38 replies to this topic

[Weeny Machine]

Mister D, on 13 March 2015 - 04:45 AM, said:

Well I think if PGI get their focus going in the right direction, it could be a matter of a couple months before MWO would legitimately be ready for Steam.

Things they need to prioritize
#1. Hitreg
I know that they're going to be looking into this, but without hitreg working properly its going to be a major turn-off, and quite easily a deal breaker for new gamers or vets that try out MWO.

#2. Maps
They have Oooooodles of assets now, and could easily start turning out a map every 2 weeks, just to break the monotony of River CIty and Forrest Colony taking up so much of the rotation, Every map doesn't have to be some completely new unique masterpiece, just some fresh terrain and things to toss in strategy besides just running in circles all day.

#3. Bugs
There really aren't a whole lot of outstanding bugs, other than just map related annoyances and the occasional OOPS that keep popping up on patch days and get just as quickly fixed.

#4. Economy
Its pretty obvious that Rewards 2.0 needs some adjustment, plenty of posts and opinions swinging both ways, its close, but needs some tweaking.
Early starters will need to be making enough $$ to need to buy mech bays, and grow their interest as well as their inventory, if they're not making enough $$, the grind will turn them away before it entices them to spend real $$ IMO.

#5. Performance
Getting better every time they try to improve it, My FPS have gone way up the last 2 patches, its a good sign.

They're really not in a bad spot tbh.

Maybe they need a new engine. I am not sure the hitreg issue can ever be solved with this one.

[Bloody]

This game would completely tank on Steam. Hell i would love to have them release on Steam just to see the hilariously horrible reviews that come out and then have the trolls fight each other in the forums.

I am a Legendary Founder and i cannot possibly give this game a positive rating. Its ****, completely **** for a new player. The tutorials are bad, the trial mechs are rubbish, the mechs are not explained correctly, CW is alpha portion of the game which is still pretty much a p2win beta. The Game modes and the lack of maps for it, just screams of a worst type of FPS but with stompy mechs. Now why in the world would anyone want to play this over TF2 etc other than for stompy mechs??

[Raggedyman]

Bloody, on 09 April 2015 - 03:19 AM, said:

This game would completely tank on Steam. Hell i would love to have them release on Steam just to see the hilariously horrible reviews that come out and then have the trolls fight each other in the forums.

The current version of the game would go down badly, but then PGI have already said this and aren't planning on launching on that platform until they have fixed the bits like NPE, CW and broad balancing issues.

Bloody, on 09 April 2015 - 03:19 AM, said:

Now why in the world would anyone want to play this over TF2 etc other than for stompy mechs??

Never, ever, underestimate the entertainment value of stompy mechs.
EVAR!!!11!
Also it is unlikely that the game will ever get the same size audience as TF2, because it's a much more niche game. However that isn't a good argument not to go on Steam (assuming the problems get fixed) as the platform has a lot of players so numbers for MWO will go up (and stay up, even with more people churning and a potentially higher churn percentage)

[MeiSooHaityu]

I like how people say that the game isn't ready because it needs to be polished or the quality isn't good enough...

Really?!? Have you looked at what is on steam?

Nerd³'s Hell... Grass Simulator: https://youtu.be/cCXmmrVnpSI

People hold Steam in way too high of regard when it comes to quality of products.

This game is plenty good and polished enough to be on Steam. This game is pretty solid, quality isn't the issue. The devs just aren't ready. There is probably a lot of work that goes into making Steam happen.

[lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol]

Warfarer, on 13 March 2015 - 01:48 AM, said:

Wouldnt it be more players if this game on steam? Many f2p online games have moved to steam and achive great success.

The game would at best qualify as "early access" quality compared to what is on steam. It falls in line with a lot of games that still have major issues to work out, much of it is duct tape solutions to the issues that are adjusted, is not very new player friendly, and needs a few tons of polish (but that tonnage is locked in JJ's). At the rate they "improve" the game (by improve I mean fix what's broken, not add new mechs) it'll be years before it'd be ready for steam.

The biggest thing though is... You think Pug Life is bad now (I mean it is... but it could be worse)... imagine a bunch of angry or trollish players in the lower ELO areas who could give a damn less... every match of every day. In the end (of a few months I'd guess) the only "paying" player retention would be that of the fanboys it already has, if not losing a good chunk who were stuck in lower ELO hell.

