99 replies to this topic

[Mao of DC]

Terra needs a new Unit icon. http://mwomercs.com/...__fromsearch__1


I know this a SUPER minor thing to nitpick about but it bugs me. Currently if you look at Terra the unit icon is PGI's. It really should be Comstar's Icon and the occupying force should read Comguard. I mean it is not like Terra can ever be attacked because it can't CW will not allow planets with a star around them to be taken. So this more about being lore friendly and to teach players who might not know the lore some of it.

[Bigbacon]

i would like to see the mech selection for your drop deck to be sorted by mech name.

[MagResPolarBear]

So, yeah, loving CW so far. However, the queuing does need to be addressed.

Queues need to kick/inform players when there are no more attackers
If I go to defend a planet and the game starts, it would be good to know that there IS going to be another game. If the match starts and I wasn't picked, it would be good to know.

More feedback when queuing
Currently, I have no idea how many other people are queuing to defend a planet. Perhaps it would be good to show the optimum number of players still required at a given planet to allow a drop; that way players can go where they're likely to get a game rapidly. It might even be nice to have a small display that shows the actual distribution of premades, e.g. a grid like
xooooooooooo
xooooooooooo
xxxxoooooooo
xxxxxxxxxooo
which would mean that there is a 9-man, a 4-man and two solo players.

Bonus C-bills/LP for supporting the underdog
There are concerns about some factions having fewer players. This could be addressed by making contracts with factions that are "losing" (e.g. are low on territory) more valuable.

[Codestar]

Re-purpose the existing assault maps with a single base to attack or defend. 48v48 if it can be made to work with dropships or just 12v12. It would provide more variety and anything is better than attacking turkey shoot alley.

[Codestar]

Place an Ecm disrupter inside the base so defenders cannot use Ecm inside the walls (Allowing LRM to become useful to attackers). And sneaking in wouldn't be possible unless the Ecm disrupter was destroyed (Secondary objective for attacking team). I suppose the defending team could just destroy the disrupter themselves (Reward penalty).

[Katotonic]

Brody319, on 14 December 2014 - 10:45 AM, said:

WHAT IF WE MAKE HOMEWORLDS CAPTURABLE?


When a faction captures another's homeworld a new one is selected from the number of available planets to that faction.
Defenders of a homeworld get a 300 ton dropship to help them repel attackers.

If every planet of a faction is captured the players of that faction get a few options:
For Clans:
If captured by a clan, they can choose to switch to that clan faction, or Clan Loyalists
If captured by IS they can choose to join any other clan, join the Clan Loyalist faction, Or join that IS faction that captured them.


For IS
If captured by a IS they can choose to switch to that IS faction or switch to Mercs
If captured by a Clan they can choose to join any IS faction, join the mercs, or switch to the Clan that captured them.

(switching from IS to Clan and vise verse would mean they have to use IS/Clan mechs appropriately.)

Edit:
If a faction is beaten, and they go Clan loyalist or Merc, and capture planets, the unit may convert the planets under their jurisdiction and a few planets around it into the faction they wish.

So for example if a Merc unit owns 3 planets, for a cost of c-bills they may convert those planets and a few planets around them into a dead faction (so for example they could choose to go Steiner if they got wiped our by other factions), that unit getting to select the home world, and any IS players are given a chance to instantly join that faction. If a unit decides to convert to that revived faction, the planets they control would convert as well.

So If Merc Unit A is stationed in planet 1, 3, 5. decides to convert to a dead faction, they may pay a cost of c-bills to do it. then they pick the homeworld.
The if Unit B wants to join them, and owns planet 2, 6, 7 then those planets would convert to that faction as well.

This allows any faction a chance of revival.

Big Tin Man, on 14 December 2014 - 08:27 AM, said:

Change the win condition for attackers to:

Destroy the generator
Destroy half of the enemy mech force

Simple solution. Easy to implement. It fixes the sucide squad solution as it leaves the attacker at a disadvantage by wasting 25 percent of their mechs to take the generator.

And makes sense as destroying a giant cannon while leaving 48 mechs untouched isn't really a way to walk into a planet without... problems.

And most importantly, it forces us to do the thing that makes this fun, blowing up the other guy's mechs.

[Katotonic]

Jman88, on 14 December 2014 - 11:32 AM, said:

Dear PGI,

Thanks for finally getting CW kicked off before Christmas! And I'm looking forward to the development of it. New maps look fantastic but some more variety is needed ASAP. Here is some constructive criticism:

After playing this weekend in maybe 20 matches... I'm bored with CW as it is. Why?

