1978 replies to this topic

[Texas Merc]

Question:

Is PGI planning on releasing more IS mechs alongside the Clan mechs or is that it for the IS mechs once the cbill sabre mechs and BM are available?

I only ask because if we know the mech release schedule for the next 12 + months, well thats kinda boring, especially if you don't even want to pilot clan mechs.

Also, I could see alot of player attrition due to this fact that some of your more hardcore players will have their clan mechs leveled out by early fall and left with nothing to do(since there is nothing to do in this game besides level mechs and play shootem up).

[Deathlike]

Texas Merc, on 28 December 2013 - 02:17 PM, said:

Question:

Is PGI planning on releasing more IS mechs alongside the Clan mechs or is that it for the IS mechs once the cbill sabre mechs and BM are available?

I only ask because if we know the mech release schedule for the next 12 + months, well thats kinda boring, especially if you don't even want to pilot clan mechs.

Also, I could see alot of player attrition due to this fact that some of your more hardcore players will have their clan mechs leveled out by early fall and left with nothing to do(since there is nothing to do in this game besides level mechs and play shootem up).

Well, there is a 2 month gap with the release of the PP+Saber mechs in question before we get to the Clan Mechs...

Jan: Battlemaster
Feb/March: Griffin/Wolv
Apr/May: ?????
June: Clan Pack Release - Kit Fox/Uller

So, you do the math.

[Texas Merc]

Deathlike, on 28 December 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

Well, there is a 2 month gap with the release of the PP+Saber mechs in question before we get to the Clan Mechs...

Jan: Battlemaster
Feb/March: Griffin/Wolv
Apr/May: ?????
June: Clan Pack Release - Kit Fox/Uller

So, you do the math.

Yeah I get the schedule, I guess I mean will IS mechs be released alongside the clan mechs?

[ShadowMaw]

Thanks for the info.

I was waiting for the clans before sinking any money into this game. I was looking forward to the part of the game that got me into battletech and the mechwarrior games. Mechwarrior 2 was all about the clans. But from the changes to the guass rifle and what you plan on doing to water down the clan mechs I am not sure I am interested in dumping a load of money on this now. Hate to see what you come up with to balance my Ultra AC 20 on my summoner Alt. Config. C. What it sounds like your doing is just adding more IS mechs that look like clan mechs. Meh.... no thanks.

Want to keep things balanced for IS and Clan? Put in a battle value system and make your matches from that.

[E5 Bravo]

Apologies, didn't have time to go through all the pages and find the info I was looking for. I am no expert on BT, but did some reading because I enjoyed the game. Is there a specific problem that prevents clan mechs from being roughly twice as powerful, but half the number in battle (e.g. 6 clans vs, 12 IS), and perhaps the clans gain only 1/2 xp and cb (or make clan xp and cb incompatible with IS xp and cb)? As I understand it this is more true to BT (but could be wrong don't hate me for it). Is this a match-making dilemma? I think it would be much more understandable that these measures must be taken if you can tell us we'd be waiting 20 minutes to join a match. That makes sense. Can you let us in on the design, QA, architectural, etc. challenges you are trying to tackle... heck half of us are probably software engineers anyway... we just want to understand the challenges necessitating the departure from what we have been dreaming up in our heads (purposely worded). Thanks.

[Punisher8522]

Just keep clan tech more advanced! That's the fun of it. Just make clan mechs spawn in smaller groups. Or do whatever you guys want, just get it done for gods sake! I'm seriously losing interest in this game after two years. 12vs12 doesn't cut it for me anymore, I'm having more fun on mw3. We need community warfare with an actual purpose to the game, not just 12vs12 skirmish!

[Deathlike]

Texas Merc, on 28 December 2013 - 02:51 PM, said:

Yeah I get the schedule, I guess I mean will IS mechs be released alongside the clan mechs?

Well in one of the last few AtDs that were released, it was PGI's possibly position at the time to release 2 mechs at a time (this was mentioned before the Saber pack was even mentioned due to forum rage) around launch or something along those lines. It was kinda implied that they have the capacity to churn out mechs pretty quickly (the Clan Pack seems to be indicative of this as well).

I don't mean lame repeat Champion mechs though.. I mean actual new mechs. However, most of the mechs are revised versions of existing chassis that we are familiar with...

[McKillynu]

Can you please sell the BT rights and game art assets to a professional game evelopment studio? KTHXBYE

Edited by McKillynu, 28 December 2013 - 11:12 PM.

[KursedVixen]

I like how things are looking currently ,but if we can't modify engines or armor they better be worth it like endo steel and ferro fiborus on the mechs that are suppose to have it.

