121 replies to this topic

[Kyle Polulak]

LANCE CHALLENGE



Greetings MechWarriors,



We are pleased to invite you all to try out our first ever Lance Challenge.



You can track your progress in the Challenges page here: https://mwomercs.com...type=challenges.

You are automatically entered into any challenge, no opt-in required.



There are three tiers to this challenge, each with their own reward unlocked upon completion. Points are assigned based on Kills, Assists, TAG, NARC and Spotting. If your team successfully wins the match, 4 additional points will be added your total. In order for points to be awarded, you MUST be in a group of 4 players: No more, no less. You may, however, mix and match your lancemates across the weekend, as well as play in any game modes.



Please see the notes below for more specific details on the Challenge. See you on the battlefield!



Event Type: Challenge.

Event Begins: Friday, September 5th, 2014 at 10AM PDT / 1PM EDT / 5PM UTC.

Event Ends: Tuesday, September 9th, 2014 at 10AM PDT / 1PM EDT / 5PM UTC.



Prizes:

• Tier 1 (200 Points): 3-days of Premium Time.
  
• Tier 2 (550 Points): 1 Free Mechbay.
  
• Tier 3 (950 Points): 6 million C-Bills.

Scoring:

• Points are only awarded while playing in a Group of 4.
  
• Kill: 1 Point.
  
• Assist: 2 Points.
  
• Spot Bonus: 2 Points.
  
• TAG Assist: 2 Points.
  
• NARC Assist: 2 Points.
  
• Victory: 4 Points.

LANCE OF HEROS DAILY SALE 50% off



Friday 10am PDT to Saturday 10am PDT



Jenner Hero - Oxide

Hunchback Hero - Grid Iron

Catapult Hero - Jester

Atlas Hero - The Boar's head



Saturday 10am PDT to Sunday 10am PDT



Firestarter Hero -Ember

Trebuchet Hero - Loup De Guerre

Jagermech Hero - Firebrand

Victor Hero - Dragon Slayer



Sunday 10am PDT to Monday 10 am PDT



Commando Hero - Death's Knell

Centurion Hero - Yen-Lo_Wang

Both Dragon heros - Fang and Flame

Highlander Hero - Heavy Metal



Monday 10 am PDT to Tuesday 10am PDT



Raven Hero - Huginn

Cicada Hero - The X-5

Orion hero - Protector

Awesome Hero - Pretty Baby




EDIT: Tuesday 10am PDT to Wednesday 10 am PDT



Commando Hero - Death's Knell

Centurion Hero - Yen-Lo_Wang

Both Dragon heros - Fang and Flame

Highlander Hero - Heavy Metal

[Alymbic]

I'm really trying with this, but it has been an uphill struggle with 420ms ping to your new data center

[Prezimonto]

It's really too bad that none of my usual gamer friends toughed out playing this game. We used to be able to field a team of 8 with no problems. Now it's just me once or twice a week.

*edit*

I'm not sad that they're doing a lance challenge... that's great. I'm sad it so much later than would have been useful to keep my friends interested and playing.

Edited by Prezimonto, 06 September 2014 - 07:04 PM.

[Tiger Dad]

Not liking this challenge as much. I know there were complaints about people being able to get their teams and friends in to play and earn points but it's harder for us "lone wolves." At least they had a chance to earn the achievements. I on the other hand, can't find a lance for my life. But it is what it is. Thanks for the constant challenges and ways to earn stuff.

[BLOOD WOLF]

http://mwomercs.com/...57#entry3696857

Tiger Dad, on 06 September 2014 - 07:01 PM, said:

Not liking this challenge as much. I know there were complaints about people being able to get their teams and friends in to play and earn points but it's harder for us "lone wolves." At least they had a chance to earn the achievements. I on the other hand, can't find a lance for my life. But it is what it is. Thanks for the constant challenges and ways to earn stuff.

Tiger Dad, on 06 September 2014 - 07:01 PM, said:

Not liking this challenge as much. I know there were complaints about people being able to get their teams and friends in to play and earn points but it's harder for us "lone wolves." At least they had a chance to earn the achievements. I on the other hand, can't find a lance for my life. But it is what it is. Thanks for the constant challenges and ways to earn stuff.

look in that thread and spread it around. Add the people who need groups.

Also feel free to add me.

[Grayson Sortek]

PGI, IGP, whatever you want to call yourselves, thank you! I'm really happy that you are listening to your community!

Challenge report so far:
I've noticed that teams are working a lot closer at least in terms of supporting one another. I don't see people yelling about stealing kills and I am seeing a lot of mixed unit tactics ranging from LRM boats and spotters to group brawlers with LRM support. All in all I think that you are starting to get close to the perfect challenge.

With that being said, I am a little confused about why this has to be completed in a lance of 4? This would have been a perfect opportunity to encourage more teamwork in pugs!
The problem that I am running into is that I am a part of a small unit that my friends and I put together, but we all have somewhat busy lives and our schedules don't often match up to where there are 4 of us on. I don't know if you are trying to encourage people to join larger units, or maybe encourage more people to partner up with strangers, or...?

Unfortunately I can't really report more on how the challenge is going since my friends and I haven't been able to get a group going since yesterday. We are going to attempt to try and schedule some time for tomorrow so that we can get on and continue the challenge, but I have no idea if we will actually do this. Hopefully I'll be able to give you an update to my challenge report.

Thank you again for listening to your community!

[p4r4g0n]

The challenge has shown precisely why we need in game mechanisms that allow people to look for groups beyond jumping in the solo queue and asking in global chat "Who wants to group up for the challenge?" The fact that I was able to find 2 in a single solo drop is probably a pretty good indicator that there are a fair number of people who would participate if there was an easy way to do this.