• Only 2 maps with 2 modes, and like many have said they usually boil down trying to rush the cannon or stopping that rush.
  
• And if you are attacking the Vault map its like 90% failure rate if you are not a in a well organized team. And according to some people in the forums if you are in the 12 man teams you just "zerg rush" and you win too easy. Either way its gotten really repetitive after only a couple of days of playing.

So easy fix: Bring in a few of the old maps and let us sometimes play resource capture and base capture but using CW 48man teams and dropships (and longer timers/scores of course).




Not every fight on a planet has to be about destroying a cannon. Sometimes we just need to fight skirmishes, destroy the other side, or capture other resources. These situations could just as easily count within 10 of the wins needed to capture a planet.

I'd love to see the following maps used in CW for such purposes:

• Alpine Peaks
  
• Vridian Bog
  
• Canyon Map
  
• Corrisive Valley
  
• Terra Therma

It would greatly add to our variety and development of different strategies in CW. In my mind those are all fun maps and big enough for CW matches. No one seems to care that we have 2 maps/terrains for all of the hundred or so planets so there is no "reality" that we need to follow here. Re-use these maps until more CW specific maps and modes are made.




Thanks!

Macksheen, on 14 December 2014 - 12:57 PM, said:

... existing game modes tied into CW for CW-related "thingies".

- Recon / Patrol = old style skirmish - winner gets some # of "intelligence points" for the planet in question on invasion runs (benefit provided by these maybe sensor range? ... something measurable but maybe not super awesome ... range on the turrets?). One mech each, means for a bit quicker runs. Points decay over an X day time period.

- Raid = old style assault or conquest - winner gets some sort of "supply points" that maybe affect # of turrets ... attacking raiders when, less turrets. More C-Bills, as that's what conquest provides. Possibly this affects the pay-out of invasion games in some small amount? ie, Enough successful raids by Team A give up to a 10% bonus on Cbills for team A in invasion games, etc. Again, decay the "raid advantage points" over time.

This would allow for quicker matches, so people w/o the time could maybe do things to aid their friends. Each could get LP, but at a reduced amount. Ultimately, small teams could "raid", helping out the bigger invasions (or helping stave them off by defending raids or running successful patrols).

It would be nice if some of these could be from the public queues; even better if using them somehow would allow some pressure-relief to ensure there are less undefended-attacks (or better yet, make them impossible).


- Big ass battle - drop ship mode kill 'em alls. Self explanatory. Sometimes just killing everyone is fun. You may need to run this as assault though, to keep people from being weenies. Small reduction in LP from invasion.

[Squarefox]

Please let us choose clan mechs and IS mechs in one drop deck.
It's very annoying that you cannot play half your mechs.

It's not against the story, that clanners drop in (salvaged) IS mechs or that IS drops in (salvaged) clan mechs.
Merc Corps have both mech types available anyway.

Edited by Squarefox, 14 December 2014 - 02:33 PM.

[PeteZonee]

Squarefox, on 14 December 2014 - 02:31 PM, said:

Please let us choose clan mechs and IS mechs in one drop deck.
It's very annoying that you cannot play half your mechs.

It's not against the story, that clanners drop in (salvaged) IS mechs or that IS drops in (salvaged) clan mechs.
Merc Corps have both mech types available anyway.

But merc corps aren't allowed in mwo. We've been forced with a faction according to our unit's lore now. But in terms of salvaging mechs, that _WILL_ unbalance everything if we mixed both clan and IS in inner sphere and clan units. And it would take away from the immersion we all have.

[Darth Futuza]

Túatha Dé Danann, on 13 December 2014 - 12:23 AM, said:

What I like about the map is... the map. What I hate about it?

Good morning, while you were asleep, you lost 5 planets.

If I cannot even defend the planet I just conquered, why conquer at all? Grind a little for C-Bills, master your mechs, screw CW. I sadly have no better idea on how to solve this, but as it stands right now, I do not really feel any strong motivation to invest time into that thing - sadly.

Work with other units in your faction to schedule "shifts" of when to cover the planet you are interested in. Coordinate the defense. Just like real war.

[Katotonic]

Anjian, on 14 December 2014 - 07:08 PM, said:

IMO, PGI needs to see the colorful map charts for ACVD CW, where there is always flows of attack from one faction to another, where victories are posted, emergency alerts and call for arms are always posted, where you see regions being won and lost in real time. The planet map on MWO CW is too serene. In ACVD, it feels like a real war is going on.

