94 replies to this topic

[NocturnalBeast]

Nice, now I will have a reason to use my weapon module slots!

[Ren Kurogane]

While i'm happy that weapon mods will get more varieties, spending ~1k GXP (lvl 2 mod, for now) and 3M C-Bills (hope the price will go down though) to outfitted a mech with 1 mod to change 1 weapon type's behavior seems to be...grindy. And if i want to use it on another mech:

>I have to remove it from current mech to the next one. It's a pain in the butt with our current clickfest of an UI.
>I can't do that if my current mech destroyed early on a match and i decide to use other mech for enother match. Or should i waste another ~1k GXP and 3M C-Bills?

i was thinking something like this:
>different weapon manufacturers
>no more weapon mods, instead increase the GXP needed to unlock skill for a weapon and make the reward worth it too.
>weapon skills can be equipped on all owned mech, no more re-removing weapon skills between mech

and...make the mechbays available for C-Bills? This is what makes this game feel so freemium i think, even with free mechbays events...


edit: missing item(s)

Edited by Discarius, 20 August 2014 - 05:02 AM.

[Saint Scarlett Johan]

Wait... What? These things might actually become useful? Shite... I just just blew like 50mil Cbills on mechs in these last two sales...

[Ryvucz]

5th tier machine gun module for me.

[John1352]

A good loadout is going to cost more for modules than the mech itself. I want a level playing field. Grind to win is ****.

[Appogee]

I spent 6M CBills on Weapons Modules last night because the Mech Lab showed that the heat penalty had been removed. GG PGI.

As for new "cooldown modules"... by creating purchasable weapon enhancements, you are increasingly making this game so that the elite few with Cbills to spare to buy the enhancements will have enormous advantages over new players.

That's a STUPID development path, because it makes the elite even more omnipotent on the battlefield.

This game already has significant barriers to new players - understanding loadout rules, complex weapon systems, illogical concepts like ghost heat and artificial constraints on the number of Gauss rifles and all the rest. New players are not going to stick around getting slaughtered by hyper-optimised Mech loadouts that they can neither understand not afford.

BTW: I am one of the cashed-up and experienced players. So I will be advantaged by all your pay-CBills-to-win weapon modules. My concern is that you are killing the game with this poorly thought through design path.

Edited by Appogee, 19 August 2014 - 10:40 PM.

[Reno Blade]

On one hand people say the modules are not worth taking (10 meters on a 270m MLaser).
On the other hand, people are saying the modules give "enormous" advantage over new players.

That's balance, right?
I don't think even 30 meters on a MLaser (resulting in 300m range), would give someone an enormous advantage.
Either you are getting closer in a second, where the range advantage doesnt matter, or you are so far out that the damage of the weapon is minor.
If other modules like the mentioned cooldown is in the same range of 5-10%, that is nothing either.

Endgame content, they said. It's something to "max" your mech when you found your favorite mech you want to keep playing.
It's not for the "collectors" who want every mech elited/mastered in the mechbay.
Then you can swap your modules around.
Get yourself 1-3 sets and set up 1-3 mechs to play with instead of swapping all the time. It might cost you 2-3x what one set costs, but you won't need more than 3 sets and that is your limit to look for.

I don't think making/keeping modules useless is the right way to have a good new-player experience.
New players gameplay should be decided by a good tutorials and a good matchmaker that does not match beginners with veterans.

[Kmieciu]

Appogee, on 19 August 2014 - 10:25 PM, said:

I spent 6M CBills on Weapons Modules last night because the Mech Lab showed that the heat penalty had been removed. GG PGI.

As for new "cooldown modules"... by creating purchasable weapon enhancements, you are increasingly making this game so that the elite few with Cbills to spare to buy the enhancements will have enormous advantages over new players.

That's a STUPID development path, because it makes the elite even more omnipotent on the battlefield.

This game already has significant barriers to new players - understanding loadout rules, complex weapon systems, illogical concepts like ghost heat and artificial constraints on the number of Gauss rifles and all the rest. New players are not going to stick around getting slaughtered by hyper-optimised Mech loadouts that they can neither understand not afford.

BTW: I am one of the cashed-up and experienced players. So I will be advantaged by all your pay-CBills-to-win weapon modules. My concern is that you are killing the game with this poorly thought through design path.

My thoughts exactly.

Edited by Kmieciu, 21 August 2014 - 11:19 PM.

[Lily from animove]

sounds nice, this way we may finally have a chance to define some roles via modules. But then the horrible metaboats will have this ability t0 "more meta" even more.

[ATTAKowl]

Weapon cooldown or rate of fire modules would naturally cause a heat penalty, without actually coding an additional heat penalty. Thats a good move. And I look forward to seeing more creativity with weapon modules. There is quite a bit of potential for these things if the developers can find the time to invest in it.

Nobody I have played with thinks that the current weapon modules are worth the money. Suffering a heat penalty for 3mil+ Cbills to save from walking a few steps forward with direct fire weapons really is garbage. Honestly, Im surprised that our current modules have even existed for this long, and that I have also purchased a few.

Maybe some creative reworking of weapon modules will bring some of my favorite mechs back from the dead and ill be happy about buying that MC again. It would also help if everything didnt get nerfed at the whim of casual gamers who have the time to cry on forums all day. But thats a thing which plagues any online-only game. So I get it.

[Sky Hawk]

Ye, sure... Tier 5 Weapon Range Modules for my ERLLs and LRMs... Would be EXACT as usefull for me, as those from Tier 1-2 were... But, Please, PM me instantly, if you want give my stolen Mech Modules Slots back... So, I could use some of the really usefull Modules...

Edited by Sky Hawk, 20 August 2014 - 03:57 AM.

