142 replies to this topic

[Mawai]

I have played every Mechwarrior computer game from the original Mechwarrior through Mechwarrior 4. I really like them all. I never played the online multiplayer modes (maybe once) because it was easier to enjoy the game without having to interact with other players. There was no requirement to put up with whining, complaining, blaming, trolling and some of the other overhead that comes with in-game chat. I didn't have to wait to find folks to play with and no one was there to criticize build choices or strategies. In single player you could choose to try the entire campaign in a light mech ... or power game with a broken build ... without any complaints.

... and it was fun. IF the developer built a campaign that was intriguing, had depth and some internal structure, pulled you into the story line and set up fun to play scenarios ... it was great. I still remember the final battle on a moon in one of the games (Mercenaries?) that was very challenging to win.

Most of the games had an "Instant Action" button where you could drop into a match in a mech of your choice against a set of AI opponents. This got boring fast. Unfortunately, MWO suffers from the same issue. It IS more interesting that fighting AIs but in many cases it is the same thing over and over and over again ...

Single player provided rewards like mechs and cbills ... you could hire pilots or acquire skills ... you were playing a campaign in a series of scenarios that went somewhere ... giving meaning to the individual fights and making it more interesting to play.

MWO has missed this point entirely despite player feedback since closed beta. MWO has always needed a meta-game since "Instant Action" is never enough in the long run.

Now they are working on adding community warfare which is the storyline aspect of a single player game ... awesome.

However, they still could improve things immensely by revising the experience system to give players something more to do between matches ... there is not enough choice (none) or thought (very little since there is no choice) in the current experience system to provide motivation to play the game.

They could implement leader boards and other elements to support and recognize on-going competitive play directly in game.

There is a wide range of people who play MWO ... different meta-game aspects will appeal to different players as motivators to play. Some competitive folks probably could care less about the experience system since it is just another grind to get your mech to the competitive level ... however, if there were choices and build optimization was affected by choices in the experience system then this would be different ... optimizing a mech for competitive play would become a combination of mech loadout and fit ... supported by a selection of skills for that variant that would optimize that mech with that loadout.

Other folks will find CW enough and some others would like to see "Mechwarrior" in terms of skills rather than just "Battletech".

----

Anyway, if PGI can find the resources for a single player offline game based on the same engine ... AFTER MWO has had its current shortcomings resolved ... then I am all for it and would happily buy it.

In addition ... I am FAR more likely to throw $30.00 at a kickstarter for a single player MW title than I am for Transverse ...

[Roland]

Joseph Mallan, on 11 September 2014 - 04:18 AM, said:

Well most PvP is just E-Peen while PvE is a game with a story beginning middle and end. I am a fan of being able to start and finish a game. Never ending fighting for glory in a video game holds no interest to this old man.

The stories that evolved out of MW4 league play were way better than any storyline in the single player campaign of any Mechwarrior game.

[JohnnyWayne]

I'd like some sort of PVE coop missions. That does not necessarily mean single player. Just some lighter gameplay than grim facemelting all the day. I'm a rather hardcore PVPer. But I need some change from time to time too.

[Fut]

PVE would be cool, if it was somehow incorporated into the PVP game.
Suppose I mean that I wouldn't mind seeing some PVE Co-OP stuff, perhaps even two Co-Op teams working against each other.

PVP is where the thrill in gaming lies though. Really enjoy the fact that when I drop in MWO I'm going up against 12 other actual people, and not just AI.

[Joseph Mallan]

Fut, on 11 September 2014 - 05:57 AM, said:

PVE would be cool, if it was somehow incorporated into the PVP game.
Suppose I mean that I wouldn't mind seeing some PVE Co-OP stuff, perhaps even two Co-Op teams working against each other.

PVP is where the thrill in gaming lies though. Really enjoy the fact that when I drop in MWO I'm going up against 12 other actual people, and not just AI.

In MW:O yes... PvP in games like SWTOR was... lame. Maybe it is due to it having an RPG PvE, there was no point to PvP in that game besides Epeen.

Roland, on 11 September 2014 - 05:32 AM, said:

The stories that evolved out of MW4 league play were way better than any storyline in the single player campaign of any Mechwarrior game.

If you say so. I wasn't there, so I have only your word to go by Roland.

[sabujo]

I support the decision of having a single player/co-op experience. I wouldn't mind paying for chapters or mission packages in an ongoing narrative similar to what we got in previous titles. Depending on costs, it is maybe a good way to monetize the game further.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Joseph Mallan, on 11 September 2014 - 04:18 AM, said:

Well most PvP is just E-Peen while PvE is a game with a story beginning middle and end. I am a fan of being able to start and finish a game. Never ending fighting for glory in a video game holds no interest to this old man.

I agree. That's a good way to say it.

Single player wouldn't take away from MWO, because it isn't going to even be considered till MWO is largely completed (gameplay wise with CW, content is always going to be added). A single player game would probably borrow a large percentage of assets from MWO anyway. Just add story, AI, and voice acting.

I'd pay for it if they did a good job. I think it would be worth it for PGI to look into.

[Tombstoner]

PVE and PVP vs. an un restrained AI would flat out slauter any and all human players. The PVP people would QQ and rage quit. they want to pawn lesser players for the illution of skill.PVE woud rage quit since its imposible to win. it's dificlut to creat the illution of a fair competition vs an AI.

An AI can head shot you at will. the only way to not have that happen is a COF or some other system to simulate human like skills and probibilitys of misses.

A single player game mode is worth paying for.... you pay for the story. you got thousands of storys that can be told and that = money for the game. 1-5$ a pop for hopefully 1-5 hours of play time.

