529 replies to this topic

[Johnny Z]

Cellinor, on 11 September 2014 - 01:22 PM, said:

Will you be posting a list of mechs available for each Faction. While I have mechs in each weight group I don't know if I have my faction mechs in each weight group.

Wait two weeks for an answer to this in the FAQ. Gees cant you be patient and wait quietly.

HAHA j/k it has been answered a few times with varying degrees of success. I guess trial mechs can be taken if not all needed mechs are owned.

[RadioKies]

The only question that popped in my mind reading it was:
will you be able to see how many players there are in a faction? That way you can choose a faction that will get you more players to team-up with. Also we will get to laugh at the low amount of Liao players

Edited by RadioKies, 11 September 2014 - 01:30 PM.

[RapidFire7]

I've got a couple of questions:

1) Are there any perks for units/factions owning planets, a certain amount of planets and/or certain planets?

2) Which planets do each unit and faction start from?

[Virtusx]

I am kind of worried about this prime time thing. For those who have a family (wife and/or kids) it means that we may play during times that are not quite prime. I am in california and could play around 10:00 PM? Does that mean that I will not participate in the CW at all since I cannot make "prime time" hours?

[100 Tonne]

my questions are
1) I am in Australia, will there be a time zone allocated for zones like us?
2) Will attack/defend maps be made available for private matches, so we can set up a faction type game play any time?

[Revengex]

May I suggest you let us have a one time transfer of either IS mechs or Clan mechs to new accounts we create? You can split the MC and Cbills 50% each to avoid issues. Parts go with the mech type (IS/Clan).

This seems fairer than haveing us sell our is or clan mechs. And avoids the situation where 90% go is or clan, causing you devs side balance issues in community warfare.

Seems fair to me.


_______________________
Wrong us shall we not revenge?

[Gorgo7]

Larger Boards? Or enlarging the playing area of the current maps?
Modifying the current maps with choke points or new maps?

Re-spawn?

Sounds delightful.

[Andi Nagasia]

not sure if this has been answered already but,...
several questions, all tied into each other, here it goes,...

on account of how the Drop Deck and Respawns work,

Q1- will the Respawns be counted as a Team Ticket Type system?
-(100 total respawns for the whole team, team-mates share respawns)(problem new players wasting Respawns)

Q2- will the Respawns be client Player Ticket Type system having 4 tickets per person?
-(4 Respawns per player)(player chooses Class they want to drop in every time they die, then respawn)

Q3- will the player have a non ticket respawn, destroyed mechs cant be respawned in?
-(the Ligth got destroyed, you cant use that light for the rest of the match)


Q4- if Q3 is how you are doing it, than may the player be allowed to equip more than one Class of mech?
(balance wise 3-3-3-3 is out the window, when thinking of respawning as all 12 pilots could drop in Assaults)
(personally i only use Lights & Mediums, when in heavy or assault i die, Alot, since i play support-scout)

Q5- will you have players dropping in 3-3-3-3 for the initial drop? as that will keep balance at-least initially?
-(as no one can truly know when they will die, & most-likely wont suicide for assaults as its wasting spawns)

thanks,

Edit- Spelling

Edited by Andi Nagasia, 11 September 2014 - 04:05 PM.

[Lazor Sharp]

Opening doors/gates by destroying the generator should be only one way to open the Doors or Gates.

Need to have an outside and inside Door/Gate Control Panels to unlock, then open the Door/Gate.

Only mech's with command consoles, or a Special Module can unlock the Door/Gate Control Panels.

Only mech's with Hands/Claws and actuators can turn the Knob to open the Door/Gate. (WE really NEED SOMETHING to Do with the currently useless Mech Hands/Claws.)

The door knob has to be held on, while the Door/Gate opens until it is open completely, then it locks open.

If the mech lets go of the knob before the Door/Gate is fully open, then the door will auto shut and lock again....

Then a unlock and turn the knob can close the Door/Gate.

If the mech lets go of the knob before the Door/Gates fully closed, then the door will auto open and lock again....

Your team mates would have to defend the Mech that is unlocking/opening/closing the Door/Gate. Perhaps that mech cant shoot any weapons while holding the

door knob.....

Radar control towers for controlling turrets, etc..., could have the same Lock/Unlock and hold a Knob on for a time period to shut off/turn on theTurrets/Generator etc..

