28 replies to this topic

[Wildstreak]

While I know there is a feedback topic for Russ Bullock's Command Chair post, I thought The Plan link deserved its own topic. The following are comments I have regarding the recently revealed site where 'The Plan' is found here.

Community Warfare > UI 2.0 Component > MechLab / Pilot Lab

No description but I believe we saw the new MechLab before.

Community Warfare > UI 2.0 Component > Store

Interesting but it is not complete in description, it ends with, "sell items cur" suggesting there was a text cutoff.

Community Warfare > UI 2.0 Component > Settings / Social Grouping

No description.

Community Warfare > Game Modes Component

Interesting stuff, seems Assault and Conquest will be replaced though I have concerns over Dropship. If only one side has it, it could be a major advantage. If both sides, then it may have to be for large maps only as on smaller maps the Dropships could be close enough to shoot each other. It could be cool to have Dropships shoot at each other similar to the part of Basic Training I had where we had to learn how to low crawl under pretend combat conditions (two drills shooting tracers in the air above us to simulate real combat along with recorded sound effects playing) but not having the Dropships shooting the enemy will effect balance of the match somehow.

Community Warfare > Metagame Component

Interesting section though I am trying to remember how this benefits the Lone Wolves of the game. People who do solo work do exist.

Community Warfare > Launch Component

Interesting stuff especially the ability for Private Matches. I question if there is a typical 12 vs 12 team setup for that or can any size from 1-12 be arranged.

Community Warfare > Modules Component > Weapon Modules

I wait to see what these are given the mention of Role Specialization.

Community Warfare > Modules Component > Module Revamp

I believe allowing a few more slots on Mechs is good dependent on how it is implemented. I have no idea how separation of modules and consumables will happen.

Community Warfare > Modules Component > Mech Efficiency Revamp

I notice under here it mentions multiple tiers of Heat Containment. Raising the cap on when Shutdown happens is not a good thing, it may seem so in allowing more weapon firings but contradicts reasons why Ghost Heat was added. Oh sure, we will still have Ghost Heat but as the cap on Shutdown goes up, it may encourage more use of weapons Ghost Heat was supposed to tone down. This sounds like ECM again.
Here's ECM.
Instead of fixing it, here's counters for ECM.

Now its:
Here's Heat Containment.
Here's Ghost Heat.
Here's more Heat Containment to counter Ghost Heat somewhat.


Overall - I do not see anything regarding Lone Wolves though there is some room for them to work with. In terms of lore, there have been LW MechWarriors such as Bounty Hunters and times when someone had to go solo such as a brief description I read about a Clanner left behind on a planet because they thought she was dead. She found a Clan cache and has been patrolling in the Mech found in it waiting for something, either her Clan's return or a fight to come along.

I also do not see where the previously mentioned Bounty system would wind up, anyone wanting to go Lone Wolf to become a part or full time Bounty Hunter would need this and perhaps Achievements to go along with it. Hey, a loner has to be able to collect on all those Gold Mech Bounties and they cannot say no to 1 vs 1 combat since they are Clanners.

[Kanatta Jing]

That is certainly an interesting little stub of information.

Like a little project written by a would be community manager to try and communicate expectations with the fan base.

[AnotherOne]

Merchant, on 17 December 2013 - 06:24 PM, said:

[...]Community Warfare > Game Modes Component

Interesting stuff, seems Assault and Conquest will be replaced[...]

I doubt your interpretation is correct, it's not a feature plan for MWO but what they want to put online further down the line. Skirmish should be removed from that list soon-ish, as they patched it in yesterday

[Kyle Wright]

no progress has been shown to have been made since this post originated. lets face it this game is dead

[HellJumper]

Kyle Wright, on 07 January 2014 - 10:10 PM, said:

no progress has been shown to have been made since this post originated. lets face it this game is dead

well i wont say its dead..its really really slow in development. i am sure the server will be up running next year as well with most of the old time players left..they will only have new comers who after every 3-6 months leave as PGI wont be adding stuff in that time..and the cycle will go on.

[Victor Morson]

Everytime I see "The plan" brought up I think of this...



...mostly because they didn't really have a plan, either.

[Chemie]

always worried when they say you "buy" heat containment vs "unlock"

[MustrumRidcully]

Victor Morson, on 08 January 2014 - 03:05 AM, said:

Everytime I see "The plan" brought up I think of this...



...mostly because they didn't really have a plan, either.

BSG "The Plan" Spoiler

Spoiler

Quote

Cavill: "The plan is everything blows up a week ago. All humans are dead, we Cylons all download and the universe basks in justice. However..."
Six: "It didn't frakking happen!"

Quote

Bullock: "The plan was that we have Community Warfare 6 months ago. All players are happy conquering the Inner Sphere, we developers resign and bath in money. However..."
Garth: "It didn't frakking happen!"

Players: So say we all.

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 08 January 2014 - 06:09 AM.

[waltonpopz]

Bump: "The Plan" is still at 40%

[Airwind]

There is very little to promote in an FPS. Sure the clan is coming. . But the way they make it out to be seems its only just another mech with new weapons. There is little explanation on how this will be balanced and this worries me. And if the nightmare is correct, we will see clan mechs fighting along side IS mechs.. so , there is no clan invasion unless they divide the mechs into 2 sides. Clan invasion mode maybe.

