11 replies to this topic

[rolly]

Dear Dev's (TL:DR Divider provided below)

First off, thank you thus far for your hard work and efforts. I know it must not be entirely easy being the object of vitriol or being a successful small to medium company, (much less a software developer) in Canada. As a Canadian business owner I can understand and relate.

But I wanted to open this new thread, (even though I'm sure there are many like it) for the purpose of giving you more feedback.


In this particular instance, I have unfortunately attracted the attention of the rest of my Gaming Group. 6(-1) new players for you. They have seen the love I have for the BT/MWO universe and have unfortunately joined me in MWO.

I say unfortunately because I know they will be burning out soon or get fed up with the way it is. I have broken this feedback down into three or so Cases for the Dev's tor review. I feel this is particularly important due to the unfortunately circumstances of having a large group join the game, and an experienced person trying to retain them.

-------------------- TL:DR divider -----------------------------

Case 1: I've already lost one within 48 hours because :

- he simply could not use his baseline stock mechs effectively in matches
- his Raven 3L really had no place, or reward for special role warfare assignment in matches
- poor communication tools or little explanation on what to do, how the game mechanics work increased frustration and burn out.
- Crushing economy stifles the potential view of growth or investment in long term play

Case 2: Explaining to the remaining new players how the game works:

- Even through voice comms its extremely difficult because of the UI and clunky interface. (Yes, UI 2.0 would be lovely - But when? Certainly not in time) We end up spending more time problem solving and showing WHERE things are to rely the information to me to help them.
- Having to help them make an currently effective build because the build they want simply won't be effective or enjoyable in this game
- Group ready up is counter-intuitive and either overlaps and involves too many steps just to get a group sent. (See WoT for an effective platoon ready screen with mechs/tanks they choose and tier)
- Explaining the crushing economy. There is too much of a disappointment when they grind out their first mech then find that anything more will be so costly
- The lack of communication tools leaves them isolated. They're already having a hard time learning how the this current version of MW works and trying to play the game but are unable to communicate with others outside our voice comms, leading to a total breakdown in teamwork
- No blurbs or floating texts to help explain anything unless I'm with them on voice comms providing technical help.

Case 3: Experienced players feedback:

- In this case its been ridiculously difficult to shepherd this new bunch of players into understanding MW:O and why the current version has so many bad quirks, problems and issues. Telling them to wait and that "this issue will be addressed soon" can only go so far.
- Balance: I can't begin to possibly explain the glaringly obvious broken MM when they we run a BJ-1 C lance then find that the other team has a pre-made lance of Atlas' stacked against us. Yes 200 tons alone in difference against utterly new players.
- Organizing a Lance because a new level of headache because now you're trying to teach several new players into an already steep learning curve game with rudimentary team tools and absolutely no comms tools. No Function Keys to cue players (A la WoT F2-F7 keys) or ability for me to communicate with the rest of Company really breaks the game.

Ie. If I hold my lance back to give them time to acclimatize or learn the map, the rest of the Company dies in a 8 vs. 12. Leaving myself and 3 new players to fend off against the overwhelming odds. Or if I throw them in, its a chaotic mess leaving several of us dead/crippled while they learn the game, leaving the rest of the team to fight understrength. There is no middle ground.

-------------------------- Closing remarks --------------------------

I've taken an inordinate amount of time out of my game to fill the glaring gaps in this games development. I understand your position and I hope you understand the gravity of this feedback and find it useful to adjust your development plans accordingly.

Its clear that some sort of stop gap is needed as well as stronger communication tools are needed. Ones that are not chunky and counter-intuitive.

What can we as the community do to help you develop this game faster or better to retain players? Heck, what can I do for you Devs?

I will continue to do what I can to shepherd this new bunch of players into MW:O despite how bitter sweet it is. I can only hope that with the new year, something significant will address some of the issues we need to bridge the gap and retain these players.

Thank you to all those with constructive feedback to support or debunk the above.

[Veranova]

If you have the time and the will, get a screen recorder going and make some tutorials!

I have the will, just not the time right now, or I'd be doing it myself

[Svidro]

Sounds very familiar to my experiences trying to get friends to play. Only a very small subset remain.

