMT (Zulu) Saturday 14th September 2pm
+1 Saturday 14th September 3pm
+2 Saturday 14th September 4pm
+3 Saturday 14th September 5pm
+4 Saturday 14th September 6pm
+5 Saturday 14th September 7pm
+6 Saturday 14th September 8pm
+7 Saturday 14th September 9pm
+8 Saturday 14th September 10pm
+9 Saturday 14th September 11pm
+10 Saturday/Sunday 14th September Midnight
+11 Sunday 15th September 1am
+12 Sunday 15th September 2am

Objectives Outline:

Spoiler

Primary Objective - To demonstrate to both PGI and IGP, measurable by their own means, the realistic size of the group in which they publicly refer to as "the vocal minority" who are upset about:

1. The way that PGI/IGP staff treat the community in general.
2. The lack of a communication conduit between PGI/IGP staff and the community at large.
3. The ignorance of the feedback provided by many in the correct channels in place in the community.
4. The general state of the game due to the failures in the above aspects.

I SAY THIS TO EVERYONE! THIS IS NOT ABOUT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S PERSONAL VIEW! WE ARE UNITING IN ORDER TO ENACT CHANGE IN THE METHODS IN PRACTICE REGARDING FEEDBACK AND GENERAL COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEVELOPERS, WHICH WILL IN TURN ALLOW IN-GAME CONCERNS TO BE ALLEVIATED! THE HANDLING OF THE PRIMARY IN-GAME ISSUES IS BEING COVERED VERY WELL BY THE #SAVEMWO INITIATIVE. WE NEED TO SHOW THEM WHY THE NEED TO LISTEN!

Primary Objective - To demonstrate (voluntarily, although for many of us it probably wont be a problem) the monetary value of "the vocal minority" since the inception of testing.

Primary Objective - Document the numbers involved with the initiative, as a contingency for the event that PGI/IGP downplay the success of the event.

24/08/13 update

Spoiler

Not a huge update here... lots of support coming in from back channels from unit leaders... need you guys to post PUBLIC support. PUBLIC support will lead to further PUBLIC support. I'm pretty ******... website is on the way... domain and ftp sorted out, construction is underway. Stay tuned.

Whiz.

23/08/13 Update:

Spoiler

First of all, I want to show my appreciation for the support that was given by many representatives at the town hall meeting today. It was a positive step towards the unity that we require to pull this off. The support I am seeing both on this thread and through other channels is overwhelming.

I have been quite sick over the last few days and have only skimmed over the replies so far, but I have responded to enough individual posts already to know that I need to reiterate the intents of this initiative in order to make many feel more comfortable that this is not a lynching mob with fire and pitchforks - affair. My original post, which is "spoilered" below, was indeed very emotional, and quite open to interpretation. One of my objectives this evening is to remedy that.

I'm outlining below the objectives of this initiative in my mind.

Primary Objective - To demonstrate to both PGI and IGP, measurable by their own means, the realistic size of the group in which they publicly refer to as "the vocal minority" who are upset about:

1. The way that PGI/IGP staff treat the community in general.
2. The lack of a communication conduit between PGI/IGP staff and the community at large.
3. The ignorance of the feedback provided by many in the correct channels in place in the community.
4. The general state of the game due to the failures in the above aspects.

I SAY THIS TO EVERYONE! THIS IS NOT ABOUT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S PERSONAL VIEW! WE ARE UNITING IN ORDER TO ENACT CHANGE IN THE METHODS IN PRACTICE REGARDING FEEDBACK AND GENERAL COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEVELOPERS, WHICH WILL IN TURN ALLOW IN-GAME CONCERNS TO BE ALLEVIATED! THE HANDLING OF THE PRIMARY IN-GAME ISSUES IS BEING COVERED VERY WELL BY THE #SAVEMWO INITIATIVE. WE NEED TO SHOW THEM WHY THE NEED TO LISTEN!

Primary Objective - To demonstrate (voluntarily, although for many of us it probably wont be a problem) the monetary value of "the vocal minority" since the inception of testing.

Primary Objective - Document the numbers involved with the initiative, as a contingency for the event that PGI/IGP downplay the success of the event.

At this time, the method of achieving these objectives is as follows:

1. Within the next few days, a firm date and time will be set. It will be a weekend date. It is most likely to be a time that is US morning = EU mid afternoon evening = OC middle of the night.

2. A web domain is being purchased. It will host a very basic page, with a count-down timer to the event, and a basic system that will facilitate our record of attendance of the event.