Pending any such mechanism being introduced, I would suggest that in such future challenges, kindly include in your announcement the various external means by through which players can find groups easily e.g.

• Jumping on one / more of the TS3 servers - NGNG seemed to be the most popular during NA off peak
  
• MWO Lobby - haven't tried this but could have been endorsed by PGI to make this a congregation point for those w/o TS
  
• Creating a thread on the forum where those looking for groups could have posted

As far the challenge itself, I think it is a much better approach compared to the grind of the immediately preceding tiered challenge. The only downside is the constraint of needing a group of exactly 4 compared to the ability to just drop solo or in any sized group and work on it.

Gameplay wise, I second Grayson Sortek's post. Teamplay has improved slightly compared to last challenge as there are actual rewards for some role warfare and definitely a big improvement over the kill frenzies that erupt whenever kills become a major factor in past events.

[Carl Avery]

So far, this is the best challenge I've seen. Unlike the past challenges, which rewarded kill-stealing and suicide-farming rather than teamwork & legitimate play, this one rewards actions which help your team win, which is great.

It is indeed annoying to need exactly four players; this is breaking up small groups and creating awkward situations on Teamspeak. I would have made it a "small group challenge" ... two to four players, rather than exactly four. And, some take issue with the amount of LRMs that the NARC rewards are bringing to the field! However, mild annoyances are not enough to make the challenge unpleasant; they're minor hitches in what's otherwise a massive step forward.

So, while some improvements could be made, overall this challenge is a refreshing change for the better, and I think the idea of this one is quite solid. [thumbs up]

: )

Edited by Carl Avery, 06 September 2014 - 09:35 PM.

[Modo44]

I would suggest upping the win reward a bit. People seem to ignore caps on conquest in favor of chasing kills.

[Carl Wrede]

This is a good challenge but it also rather blatantly puts the glaring error of not having an ingame general/faction chat to find groups to play with into focus.

[Training Instructor]

As I predicted last week, the matches are filled with Ravens tagging/narcing and 2-3 lrm boats waiting to bomb people.

It's like the solo challenges, but with a group!

*That was meant to be sarcasm*

[WVAnonymous]

It's a great incentive to pick up total strangers...

As a frequent LRM boater, by the way, I am loving this scoring system. I have never had such fantastic TAG/NARC/UAV support from my teams.

People aren't even kill stealing, and if so, who cares? The assist is worth more.

[Bala Gi]

The Challenge itself is a good way to bring People together and working together but it clearly shows the lack of a general chat system not limited to units or groups. I like the idea to make it lance based as this is the smallest organized group in BT but as one of the lone wolfes its a pain to hop through several single queue matches to pickup people and meanwhile slacking in the match itself as its ur main goal to recruit someone there instead of doing ur best to make the team win.
So overall a good idea but generates the need for a new chat system

[Barkem Squirrel]

There is a thread for the different teamspeak servers:

UNOFFICIAL & COMMUNITY-RUN VOICE CHAT SERVERS

http://mwomercs.com/...e-chat-servers/

[Barkem Squirrel]

I agree that there needs to be a VOIP system, but with what we have to work with are other means for now.

One thing I have been seeing is many teams identified with the new and shiny 4 digit identifies dropping with one or two players with no tags. Even tags from other groups intermixed.

Of course there are the side effects, increased search time for PUG matches, decreased time for group matches, Lights with TAG or NARC, and the battlefield is always in the shade.

At most I would think 20 point average for a game on the low side and that would mean about 48 matches at 4 an hour or 12 hours of play from mid Friday to mid Tuesday. That is playing Friday night, Some Saturday, Some Sunday, Monday night. Then on the high side some people will average over 50 points per game, so 17 games or a little over 4 hours of play.

This also may be a good chance to increase the size of some of the groups.

Is this a mechanism for PGI to help increase the number of groups or the size of the groups for faction warfare?
Interesting though, hum.

[Vidarok]

I've no one to play with, so this challenge is essentially dead weight right off the bat. Good luck to the people who decide to go for it.

[Arn0ldSchwarzenegger]

Vidarok, join the public servers such as NGNG and Comstar, loads of ppl forming groups there. Or better still join a unit!

[Nightmare1]

So far, it's been a blast! Thanks PGI for hosting a lance challenge!

[Bront]

This has been highly amusing. Words echoed in chat that I rarely hear.

"Dang it, I didn't mean to kill that guy!"
"Sweet! Someone else killed him!"
"Why aren't my teammates steeling my kills?"

It's pure awesome.

This change wasn't as bad as I thought. Once we got over trying to chase the Narc/TAG bonuses and simply got back to playing our game, things started rolling quickly. I have a shot at the top reward, which is something I didn't have with the contest 2 weeks ago. Still think the point requirements are a little unforgiving at times.

Some feedback:
1) 4 man only is mildly annoying. It's hard to find exactly a 4 man. Why not allow up to a 4 man group? It also has made matchmaking for any non-4 or 8 man group difficult.

2) A few things that really should also award points:
Component Destructions - 1 Point - It makes kills worth 2 and promotes dismantling an opponent vs spreading damage.
Counter-ECM - 1 Point - Can be done with the UAV, BAP, or ECM. It helps promote teamwork as well.
Turret Destruction - 1 Point - Encourage base assaults
Capture Assist - 2 points - Makes conquest slightly better for points, or awards points for a full base cap.

Adjust the awards a bit if you need to, not that these add lots of points, but they're all role warfare things that help promote teamwork.

Anyway, well done PGI, for a mostly enjoyable challenge that I think simply needs a few tweaks.

[ERescue]

Sent out several friend requests to people who were looking for additional people. If you see me online, check whether I am available.