The other part is the pricing. MWO ≠ MICROtransaction friendly. Granted depending on which country you live in, or how much money you make/have... its just a drop in the bucket for $120 here and there. While I don't have statistics, I can only vouch for myself... but I feel like spending a few dollars here and there is easier to do than drop over $100 on something. WIth a few dollars, I'm not flinching, a hundred and I feel its an investment. Myself, with investments I'm overly critical about long term quality. I've bought and supported MWO with a decent amount of cash like most everyone who still plays the game, but I won't do it again because I don't see my investment paying off with the quality of improvement in the game, especially the lengthy timeline its taking to have simple issues addressed, let alone major ones.

Lastly... the word "toxic" has been thrown around quite a bit on the forums because people have issues with the game and are pretty irritated its still in the state that its in. If this hit steam, with its current state of playability, the tidal wave of input/rants would flood this place and the forum (steam and here) would go "Fukushima" and you would probably be able to hear Niko laughing his ass off from any corner of the earth, because there wouldn't be enough eyes to moderate or reply to every repeated issue, request for bans, complaints, or rants alone.

A lot would have to change if this game were to go onto Steam. But until then... whenever that'd be... I wouldn't think it a good idea.

[Rebas Kradd]

RG Notch, on 08 April 2015 - 02:40 PM, said:

[Redacted]

You're not contributing to the discussion.

MeiSooHaityu, on 09 April 2015 - 04:01 AM, said:

I like how people say that the game isn't ready because it needs to be polished or the quality isn't good enough...

Really?!? Have you looked at what is on steam?

Nerd³'s Hell... Grass Simulator: https://youtu.be/cCXmmrVnpSI

People hold Steam in way too high of regard when it comes to quality of products.

This game is plenty good and polished enough to be on Steam. This game is pretty solid, quality isn't the issue. The devs just aren't ready. There is probably a lot of work that goes into making Steam happen.

Agreed. MWO isn't going to be getting the worst reviews Steam has ever seen, despite the twenty or so people over on the Star Citizen forums who will be trying to tank its rating. It'll be firmly in the middle somewhere and will get its draw. But it could still stand to be a lot better on Steam.

Fortunately, PGI appears to be dedicated 2015 to the very tasks they need to make that happen. New mechlab, new tutorials, social tools, performance fixes, new gamemodes...good stuff.

Edited by GM Patience, 09 April 2015 - 01:45 PM.

[Apnu]

Warfarer, on 13 March 2015 - 01:48 AM, said:

Wouldnt it be more players if this game on steam? Many f2p online games have moved to steam and achive great success.

Its not ready. Russ knows this and has said so. In the last Town Hall he was talking of "maybe" a summer Steam release this year.

[Haakon Magnusson]

Mister D, on 13 March 2015 - 04:45 AM, said:

Well I think if PGI get their focus going in the right direction, it could be a matter of a couple months before MWO would legitimately be ready for Steam.

Things they need to prioritize
#1. Hitreg
I know that they're going to be looking into this, but without hitreg working properly its going to be a major turn-off, and quite easily a deal breaker for new gamers or vets that try out MWO.

#2. Maps
They have Oooooodles of assets now, and could easily start turning out a map every 2 weeks, just to break the monotony of River CIty and Forrest Colony taking up so much of the rotation, Every map doesn't have to be some completely new unique masterpiece, just some fresh terrain and things to toss in strategy besides just running in circles all day.

#3. Bugs
There really aren't a whole lot of outstanding bugs, other than just map related annoyances and the occasional OOPS that keep popping up on patch days and get just as quickly fixed.

#4. Economy
Its pretty obvious that Rewards 2.0 needs some adjustment, plenty of posts and opinions swinging both ways, its close, but needs some tweaking.
Early starters will need to be making enough $$ to need to buy mech bays, and grow their interest as well as their inventory, if they're not making enough $$, the grind will turn them away before it entices them to spend real $$ IMO.

#5. Performance
Getting better every time they try to improve it, My FPS have gone way up the last 2 patches, its a good sign.

They're really not in a bad spot tbh.

Can't agree enough, poor hitreg is extremely annoying... had I not got the new IS mechs, I'd propably not played except in few events... now I guess I'll wait for good news (unlikely) or some decent event...