A major Drop Objective (something like shutting down the HPG Link) could use similar Lock/Unlock and hold a Knob on for a time period to shut off/turn on the Objective.....
The HPG Map already has the gate choke points as a part of the map, and only needs the gates and various kinds of control panels added to the map

These features would add to the Role warfare aspects that most players want.

And if a team does not destroy infrastructure like generators/turrets/radar towers/gates/doors through using good tactics, will make you extra points when your faction capture's the planet, or your faction has less cost to rebuild, restock, etc, to then defend that planet......


Have A Drop Deck or 2 or 3 with all individual mech's on them, for each Planet that a unit has bid to defend, or on Attacker drop ships sent to that planet, and if a mech is on a Drop Deck on one planet, than it can NOT be on a Drop Deck on any other drop ship or planet, while the unit is at that planet during some time frame. This would make ppl use all their different mech's in their inventory, or buy more of the mech's they like, or use trial mech's, or use unit owned mech's, to be able to defend or attack more planets, or defend/attack the same planet during a given time frame in the various battle front lines

Let various different Load Outs for a individual Mech, be selectable from a drop down menu, so that different weapons/tactics can be used depending on the situation

so you attack or defend one planet several times in a night with the same mech's... then maybe attack / defend another planet only once with a different set of mech's, then another planet pops up needing attacking or defending, then back to the first Planet for another round that night, and you have spent several hours playing and using your stable of mech's.....

let a unit help new players use a number of different unit owned mechs that are on a unit drop deck, till they can build up their own stable, and can drop all over the place in what they like.....

Edited by Lazor Sharp, 11 September 2014 - 03:46 PM.

[Jakob Knight]

A few points from my perspective on this....

1) The Devs need to come up with different terms for Faction (Clan / IS ) and Faction (Successor State, Individual Clan, Merc, Lone Wolf). Right now, the terms are being thrown around interchangeably, leading to confusion in if mech availability will be restricted to only those available between IS or Clan sides, or only those available to a particular State or individual Clan (the later of which would violate the original core ideal that no player would be restricted in what mech they could pilot in the game...the specific issue of, for instance, playing a Kuritan mech in a Lyran unit was pledged to never be an issue...it would all be a matter of prices and discounts, never prohibition from using a mech based on the nationality of the player).

2) It was noted back in the days of the 'four pillars' that a pilot should choose their side and fight for it, that changing factions would not go unnoticed and have very negative consequences. Yet, now it seems this is being actively encouraged rather than made an action only to be taken with grave consideration. When was this forgotten or discarded as a primary concern of CW?

3) The entire respawn mechanic is suspect, as the mortality of the pilots (you only participate in the battle as long as your mech is active, and once you are out, you are out) is a primary reason battles proceed as they do. Providing a means for pilots to suicide without fear of being removed from the battle, and the knowledge that a brand new mech is waiting if the pilot simply gives up on their damaged on, completely changes player behavior, and not for the better. Indeed, longer battletimes with the current 'one life is all you get, so be careful how you spend it' would only enhance the simulator aspect of what has become increasingly a sports game instead of the armored combat war game it was always supposed to be.

4) CW has -always- been the focus and intended play mode of MWO, and the current 'free play' mode was supposed to be an alternative, 'does not matter/does not affect normal play' mode of play. Thus, all decisions and concepts must be based on CW being the game players in MWO will be involved in when they launch the program. Claiming that it is okay to put restrictions on CW play because players can still pilot whatever they want in a mode never intended to be the core of MWO is rather like claiming it is okay to place restrictions on the fuel a fire company can have in their vehicles because it doesn't affect them as long as they stay in the Station. In both cases, it's placing restrictions that were never supposed to be there in what is expected of the participants. And, yes, the decision to put out the Clan mechs without informing the buyers that these would be restricted from play (which had never been done in the game before), especially before CW was implemented and the players could have an idea that restrictions such as these would be part of it, was a serious mistake that now rolls into this issue.

5) Jump jets were reduced in effectiveness completely on the basis that they were for terrain avoidance. Yet, it seems the chokepoints in CW are being designed so that only light mechs with a high jump rating may take advantage of the system as it was intended to operate. Why, I wonder, would a Highlander be intentionally prevented from being able to use its jump jets for assaulting the enemy position, the specific role of both the mech and its jump jets? This flies in the face of the argument that jump jets should not be tactical systems (used for high maneuverability, jump sniping, and increasing the difficulty of enemy fire to hit the jumping mech), but terrain avoidance (getting over obstacles and tactical objectives).