[Bacon Wan Kenobi]

Simply just giving the Clans a handicap like 10 v 12 or a lower tonnage limit simply wouldn't work. Individually, the vast majority of people would still choose to pilot the more powerful clan mech and you'd be left with virtually no IS pilots. How many of you suggesting this as a "solution" would choose to pilot IS? I doubt very many could honestly say they would.

I hope they do find a way to balance the two while each maintains a "flavor". It's going to be difficult, sure but it will probably also make the better, most diverse game in the long run.

[Russhuster]

of course everybody will be interested in the new mechs of the clan like everything new they will be sniffed and testet
When only clan mechs are searching for joining game then there will be a match Clan versus Clan maybe on strana metchty lioness or diana for example. in a match 10 vs 10 two binari stars or 15 vs 15two trinary stars fighting each other Where is the problem ?

it isnt the way that clans are very peaceful to each other.

one should not underestimate the attraction of the inner sphere. When the sweet smell of the new is gone i would think there are enough players to run both sphere and clans.
One should be able to run both sides but in different currencys
a clan mech gets way more expensive for pilot skills e.g. three times the is cost
Clan pilots are rewarded in honor points, allowing the pilot to get better or simply other equipment with a clan mech one cannot get IS tech so Xpulse lasers on a clan mech will not be possible as well as clan ak20ultra in an inner sphere mech

BUT !

but therefore the Inner sphere needs to be more interesting
public warfare with the is faction system and the option to conquer planets that will be shown in the current house colour ( kurita red, steiner blue and so on ) will bring as much spice in playing sphere as maybe later on the rediscovered star league techniques when the library core will be discovered when the staff plans to bring in that event.

additional as mentioned earlier an arena option "Solaris" with the opportunity for the best pilots to become champion
will bring alot of fun in the inner sphere


R

[Victor Morson]

Spilltray, on 29 December 2013 - 12:28 AM, said:

Simply just giving the Clans a handicap like 10 v 12 or a lower tonnage limit simply wouldn't work. Individually, the vast majority of people would still choose to pilot the more powerful clan mech and you'd be left with virtually no IS pilots.

... says the man in the forum loaded with die-hard InnerSphere pilots whom likely outnumber the Clanner pilots right now 2:1..

[Allen Ward]

Texas Merc, on 28 December 2013 - 02:51 PM, said:

Yeah I get the schedule, I guess I mean will IS mechs be released alongside the clan mechs?

Who nows? If you consider the rate of mech releases during the past year or so, my guess is: yes, they want to release new IS mechs along new clan mechs. I think they are currently pre-developing the mechs contained in the clan pack that can be pre-ordered already. This will take up a lot of their time until spring/early summer. They will have to do the internal testing, too.

So, until the clan mechs release in June (hopefully) not many new IS mechs are to be expected (only Phoenix and Sabre Package Mechs will be released to the community, they are, after all, fully done and only held back artificially).

After the clan mech release I guess, they will continue work on new clan mechs and IS mechs on a 2:1 ratio or even 3:1. After all, we have quite a selection of IS models at hand, the clans will need some more soon. As their team is only so and so big and heavily in developing UI, CW and stuff (as bugfixing like hell), I wouldn't expect too many IS models in early 2014. I think IS will have to wait a little until fall/winter 2014, maybe we get a new one or two until then?

The same for new maps (huge amounts of work) and new game modes (actually not so much work, but anyhow). Don't expect shitloads of new maps in early 2014. I think we now have a decent selection, I would love to see maps and modes getting improved a little.

Why don't we see more wrecks (exploded Shrek chassis, crashed aerospace fighter, mechs, trucks, destroyed artillery) all over the "battlefields"? Yes, we have one dropship/lander on ice city map, some strange wreckage of a larger ship on Turmaline and a rusted mech here and there...but come on...that's all you can do to populate a map? That's pretty uninspired and boring.

A nice game would be: "find the caps". Just use the random cap generator (as on Alpine peaks) but make it more random, so that caps points can actually spawn anywhere on the map (not on mountain tops or roofs, though). Then simply don't make them show up on mech radar/mini map. Light mechs will have to go searching all over the place and call out the positions to the team. This could be a real job for Lights (spoting a cap could earn XP/CB) and make the game more demanding and different from "we know where everything is, so let's meet in the middle and shoot each other to bits".

I don't think that this would be that hard to implement and release.

[Glythe]

So let me get this straight.....

I can stay with old IS tech or move to clan tech when that comes out.

Or I can go with clan tech which will be better (not way op better but a +3 magic sword is better than +1 version). You're changing the xp trees?

