20 replies to this topic

[ibex230]

Have the devs discussed this possibility

I.e. keeping a list of loadouts per mech.

Edited by ibex230, 23 November 2014 - 04:57 AM.

[Escef]

ibex230, on 23 November 2014 - 03:27 AM, said:

Have the devs discussed this possibility?

It's been requested a few times, and I wager the devs have talked about it internally. But to the best of my knowledge, there has never been any public word on it.

[ibex230]

Escef, on 23 November 2014 - 03:28 AM, said:

It's been requested a few times, and I wager the devs have talked about it internally. But to the best of my knowledge, there has never been any public word on it.

Ok!

I sure hope it's on their radar as it's more of a quality of life thing than any other. Especially running clan mechs when you not only might want to swap equipment, but also pods.

[Viges]

ibex230, on 23 November 2014 - 03:27 AM, said:

Have the devs discussed this possibility?

This is how you do it

buy mechbay
buy mech that you want
equip and save
profit

(no, devs won't discuss this because it's a core mechanics of f2p games - grind or pay)

[ibex230]

Viges, on 23 November 2014 - 04:54 AM, said:

This is how you do it

buy mechbay
buy mech that you want
equip and save
profit

(no, devs won't discuss this because it's a core mechanics of f2p games - grind or pay)

My bad, meant keeping multiple loadouts saved.

[Viges]

ibex230, on 23 November 2014 - 04:58 AM, said:

My bad, meant keeping multiple loadouts saved.

There can't be multiple loadouts because it will duplicate the system's mechanics (mechbay+mech+equipment). It will reduce the need of mechbays, mechs and everything else. Game can't be free and comfortable at the same time. This is how it works.

[Escef]

Viges, on 23 November 2014 - 05:44 AM, said:

There can't be multiple loadouts because it will duplicate the system's mechanics (mechbay+mech+equipment). It will reduce the need of mechbays, mechs and everything else. Game can't be free and comfortable at the same time. This is how it works.

Pretty much. For a while I owned a second CPLT-K2 just for screwing around with loadouts, while I kept my other in a fairly static configuration.

[Troutmonkey]

EVE Online has an excellent system of saving, sharing, and applying fittings (loadouts) to ships. When applying a loadout it will strip the ship and then apply all of the listed items from your inventory as best it can. If you're missing items it will show you on the Saved Loadout screen which pieces you have and don't have.

MWO would do very well to copy them.

[Xenon Codex]

Troutmonkey, on 23 November 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

EVE Online has an excellent system of saving, sharing, and applying fittings (loadouts) to ships. When applying a loadout it will strip the ship and then apply all of the listed items from your inventory as best it can. If you're missing items it will show you on the Saved Loadout screen which pieces you have and don't have.

MWO would do very well to copy them.

That's really neat. I really like how you can drag your loadout into the chat box to share with your friends. They should definitely do something like this.

[Pjwned]

Viges, on 23 November 2014 - 05:44 AM, said:

There can't be multiple loadouts because it will duplicate the system's mechanics (mechbay+mech+equipment). It will reduce the need of mechbays, mechs and everything else. Game can't be free and comfortable at the same time. This is how it works.

It would just make things less of a hassle to tinker with mechs & equipment you already own, if you wanted a variety of mechs/variants you'd still need to pay up for enough mech storage and other stuff.

The only motivation to not have saved loadouts is to annoy people enough because they don't want to deal with the **** awful terrible mech lab UI so they end up buying another mech and maybe another mech bay; that doesn't seem like very good design and is more likely to annoy people enough that they end up spending less money.

This could also make module swapping less of a pain in the ass even if you don't switch equipment around on your mech.

Personally I have a couple mechs where I have at least 2 different builds I like to run but it's a hassle switching equipment around, and no I'm not going to buy duplicate mechs to fix it.

Edited by Pjwned, 23 November 2014 - 12:56 PM.

[151st Light Horse Regiment]

Troutmonkey, on 23 November 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

EVE Online has an excellent system of saving, sharing, and applying fittings (loadouts) to ships. When applying a loadout it will strip the ship and then apply all of the listed items from your inventory as best it can. If you're missing items it will show you on the Saved Loadout screen which pieces you have and don't have.

MWO would do very well to copy them.

EVE is sucessful and listens to it's well established fanbase.

Nothing of that last sentence applies to MWO.

[Bluttrunken]

Viges, on 23 November 2014 - 05:44 AM, said:

There can't be multiple loadouts because it will duplicate the system's mechanics (mechbay+mech+equipment). It will reduce the need of mechbays, mechs and everything else. Game can't be free and comfortable at the same time. This is how it works.

Where's the sense in that? Most people won't buy several copies of the same mech just too have it available in several loadouts without changing gear. Not worth the money, and also the time needed to grind out the parts/mechs, and I doubt PGI makes money with duplicate mechs and their mechbays.

Edited by k05h3lk1n, 23 November 2014 - 01:01 PM.

