143 replies to this topic

[Valhakar]

Comguard, on 20 June 2012 - 04:49 AM, said:

People who love Battletech must be pretty old (in terms of videogaming!) because the last "real" game was, like what, 10 years ago?

People who love the Battletech Tabletop are probably even older.

As a consequence: those people have jobs, families and so on.

My question: will the die-hard and matured Battletech-Fans have a chance against the new generation of young Powergamers who can invest multiple amounts of time into this game?

Just imagine: Player 1 is 40 years old, has 50 Battletech-Novels on his shelf, the miniatures painted by himself have a special place - but in-game everyone calls him noob

(Hope this thread isn't taken to seriously )

Edit: Oh, just as a short info, I'm on the side of the old

Lucky for us old farts, this game is based around virtual cash. You either spend hours upon hours earning c-bills in game to gear up a mech build. Those of us that are older have the cash to build the mechs we need to fill the tactical role we choose or are assigned by a leader.

Younger twitch gamers will focus on "1337 skillz" and "POWAAAAHHH" builds, the old farts will spend the cash to have the 2 long range support mechs to have short range weapons such as SRM crossfire from hell.

Edited by Valhakar, 20 June 2012 - 06:34 AM.

[ev0l]

Id say as long as there is no nade spamming or n00b tubing us older guys shoudl have a good shot!

[Zack Delphirian]

Is peak for myself (26) and my dad (57) who still plays a lot, mostly CoD and FPS games in general.

Our skills are complementary. His aiming skills are not that great, he takes time to aim and fire and doesn't respond all that well in heated situations. But I'm here for that, been playing games since I was 3 and I'm far from being a "powergamer" but I can hold my own. Now put him in a more "tactical" situation, like a ghost recon game for example, I will let him lead and he will have the patience and the cleverness and the experience not only to lead the team (well...me), but to wait for the right timing and all.

As written on his Harley's helmet : "Old age and treachery overcomes youth and skill". Always makes my laugh...

To sum up, mix and match the young with the old guys, you get yourself a team with experience and skills

[FLAKPANZER]

I think anyone (young or old) who plays this game with the expectations that the gameplay will be "Run & Gun" (Call of Duty, BF3, Halo, etc.) will be in for a big surprise.

To answer the original question, though, I think powergamers usually always have the edge....People will make spreadsheets of weapon effectiveness at range, and the best possibly ways to tweak mech builds. The amount of time put in usually equates to some sort of performance increase - though smart and sneaky will also trump poor judgment, regardless of time spent in-game.

[Kosomok]

Easily, on 20 June 2012 - 05:06 AM, said:

I'm 22 myself, and if my dad (60) is a good representation of the skill of players around his age.. Let's just say I fear for you oldies
He only plays about an hour a week on avarage (mostly Battlefield and Call of Duty), but watching him makes me cringe..
He's usually more of a danger to his teammates than to the enemy

Luckily, one sample is far from enough to get a good representation of a population, so perhaps there's still hope

I hace been playing wargames since the days of Avalon Hill and SSI, before computers were anything but large boxes in their own rooms with guys wearing white lab coats running them... I have been playing computer games since they were available on computers.... I still hold my own in most of the games I play, playing in Raiding Kins and led raids in multiple MMOs... so, ya I think I can hold my own in this game

As they saying goes.... Old age and treachery will win out over youth and enthusiasm most of the time.

Edited by Kosomok, 20 June 2012 - 06:44 AM.

[OperationExodus]

I am an EVE player, and I can tell you that while spreadsheeting can significantly help in optimizing configurations, it never makes up for the ability to stay cool under fire or for skill at playing the game.

[Thomas de Ville]

Zack Delphirian, on 20 June 2012 - 06:35 AM, said:

Is peak for myself (26) and my dad (57) who still plays a lot, mostly CoD and FPS games in general.

Our skills are complementary. His aiming skills are not that great, he takes time to aim and fire and doesn't respond all that well in heated situations. But I'm here for that, been playing games since I was 3 and I'm far from being a "powergamer" but I can hold my own. Now put him in a more "tactical" situation, like a ghost recon game for example, I will let him lead and he will have the patience and the cleverness and the experience not only to lead the team (well...me), but to wait for the right timing and all.

As written on his Harley's helmet : "Old age and treachery overcomes youth and skill". Always makes my laugh...

To sum up, mix and match the young with the old guys, you get yourself a team with experience and skills

That´s what I mean a healty mix of all ages 18+ like our unit :
http://alag.enjin.com/home
Old or young doesen´t matter.
See you there.

[Tekkiller]

Valore, on 20 June 2012 - 04:57 AM, said:

A little puzzled about the OP, why is age being associated with skill? The more correct association should be time and skill

It has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with the amount of time you can invest. But that's not really a problem with the game though, any skill in existence is like that.

I'm closer to 40 than to 30. I used to game a lot. Don't have the time anymore, but that's only part of it.

The other big part are reflexes. Very few people maintain the same reflexes as they grow old. I think the peak is somewhere before 25 years of age. After that, you just get slower. Your tactical thinking might improve (or not); your strategic thinking might improve (or not), but your reflexes deteriorate (I noticed in the SC2, my mind is there, but I just can't react and execute as well as I could in SC 10 years ago).

