11 replies to this topic

[Airanthus]

Hello everybody,

My name is Sao-Wei Airanthus Of the House Liao Gate Keepers Unit.
I've been on the game for a while now - on and off - and it's been a blast so far (pun intended) but at home we have a saying " The enemy of "good" is "better". " so I've been thinking on what could make it more awesome.

*********************************************** DISCLAIMER******************************************************
This is not a rant or bitching about the game, if I give the impression of such it is not intentional so please have mercy.
********************************************/END_DISCLAIMER**************************************************

1) More mechs! By more I do not necessarily mean variety (but that's always welcome), I mean a match mode with more mechs in CW probably that might work nicely. Have entire units fighting one another for a planet in a 20v20 full mech blast-off. Why you ask? well that would bring more tactical options and manoeuvres to the play,
"But Airanthus what about those 20 lurm 100 boat trolls"? well 2 options. a) that happens b ) matchmaking (will get to that later)

2) More Maps!That's self explanatory. I am guessing, everyone's talking about it. I know I know it's cliché and I have knowledge in CGI so I know how long it takes to draft a map, model it and test it. But so far so good right?

3) Custom Decals! Ok now we are going to the interesting part. Say, I am a Unit leader. Say My unit is quite big in population and in status. Say I have a member with artistic skills who took time and created a Unit decal and I want everyone to have it on his/her mech in Unit Drops. (Why? because this is a military simulation unit son *flicks overly large cigar* ). So the model of it. I create a non vulgar, non offensive decal, based on some standards dimensions, and colour depth and it gets uploaded to the MC store. Intrigued? wait there is more: the Decal itself costs, let's say for argument's sake, 350 MC, so you have an entire unit buying the decal. PGI can reward the creator with a 10% revenue reward of in-game currency to avoid legal prosecution and such.
"Son, I don't want any scrub having my decal on its 'Mech" *Flicks overly large cigar once more* well, that is a valid argument, well allow me to retort: It's good advertising for your Unit, see what I did there? PGI can even give you an option to make your decal Faction-specific.
I know it's kidda hard, having to revisit the 'Mechs UVs and possibly recreate them/modify them but love always finds a way, amirite?

4) Loadouts! Yup! There I said it. Loadouts would be freaking awesome to have. I have a RVN 3L and that's my most favourite Chassis. But i have two build one which is pure support with Tag and the such and one that's pure damaging, evasive awesomeness. But changing a 'Mechs loadout every single match is annoying and quite frankly I am too lazy to do it. But Airanthus you can buy the same chassis again. Well yes that is true but I see no point in spending 12,923,415 C-bills (god damn those lights are expensive) onto re-buying the game and occupying an extra mechbay AND need to re-farm all the efficiencies (idk that works that way right?) So what about this proposition: Give two "Loadout" Slots to each mech to carry , if you want more, throw some of them MCs in, fair trade? win-win

5) Clans vs IS! I think I've seen it in another thread, have Clan mechs vs IS mechs patchups via an additional game-mode.

6) Matchmaking optimization . I am not sure how the current MM system works, and please do not flame me for that (I know this is the internets blah blah) but there were some times where either team was over/under tonned and the advantage was clear. I know Team Tonnage is not everything and skill is all that matters, but it is an advantage (whether you carry 2 MPLs or 10 make a difference, yes I am looking at you TheB33f and FantasticTuesday))

7) CW MatchmakingI am not sure whether or not this exists in another thread, but here goes.
When you're about to solo drop in a CW planet, you have no idea whether or not the enemy team is going to be a fully pre-made team or not. So the idea is that there should be a MM system for that particular planet (or global) that tries to balance out the teams.


EDIT 1: Checked a few spelling mistakes and added some comas and full stops where needed.

Edited by Airanthus, 26 February 2015 - 05:29 AM.

[Airanthus]

8) Thermal vision. Ok that's a minor thing, but it really bugs me. From what I understood, thermal vision works as follows, Bright White = Mordor and Dark Black = Hoth and the rest shades of grey everything in between. You know that awesome map, frozen city? yeah it's awesome, but that's not the point, the point is that when there is a blizzard, you have to use your Thermal vision, (and that's awesome) but everything is white, when it should be much much darker, I mean the ambient terrain is pretty much the same temperature as an active 'Mech, i think it would be awesome if they could fix how the Thermal Vision works.

