19 replies to this topic

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

In Part 3 of the NGNG Bryan Eckman interview podcast, Bryan confirmed that IS mechs will be released concurrently with the Clan mechs (one of each per month).

What does this mean? Speculation and suggestion time!

IIRC Bryan said an Assault was on the way next, and that it usually goes Assault, Heavy, Medium, Light (please correct me if I got the order wrong). He also confirmed that the Mauler is being concepted right now. I don't think it'll be the March release, but it seems very likely for July.

Any guesses as for what we'll be seeing in the coming months? Here are mine:

March: Banshee (I'd prefer a Zeus, King Crab, Annihilator, or Cyclops, but the Banshee feels more likely to me).

April: Black Knight (could be a Grasshopper, but the Black Knight feels right).

May: Dare I say, Crab? We've got a bunch of 50 and 55 tonners right now, though, so maybe an Assassin, Clint, or Sentinel will be more likely.

June: Bring on the Javelin! Panther could be it instead, though, since they were very firm that the Panther was not coming during the Firestarter teaser period, which could suggest that they'd already locked down its release date. Uller should be the Clan release (I'm hoping for Blackhawk, Thor, and Daishi all to come out in June to give them 1 from each weight class at launch, but at a minimum the Uller should be available).

July: Mauler. Clans will get either the Blackhawk or the Puma.

August: I have no idea here. Probably whichever of Black Knight and Grasshopper did not come out in April. Clan will get the Thor or the Ryoken.

September: Gogo Bushwacker! Middle of the Clan release schedule would be a great time for one of the first Clanbuster designs to come out. The Clans should get either a Daishi or a Mad Cat.

October: Mongoose. Clans get either the Puma or the Masakari.

That's as far as I'll lay down predictions. I do suspect the Clans will see a Reinforcement pack with one more mech from each weight class (Koshi for lights, to give them something fast; Fenris for Mediums, for another quick mech, Vulture for heavies, since it's so iconic, and Gladiator for Assaults, to give them a faster, jump-capable assault).

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

Would rather have the penetrator over the bushwacker. But that is a good idea to start seeing the inner sphere mechs that came out during or just after the start of the invasion. But instead of the javelin how about the wolfhound since it is the first inner shpere mech to see the clans in a book. And it is a light too.

[Sephlock]

Is it possible that they'll skip the light again (pushing the Flea, and MASC, even further back) and just go assault, heavy, medium, assault? They might release the Daishi first, and release an IS Assault alongside it, then release the Timber Wolf, then the Stormcrow, then the Uller.

It makes sense that they'd make more than just the Uller available at the beginning, at the very least...

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Sephlock, on 22 February 2014 - 07:42 PM, said:

Is it possible that they'll skip the light again (pushing the Flea, and MASC, even further back) and just go assault, heavy, medium, assault? They might release the Daishi first, and release an IS Assault alongside it, then release the Timber Wolf, then the Stormcrow, then the Uller.

It makes sense that they'd make more than just the Uller available at the beginning, at the very least...

With the Phoenix pack they did Locust-Shawk-Tbowl-Battlemaster, but past behaviors aren't always reliable indicators of future actions. If they only do one initial release (I think Bryan indicated that'd be what they're doing), I'd rather see the Blackhawk or Thor first, since those would give the initial Clan c-bill purchasers middle-weight options to start with rather than extreme light or heavy only (plus they'd be a bit more middle-of-the-road as far as cost goes).

[Craig Steele]

The commercial side of doing lights first is that it extends the timeline for MC / $$ purchases as they have narrower in game roles. So people will have longer to 'buy' the mechs / omni's that have more varied in game roles / effectivness.

I think they probably stick to lights, med .......

Hoping though

[Sephlock]

Craig Steele, on 22 February 2014 - 09:19 PM, said:

The commercial side of doing lights first is that it extends the timeline for MC / $$ purchases as they have narrower in game roles. So people will have longer to 'buy' the mechs / omni's that have more varied in game roles / effectivness.

I think they probably stick to lights, med .......

Hoping though

There is going to be an epic massacre if it is Clan vs IS and the Clans are restricted to Kit Foxes for several months...

[Craig Steele]

Sephlock, on 22 February 2014 - 09:25 PM, said:

There is going to be an epic massacre if it is Clan vs IS and the Clans are restricted to Kit Foxes for several months...

Well, if IS has access to Clan mechs from day one I am assuming Clans have access to IS mechs from day one.

