3 replies to this topic

[Tenbatsu]

After a month and a half of development I'm relieved to announce that the Mechwarrior Online Lobby Ladder League is ready for testing.

If you're unfamiliar with MWOL, it's a real time gaming lobby framework designed to recreate the atmosphere and functionality of the Microsoft Gaming Zone; the lobby system used during Mechwarrior 3 and 4.

I have now built a ladder similar to the popular ones used during the MW3/4 days that's integrated directly into the lobby itself. This is a real time league, there's no need to refresh and jump between several different pages. The current rule set can be viewed here: https://mwolobby.com/league-rules

At this time I need units to help test the league and give me feedback before I can officially launch it with confidence. This league is no small project, I have invested a few hundred hours in the past month in a half (all of my free time) to make this happen.

Development to the league won't stop here however, I plan on continuously adding new features and new forms of competition between units to keep things interesting. As I have said in my other posts, I'm no marketer, I can't make people come to the lobby but I can say that having the community use the lobby and the league can only benefit the MWO competitive community as a whole.

I plan on making the league live in about two weeks depending on how many changes/fixes I need to do after testing. Any matches added now will be reset before the league officially starts. So feel free to make fake matches in the meantime to test out the league's functionality.

Thank you for your interest and I hope to see you and your unit in the lobby soon.

https://mwolobby.com

Note to mods: I hope you don't mind that I have made a new thread for the lobby. The league has been just as large of a project as the lobby itself and I feel it warrants its own thread.

Edited by Tenbatsu, 14 June 2014 - 02:54 PM.

[Cattra Kell]

Hurrah!
Can't wait!

[Tenbatsu]

The official start date for the league is July 1st. I will be notifying all registered lobby members this weekend of the launch.

I'm not much of a marketer but I do hope everyone gives the league a chance. The entire league is almost entirely real time including a real time bidding application that will allow you to quickly get league games started. There are few rules to memorize, the lobby does almost all the leg work for you. If you participated in any of the ladder leagues in MW3/4 you will feel right at home. I have taken those ideas and modernized them significantly while reducing the barrier to entry.

If you have any questions please let me know and I will try to answer them promptly.

http://mwolobby.com
http://mwolobby.com/league-rules

[Tenbatsu]

If you have been waiting on the sidelines for me to fix the match reporting and standings bugs then your wait is over. Match reporting works as intended and moderators now have the ability to repair matches that 'break' for some reason or another.

The ladder league can be a great community feature with some more active units. We've had about 30 matches played since the start and I can say with certainty everyone wishes there were more league games and more people to play against. It takes time to grow a community like this that's not directly supported by the game. Simple things like keeping the lobby running in a browser tab will go a long way to retaining people and growing the lobby and the league's active user base.

Please keep spreading the word and raising awareness if you are able to do so.

Thanks!

Edited by Tenbatsu, 10 July 2014 - 04:37 PM.