272 replies to this topic

[Pendraco]

AWESOME!!

I will be keeping my fingers crossed for dropship! Is it possible this game-type would be made available outside of CW as well? For those days you just want to drop in anything?


KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[Summon3r]

drop ship mode = win, make this happen!

[PhoenixNMGLB]

Can I just say, please don't allow re spawns.

One of the great things about this game for me is the tension created by knowing that you have one chance in a match and that's it.

Allowing a backup team to spectate and drop in as reinforcements - now that would be a cool idea

[C E Dwyer]

I think drop ship mode is the ONLY way re spawn should be allowed in MWO, and you pick one of each weight class, obviously there is going to be a lot of angst, from people that only want to load up four assaults or four whatever's, for people just starting the choices will be limited to champion mechs, and for those that don't want to buy more mech bays.

Now hand on heart, have you the skills to actually, provide this, without making the game more unstable, the game for me a year ago was rock solid, hardly ever crashed, had very few issues with anything but graphic's lag which was solved by more ram better vidcard, and tuning down effects, and ping wavered around the 100 mark.

For me at least and I'm sure I'm not the only one, from the complaints in matches and here, performance has steadily dropped since UI2, took a big hit around clan injection and plummeted around the time you introduced the ability to reconnect into a match.

The change of servers and the fix around the 29th have improved things a lot, but are still no where near as good as they were this time last year, Perversely I still rarely crash.

Now I'm all for the idea's presented here, but if stability is going to take a hit introducing these, I'd rather have a less complicated, and more robust alternative.

Might be thinking I'm being to negative..well I say, I'm a founder, and most of us are somewhat negative, but I'm still here, so that must be saying something

The way re spawns and switching faction seems fine to me, though I think people that stay true, to one house shouldn't be penalised.

As I recall, at the October launch, getting elite options and tags unlocked for units like Wolfs dragoons was going to require, fighting for all the great houses.

This does penalise loyalty, and promote being a turncoat, so hopefully there will be some unit insignia and colours that can only be won by players that stay loyal to a single house.

Edited by Cathy, 12 September 2014 - 11:19 AM.

[LtColVeers]

Excellent news surat, do not screw it. Hope to see those DropShips soon, best of luck.

[Coolant]

Please please please have a Dropship Mode. I miss respawn in MW4:Mercs. Debate it all you want but the respawn servers were BY FAR the most populated in Mercs with Mektek patches. In fact, sometimes there were ONLY respawn servers available. I prefer a complete respawn mode, but I'll take Dropship the way they are describing...

[Thiol]

I'm a bit confused so hopefully someone can clarify this for me.

Can I use my any/all of my hero mechs to represent my faction?

Am I correct in interpreting Paul to say that I have to own the same mech variant deployed by that faction to represent it?

I play with a small group of people who play daily -> multiple times a week and not all of us have enough mechs or the right mechs to cover this off.

Any clarification would be appreciated...

Thiol

Handsome Boy Modelling School
[HNSL] Because he's so hot right now.

[Zyllos]

Coolant, on 12 September 2014 - 11:19 AM, said:

Please please please have a Dropship Mode. I miss respawn in MW4:Mercs. Debate it all you want but the respawn servers were BY FAR the most populated in Mercs with Mektek patches. In fact, sometimes there were ONLY respawn servers available. I prefer a complete respawn mode, but I'll take Dropship the way they are describing...

Having unlimited respawn (apparently it's re spawn) would not be inline with the direction this game is going.

But, I do agree that a re spawn mode is sorely needed to facilitate longer battles.

I just hope PGI decides to not keep the dropdeck idea around as I think it will interact poorly with CW.

[HimseIf]

Sounds good so far.

[VanillaG]

If you can't figure out a decent respawn/dropship/logistics type of system for phase 2 then don't try to force something in. Take the time to figure out and vet what you want to do now even if it does not come out as part of phase 2. If you force in a half baked system you are going to be dragged into a break-fix quagmire that is going to delay your plans for phase 3. I would rather have functional CW system without respawns than an awkward CW system with respawns.

[Kraven Kor]

Syrkres, on 12 September 2014 - 09:06 AM, said:

Major problem that needs to be addressed with DROP deck/ship is that what happens when 8 players die and then they all bring their Assaults back in?

Or all bring their lights back in?

You basically lose the ability to control 3/3/3/3 drop deck.

One way you could fix this is do a check each time someone respawns to see which mechs are currently alive, and then allow the player to select one which doesn't stack the drop deck. Though this could exclude a player from being able to pick a mech and respawn (but that could be ok).

For example, if the initial drop deck is 3/3/3/3 and a player running a light dies, he then has to wait for another non-light to die because he already used his light and bringing in another weight class would tilt the balance, but then a Medium mech player dies, the light could then bring in a medium, while the medium palyer would bring in a light.

This would be ok until certain players die more often then others.

But you could put in a timer which after a certain amount of wait time it then allows him to bring in another overloaded weight class.

