9 replies to this topic

[Hypocriseriously]

Hello to all the gentlemens and ladies of PGI and the MWO gaming community.

I would first like to express my sheer delight in discovering this game, I'm sad I hadn't done so sooner. It is super fun and I will most likely be dropping several wads of cash on it.

That being said, I have some questions and need some clarity of understanding on a few issues I'm encountering in the game before I do so.

• How do I see the specifications of a mech before I purchase it? Having to go to a third party website should not be the answer.
  
• Why does my game freeze up 2 out of 5 times when it is "refreshing data"? I've learned to alt+f4 or taskmanager the game to close if I see the yellow spinner for longer than a minute during refresh or purchase. (Please understand I have over a dozen different PC games, F2P and otherwise, that I play regularly with 0 technical problems. It's not my system in this case, trust me.)
  
• The in-game tutorial was basically "here's how you shoot, here's how you move" and that was it. I was still totally lost and again had to refer to player made guides to help me out, which always runs the risk of misinforming newbloods with outdated knowledge. (In this case I learned that machine guns don't totally suck anymore) Is there a proper tutorial in the works?
  
• Speaking of tutorials, I had to fumble around the UI for half an hour just to figure out what I was doing. Could you make some little popups with arrows for idiots like me to help out? It took me forever just to realize I had to drag my engine out of the list on the right to unequip it.
  
• Is there a way to set up a 2v2 or 4v4 against friends? Is the plethora of cool maps sectioned off to their own smaller maps to offer lesser scale battles? The borg cube area instantly comes to mind.
  
• Where are the filters for sorting different mechs in the purchase screen?
  
• When I run into another mech the game glitches for a second and then I've bounced somewhere else. Is this intended?
  
• Is the new UI a beta? I've seen several topics where players are upset about it.
  
• Is there a refer-a-buddy program? I want to tell all my homies to play this awesome game.

Thanks again for making a great game and I would greatly appreciate any responses. Cheers!

[Modo44]

Welcome to MWO.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

How do I see the specifications of a mech before I purchase it? Having to go to a third party website should not be the answer.

Select the Mechlab, then select the Purchasable filter. Hover over a mech to see its setup. For more detailed info, go to Smurfy, select a mech, then use Tools > Load stock loadout. Smurfy also has all mech, weapon, and equipment data pulled directly from current game files.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Why does my game freeze up 2 out of 5 times when it is "refreshing data"?

MWO recently became very buggy. To keep hard deadlines, PGI lowered their QA requirements. This specific bug is supposed to be addressed in the next patch (on Tuesday).

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Is there a proper tutorial in the works?

More like "planned in some future". You will have better luck searching YouTube. Not kidding here. The Training Grounds have some basic game info.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Is there a way to set up a 2v2 or 4v4 against friends? Is the plethora of cool maps sectioned off to their own smaller maps to offer lesser scale battles? The borg cube area instantly comes to mind.

Not at the moment. This is something under consideration by PGI, but not officially confirmed.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Where are the filters for sorting different mechs in the purchase screen?

You can only select the weight class, and owned/purchasable at the moment.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

When I run into another mech the game glitches for a second and then I've bounced somewhere else. Is this intended?

It is a lesser issue ignored in favor of adding more features. You can slow down/stop to "untangle" the mechs.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Is the new UI a beta? I've seen several topics where players are upset about it.

Yeah, pretty much. It just was introduced 2 patches ago, and will take a while (think months) to become really usable.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Is there a refer-a-buddy program?

Nope.

Edited by Modo44, 14 March 2014 - 10:03 AM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Modo44, on 14 March 2014 - 09:53 AM, said:

MWO recently became very buggy. To keep hard deadlines, PGI lowered their QA requirements.

Who said that?

They just added a new UI and just added DX11 support. Also, they are continuously tracking down bugs and fixing as they find the problems. Try switching DX9/11 in the options, try the repair tool, try a fresh install (if you didn't just install the game recently). If you are still having problems, I encourage you to email support@mwomercs.com.

Edit:
To address the OP more,

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

When I run into another mech the game glitches for a second and then I've bounced somewhere else. Is this intended?

Of course not. I think the problem lies with how the game handles movement. Everything is server authoritative which means when you fire, your client has to get approval from the server before the shot is ever released. Movement is different though, your client goes ahead and moves you (predicts your movement) while constantly double-checking with the server. If you collide with something, it happens on the server before your client as player movement has to come back to you over the Internet so the player may be 0.1 meters closer than you think. Your client will move you, check with the server, the server will say, "nope. you can't move because he was there first." You didn't see this because of latency. Your client adjusts by teleporting you to where the server stopped you, thus causing a bit of rubberbanding. The issue is most noticable with fast mechs and higher pings between players.