Ok great so I'll recycle ALL my xp into 1 mech and only play that clan mech. Too bad the game will still be missing the balance it had from when I played during the first 6 months (SRM were strong but not broken at point blank range, lasers were better than PPCs, and unchecked LRMs could be deadly).

Not that I care to really play this game anytime soon......(not sure I want to play 12 games for the snowglobe)

[Frost Lord]

Deathlike, on 28 December 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

Well, there is a 2 month gap with the release of the PP+Saber mechs in question before we get to the Clan Mechs...

Jan: Battlemaster
Feb/March: Griffin/Wolv
Apr/May: ?????
June: Clan Pack Release - Kit Fox/Uller

So, you do the math.

assuming the griffin and wolverine drop different months we have 2 months 3 if they come together since they did come out together as a package, one month will be the flea, so we should have 1-2 more mechs, as for clan relece's they should all drop together so they have the same amount of mechs as we had in founders otherwise we will have one side that's mostly lights, perhaps they will drop the first 4 then the second lot a month later. then they would just do clan mech's until they even out we might get some hero mecks for IS early on once they even out id say they would start bringing out mechs that were designed after the clan invasion started.

[Frost Lord]

KursedVixen, on 28 December 2013 - 11:38 PM, said:

I like how things are looking currently ,but if we can't modify engines or armor they better be worth it like endo steel and ferro fiborus on the mechs that are suppose to have it.

all clan mecks seem to have endo and ferro as standard unfortunately they all seem to have XL engines thats going to be frustrating

[Frost Lord]

Allen Ward, on 29 December 2013 - 05:50 AM, said:

Who nows? If you consider the rate of mech releases during the past year or so, my guess is: yes, they want to release new IS mechs along new clan mechs. I think they are currently pre-developing the mechs contained in the clan pack that can be pre-ordered already. This will take up a lot of their time until spring/early summer. They will have to do the internal testing, too.

So, until the clan mechs release in June (hopefully) not many new IS mechs are to be expected (only Phoenix and Sabre Package Mechs will be released to the community, they are, after all, fully done and only held back artificially).

After the clan mech release I guess, they will continue work on new clan mechs and IS mechs on a 2:1 ratio or even 3:1. After all, we have quite a selection of IS models at hand, the clans will need some more soon. As their team is only so and so big and heavily in developing UI, CW and stuff (as bugfixing like hell), I wouldn't expect too many IS models in early 2014. I think IS will have to wait a little until fall/winter 2014, maybe we get a new one or two until then?

The same for new maps (huge amounts of work) and new game modes (actually not so much work, but anyhow). Don't expect shitloads of new maps in early 2014. I think we now have a decent selection, I would love to see maps and modes getting improved a little.

Why don't we see more wrecks (exploded Shrek chassis, crashed aerospace fighter, mechs, trucks, destroyed artillery) all over the "battlefields"? Yes, we have one dropship/lander on ice city map, some strange wreckage of a larger ship on Turmaline and a rusted mech here and there...but come on...that's all you can do to populate a map? That's pretty uninspired and boring.

A nice game would be: "find the caps". Just use the random cap generator (as on Alpine peaks) but make it more random, so that caps points can actually spawn anywhere on the map (not on mountain tops or roofs, though). Then simply don't make them show up on mech radar/mini map. Light mechs will have to go searching all over the place and call out the positions to the team. This could be a real job for Lights (spoting a cap could earn XP/CB) and make the game more demanding and different from "we know where everything is, so let's meet in the middle and shoot each other to bits".

I don't think that this would be that hard to implement and release.

random caps sounds cool I recon they should make several variants of each map and change around 25% each time so every time we drop you would need to get yore barrings and it would create more play stiles and unpredictability.
tho they probbly need to get everything elce out first

Edited by Frost Lord, 29 December 2013 - 06:43 AM.

[Crockdaddy]

Riptor, on 14 December 2013 - 02:44 PM, said:

In weapons loadout anyways. When omni mechs arrived in the inner sphere they where a revolutionairy design.. bagging inferior IS mechs left and right because of their flexibility.. but right now IS mechs are going to be more flexible.

With how expensive customisation is do you honestly believe that people will not to stick to one working cooky cutter build per clan mech?

That "flexibility" cripples them hard time.

Also none of these clan mechs have ECM... you can kiss those fancy Streaks goodbye

Uh Beagle??

[SiorAlpin Wolf]

My concern about Clan tech is balancing without nerfing.

Streak launchers for example are already lined up for nerfing

[color=#959595]e.g. 2 – Streak SRMs[/color]
Inner Sphere Tech:

• Always hit as long as the target is locked.
  
