271 replies to this topic

[RG Notch]

Sandpit, on 20 March 2014 - 12:11 PM, said:

I stopped having any faith after reading that. You CAN'T be that ignorant or incompetent and run a multi-million dollar company. That means I'm going with you simply don't want to make the effort, don't care, or don't want groups playing.

I personally wouldn't write off ignorance or incompetence so quickly. I can't see how people are shocked they are taking the easy way out, have you people not been here from the start. PGI puts minimal effort in to make minimally viable products.

[Roadbeer]

RG Notch, on 20 March 2014 - 12:47 PM, said:

I personally wouldn't write off ignorance or incompetence so quickly. I can't see how people are shocked they are taking the easy way out, have you people not been here from the start. PGI puts minimal effort in to make minimally viable products.

What amazes me about this, and I've said it in another thread...
It's been stated repeatedly and numerous GDC and other similar conferences that games which support 'guilds' have a higher level of retention, and those members who are in guilds spend 10x to 20x more than solo players.

Ignoring this is just bad business. Especially in a game that has already had communities plugged in and ready to go, for years, just waiting for a title to throw their weight (and money) behind.

[RG Notch]

Roadbeer, on 20 March 2014 - 12:50 PM, said:

What amazes me about this, and I've said it in another thread...
It's been stated repeatedly and numerous GDC and other similar conferences that games which support 'guilds' have a higher level of retention, and those members who are in guilds spend 10x to 20x more than solo players.

Ignoring this is just bad business. Especially in a game that has already had communities plugged in and ready to go, for years, just waiting for a title to throw their weight (and money) behind.

Umm again these folks say lots of things to appease people, it's the actual follow through that trips them up. Remember, when they are selling things or worried that people will bail they say all the right things. Then when they actually have to do the work to put said things into effect, oh that was just our position at the time, i.e. the position that would make you keep your wallet open.
Plus remember where these folks come from, grade ZZZ shovel ware, you think that prepares you to deal with real game business?

[Roadbeer]

Wait, are you implying that they go to the conferences like PAX and GDC, but don't actually attend any of the panels?
Isn't that kinda like going to a Grateful Dead concert to hang out in the parking lot? Sure it was a great party...but... what did you really get out of it?

[Nekki Basara]

I attended fourteen years of Irish classes in school, but I still can't speak Irish. You have to actually pay attention and want to learn for a panel to be any use.

[Deathlike]

#wishIcouldsavePGIfromitself

[Sidekick]

Regarding the ongoing WT comparisons:
Just forget it. Gajin is Russian, they code from tough soviet steel, best code in the world. Very strong.
They don't have a small team, they use the red army coding corps, millions of men strong.
Also, they don't need to code anything. In Soviet Russia, games code you.



Seriously: you can say they had a head start from their previous products that has the same structure.

On the other hand, a functioning aerodynamic physics engine is hard work. . But I guess that they would try to code a bipedal movement system if they ever attempted a Mecha game.

[BLOOD WOLF]

Roland, on 18 March 2014 - 06:37 AM, said:

The reason that anyone with a brain brings a PPC is because it's dramatically superior to the LPL, in essentially every way.


The mechs you describe here are terrible.

You can imagine that it's just a matter of preference, but it's not. You are talking about objectively terrible mech designs. I could go into the details of trying to explain to you WHY they are objectively bad, but the reality is that you wouldn't really understand it, because if you would, you would have come to those (obvious) conclusions on your own.

the mechs i build get kills and preform well in a match, thank you very much. I do come to conclusions after i have taken them to the field, and every mech i build i build for what works for me. sounds like you want people to use mechs the way you would use em.

"I could go into the details of trying to explain to you WHY they are objectively bad, but the reality is that you wouldn't really understand it"-Roland

The fact that you didn't elaborate makes me dismiss your claim as you are obviously biased towards the subject, and that doesn't fly with me. Don't tell me i wouldn't understand it as an excuse not to explain your poor reasoning.

Edited by BLOOD WOLF, 20 March 2014 - 10:45 PM.

[GrimlockONE]

Colonel Pada Vinson, on 18 March 2014 - 10:51 PM, said:

The main question a lot of us have is "why can a game like Hawken, made by an indie team, give us all the features we have requested in MWO for a smaller team size & less money? How was such a team able to untangle the wild wilderness of code while the AAA tile producers at PGI continue to fail to be able to deliver anything close to the same results?