Faction really doesn't seem to play any part of MW:O, there is no 'flavour'.

OFC I realise that most Clan players will be buying Clan packs cause thats what they want to be part of, that Clan experieince, but I can see some saying, "Johnny wants to play, he's a good guy, let him roll out in his Highlander and we'll call him a freebirth in a IIC cause he hasn't got the cash for Clan package"

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Sephlock, on 22 February 2014 - 09:25 PM, said:

There is going to be an epic massacre if it is Clan vs IS and the Clans are restricted to Kit Foxes for several months...

It'd be high-larious. I can almost taste the vat-grown tears.

Craig Steele, on 22 February 2014 - 09:30 PM, said:

Well, if IS has access to Clan mechs from day one I am assuming Clans have access to IS mechs from day one.

Faction really doesn't seem to play any part of MW:O, there is no 'flavour'.

OFC I realise that most Clan players will be buying Clan packs cause thats what they want to be part of, that Clan experieince, but I can see some saying, "Johnny wants to play, he's a good guy, let him roll out in his Highlander and we'll call him a freebirth in a IIC cause he hasn't got the cash for Clan package"

I think Bryan said in the podcast that queues would be split into faction alliance buckets (one assumes Davion-Steiner-Rassalhague v Kurita-Marik-Liao), and that when the Clans come in it'll change to IS faction buckets v Clan faction buckets. Thus if you drop in a Clan mech, you'll be in the Clan faction bucket, and if you drop with IS tech, you are in the IS bucket.

Edited by Levi Porphyrogenitus, 22 February 2014 - 09:35 PM.

[Sephlock]

I forsee an epic massacre, and/or lots of waiting in matchmaking due to not enough clanners.

On the other hand, Clanners should have no problem finding matches .

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Sephlock, on 22 February 2014 - 09:45 PM, said:

I forsee an epic massacre, and/or lots of waiting in matchmaking due to not enough clanners.

On the other hand, Clanners should have no problem finding matches .

Don't forget that a goodly number of people will have some or all of the other mechs available, so we won't be seeing just Ullers, especially with the a la carte option. I bet we see a whole bunch of Madcats, if nothing else.

[Sephlock]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 22 February 2014 - 09:54 PM, said:

Don't forget that a goodly number of people will have some or all of the other mechs available, so we won't be seeing just Ullers, especially with the a la carte option. I bet we see a whole bunch of Madcats, if nothing else.

Then I'll get to play "Reservoir Dogs" like I did back in the heyday of the Catapult!

[Craig Steele]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 22 February 2014 - 09:31 PM, said:

It'd be high-larious. I can almost taste the vat-grown tears.




Thus if you drop in a Clan mech, you'll be in the Clan faction bucket, and if you drop with IS tech, you are in the IS bucket.

That's the exect opposite of Russ's tweet a week ago to Ed Steele (no relation)

That specifically said that IS pilots can have Clan chassis from day one.

Ed replied by saying he was purchasing a Clan Pack on the strength of that clarification, and I doubt he is alone.

Will be some backlash from plenty if they have to change faction to pilot the Clan mechs.

I don't think mech and faction are hand in hand in MW:O, never have been and difficult to see them introducing now

Edited by Craig Steele, 22 February 2014 - 09:59 PM.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Craig Steele, on 22 February 2014 - 09:58 PM, said:

That's the exect opposite of Russ's tweet a week ago to Ed Steele (no relation)

That specifically said that IS pilots can have Clan chassis from day one.

Ed replied by saying he was purchasing a Clan Pack on the strength of that clarification, and I doubt he is alone.

Will be some backlash from plenty if they have to change faction to pilot the Clan mechs.

I don't think mech and faction are hand in hand in MW:O, never have been and difficult to see them introducing now

It's not changing faction from what I understand, your IS faction doesn't change. You just go in the Clan pilot pool when you drop in a Clan mech.

Do you have the actual text of the tweet? It might clarify some things.

[Craig Steele]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 22 February 2014 - 10:04 PM, said:

It's not changing faction from what I understand, your IS faction doesn't change. You just go in the Clan pilot pool when you drop in a Clan mech.

Yes, this is how I see it IF they cannot blance the tech (ie, 10 v 12). They player pool gets divided into Clan queue and IS queue. Then 10 (or 12 or whichever number) pilots of similar ELO from the faction get grouped up, filled out with lone wolves if required and put into a match against the "alliance" divisions.