I hope someone among the Devs are thinking of these points, and that they avoid the pitfalls I've described.

Edited by Jakob Knight, 11 September 2014 - 04:21 PM.

[Devayner]

Wintersdark, on 10 September 2014 - 05:52 PM, said:

I'm very curious how this impacts Lone Wolf and Unaligned Merc Units.

Do Lone Wolf units count as IS? Clan? Does my Merc Unit *have* to be Clan or IS? Thus, if I join a Merc Unit, we all must decide together which faction we're going to be (even though we're not fighting for any particular faction, but rather ourselves)?

So, if I understand this correctly, any given unit, even Lone Wolf Merc Units, may only play in CW with half their mechs?

And thus, along this thinking: In choosing a merc unit to join, a player must consider what mechs he has - and know that no matter what, he'll only be able to use mechs of that faction while participating in CW?


In the old CW presentation at the Launch Party, you said there would be: General pug (lonewolf?) play, Faction Play, and Merc Unit Play. Is this no longer the case? Are all Merc Units now Faction Units?

I to would like to know any specifics on how a merc unit or LW is diffrent than a pure faction .I like the Merc perspective .

And BTW how about some icon luv for the mercs and LW every one else has colorful icons, some even got to vote for what they wanted. We Mercs and LW are stuck with grayscale , like second rate citizens, no luv. j/k but really plz new icons. ima MW to .

Edited by Devayner, 11 September 2014 - 05:13 PM.

[Lysander Voidrunner]

With the way you explained the chokepoint idea, it makes me think that it doesn't really apply to the current maps. Seeing as P2 is going to be out fairly soon(ish) does that mean that there are other maps that are being worked on or that have been completed that we don't know of?

[Postumus]

Please come up with some other mechanic for using different mechs than 3 month "seasons" followed by resets. If I, as part of a dedicated unit, spent months of time in order to conquer planets and influence boundaries, securing whatever rewards for holding territory, it would feel like a giant kick in the pants for that to just be wiped or reset after some arbitrary length of time, no matter what I do to hold or not hold that territory. It also really breaks immersion.

There has to be other ways to make use of non-faction mechs besides regular 3-month "do-overs" for affiliation, especially if the end of the season also comes with a map wipe, as mentioned in the post.

I get that there could be concerns about units "locking down" planets so that they never change control, but this is something that can be dealt with through capture mechanics and alliances better than Deus Ex Machina interventions. Community warfare is exciting because of the persistence of the universe, and that persistance is your only claim to being an MMO.

If you need inspiration on ways to run a persistant, conquerable map, there are several games that do this. EVE is an excellent example, because the territorial control is entirely player controlled, and yet there is constant turnover of systems. The top dog in an area can and often does get pushed out.

Please rethink map resets.

Edited by Postumus, 11 September 2014 - 06:13 PM.

[SirLankyIII]

Are there any plans to add objectives to the existing maps (that already have appropriate assets) that are precursor missions or missions run parallel to the invasion missions.

Some examples might be

• Defend/capture the radar installation on forest colony or the Refinery on caustic valley
  
• Defend/Shutdown the comm tower on forest colony (perhaps add a generator that must be defended)
  
• Hold the cargo ship(forest colony)/dropship(frozen city) while waiting for heavy ordnance to move into firing range
  
• Secure the comm tower on river city
  
• Defend the dropship on river city
  
• Secure lost intel/tech/salvage on tourmaline

Some of the bigger maps have multiple points of interest available, Alpine has four or five installations that could be used and Crimson Straight has several as well that could be utilised. Objective options for each maps could provide CW missions during off-peak times and spice up the regular match queue.

[Docta Pain]

(forgive me, I was only able to read the first 14 pages without seeing my question represented the way I feel about it, so pages 15-22, I'm sorry for not reading you)

I understand that the new features discussions are dominating this thread, but there is a notable lack of concern over the economics, or rewards for the hard-'grind'-ed c-bills. You said you'd only be answering popular questions and no one else is very concerned, but the economics drive behavior, even if the vast majority only salivate over features.

1) What will CW:P2 allow Merc Units to do with the coffers? The only stated functions of coffers (that I have read with my own eyes) are to A) acquire dropships... implying it has an impact on the efficacy of the Merc Unit and that dropships endow benefits, and B ) upgrading the turrets and planetary defenses on bases the Merc Unit has won control over. Please confirm that A & B are still part of your path and if there are C, D, E that I am currently ignorant of, or if coffers were implemented and will be mothballed as a non-used function.

