272 replies to this topic

[Cimarb]

Reno Blade, on 27 September 2014 - 02:04 AM, said:

Some very nice replies from Russ in the "about that dropship mode we all been waiting for"-thread:
http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__3765636
and
http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__3766502

Thanks for those links, Reno. Trying to catch up on posts from this week and it is quite a bit of work, but very welcome IMO!

[Hoax415]

IrrelevantFish, on 27 September 2014 - 03:30 PM, said:

There's two ways to do what you want:

• Let people bring whatever mish-mash of mechs they want.
  
• Force people to bring four mechs of a single weight class.

The former will make weight-balanced matchmaking completely impossible. (How would you weight-balance 96 mechs when any given multiple of four of them may be inseparable?) The latter will either result in a bunch of try-harders dropping with nothing but four copies of the latest flavor-of-the-month mech (eg, the last few days of Dire Wolf-mania multiplied by four) or result in a lot of failed match-searches (eg, good luck finding a match in your treasured mediums when the Stormcrow's released for CB).

You should probably go read the links and actually understand what is being discussed as an alternative to 1/1/1/1 before you start typing. Because you are obviously very confused.

[IrrelevantFish]

Hoax415, on 28 September 2014 - 06:29 AM, said:

You should probably go read the links and actually understand what is being discussed as an alternative to 1/1/1/1 before you start typing. Because you are obviously very confused.

What links are you referring to? If you're referring to posts/threads suggesting tonnage/BV limits (none of which were linked in this thread when I posted, BTW), they aren't relevant. The guy I was replying to wanted to bring mediums (not "medium mechs adding to tonnage X or C-Bills Y," but just plain mediums) and If you're restricting by weight class and want to allow complete specialization, the two methods I referred to are the only ways to go.

Yes, tonnage limits might give him what he wants, but that would depend on the specifics of the implementation, and discussion of that belongs in a different thread.

[Butane9000]

Here's my take on changes to your mentioning Loyalty Points acting as a tier unlock system with what's currently available.

What I think it should operate like is actually a mix of leveling as well as spendable currency.

So let's say every faction has 50 levels. As with every F2P there should be better rewards as you go on and a slightly bigger grind to go with it.

Levels 1-10 are your basic quick levels giving access to mech discounts and special faction themed cockpit items such as:
Note: These are all items you can purchase with the "currency" that is loyalty points. Let's say 5% of loyalty points generated convert to a purchasable currency similarly to XP/GXP ratio. The level is whats needed to unlock access to them.

Level 0 - (starting from another faction, not applicable to merc corps trading contracts as they start at level 1)
Level 1 - (choosing the faction from the get go) - Generic FWL emblem for your Battlemech (tagged somewhere on the Torso/Arms)
Level 2 - 1% battlemech discount for all Marik affiliated mechs on Marik not eligible for take over home worlds
Level 3 - Access to Marik official unit camo design (Example 4th Free World Legionnaires)
Level 4 - 3% discount for all non Marik affiliated battlemechs on originally non marik worlds (meaning you take a Steiner mech factory you'd see an additional discount)
Level 5 - 2% battlemech discount for all Marik affiliated mechs on Marik not eligible for take over home worlds (these stack so 3%)
Level 6 - Access to special Marik themed cockpit design piece (wallpaper, lighting etc.)
Level 7 - Access to Marik specific title displayed in game
Level 8 - Access to Marik official unit camo design
Level 9 - 3% battlemech discount for all Marik affiliated mechs on Marik not eligible for take over home worlds
Level 10 - Access to loyalty point increasing hanging item (Marik medallion)

So basically for every 100 loyalty points you get 5 spendable loyalty "credits" to use as a purchasing item on these bonuses. This seems a much better system in terms of sustaining continued loyalty to one faction rather then quick switching and also rewards those hard core house loyalists much more quickly.

[FireDog]

Quirks for the Jenner K and D seem a bit off. The D got a poor buff while the Jenner K now runs cool with 4xML + 1xSRM4/6 or Narc. I propose giving the D a Streak 2 buff (Cooldown/Recycle or heat reduction?) as most ran it with 4xML and 2xStreak2s. For now the only reason to use a Jenner D is if it is a Founder's with the CBill bonus.

BTW as for our poor Sara D Jenners, any possibility of giving it some quirks of its own? Something along the lines of more mech slots like the K use to have? It would be a fun little mech to play with.... dress it up for any occasion (mission) just like a barbie doll! :-)

Also because it is not available anymore and was a charity event, you would not in any way be accused of pay-to-win. Thank you...

[The GaussFather]

Hi All,

As I understand it now, when CW is launched we will be fighting for planets in 24 hour cycles. While I know its complicated to introduce salvage and repair into the game and charging people MC or C-bills for it is maybe to harsh for many players. BUT I would like some "reality" introduced into it as opposed to making it a constant "respawn" of the same favorite mechs people can reuse during campaigns for planets.

My thinking is the following (no C-bill payments required):

During CW -- if your mech is damaged during a battle more than 60% then you cannot drop it for 24 hours (or until the 24hr campaign cycle finishes, whichever works best for PGI to implement).

