Ax2Grind, on 18 February 2015 - 03:43 PM, said:
While I agree that wanting balanced game mechanics is good, and I also agree that all data can be good data, most of the complaints that concern fairness in MWO have nothing to do with balance...and instead tend to be derived from folks losing, feeling bad about it, and demanding a different game in which they don't lose. That is a far cry from balance. Is it really cruel to ask that players take responsibility for their play style? I don't think so. We can all choose from the same mechs, the same configurations, and we all get put through the same random map generator. TS is even an option now for those too lazy to install it on their own.
Great description of the old MW4 servers. For some reason gaming in general seemed...different back then. I don't recall nearly the same amount of online trolling and poison that seems to bubble up from every forum these days. I must just be getting old.
I'd hope that PGI takes that from much of this qualitative feedback is that their overall design mechanic isn't very balanced and leads to un-fun gameplay experiences. That's just disregarding the matchmaking issues and the stomps in general. It's a goal to get it to be fun, but I'm still of the opinion it launched too early and seeing it as a vertical slice is more demoralizing to this community. It's funny that it was launched too early when it was a pitched point of sale initially. Cause two years could be an entire development cycle for a AAA title.
And hopefully some of the new social features will change a few peoples play styles. Though I think some of the play style complaints also come from just the design mechanics for the weapons systems and the constraints created by the map design. I personally feel all the maps are rather claustrophobic and restricted. But it was that case even with the 8 players on the maps designed for 8 people.
I also wouldn't say people were too lazy to pick up teamspeak and use it. I just haven't ever seen another teamspeak server I want to go use. I run my own and we use that when playing with friends, but I don't feel the need to seek-out someone elses server for using that when I'll play with them for all of 4-15 minutes then end up with a different group. Albeit thats when I'm playing entirely alone, which some nights I just need to do that to blow off steam.
Though a general rule of thumb I have for all games, if there is a mechanic that feels frustrating and causes you more grief than joy to play - it's a bug. The designs for UI and mechanics should feel fluid and just be a means to an end. The thing that should frustrate you, in a good way, is the other players and matching up skill. Not having to wait 20 minutes to get into a game, not a game ending in 3 minutes because of the game mode design, Not trying to figure out what you equipped on something a long while back, or customizing that particular component (mech in this case), Not navigating a skill tree or swapping different setups. All of these things fall back on PGI on their designers to address, and at some point I've seen someone else complain, whine, or discuss these very issues.
I agree there is a skill gap in there, and people playing, learning, and practicing helps change that dynamic but everytime someone complains about something and get a negative response back versus further inquiry just makes me a little sad. It's sad to see communities go toxic and just not seem to care about their fellow players.
Thank you for the appreciation of my description of Mech4. Really that's as I experienced it, and from that same position I played in the NBT, went through almost every unit type you could be in that from being a Periphery, Pirate and House. Made some great friends, many of which I'm still friends with today despite stopping being part of the NBT in 2005.
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