99 replies to this topic

[Heffay]

Zekester81, on 24 February 2014 - 11:14 AM, said:

Funny for a *free to play* team based game to charge you to play with friends if you have more than two or three if you ask me.

If this is the case (and it's still TBD), you can still be in a group of 4+ without having to pay one single penny.

[StonedDead]

I'm going to have to sue someone for mental trauma. We were discussing the possibility of having to pay for groups of four or more, in order for the opposing statements made to not be conflicting. (otherwise the devs contradict themselves)

Heffay, on 24 February 2014 - 11:16 AM, said:

If this is the case (and it's still TBD), you can still be in a group of 4+ without having to pay one single penny.

In that light, this would very much be the damn case. I hope they will clarify, because they are creating some confusion and consternation. This is leaving a permanent red mark on my forehead from the facepalming.

[Deathlike]

Heffay, on 24 February 2014 - 11:16 AM, said:

If this is the case (and it's still TBD), you can still be in a group of 4+ without having to pay one single penny.

That's disingenuous considering that creating a 12-man is actually very hard to do, and then ultimately facing the high end of the meta more often than not. That doesn't even begin to express how empty that queue is at many hours of the day.

Edited by Deathlike, 24 February 2014 - 11:45 AM.

[Dymlos2003]

Zekester81, on 24 February 2014 - 11:28 AM, said:

I'm going to have to sue someone for mental trauma. We were discussing the possibility of having to pay for groups of four or more, in order for the opposing statements made to not be conflicting. (otherwise the devs contradict themselves)



In that light, this would very much be the damn case. I hope they will clarify, because they are creating some confusion and consternation. This is leaving a permanent red mark on my forehead from the facepalming.

They didn't contradict themselves. Bryan was talking about the solo queue, not the group queue. Everyone decided that this meant no more groups (morons) but I digress.

[Heffay]

Deathlike, on 24 February 2014 - 11:41 AM, said:

That's disingenuous considering that creating a 12-man is actually very hard to do, and then ultimately facing the high end of the meta more often than not. That doesn't even begin to express how empty that queue is at many hours of the day.

No, not that. If it takes premium time for the 5-11 group sizes, and if the launch modules details apply still, you'll only need one person with premium time to form the group. But we should wait a bit longer to find out what exactly they have in mind.

[Deathlike]

Heffay, on 24 February 2014 - 11:56 AM, said:

No, not that. If it takes premium time for the 5-11 group sizes, and if the launch modules details apply still, you'll only need one person with premium time to form the group. But we should wait a bit longer to find out what exactly they have in mind.

All I can say is Premium Time with larger group sizes is not going to go over well. If such a limit as placed at 7 and above, I guess that would be OK, but people have been wanting to play in bigger groups with few limitations since forever, and if you believe in the stats put out by Russ (regarding solo and premades), it will further fracture the playerbase further. I'm sure there will be "whales" hosting with premium time, but as long as people are holding less interest in the game due to lack of actual progress, there will be less of a reason to be part of a "special queue". There simply be more people in the "free queue" and essentially we'll just have more of the same problem we began with.

Edited by Deathlike, 24 February 2014 - 12:08 PM.

[Prezimonto]

I fully expect "private" matches to require someone with premium time to host.

I also fully expect that we'll get a WoT style limit on group size without premium time.

I completely expect that running merc companies will require someone with premium time.

I was just expecting that 4 man would sill be open to anyone. I was hoping that we'd see more added to 5 or 6 slots with the advent of faction play.

At 3 players per "free" group It's still better than WoT and it's 2 man maximum. Too bad I and my friends only play casually and most of them only when I'm around, since I don't play enough to make premium time worthwhile, if they go to this model I don't think I'll be playing with friends as much(ie not playing much at all).

Edited by Prezimonto, 24 February 2014 - 12:39 PM.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

I have been idling along waiting for details of CW when i would decide wether I'm going Davion or not. What I don't want is to drop in a mishmash of factions, either IS vs IS oe IS vs Clans. Could see Davs dropping with Steiner (Fed Com) but I only want to kill Snakes.
There is absolutely no point in having factions if they don't drop seperately.

[Chemie]

If you want to earn CB, you have to pug or stick to groups of three.
If you want to run a team in a team-based game, you have to have premium and you do not make any CB.