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Is the new UI a beta? I've seen several topics where players are upset about it.

I wouldn't call it a Beta so much as unfinished. UI2.0 included more than just the interface; there was a ton of backend work done as well. Basically the old code was a mess so they had to rewrite it from scratch.
A lot of players are mad because it's more difficult to use when constructing mechs. This is supposed to be remedied in upcoming patches however. People don't like change is the big thing, but it is true that it's harder to use the mechlab. There are benefits to the new UI though too. It can function in any resolution and full screen (the old one was a fixed window), it is far easier for them to change (apparently, the old code was poorly designed), you can apply upgrades to mechs without saving inbetween so you can upgrade to ferrofiberous, decide you want a different loadout that needs the extra criticals and take ferro off without saving and spending cbills inbetween your steps.

Edited by TheCaptainJZ, 14 March 2014 - 10:31 AM.

[Modo44]

TheCaptainJZ, on 14 March 2014 - 10:16 AM, said:

Who said that?

Have you been to the patch feedback subforum recently?

[PieRat]

Some things are new (as in added in last few patches) and some things are changing. The new UI is far from finished, and not as intuitive as it will eventually be. They are refining it and other areas of the game in upcoming patchs. What you see at smurfy will eventually be a load out for mechs you will see here. Well some form similar if not just like smurfy.

As far as dropping with friend. You can make 2-4 man groups, and 12 man groups(atg one time we did have 8 man groups). At this time that is all you can make. Lobbies are going to be introduce here I think in April (someone correct me if that is off), and then hopefully there will be a little more flexibility to that. Anyway if you would like to drop with/or against another group of friends. You can try the hit and miss option we all try here now. Called "Sync dropping". Basically both groups ready up, someone do a count down and you both click launch at the same time. IF you are lucky you both get the same map/group. Sometimes you get the same map, but are on opposing sides. So like I said it is hit and miss.

VOIP is not intergrated into the game yet, most every one who groups uses team speak. Whether you are part of a unit/clan, or some pugs also use them as well. There are some threads here in the forum I think here under new player healp that list some team speak servers for public, and the houses/clans.

There have been different bugs pop up and go almost every patch. Especially after the last one where they implemented DX 11 (you can choose 9 or 11 in settings), and they are still refining/implementing tweaks and stuff to DX 11. I have had crashes on rare occasion. My biggest issue is sometimes I go to leave the game. I exit out of first screen just fine, but when I get back to the login screen MWO freezes up and I cannot even pull up task manager to end task it. so I basically have to reboot computer at that point. I will say though since last major patch that happens less and less. Anyway as much as can go wrong in this game it is still ablast and worth it to me. Just my 2 C-Bills.

Down under developers/corner/announcements section of the forums they give patch note updates and stuff. Good place to keep an eye out on changes/additions/etc... with the patching/implementations... Like here is the link to the last patch stuff...

http://mwomercs.com/...28#entry3217828


As far as looking at loadouts I think someone already mentioned that. Anyway if you are looking for a unit/clan to join look further down on the forums for their respected sub-forums and you will see different groups recruiting. On that note if you are a Davion type feel free to give us a looksee if interested at some point. The website is in my signature.

Other than that... Welcome Aboard!

Pie

Edited by PieRat, 14 March 2014 - 10:42 AM.

[Redshift2k5]

Private matches, including smaller matches like 2v2 or 4v4 will be possible in the new private match system coming up; but it would require being a paying customer with active Premium time.

[dragnier1]

4. I'm not sure if there's a tutorial for the UI on youtube, i'm just lazy to explore xD

7. It could be rubber-banding or graphics glitch. You're still at the same spot though. For now try moving away from the mech you bumped.

Cheers

[Koniving]

Most of this is covered...

But...

Whitest Pride, on 14 March 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

Hello to all the gentlemens and ladies of PGI and the MWO gaming community.

Spoiler

I would first like to express my sheer delight in discovering this game, I'm sad I hadn't done so sooner. It is super fun and I will most likely be dropping several wads of cash on it.

That being said, I have some questions and need some clarity of understanding on a few issues I'm encountering in the game before I do so.

• How do I see the specifications of a mech before I purchase it? Having to go to a third party website should not be the answer.
  
• Why does my game freeze up 2 out of 5 times when it is "refreshing data"? I've learned to alt+f4 or taskmanager the game to close if I see the yellow spinner for longer than a minute during refresh or purchase. (Please understand I have over a dozen different PC games, F2P and otherwise, that I play regularly with 0 technical problems. It's not my system in this case, trust me.)
  
• The in-game tutorial was basically "here's how you shoot, here's how you move" and that was it. I was still totally lost and again had to refer to player made guides to help me out, which always runs the risk of misinforming newbloods with outdated knowledge. (In this case I learned that machine guns don't totally suck anymore) Is there a proper tutorial in the works?
  