[rolly]

Thanks and yes, in the later half of 2013, (after I can back from closed beta burn-out) I was certainly not enjoying the solo game play and encouraging the rest of our gaming group to join and bring back the one who shelled out to be a Founder. As it has now become a reality, I realize that to those who aren't ardent old school fans of MW or even BT have an fairly steep learning curve just to get a sense of accomplishment.

In WoT you have tiers within easy obtainable reach up to tier 5. After which it makes sense to buy premium if you want to increasingly grind up to 6,7,8 and necessary to do 9,10 in any reasonable given time. Here its a steep drop off.

You get 500% return for your first few matches (which is great) but then a steep drop off to a pittance. Combined with the UI, utter lack of basic communication tools, leaves a very disjoined immersion of the game.

These are not people who are new to computers or MMO's or RPGs, of FPS either. A key point is that these people are already noticing whats sorely needed. I'd like to retain these people before more of them give up. Or even I give up in trying to keep them alive till they get the hang of the game.

[Corvus Antaka]

Good post.

[Lupin]

Nice post, but sadly old news. A lot we play testers pointed out in open/closed Beta. Some SUPPOSED to be in the works.

The game at the moment is not something you can really just jump in and play, at the VERY least you should use:

http://mwomercs.com/...raining-grounds
And movement tutorial.

But at the moment there is little achieve beyond Cbills and Exp. Something Again they are supposed to be working on.
The game at the moment is unfinished at best.

[KingCobra]

So we actually have new players still??????????? Back at the very first of closed beta many of us were so excited that a new MechWarrior game had been made we showered PGI with praise and admiration and money. Soon we realized MWO was not MechWarrior in the classic sense and tried through topics and posts to help with the development as beta testers should.

We also found out real quick our words and thoughts on MWO were pointless as PGI never listened to a thing we said.That was 2 years ago and today we see the results of there ignorance low player count low player retention no meta the list could go on for ever.Just splitting the queues to allow solo players to learn the game at there own pace without premade teams would have helped along with a stock mech mode.

[SgtKinCaiD]

I gave up trying to bring friends in this game. Even in my team, for each still active member, more than one has already stop.

[rolly]

I gave up too, unfortunately now they're into it. We just had another member join the game, and another uninstall the game. His reasoning is that he got fed up of the solo grind, and after playing several times, he simply could not figure out how to best to use his BJ in the game, and the solo grind was so 2 dimensional and uninteresting.

Being together in a Lance is suppose to be the ideal way for groups of friends to play MW:O together. It seems here its more of a headache unless you all min-max your builds to the current "weapon flavour of the patch".

I've reduced our coordination instructions to: "Go with the herd. Don't stop, just book it to the rest of the bunch and stay there." There is no room for flanking, delaying actions, scouting, drawing fire. Nothing. Its stick with the herd. All shoot at one target and die. Rinse and repeat.

We also seem better off solo playing or much less in pairs because being a full pre-made lance just stacks us against 4 Atlas lances. Because obviously a bunch of 1 week old players in BJ-1(C)'s can compete against a full Lance of experienced Atlas'. This has happened not once. But at least 5 times in the past 3 days with screen shots to prove it.

Another glaring issue is that the likely paying (PAYING) members who have recently joined the game are old school BT players. They're left scratching their heads and how this game works.

Not sure whats going on here, but its simply not worth inviting friends to try this gaming, knowing how many issues they'll face.

[M4NTiC0R3X]

The best advice you could give a newb is don't waste money on this. It's not worth it and the developers either don't listen or don't care to fix day one baby issues such as useless CASE in XL variants.

Don't do it. You'll be sorry most likely.

[WhistlR]

TL:DR

Translation game is going to ****, spread the word if you have money you would like to spend,.. throw it somewhere where the developers might actually listen to the game players

Edited by WhistlR, 06 January 2014 - 08:18 PM.

[Werewolf486 ScorpS]

UI2.0 is horrid! Played with it, to much click through (ton more) does nothing the communtiy asked for in any way shape or form. All they did was make something pretty with way to much work to understand, to hard to read the details (small) and horrible to click through to build a mech. You do not want it!

But why not download Teamspeak3 and get the NGNG address and join their Teamspeak server to coordinate your group. It's what we have used for years, it's free, and it's much more fun, IT'S FREE!

Teamspeak3

No Guts No Galaxy Address: voip01.n1585.hypernia.net:9992

PW: mechwarrior

Edited by Werewolf486, 06 January 2014 - 08:46 PM.