34 replies to this topic

[Mystere]

There is one thought that has been bugging me with all of these calls for matchmaking "balance". What is the point of Community Warfare? Are we supposed to invade and defend territories using "balanced" forces? Really?

If so, we should probably just keep MWO as the pure arena-style game it already is.

[Deathlike]

Mystere, on 07 February 2014 - 07:41 PM, said:

There is one thought that has been bugging me with all of these calls for matchmaking "balance". What is the point of Community Warfare? Are we supposed to invade and defend territories using "balanced" forces? Really?

If so, we should probably just keep MWO as the pure arena-style game it already is.

For the sake of random matches, you want balance as much as you can. The casual player is more likely to play it until they decide to "get serious" with CW (whenever that happens). When CW happens, balance is thrown out the window and the meta will show it's fugly face.

Edited by Deathlike, 07 February 2014 - 07:51 PM.

[Sandpit]

Deathlike, on 07 February 2014 - 07:51 PM, said:

For the sake of random matches, you want balance as much as you can. The casual player is more likely to play it until they decide to "get serious" with CW (whenever that happens). When CW happens, balance is thrown out the window and the meta will show it's fugly face.

every match will count towards CW (with the exception of private matches) regardless of casual or competitive. You launch, you're going to be launching into a planetary battle for whatever faction or unit you're aligned with. LW with no affiliation will be fillers for the matches to help fill out and complete teams

[Deathlike]

Sandpit, on 07 February 2014 - 09:59 PM, said:

every match will count towards CW (with the exception of private matches) regardless of casual or competitive. You launch, you're going to be launching into a planetary battle for whatever faction or unit you're aligned with. LW with no affiliation will be fillers for the matches to help fill out and complete teams

I doubt that exactly. You have yet to figure in Mercs either... since, that technically is a "neutral faction".

There are supposed attempts (mentioned by PGI... IIRC Matthew Craig that said it) to make the MM faction based when CW finally arrives, but that's still going to screw up the balance just as well...

Edited by Deathlike, 07 February 2014 - 10:49 PM.

[Sandpit]

Deathlike, on 07 February 2014 - 10:49 PM, said:

I doubt that exactly. You have yet to figure in Mercs either... since, that technically is a "neutral faction".

There are supposed attempts (mentioned by PGI... IIRC Matthew Craig that said it) to make the MM faction based when CW finally arrives, but that's still going to screw up the balance just as well...

They are going to work for factions. That's how it was laid out anyhow.
The faction based MM is part of CW. I don't know how they're going to work it yet. I'm eager but hesitant at the same time. We still have several months, steps, and changes to the current system that we know of until then so a lot of things can happen. I'm willing to give them the benefit of a doubt at this point.
It just comes down to how much faith you're willing to put in PGI at this point I think. They've shown me lately that things are moving forward at an acceptable rate and if it continues I'll probably be a clan pack owner. That's entirely on them though. I've supported the game enough at this point as far as I'm concerned.
Now it's up to them to impress me enough to warrant $240. Still not there yet but they're moving in the right direction

[Deathlike]

Sandpit, on 07 February 2014 - 11:07 PM, said:

It just comes down to how much faith you're willing to put in PGI at this point I think.

I am part of the "ye of little faith" for many reasons, UI 2.0 being the top problem to date.

I've posted a number of bugs with UI 2.0, so right now it's an ongoing mockable talking point for me.

I would reserve my opinion on it once they have it closer to the release date, because I somewhat doubt what they said before (on the boards, on the launch day party, whenever) is not what exactly we'll get in the end. I subscribe to "what it'll actually be" instead of "what was promised to be" due to PGI's actions in the past. I hope you understand that it's not hate, but track record that I'm relying on.

[Sandpit]

Deathlike, on 08 February 2014 - 12:03 AM, said:

I am part of the "ye of little faith" for many reasons, UI 2.0 being the top problem to date.

I've posted a number of bugs with UI 2.0, so right now it's an ongoing mockable talking point for me.