[Killstorm999999]

Viges, on 23 November 2014 - 05:44 AM, said:

There can't be multiple loadouts because it will duplicate the system's mechanics (mechbay+mech+equipment). It will reduce the need of mechbays, mechs and everything else. Game can't be free and comfortable at the same time. This is how it works.

Yeah, but I am never going to buy two of the same chassis just so I can have two load outs saved simultaneously.

Obviously you wouln't be able to load a saved loadout if you don't have the equipment, or the equipment is locked in a battle, so I don't see the problem.

Dealing with the UI is pretty tedious, but I am not going to spend potentially millions of C Bills just to make it easier to save only one additional loadout. Untill they add this feature, the equipment hunt will remain a failing of the UI and they deserve to be critisized for it.

Edited by Deltron Zero, 23 November 2014 - 01:35 PM.

[Urdnot Mau]

They are looking into improving the UI post-CW and i think they will get most of the commodities done next year. They already answered us about looking where our modules are and i'm sure they're gonna just improved it over time. So, if they didn't do this, there's no real reason for them not to do that

[Viges]

Troutmonkey, on 23 November 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

EVE Online has an excellent system of saving, sharing, and applying fittings (loadouts) to ships.

And EVE Online is not f2p.

Pjwned, on 23 November 2014 - 12:50 PM, said:

The only motivation to not have saved loadouts is to annoy people enough because they don't want to deal with the **** awful terrible mech lab UI so they end up buying another mech and maybe another mech bay; that doesn't seem like very good design and is more likely to annoy people enough that they end up spending less money.

Yea, that is just the root of the problem - bad design. And they do not have motivation to change it, because f2p, they even said that they can't monetize maps so their production is on pretty low priority.

k05h3lk1n, on 23 November 2014 - 12:55 PM, said:

Where's the sense in that? Most people won't buy several copies of the same mech just too have it available in several loadouts without changing gear. Not worth the money, and also the time needed to grind out the parts/mechs, and I doubt PGI makes money with duplicate mechs and their mechbays.

Yea but it worked on paper! Seriously though as I said it would duplicate the current system, they need to change the whole UI with economy behind it. Because UI is based on the economy in f2p games. And they don't have time or resources to do that. There are many many things that need changes.

Deltron Zero, on 23 November 2014 - 01:34 PM, said:

Dealing with the UI is pretty tedious, but I am not going to spend potentially millions of C Bills just to make it easier to save only one additional loadout. Untill they add this feature, the equipment hunt will remain a failing of the UI and they deserve to be critisized for it.

I don't approve the UI, I hate it, I just know it will not change, at least not in that way.

[MATRAKA14]

+10000
This feature is a must for this game!

[Smash Lampjaw]

I think the big issue with this idea is the fact everyone's loadouts have to be saved somewhere, and the time its would take to set up a system to do just that. I don't know if PGI wants to spend the time a resources for something that would save the player a few minutes in the mech lab switching gear.
All that being said, i would enjoy having the ability to quickly swap out weapons and send build to my friends

[Aresye]

It doesn't have to create some cluster**** with the server, and it doesn't have to interfere with the F2P nature of the game.

It's simple:

1. Each mech has 1 configuration only, just like we have now.
- The server won't need any tweaking to accommodate multiple loadouts.

2. Have an "Export Configuration" option.
- The export configuration button brings up a standard save window.
- Player names the configuration whatever they like (ex: LaserWulf).
- The export saves the configuration as a data-only file to the user directory, prefaced by the mech used (ex: TBR-PRIME_LaserWulf.cfg).

3. Have an "Import Configuration" option.
- The import configuration button brings up a standard open window.
- Player selects the configuration they want (ex: TBR-PRIME_LaserWulf).
- The game automatically swaps pods/weapons/upgrades/etc.
- Any items no longer in the player's inventory are totaled up for MC and CBill price.
- Player clicks the giant "SAVE" to purchase any items and apply the configuration.

Advantages of this system:
- Players can save as many configurations as they'd like.
- Players can easily send configuration files to other players to try out builds.
- Game servers won't be bogged down by multiple configurations, as they are only local data files on the user's computer.
- The game already checks loadouts for errors and illegal configurations, so users wouldn't be able to modify the configuration files to cheat.
- The process of applying a saved loadout is simply just an algorithm that automates the process of the user manually going through and selecting components. It has no impact on the user's inventory. If they don't have it, they have to buy it.

Disadvantages of the system:
- Some relatively minor programming required.

[Bhael Fire]

The ability to save loadouts would remove the urge to buy multiples of the same mech.

That's an inherent problem for a F2P game, so it's very unlikely they will ever implement something like this.

[Popper100]

As stated above, a simple text based script engine would basically equate to this. Save the list of variables to a text document in game via script engine, script engine would read the text document to duplicate the process of equipping items to match the script. Chassis validity is carried out server side so there is no issue there and any illegal operations are discarded by the script engine.

The excuse that it invalidates a mechanic in THIS games f2p interpretation is pure bubkis and needs to stop. I know the playerbase is whipped hard, but you need to demand small first and grow your demands to achieve a more equal balance between dev needs and player needs.

Edited by Popper100, 23 November 2014 - 10:35 PM.