43 replies to this topic

[Neutron IX]

Greetings Mechwarriors!

A little background: I've been a huge fan of all things Battletech for roughly 25 years now, and feel strongly that one of the greatest things about this franchise, are the unique factions, with their varied histories, colorful personalities, both villainous and heroic, and inter-faction rivalries and grudges, and most especially, their iconic or unique faction mechs.

To date, outside of the Clan vs. IS bit, there has been very little to identify what mechs truly "belong" to which factions, and while I'd certainly like to see more of this added one day, I definitely would NOT like to see this become less important in any future implementation.

The "Dilemma": Many players, myself included, have invested many dollars into this game, through the purchase of both IS and Clan mech packs, or have created "alt" accounts to buy mechs from the "other side" for, and to get a taste of what it's like "across the aisle". How can we give players more flexibility in choosing which mechs to use, and when, without diluting the little bit of faction differentiation we DO currently have?

To date the solution has been to allow units/players to jump back and forth across the Clan vs. IS faction line, thereby getting a chance to pilot all of their mechs at different times, for different factions, a solution that, while an admirable attempt to be player-base friendly, as a fan of the franchise, feels to me like it waters down what makes the factions awesome and unique in the first place.

Proposed Possible Solutions: I would like PGI to investigate one of the following two options as a possible new feature.

1). Allow the permanent "merging" of two unique accounts. We now have the ability to "gift" to other players, and I am wondering if, by extension, it would be possible to permanently merge two accounts, say, an existing IS account and a Clan "alt" account, allowing shared benefit from things like Premium time, GXP pools, MC banks, skill trees, paint unlocks, etc, while preserving possibly, separate mechbays, mech experience pools, and mechs/equipment/modules.

This could allow players to permanently assign Clan mechs, equipment, modules, and cockpit items to one "pilot", and IS mechs, equipment, modules, and cockpit items to the other, without unreasonably adding to the amount of "grinding" that a single player must do to unlock things like skills, paints, modules, etc. And instead of faction jumping, you select which faction each pilot fights for, and they can stay on assignment with that faction.

2). Allow the creation of an "alt" pilot an a player profile. If the above proves to be too challenging to code, perhaps it could be possible to allow players to create a 2nd "pilot" on their profile, working perhaps in similar fashion to what's outlined above, but minus the need of linking two accounts.

It would be interesting to get votes on the ideas, or get feedback on possible challenges or benefits, pros and cons, etc.

What do you think community?

*Edited to fix some typos, and to adjust the 3rd option to "EITHER or BOTH".

Edited by Rip Snorgan, 22 February 2015 - 03:31 PM.

[Nightmare1]

They could do something like Star Trek Online. You are given three free characters there, one for each faction, at the start of the game. Now, STO's Factions are different from MWO Factions, so please don't mistake my suggestion for one asking for a pilot for each IS House and Clan. In STO, the only three playable Factions were different in ways akin to how the IS and Clans are different. Thus, there were three characters.

In MWO, this would translate into a two pilot system like that suggested in the OP. Players would have a Clan Pilot and an IS Pilot. The players could then choose whether to make that pilot Loyal to a Faction or Clan, or if they want to make that pilot a Merc within its respective play type (IS vs Clan).

[Gladewolf]

it's not as if this would be the first game to have multiple characters for multiple factions

[Neutron IX]

I'm curious to know the reasons behind a "no" vote, if people wouldn't mind elaborating?

Thanks!

[Kjudoon]

I'd rather see accounts be allowed to have 2 pilot accounts for those who want it (one for IS one for Clams). Furthermore, mutiple accounts should be banned once this is done, or merged. So if you have purchased items for real money, those would be imported to your IS or Clam account.

And yes, I know what this could mean for some OP. The issue I have are those who use Alt accounts to cheat, or harm others in the game, not just to play incogneto and there are sooooo many of them.

[Neutron IX]

Kjudoon, on 22 February 2015 - 04:08 PM, said:

I'd rather see accounts be allowed to have 2 pilot accounts for those who want it (one for IS one for Clams). Furthermore, mutiple accounts should be banned once this is done, or merged. So if you have purchased items for real money, those would be imported to your IS or Clam account.

And yes, I know what this could mean for some OP. The issue I have are those who use Alt accounts to cheat, or harm others in the game, not just to play incogneto and there are sooooo many of them.

Yeah, I think the ability to create a 2nd "character" would be overall preferable to the merging accounts thing, with the option to "merge" an alt account over as your 2nd character maybe up to a certain deadline, for those who would like to keep an alt name for their 2nd pilot, or who, like you say, have purchased items they'd like to transfer over. But I'd support either option, or even a 3rd option if someone has a suggestion. I simply want a solid way to play the Clan stuff I've purchased without having to feel dirtied by hopping back and forth between IS and Clan in CW.