I would reserve my opinion on it once they have it closer to the release date, because I somewhat doubt what they said before (on the boards, on the launch day party, whenever) is not what exactly we'll get in the end. I subscribe to "what it'll actually be" instead of "what was promised to be" due to PGI's actions in the past. I hope you understand that it's not hate, but track record that I'm relying on.

I can understand but I have seen promising things starting with the new UI being on time and now the flash sales showing that we've got a better system of injecting content into the game. and they did it quickly, plus the latest round of communication increase, and I'm feeling optimistic

[Deathlike]

Sandpit, on 08 February 2014 - 12:13 AM, said:

I can understand but I have seen promising things starting with the new UI being on time and now the flash sales showing that we've got a better system of injecting content into the game. and they did it quickly, plus the latest round of communication increase, and I'm feeling optimistic

TBH, I think these sales smell of desperation. Maybe it's just me, but there will be a saturation point where everyone that had considered a hero mech will get theirs, and it wasn't that long ago that the FB+Ilya were on sale.

Sales are supposed to be reasonable/frequent, but this looks like a "fire sale", even though virtual items are infinite, but you don't just put a hero on sale every freaking day (it's pretty much every popular hero AFAIK). It'll have to stop at some point, but they haven't even bothered to put a sale on anything else during this period...

Edited by Deathlike, 08 February 2014 - 12:18 AM.

[Sandpit]

Deathlike, on 08 February 2014 - 12:18 AM, said:

TBH, I think these sales smell of desperation. Maybe it's just me, but there will be a saturation point where everyone that had considered a hero mech will get theirs, and it wasn't that long ago that the FB+Ilya were on sale.

Sales are supposed to be reasonable/frequent, but this looks like a "fire sale", even though virtual items are infinite, but you don't just put a hero on sale every freaking day (it's pretty much every popular hero AFAIK). It'll have to stop at some point, but they haven't even bothered to put a sale on anything else during this period...

C'mon dude. That's extreme even for the usual tinfoil hat brigade. They're pushing sales to show off that it was one of the features they specifically said they couldn't do without the new UI.

[Deathlike]

Sandpit, on 08 February 2014 - 12:40 AM, said:

C'mon dude. That's extreme even for the usual tinfoil hat brigade. They're pushing sales to show off that it was one of the features they specifically said they couldn't do without the new UI.

Even if it's not desperation, it's to buy them time to fix some of the various/numerous bugs of the new UI. Nothing says distraction like a sale.

[Sandpit]

Deathlike, on 08 February 2014 - 12:24 PM, said:

Even if it's not desperation, it's to buy them time to fix some of the various/numerous bugs of the new UI. Nothing says distraction like a sale.

No, again it's showing off that now they CAN do it. There's no desperation to fix UI. They announced the issues it would have before it got launched, they were well documented, they've already hotfixed a few and have given dates for other fixes. That's a development plan, not desperation. I think you're just letting your cynicism get the best of you in this case.
We can only wait and see but I hope and think you're wrong on this one

On another note, I still don't have my premium time back (a lot of it) but I'm also not jumping up and down starting threads abotu how PGI screwed me out of my premium time. I sent in a support ticket and posted in the official feedback.
If I wanted to I'm sure I could wail and flail and get people to join "my cause" proving PGI screwed up again over that if I wanted to. Instead I'm going through the channels and letting them fix it instead of starting a rant and chant.

So I know it's not perfect. It has some issues. Every game does. Especially persistent games online. There's always going to be portions of the population that are unhappy about something or other. The thing is most players don't even come to the forums. They just play the game. The ones that enjoy it have absolutely no reason to come here and rant and rage. If something changes those types of players will just adapt to the new change and keep playing.

[Deathlike]

Sandpit, on 08 February 2014 - 12:42 PM, said:

No, again it's showing off that now they CAN do it. There's no desperation to fix UI. They announced the issues it would have before it got launched, they were well documented, they've already hotfixed a few and have given dates for other fixes. That's a development plan, not desperation. I think you're just letting your cynicism get the best of you in this case.
We can only wait and see but I hope and think you're wrong on this one

There is a desperation. The UI feedback thread is growing, a fair number of people who don't post a lot to contribute to it. That's how expansive that thread is becoming.