Or perhaps, Why do I need to log in to a proxy server to access the mwomercs.com domain and why was my IP address banned from accessing the MWO domain name after posting my critiques of PGI over the past few days?

Hawken may not have the pretty battletech mechs, but it has everything else. Great maps, fantastic user interface, working social menus, etc, etc.

While I do hope that PGI can deliver these results, lets not forget hawken is in open beta now, took less time to achieve what PGI is now a year behind achieving, and not only has a working UI that is logical and intelligently designed, but they have 3 working gamemodes that include battleships firing at your base, and various "misison style" objectives that again would be right at home in MWO. Or perhaps Hawkens conquest gamemode, that doesnt force you to cap for more than 15 seconds, and at the same time pugs vs the blob can create great matches because the blob can not cover every base since they flip so fast and must therefore be fought over/defended.

I could go on and on. I logged into hawken and my mind was literally nearly blown apart upon seeing such quality presentation and style, and once I decided to forget for 5 mins how silly the starter mech looks, I realized the Hawken team has produced a game of much greater caliber.

Why am I posting here via proxy thus circumnavigating my IP ban to access mwomercs.com?

because I do think there is still hope for this game, and I want to keep playing it, but I am sick and tired of navigating a ui that is worse than ui 1.5 and now suddenly, after being told for months ui 2.0 would improve things, am finding out that in fact it's not only making things worse, but basic user interface stuff like a logical layout, not needing a zillion clicks to do stuff or find stuff (insert frustration here) is once again seemingly beyond the reach of the developers of AAA titles in PGI land.

Fixed 10 FPS in closed beta with user.cfg. fixed countless issues for countless user with user.cfg. Told my user.cfg does "nothing", and a near riot on forums forces a backpedal after people see 20-40 FPS increases using it.

I've been critical of PGI before, and i've defended them like crazy during what was a sub-par release.

The trailers for this game, the promos are all second class to what other games with smaller devs are fielding.

I'm like an abused spouse, keep coming back for more for love of the IP, only to be stepped on, banned, and mugged at every corner.

One day you realize your beloved IP is abusing you daily, beating you down with one hand, while gently telling you with the other that "things will change, and get better."

Problem is, they don't. They actually get worse.

Then you realize that the harsh reality is there is no love left here, only sorrow, lies and deciet, and betrayal.

And on that day, your white knight paints himself black, grabs a bottle of rum, and joins the island.

Free of the abuse, and free to smile and enjoy life once more.

from behind a proxy,

Vinson

Only Triple AAA title I can find that PGI has made.

[DasProjektil]

I don't know if this has been said before (probably yes), but what Russ is saying about the ingame Smurfy Mechlab is just not true.

I created this mockup in about 10 minutes in Paint. It works perfectly well on a 22 inch screen in 1680x1050 and I bet that with some minor adjustments it will also work quite well on a 17 or 19 inch screen.
Since I'm no UI designer it doesn't look very nice obviously. But it shows that the ingame Smurfy Mechlab is not to difficult to do.

Edited by DasProjektil, 21 March 2014 - 09:24 AM.

[Sandpit]

Broken record but....


5-11man groups
CW
That's it. That's all most of the player who drop in groups want. Nothing special. Nothing extra. Just the ability to play the game like everyone else. It's not rocket science.
http://mwomercs.com/...79-matchmaking/
http://mwomercs.com/...-making-update/
http://mwomercs.com/...ted-april-19th/


Anyone who spent money on this game based on the above thread and information from Paul SHOULD feel slighted.

[MustrumRidcully]

Sandpit, on 22 March 2014 - 09:56 AM, said:

Broken record but....


5-11man groups
CW
That's it. That's all most of the player who drop in groups want. Nothing special. Nothing extra. Just the ability to play the game like everyone else. It's not rocket science.
http://mwomercs.com/...79-matchmaking/
http://mwomercs.com/...-making-update/
http://mwomercs.com/...ted-april-19th/


Anyone who spent money on this game based on the above thread and information from Paul SHOULD feel slighted.

Kinda reminds me of the people that read a post with an underlined and bolded part that said: "No one will ever be forced to play with or against 3PV"...What they wrote doesn't have to do anything with what will happen.

[StandingCow]

MustrumRidcully, on 22 March 2014 - 01:50 PM, said:

Kinda reminds me of the people that read a post with an underlined and bolded part that said: "No one will ever be forced to play with or against 3PV"...What they wrote doesn't have to do anything with what will happen.

