34 replies to this topic

[McQueen]

On a recent NGNG podcast Russ Bullock asked the question would the MWO community prefer to have resources devoted to Community Warfare next or have those resources focused on polishing the game and not get to community warfare till next year.

The way Mr. Bullock phrased the question seemed to imply that he was already leaning one way on this himself, but I don't see any point in discussing that here. Instead I just want to take the question at face value.

For myself I want to see Community Warfare be the next priority after clan mechs. For me it would add more engagement to the current random string of drops. It would give me a bit more incentive to log back in after the game kicks me out after three or four matches. Even the limited map control described in the original description of CW would be fun to see. And as many others have said watching the Clan invasion play out would be great. It would add another layer of immersion to give the enjoyable but repetitive mech fights meaning and importance.

As a bonus for PGI, if I'm playing more I'll probably be spending more. And I doubt I would be alone in that.

Anyway that is my two C-bills on the subject. What do the rest of you think?

[Harathan]

The only reason the question was asked is so that later on they can claim that CW was pushed back another X amount of time because "community feedback" told them to. It's plain old arse covering for when they don't deliver.

I really wish PGI hadn't made me this cynical.

[Malcolm Reynolds]

Harathan, on 11 April 2014 - 10:59 AM, said:

The only reason the question was asked is so that later on they can claim that CW was pushed back another X amount of time because "community feedback" told them to. It's plain old arse covering for when they don't deliver.

I really wish PGI hadn't made me this cynical.

This guy get it.....just yes

[meteorol]

At this point i really think many are expecting WAY more from CW than it will actually deliver.
I can already hear the plagued moans when it's released and it's a huge bust. Remember my words.

[McQueen]

That was what I didn't want to get into. Unfortunately I am afraid you are correct on that point. So on topic, I guess that is two more up votes on doing CW first.

[Danghen Woolf]

I think that this is something that is common throughout game design. Maybe not the CW aspect exactly but the situation. Keep in mind though that the CW guys and the "polish" guys may not be the same people. I hear a lot of "focus on CW only" but the reality is that there could be several people doing nothing but programming CW and making progress but that the artists can produce product faster. I like polish, I would like to see CW, I don't think it is an issue of less of one is more of another.

[NuclearPanda]

Harathan, on 11 April 2014 - 10:59 AM, said:

The only reason the question was asked is so that later on they can claim that CW was pushed back another X amount of time because "community feedback" told them to. It's plain old arse covering for when they don't deliver.

I really wish PGI hadn't made me this cynical.

You're not kidding.

And seriously, we're NOT going to see Community Warfare this year at all. I can pretty much guarantee that. It's a damn shame too, because I'd give PGI more money to continue developing.

They have burned us all way too many times at this point. I vote CW anyways over "polish"

Edited by NuclearPanda, 11 April 2014 - 11:13 AM.

[NuclearPanda]

I take that back.... I'd vote polish if it meant going back to 2009 and actually working on what was shown in the original trailer and keeping the unreal engine.

[Bhael Fire]

I'm fairly certain everyone wants CW first.

They absolutely must deliver the core features of the game first before wasting dev time on immersion details and polish. Now, if it so happens that they can balance the two simultaneously with their current staff, then great. If not, then CW first, first, first.

That said, I too was a little concerned about the way Russ worded the question; it did indeed sound like he may have been biding for extra time on delivering CW. Possibly due to unforeseen engineering complications.

Edited by Bhael Fire, 11 April 2014 - 11:40 AM.

[EarlGrey83]

I hoped for CW since I started playing (first day of open beta). After all, CW would give us at least a little feeling of being in the Battel Techuniverse.

Time went by, people got angry at PGI.

But then, after a long time of silence, at the release party they showed us the concept of CW, the Starmap, first phase of Mercenary management. Now, finally they really would work on CW.

Most people were actually quite happy with this.

Now, I for myself don´t really care when (if) something happens with CW. I will play from time to time. The only constant for me is - after buying the phoenix pack - that I spent enough money on MWO until CW arrives. Simple as it gets. And that is sad, because I really would like to get my hands on a Warhawk.

My vote would go to: implement what you promise; polishing your game during this process should be the norm for any company and not an extra.

[McQueen]

Danghen Woolf, on 11 April 2014 - 11:11 AM, said:

I think that this is something that is common throughout game design. Maybe not the CW aspect exactly but the situation. Keep in mind though that the CW guys and the "polish" guys may not be the same people. I hear a lot of "focus on CW only" but the reality is that there could be several people doing nothing but programming CW and making progress but that the artists can produce product faster. I like polish, I would like to see CW, I don't think it is an issue of less of one is more of another.

I would tend to agree with you, but Russ made it a clear one or the other. He implied that PGI only had the resources to do one at a time. I'm not a programer or game designer so I'll defer to his experience in this.

