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Introduction
With the upcoming release of Community Warfare, I would like to take the time out to propose a better match-making system based around the spirit of team work and community interaction. This is a general proposal to have the game better utilize the basic building block of team sizes as part of the BattleTech TO&E and that is the quintessential 4-player "LANCE" or "squad". The aim here is to make the current game a more enjoyable experience for the player base that currently has no real structure when they first enter and play MechWarrior Online.
The Need: Why Lances Make Sense
The current social interaction available on MechWarrior Online really needs some means to interact within the game with other players. I define social interaction for MWO as any way to have one player interact with another player in any sort of meaningful manner. Right now, the only interaction you see is chat boxes only when playing the game and only with 12 people at one time stretch. This needs massive improvement as currently there is no real structure or area where folks can just interact without getting in the way of their time trying to learn and concentrate on playing.
This needs to change.
And, this is where we need to associate some form of team structure that makes sense to any player wishing to approach this game with some form desire to do better in a player-based game. We have our work essentially done as we can easily borrow what already exists neatly from the Universe this game is derived from and it is the 4-player Lance.
The Lance - Essentials
For those unfamiliar with Battletech Organization, a "Lance" is essentially the smallest team oriented unit with 4-players. This is equivalent to any basic team-based unit you see in other multiplayer based team games that normally refer to them as "squads" or "groups".
Generally speaking, every 4-player lance operating independently is generally organized to fight together as a team. Given how much variety in tonnage there is available, there happens to be a case to group 'Mechs into three distinct team sized chunks.
Therefore, the Lances have been set to roughly 3 tonnage brackets that can roughly fit within the same capabilities so that players will not diverge too much based on the tonnage of their choice or chosen 'Mech.
- Light 'Mech generally team up better with lighter end Medium 'Mechs.
- Medium 'Mechs Team support better with most Heavies.
- Heaviest Heavies hold hands with their Assault 'Mech cousins.
The Company - Competitive Improvement
The current 12-v-12 we have are essentially three Lances operating as a "Company" borrowing military styled organization. These 12-player groups would be equivalent to "platoons" or a "raid" group in other multi-player team based games.
Therefore, these three Lances operate with exactly the same specific three tonnage brackets as specified before. This would allow for some room of structured diversity so that things are not too generic or overly chaotic. This would facilitate more strategic play in choosing which 'Mechs to field and how the players want to build their squad-Lances with a set minimum. How they wish to achieve it is up to them and largely based on their strengths working together which is what drives competitive improvement.
Lance-based Break down and 'Mech allocation
Below is the break down of the new system based entirely around the lance structure currently in the game. Therefore, the original Alpha/Bravo/Charlie Lance are replaced by a more structured 4-player setup with the focus of a more team oriented goal. Therefore, the names of the Lances are also modified to support this change.
Command Lance [350t Max]
Choice of 4 'Mechs between 75-100 tons
Fighting Lance [240t Max]
Choice of 4 'Mechs between 50-70 tons
Recon Lance [130t Max]
Choice of 4 'Mechs between 20-45 tons
As you can see from the above, the majority of the distribution can be tweaked by the players themselves with the bare minimum team size of 2 Lights, 4 Mediums, 4 Heavies, and 2 Assaults. There is enough variety currently in the game where players in their respective Lances/Squads can re-organize their lances to better suit or equip as needed the 'Mechs they choose or the play style they fit with 4 players.
Match Maker Improvement
Also, it is hoped that this will be easier for the Match Maker to get a better tonnage distribution with the ranges set to 3 brackets which should easily fit in solo pugs to teams given the tonnage band they will fall into. While there is no picture perfect match maker that can ever be designed, I hope this would make it easier for the players to roughly understand that the advantage in tonnage would not be too greats given the team-nature each lance is structured around.
Social Interaction
The most essential aspect to this must be the inclusion of some form of direct Social Interaction in the Main game menu. Currently, there are no ways for folks solo-ing to browse a queue of outstanding squads or teams or other ways for players to interact with one another. People need to interact together in a multi-player based game environment.
Also, with the upcoming Community Warfare, Player organized Teams need a way to better advertise their squads or teams publicly within the game. This is standard for current multi-player only games that thrive on social interaction and competitive betterment. And, some games even use a hot-key to hot-drop into an open squad if it's available.
Edited by Dark Jackal, 05 October 2014 - 02:34 PM.
