6 replies to this topic

[ensemble88]

So I've played Mechwarrior: Online for a little while now. And I feel like the game's biggest problem becomes one of repetition. The biggest contributor to this I think, is the inability for players to change strategy and make tactical adjustments on the battlefield. Over and over again it seems like it ends up being whichever team has the biggest, tightest ball of death and a couple lights maybe going around the back and capping things if its a conquest game type. Here are a couple ways to possibly fix this and hopefully enable strategy during game play.

Add in-game voice
Make the commander only able to communicate to squad leaders, and squad leaders the only ones able to talk to their guys + back to the commander. This way you can actually have a "chain of command" with the commander issuing voice orders to the squad commanders, who can in theory carry them out by talking to their squads and reporting back. Squad leaders would have two voice buttons, one to talk to the commander, the other for their squad. And give individual troops the ability of talking to each other within the squad and their squad commanders (one button, since squads are only 4-5 people large, chatter shouldn't get too heavy). This way you have strategic (commander), operational (squad), and tactical (individual) levels of game play. This allows for flanks to be planned rather than happen by chance, as well as make the game more interesting,

Also, you could help this along this by giving bonus gxp to commanders and squad leaders who fill the position, but only if their team achieves victory (giving them incentive to actually play the role the way its meant to be played.) Also make the position somewhat exclusive, something to attain, such as adding a separate communication module for commander and squad leaders, so that you would have to buy it, and have the prerequisites met to equip/enable it. Or simply have a prerequisite like "must be elite in one light, medium, heavy, and assault class to be a commander, or must master a single mech to be a squad leader" If one commander/squad leader dies. If there are no qualified people, then no one gets the position and the team is left at a communicative disadvantage. (Protect your leaders). I don't know how plausible this last part is, perhaps there's another way, but I that's the best I can come up with.

You can do all this, and just leave chat the way it is, so that everyone can still communicate to each other if they want, albeit a slower method. Or make tactical voice chat an option to turn on and off (especially as an option during LFG, if/when that's implemented. Basically giving consent for the restricted nature of this voice system from the get go.)


Enable map pings
Enable more precise map pings, that are easier to issue, and communicate exactly what the player needs very quickly. "I need Assistance, "On my way", "Enemies Here," Being able to do one click map pings and communicate like that I think would be very beneficial, and help communication flow during the game. You could even compartmentalize the pings the same way as with the voice, so the map doesn't become flooded with 10-20 people all seeing each other's pings.

Having a key, that when held down, would enable the cursor while you're in the cockpit would allow you to make on-the-fly pings on your mini map with a click/hold + release to execute style similar to League of Legends. While giving squad leaders and the commanders options of issuing additional orders such as, attack here, defend here, take this objective.

Adding a lobby would be awesome.
As already stated on the forums as well, I think a lobby would be a cool place to find people Looking For Group, and actually bring the community together. Not many people want to go to a web forum every time they want to talk to other players, especially since, during game play you can't communicate much through typing. Which leaves players with almost no interaction with each other.

Make it easy to make friends online.
Even if you don't add a voice chat, by making it easier to make friends online, i.e. make in game communication easier and more common some other way or make a lobby, or some kind of Looking for Group mechanic which would allow people who want to work as a team that aren't friends already, connect and play together, rather than be stuck in PUGs forever. You could enable the win/loss screens to have clickable name/icons of people to send them friend requests, so you don't forget people you liked and can play with them again.

I would like to think that nothing I've said here will conflict with BT/MW fans. I'm new to the community, and like MWO so far. I think these ideas will bring in more people and also be useful to the existing player base.

*whew* that was long. Your constructive criticism is greatly appreciated in advance.

Edited by ensemble88, 09 February 2014 - 05:09 PM.

[Snowseth]

Isn't the Lobby Module coming pretty soon anyway?

In-game VOIP may or may not be as good as current VOIP options. And might actually not be used, with TS being preferred, etc. So that could easily end up being a lot of effort for no appreciable impact.

Map pings? Yes. That would be immediately useful, even for players like me how shy away from VOIP or group play.
Map pings. Definitely.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

A lobby is coming in the "launch module" (called that because it will be a module to UI2.0 that reworks how you launch games).

One hopes that pings will be coming soon as well, but I don't remember seeing anything about them except that the devs are aware of their potential. I imagine there'd be some kind of 10s cd on any given player pinging more than 5 times really fast, to limit spam trolling.

As for integrated voice comms, I dislike shoehorning it into the commander positions. I could see having multiple channels (Lance, Company, and Command), but PGI'd have to come up with a smooth and effective way to switch channels on the fly.

[ensemble88]

Snowseth, on 09 February 2014 - 07:43 PM, said:

Isn't the Lobby Module coming pretty soon anyway?

In-game VOIP may or may not be as good as current VOIP options. And might actually not be used, with TS being preferred, etc. So that could easily end up being a lot of effort for no appreciable impact.

I don't know if the Lobby module is coming or not. I just didn't read enough into the forums to know how far the idea had gone. But if Levi says its coming, I believe him .

As for VOIP, There are tons of stand alone options, but the problem with stand alones, is that you have to get people the ip addresses and info, and make sure they're using the SAME stand alone you are (i.e ventrilo, teamspeak, raidcall, skype, etc). By the time you've done all that, the game is half way over. With the addition of a lobby with private channels, making premades like that would be more feasible I suppose. I've been going off of whats available right now, and right now players have no way to communicate to each other until seconds before the match starts.

And I don't know about you, but if I run a vent server, I don't like inviting strangers in. Its kind of like bringing people you don't know into your house lol. Just makes me kinda uncomfortable

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 09 February 2014 - 07:52 PM, said:

As for integrated voice comms, I dislike shoehorning it into the commander positions. I could see having multiple channels (Lance, Company, and Command), but PGI'd have to come up with a smooth and effective way to switch channels on the fly.

Switching between voice channels could work. Set up a button for each channel, one press will switch you to the channel so you can listen, then holding it will let you talk. To switch, simply press the other button, and you'll auto leave and join the new channel.

Edited by ensemble88, 09 February 2014 - 10:24 PM.

[Imperius]

Using the search function is your friend. Not talking down to you or nothing, but all that you suggested is coming except for VOIP that's still a maybe. They are thinking about it though.

[ensemble88]

I will in the future then. Like I said, I didn't dig too deep into the forums. I didn't even think of using the search function lol. Thanks

[and zero]

Imperius, on 09 February 2014 - 10:24 PM, said:

Using the search function is your friend. Not talking down to you or nothing, but all that you suggested is coming except for VOIP that's still a maybe. They are thinking about it though.

Coming when? ...Because all 3 of those things are already a year late...