Colin Thrase, on 14 December 2014 - 05:49 PM, said:

Just a couple of suggestions. I have played both on both the attacking and defending side, with wins and losses on both sides, and I think these changes would really help out:

• Attacking vs Defending: During the load screen, the upper right corner (next to the clock) indicates Attacking, Defending, or Counter-Attacking. I think many players (myself included) probably choose different mechs depending on whether they are attacking or defending. If a player originally clicked on a 'needs defenders' link, but the game will be counter-attacking, I would suggest a pop-up on this screen that says "You have elected to defend, but you'll be counter-attacking - would you like to modify your drop deck now? Yes/No". If any players click on this, add 60 seconds to the ready clock so that they have time to make those changes.
  
• What to do: Many players seem to have no idea what to shoot at (talking about generators here). Please place thumbnails on the objective screen showing the door generators and Orbital Gauss generators. Unfortunately, these don't seem to be eligible targets (probably to prevent indirect LRM fire), so it's not apparent to new players what they're supposed to be aiming at.
  
• Player Breakdown: I'm not sure how easy this would be, but if you would add a stats window to the faction screen, that would be helpful. A list of each faction, and what percent of the "currently queued" and "currently in-match" CW players that faction represents.
  
• Progress Reporting: I have seen that CW includes a "Cease Fire" period every night shortly before midnight. I'm assuming that's a maintenance window, but someone said that planets change hands during that time. Is there any chance we can get a "Latest Developments" article on the Faction page listing which planets changed hands during the previous 24 hours? While I would love to play this game daily, it's not always possible, so a historic version that shows the last 7 days would be awesome as well.
  
• Queue: Any chance that on the "Preparing for Drop" window, where it says "Waiting For Team Members", we could get a "XX players still needed", that updates in real time? Some matches start in 2 minutes or less. Others, sadly, take 30+ minutes to assemble a team. Personally, after I saw they could go 30+ minutes, I have started dropping after 15. I spend a lot more time tabbed out in CW than I ever did in standard match maker (I play in windowed full screen so that I can still watch the player list for any activity).

Thanks

[Katotonic]

MAXrobo, on 14 December 2014 - 08:19 PM, said:

This is a pretty simple suggestion. I would like the option to save different dropship set ups. There are significantly different drop deck needs depending on whether your team is attacking or defending, and it would be nice if I didn't have to reconfigure my dropship every time I switch roles.

This could just be a simple drop down menu in the pre-battle lobby where you can select dropship 1, dropship 2, dropship 3 etc. You would setup each dropship exactly as you do now. When you press save, it saves your selection of mechs to which ever dropship you currently have selected. when you select a different dropship, it loads the mech selection that was saved to that dropship. Then, when the match starts, you get the mech selection that corresponds with the dropship you have selected. After the game starts, it plays out exactly like it does now.

[IIIuminaughty]

Fix Orbital Gun bug where mechs can jump into gun and destroy it while not taking damage from enemy team defending the gun....

[IIIuminaughty]

Allow us to see all the units that own 1 planet or more.

Edited by IIIuminaughty, 14 December 2014 - 10:50 PM.

[Kiblams]

Things that are missing that could really improve the CW maps:

• Command centre to capture to take control of turrets
  
• Power generators to destroy which will disable the surrounding turrets
  
• Power generators powering a shield around the gun generator (take those down first - will stop rushes)

Just a few additions from Mech Commander that realy should be in this mode for MWO.

[Mao of DC]

Here is a link to my suggestion for CW basically starting the Mercenary Review Control Board.

http://mwomercs.com/...ces-in-phase-3/

[Dawnstealer]

"Rolling Conquest" game mode. Each side starts with a "controlled" node or base, then there are three neutral nodes across the landscape in strategic locations.

Unlike Conquest, the previous node would have to be held before you could claim the next one. So if you started with A, you'd have to have B fully under control before you could take C, and so on.

This would be far more interesting and strategic than the wall-jumping modes we have now.

[S Phoenix]

Since this might be the right place for suggestions - RE-POST:

1. Add a Checkbox in the "PLAY NOW" dropdown button for CW. Checkbox is greyed off if the player/group is not eligible for CW.

Reasoning:
CW numbers are down. If you dont have 12 players ready to fight 12 other players on the same planet, nothing will happen.

If players/groups had the option of selecting CW in the "PLAY NOW" dropdown button, this should increase the player base for CW and allow planet queues to be filled in a more timely manner.


How it could work:
*Eligible players/groups who just want to play - doesn't matter if its CW or Skirmsh, Conquest, Assault, should be able to just click the PLAY NOW button.

If you don't want to - just uncheck the box....hit the "PLAY NOW" button as you would normally.