[Voidsinger]

I archive my e-mails. Yesterday I came across this little beauty from October 13, 2012. Just before Open Beta. Specifically, the bits about CW:

Community Warfare:

Let’s start off by re-quoting the original Community Warfare Pillar from our game description: [indent]
Community Warfare:
MechWarrior® in all of its incarnations has always had a loyal following of players in one of the strongest on-line communities in gaming history. Piranha-Games hopes to bring this community together in a friendly conflict of universal control. This may sound a little odd, but it is the fun competitiveness that will keep the game alive and kicking for years to come. Utilizing the BattleTech® Inner Sphere, we plan to have skirmishes amongst the Great Houses in BattleTech® lore. Allowing the player to have an active part in this conflict is one of our key directives in designing this game. Players will be able to create, manage and customize their Merc Corp's player base and appearance, while banding together to really delve into the Inner Sphere conflict where House alignment reigns supreme. Merc Corp leaders will bid and fight for occupation rights to some of the most valuable planets across the Inner Sphere and challenge other Merc Corps for control of planets reaping large rewards.[/indent]


Nothing has changed from this original vision of where we want to take Community Warfare. The thing about Community Warfare the decision to push it out further post Open Beta, is the sheer size of the feature and the amount of time to implement. Right now we want the dev team to focus on getting the current game feature set into the live build and then stabilize the build as people join us through the first few weeks of Open Beta. Soon after, a large segment of the entire team will shift over to getting Community Warfare coded and implemented so we can get this into the hands of internal/early beta tester’s hands so we can launch the feature in the future. Because of the sheer workload of this feature we cannot give you an accurate timeline for delivery for this but we will start rolling out information as we begin development of Community Warfare.
After this big gameplay injection, we will look at the plan for the Clan Invasion.


Yes, trust the new "Plan" as much as the old ones.

[tayhimself]

@VoidSinger are you the one with a billion C-bills? How did you manage it?

Also at the plan, I've taken screenshots of all the pages to see how it changes. Should be hilarious.

[Voidsinger]

tayhimself, on 14 January 2014 - 04:55 PM, said:

@VoidSinger are you the one with a billion C-bills? How did you manage it?

Also at the plan, I've taken screenshots of all the pages to see how it changes. Should be hilarious.

Yes, that's me. I have a high tolerance for repetitive tasks within certain topics. I don't really play other games. My builds are stable. Premium time. Lots and lots of drops. Good friends on Teamspeak with great amounts of patience.

If it changes. Remember, we were in 3051.

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

Has anyone else noticed UI2.0 is out but it's still not listed as 100% on the Plan... Nor has it changed in the past month?

Not significant, and I understand letting things fall between the crack, but what was the point if it was going to be abandoned so quickly?

[Chemie]

I made a post on the lack of update to the plan, despite UI2 being out and reflected maybe it is not 100% given the crappy mechlab implementation. Anyway, mods move it to jettisoned without even an explanation or anything. Not allowed to talk about the plan (or lack there of).

Apparently the plan was released to drive clan pack sales and give the illusion of a grand plan but was a one time thing like most PGI communication. Might need to check twitter to see how the plan is going.

Edited by Chemie, 08 February 2014 - 09:19 AM.

[Riptor]

If they still go with Merc units owning dropships they will be a CW resource only. I do not think they are going to implement an actual model into the battle maps, or at most as an inactive object.

A dropships brings in to much firepower or could easaly be brought down by massive arty and airstrike abuse.

[Monsoon]

Daisu Saikoro, on 08 February 2014 - 08:52 AM, said:

Has anyone else noticed UI2.0 is out but it's still not listed as 100% on the Plan... Nor has it changed in the past month?

Not significant, and I understand letting things fall between the crack, but what was the point if it was going to be abandoned so quickly?

Well, that's because it's not 100%, they've already known that they were rolling out an incomplete UI2.0, but that many of the missing pieces would roll out over the next couple of months...not including all the newer changes they have planned, thanks to client/player suggestions.

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

Monsoon, on 08 February 2014 - 03:45 PM, said:

Well, that's because it's not 100%, they've already known that they were rolling out an incomplete UI2.0, but that many of the missing pieces would roll out over the next couple of months...not including all the newer changes they have planned, thanks to client/player suggestions.

You're giving them a large benefit of the doubt, considering they have had client/player suggestions from the last few previous and the initial mock ups that they presented.

Even if not complete, you would argue that there's been no progression for the last month or so that they've had it at 92 percent and/or that no other features have seen even a fraction of forward progress? Doesn't seem to bode well for us if that is the case.

[Monsoon]

Well they've credited player suggestion with a number of things they plan to add to UI2.0.

As for UI2.0 I have no idea if much of the numbers have changed, though it looks to me like some things have disappeared of that list since I last looked at it in 2013. But I'll credit that to as mentioned already to a failure to keep it up to date as they should.

PS. I don't think of it as a 'large' benefit of the doubt. PGI hasn't been perfect, and has screwed up along the way, but what do you expect from a small company that has never attempted a MMO, or F2P or anything really of this magnitude. The best thing they could probably do is get a communication strategist/specialist to coordinate what they want to get out, and what NEEDS to get out.

The VBlog is a set in the right direction, now that just need to get that out once a week, preferably featuring different departments/focuses, that way we don't just end up with the same programmer saying, 'well not much has changed in a week'.

Edited by Monsoon, 08 February 2014 - 11:24 PM.

[p4r4g0n]

Daisu Saikoro, on 08 February 2014 - 09:59 PM, said:

-snip-
Even if not complete, you would argue that there's been no progression for the last month or so that they've had it at 92 percent and/or that no other features have seen even a fraction of forward progress? Doesn't seem to bode well for us if that is the case.

Possibly due to the fact most of the UI 2.0 effort was directed at the back end?

Personally if PGI regards the front end of the UI as it currently stands as anywhere near complete I would be aghast (but not entirely surprised).