127 replies to this topic

[Hodo]

If you base the game in the 3049 invasion time frame you end up dealing with the horrible balance issues of the clans. It is just best to avoid dealing with them all together.

You have balanced forces, none of this *** Clan tech is so OP, junk. And you dont have to listen to the constant whining by people wanting to play their favorite clan-tech IS mech that hasnt been invented yet. (See the Innersphere Omni mech thread).

So my suggestion is to best avoid the clans, just dont bother with them. You will be able to model more mechs and have less to balance. If you just stick with the Forth Succession War in the 3020s.

There was no advanced tech, no ER Lasers, No ER PPCs, no Pulse lasers, or Beagle probes. Just good cold hard WAR. No Trueborn, or freeborn. Just Kurita vs Davion vs Liao, vs Marik vs Stiener.

[Hayden]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree, but meh. At this point I'll just be grateful for a Mechwarrior game.

[Hodo]

hayden, on 11 November 2011 - 04:47 PM, said:

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree, but meh. At this point I'll just be grateful for a Mechwarrior game.

While I too would be happy with a Mechwarrior/Battletech game. I can wait if its going to be a bad one. Need I mention Shadowrun, or Matrix Online.

[Threat Doc]

I think the 3025 to 3030 time-frame would be best. Get in on the last year of the Third Succession War, fight the entire Fourth Succession War, spend five years doing it. Then, once the bugs are, mostly, ironed out of the system, fight the War of '39, with the subtle introduction of whatever Star League LosTech there would be, and then launch into the Clan Invasion toward the end of summer in '49 and into '50. I think the goal of the devs is to have a five-year time-frame to run this game in, and 3050 to 3055, when the line is laid down after the Battle of Tukkayyid would be best in their minds, but I have to be honest, the warfare era I mentioned at first would be better for balance issues and whiney twitchers.

[Hayden]

Hodo, on 11 November 2011 - 05:21 PM, said:

While I too would be happy with a Mechwarrior/Battletech game. I can wait if its going to be a bad one. Need I mention Shadowrun, or Matrix Online.

Yeah, well, I'm trying to keep an open mind with this dev team. The game is still nearly a year from release, and the fact that it's going to be F2P will allow them to change things if the community dislikes it or if it's otherwise unprofitable. I'm taking a wait and see. Right now I'm excited because a potentially bad MW is better than no MW at all. The potentially bad MW still has a chance to be good. And if it is bad, no skin off my nose: I'll just load up MW2 or MW3 and wait for the next iteration of the series.

Kay Wolf, on 11 November 2011 - 05:29 PM, said:

I think the 3025 to 3030 time-frame would be best. Get in on the last year of the Third Succession War, fight the entire Fourth Succession War, spend five years doing it. Then, once the bugs are, mostly, ironed out of the system, fight the War of '39, with the subtle introduction of whatever Star League LosTech there would be, and then launch into the Clan Invasion toward the end of summer in '49 and into '50. I think the goal of the devs is to have a five-year time-frame to run this game in, and 3050 to 3055, when the line is laid down after the Battle of Tukkayyid would be best in their minds, but I have to be honest, the warfare era I mentioned at first would be better for balance issues and whiney twitchers.

I like that notion.

Edited by hayden, 11 November 2011 - 05:33 PM.

[Hodo]

Kay Wolf, on 11 November 2011 - 05:29 PM, said:

I think the 3025 to 3030 time-frame would be best. Get in on the last year of the Third Succession War, fight the entire Fourth Succession War, spend five years doing it. Then, once the bugs are, mostly, ironed out of the system, fight the War of '39, with the subtle introduction of whatever Star League LosTech there would be, and then launch into the Clan Invasion toward the end of summer in '49 and into '50. I think the goal of the devs is to have a five-year time-frame to run this game in, and 3050 to 3055, when the line is laid down after the Battle of Tukkayyid would be best in their minds, but I have to be honest, the warfare era I mentioned at first would be better for balance issues and whiney twitchers.

This is a fantastic idea, it gives them room for selling or adding expansions. Which would advance the timeline. Thus keeping the game "fresh".

[TheForce]

Or start in 3025 with IS and Clan mechs, but keep them separate. Have a beta clan vs. is balancing battles, get it all worked out, then do the invasion.

[Hodo]

TheForce, on 11 November 2011 - 05:39 PM, said:

Or start in 3025 with IS and Clan mechs, but keep them separate. Have a beta clan vs. is balancing battles, get it all worked out, then do the invasion.