[Bishop Steiner]

GRiPSViGiL, on 11 September 2014 - 04:16 AM, said:

Please don't waste time or resources on single player. I don't know why anyone wants it. Who likes to play against an AI? I prefer competing with other live players.

If you want SP, why?

because the MW3 and 4 campaigns were more fun than TDM day after day?

Some folks just don't give a crap about Esports.

[Xarian]

PvE spills over into enhanced PvP and co-op PvE modes. Imagine any of the following:

- Taking 3 of your friends into a 4-man lance in PvE scenarios
- Taking 1 of your friends into a 4-man lance in PvE scenarios, where 2 of your lancemates are AI-controlled
- Taking 1 of your friends into a 2-man lance in a PvE scenario where your first goal is to rescue the other 2 guys in your lance
- Adding infantry and tanks to Attacker-vs-Defender style PvP matches
- Better turrets with more variety in certain types of PvP matches
- Being able to control infantry, tanks, and turrets after you get blown up in a PvP match

The common element to all of these things is AI Development. PvE is entirely AI-driven, whereas pure PvP has no AI in it at all. If you want to add any sort of AI into PvP matches, PGI would first take the logical step of developing a single player campaign which could even conceivably be sold as a separate game.

Edited by Xarian, 11 September 2014 - 06:13 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

Tombstoner, on 11 September 2014 - 06:10 AM, said:

PVE and PVP vs. an un restrained AI would flat out slauter any and all human players. The PVP people would QQ and rage quit. they want to pawn lesser players for the illution of skill.PVE woud rage quit since its imposible to win. it's dificlut to creat the illution of a fair competition vs an AI.

An AI can head shot you at will. the only way to not have that happen is a COF or some other system to simulate human like skills and probibilitys of misses.

A single player game mode is worth paying for.... you pay for the story. you got thousands of storys that can be told and that = money for the game. 1-5$ a pop for hopefully 1-5 hours of play time.

In 25 years of Computer RPGing I have never seen a game AI be that hard core. Not even in the MechWarrior Titles.

Xarian, on 11 September 2014 - 06:12 AM, said:

PvE spills over into enhanced PvP and co-op PvE modes. Imagine any of the following:

- Taking 3 of your friends into a 4-man lance in PvE scenarios
- Taking 1 of your friends into a 4-man lance in PvE scenarios, where 2 of your lancemates are AI-controlled
- Taking 1 of your friends into a 2-man lance in a PvE scenario where your first goal is to rescue the other 2 guys in your lance
- Adding infantry and tanks to Attacker-vs-Defender style PvP matches
- Better turrets with more variety in certain types of PvP matches
- Being able to control infantry, tanks, and turrets after you get blown up in a PvP match

The common element to all of these things is AI Development. PvE is entirely AI-driven, whereas pure PvP has no AI in it at all. If you want to add any sort of AI into PvP matches, PGI would first take the logical step of developing a single player campaign which could even conceivably be sold as a separate game.

Like in SWTOR. That was fun as heck.

[Bishop Steiner]

Joseph Mallan, on 11 September 2014 - 06:01 AM, said:

In MW:O yes... PvP in games like SWTOR was... lame. Maybe it is due to it having an RPG PvE, there was no point to PvP in that game besides Epeen.


If you say so. I wasn't there, so I have only your word to go by Roland.

So much better that they are all but unknown outside of the league, I guess?

[Darwins Dog]

Some days I like the challenge of facing other players. Other days I'm too tired to be effective in a game, but I still want to drive my stompy robots.

[Tombstoner]

Joseph Mallan, on 11 September 2014 - 06:13 AM, said:

In 25 years of Computer RPGing I have never seen a game AI be that hard core. Not even in the MechWarrior Titles.

But what i think happens if you tone down an AI with a COF in MWO you could wind up standing still taking COF damage all over your mech, while your making placed shots into the AI's CT. I'm not sure there is a happy medium.

[Thaar]

I like SP games for the story. This MP game so far has zero story. Of course fighting against humans is always harder (but fairer) than fighting against an AI opponent.

But if we can have both worlds what's the problem? Everyone is happy

[Obelus]

The single player combat experience isn't going to be as challenging as fighting people but that's not the point.

People want to walk around in the Mechwarrior universe, be part of a story, see the world and it's lore come to life.

[Joseph Mallan]

Tombstoner, on 11 September 2014 - 06:23 AM, said:

But what i think happens if you tone down an AI with a COF in MWO you could wind up standing still taking COF damage all over your mech, while your making placed shots into the AI's CT. I'm not sure there is a happy medium.

I don't know, I haven't played many PvE Shooters outside the MW series. And I did play ALL the PvE from the MW titles. They were fun and often challenging but I very rarely got mad at the game. Which is the same for playing here. The only way you could "Place Shots" in the PvE games was with a Clan Targeting computer. So that isn't a problem either.

[Dolph Hoskins]

Tombstoner, on 11 September 2014 - 06:23 AM, said:

But what i think happens if you tone down an AI with a COF in MWO you could wind up standing still taking COF damage all over your mech, while your making placed shots into the AI's CT. I'm not sure there is a happy medium.

The only thing is that a nicely functioning AI has already been proven possible in previous MW game. MW 4 is the one I am most experienced with.

It can be done and done well.

[990Dreams]

If they do single player, they need a different dev team for it.

Edited by DavidHurricane, 11 September 2014 - 06:32 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

DavidHurricane, on 11 September 2014 - 06:32 AM, said:

If they do single player, they need a different dev team for it.

Why? If they finish CW first then start work on the PvE it would need less man power.