2) What are the economic implications of having a large Merc Unit? As in, are there upkeep costs per member (please no!), or other considerations we should be aware of? (this may sound like a stupid question, but I think many felt broadsided by some of the Faction specificness currently announced)

3) Will units be able to tax members (non-voluntary donations, like 5% of c-bill earnings from all non-CW matches)

4) What are the benefits for attacking v defending... should a Merc Unit with a 12-man already formed up be better served by waiting around for an hour or two to see if they have to do a 2-minute fire drill to defend their planet or should they take that 12-man and go on an attacking spree??? Or just on an attacking spree and then if your planet falls just re-attack it over and over and over and...?

5) What are the economic costs to the players, and to the unit (two questions here), for failing in their objective to attack or defend? Is one more costly, like attack and lose and your unit loses the c-bill equivalent of all the mechs used, whereas the defender only loses half the value??? Or the defender loses twice as much because they paid for the turrets??? A successful attack grants a 3x c-bill bonus to each player, or a reward of a salvaged clan omni-pod placed into each winning player's inventory?

6) You see where I'm going with this? The c-bill grind is what limits me from buying all the mechs that I want to try, and now there are soooooo many c-bill sinks designed into the game that are soooooo non-lore (weapon modules, modules in general), and some that have some basis in lore but are still over-grindy (DHS tax), that I will never be competitive with the die-hard players because of the arms race, so I feel under-equipped now whereas I was on equal-ish footing before. What snares are waiting to snatch me up and make it even more of a grind?

7) I am asking because you know the phrase... "The devil's in the [stuff we don't tell you until after you commit to purchasing a Phoenix Package to get Mechs with loyalty bonuses and faction medallions we still haven't told you if you gain benefits from as a Merc]"

Edit: removed unintentional emoticon.

Edited by Docta Pain, 11 September 2014 - 07:51 PM.

[NoSkillRush]

looking good you guys. looking forward to it.

[William McNab]

Looks interesting.
Mercenary game play appears to be missing.
Mercenaries and Lone Wolves should not suffer major penalties for faction changes. Or should be able to drop for any faction.

[Ramsess]

People... stop thinking that this is a "Faction life".... the way this phase is going to work is aimed towards mercenary units.

Why? Because factions units should not bid on contracts to defend their faction/planet they should just defend their frigging planet.
Its like if the USA were being invaded but Blackwater outbid USA on a contract to defend itself.

[Corbon Zackery]

People... stop thinking that this is a "Faction life".... the way this phase is going to work is aimed towards mercenary units.

Why? Because factions units should not bid on contracts to defend their faction/planet they should just defend their frigging planet.
Its like if the USA were being invaded but Blackwater outbid USA on a contract to defend itself


This whole statement falls under the 23% rule that the developers have adopted for the year. Russ already admitted that 77% of the community is PUG related. So why are we writing content for the simple few instead of the whole community? This is why we feel so angry at the PGI team.

So far this year we have had this year:
Tournaments that favor the 23%
Private matches useful for that 23% but for the community in whole it was a waste of time.
We have 7 Battlemasters why because the 23% of the community wanted another one.
We have Sparky that another Hero Battlemech based off the 23%
23% of the community has a say in phase 2 as to were battles are started. We get to fight but were not paid for the contract that doesn't make sense and clearly favors the 23%.

All this stuff that's for 23%. Well now its time to take over, and demand content for the 77% that's been left behind this year. Community warfare should be for the 77% and not controlled by the 23% who worship Russ and praise him like a god.

[Void Angel]

My Primary concern is this - please forgive me if I missed someone else's raising it:

• What controls are in place to control the potential time requirements Community Warfare on defense? As described, If a merc corp or House unit wants to defend their own planet, they've got to keep a drop team online doing nothing 24/7, or just kinda hope the faction pugs pick up the slack. Some of us are big enough for that - but I'd be amazed if many are. I realize it may not be possible to hold onto a planet on your own, but more information

I'd also like to reiterate the concerns I've seen about a respawn mechanic - there really needs to be a strong downside to dying, whether through respawn timers, resource costs, etc.


There's a lot of things on my mind, but those are the only two I've thought out yet. I'm excited to see CW start to take shape!

PS: Oh look at that; it's Occupy Nerdstreet... "we are the 77%!"

Edited by Void Angel, 11 September 2014 - 10:30 PM.