If you forced the drop deck of a player to bring all the same weight of the mech, then this would easily solve that problem. It probably also allow a player to bring the mechs he wants to rather than forcing to play different weight classes.

Simple, I think?

You get to select 4 mechs, and drop in 1 at first and that first drop is 3/3/3/3.

As reinforcements come in, you have to select a different mech, and the reinforcement wave should enforce the same thing on a first-come-first-serve basis.

So you start in a light, asplode, and reinforcent time comes up and you select your assault. So now you are the first "respawn" of that reinforcement wave, leaving only 2 more Assaults for that reinforcement wave.

Just ensure all reinforcement waves follow the same 3/3/3/3 format.

VanillaG, on 12 September 2014 - 12:43 PM, said:

If you can't figure out a decent respawn/dropship/logistics type of system for phase 2 then don't try to force something in. Take the time to figure out and vet what you want to do now even if it does not come out as part of phase 2. If you force in a half baked system you are going to be dragged into a break-fix quagmire that is going to delay your plans for phase 3. I would rather have functional CW system without respawns than an awkward CW system with respawns.

And have us test it. Leave it up on PTS for longer test periods, have PTS give some rewards (not C-Bills; maybe custom unlocks of things like camo paint, patterns, cockpit items, or small MC rewards) for X amount of PTS participation.

The more you let MWO players test it and provide input that is actually acted upon, the better.

[Cimarb]

Zyllos, on 12 September 2014 - 09:30 AM, said:

Well, your missing a key component. In that the side that takes lighter mechs will have more respawns. This was in the light that a single player has an available tonnage and number of available mechs to bring to a drop.

No, the "single tonnage per player" was a suggestion from a player, not from staff - correct me if you have a citation, though. Staff statement was 1/1/1/1 per player, which means you have one of each weight class, but no restriction on tonnage within that.

[Lysander Voidrunner]

Not sure I'm happy about the fact that this had to be "thought about". It always looked like a no-brainer to me. Drop ship WILL make the game better.

[Gorgo7]

Super sweet!

[A Man In A Can]

Sadist Cain, on 11 September 2014 - 06:29 PM, said:

We want what we came for...

This please.

Edit: And maybe to help make it feel more real, remember that the mechbay backdrop we already have is supposed to be the inside of the dropship? Well, what if every time people pressed "Play Now" you got a quick cutscene of the crane taking your mech and launching it "down" through the open doors your mech is technically standing on before you go to the drop preparation screen. Perhaps this can even be done while the player is searching for a match to save time?

As for the faction side of things, overall the ideas presented seem ok. I'm kinda hesitant about the idea of seasons with a reset for the reasons already presented, but at some point the battlefronts are going to have to be changed for major political changes later in the game (Fed Com Civil War, Smoke Jag Annihilation - if that, etc.).

The one question I have is if you still have plans for hard-locked borders for factions. This means no one faction, or a combo of other factions, can truly annihilate another faction unless that is allowed for the current time period (say for the Jags in the year 3058-60). If this is still on the table, then a seasonal reset may not be necessary, and players can still feel like their time put into taking over a region has meaning in the long term. Then when borders are changed, the existing player progress on fronts can remain untouched, but new fronts can be opened (e.g. the Fed Com Civil War between Steiner and Davion) or closed depending on lore events.

Either way, glad to see info on this, and that your little "error" helped make it happen.

Edited by Mechwarrior Mousse, 12 September 2014 - 07:17 PM.

[Wintersdark]

In short (but probably long anyways):

I am rabidly anti-respawn on principle. To the point where if open or ticket based respawn where added, I'd drop this game like a hot rock (this is NOT a "threat" I make lightly, and in fact never have before in my years of play). But I *HATE* respawn in PvP games, because of how it trivializes death.

HOWEVER!!!!!


I love dropship mode. I love the notion of bringing 4 of my mechs, and getting to use each. This because loss matters, not because it just consumes tickets, but that mech is out of the battle. It's important for me to know that when I destroy a mech, it's gone. It's not magically coming back, it's just gone.

There's no risk of players taking less ammo then suiciding because they are low on ammo or badly damaged, to respawn in a fresh mech - in a Dropship mode (or, alternatively, a single-respawn mode) you have every reason to continue fighting as long as possible, because destruction means that is that much less damage you can take for your team.

Ticket-based system piss me off, because while your death impacts your team, it creates a system when poor players "poach" points from better players - those who die earlier respawn quickly, leaving those who (playing well) survive a long time with less.
Anyways, this is sort of non-negotiable to me. I get that nobody beyond me really cares about my personal opinion, but the respawn issue in particular is a major part of why MWO is the only PvP game I've ever enjoyed. It's the one thing I'm absolutely DEAD set on. I'd sooner see fixed 3pv 100% of the time than generic respawn.


But yeah... Dropship mode? THAT I think is awesome. Hell, I'd pay for that **** right there.

[Shino Tenshi]

I didn't have a chance to read through the entire feedback thread and hope this doesn't get lost, but I really hope you guys have a plan in place that would allow a player to leave the battle and have their spot be taken up by someone else. I really, really look forward to playing CW and what you've mentioned so far sounds really awesome, but I can often only devote a stretch of 15-30 minutes of play time at a time and I could imagine one of these battles going on for a lot longer than that.