To much work for a F2P game. Leave it one or the other, and just advance the timeline.

[TheForce]

Hodo, on 11 November 2011 - 05:41 PM, said:

To much work for a F2P game. Leave it one or the other, and just advance the timeline.

Fair enough. I just wish it was back in 3015

At a minimum they could create tech restricted battles:

IS vs IS
Clan vs Clan
Clan vs IS

[Zakatak]

I think they should have stayed in 3015, or even better, 3039.

BUT, what is done is done, and I'm not going to lie, I don't like many pre-Clan Invasion mechs. If they can come up with a way to balance it out, I'm happy. I just think it should be 5 Lances vs. 3 Stars in matches, as oppose to nerfing and buffing the hell out of everything.

Edited by Zakatak, 11 November 2011 - 05:51 PM.

[Halfinax]

Hodo, on 11 November 2011 - 04:38 PM, said:

If you base the game in the 3049 invasion time frame you end up dealing with the horrible balance issues of the clans. It is just best to avoid dealing with them all together.

You have balanced forces, none of this *** Clan tech is so OP, junk. And you dont have to listen to the constant whining by people wanting to play their favorite clan-tech IS mech that hasnt been invented yet. (See the Innersphere Omni mech thread).

So my suggestion is to best avoid the clans, just dont bother with them. You will be able to model more mechs and have less to balance. If you just stick with the Forth Succession War in the 3020s.

There was no advanced tech, no ER Lasers, No ER PPCs, no Pulse lasers, or Beagle probes. Just good cold hard WAR. No Trueborn, or freeborn. Just Kurita vs Davion vs Liao, vs Marik vs Stiener.

Just use some abstraction of BV to fit a Simulation-RPG and everything should be balanced well enough. Clanners will be outnumbered at least two to one the battlefield, but like you I wish they would have chosen a slightly earlier time frame. I do however understand their choice as most people familiar with the series of games are more familiar with the clan 'Mechs than they are with the pre-clan 'Mechs.

[Threat Doc]

TheForce, on 11 November 2011 - 05:39 PM, said:

Or start in 3025 with IS and Clan mechs, but keep them separate. Have a beta clan vs. is balancing battles, get it all worked out, then do the invasion.

I REALLY like this idea, except for two things:
1) It would require, basically, two F2P games, and

2) About 85 - 90% of players would go Clan immediately. I don't know about you, but that's ridiculous to me.

Zakatak, on 11 November 2011 - 05:49 PM, said:

I think they should have stayed in 3015, or even better, 3039.

BUT, what is done is done...

I disagree. They moved the time-line from 3015 to 3048 (3049 at launch), and I believe they could do it again. In fact, if they would move it back, they could add more Inner Sphere 'Mechs, like the Flashman, the Thug, and others that I actually enjoyed driving, and then they could begin working on the Clan 'Mechs for further expansions.

Quote

...and I'm not going to lie, I don't like many pre-Clan Invasion mechs. If they can come up with a way to balance it out, I'm happy. I just think it should be 5 Lances vs. 3 Stars in matches, as oppose to nerfing and buffing the hell out of everything.

I can agree with that. The time would allow players to maximize their ability and knowledge of driving the Inner Sphere 'Mechs and then you wouldn't need to balance these things.

[Jaegerwolf]

Did they ever give a reason WHY they moved the timeline up? I understand they want to have gametime match real time (1 year real world + 1 in game) but don't see any mention of why then went to 3048 instead of staying at 3015. I actually think the earlier year would have been more interesting as it hasn't been covered in a game before.

I know there's a large fan base for the Clans, but not sure if trying to appease them is going to be worth the balancing issues

[Halfinax]

Kay Wolf, on 11 November 2011 - 07:15 PM, said:

I disagree. They moved the time-line from 3015 to 3048 (3049 at launch), and I believe they could do it again. In fact, if they would move it back, they could add more Inner Sphere 'Mechs, like the Flashman, the Thug, and others that I actually enjoyed driving, and then they could begin working on the Clan 'Mechs for further expansions.

I think the 3049 launch date is near ideal. It introduces the players to the universe with mostly the basic technology, but with the clan invasion on the horizon. With this concept we see players build an attachment to their house, and this in many ways prevents a mass exodus to the clanners when they arrive about 8 months later. If they add in a "give something up to join the clan" concept when the clanners do arrive it would promote more players to remain loyal to the IS. Obviously this won't work for everyone, but I think it would/will be effective enough to keep a good stable of players in the IS.