[Rebas Kradd]

Cynicism aside, we do have an explanation now for the CW delays: UI2.0. Now that that's out of the way, I've got to think that they know they can't blow another deadline. When Russ asked the question of "CW or polish?", he was retweeting the guys who were answering CW. That makes me think he supports the CW option, and I'd agree, because our players need to be made busy while the polish comes.

[Bhael Fire]

Rebas Kradd, on 11 April 2014 - 11:37 AM, said:

Cynicism aside, we do have an explanation now for the CW delays: UI2.0. Now that that's out of the way, I've got to think that they know they can't blow another deadline. When Russ asked the question of "CW or polish?", he was retweeting the guys who were answering CW. That makes me think he supports the CW option, and I'd agree, because our players need to be made busy while the polish comes.

Yeah I'm hoping that's the case. It can totally be taken at face value as just his way of verifying what's most important to the community.

[Danghen Woolf]

McQueen, on 11 April 2014 - 11:29 AM, said:

I would tend to agree with you, but Russ made it a clear one or the other. He implied that PGI only had the resources to do one at a time. I'm not a programer or game designer so I'll defer to his experience in this.

I would also defer to the Devs on this as my programming experience is limited to "Hello World". A thing to remember is the backers and what their direction is. Someone controlling the money behind the Devs could be saying, "Hey, purchasables/consumables have a higher rate of return than the long-term CW project, pump those out." We do not know the whole story unfortunately. I know people are really starting to lose faith in the sustainability of MWO because of missed deadlines and "vaporware" but I keep thinking about how many people I see in other threads asking about how to learn more about the setting and the canon behind it. I can wait for CW, I think it would be nice to be able to hot-drop into a match and start running and gunning but I know that things will be bumpy on the way there.

[BARBAR0SSA]

Depends what polish means.
If it's:
destructible buildings and terrain...much like the original video
Intelligent hitboxes, eg missle pack on timber wolf, damaging hand actuators and so forth
Well designed map, forest battle, rolling dunes desert, flat badlands and for the love of god a massive city with towering buildings.
Base Assault
Hit Detection
Leaderboards
Various modes of 1v1,2v2, 4v4, 8v8, 12v12, 20v20 in scaled maps
Arena tournaments

Then I might say Polish

if CW is along the lines of

based around tactical targets that grant some form of reward be it weapon creation, mech upgrades(that can be destroyed), and various other perks.

PGI staff members should be analyzing the lances for ones that deserve recognition in their respective house.

Certain locations should present an unfair battle scenario for the agressors

Tactical overlay where house members can unite and plan objectives, and build more of a "house" synergy

Ultimately an end goal


Then I'd probably go that way.
If it's 12v12 for faction points and no actual legendary battles over resources other than you get points for a trinket, NO.

Edited by shad0w4life, 11 April 2014 - 12:39 PM.

[WarHippy]

McQueen, on 11 April 2014 - 10:38 AM, said:

For myself I want to see Community Warfare be the next priority after clan mechs. For me it would add more engagement to the current random string of drops. It would give me a bit more incentive to log back in after the game kicks me out after three or four matches. Even the limited map control described in the original description of CW would be fun to see. And as many others have said watching the Clan invasion play out would be great. It would add another layer of immersion to give the enjoyable but repetitive mech fights meaning and importance.

So you want Community Warfare because it will give more engagement to the random string of drops, but I have a question. Would you still support CW over polish if I was to inform you that CW will ultimately be those very same random string of drops that you have currently? Because I have this bad feeling that what we all are hoping CW will be are going to be greatly disappointed with what we get.

[Bhael Fire]

shad0w4life, on 11 April 2014 - 12:26 PM, said:

Depends what polish means.

Polish mostly means immersion details, like:

- destructible environments
- cockpit damage effects like sparks/smoke and canopy cracks/scoring
- collisions and knockdowns
- terrain effects on movement (e.g. thick foliage, water, etc)
- AI like infantry, vehicles, tanks, and aircraft
- etc.

[Vyrago]

^^

Yep.....all we really have and will continue to get is just random deathmatch drops. No missions, no attack-defend. seriously....not even capture the flag. But its ok, MOAR MECH SALES!!!

[Flying Blind]

As much as I would love the polish they talked about, I feel CW is absolutely vital to our continued existence and simply must be done ASAP.

[WarHippy]

Bhael Fire, on 11 April 2014 - 12:34 PM, said:

Polish mostly means immersion details, like:

- destructible environments
- cockpit damage effects like sparks/smoke and canopy cracks/scoring
- collisions and knockdowns
- terrain effects on movement (e.g. thick foliage, water, etc)
- AI like infantry, vehicles, tanks, and aircraft
- etc.

Add in fixes to Ui2.0 and mechlab so they don't feel so cruddy. Some of that stuff shouldn't have to wait for CW, and CW shouldn't have to wait for some of the things on the list. His question was bad because it makes you choose between bad and worse depending on your perspective.