3. On the day of the event, the expectation would be to simply "sign the muster" on the site indicating your attendance of the event, log into the game, and on the stroke of the hour, click the launch button. At that point, players can choose to disconnect, or play out the drop, but at the conclusion of the 15 minute period, log off from the game. This will allow PGI/IGP to measure (as I imagine they will be watching) using their own hardware the number of people legitimately participating in this initiative. There will be no need (although you can if you want, it is all good) to be on a Teamspeak or Mumble Server. There will be no need (although you can if you want, it is all good) to drop in a group. The beauty of this method is that every individual can participate, wether they are a part of an organised unit or not.

Please continue to support the #saveMWO inititive. Let us continue to make this our outlet to collate and prioritise the particular issues the community as a whole has. If you are not participating, you need to be.

Again, I encourage people to hang in there. I encourage people to stop paying money toward the development of a product they are not happy with. But please do stick around. The community needs each and every one of you.

Again, I encourage those of us in leadership positions amongst the units of our community, please contact your afk by email with a link to this thread. We need you guys too!

Documentation has already started. SixStrings and I have received an excellent level of support already from the representitives of many organised units.

We have been contacting various media outlets about the state of the situation - more information to follow.

At all times at the bottom of this post will be a list of relevant links associated with the initiative. - more to follow.

- Watch this space for more info, and guys - I expect a certain amount of criticism from some, but please - keep it civil.

Whiz.

Original Post - Late, Late Wednesday 21st August

Spoiler

Greetings fellow (and hopefully lots of former) MWO players,

I, like many of you, have had enough.
I, like many of you, have been involved with this "beta" forever.
I, like many of you, am a long-time battletech fan.
I, like many of you, are shattered with the developments of the game over the last 6 months.
I, like many of you, are about demand a refund on grounds of false advertising and misrepresentation and walk away forever.

But I simply cannot just walk away. I just cant do it. Not yet. Not when there is still a chance that we, the community, can make them listen. This is more than just a game to me. I have given so much, and I'm not just talking about money to the game's developers - but to the members of my unit(s), who have, through all this, become close friends.

I act today on behalf of myself and in time - all of you. Right now I do not represent my unit, the Death's Hand Brigade. This is not a DHB-approved initiative, although I do hope that given time my unit will get behind this initiative at best speed for the sake of us all.

The game is not broken beyond repair. They have simply not listened to us, instead chosen to ignore, and on multiple occasions now, lied to us. We are one of the most niche markets in the history of gamers. We are also one of the most die-hard. Finally, we are potentially one of the most profitable. We just need to show them why they should listen.

Here's what I have in mind:
We set a date - prior to, but close to "launch"
We set a time - a universal, coordinated time where the community can gather on Teamspeak and Mumble servers around the world, coordinated by our various unit leaders, and upon the stroke of the hour - perform a single, massive sync drop.

We use their own hardware to demonstrate the sheer number customers who are not happy. We document the whole thing from our end, starting right now. We make this so public it will put the ending to Mass Effect 3 to shame. Bioware set a precedent - that a community can make a difference in this industry. We perform this synced protest - and then we all boycott launch day. We don't show up at their "launch event." We don't even log in to their forums, until they pledge a commitment to us equal to our previous commitment to them. Until they pledge to listen.

I'm calling for support from unit leaders and lone wolves alike. Please post below. I need to know that you are on board. We need each and every unit leader in this community to take steps to contact their AFK, contact those who are already gone, get them to come back for one community drop. Encourage those who are leaving now to stay in the fight. When we get closer, a date will be set, a comms server will be selected for unit leaders to co-ordinate on the day. In the meantime, we need exposure on websites, facebook, twitter, spread the word as far as we can. Any assistance in this endevour will be appreciated. Please contact myself or SixStringSamurai.

Let us show them that we are not a "vocal minority" but we are the Battletech community. Let us show them we will not go quietly into the night as they destroy their own concept in the attempt to attract console gamers of a new generation who wouldn't know the difference between the Clans and the Inner Sphere.

Let us unite and make a statement. The door needs to swing both ways.

Strength through Unity,

Mista_Whizzard

LINKS ARE NO LONGER BEING UPDATED - PLEASE SEE uniteanddrop.com FOR DAILY UPDATES.

Links:
Happy or Not? MWO forum poll: http://mwomercs.com/...f-the-minority/
UnitAndDrop Reddit Link - http://www.reddit.co...a_stylesavemwo/
Penny Arcade Article - http://penny-arcade....-in-open-revolt
Mittani Article - Failure to communicate - http://themittani.co...ure-communicate
Loaded Dice Blog - http://loadeddicecas...ior-online.html
PGI/IGP Revelations? Reddit Link - http://www.reddit.co...blame_for_this/
Peiper's Truth Thread - http://www.nogutsnog...opic,828.0.html
Russ's Apology Feedback thread - http://mwomercs.com/...eedback-thread/
Now-Locked 3rd Person View Feedback Thread - http://mwomercs.com/...-view-feedback/
Original 3rd Person View Backlash Thread - November 2012 http://mwomercs.com/...rd-person-view/

Edited by Mista Whizzard, 18 September 2013 - 05:39 AM.
wordfilter circumvention

[DisasterMedic]

Hi, as it would have it, the very thing you seek is found within this thread entitled #saveMWO

We're on our third meeting, believe it or not.