[Airanthus]

9) Melee. Ok this one is also pretty self explanatory. If you run out of ammo or ypur Mpls get destroyed then what? You're just cover for your teammates, maybe a bodyblocker, but most mechs do have arms. Why not use them to inflict damage? I've read some Battletech novels and it's not uncommon for MechWarriors to use their mechs to punch, kick, slam or even supplex other mechs. I underatand that it's also a lot of work, having to redo the animations and there are balance issues, humanoid mechs vs non humanoid mechs (which do not have arms) or light mechs punching assaults might seem weird or funny to look but 00I think it's worth pondering on.

[Paigan]

Airanthus, on 27 February 2015 - 12:04 AM, said:

9) Melee. Ok this one is also pretty self explanatory. If you run out of ammo or ypur Mpls get destroyed then what? You're just cover for your teammates, maybe a bodyblocker, but most mechs do have arms. Why not use them to inflict damage? I've read some Battletech novels and it's not uncommon for MechWarriors to use their mechs to punch, kick, slam or even supplex other mechs. I underatand that it's also a lot of work, having to redo the animations and there are balance issues, humanoid mechs vs non humanoid mechs (which do not have arms) or light mechs punching assaults might seem weird or funny to look but 00I think it's worth pondering on.

Melee. Lolololo...
Self explanatory. Sure.
Punch, kick, childish kung fu fantasies. For vehicles with the inertia of a tank (google inertia if you're not familiar with the concept) AND even additional gyroscopes (google that as well) to make them even more inert on purpose.
If you keep googling, processing and understanding the information for some years, you might grow up eventually. But no promises.

Edited by Paigan, 27 February 2015 - 12:32 AM.

[Airanthus]

Paigan, on 27 February 2015 - 12:31 AM, said:

Melee. Lolololo...
Self explanatory. Sure.
Punch, kick, childish kung fu fantasies. For vehicles with the inertia of a tank (google inertia if you're not familiar with the concept) AND even additional gyroscopes (google that as well) to make them even more inert on purpose.
If you keep googling, processing and understanding the information for some years, you might grow up eventually. But no promises.

Well I am familiar with those concepts, but if you're thinking like that and start analyzing the science behind mechs, well that might not work out well. Since the science in that is purely hypothetical and some of it purely fictional/unrational like this http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Neurohelmet. I'm not talking about kung fu/ enter the matrix exaggerating nonsence. Maneuvers like that are in fact Canon.

[Airanthus]

10) Map tactics applications. This one's a minor thing, there are websites that do exactly that, you have the map and can draw directions and such, others can view as you draw and explain your plan. As PGI Integrated VoIP to the game i think this would make a fine addition to the game considering it helps people in units.

[Airanthus]

11) Advanced UI. This one already exists in another thread here http://mwomercs.com/...rs/page__st__20 and i think Kilroy95 is correct. I believe using these monitors would in fact increase player immersion and information gathering in game. Things like ammunition can easily be implemented to that, since the information is there. Also adding secondary information like amambient temperature, heatsinks active increases immersion. Maybe add the tactical map there, i get the feeling it looks abit out of place.

[Airanthus]

12) MechLab UI: Well the UI on that particular aspect of the game is tedious (Sorry UX&UI Designer :S ). Upgrading and making changes is quite slow and tedious in the current layout. Consider using something more like Smurphy's, making it more fast and efficient in using it

[Tarogato]

Ha Ha Ha ...

You must be new here.

Airanthus, on 26 February 2015 - 05:24 AM, said:

1) More mechs!

No. Please no. MWO used to be 8v8 matches and they had to do some serious optimisation work to get up to 12v12, and even then the framerate tanked. The more mechs you have on the field at one time, the more ridiculously taxing it is on your computer to render them. The developers simply don't have the optimisations in place that would make having more mechs on the field playable.

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2) More Maps!That's self explanatory. I am guessing, everyone's talking about it. I know I know it's cliché and I have knowledge in CGI so I know how long it takes to draft a map, model it and test it. But so far so good right?

PGI has demonstrated all but complete incompetence at map development. It takes them one month to produce a map that most people seem to be able to do in one evening. That said, more maps are coming, one per month, and hopefully... praise mechajesus if they get the community involved or hire another mapmaker, because we definitely need more maps. One way or the other, though, they're coming.