The only hotfix that I've noticed is the part where people on the list who "were online" were still listed as "online" when they should not have been. It was literally a confusing social function when I try to message people that "literally" aren't there. Anyone who did not notice this is not the kind of person that is ideal for bug/regression testing.

Also, don't speak for what you think I'm saying. My opinions are my own, and whether or not I take this entire experience seriously is a completely different thing altogether.

Quote

On another note, I still don't have my premium time back (a lot of it) but I'm also not jumping up and down starting threads abotu how PGI screwed me out of my premium time. I sent in a support ticket and posted in the official feedback.
If I wanted to I'm sure I could wail and flail and get people to join "my cause" proving PGI screwed up again over that if I wanted to. Instead I'm going through the channels and letting them fix it instead of starting a rant and chant.

Since I did not activate mine (or care to activate it), it was a non-issue. However, I'm sure there are some people that are confused at whether or not their premium time is activated, let alone if they realize their banked time is still there. The interface is not clear enough to distinguish the two.

Quote

So I know it's not perfect. It has some issues. Every game does. Especially persistent games online. There's always going to be portions of the population that are unhappy about something or other. The thing is most players don't even come to the forums. They just play the game. The ones that enjoy it have absolutely no reason to come here and rant and rage. If something changes those types of players will just adapt to the new change and keep playing.

TBH, there are bugs, and there are "bugs". There will always be complicated bugs, like the UAV targeting and letter designation bug. Then there's the "why is the UI needlessly more complicated" one. People that know/understand UI tell me that this is an abomination, but I didn't need them to confirm what I already knew. The thing is, you can't always write people's complaints off like nothing. They exist for a reason, and you either have to acknowledge them or be prepared to be flamed further for not acknowledging them. Just because they will have a smurfy like interface, doesn't actually mean we'll get it anything resembling smurfy. So many things that were literally working just fine in UI 1.5, is simply not missing and/or not working in UI 2.0. I can't find out what my modules are on Sarah's mech (unless I dig for the info the hard way), because the inventory only shows any mech that can be sold...

There are bugs that are considered unacceptable for the game, so there's a lot more work that you don't realize how important they must be accomplished promptly. There's a reason why there are priority bugs exist in a game, and to ignore that there are severe deficiencies in the UI is giving it a pass or a taking a blind eye to the matter. Those were my concerns when Test 1, 2, and 3 came up. None of those were resolved after those sessions.

Edited by Deathlike, 08 February 2014 - 01:04 PM.

[Sandpit]

We just disagree then. The feedback thread growing is a good thing. It means players are actually giving feedback. The fact that there are more players posting about it than usual doesn't say desperation to me. It says it's a brand new foreign design that players aren't used to and for the most part that "I hate the UI because" threads are inaccurate. Most of them are complaining about things just because they didn't know where to look or how to look.

There's legitimate complaints but that doesn't change things. Those complaints are usually the ones that were well documented and explained. They're also the ones that have plans and dates on when they'll be fixed. It's usually just much easier to complain about it than to accept "Hey, this isn't working guys, we know that and here's the fix we have planned and this is the date you can expect that fix"

We have different expectations I'd guess. The complaints that I had about the UI in the test servers were fixed or have been documented with fix dates.

[Nick Makiaveli]

Deathlike, on 08 February 2014 - 12:24 PM, said:

Even if it's not desperation, it's to buy them time to fix some of the various/numerous bugs of the new UI. Nothing says distraction like a sale.

Wow.....they offer people what they want for half price and they *****. A few weeks ago it was bitching that there weren't any sales......

Well this is the Age of YOLO...so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.....

[Deathlike]

Nick Makiaveli, on 09 February 2014 - 07:23 AM, said:

Wow.....they offer people what they want for half price and they *****. A few weeks ago it was bitching that there weren't any sales......

Well this is the Age of YOLO...so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.....

TBH, there's usually stuff on sale that doesn't interest me. The thing is, you can only put stuff on sale so many times, that once you oversaturate the field with what you are selling, it's hard to sell more of them. Just simple supply and demand.