This means:

1) You won't get to constantly re-use the same 4 mechs you dropped with unless you are a good pilot/lucky.

2) You will have to plan your resources/mechs accordingly for the 24HR period, not just 1 dropship of the same 4 mechs you constantly re-use.

3) IS mechs might have a slight advantage in numbers to throw into the battle during a long campaign, depending on the players. This would follow the Clan vs. IS storyline more accurately.

5) It reflects "reality of war" a little better... sure in the future robots repair robots fast but normally you need some time to do repairs.

6) PGI gets to sell more mechs to people playing CW (I had to make the business proposition clear to them. )

Then, instead of an "in game" lock-out tag in the mechbay, we get a "UNDERGOING REPAIR" and you can't modify or remove the weapons and modules during that period.

[DEMAX51]

The GaussFather, on 19 November 2014 - 09:54 AM, said:

...Then, instead of an "in game" lock-out tag in the mechbay, we get a "UNDERGOING REPAIR" and you can't modify or remove the weapons and modules during that period.

I wouldn't have any issue with most of what you suggested, except the bold text in the quote. People are already freaking out since they'll need 4 sets of modules to kit out their dropdeck. If modules were locked to the 'Mechs being repaired, you'd need a hell of a lot more than 4 sets, and people would freak out.

[Hoax415]

CW's biggest potential problem is lack of players. We have 11 factions and some amount of planets all with their own pair of queues. That means whatever population we have is going to be divided up many times over in CW putting a much greater population stain on CW than normal solo or group queue. Remember that group queue already suffers a decline in quality due to a lack of players during certain times of the day according to many.

That suggestion just means that some people who would be playing will not because the mechs they want to use are locked or maybe they are just out of mechs that are unlocked.

I understand the drive for "realism"/"sim" but the reality is this is a an online game and its more fun when there are enough opponents and teammates to function. Hurting the size and diversity of the playerbase in the persuit of realism in this way does not seem worth it or good for the long term health of CW.

Edited by Hoax415, 19 November 2014 - 10:10 AM.

[Cimarb]

What Hoax said. You cannot lock people out of their mechs for that long, as new players will be unable to play the game after a match or three. I assume you could still use trial mechs in your system, but the last thing you want to do after a new player buys a mech is make it a "one-shot" for the day.

Instead, they need some sort of interactive repairing process, like some MMOs do with their gear. Just have us go into the mech lab and select what to repair, with associated costs and repair time (in a number of minutes, not hours, mind you). That way, after a match or two, the mech will be fully repaired and ready for use again.

It cannot be stressed enough how the interaction has to be added, though. For repair/rearm to be successful, it needs to be something we actually experience, not just another auto-tax on our income.

[DEMAX51]

Cimarb, on 19 November 2014 - 11:10 AM, said:

What Hoax said. You cannot lock people out of their mechs for that long, as new players will be unable to play the game after a match or three. I assume you could still use trial mechs in your system, but the last thing you want to do after a new player buys a mech is make it a "one-shot" for the day.

Instead, they need some sort of interactive repairing process, like some MMOs do with their gear. Just have us go into the mech lab and select what to repair, with associated costs and repair time (in a number of minutes, not hours, mind you). That way, after a match or two, the mech will be fully repaired and ready for use again.

It cannot be stressed enough how the interaction has to be added, though. For repair/rearm to be successful, it needs to be something we actually experience, not just another auto-tax on our income.

They could always combine the two ideas.

Maybe lock the destroyed 'Mechs only for an hour or two while they're "repaired" (free of charge), or let the player choose tp bypass the wait period by paying c-bills to finish the repairs?

[Cimarb]

DEMAX51, on 19 November 2014 - 11:13 AM, said:

They could always combine the two ideas.

Maybe lock the destroyed 'Mechs only for an hour or two while they're "repaired" (free of charge), or let the player choose tp bypass the wait period by paying c-bills to finish the repairs?

War thunder has a similar system, I believe, but I really hope they make it interactive either way. Immersion is key, imo.

[Kageru Ikazuchi]

I kind of like the idea of locking a 'mech (but not the modules), but it would significantly limit new player participation, unless Trial 'mechs were exempt from the lockout (which I would kind of disagree with). The players who have been around long enough to gather a billion C-Bills worth of stuff (like me) would have a significant advantage.

[Andi Nagasia]

Cimarb, on 19 November 2014 - 11:10 AM, said:

What Hoax said. You cannot lock people out of their mechs for that long, as new players will be unable to play the game after a match or three. I assume you could still use trial mechs in your system, but the last thing you want to do after a new player buys a mech is make it a "one-shot" for the day.

Instead, they need some sort of interactive repairing process, like some MMOs do with their gear. Just have us go into the mech lab and select what to repair, with associated costs and repair time (in a number of minutes, not hours, mind you). That way, after a match or two, the mech will be fully repaired and ready for use again.

It cannot be stressed enough how the interaction has to be added, though. For repair/rearm to be successful, it needs to be something we actually experience, not just another auto-tax on our income.

maybe Pug&Group will be separate from CW,
as in if a mech was locked for 1-3 hours because of its destruction, its only locked in CW,
you could still play pug with it, so this would give incentives to playing both, Pug(Training)-CW(Hardmode)