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Original Podcast can be listened to here:
http://www.nogutsnog...hp?topic=1745.0
Disclaimer: I do not work for PGI or NGNG, and while I attempt to stay informed like the majority of you reading this, I may make mistakes in my interpretation (which is in parenthesis.) [Any words in brackets are my editorial notes, and not the words of PGI or NGNG and are signed. - Peiper] This is not a word for word transcript; it is a summary, paraphrased and the like for maximum information sharing with minimal reading. I transcribe this for the hearing impaired, or those who are reading this at work or whatever and can't put on a headset/broadcast the podcast. -Peiper
Duncan Fisher doesn't like the planet Noisio. [sic]
5:35 Launch module details? Designed to solve 3 problems in the game:
1. Competitive teams can set up tournaments with parameters they prefer to compete in. Can set up mode, map, tonnage limits, number of players.
2. Solving the disparity of tonnage in public play. Launch module will tighten up the tonnage spread.
3. To help the solo queue players, to put them in 'an ecosystem that generates much more balanced matches.'
7:07 Solo players currently find themselves set up against four man lances in the public queues. How will the Launch module change that? Starts with Statistics.
- Surprisingly, 84% of players drop solo. Not what you thought.
- Typically EVERY match has at least 1 premade group. However, most matches are made up of a majority of solo players.
- When a group IS in a match, it can – for sure – sway the results of the match toward that four man group.
- Of those 14% of players who ARE in groups, about 50% are in TWO MAN groups.
- 8% of all players are in 2 man groups.
- 4% are four player teams.
- 4 % are three player teams.
- 1% of all players play 12 v. 12
10:60 Do you think these stats will change with the new matchmaker? Will more people drop with their teams? Difficult to predict. Earlier on in the gameplay, more teams dropped. [When you could drop 1-8 men, I'm sure. -Peiper] Going forward, when they get community play, they will have to beef up the group queue system and adding a separate place for those players to play. When 8 mans were mixed with pug drops, it was a bad experience for the solo player. They're still looking at group queues to see if there is a good way to bring team play in with the launch module – but for sure there must be a way by the time we have community/planetary warfare.
13:20 With the return of 2-12 man groups, how will the launch module address premade groups? (based on a Tweet that said 2-12 mans will be in with the launch module) Or will this come with launch module? The first part will be making this solo queue with 2-3 teams only allowed in. This is because they've studied how groups drop and weight limits don't necessarily mean balanced play. [I think he means Embers and Victors only, let's say. That is, the metagame/metabuilds would still dominate pug play. So they are starting small to ensure the solo player doesn't get roflstomped over and over. -Peiper] 2-12 means roflstomps despite weight limits. The ecosystem of public play means that good, average and new players would be trounced over and over by teams. [Tiered queues instead, then, Bryan? -Peiper] We'll see a 3A-3H-3M-3L weight restriction imposed on the new matchmaker. You can drop in up to three of any weight class, but matchmaker will insure that only 3 of any weight class will be in a particular match. In theory, it should keep the games fairly balanced going in, and leaving the rest to the skill of the player.
16:45 Bryan continues to explain why. It simplifies the experience for everyone. [This whole segment confuses me. My interpretation is, we get to pick some mechs, then take them into the launch module with us where we vote on maps and game modes and stuff, and then we have to use one of the mechs we took to drop in. -Peiper] Then he talks about how you can load up your dropship with several mechs of the same weight class, say 4 assaults, as you go into the launch module. Before you go into a public lobby you choose a role/weight class BEFORE you go into that lobby, and for as long as you hang out in that lobby and/or drop, you will only be required to play that role. So, if you only own one mech, you don't have to worry about being forced to play a trail mech, let's say.
Okay, so here's my interpretation of how the public matches will work.
- 1-3 players decide they want to play. They get in their dropship and select their mechs.
- The mechs must all be of the same weight class (or role?) in each INDIVIDUAL dropship, but can be mixed in a 2-3 player team. So Tom could be a light, **** a medium, and Harry in a Heavy.
- You take your dropship to the lobby where you sign up individually or as a 2-3 man team according to the roles you want to play.