Great.

[Heffay]

Chemie, on 24 February 2014 - 01:50 PM, said:

If you want to earn CB, you have to pug or stick to groups of three.
If you want to run a team in a team-based game, you have to have premium and you do not make any CB.

Great.

"Run a team" is different that playing on a team at least. And if you can find a way to prevent teams from gaming the system to earn a ton of , I'd be interested in hearing it.

[Peiper]

Chemie, on 24 February 2014 - 01:50 PM, said:

If you want to earn CB, you have to pug or stick to groups of three.
If you want to run a team in a team-based game, you have to have premium and you do not make any CB.

Great.

If I recall the launch module description in the command chair, there will be two types of private queues. If you start a private match, and you are a free player, you will have limited options. But you can still play in a team of your choice. If whoever in your team has premium time going, they can further set factors in the private match. Here, I looked it up. The quote below is from: http://mwomercs.com/...rivate-matches/


Private Ready Screen

The ready screen allows the creator to invite or remove players, organize them into lances and teams, assign leadership roles, and customize the match parameters. Moving players around should be easy, ideally by dragging them from a list of unassigned players into team A or team B. Once on a team, players should also be able to self-organize, unless the match creator has locked out player organization control.

Basic Match Parameters:

• Game Mode (Skirmish, Assault, or Conquest)

Premium Match Parameters:

• Map
  
• Tonnages Rules (Min, Max)
  
• Even Teams (Yes/No)
  
• Match Time ([5-25] mins)
  
• View Mode (1PV, 3PV, or Both)

Edited by Peiper, 24 February 2014 - 02:14 PM.

[Chemie]

Heffay, on 24 February 2014 - 01:52 PM, said:

"Run a team" is different that playing on a team at least. And if you can find a way to prevent teams from gaming the system to earn a ton of , I'd be interested in hearing it.

I doubt there are 24 people willing to team up and waste their time just farming CB (since you still only earn at about the same rate as normal game play)

Edited by Chemie, 24 February 2014 - 02:20 PM.

[slide]

The concept of Premium to play Merc was brought up around Easter last year. I remember because it caused quite the furore and Russ was on holiday and couldn't reply for a few days. It was debunked back then as"not going to happen" but you know how "things change" around here.

The problem I have with it is this. You will get noobs and the not so good running in the free game and the pay to play crowd who will abuse he crap out of the meta game because they are now paying and need to win at all costs.

free to play = shafted by pugs
pay to play = ***** by meta abusers

and nothing in between for the average player.

If this comes to pass, then GG PGI you managed to nerf teamwork and fun.

On the plus side for me at least that 7months of banked premium is starting to look more and more valuable.

[Deathlike]

Chemie, on 24 February 2014 - 02:19 PM, said:

I doubt there are 24 people willing to team up and waste their time just farming CB (since you still only earn at about the same rate as normal game play)

I wouldn't run it past people, but it's kinda like being the last light mech trying to hide in Skirmish. I'd like to think it would happen more on say Mordor...

[Roland]

Heffay, on 24 February 2014 - 01:52 PM, said:

"Run a team" is different that playing on a team at least. And if you can find a way to prevent teams from gaming the system to earn a ton of , I'd be interested in hearing it.

How do you envision that they would be gaming the system?

[OpCentar]

Prezimonto, on 24 February 2014 - 12:36 PM, said:

I fully expect "private" matches to require someone with premium time to host.

I also fully expect that we'll get a WoT style limit on group size without premium time.

I completely expect that running merc companies will require someone with premium time.

I was just expecting that 4 man would sill be open to anyone. I was hoping that we'd see more added to 5 or 6 slots with the advent of faction play.

At 3 players per "free" group It's still better than WoT and it's 2 man maximum. Too bad I and my friends only play casually and most of them only when I'm around, since I don't play enough to make premium time worthwhile, if they go to this model I don't think I'll be playing with friends as much(ie not playing much at all).

Actually WoT has a 3 player group system completely F2P. No premium needed to create or join a 3 tank platoon in WoT.

For private matches, premium account or a one time MC fee for the duration of your gaming session.

Merc corps will almost certainly require an one time MC fee to open. It's best to keep away from a MC drain (premium req or MC drop fees etc) CW as it discourages F2P players from participating.