[Honiara]

Good news on the removal of the increased heat on the weapon modules, this will actually make people use them.

Only problem is they cost 3+ mil C-Bills and this an issue for new players as they cant afford that type of cost. The rest of us who have been playing for 2+ years will have enough c-bills but will do exactly what we do with our 'Mech modules and swap them between 'Mechs.

Why not make the cost of the Weapon Modules something realistic like 250,000 C-Bills then new players can afford them, and people who have a lot of 'Mechs will then buy modules for each 'mech rather than swapping them out, It would still be a c-bill sink but would give a quality of life improvement to your players, again without making a rift between veteran and new players

[Gorgo7]

Good news. Been expecting this for some time now.

[John1352]

Appogee, on 19 August 2014 - 10:25 PM, said:

I spent 6M CBills on Weapons Modules last night because the Mech Lab showed that the heat penalty had been removed. GG PGI.

As for new "cooldown modules"... by creating purchasable weapon enhancements, you are increasingly making this game so that the elite few with Cbills to spare to buy the enhancements will have enormous advantages over new players.

That's a STUPID development path, because it makes the elite even more omnipotent on the battlefield.

This game already has significant barriers to new players - understanding loadout rules, complex weapon systems, illogical concepts like ghost heat and artificial constraints on the number of Gauss rifles and all the rest. New players are not going to stick around getting slaughtered by hyper-optimised Mech loadouts that they can neither understand not afford.

BTW: I am one of the cashed-up and experienced players. So I will be advantaged by all your pay-CBills-to-win weapon modules. My concern is that you are killing the game with this poorly thought through design path.

THIS! READ IT AGAIN! While I've come to accept the stupid double heatsink tax, needing an extra 18m worth of modules (6m radar dep, 6m seismic, weapon 1 range, weapon 2 range) to get your mech onto a level playing field is ridiculous. It's even idiotic from a business point of view, as people will be buying modules instead of mechs (and mechbays).

Just to reiterate: Necessary modules are a bad business decision, as players will buy less mech bays due to grinding C-bills for modules.

[Haakon Magnusson]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 19 August 2014 - 05:07 PM, said:

We’ve discussed the concern and Alex has asked me to share what is to come for the modules:
For those curious, first, we intend to introduce additional levels to the Weapon Range modules, giving each a total of 5 ranks. This shall be introduced for the August 26^th patch.

In the meantime though, all you need to know is that heat penalties will continue to occur with weapon range modules until August 26^th, when they will be removed. For now, you can still see the effect of these penalties reflected in the Heat Management bar of your Mechlab.

Uh, so heat penalty is going to go.. what ever reason will I EVER have to buy lvl 1,2,3,4 modules then? (Not that the heat penalty really made them feasible either) Or are you revamping so that weapon module doesn't have a level?

All this sounds like weapon modules will be just a free range/dps/etc increase for free, so no choices or tradeoffs, simply a cbill sink for the "end game"?

[JimEvolved]

Has PGI given any estimates on GXP costs for the new levels?

[Sandslice]

Haakon Magnusson, on 20 August 2014 - 05:23 AM, said:

Uh, so heat penalty is going to go.. what ever reason will I EVER have to buy lvl 1,2,3,4 modules then? (Not that the heat penalty really made them feasible either) Or are you revamping so that weapon module doesn't have a level?

All this sounds like weapon modules will be just a free range/dps/etc increase for free, so no choices or tradeoffs, simply a cbill sink for the "end game"?

You can buy them, and they upgrade automatically as you buy into more ranks - which is exactly what happens with other ranked modules (eg Sensor Range.)

[Padre902]

I would be great to see some useful weapons modules. Right now tiny range increases for a minor heat penalty is not at all compelling, but adding multiple levels and new types might actually get me to invest in a weapons module!

[Steel Scout]

Appogee, on 19 August 2014 - 10:25 PM, said:

I spent 6M CBills on Weapons Modules last night because the Mech Lab showed that the heat penalty had been removed. GG PGI.

As for new "cooldown modules"... by creating purchasable weapon enhancements, you are increasingly making this game so that the elite few with Cbills to spare to buy the enhancements will have enormous advantages over new players.

That's a STUPID development path, because it makes the elite even more omnipotent on the battlefield.

This game already has significant barriers to new players - understanding loadout rules, complex weapon systems, illogical concepts like ghost heat and artificial constraints on the number of Gauss rifles and all the rest. New players are not going to stick around getting slaughtered by hyper-optimised Mech loadouts that they can neither understand not afford.

BTW: I am one of the cashed-up and experienced players. So I will be advantaged by all your pay-CBills-to-win weapon modules. My concern is that you are killing the game with this poorly thought through design path.

If your a new player your going to get slaughtered regardless of what you or anyone else is equipping. This game takes a while to get good enough to not get slaughtered in general. New players will not really know or care why they are dying, they will just be dying. And C-bills are free to get, nothing elitist in that. Just play the game and you get them. You dont need to have 20+ mechs in your stable to have fun or be good. I have a bunch but mostly because I bought them in packs. I barely play most of them. I could easily live with just 10 mechs and be good. Spending c-bills to kit those mechs out and be on par with anyone else who has oodles of c-bills and dozens of mechs.

[Cimarb]

Carrioncrows, on 19 August 2014 - 07:01 PM, said:

As has been mentioned a million times before, better off doing seperate "named" weapons that completely change how the weapon functions with out dramatically messing with the DPS of the weapon.

IE, changing range, heat, how it deals damage, and damage itself. (more dps = less FLD, more FLD = less dps, ect ect)

^This. Manufacturer variants are an immensely better way to handle weapons, and fits much better into the meaningful CW we all want.