- The lobby fills up until both teams have 3 of every weight class on their twelve man total teams.
- The players in the lobby vote on which map and what mode to play on.
- Those 24 players play.
- Afterward, the players and teams decide whether to stay in that lobby, or change roles.
- If they stay, they play the same players again. If they leave, someone takes their place and they end up in their dropships again with the ability to select new mechs and/or change their roles/weight classes.
- Back into the lobby when ready to drop again.
21:00 Will this new lobby system effect the wait time between drops, and if so, how? Sometimes, yes, it can add wait times because there are more variables in matchmaker. However, in peak time, this might expedite things. This doesn't directly answer the question, but explains how matchmaker will make your team: Let's say you go in with two of your friends as a team of Jenners. Matchmaker will look to fill in your company with 3 mediums, 3 heavies and 3 assaults – doing it's best to put you into a group with similar ELO scores. Once the lobby has been populated, then as long as you keep those 12 guys continually dropping, you're only looking for another 12 man that's ready to drop – so you're not waiting for another whole team to be made, you're just looking for another team that's ready to drop.
23:10 How will ELO affect things now that weight will be such a significant factor in teams? ELO bracket changes? Currently ELO is based purely on WINS. What we're looking to do now is make ELO more indicative on player's skill, both team and personal scoring. When we do, we'll look to redistribute people via the new ELO metrics. They wouldn't reset ELO (they haven't done it yet, and don't plan to in the future). What they might do, though, is look BACK at all previous games a player has played – which they've kept all that data – and redo your ELO score based upon new parameters.
24:35 What do they track? KDR, Win/Loss, Damage done.... The problem is, a player may not have a lot of kills or damage yet be a very effective player on the battlefield. We have a long way to go before they can figure out how to track all that information. There's also a social element they recognize but can't quantify. “This guy played well as a team leader, gave people a good plan and helped the team win.” We don't know how to quantify that.
Phil hypothesizes that this new matchmaker might help alleviate the metabuid-mania that's happening, where people feel they HAVE to bring their Highlander 733C's and Cataphract 3D's just to keep ahead of the game. They can't win without them, so maybe with this new weight class (3-3-3-3) distribution, it may make it so that a much greater variety of mechs will be seen on the field and people can have more fun with chassis because they don't feel they HAVE to take a mech that can stand up to 8 Highlanders and 4 Embers. In this case, resetting ELO might not be a bad thing. Solo players will have a chance to start shining more now too, because there won't be two metabuild four mans on a team smashing everyone.
27:20 Russ mentioned that their might be an ELO reset, any decisions? No final decision has been made. Problem is, if everyone was reset to 1300 (average), then for the first couple weeks, it will be a stomp fest for high ELO players as they pick on the previously low end players. Worst case, they'll create five buckets based on previous ELO. So, a 2000 bucket, a 1750 bucket, 1300 bucket, 1100 bucket and 800 bucket. People will be able to move into the other buckets over time until things have steadied up once again. [I say, start everyone at ZERO. Why make it complicated. And if you want to make it complicated, just use a Gold, Silver, Bronze bracket – and let us know which bracket we're in, even if you won't give us our raw ELO score. - Peiper]
28:00 Stats will be reset when achievements come out so we can all start over in earning what we have already earned. People will have fun going for these new achievements from zero. [Really? Not this guy. I'll hit my 6000th game tonight. I don't want to earn again what I already earned a year ago. I'd like to know what I've already achieved, NOW! -Peiper]
29:10 How will the launch module affect community warfare? What doors does it open/what possibilities? Private lobbies puts in the architecture to allow for two mercenary units, with their own identity, to fight over a given planet in a scheduled match. [footnote 1] They also had to come up with a method to put factions into faction buckets for matchmaker. At any given time there will only be TWO faction buckets. Currently IS alliance vs. IS alliance and when clans come out, Clan bucket vs. IS bucket (in the public faction play)! [footnote 2]
30:20 Next map? In the queue we have a jungle map they are 'massaging' right now. They've started a base concept (attack/defend map). No ETA. The art team is focused on clan mechs. The level team is setting that up. (player levels/pilot tree stuff) The jungle map is looking gorgeous, but has some technical art challenges to get out of the way. Phil asks: collisions with trees perhaps? Bryan says no. We love collisions, we want to do it, but right now its a choice between collisions and community warfare, and that's an obvious answer due to limited resources. They would prefer to keep their promises on bringing out features (see State of MWO http://mwomercs.com/...e-inner-sphere/). When all that stuff is out, we'll put it to the community to see what they want PGI to work on next. Solaris? Collisions? Urbanmech football?