Quote

3) Custom Decals! Ok now we are going to the interesting part. Say, I am a Unit leader. Say My unit is quite big in population and in status. Say I have a member with artistic skills who took time and created a Unit decal and I want everyone to have it on his/her mech in Unit Drops. (Why? because this is a military simulation unit son *flicks overly large cigar* ). So the model of it. I create a non vulgar, non offensive decal, based on some standards dimensions, and colour depth and it gets uploaded to the MC store. Intrigued? wait there is more: the Decal itself costs, let's say for argument's sake, 350 MC, so you have an entire unit buying the decal. PGI can reward the creator with a 10% revenue reward of in-game currency to avoid legal prosecution and such.
"Son, I don't want any scrub having my decal on its 'Mech" *Flicks overly large cigar once more* well, that is a valid argument, well allow me to retort: It's good advertising for your Unit, see what I did there? PGI can even give you an option to make your decal Faction-specific.
I know it's kidda hard, having to revisit the 'Mechs UVs and possibly recreate them/modify them but love always finds a way, amirite?

You haven't been paying attention to development have you? Decals are coming, they're actually finished and just awaiting the UI implementation so that we can start using them.

Quote

4) Loadouts! Yup! There I said it. Loadouts would be freaking awesome to have. I have a RVN 3L and that's my most favourite Chassis. But i have two build one which is pure support with Tag and the such and one that's pure damaging, evasive awesomeness. But changing a 'Mechs loadout every single match is annoying and quite frankly I am too lazy to do it. But Airanthus you can buy the same chassis again. Well yes that is true but I see no point in spending 12,923,415 C-bills (god damn those lights are expensive) onto re-buying the game and occupying an extra mechbay AND need to re-farm all the efficiencies (idk that works that way right?) So what about this proposition: Give two "Loadout" Slots to each mech to carry , if you want more, throw some of them MCs in, fair trade? win-win

No. Buy another copy of the mech. Spend the C-Bills. You don't need to re-grind the XP to level it up, it's shared. If you want two different mechs, buy two different mechs, even if it means they're both the exact same variant of the same chassis with different loadouts.

By the way, last weekend you didn't win the free Raven 3L champion? It was literally given out for free, all you had to do was earn the points, which took about 50-100 games worth of effort dependent on how competent you were. With the premium time that was handed out at the beginning combined with all the matches it took to actually earn the free Raven, you would have amassed enough C-Bills to probably buy and kit out two more Raven 3Ls if you really felt the need.

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5) Clans vs IS! I think I've seen it in another thread, have Clan mechs vs IS mechs patchups via an additional game-mode.

It's called Community Warfare. You would know, you are Rank 4 with House Liao, which means you've played Community Warfare. Go fight on the Clan border with the Northern Houses if you want some Clan vs IS action.

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6) Matchmaking optimization . I am not sure how the current MM system works, and please do not flame me for that (I know this is the internets blah blah) but there were some times where either team was over/under tonned and the advantage was clear. I know Team Tonnage is not everything and skill is all that matters, but it is an advantage (whether you carry 2 MPLs or 10 make a difference, yes I am looking at you TheB33f and FantasticTuesday))

Matchmaker is indeed a load of dung, but a lot of the problem is we don't have enough players to populate it and Elo is broken/doesn't work as intended (imo). Implementing tonnage/equipment matching wouldn't make much difference at this point, we need more people playing to make something like that work without it tearing apart at the seams and failing all the same.

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7) CW MatchmakingI am not sure whether or not this exists in another thread, but here goes.
When you're about to solo drop in a CW planet, you have no idea whether or not the enemy team is going to be a fully pre-made team or not. So the idea is that there should be a MM system for that particular planet (or global) that tries to balance out the teams.

No. There are not enough players available, it's actually completely impossible to implement something like this at this point or likely any point in the future for that matter.

Airanthus, on 26 February 2015 - 05:35 AM, said:

8) Thermal vision. Ok that's a minor thing, but it really bugs me. From what I understood, thermal vision works as follows, Bright White = Mordor and Dark Black = Hoth and the rest shades of grey everything in between. You know that awesome map, frozen city? yeah it's awesome, but that's not the point, the point is that when there is a blizzard, you have to use your Thermal vision, (and that's awesome) but everything is white, when it should be much much darker, I mean the ambient terrain is pretty much the same temperature as an active 'Mech, i think it would be awesome if they could fix how the Thermal Vision works.