[IntruderAlert]

I agree with Halfinax, I also agree with the Dev's decision's and reasoning on the current date of 3049.
It's a new content story in a new time....even if it were to be redone back in the "time" you were used to playing with...
it's still a new game and probalby still seem foreign to you. Some people hate too much change...others hate not enough soon
enough. Dev's understand this and have chosen this timeline because of the large amount of content that occurs in
a small amount of time to satisfy everyone...but starting early enough in the timeline so as not to overload everyone
with all the stats, concepts, and abilities. This allows all the seasoned veterans a fresh game, while not alienating all
those new to BTech/Mechwarrior. And it allows for the game to become seasoned...before the founders and old veterans
cease to be around to see it..

[Wolvers]

Kay Wolf, on 11 November 2011 - 05:29 PM, said:

I think the 3025 to 3030 time-frame would be best. Get in on the last year of the Third Succession War, fight the entire Fourth Succession War, spend five years doing it. Then, once the bugs are, mostly, ironed out of the system, fight the War of '39, with the subtle introduction of whatever Star League LosTech there would be, and then launch into the Clan Invasion toward the end of summer in '49 and into '50. I think the goal of the devs is to have a five-year time-frame to run this game in, and 3050 to 3055, when the line is laid down after the Battle of Tukkayyid would be best in their minds, but I have to be honest, the warfare era I mentioned at first would be better for balance issues and whiney twitchers.

yep I like that idea too, I think it's an 'ease your way into Battletech' type of stuff. The Clans do make things a little more complicated I think for new players. Can't see them changing their minds though on the timeline.

In so far as the balance re IS vs Clans, it is a bit of a concern, the thing that holds the Clans back mostly, Zellbrigen, might be hard to implement. That could partially be sorted out as Halfinax suggested by using a BV type system, that way the IS should outnumber the Clans.

[feor]

The problem is that the Mechwarrior gaming community has been brought up on Clantech. Every Mechwarrior game since MW2 has featured large quantities of Clan content. To the point that people who have never even heard of battletech will immediately be able to identify the Timberwolf from the cover of MW2.

If you ignore the clans all together you alienate a very large group of players who want their Mad Cats and their Daishis. And in fact, since this is supposed to be real time that the game progresses in (or at least the lead up to the game), and it's slated for summer 2012, which could equate to August 3049... Guess what happened in the Periphery in August 3049?

I'm betting clans will be in at launch. And will probably even be the "end game" content to start with, meaning that Clan Salvage will be the top level "raid gear" for the best players, given all those above players a reason to play the game to its conclusion. (or pay Piranha for xp boosts )

Edited by feor, 11 November 2011 - 07:58 PM.

[Jaroth Corbett]

Jaegerwolf, on 11 November 2011 - 07:22 PM, said:

Did they ever give a reason WHY they moved the timeline up? I understand they want to have gametime match real time (1 year real world + 1 in game) but don't see any mention of why then went to 3048 instead of staying at 3015. I actually think the earlier year would have been more interesting as it hasn't been covered in a game before.

I know there's a large fan base for the Clans, but not sure if trying to appease them is going to be worth the balancing issues

If they set it to 3015 or even 3025 & 1 day in RL is 1 day in the game we would have a LONG wait to get to the clan invasion. I suspect that is why they decided to go 3049. Just my two cents.

[Halfinax]

I don't think you are going to see "raids" this isn't an MMORPG. It is a team based Multiplayer battle system from what the devs have described

I suspect if we do see Clans in at launch it is going to be more along the lines of ISNews Updates rather than player usable content. The clan invasion doesn't officially start until March of 3050 which would be 7-8 months after initial launch. We would see very limited Clan activity as the developers seem to be mostly staying away from periphery material and focusing mostly on core IS worlds. The first sign of Clan activity I am aware of is pretty vague "The Kell Hounds while hunting a pirate faction on The Rock confronted an unknown force and were defeated."

I wouldn't assume Clans being playable until Wave 1 which is when they begin to hit the core-ward worlds on their path to Terra. At this point I assume the Devs will have some kind of give and take for players to join the clan.

Edit: For clarification the "At this point I assume the Devs will have some kind of give and take for players to join the clan." is pure speculation on my part.

Edited by Halfinax, 11 November 2011 - 08:13 PM.

[Solomon K Chapman]

like the idea of staring the game in 3025 we would get to hear and see the weddding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner in the year 3028.