32:40 Hints on next mech? No. They're looking for a different way to present new mechs. Currently working on a Mauler concept. They have 2-3 more mechs in the pipe before the Clan release. They will release the clan mechs starting June, and like the Phoenix pack, it will take 8 months for all 8 clan Omnimechs to be released for C-bills. This is to make Clan Pack buyers feel really special as they could have a Warhawk 8 months before the rest of us. During that time, they'll also release 8 inner sphere mechs each month. If we like 2 mechs a month, they'll keep doing that. Players will vote for the speed of mech releases with their wallet. HINT: mech releases always go light, medium, heavy, assault for the most part. (So, next month we'll have a medium by that reasoning.)
35:35 Bryan says PGI/IGP dropped off the ball with concept art. They're working on redoing the MWO website, but Bryan assures us more concept art.
36:20 Red smoke consumable, and other similar types of consumable's coming soon. Look for an announcement soon. [Can I get a fart module that drives leg humping pugs from behind my mech so they don't use me as cover and I can back up when I'm getting pounded? -Peiper]
36:50 Thank yous all around.
[Editorial Footnote 1] Okay, so, does that mean my brothers in the LCAF are going to have to go mercenary to fight for planets? I know that this has been asked before, but it's still bothering me that the 6th Lyran Guards, 5th and 6th Arcturan Guards, 10th Solaris Rangers, and so on are going to be made into mercenaries. Some of these guys have been loyalist teams for over a decade. You're saying that in CW, they're going to have to either go mercenary or drop in no more than 3 mans to fight for their faction. I hope that by the time we get community warfare, they've included a provision to allow loyalist units to actually DROP as units without being labeled mercs.
[Editorial Footnote 2] Inner sphere alliances, eh? Two buckets? This reeks of [redacted] planning. If my unit is assigned to the Lyran/Free Worlds border, I shouldn't be fighting in the Chaos March for the Fed Suns vs. the Dracs. The idea that I'll be fighting on the FedCom/Capellan border one match, then five minutes later fight on the FRR/Steiner border bothers me at a core level. It's about realism, here. Dropships take weeks to reach targets sometimes. Telescoped time is one thing, but teleportation is too much! Also, the FRR has never been at war with any of the inner sphere. What 'bucket' to they get put into. Sounds like a big smelly pile of [redacted] to me. I'm in this for community warfare. I want to KNOW what front I'm fighting for and for which planets so I can say my unit has been fighting in, say, the Chaos March for the last six months and look: we've never lost a planet. DO NOT BUNGLE THIS UP, by watering CW down so much that we have to make our own planetary capture league just to FEEL like we're playing in the succession wars or later, the Clan Invasion. If we can't stop the clan invasion, and it goes just like the books, why bother fighting at all? Mind as well watch a documentary about it.
The heart and soul of mechwarrior is the factions we fight for, and the idea that we can, through our skill as a team of pilots, alter the very history of, and carve out our own legacy in the inner sphere. The only way to prove that legacy is to take planets and say: see those planets in Capellan space? Yeah, the Devil Dogs held those planets in Hanse Davion's name for a decade before Comstar backstabbed us and the borders were redrawn. Let us mess up the map. You can always reset it every few months. But let us change the world! Okay, rant over.
A final note. In one of the other segments I summarized, there was some really negative trolling and written attacks. I write these summaries for YOU, the people of mechwarrior to enjoy and to spread the word to everyone about what's going on. When I see the thread turn into a shizzle-flinging match between players and forum trolls, it really discourages me. Keep it peaceful, civil, and respectful. There's enough bad stuff happening in the real world, and we all come to this gaming world to escape that. So please, respect each other.
Peiper
Added the following tweet because it is very relevant to the above summary.