Edited by DisasterMedic, 21 August 2013 - 07:04 AM.

[Stalkerr]

Join us at tomorrow's meeting for #saveMWO... we've definitely talked about doing what you're proposing, however that conversation doesn't belong on these forums as it could be construed as trying to intentionally crash MWO's systems, which is against CoCs.

Also, it's better that we all coordinate efforts together.

[Mista Whizzard]

I do not disrespect the #savemwo initiative - nor do I wish you to cease your efforts in this or any other ideas that you have had. I just want to make it happen. Help me. Incorporate this into your plans.

Unfortunately, I cannot attend your meeting due to the timezone differences. Your initiative appears good, but unfortunately is representative of figures that could be written of as fictitious. What I am proposing is to actually get the numbers coordinated on server at one time to provide some REAL data to PGI/IGP.

As for intentionally crashing systems? lol, that would certainly serve its purpose if we united all the disgruntled customers and their servers crashed, but its more about showing the numbers in a way that they will understand, and cannot ignore.

Whiz.

[Marineballer]

I am on board!!!

[Stalkerr]

If we wanted to be fictitious, we would claim much bigger numbers than we have. We've got what we've got.

I would like to include more than just North America in #saveMWO, but that's up to you all to coordinate EU/Oceania meetings. The motivated coordinators right now are in NA timezones.

What you are proposing would require an immense number of people to both be concerned about this game and want to do something about it. I'm afraid to get the impact you are hoping for this would have had to happen a few months ago, however we'll be happy to float the idea in the saveMWO community to see what the level of interest is.

[grayson marik]

if a reasonable time and date is given ( euro here ), I will propose my unit members and the players of ISW to participate.

[Awacs85]

I am on board!!!

[Adrienne Vorton]

you can count on me, just call me. as you know i am unemployed (unit wise^^) currently, but i will spread the word among some friends. gl, Wizz

btw i´m still on the DHB server from time to time, and will be more frequently. See you dirtside

Edited by Adrienne Vorton, 21 August 2013 - 08:15 AM.

[MajorOne]

Maybe for us noobs you could be a little more clear on about your dissapointments with the game, as when game is released, why shouldn't I buy it? Thanks for any and all intelligence on the matter.

[sgt scout]

As the Goons have said, they started the #savemwo# thing a few weeks ago and are on there third meeting. What you are planning will be real tough to pull off considering time zones and the lack of players that even bother loading up mwo. #savemwo# claim to represent 5000+ players. I am on that list.

The only way i see this working is if you Mista Whizzard, attend the third town hall discussion as you'll have access to alot of unit leaders each with many X - members that they might be able to round up for this protest/stance/movement.

I suggest making it to the townhall discussion to secure the slight chance of this thing working.

[seymourbalzac]

I'm down.

[Adrienne Vorton]

MajorOne, on 21 August 2013 - 08:29 AM, said:

Maybe for us noobs you could be a little more clear on about your dissapointments with the game, as when game is released, why shouldn't I buy it? Thanks for any and all intelligence on the matter.

this is more about those things we funded. the things we invested money, endless arguments, ideas and thus a lot of precious time in. based upon illusion. promises, visions, designplans, a future picture of the game that has been put into our minds and made us willingly fund the start of development in the early days of MWO...

too much of that has been broken, removed and/or developed TOTALLY contrary, and many many of those who gave PGI a headstart are more than just disappointed,including me. i am close to accept the fact, that this will not become the MW game i was looking for,looking forward to. and just play it as what it is - an arcade shooting orgy in which the world of battletech is cosmetic to have a franchise with a name behind it.

adding aimbots to the game was the final blast. it made me almost HATE the game instantly, and it clearly shows where this game is heading. prepare for "armactivator, epic level: enhances arm angle 10%" and similar stuff next year...

but i´ll take the chance with any efford of players like me who start attempts for "the last resistance". the sad part is, we told PGI during closed beta, that they´d drive off many of us, those who grew up with the franchise. they simply ignored it,and that tells me,they don´t care for us,they only cared for the funds.

i hope i am wrong, but we can only find out if our voices become one, so i support wizzards idea.





edited for typos

Edited by Adrienne Vorton, 21 August 2013 - 09:08 AM.