As to maps, I'd just hope they'd get their artistic view on portraying scale a little better, more maps, sure. Better maps, definately. Otherwise this is just a mech skin FPS, sense of scale makes it unique stompy robotstuff.

While I agree that performance would need a pass or ten ( I mean really, my gtx780/fairly modern comp still dips in certain maps to sub 30s from general 100fps now and then)
And frankly they should stop catering to the computers that people were using to play doom with... really. I'm all for the elitism of requiring a GPU of this millenium, besides all the whales have more than decent computers.

And mecha fluff and NPE... come on it's elementary

[RG Notch]

Rebas Kradd, on 09 April 2015 - 07:18 AM, said:

You're not contributing to the discussion.

How am I not? The dev team appears incapable of fixing one of if not the most important facets of a FPS, hitreg. Either they have been trying their best and can't fix it because they are not competent or they aren't fixing it because they aren't trying. What other possibilities are there? Is that not relevant to making the game ready for Steam? Isn't it important that one of the key facets of a game hasn't been fixed in years of work? Does it not imply that they either can't fix it or don't consider it important?

[girl on fire]

I feel like if Steam is the end goal for this year then improving the new player experience needs to be priority... Left as is, the player turn over would probably reach a new high. I think PGI is doing the right thing by keeping it off steam despite the obvious benefits to ensure that its up to scratch first.

Deathlike - There is very little difference between the game modes and almost all of them ultimately end up being TDM. How often do you win matches by capturing points versus killing the entire enemy team? I don't know about NEW game modes, but making the current ones more interesting and diverse would certainly be welcome.

00ohDstruct, on 09 April 2015 - 06:07 AM, said:

The biggest thing though is... You think Pug Life is bad now (I mean it is... but it could be worse)... imagine a bunch of angry or trollish players in the lower ELO areas who could give a damn less... every match of every day. In the end (of a few months I'd guess) the only "paying" player retention would be that of the fanboys it already has, if not losing a good chunk who were stuck in lower ELO hell.

then my KDR will sky rocket

Edited by girl on fire, 09 April 2015 - 09:13 AM.

[Brody319]

Personally I feel your all being a bit harsh.
Economy - Yea it is grindy, but I can tell you its a whole lot less than other F2P games.

Tutorials - Very needed. but this isn't just PGI that can do this, We as players can make them. The Wiki is largely abandoned and hasn't been updated. I can tell you a TON of players go to the wiki for information, We can help a lot if we start working on the wiki or making tutorial videos to help new players.

Bugs Performance and hit reg are kinda in the same field of bug fixes. Once other stuff is done I can imagine PGI buying a few more servers to improve connectivity between players and that would fix a few issues and naturally bug fixes come as they come.

Maps, Honestly important but not as important as some other issues. and we got maps coming for CW so I'm sure they are working on some stuff.

[Rebas Kradd]

RG Notch, on 09 April 2015 - 08:31 AM, said:

How am I not? The dev team appears incapable of fixing one of if not the most important facets of a FPS, hitreg. Either they have been trying their best and can't fix it because they are not competent or they aren't fixing it because they aren't trying. What other possibilities are there? Is that not relevant to making the game ready for Steam? Isn't it important that one of the key facets of a game hasn't been fixed in years of work? Does it not imply that they either can't fix it or don't consider it important?

There are two other factors. One, the game has a grand total of eight engineers to do everything, and two, you're talking about CryEngine on a fully server-side-built game, which is a perfect storm of crumb.

This isn't to excuse the issue; it simply provides some perspective, and helps the reasonable get out of the "incompetent or apathetic" box. These are people who have repeatedly stayed at the office until 10pm to work on things, it's completely out of line to just wave them off with the "incompetent" label.

Hitreg is currently at one of its higher points anyway. I don't see it as a major complaint at the moment, unlike balance.

[Deathlike]

girl on fire, on 09 April 2015 - 09:10 AM, said:

Deathlike - There is very little difference between the game modes and almost all of them ultimately end up being TDM. How often do you win matches by capturing points versus killing the entire enemy team? I don't know about NEW game modes, but making the current ones more interesting and diverse would certainly be welcome.

I wouldn't argue against that... in fact, that is the reality. Even then, I've yet to see much innovation at this end, so I'm concluded that that concept currently is practically/virtually Lostech.