• Speaking of tutorials, I had to fumble around the UI for half an hour just to figure out what I was doing. Could you make some little popups with arrows for idiots like me to help out? It took me forever just to realize I had to drag my engine out of the list on the right to unequip it.
  
• Is there a way to set up a 2v2 or 4v4 against friends? Is the plethora of cool maps sectioned off to their own smaller maps to offer lesser scale battles? The borg cube area instantly comes to mind.
  
• Where are the filters for sorting different mechs in the purchase screen?
  
• When I run into another mech the game glitches for a second and then I've bounced somewhere else. Is this intended?
  
• Is the new UI a beta? I've seen several topics where players are upset about it.
  
• Is there a refer-a-buddy program? I want to tell all my homies to play this awesome game.

Thanks again for making a great game and I would greatly appreciate any responses. Cheers!

Glad you caught the ladies in there, too. They are playing, and that is awesome.

Spoiler

Knowing more than 9 ladies that play MWO has me quite surprised, as out of the 30 or so female gamers I know that's the most women that I know who play the same game. Just sad that only 3 of them play with me on MWO and the others I just happen to have spoken with. One of them is trying to get me to convince her husband to start playing. Awkward.

Anyway. My answers. There's videos and pictures.

Spoiler

1) Login. Mechbay. Filter. Purchasable. Click a mech, hover over it and specs will come up. I'm sorry it's vague. If you look at the Short Question Short Answer thread, second page, you'll see the old UI was SO much clearer about this. It's been an early complaint since the first time I tried UI 2.0 many months back on a public test server.

As optimistic as I want to be, Modo is right that they often miss development deadlines. They always hit product delivery deadlines of things we would need to pay for or have paid for, but on developing things someone, somewhere, is setting unrealistic or overly optimistic deadlines. Example, "UI 2.0 will be launching in November, worst case." ...It arrives in January February, in a "it's still far from complete and buggy but we're getting it out there" state. Almost a direct pair of quotes.

2) Computer specs? Things running in the background? Most importantly, are you playing with a wireless connection? Any kind of connection hiccup kinda causes problems around those times.

3) Many are aware of the tutorial's issues. It saddens me. I took a look at some of the other mechanized games and I found everything I suggested to PGI in regards to the tutorial from three quarters of a year ago, but it's all placed into a rival game. The tutorial was supposed the first stage of a series of tutorials. Instead the only one I've seen since is this.


4) It would be nice. In the mean time... This wasn't meant as a tutorial, but given that I record the entire rebuilding of a mech it is kind of handy.


5) Not yet. "Private matches" have recently been mentioned however. It's coming in the next month or two. There will not be any rewards for private matches.

6) Using the purchasable filter in the mechbay instead of the store, you can use the light, medium, heavy, assault, champion and hero filters on the left.

7) That behavior is the result of having to temporarily remove a mechanic 2 years ago. Work on that has been on hold until community warfare comes out, slated "6 months after November" back in September, but more realistically June earliest or August at the most likely.

Here's the said mechanic. Knockdowns.

And this is why it's gone.

(If you're wondering why I'm leading so far ahead, back before "HSR" [lag compensation] all mechs were actually half a mech length in front of where I would see them.)


8) The new UI is exactly that. New. New and incomplete.
This was February 3rd when I recorded it and uploaded it on the 5th. The mech in the video has only just been released for earlier this week. Mine came with the phoenix pack. So you can consider it an early look at the Wolverines.

The double click function doesn't work.
Building a mech -- ROFLpult -- in the old interface.


9) There isn't a program, but having friends that play together with you and stay in communication with you is the difference between playing the game with a really good mech and losing terribly... and playing with fragile pre-champion trial mechs and winning.

Mech used. Single heatsinks, 2 tons ammo each, XL engine, NO crit-padding (meaning extremely high ammo explosion risk versus a properly padded mech).

Incorrect month. Fixed.

Edited by Koniving, 14 March 2014 - 09:08 PM.

[Hypocriseriously]

Wow thanks for all the answers, very helpful. I failed to mention that most of the time, when I'm actually behind the cockpit pew-pewing, the game works flawlessly.

bought some premo time so I can rack up some bills and support the devs. This is one of those games I kind of wish was subscription or purchase to play so that devs would prioritize gameplay over transactions, but that's life eh.

Thanks again!

[Koniving]

In the long run, a hero mech will help with more permanent bonuses. Not as much per match, but in the long run it really helps.

Can't wait to know more about what's going to be done with clan weaponry. With the packages it's got in the works, the 'prime' er...torso of each Clan mech will be getting a 30% cbill increase just like heroes. But only the ones in the packages. Though I'm sure we'll see Clan Heroes.