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I have been active on these forums since the launch of the website and recently I have noticed that there are a lot of confusion and illusions about how this game will work.
Now I know I am not a part of the dev team, and I do not claim to have any knowledge at all about their plans for the future, that you do not have (access to)
But I feel that some speculations are running wild, and people are making grand plans for things they want to do, while totally forgetting to use logic and reason.
Because of this, I felt it is time to clarify some things, based on those two things. Logic and common sense.
I am fairly certain that this will cause a never ending flame-war, but I beg the readers of this thread, not to let your feelings run wild and jump to conclusions. Just look at the facts we have been given by the devs, and try to think clearly.
My first point of issue is this thing about "online persistancy"
I have noticed that many people are making grand schemes about this.
They think they will somehow be able to affect the "history" of Battletech.
Many clan haters thinks that they will be able to join this or that faction, to get first access to fighting the clans and be able to salvage clan tech, or some other equally crazy idea.
I will tell you right now, that this will probably never happen.
First of all, as stated in the FAQ on this very website, MWO will follow an offset timeline from the BT
universe.
"Q. What year is MechWarrior® Online™ taking place?
A. MechWarrior® Online™ is running an offset timeline of the BattleTech® Universe. As of this writing it is 2011 and the year is 3048 within the game. In 2012, when the game is launched, it will be 3049."
This (as also obvious from the ISN news flashes) means that historical events in the BT universe, will happen at the same dates corresponding to said timeline.
First contact in the periphery, battle of Trellwan, battle of Alynia, Teniente, Wolcott, Twycross, Tukayyid and so on.
Most likely, players will not be able to take part in these battles, but they will be continue to publish these as ISN news flashes, on this site, and probably in some in-game lobby.
The Logic and reason behind I believe this is simple.
If you (for example) chose the Free Rasalhague Republic as your faction, to get first hand to fight the clans, and the game mechanics supported this - this would mean a very many things, following that line of thought.
For example. It would mean that players that chose the Capellan Comfederation or Free Worlds League, would get little or none at all, chance to fight the clans, until Operation Bulldog/Serpent. Unless you succeeded in stopping it completely.
By following the same logic, it also means that you would never be able to fight togeather with a friend who chose a different faction.
Let me play with an imaginary example.
Say for instance that me and my brother wanted to play different houses.
I chose Federated Suns - my brother chose Capellan comfederation.
Following the above logic, we would never ever be able to drop together.
We would be *forced* to fight eachother.
FedSuns players would fight together with Fedsuns and CapCom with CapCom, effectively splitting friends who wants to play together.
If you think that you could somehow change the history of BT by "stopping the clan invasion"
What would happen next?
Would some Lone Wolf drop on Tharkad and kill Katherine Steiner-Davion and stop the fedcom civil war?
Could a company of Marik Mechs drop on Luthien, kill Theodore Kurita and take the Draconis Combine?
I mean seriously dudes, time to hit the break on your imagination here.
I quote the FAQ:
"Q. Will MechWarrior® Online™ have any online persistency?<a name="28">
A. Yes, this is where our plan for the Inner Sphere comes into play. All players in Merc Corps will be fighting for control over various border planets. The state of these planets is persistent."
border planets folks.
And also, this will probably be done by special events.
The devs have told us that you will be able to create a friend-list and drop together in a game.
This clearly means that your faction allegiance will mean *nothing*
You will have lyrans, davions, kuritans, rasalhagians, Mariks and capellans on your team, and you will fight people with the same faction allegiance as yours.
Unless you are telling me that a Krutian player will be unable to invite a Davion player to his friendslist and drop with him?
Common sense folks.
My guess is that the entire system will be a lot like Battlefield.
You have a friend-list, create a party, and then drop into a game server.
No more, no less.
Difference being that in special events, where you can take part in a border-world dispute, you would drop with others from your faction.
Another example of gameplay like this is EvE online.
You get to chose a race.
Amarr have since long fought the Minmatar
And Caldari are no friend of Gallente.
But this is all background story.
There is no stopping you as a Caldari player to fight other caldari and be best friends with a Gallente player.
As for all these arguments about the clans being too powerfull and they do not buy their mechs with C-bills and they must follow zellbrigen for balance and so on and so on.
Take it easy.
The official clan invasions will probably only be ISN news, and the clans will probably only be playable *after* tukayyid.
Why the heck do I presume this, you say?
Well - Logic and Common sense.
We have already clarified that you will most likely not be able to affect history in such profound ways as to stopping the invasion or taking Atreus from Thomas Marik's hands or saving the city of Edo from orbital bombardment.
We have also, using Logic, come to the conclusion that fighting in the actual invasion would mean unfairness to Liao and Marik players, as they did not send any units to the front.
So, continuing to keep your head cool, you can understand that the only way NOT to make the clans to powerful, is by giving ALL factions access to clan tech. Just as they have made no IS house any more powerful than the other (Imagine the FRR being forced to fight the entire fedcom - lol)
Just as the devs have already said, no mech will be faction exclusive. Every faction will have access to any chassis, included in the game. But at different pricing.
First after tukayyid will border-fights with the clans begin, and first after tukayyid would clan-tech begin to surface in units and markets in the Inner Sphere.
This probably means that clan-players will have access to Clan tech, probably much cheaper than IS-players would. Sure.
But for balancing factor, they will probably be a lot more expensive to buy, customize and maintan, than the average IS player pays for his/her ride, thus Clan players will have slower progression.
Also, IS chassis will be even more expensive, *forcing* the Clan player to use clan chassis, and preventing them from buying a "cheap" IS-mech to "grind" in, to buy the juicy Clan Mech faster.
This would mean that Clan-tech will be quite expensive for IS-players, but they progress faster and basically earn more money and earn money faster.
And for clan currency.
Yes it is true that Clanners do not "buy" their mechs.
rename "C-bills" to "Honor points" -problem solved.
This is a Mech Simulator, not a RPG-game.
So, to conclude this ELEPHANT-post.
Other players may chose any faction they want and they will fight with and against players from any and all factions.
You will, in the future, be fighting with and against, players from the clans, house Kurita, FRR, Liao, Davion, Steiner and Marik.
You will not be able to save Melissa Steiner from the bomb-blast that killed her.
You will not be able to take Sian from Romano Liao and you will not be able to kill Ulric Kerensky or in any other way affect key points in BT history.
Matchmaking and gameplay on open servers will function much like Battlefield 3, where you join an open server with your friends, no matter what faction they happened to chose, and fight with the opposing team.
You will have access to any and all tech, albeit at a different price than your friends, if they chose a different faction, and there will probably be special "faction exclusive" events for border-world disputes.
Now have fun and enjoy the game, while I put on my flame-protection.
[Edited for spelling]
Edited by GB Krubarax, 15 June 2012 - 09:58 AM.
The overall spelling was bad, though readable. I appreciate you clarifying this for some people. But just admit it, speculation is fun. There is nothing wrong with it as speculation will always happen whether or not you want it to.