So I think younger folks will have an inherent advantage. How much of an advantage depends on the gameplay and, in this game 'Mech. I would think that in a typicall FPS shooter, reflexes represent a bigger contribution to overall success than in a round-based strategy game. So I'd think that, given the MWO mechanics, slower reflexes won't hurt as much as in an FPS shooter.

When in doubt, join a Solahma unit and hang back as fire support =p

[Nain]

I'm noticing a trend.. most of the Legendary founders are posting for the 'Old Farts' (myself included). I've been gamining since the Nintendo and my first computer was a Commodore 64.

I'm a member of a gaming syndicate that's been gaming together since 2001. We're all older guys that have been fighting together for years. We know each other and how we'll react. This game seems to be right up our alley in terms of tactics and coordination.

[Sam Slade]

After watching people in TOG (The Older Gamers: multi-game clan with a 25+ age bracket) and comparing it to other clans I've seen and played with across a variety of games/platforms, including the ex-military only types, I'd go with a mature intelligent crowd without a doubt. More adaptable, less egomania... just a more efficient and intuitive group dynamic. Same reason old wolves stay the leader of the pack for so long.

Start reading Sun Tzu...

[Schtirlitz]

Agree. The ability to adapt and form more efficient and pleasant community is the largest benefit of "older" players.

[Yuba Frank]

Don't bet against older and wiser! Remember the story about the old bull and the young bull....

[Braedin]

well i dont know about most people. but some of us older players are retired/semi retired/mostly retired. we also have lots of money and free time.. where as the young guns so they call themselves. have to go to work, make money to pay their bills.

[a rabid chihuahua]

I believe one thing will become clear, this is about group combat,you can be a super gamer ,but skill will b emroe effective in this game if you have a crew to help,you can be a loan wolf mech pilot,but unlike your "twitch" shooter games your not going to be spawn camping ,and one shotting the entire other team yourself. Some new kid in an assault mech can still be taken down by some of us ol' folks in lighter mechs,if you use the cababilities of the frame and your skilll.

[Pando]

Well,

I'm twenty three, married with a family (I have a job too >.<) and have played tabletop for 8 consecutive years. In addition to, have been an avid video gamer since I turned twelve with my most notable achievement being that of professional level in Halo 2 for one full year from 06'-07' competing in several MLG tournaments and placing well.

To answer your question OP, I believe everyone has the potential to place among the highest skilled in the game provided they have "know how" on improving one'self. I believe in "time well spent". I've always recorded my playing. Through watching videos I've been able to see / log all of my mistakes (with my wife's help!) and work on turning weakness into strength. Remember, we are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.

I play games for fun! However, there are many types of fun in my opinion. For me, playing the game is just as enjoyable as imputing the mechlab stats into a massive excel spreadsheet and using macros to auto-generate mathematical load-outs for myself (then testing them!). Or, spending 1-4 hours theory crafting on skill trees, variants/load-outs to compliment the experience in its entirety (or an equivalent of time coordinating with my friends/family to play better together in-game).

Op, it's good you've gained a plethora of Battletech knowledge. You've got a leg'up on the vast majority of powergamers having said knowledge IMO. I wish you the best of luck pursuing your objective in MWO.

[a rabid chihuahua]

"the badger walks ,why the eagle flies,.....but he badger doesn't get sucked into jet engines".

[WhiskyLen]

My thought is it will be alot like WOW was the younger players will like PVP type senarios where they get to show their skill one on one, older players will like team environements like raiding where the younger players ussually don't have the willingness to take orders and fill their role even if it means lowwer stats. I raided in a top guild when I was playing WOW, I was one of the top druids (feral dps and tanking) on my server and our guild would always struggle with the younger players (most of us were in our mid 30's) because they wanted to just DPS and have the best stats. If BT is the way it should be tactics will be key, one of your most skilled players will need to be a scout who doesn't get seen and lets everyone else rain fire down on the enemy. Teamwork like this is more likly from more mature players because we have the patients to learn to work together (I'm not bashing all younger players there are quite a few that understand tactics and team work but this is less about reflexes and more about knowledge which gives us older players an edge). My only concern is that they will make extensive gameplay the only way you can afford to compete in the game (WOW was unfortuantly this way, you had to put rediculous hours in to have the equipment neccesary to raid). Hopefully they make the game more about skill and tactics and less about equipment.

Len

[HellJumper]

Time will have nothing to do with skill... so both sides can easily beat the hell out of each other...it all depends on who can learn /adapt better than the other

I have seen many players in wot who play hours and hours, got many more games then me, better tanks but still their win ratio is bad, there damage is less than mine and their kills are lesser than mine..and they still suck

[Zolaz]

Talk is cheap there is only scoreboard.

[CowboyHatValor]

Honestly? I might be a 'younger' gamer (25), but I would much prefer playing with a mature, level-headed and generally decent gamer who might have a bit less experience, over someone who is pretty good, but makes me want to bash my face against the keyboard at how much of an ******* they are.

This has generally been my experience. Nothing is in stone, but a younger gamer has a bigger risk of being an *******.