Valkyrie Red one, on 04 December 2012 - 04:38 AM, said:
i can't see why the era had to be, and stay, at an older time. it could move forward as the game gets updated, without needing ten actual years. also rebalancing newer mechs to fit old tech while maintaining individual characteristics is a viable option i believe.
We don't know how they're going to update the timeline, PGI has to be aware of the great leaps in time that'd take to get to certain time periods, but the one they picked right now has one of the biggest impacts in Battletech history. We get some light House fighting, and then the imminent Clan Invasion which was HUGE. Follow that by other conflicts then the FEDCOM Civil War, and there's going to be plenty of things to do. Yea, there's a big time gap between now, Tukayyid, and then the FEDCOM War, (and let's not forget Capellan's fighting St. Ives,) but they haven't announced if they're going to do small time jumps or not. I'd assume they will, after they feel we've had a good amount of time playing community warfare in one spot.
So, basically I see it going as thus. We spend about 7-8 months playing MW:O as House vs. House, and then they'll do a big Clan Invasion/update/event (August,
3049) and it'll be awesome, we'll see. After that, one and a half years(ish) of House vs. Clan, House vs. House, and Clan vs. Clan until Tukayyid (May 1,
3052) hits. Hopefully we'll see a huge tourney/event thing when this hits too, to help reflect that huge turning point in the Btech universe. (Tukayyid lasted around 19-20 days.) So, right now they've got plenty of content/things to do for the next two years for MW:O. After all that, they can decide to hop the timeline a bit to another point of action, or keep us there for a bit until they decide to move to something like the FEDCOM war.
As for just jumping from an older time to a newer one, then everyone has super tech blasting everyone down in 3 seconds with an alpha strike. Think really fast of how MW:O hardpoints are going to work...then consider this. We'll start with Clan 'mechs, take the Daishi as a "prime" example...it('s primary configuration, if you didn't get the joke) has 8 Energy Hardpoints, 2 Ballistic, and one Missile. All Clan 'tech is lighter and takes up less space then IS and does more damage. The Nova has 12 laser hardpoints in it's base config, and that 'mech is 50 tons. Alt Config B of the Storm Crow has an
ULTRA AC/20, and six ER Medium lasers, 1 ballistic and six laser hardpoints. Both the Storm Crow and Nova have such high base speeds that they'll be able to move as fast as any light 'mech once they max their engine out, or come as close as needed to kill anything so fast you'll go blind.
Yea the Clan Invasion is going to happen, but picking an earlier time and working out how things are going to work is better then just plunging us neck deep into too much technology, from more then one standpoint. On one hand, we have new toys to play with as they get released by PGI, we have something to play towards over time. On the other, it gives them development time to make sure things are as balanced as they can instead of being overloaded all at once. Does it suck for the Clanners or those who have a certain favorite 'mech out of timeline? Yea, kinda, but a strong base game will lead to a better game in the long run then basically making this a turkey shoot from the beginning. Slow updates gives them the most longevity to MW:O, anticipation from a community can be a powerful tool of retention, and it gives the dev team more time on specific projects too.
Personally, I wish the game had started in 3025, and never even touched the Clan Invasion.
Odanan, on 04 December 2012 - 03:29 AM, said:
PS: ugly mechs are the best.
Some people think this
is ugly, but it's the best damn thing flying.
Orion makes perfect since for the next Heavy, and with Flying Debris as concept artist..I bet he remakes it into something simply amazing.
Edited by Jack Gallows, 04 December 2012 - 11:39 AM.