If a change like this is implemented at some point, I'd hope that one could no longer jump back and forth from Clan to IS, but, as Nightmare1 mentioned, could maybe still hop from House to House, or Clan to Clan, within that Faction.

Fortunately for me, I haven't put any real money into my alt account, since all the actual cash goes to Rip.

[VinJade]

seeing as I am purely a Merc only player I don't think I would like only being able to chose between any faction permanently.
besides I rarely do pick any side, don't like Laio(scum of the houses), Mark is a wob home(in the future), ect

now if you can have three different pilots that can stay merc than that would be fun

[Neutron IX]

VinJade, on 22 February 2015 - 06:12 PM, said:

seeing as I am purely a Merc only player I don't think I would like only being able to chose between any faction permanently.
besides I rarely do pick any side, don't like Laio(scum of the houses), Mark is a wob home(in the future), ect

now if you can have three different pilots that can stay merc than that would be fun

Well, I was thinking more like, you couldn't hop back and forth between Clan and IS with this one. I'd still like to see, especially IS units, be able to jump from House to House. Merc life is a big part of every IS table top campaign. But being able to swap between IS and Clan is, from a lore perspective especially, something that just should not be allowed at all.

[VinJade]

I can understand that and I agree be ether clan or IS as a Merc or normal house unit.
now as long as everyone still have access to both techs no matter what side you pick then I can easily stand behind this idea.

however I think to also go along with this idea, those who play clan should have cheaper clan tech while the IS mechs become a bit more costly.

while as IS Merc or house unit, the Clan machines stay as is in price while IS mechs become a tad cheaper, which would give players more of a reason to pick one side or the other.

Edited by VinJade, 22 February 2015 - 06:29 PM.

[Neutron IX]

Yeah, I would picture it like this, and maybe I didn't explain this so well in the OP.

On my Rip Snorgan account, I currently own the top tier of each of the following: Phoenix plus Saber Reinforcements, Clan Wave I and Wave II, Resistance, and Urbanmech. I will likely also end up purchasing Wave III, since I am a huge supporter of the Battletech franchise, and by extension, PGI, for providing me a great digital format to participate in the franchise with.

What I'd like to do, and the whole reason for this post in the first place, is have an IS pilot, Rip Snorgan, who "owns" all my IS mechs, and IS modules, plus any IS specific faction content, like camos, paints, and cockpit items. Even though Rip is a staunch Davion loyalist, I'd like the option to at least still exist for him to "turn merc", and run off to work for another IS House (Kurita, Liao, Marik, Steiner, FRR) if he so chooses.

Then, I'd like to be able to create a 2nd character, call him "Clancy Clandersen" for the purposes of this example, who then "owns" all my Clan specific content, mechs, camo, paints, modules, cockpit items, etc. Maybe he's part of Clan Jade Falcon, but if he wants to, at some point, he could choose to join up with another Clan and work with them.

Rip would not be able to pilot the Clan stuff, or use the Clan content, and vice versa for Clancy, and I could continue to purchase any and all IS content for Rip, and Clan content for Clancy. Everything else would maybe be shared? Or not, they could perhaps even still have separate currency banks (except for maybe MC and GXP which I feel should be "account wide"), and separate mechbays or something?

Open to ideas here on how it could work. I just think something like this would better promote keeping clearer factional boundaries maybe, while allowing players to best use all their purchased content.

*Edited to add, if Clancy Clandersen does not exist, I think I found my new Clan Bloodname. If he does, complete disclosure and disclaimer...he isn't me.

Edited by Rip Snorgan, 22 February 2015 - 06:56 PM.

[Jody Von Jedi]

And depending on which character you chose at launch, the game would only load the IS or Clan associated technology. I only own IS mechs, but I can imagine how cluttered the mech lab is for guys that own both IS and Clan mechs. I don't have an alt account, but if I did, it would be just for Clan tech.

Separating the tech would really clean up the mech lab.

[VinJade]

Jody, I have both a Clan light and an IS heavy, which is why it shouldn't matter what side you choice both tech should be accessed by everyone just a little more costly depending on which side you are on.

it would be like someone who is Combine only and can't have access to Davion or Mark mechs or equipment that maybe for one house only.

[Neutron IX]

Jody Von Jedi, on 22 February 2015 - 07:52 PM, said:

And depending on which character you chose at launch, the game would only load the IS or Clan associated technology. I only own IS mechs, but I can imagine how cluttered the mech lab is for guys that own both IS and Clan mechs. I don't have an alt account, but if I did, it would be just for Clan tech.