You can also access CW via the Faction tab per normal.


Background Logic:
If a spot is available on a planet and the player/group is *eligible to fill that spot. The player/group gets picked up in the same way as though they clicked on defend/attack for that planet in CW. (Use a simple demand/supply logic for the various queues)

*eligible - for the Solo player means:
If the player is a CJF player for instance - he/she should be able to be dropped (matchmade) on any planet that a CJF player would see on the CW overlay.**

*eligible - for Groups means:
Depending on the factions of the players in the group:
If all players in the group are of the same faction, it would work the same as a solo player above.
If all players in the group are Clan (various clans). They would only be able to defend any Clan planets
If all players in the group are IS (various IS). They would only be able to defend any IS planets
If players are mixed (Clan and IS). The checkbox is greyed out - i.e the group is not eligible for CW.
If one player in the group has not selected a faction - The checkbox is greyed out. - i.e the group is not eligible for CW.

2**. In the same way that all factions (IS or Clan) can defend all planets, Allow all factions to Attack all planets on the Clan vs IS borders.

To even out the numbers in attack queues, players should be able to attack any planet in Clan vs IS. i.e Clan Wolf should be able to assist CJF in attacking Steiner, the same way Marik can assist Steiner in attacking CJF.

The Unit tag on the planet goes to the unit that contributed the most in the attack. Borders move as they do currently.


This is what would help in my opinion after watching the numbers dwindle down over the weeks.
In conclusion, what I am saying is simple: Give the community the option to help the CW matchmaker with a bigger player base....All it takes is a checkbox....

Edited by Samurai Phoenix, 28 January 2015 - 07:44 PM.

[oldradagast]

A few ideas:

1) Grant the attackers points for destroying (or maybe even damaging) objectives. Right now, if you are a good attacker and focus on the objectives, none of that damage counts for anything and you get no bonus reward for destroying any objectives. Ironically, your end of match score can be LOWER than attackers who ignored the objectives and instead focused on shooting defending mechs. This makes life even harder for the attackers - who already have a rough time - and flies in the face of an "objective-based" game mode.

2) Add the CW maps to the Testing Grounds, and included the generators on them. This will let new players figure out what is actually going on in a safe environment vs. bumbling around in a CW game because they don't know what they are doing, thus costing their team a win.

3) Better designed maps. This takes a lot more effort, but the current maps are terrible. Obvious kill-zones, no ability for the attacker to really flank or surprise anyone (jump-jet equipped light rush excluded, and even that is pushing it), and a static objective that never changes. Quite frankly, it gets boring and old after a while, and it's very one-sided against the attackers because they have to walk through those same kill-zones, game after game, which gets old fast.

4) More interesting objectives: Rescue missions, search and destroy missions, guard a moving convoy, etc. Lots of ideas which involve movement vs. camping and which can have random elements put into place with each game so you don't always know where you need to go. This would give scouting a real role in CW and let people use more of the maps, launch more complex attacks and ambushes, etc.

5) Fix the Stomps: I've proposed the optional matchmaker option - turn it on, and you're only paired against enemy groups with about the same skill, like in the Public queue. Turn it off, and you get anything. This idea has been widely panned by try-hards who don't want their free wins taken away... but the painful reality is that pointless, one-sided matches that waste everyone's time is one of the top reasons - if not THE top reason - people have left CW. When most games are easily predicted when you look at the opposing teams, there's simply no point in playing.

6) Rewards based on skill differences in teams: If the underdog, disorganized PUG takes on a 12-man and actually does half-way decent, they should get a huge payout for that. Similarly, cowardly teams that simply camp on defense and hope to stomp PUG's should not be paid as well. The system needs to reward risk and courage for those who want to step up to the challenge. Otherwise, we're right back to the same situation where there's just no point for the less-organized or skilled team to even be in the game.

Edited by oldradagast, 30 January 2015 - 08:35 AM.

[operatorZ]

Suggestions:

Increase pay rewards across the board.

Give Mercs actual contracts for more $$$ but with consequences.

Institute a PvP or PvE system into CW that will only open up after you have completed x number of matches per week/day in CW and represents some contribution to the conquering of the planet. i.e. - Wolf pugs completed X number of raid battles on Planet X so Wolf units defending/attacking planet will get 2 extra turrets or +25 armour to generators or Dropship drops occur every 25 seconds. make this a one time thing available for each planet as its being conquered by the regular CW groups. These modes will be PUG only but will only be available for a limited time and only if you complete X number of regular CW drops. This forces CW play while giving PUG's missions that are less unbalanced against and more "fun". The regular que maps could be used for this