8 replies to this topic

[Coolant]

Prolly already mentioned or suggested, but would be a breath of fresh for the old game types (Skirmish/Assault/Conquest) by adding dropships and limited respawn.

What do you think?

[Trashhead]

Dropships: Yes! Cool thing!
Respawn: No! Because... read on:

Premise:
I have to admit that i initially liked the idea of having 4 mechs in CW.
The Tonnage limit also helped PGi solve the balancing issue: everyone would have basically the same combined mass (tonnage) of mechs available.

Observation:
After having played CW (i only casually play it)
and from reading about CW,
i have come to a very... odd conclusion.

Respawn in MWO = bad gameplay.
(This is my personal opinion, based on what i personally define as "good gameplay".)

Idea:

Actually, i wonder if the Arena-Modes with symmetrical goals (each team has the SAME goal, while in CW each team as the exact opposite goals) would benefit from Dropships + respawn like the one we have in CW,
while CW would benefit from NO respawn as we have it in the current Arena-Modes.

In the Arena-Mode you currently have no respawn.
The one mech you have in the field counts.
For me, this creates more intense gameplay.
Because your death is permanent.
This also makes a 11:12 win more meaningful, as often the remaining mechs in the game are all very battered and at the brink of destruction.
For me, this are the instances where i had the most fun.
Even when i was only WATCHING the last player as a spectator.
And loosing in such a situation is also less frustrating then in a 2:12 loss.
But again,. i am just a measly PuG, what do i know ?

If you have respawn (even just limited respawn) this seems to create some amount of carelessness, not only in myself.
(This might not be true for the hardcore Units here like LORD, as they defiantly play to win the match.)
Because "Ah, i died.. what ever *picks his next mech ant waits 10 seconds for it to be dropped*.

From my observation respawn also created some problems in CW:
1. Light-Rush:
- which was partly countered by adding 3 more generators, but i recently witnessed a Light-Rush where they opponents knocked out 2 and a half of them within the first wave. So it's less of a problem, but not ~really~ solved.
- 3/3/3/3-Drops (meaning, each wave MUST consist of 3 mechs per wight-class and your drop-deck also MUST contain 1 mech of each weight-class) would have been a far better solution, but.. meh... I'm just a PuG.
2. Farming:
- in the instance mentioned above, the opposing team did - after their initial crippling blow - started farming us for cash and EXP. I do not blame them, as they simply understood how CW currently works and made use of this knowledge by simply applying it. But i think it should not have been possible in the first place.
I do not think this is what CW should be all about: an epic battle.

So, i wonder, what would happen if PGI just creates a CW-mode like this:
Invasion-Scenario, but:
- no respawn at all
- you have to pick 1 mech of each weight-class for your dropdeck
- you can only bring ONE of them to the fight (so if, say, all 3 heavy-slots are taken, you will have to take something else; so you either have to be quick or very polite when asking your teammates if you could take your favorite mech into the field)
- get rid of most turrets (if not all), get ride of at least 2 generators (down to the main generator and a backup-generator somewhere), and probably even get ride of the gates.
-> test it, adjust it if necessary, and see if this would be MORE or LESS fun then the current mode.


On the note of "but drop-ships lock, like. cool, and stuff":
Please, PGI, add some more game modes (community has made PLENTY of suggestions so far)
where seeing dropships landing and lifting of WITHOUT Players being in them is part of the.. mission.
Just seeing the Dropships from inside is kind of... not what you or we wanted, anyway.
And you have rarely time to see them dropping mech and ENJOY this sight in the heat of battle, anyway.

But again: I am PuG, Lord of the "Can't hit Sh!t"'s, from "Team-play is for people who can't do stuff on their own and OhWhyAmIDead?"-Land.
So what do i know.

Disclaimer:
All the above is my personal opinion based on what i have experienced, observed and/or heard/read about.
New experiences and observations are likely to alter my opinion.
Statements like "L2P" or "you are dump" don't.

[Lily from animove]

we would need reworked maps for this, most are too small for such a thing, but on alpine, turmaline and terra therma this may be a great thing.

[EvilCow]

On the large maps I would like to have the dropship mode. It could make Alpine an interesting map.

[AssaultPig]

the current only-one-mech environment makes many players ultra-risk-averse, which doesn't really lead to fun outcomes. Dropping with multiple mechs might alleviate that.

it would also substantially solve the tonnage/weightclass balancing issues, since all players would drop with the same total weight.

I don't think the maps are too small necessarily since there would still never be more than 24 mechs active at a time, but you'd need 'safe' drop zones of some kind (or realistically, 2-3 safe zones per side) to prevent the type of spawn camping we see in CW.

[Scyther]

Well actually people have been asking for a Solaris battle ground for ages.

And other people have pointed out that a Steam release needs 'Deathmatch with respawn' to hold the attention of the ADD types.

I think that a rework of something like the 3 MW4: Mercs Solaris maps (Factory, Jungle, Coliseum) made larger, could support a 'Dropship / Thunderdome' battle mode that is like free-for-all/Deathmatch, but not with endless single-mech respawn.

This would encourage ownership of multiple mechs and gear, increase strategy in both dropdeck setup and order of play, possibly even allow for in-match 'alliances' like MW4 did... although at the end, There Can Be Only One!
(well unless there was a Last 3 reward or something, but that would heavily favor pre-coordinated groups)

Alternatively, you could have Dropship style, but each 'drop' is a battle phase - when you die on that drop, you are out for that phase. Potentially, after each drop phase, there could be map change. You could still have 12-on-12 teams for this, but in that case you would want fast battle modes that allow for a 5-6 minute battle/drop phase, map change, new mech drops. 4 mechs like that would be a CW-length match but faster paced with more variety.

[Gilgamesh Drakenor]

Not sure about the respawn, but I could see a potentially interesting mechanic with the dropship to shake things up in the regular modes: holding back reserves.

Basically, up to four mechs could volunteer to be held back as reserves before the game starts, and then be airdropped after a set amount of time, but behind the enemy lines. Maybe even having a way to set the drop point using the map.

It would be a kind of risk/reward in that you could potentially start the match outnumbered if the enemy team all deployed at once, but with the potential of dropping fresh reinforcements where they least expect it.

[Araevin Teshurr]

if you want respawns, go play a first person shooter. If your mech explodes, you eject, and run away .. as fast as you can.

[monk]

I don't care about respawn, but I've always thought adding the dropship to the start would be excellent because people could then choose a mech that fits the map. =P

Granted you'd have to fix it to handle the 4x3 system, but that's something that could be tweaked pretty easily. You could, for example, just let people select a mech based on the class they were slotted into during the match maker. Or you could allow them to use anything from the weight class they were given or lighter in their drop deck. Or you could have a larger drop deck for non-CW matches (maybe 400 tons) so you could fit up to 8 mechs or something in your drop deck.