163 replies to this topic

[JaxRiot]

Sarlic, on 27 March 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

Let me hear your story.

1. Why do you still play this game?
For example: for the love of the franchise.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
For example ECM re-design, balance problems.

I'm curious.

Hear ya out

Keep it short as possible.

Thanks and keep it civilized

Edit: please keep it up. Perhaps we can even link this topic to Russ. Keep your answers short so he can scroll through it. Thanks!

1- Ive always been kind of a MechWarrior fan. Played the Table Top version and some MW games in the past

2- Kind of taking a break right now. I spend more time watching the forums now than playing. Ive ground out the mechs I wanted and played them until I was bored with the same 5 or 6 map rotation.

3- I really dont like MWO's version of ECM and would really like for them to revisit it. More maps would be nice, and possibly a PvE side. I also think thier mech packs are over priced but they arent required. I have some issues with CW but its in Beta anyway so I cant hold that against them

I dont see myself being a hardcore player here until some of those things improve and will probably just pop on here and there to get my Mech fix as time goes on.

Its not a terrible game. Just needs some love

Edited by JaxRiot, 27 March 2015 - 11:40 AM.

[RoboPatton]

1) I play because giant walking robots are just more fun than Tanks.

2) I took a very long break from the game when I saw the pricing for the clan invasion. The gold mech thing...lol...I guess I just sorta got over it. Eventually. I mean, it took almost a year and a half, but I'm back.

3) Still find the game lacking in a few critical places. IMO-- Damageable (if we cant have destructable) environments, and Melee, are my two biggest issues. They are fumbling with balance in CW... hopefully that one gets figure out first.

[Burktross]

1. Because stompy robots are fun.

2. Took several breaks a while ago from a lack of interest-- taking a break for now due to it again.

3. PGI needs to make CW not ****** and implement melee.
Also.
Headbob.

[Red1769]

1. Because it's fun...and there is a distinct lack of MW games that will work decently on my comp anymore.

2. Somewhat often, I do take breakes, and they're long breaks. I'm a very casual player.

3. Weapon balance...particularly Clan UACs, LRMs in general and their relationship with ECM, and PPCs on both sides.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

1. Why do you still play this game?

The look of the Mechs, and the potential of MWO


2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

Yeah, sometimes voluntary when I get burnt out of doing the same things over and over, and then RL!


3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?

More Maps would be great, and addressing the Heat System and tweaking Weapon Stats is gonna be needed before jumping into the Future.

[Quxudica]

Sarlic, on 27 March 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

Let me hear your story.

1. Why do you still play this game?
For example: for the love of the franchise.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
For example ECM re-design, balance problems.

I'm curious.

Hear ya out

Keep it short as possible.

Thanks and keep it civilized

Edit: please keep it up. Perhaps we can even link this topic to Russ. Keep your answers short so he can scroll through it. Thanks!

I play because I love giant stompy mechs that can be blown apart piece by piece, it's fun and different from pretty much any other shooter. The only thing sort of similar is War Thunders tank mode. The game can be addictive in short bursts.

But yeah I take breaks, sometimes very very long breaks. MWO has very little meat to it. The standard game modes of Assault/Conquest have almost no depth to them, the objectives are almost random in their placement and the matches are just utterly simplistic. And there's the grind, which.. it's grind and grind is never ever fun. Grind is actually the antithesis of fun. I only ever feel like I am making a reasonable amount of CBills when I have premium time and theres an event like Pot of Gold going (which I get the time from, I refuse to pay for that minimal bonus). There have been a lot of poor design choices in MWO that limit it's enjoyability for long term play.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?

I wish the core game modes would be revamped. Assault should be similar to CW. Attackers vs Defenders, One base,best of three rounds. Teams flip sides at the end of each round. Conquest should be the normal style used by almost any other game: Control points placed in strategic positions on maps specifically designed for Conquest, with a ticket based respawn system, you die your team loses a ticket, you hit zero tickets you lose the match. The standard modes as they currently exist feel like place holders, like someone just forgot to finish them before the game left Beta.

Edited by Quxudica, 27 March 2015 - 12:30 PM.

[Nemesis Duck]

1. Sociopathy
2. Of course, I work to pay the bills.
3. 4x4 CW mode for casuals to fight organized lances.

[Elkfire]

1. Why do you still play this game?
I've loved Mechwarrior since I first played...I think it was MW3, on a friend's computer. And at its core, it's a fun representation of Mech combat.

2. Do you take regular breaks? If so, why?
I do tend to take frequent breaks. CW is pretty pointless if you're not in a big clan/unit/whatever, and I only play in the solo queue, so I'll play every now and then and take breaks for a few days.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
Your example of an ECM redesign (ideally to simply slow down missile locks and maybe disrupt shared targetting, not create an everything-but-visual invisibility bubble for everyone near the mech carrying it) is something I'd have liked to see ever since they first introduced it.