I wonder if Drop Ship or any other respawn mode was implemented, would it be possible to have the spectating dead player have to click Respawn or some such and also have the option of clicking another button to surrender their spot to another player who could be pulled from a MM queue? The new player would still be bound by whatever weight class restrictions the surrendering player had, but could take over for the player who had to leave. For example, in Drop Ship mode, if the first player used a light and assault mech, the second player would end up using their medium and heavy mech choices. This would allow both players the ability to play for shorter periods of time and still be able to participate in CW without having to make an hour or longer commitment to do so.

So far I really like the ideas that are being put forward and very much look forward to a few months from now when we're able to play them

[p4r4g0n]

Based on the information so far, it sounds like the Merc life aspects of the game insofar as capturing planets for bases are on hold for now. Is this correct? If not, how do you reconcile merc corp ownership of planets with the seasonal re-sets?

Respawns - personally, not a fan of this. I'd rather that other players have a chance to drop in a first come, first served basis as reinforcements subject to weight class availability. Having said that, I'll wait and see what the final implementation will be like.

[Merciless531]

Seasons will be cool if there will be rewards to, lets say top 5 units and, top 5 individual players per faction/clan. Most people who aren't new to the game will not be switching factions I don't think, but giving new players who don't know the difference between the factions/clans might benefit from it. I remember back in closed beta, talk about loyalty points, players should be rewarded for longevity with a faction and units, or people will have little to lose hopping around freely.

Drop ship will be amazing if done right. I like the principle of everyone take 1 of each class to help fill all the rolls, but I think that when a player doesn't get to choose what roll they want to play, it will make the game mode less fun. Instead I suggest 1 of two methods:

1: When you que for drop ship, you should have to select two separate mechs with a combined total < (lets say) 125 tons. This means you can take a 100 ton and a 25 ton mech, or a 65 ton and a 60 ton mech, this however I think is the more simple idea of the two, and is less intuitive to the ideals of MW.

2: Follow a LoL (League of Legends) format (just without banning), where you have a 3-5 min team selection period where each person gets a chance to pick mechs available to them, and the team can discuss a strategy for who is going to play what mech/role. The team would select their first wave, and then a second selection period to pick their second wave, and then a ready-up count down. The team would have to build a team based around a max tonnage based upon the planet, increasing or decreasing in max tonnage based off the planets gravity. This will allow for more interesting strategies, not locking in any meta that might come from forcing a certain amount of each weight class. One team might decide to go all medium and light mechs, and it might just work out for them, why limit the game mode? This idea I feel will be more successful of the prior, but will take a bit of work to develop, I'm sure, but it will be worth it! And I'm not suggestiong to rip LoL off, by no means is this going to be a copy and paste, but if you look at their model, it can be applied to this game mode. Making it fair for all players will be the key.

My suggestions for fairness:
1. If Pilot "A" picked first mech for the first wave, reverse the order.
2. Don't let anyone lock in their mechs like LoL does with their model. Everyone should get a chance to pick a mech and discuss possible alternative builds, and when everyone is ready (like by hitting that green "ready" button) then it will lock in and move to the next phase.
3. Make it possible to see a quick load-out of your teammate's mech to get an idea of what they are playing, with basic stuff like weapon systems, speed and things like bap, ecm and so on (and of coarse, its tonnage!).
4. Allow players to vote kick if someone is afk or being a tool during selection time. Then allow someone to take his/her spot.

[Duncan Jr Fischer]

It's a good thing to share the vision for upcoming content with us.
But the way you do it, guys...
First
No believable deadline for delivery, while you promise so much:
- new mode would require at least several new big maps with new mechanics;
- for participation in CW the factions must be playable and include some specific interface, management, resources etc;
- you say for Clan vs IS warfare the mechs need further balancing;
- battles for territory must have their costs and revenues, some impact on the gameplay etc...
All this means this whole CW stuff in general is a huge thing and there are yet tons of work to get it done, and having enough experience with this game the end of 2014 is not a believable date.
Yes, we want CW soon, but don't make yourself feel uneasy failing deadlines you set yourself, now only yourself to blame.

Second.
Paul says their team cringes at the sound of the words 'Dropship mode' (just like on the Launch farce last year Brian, or was it Russ, said they cringe at the words 'Community Warfare'). It's an astonishing frankness,but what they expect from us saying things like that?.. Sympathy? That's not what people feel, because that sounds practically like 'We promised you things and fed you with deadlines for them without even thinking if it's implementable at all and how we can make it, and now it scares us to hell just to think of making it'.

Third.
One actual question. "During peak player count times throughout the day, planetary control matches will be kicked off within the Faction tab." What is this time? Does it mean that players from certain regions of the world not be able to participate in CW simply by the time factor, as this 'peak times' would be in the dead of night for them?

Edited by Duncan Jr Fischer, 12 September 2014 - 10:56 PM.