As for the podcast, not sure what to expect. They are apparently breaking the 4 mech lance into a 3 mech group to make it easier on the MM but Russ is contradicting that in his tweets... I don't like it just because it breaks even more BT lore.

Not into statistics, especially those without any kind of reference number, but whatever makes them improve the solo player experience is a good thing.

[Prezimonto]

Did they change the group numbers in the last 10 months or so?

[Ryoken]

Dymlos2003, on 24 February 2014 - 11:54 AM, said:

They didn't contradict themselves. Bryan was talking about the solo queue, not the group queue. Everyone decided that this meant no more groups (morons) but I digress.

Stop calling people who actually did listen to the podcast morons! From what we know until yet it is exactly what everyone here fears! 4+ player groups will have to join private matches to play together. And we allready had a confirmation that in private matches no c-bills and experience will be granted. Also putting those 4-7 player sized social gamer groups into the competitive slot is nonsense. Those guys leveling their mechs and having a drink will get slaugthered when they run into the actual meta of the competitive groups. And it will be frustrating and without reward for the social gamer groups and it will be boring for the competitive groups.

So this is very bad and I hope we will get further information. But from what they told in the podcast social players in small groups will get further annihilated. The gap between 3 player and 12 player groups will be even bigger. And the growth of a player group will be shattered even at an earlier stage.

This directly impacts player retention as the growth of player groups and game/social communities is handicaped.

SeanLang said:

You WILL be able to have a 2-12 man group, in private match making... This is for PUG play, which has to have balance, which it currently does not. Balance in the form of weight classes, how many are on the battlefield at any time.

Am I missing something? Sorry trying to understand some comments.

kageru said:

Paul has said on the forums ( http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__3167369 ) that there would be no rewards for private matches, which I agree with. There needs to be a place for groups smaller than 12, but larger than 3, to play this team game.

SeanLang said:

That will be private matches. There is no other way, unless they add more 'buckets' for an entire different que for said size group, which again I don't think they will or really should do. Private matches will give you the ability to drop in w/e size you want etc...

Edited by Ryoken, 24 February 2014 - 07:00 PM.

[Heffay]

Ryoken, on 24 February 2014 - 06:54 PM, said:

Stop calling people who actually did listen to the podcast morons! From what we know until yet it is exactly what everyone here fears! 4+ player groups will have to join private matches to play together. And we allready had a confirmation that in private matches no c-bills and experience will be granted.

So this is very bad and I hope we will get further information. But from what they told in the podcast social players in small groups will get further annihilated. The gap between 3 player and 12 player groups will be even bigger. And the growth of a player group will be shattered even at an earlier stage.

This directly impacts player retention as the growth of player groups and game/social communities is handicaped.

There was more information on the NGNG Twitch stream tonight. You can still have 4 man groups, but they will be limited to the 3-3-3-3 rules. So you can't bring 4 733Cs, and even if you bring 3, those will be the only 3 assaults you'll have on your team.

More info to be released on Wednesday I believe.

[Ryoken]

Heffay, on 24 February 2014 - 06:56 PM, said:

There was more information on the NGNG Twitch stream tonight. You can still have 4 man groups, but they will be limited to the 3-3-3-3 rules. So you can't bring 4 733Cs, and even if you bring 3, those will be the only 3 assaults you'll have on your team.

More info to be released on Wednesday I believe.

Heffay bringer of good news! I greet the! =)

That is good to hear and exactly what I proposed over at NGNG. PGI simply needs two things to do:
1. Make premades bigger than 3 players obeye the 3-3-3-3 rule!
2. Balance premade size on both teams
So for every 2man in your team you can be sure there is a 2man in the other team.
For every 3-4man in your team you can be sure there is a 3-4man in the other team.
For every 5-6man in your team you can be sure there is a 5-6man in the other team.
etc. ...

They can do that on an own premade queue as I would propose.

Then we just have to decide if the player limits for premades should be 2-10 players, for a small gap to full 12man.
Or if the premade player limits should be 2-6 players, so two full 6man premades can form a full 12man.
Or something between 6 and 10?

PS: Thanx for what does the mech say, bought it on amazon! Great song!

Edited by Ryoken, 24 February 2014 - 07:20 PM.