I'd also really like to have PVE, which could unlock the possibility of people actually owning mechs they've spent real money on. Rather than essentially renting them from PGI, reliant on the servers being up. That way if MWO was to go belly-up someday, there would still be the PVE aspect. But obviously that's a complicated thing to put into practice.

I would -also- like to see them re-introduce 8v8, or even smaller game modes, to somewhat reduce the rate of focus-fired insta-death. Or make an effort to reduce the impact of PPFLD in general, using the many and varied ideas that have been put forth on these forums and elsewhere.

Edited by Elkfire, 27 March 2015 - 12:47 PM.

[Jetfire]

1. Why do you still play this game?
I personally love the feel of the gameplay. It feels like Mechwarrior taken to the next level. Outside of the combat there is room to grow in many ways... but the feels... so good.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

A few days off a week? Sometimes I won't play much for a month, but usually 10+ hours a week.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
Weapons Balance: MG's, Flamers, new weapons
Heat Penalties: A serious redesign of the heat penalties to reduce DPS output or suffer increasing consequences prior to overhear
Convergeance: Give weapons a fixed convergence point based on say max range. Auto convergence is unnecessary and results in unreasonable TTK
Consumables: More variety, mines, dummy mechs, ammo cache drop, smoke bombs, turret drops
Destructible Terrain: streamline netcode to make a reality
More Maps: crossover terrain sets from CW and 12v12 into more maps for each
Single Player: seasonal campaign pack for sale
New Player Experience: Vast opportunity to create a real in depth tutorial with cutscenes and real rewards to get players started into the world of MWO
Solaris: Mech Sports
Melee: kick, punch, it's all in the (BT universe)
Collisions: DFA anyone?
Cosmetics: metallic paint variety, adjustable gloss/matte/metal flake finish, Adjustable Battle Damage, custom geometries.
New Weapons: Mortars, Arrow, long tom

Promise from PGI to give us the ability to operate the game somehow on our own if they ever decide to shut down the servers. Quite frankly I hope they can grow this game into a long lived endeavor but I would like the ability to play it even if they decide to hang it up someday.

Edited by Jetfire, 27 March 2015 - 12:50 PM.

[ProfessorD]

1. Why do you still play this game?
The style of it is unique. It isn't a twitch shooter, it isn't an RTS, it isn't DOTA. It falls somewhere in between in a space of action, timing, and optimization that I really enjoy.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?
When real life demands it. This is my primary game, though. I've somehow gotten myself labelled an "officer" of my unit, probably because I hold out hope that we can be top-10-units level competitive if we can ever convince enough of our people to cut the bullshit and play effectively.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
Interesting. This isn't quite the same as asking "How can MWO be improved?" The way PGI works does seem to have genuinely improved after splitting from IGP, but I don't think that quite answers the question, either. Nearly all of our indicators of how PGI works are indirect, in the results we see in their products. Their announcement of Transverse shows that they really don't understand the space sim market, which may or may not have much bearing on MWO. The fact that nearly everything on the front page of the website is a sale might also be telling.

I'll answer the question I think you intended, "How can MWO be improved?", instead.
MWO desperately needs an interesting and engaging tutorial system to get new players involved. There are a lot of levels that need to be covered, and the instruction in them needs to be fun and interesting. It bothers me quite a bit that I just can't recommend MWO to real-life friends because there really isn't a good place to get started. YouTube videos are not a substitute for learning-by-doing.

The economy and grind are punishing, and experimenting with far-from-optimal chassis and builds is particularly punishing. A player that wastes their Cadet Bonus on a mech or two that they end up not necessarily totally loving has basically wasted that account and really ought to just start a new one. This adds to the problems that leave me feeling like I just can't recommend the game to friends.

The door has already been shut on features that could have been awesome like destructible terrain, which is a little sad. The game has probably suffered in a wide range of more-or-less subtle ways through the slaving attention to following BattleTech cannon, which I also find disappointing. I feel like a developer of more creativity and boldness would have started with the concept of BattleMechs, and maybe the overall features of the BattleTech universe, but built their own mechanics, chassis, weapons, and stats in a manner that's easier to balance and enjoy in a real time setting. PGI's attention to cannon has severely constrained their design options, and I believe it's played a big role in some of the wonky attempts at balance.

Community Dropship Warfare Mode desperately needs two high-level additions:
1. Player input in the strategy of their faction. What planet are we attacking? Why? As it stands, the "grand scheme" of CDWM is super random and arbitrary, which probably makes it a lot less interested to lots of players.
2. An economy. In BattleTech, resources are a big deal when running a campaign. Not having a proper in-universe economy makes most elements of CDWM seem superficial and inconsequential.