If they achieve balance as they want to, nothing will change on the queues.

Its all a long way off anyway, its what the third part of CW? September / October maybe at best?

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Craig Steele, on 22 February 2014 - 10:10 PM, said:

Yes, this is how I see it IF they cannot blance the tech (ie, 10 v 12). They player pool gets divided into Clan queue and IS queue. Then 10 (or 12 or whichever number) pilots of similar ELO from the faction get grouped up, filled out with lone wolves if required and put into a match against the "alliance" divisions.

If they achieve balance as they want to, nothing will change on the queues.

Its all a long way off anyway, its what the third part of CW? September / October maybe at best?

Bryan's discussion seemed to be related to faction warfare, so phase 2? Would that be scheduled for June or thereabouts?

I could see the initial Clan release being instant action only, in which case they would not be involved with faction buckets at all, simply intermingled with all the other instant action players.

CW was going to start out as IS alliance v IS alliance, and only move to IS v Clan later. Given the June release date for the Clan packs, that is certainly suggestive of having Clan mechs available for instant action but not for CW matches.

[SaltBeef]

To Keep it Immersion real We will still need a Clan vs Clan Bucket also. Would be nice to see that bucket drop system set-up by clan faction. Wolf favoring certain type of mech during drops over other varients , Jade falcon Favor feilding another set of mech types in more numerical numbers. Should work for inner sphere also.

[Strum Wealh]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 22 February 2014 - 10:04 PM, said:

It's not changing faction from what I understand, your IS faction doesn't change. You just go in the Clan pilot pool when you drop in a Clan mech.

Do you have the actual text of the tweet? It might clarify some things.

The actual text of the tweet in question (which was made by Bryan Ekman (not Russ Bullock), and was made over two months ago (on December 19)) can be found here.

Quote

Ed Steele ‏(@EdSteeleMWO)
@bryanekman: I have a Christmas bonus on the way, so give me some info that would make an IS player want a clan pack.

Bryan Ekman (‏@bryanekman)
@EdSteeleMWO: lore - battlefield salvaged mechs put into service under your command. Still a valiant IS MechWarrior ready to kill clanners.

Ed Steele ‏(@EdSteeleMWO)
@bryanekman: Good answer, I will "salvage" some clan mechs with my credit card shortly!

[Chemie]

that tweet goes against what they just said about clan vs IS queue MM

Edited by Chemie, 23 February 2014 - 01:48 PM.

[Strum Wealh]

Chemie, on 23 February 2014 - 01:48 PM, said:

that tweet goes against what they just said about clan vs IS queue MM

It doesn't really, though - listen to NGNG # 103, part 3, from the 28:57 mark to the 30:08 mark... or, more specifically, from 29:40 to 30:08.

Quote

We also had to redo the matchmaker a little bit, to handle the Faction buckets so that we could take... at any given time we're only going to have two Faction buckets. So right now would be the Inner Sphere alliance versus Inner Sphere alliance; when Clans comes out, it would be Clans versus Inner Sphere, in the public... in the public Faction play. So, those two things are happening with the Launch Module, and kind of set up the ability to do Community Warfare.

Presumably, "Inner Sphere alliance versus Inner Sphere alliance" refers to something like "Federated Commonwealth (AFFS + LCAF, plus Mercs & Lone Wolves) versus Concord of Kapteyn (CCAF + DCMS + FWLM, plus Mercs & Lone Wolves)", with a later transition to "Inner Sphere Factions (AFFS + CCAF + DCMS + FWLM + Kungsarme + LCAF, plus Mercs & IS Lone Wolves) versus Clan Factions (CDS + CGB + CJF + CNC + CSJ + CSV + CW, plus Clan Lone Wolves)".
Nothing in what was said by Bryan Ekman within that segment of the podcast necessarily precludes the ability for a player who has selected an IS affiliation from using Clan 'Mechs that they may have purchased through one of the packs or the A La Carte option.

To what specific statement(s) from PGI are you referring when you say that "that tweet goes against what they just said about clan vs IS queue MM"?

[Craig Steele]

Strum Wealh, on 23 February 2014 - 01:41 PM, said:

The actual text of the tweet in question (which was made by Bryan Ekman (not Russ Bullock), and was made over two months ago (on December 19)) can be found here.

Details schmetails

I only saw it recently.....

Thanks for finding it though.