Yep, they have quite the history of going back on what they initially say... even if it sounds set in stone. Its no wonder people say PGI will say what they think players want to hear... but then do whatever they want in the end.

[Nekki Basara]

And by "do whatever they want" you mean "don't do anything at all" right?

[Navy Sixes]

Peiper, on 15 March 2014 - 10:34 PM, said:

35:50 ...he thinks that the 14% that would want those types of public matches would still rather have PGI work on community warfare and collisions first instead of delaying that any more so they can put staff on creating yet another public match queue.

Did he actually say this? If so... they are working on bringing collision mechanics back. Really important news, probably the most important thing I took from this interview. Almost breezed past this little jewel after choring through the OP's long-rant obsession with a smurfy-esque mechlab.

Did anyone else think this was news?

[Deathlike]

Tycho von Gagern, on 24 March 2014 - 09:41 AM, said:

Did he actually say this? If so... they are working on bringing collision mechanics back. Really important news, probably the most important thing I took from this interview. Almost breezed past this little jewel after choring through the OP's long-rant obsession with a smurfy-esque mechlab.

Did anyone else think this was news?

The thing about knockdowns as it was shown in vids was that it wasn't actually "balanced" in any logical sense. I get it that people want other mechs to be knocked down, due to sheer force of damage applied or driving fast enough to cause an impact... however what was implemented to my knowledge was a running joke. So, I'd rather have DFA than knockdowns personally... but of course, it matters more how it is implemented. Half-arsed implementations is kinda what got PGI into various messes.

The Mechlab is important no matter what you think of it. It must be simplistic as it needs to be equally powerful. It is currently neither. For the most mundane tasks (just adding modules to replace what you've used), it takes many more clicks and time spent to accomplish what was pretty easy and simple in UI 1.5. The game primarily functions on the mechlab, whether you realize it or not.

Edited by Deathlike, 24 March 2014 - 11:50 AM.

[Navy Sixes]

Deathlike, on 24 March 2014 - 11:31 AM, said:

The thing about knockdowns as it was shown in vids was that it wasn't actually "balanced" in any logical sense. I get it that people want other mechs to be knocked down, due to sheer force of damage applied or driving fast enough to cause an impact... however what was implemented to my knowledge was a running joke. So, I'd rather have DFA than knockdowns personally... but of course, it matters more how it is implemented. Half-arsed implementations is kinda what got PGI into various messes.

The Mechlab is important no matter what you think of it. It must be simplistic as it needs to be equally powerful. It is currently neither. For the most mundane tasks (just adding modules to replace what you've used), it takes many more clicks and time spent to accomplish what was pretty easy and simple in UI 1.5. The game primarily functions on the mechlab, whether you realize it or not.

See, I disagree. I can build mechs just fine in MWO. If I want to get all theoretical with my build, I can always go to smurfy's. What I can't do in MWO is see any downside when I run my mech into a wall (or another player) at 150+ KPH.

This will change the game dramatically. Waaaaay more than reducing your number of clicks in the mechlab. And yet everyone just breezes past it... is this not a place to talk about the way the game's improving?*


*In the industry we would call this a "Troll Thread."

[CeeKay Boques]

Quote

33:40 Russ points out that the 'stretch goal' of matching both weight class AND tonnage is looking more and more likely with the first patch of the launch module. He believes that the tonnages will be VERY close no matter whether you take 3 dragons and 3 locusts or not, because matchmaker will look for 3x20 tonners and 3x60 tonners to help. There are 3 designers working exclusively on this issue, including Bryan and Russ. [I don't know if he means the first patch FEATURING the launch module, or the first patch TO the launch module. -Peiper]

That sounds very very boring. So if I bring 3 Dragons and 3 Locusts, I'm basically almost guaranteed be in a Dragon/Locust face off, as opposed to finding another 240 tons to fight? (Like 6 Artic Wolves )

That's opposite of Battletech, where your 900 tons of cool mechs faces of against my 900 tons cool mechs, usually very different, and we watch the different types fight it out.

Edited by Technoviking, 27 March 2014 - 08:22 AM.

[Nekki Basara]

You still use tonnage matching? What is this, 1985?

[CeeKay Boques]

ELO + Tonnage = BV sorta... I dont' want to get into BV... we can barely get any matching at all. Weight is simple... I couldn't imagine if the MM had to calculate load out as well...