8 replies to this topic

[Summer Gleeson]

Greetings Warriors! Winter is crawling ever so closer and for some it just means Christmas is is around the corner while for those in the great white north it's a whole other world. For Gamers however it tends to mean less time outside and more in, which of course means our battlemechs will likely get more field time and let's face it: That's no bad thing!!

So, where are we now in terms of the balance of game? That seems to still be the subject of much debate with rampant reports that have been hotwired in that matches are still lopsided, weapons are still broken, and that the devs seem to have taken a vacation since launch as though it was the finish line. Work done! Cash in! Where's my Canadian Whisky???

Fear not Warriors, while it does seem that things have been reduced to a slow crawl as of late development of MW:O has not taken a back seat to the pleasures the Bacchus of Solaris has to offer. (Though I hear it's worth the C-bills)

Recently PGI has demonstrated a considerable improvement with communication to the community about thier recent endeavors. Example evidence of this can be found here if your not up to speed on things:

http://mwomercs.com/...pdate-november/
http://mwomercs.com/...eedback-thread/

Over the last few months in preperation for launch many things were addressed, changed, tweaked and sorted. Little things which in the end can make a big difference when working all together. Some were met with dismay such as ghost heat while others have been more receptive but once again Mechwarrior received a proverbial face lift in regards to match quality. Though we still have issues such as weight balance being one of the biggest complaints, overall I do believe the combat aspect of the game has come along quite well. Though that is a matter of opinion of course.

Since Launch we seem to have hit traffic. The Phoenix launch was a big deal in terms of content but from a balance perspective changes are slow and we are left wanting relief from this frustration. The question is what are they waiting for?

The answers have been given, though tend to get lost with the flood of posts that find themselves milking the front page. The plain and simple truth to this by all evidence is simply that PGI has plateau'd. To put it in different terms they have climbed the endless mountain as far as they can go and in order to go further they need better equipment. IE: U.I 2.0, DX 11 and C.W. 3 of the biggest deals since sliced bread and 3 of the biggest things we have all been waiting for.

PGI can certainly do more "little" things but little things despite the fact they have made big differences ultimately have delayed the bigger picture considerably. It comes at a cost and it is a cost that PGI simply can no longer afford.

I am not a programmer by any means (though it's incredible how many we have in our community that seem to have all the answers. This makes me question why they are playing MW:O and not saving the world but that isn't the point) but it seems obvious to me that features like UI 2.0 and the like do not take a week to accomplish.

Thankfully PGI has been laying out thier groundwork and rather than distracting the community with red herrings and adversity are keeping us in the loop, which despite past events is rather comforting even if in the end tries patience further.

Matchmaking improvements: Needs UI 2.0

Weight Limits: Needs UI 2.0

CW: Needs UI 2.0

Weapon balance: Though I am not sure this counts as ultimately it is more opinion and preference than hard fact there are good arguments to support that weapons are not balanced as intended. Should they continue this work as aggressive as they were? Or turn that aggressiveness to UI 2.0 Development? An answer to a dilemma I wouldn't want on my shoulders.

I see a trend, and if we are asking ourselves why things have stalled the answer seems pretty clear. Until UI 2.0 is in and working MW:O isn't going anywhere fast.

I suppose warriors that at the end of the day we are left waiting. Many of us seem ok with this while the patience of many has been all but spent. Here in again comes the cost to stalling an Engine.

UI 2.0 is the missing link that brings the future of MW:O to bear and they are working hard on it, unfortunately with nothing big coming in game gives the illusion that nothing is going on. Many things are likely on the plate in order to placate the community while we wait for this coveted feature to take shape but judging from the vibes leaking from PGI they are just as itchy to get past the speed bump to bring UI 2.0 online and move forward as we are. Could we all be on the same page and just not see it?

Though I am not fond of every change PGI has implemented over the last few months overall I think MW:O has moved in the right direction. In regards to the recent stall and the need for UI 2.0 and the like, I'm more than willing to give them the time.

Are you?

Summer Gleeson
Merc Net News

[Chemie]

you would think since EVERYTHING hinges on UI2, they would have done a better job at getting it out instead of taking more than a year and releasing an early alpha that leaves a lot to be desired.

[Sandpit]

I am still on the fence when it comes to PGI's "new communication" efforts. It has seemingly gone back to stealth mode in that we haven't gotten any updates and estimated release dates are slowly creeping back up on them. it's time for them to put up or shut up at this point. The new mech smell of my PP package is wearing off and now it's back to the same old grind and buy gameplay. I'm hopeful but not optimistic at this point

[Appogee]

The weirdest thing is... I've seen UI2.0, and functionality wise, it doesn't seem to offer much (anything?) more than the present UI.

Has anyone seen anything in the UI2.0 demo that delivers new functionality...?

[Roadbeer]

Appogee, on 02 November 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

The weirdest thing is... I've seen UI2.0, and functionality wise, it doesn't seem to offer much (anything?) more than the present UI.

Has anyone seen anything in the UI2.0 demo that delivers new functionality...?

It's more of what lies beneath. I've done enough database programming to know that while I can make things look a little slicker on the front, there isn't much different in the way of functionality, but what's happening in the back end of it is totally different.

Many times, I've completely revamped the back end and called it a new interface because it streamlined and improved the way the front end worked, but aesthetically, it really wasn't that different.

[Dymlos2003]

Appogee, on 02 November 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

The weirdest thing is... I've seen UI2.0, and functionality wise, it doesn't seem to offer much (anything?) more than the present UI.
Has anyone seen anything in the UI2.0 demo that delivers new functionality...?

One: it wasnt all of the features in that build we tested
Two: We won't see much of the functionality, that's for the devs. That should be a "no duh" moment

[Sandpit]

Appogee, on 02 November 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

The weirdest thing is... I've seen UI2.0, and functionality wise, it doesn't seem to offer much (anything?) more than the present UI.

Has anyone seen anything in the UI2.0 demo that delivers new functionality...?

It's more of a coding and compatibility thing. From what I understand it is a matter of the old UI code basically not being very compatible with the cry engine for everything they wanted to do. I can understand and forgive that but that excuse is no longer valid. They've had a year to get the UI working. They have NO problem implementing other stuff in this game with bugs and all so there's no reason we can't have this thing goin soon

[Dracol]

Ya, the rework of the UI was a huge undertaking from what they have indicated. By moving all the calculations out of the GUI and into c based code snippets, everything needed to be revisualized.

What may have added to the longer coding time is if the GUI programmers were not as familiar with the c code. Flex/flash code for the gui is a little less arachic with its terminology. Programmers hired back when the gui was invisioned as flex maybe catching up on new techniques. The time from the learning curb maybe what we're seeing.

[MustrumRidcully]

Chemie, on 02 November 2013 - 07:56 AM, said:

you would think since EVERYTHING hinges on UI2, they would have done a better job at getting it out instead of taking more than a year and releasing an early alpha that leaves a lot to be desired.

It might be best to assume that's the best they could do in the time. And to be fair, we don't know if the remaining work can be done much faster.

Mustrum "Hey, who removed that black paint on my armor?" Ridcully