[sgt scout]

MajorOne, on 21 August 2013 - 08:29 AM, said:

Maybe for us noobs you could be a little more clear on about your dissapointments with the game, as when game is released, why shouldn't I buy it? Thanks for any and all intelligence on the matter.

To summarise. PGI have implemented systems that where not wanted throughout the production of the game. These include Ghost heat and 3rd person view being in the same game queue as first person.
They also made some terrible ballance changes. SRM'S where useless for 6-7 months which was unacceptably to long. This lead to no hard counter to sniping gameplay. They also used an inertia inducing system in a attempt to balance pop tarting. (Jump jets and PPC's or guass).

There are band aid solutions to many of the games systems that are not needed and affect other aspects of gameplay further braking more mechanics which then led to more band aid solutions to be implemented resulting in the miss hap of confusing and unnecessary systems we have to date.

These are some of the reasons and the most memorably massive F ups of the development i have seen and care to remember.
Other people may have there own reasons but it all boils down to PGI disregarding there most loyal fans of the franchise and all those that helped fund the game you "noobs" are playing today.

At first glance it may seem there's lots of options in mech chassis and what weapons to take but if you happened to gather 11 of your pals together and drop against one of the better units it will become apparent that there is only really one choice of weapon you will want to outfit the majority of your unit, just to be able to have a fighting chance.

We have tried to voice our concerns for a long time through polls and discussions and PGI has done the opposite of both what we, the community wanted and what PGI has said will not be in the game when they where selling us all founders packages.

[Pugnax]

I don't even know how many people are upset with the direction of the game at this time. Obviously those who are unhappy are also the most outspoken.

All this talk of sit-in and revolution is a bit pompous, in the end you will just be hurting the game developer and hurting the chances that MWO has of staying afloat in a tough F2P market. If we lose the only MWO game currently in development I will be much more sore than I am from 3PV implementation (which is not at all because it is balanced quite well).

[ragbasti]

All logging in at the same time would probably count as a planned DDOS attack. Rather a 2 dayboycott of the game would probably have more of an impact. This is also alot easier to plan with all the different timezones.

[Tannhauser Gate]

A couple of years ago we were ELATED that another MW game was in the works and we were very releived to know that it was not going to be a console pos like MA.

During closed beta, the formus were also closed and used only by the closed beta players, 99.9% of us supported this game even though the F2P model was controversial.

Now, with the forums open to all the ranting potato heads on earth, we have a mutiny by some players that have deluded themselves into thinking that insulting PGI's people and threatening to stage some lame sit in or meeting will somehow give them a positive working relationship with the devs and make changes to PGI / IGP's business venture lol.

Edited by LakeDaemon, 21 August 2013 - 09:44 AM.

[Moku]

These ranting potato heads actually play the game and read what the developers write. If they gave you a rotten potato instead of a good potato would you be happy and just take it? It's not really a mutiny. The vocal players care about the game and will continue to point out things we see as major problems. The ones that decide to quit will leave for good and not look back.

[sgt scout]

Im not really saying i agree with the approach people are taking. I dont take part in any of the above but hope some good will come of it. I do think though that the above statement holds more truth in what is actually the result of this movement and that we are doing more harm than good.

I don't want MWO to fail and i still find myself playing a couple of games a week. It is just a shame that PGI has left those they have lied to time and time again no other way of being heard.

Release is coming, many players have left. Many new have joined. We will see what happens to the game 6 months after release and how much revenue new players may bring.

[Mista Whizzard]

sgt scout, on 21 August 2013 - 08:42 AM, said:

As the Goons have said, they started the #savemwo# thing a few weeks ago and are on there third meeting. What you are planning will be real tough to pull off considering time zones and the lack of players that even bother loading up mwo. #savemwo# claim to represent 5000+ players. I am on that list.

The only way i see this working is if you Mista Whizzard, attend the third town hall discussion as you'll have access to alot of unit leaders each with many X - members that they might be able to round up for this protest/stance/movement.

I suggest making it to the townhall discussion to secure the slight chance of this thing working.

Indeed, I will endevour to attend this meeting, and hope to be granted the floor for a short time, as we absolutely need the support of those already involved.

Again, I respect what #savemwo is about, but we need to PROOVE that those 5000+ people that #saveMWO represent (and many, many more) actually exist, and care enough about the issues at hand to make a stand as a community. This is why it is imperative we contact all those who have already left the game - to demonstrate the true size of the customer base that have been ignored since the beginning of open beta.

I know to some this seems to be an impossible feat to acheive, but we have enough time, and together we have the resources to make it happen.

I'm at work atm, more on this later.