Separating the tech would really clean up the mech lab.

Damn, that's a right fine addition to the idea! I'd love that!

[Neutron IX]

VinJade, on 22 February 2015 - 08:01 PM, said:

Jody, I have both a Clan light and an IS heavy, which is why it shouldn't matter what side you choice both tech should be accessed by everyone just a little more costly depending on which side you are on.

it would be like someone who is Combine only and can't have access to Davion or Mark mechs or equipment that maybe for one house only.

I do disagree with that part, personally, simply because I love the lore, and at this point in the timeline, Clan tech would be basically unavailable to the average IS warrior. And Clan Warriors would look down on IS tech as being beneath them to use.

You can find exceptions to the IS using Clan thing (Victor Steiner-Davion, and Hohiro Kurita with their Daishis, etc), but for the most part it is exceedingly rare enough, to the point that, it might as well be considered to not really ever happen.

But, seeing Clan Mechwarriors in CW in IS mechs, Locusts and Centurions and the like, is just, absolutely, lore-breaking, and you're very hard pressed to find any sort of solid example of that.

IS units did manage to salvage, or in even rarer cases capture, Clan technology, but 99 times out of 100 would not have been allowed to keep it for their own use, rather, expected, under either terms of their Merc contract, or under orders from their House military High-Command, to turn the tech over for study and reverse engineering, or in some cases reassignment to more prestigious and elite units.

Outside of that, due to the state of war existing between the IS and Clans, there are no trade agreements of any sort existing at this time (though this would change in later years), so there is no other dependable avenue for obtaining Clan tech in the Inner Sphere, and if you did manage to find some "for sale" it was so prohibitively expensive, as to be virtually unobtainable by all but the wealthiest and rarest of buyers.

The Clans viewed IS tech taken as salvage, as little more than scrap and spare parts, to be re-purposed to 2nd or 3rd line Freebirth or Solhama units in the best case, or recycled for ore and other components in the worst (since the Clans aren't wasteful, they'd have at least tried to figure out some way to use it).

House to House on the other hand, is much easier to explain, and more likely to have happened. Same with Clan to Clan.

I think the Players should have access to everything, but I would really want to see it divided up between their Characters.

My opinion though, and it's fair enough to disagree.

*Edited to flesh out Clan vs IS tech stuff.

Edited by Rip Snorgan, 22 February 2015 - 08:20 PM.

[VinJade]

lol, they broke away from lore a long time ago.
also they stated that MW:O was on a different time-line path.

[Gladewolf]

Alt accounts are already a thing in regards to players ability to anon/ cheat the game if that is a concern....a way to alleviate that would be for both account pilots to have the same name. At least then, cheats would become obvious if they are out there.....right now there is absolutely no way to tell if a spy is on your team. (I'll also note that I personally don't see this as that common, or important)

[VinJade]

@ Rip
granted the Clan machines would be rare in many cases however Mercs & Pirates(such as one eye Ryan) had a good chance to get clan mechs through out their battles with the clans.

as to the clans not using IS mechs, they don't believe in waste and would assign IS mechs to their second line units or to 'free birth' warriors so yeah they would use them.

[Jody Von Jedi]

VinJade, on 22 February 2015 - 08:01 PM, said:

Jody, I have both a Clan light and an IS heavy, which is why it shouldn't matter what side you choice both tech should be accessed by everyone just a little more costly depending on which side you are on.

it would be like someone who is Combine only and can't have access to Davion or Mark mechs or equipment that maybe for one house only.

Not saying you can't have the tech, just depends on which character you load as to what is available to use. You die quick in your lone IS chassis? Then switch characters and go back out in your Clan chassis.

You'd have a single log in, but can switch between characters and equipment type. That's all. I'm not suggesting having to make a choice between one or the other.

[VinJade]

@Jody
I don't think one should have to swap Pilots if one has access to both tech then you shouldn't have to keep swapping back and forth in order just to use ether clan or IS mechs.

I use my Clan mech for a fast LRM support mech and my IS mech for a heavy all around range unit and if this was to be implemented you are saying I would have to have a clan only pilot to use my Adder & have to have an IS pilot to use my Thunderbolt?

or are you saying both tech would be available to everyone regardless of IS or Clan?

[Trashhead]

Voted "want to have".

I also think having two slighty different UI's for each side (only in appearance, not in functionality) would add to the depth of the IS vs. Clans conflict.

And it would really SHOW that there are two different factions, which for new players is hardly noticeable; especially if they have never heard of Battletech.