This is what real life thermal vision looks like in a cold/snow environment:

MWO is pretty close, honestly.

Airanthus, on 27 February 2015 - 12:04 AM, said:

9) Melee. Ok this one is also pretty self explanatory. If you run out of ammo or ypur Mpls get destroyed then what? You're just cover for your teammates, maybe a bodyblocker, but most mechs do have arms. Why not use them to inflict damage? I've read some Battletech novels and it's not uncommon for MechWarriors to use their mechs to punch, kick, slam or even supplex other mechs. I underatand that it's also a lot of work, having to redo the animations and there are balance issues, humanoid mechs vs non humanoid mechs (which do not have arms) or light mechs punching assaults might seem weird or funny to look but 00I think it's worth pondering on.

I think it's worth implementing melee into this game, but it would take an extraordinary amount of developer resources so I don't think it's ever going to happen. It's just too much work.

Airanthus, on 27 February 2015 - 02:12 AM, said:

10) Map tactics applications. This one's a minor thing, there are websites that do exactly that, you have the map and can draw directions and such, others can view as you draw and explain your plan. As PGI Integrated VoIP to the game i think this would make a fine addition to the game considering it helps people in units.

Not worth the developers time. Just use this: http://maptactic.com/

Airanthus, on 27 February 2015 - 03:30 AM, said:

11) Advanced UI. This one already exists in another thread here http://mwomercs.com/...rs/page__st__20 and i think Kilroy95 is correct. I believe using these monitors would in fact increase player immersion and information gathering in game. Things like ammunition can easily be implemented to that, since the information is there. Also adding secondary information like amambient temperature, heatsinks active increases immersion. Maybe add the tactical map there, i get the feeling it looks abit out of place.

This is something that the devs consider constantly - the issue is, there's nothing really useful you can put on the monitors that is actually worth the development resources of putting them in. Of the things that ARE useful, like map, paperdoll, weapons loadout, that stuff is really important and some cockpits don't have easy-to-see monitors, so you can't use them for such vital information.

Airanthus, on 02 March 2015 - 04:49 AM, said:

12) MechLab UI: Well the UI on that particular aspect of the game is tedious (Sorry UX&UI Designer :S ). Upgrading and making changes is quite slow and tedious in the current layout. Consider using something more like Smurphy's, making it more fast and efficient in using it

This is coming already. You just haven't been keeping up with development.

Edited by Tarogato, 02 March 2015 - 05:58 AM.

[Airanthus]

Thanks for taking the time reading my great wall of text (pun also intended).

Tarogato, on 02 March 2015 - 05:53 AM, said:

Ha Ha Ha ...

You must be new here.

That is somewhat true, since I've been on and off the game a lot and only I've started playing more just recently.

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You haven't been paying attention to development have you? Decals are coming, they're actually finished and just awaiting the UI implementation so that we can start using them.

As I said in the intro and above I've been on and off, so not really. But perhaps I didn't make my explanation clear (English isn't my first language) what I meant was, create your own decals and upload them to the MC shop (best example that comes to mind is Planetside 2's player studio)

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This is coming already. You just haven't been keeping up with development.

That is correct, I haven't been keeping up.

[Tarogato]

Airanthus, on 02 March 2015 - 06:09 AM, said:

... what I meant was, create your own decals and upload them to the MC shop (best example that comes to mind is Planetside 2's player studio)

Unless I'm mistaken, that's exactly what's coming, actually. You'll be able to submit custom designs which you can apply to your mech pending PGI approval and it will be an MC-cost feature. They haven't been specific on the details, but the general framework has been communicated as pretty much what you'd expect it to be. It's on the way.

[Airanthus]

Tarogato, on 02 March 2015 - 06:52 AM, said:

Unless I'm mistaken, that's exactly what's coming, actually. You'll be able to submit custom designs which you can apply to your mech pending PGI approval and it will be an MC-cost feature. They haven't been specific on the details, but the general framework has been communicated as pretty much what you'd expect it to be. It's on the way.

Oh wow, that's awesome