• Fires 2 missiles dealing 2.5 damage each (total of 5 damage)

Clan Tech:

• Always hit as long as the target is locked.
  
• Fires 2, 4 or 6 missiles dealing 2.5 damage each (total of 5, 10, 15 damage respectively)

[color=#959595]As you can see, this is a much bigger conundrum than changing some numbers like the previous section. This is where we may step out of the comfort zone that some players might not like to make sure we don’t bring in heavily overpowered missile launchers.[/color]



[color=#959595]The following will probably be applied to this weapon:[/color]

• Allow only 2 projectiles to leave the launcher at any given time. SSRM-4 will fire 2 volleys of 2 missiles. SRM-6 will fire 3 volleys of 2 missiles. This will stagger the incoming missiles allowing AMS to take down more if the targeted Mech has AMS.

From reading this it would pointless even buying the clan tech SSRM launchers which are supposed to be better than the inner sphere ones, this just makes them out to be exactly the same so there is no real advantage or benefit in spending the extra c-bills on the clan tech. It's a shame that no real data is released on this as i would of liked to of seen

• Weight for such a unit
  
• Heat - will the heat be higher than that of the inner sphere variant even though they are firing volleys of just 2?
  
• Crit Slots needed

I have always been under the impression that the clan tech has a slight advantage over the inner sphere tech but with some small discrepancies such as a little extra heat or a little extra weight or perhaps +1 crit slot, up against a bigger pay load for the extra damage.

Please don't follow your current pattern in releasing things then 1 month later once people have bought said item they get nerfed to the point of almost uselessness, perhaps the introduction of hard point weight / weapon class restriction to all mechs, what i mean by this is:-

• Weapons come under class's Energy, Ballistic, Missile of which each class can be broken down into weight allowances, light mechs would have a weight limit cap to each hard point so for argument sake a spider equipping an ERPPC shouldn't be able to this with the standard inner sphere tech, or a medium mech equipping an Ac20, okay so doing so means you have to lose armor or have no other weapons, but thats at the pilots own risk fair enough. With hard point class and weight restriction will basically help the balance mech builds and maintain some sort of physics stability without stretching the rules too far into the ridiculous.
  
• Some hard points can have the Clan Tech modification ability at the cost of a module slot per hard point used for Clan Tech, or perhaps put that as an inclusion for mastery of mech chassis. So you can by a module that will upgrade 1 hard point to enable you to put a Clan Tech weapon on it, which inturn will enable a medium mech to equip an AC20 at the cost of losing some gain of battle field info or Artillery Strike etc (excluding the HunchBack which was designed for the AC20)

So for the streaks i dont think that releasing them in volley's of 2 is going to satisfy those that use streaks as it will probably be seen as useless, maybe the SSRM 4 should shoot out all 4 and weight 2.5 tonnes, 1 crit slot, same damage per missile with 1.5 heat gain in comparison to the standard Inner Sphere SSRM2. equip able on Clan Mechs not on Inner Sphere without the upgrade module and the same goes for the SSRM6 shoots out all 6, weights 3.5 tonnes, 2 crit slots, same damage per missile with 2.5 heat gain or something along those lines, but things like this need to be tested and tested and tested some more but not released to the community until
"It's working as expected"
In programming there are many variables and attributes that need to be considered and tested and nothing can be balanced until all avenues of testing have been exhausted, which is what i believe the development team are trying to do by releasing the Clan Tech information and trying to be a bit more transparent than the past 18 months. It is obvious they are not going to be able to please everyone with everything they intend to release, BUT if it is released and works well, and balanced with the other in game systems then that is a job well done and they deserve to be informed of this, yes some wont like it because there is no easy button, seriously though if you think along those lines then MWO isn't for you im sorry to say.

Game balance is one of the hardest things to achieve in any game, but honestly for the happiness and contempt of the community it is better to increment than to nerf.

[Deathlike]

Frost Lord, on 29 December 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

assuming the griffin and wolverine drop different months we have 2 months 3 if they come together since they did come out together as a package, one month will be the flea, so we should have 1-2 more mechs, as for clan relece's they should all drop together so they have the same amount of mechs as we had in founders otherwise we will have one side that's mostly lights, perhaps they will drop the first 4 then the second lot a month later. then they would just do clan mech's until they even out we might get some hero mecks for IS early on once they even out id say they would start bringing out mechs that were designed after the clan invasion started.

The Flea has no ETA. Russ or Bryan has admitted as such on Twitter.

Unless the CryEngine upgrade takes place, it won't occur.

Edit - it was Russ who stated there is no ETA:
https://twitter.com/...510876188397568

Edited by Deathlike, 29 December 2013 - 10:07 AM.