Rebas Kradd, on 09 April 2015 - 10:39 AM, said:

There are two other factors. One, the game has a grand total of eight engineers to do everything, and two, you're talking about CryEngine on a fully server-side-built game, which is a perfect storm of crumb.

You know.. if they game was growing as claimed... more engineers to help out on this end would be more greatly appreciated than the continuation of the snail's pace of addressing stuff.

Having it hold at the same pace only reinforces that the pace will continue on the same way...

[LordKnightFandragon]

The NPE alone would be enough to drive players off. Normally, games have a "newbie" Q initally.

Ghost Recon Phantoms
Everquest 1 and 2
WoW
Even Planetside 2 is going to make a newbie only island soon, if they havent already made it.
WoT, it to makes it easier for newbies, through the tier 1 tnaks only see tier 1, ofc you can seal club...but meh. Better then MWO.

No other game has the grind of MWO, atleast not since 1999 Everquest 1, where a whole day of xp grinding netted you maybe 2 lvls. Where hours upon hours upon hours of camping 1 monster netted you 1 decent item that you were camping for. That is what I compare MWO to....

Sure, MWO has trial mechs, but those trial mechs dont get in a trial Q, those trial mechs dont earn any extra cbills. Put those Trial mechs in a trial Q and give them 30% cbill boost for new players who are in their "Cadet bonus" period and you might be on to something.

Next would be the influx of players making bad builds cuz they simply do not understand Mechwarrior and it's complexity of making a good build. MWO is not as simple as a x2 optic, hand guard, heavy armor, med kits and a Light Machinegun, go!!!

Paired alongside the terrible income for a new player, who would be getting stomped since the MM isnt new player friendly, they would be wasting what pennies they do have playing with stuff and making bad builds, going in undertonned, in without ammo, no armor, maybe a bad engine......

MWO needs to improve its NPE by about 300 magnitudes

THey need to let the Private battles room be open to all, all the time. Let newbies go in there and spar, test out builds. DO like Warthunder, Ghost Recon and even Planetside 2 do....a Virtual reality area. Where you can go in and try out absolutely everything and find out what you like. Let Smurfy be an integral part of the game. VR should be an alt tab in the game, you click it and it sends you to what is now the Training grounds. BUt it opens up another Mechlab, its all free so you can xperiment. You pick a mech, a loadout, play around and in it is live fire and dummy AI to shoot at. You could even Private battle in there with a buddy and test your builds

If PGI released MWO to steam at this time, the game would just be utter ****, no new player would have a clue what is happening, would play a bit, die in 10 seconds, make no money, no progress and quit within 5 games. No issue would be solved. Plus, it would bring in the influx of terribad World of Tanks players....

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 09 April 2015 - 01:57 PM.

[MarineTech]

The thread has been relegated to K-Town.

The birds of K-Town welcome it.

There's only 1 thing left to be said about the thread.

[Rebas Kradd]

Deathlike, on 09 April 2015 - 11:11 AM, said:

I wouldn't argue against that... in fact, that is the reality. Even then, I've yet to see much innovation at this end, so I'm concluded that that concept currently is practically/virtually Lostech.




You know.. if they game was growing as claimed... more engineers to help out on this end would be more greatly appreciated than the continuation of the snail's pace of addressing stuff.

Having it hold at the same pace only reinforces that the pace will continue on the same way...

We are talking about a game that nobody in the industry wanted. Every publisher turned MWO down. It's like expecting a Space:1999 movie to be directed by Steven Spielberg and the most sprawling A+ film crew Hollywood has to offer. Ain't gonna happen. What we got instead - F2P model, ad hoc publisher, small crew with the slow-and-steady approach - is pretty much the only way this game was ever going to happen.

I'm frustrated by the glacial pace as well, but I'd rather that than they overhire trying to shove more **** through and find themselves bankrupt.

Edited by Rebas Kradd, 10 April 2015 - 10:04 AM.

[MarineTech]

OI!!!

No no.

None of that.

This is K-Town now.

Rational discussion on the topic has ended.

[Rebas Kradd]

MarineTech, on 10 April 2015 - 10:06 AM, said:

This is K-Town now.

Rational discussion on the topic has ended.

You got that backwards.

[Tasker]

Because this game would be crushed under a tide of negative reviews, a lot of which have to do with the fact that the game crashes a lot right now.

Edited by Tasker, 11 April 2015 - 08:20 AM.