CDWM also needs a wider variety of objective types and match formats. Why are we spending so much time assaulting stupidly positioned gates and remote gun emplacements? There should be a lot more in this universe.

Some underlying infrastructure like the ability to generate new maps and terrain on-the-fly might have made the game really shine, but the door is probably closed on that too. (To the downers: It's the 21st ******* century, folks. Don't tell me that isn't possible.)

Edited by ProfessorD, 27 March 2015 - 12:58 PM.

[Gray-Fox]

1. Why do you still play this game?
For all the nostalgic feels. As someone who played Mech Commander 1 (and a little bit of 2), it brings back good memories. Also I really like the lore from what I've read up on, although I've got to get through the books.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?
Yes, taking one now until the Urban Mech release. I normally play for a burst then give it a break until something new comes in to keep it fresh.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
I'm still not a fan of the c-bills rewards from matches. As someone who only has the time to casually play on some weekends, real money is the way to go for me. Unless I want to spend months waiting to be able to purchase 1 mech.

Edited by lorddanimus, 27 March 2015 - 01:13 PM.

[Flak Kannon]

Hi Mr. Sarlic.

I play this game because no matter good you become, it's still hard as hell!

I play quite a bit when I can, which isn't as often as I'd like, but.. I don't take prolonged breaks, life and work gives me breaks enough.

I think PGI can do one MAJOR thing to make this game better.

MOAR single player maps. I wish they could drop a map a month. If they could have done that since day one, we'd be in the 30+ map range. The Bog, last single player map was dropped when ?

I also remember a Dev saying a single map was a quarter million dollar cost... Maybe make them less elaborate? Just a thought.

Manifold, Mining Colony, and Bog are nice, but maybe over designed......I'd rather have more maps, than less, higher detail maps. I mean come on!

I know they are putting their eggs in the Community Warfare basket, but I can only imagine how awesome the game would be with MOAR MAPS!


MOAR MAPS!

[Wrathful Scythe]

1. Why do you still play this game?

Two things. First: I spent a whole lot of money in this game. More than I spent in any game I ever played. I would feel bad just leaving this game
Second: I'm used to play this game. I'm pretty good and I can easily play without concentrating much, if I just want to relax. Also, I don't have the time/patience to "learn" another multiplayer game to play it on a decent level. So I stay with MWO.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

No, I currently don't have a reason to stop playing. When GTA V comes around for PC I might be playing less.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?

PGI needs to work faster and don't "molynuex" to much. I saw the twitch stream back then where they explained what CW will contain and even back then I laughed as it was like a childs fantasy. An utopian dream if you want but a dream nonetheless. (Yes I am still salty about that )
CW is barebones currently and needs a lot of work. Yes, it's beta but in my opinion the whole game is still in beta. We have a lot of mechs but besides that there isn't much. A map every month or so won't do it. And those game mode russ talked about, well, I hope they will come before 2015 and also doesn't end up being a 4vs4 Deathmatch. In the last years we got only one "new" game mode (Skrimish doesn't count because it just deleted the bases from Assault) which is Attack/Defend, the driving force of CW.

In the current pace it is impossible to put MWO on Steam by 2015 without screwing it up. We don't even have a tutorial. Every cheap F2P MMO has a better tutorial than MWO has.
New players will get their teeth kicked in by the Paulconomy™, the veteran players and the lacking ingame information.

[Armorine]

Because this game is amazing!

Never take breaks

More maps, modes, weapons, mechs.

In that order

[Agent 0 Fortune]

Sarlic, on 27 March 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

1. Why do you still play this game?

I rarely play now, and only after a few drinks to curb my frustrations with the game.

Sarlic, on 27 March 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

Yes, because the grind is a GRIND. Especially when I handicap myself by purcha$ing a new mech pack with 16 untrained mechs, which results in a lengthy losing streak exacerbating my xp grind.
Also a general lack of engagement. I literally only play now to grind out mechs, and I am rewarded with about 1 fun game in 10.

Sarlic, on 27 March 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?

1. Hardpoint inflation
2. ECM, fix it or get rid of it.
3. Hit registration: which has been attributed to mech speed, HSR, hitboxes. I don’t care, fix it.
4. Jump Jets: balance by maps and terrain (not pot-tarting, spinning, bunny hopping, ect), . Personally I would like to see 1 jump per 10s, no fire while in the air, but really boost range.
5. physicals and knockdown
6. graphics. Hi-res graphics pack, Inverse kinematics, better weapon model and placement.
7. campaign mode: similar but sperate community warfare, but start with a stock mech and earn downtime in campaign to customize mech and improve pilot skills. Monetization without isolating would be a challenge.

Edited by Agent 0 Fortune, 27 March 2015 - 02:45 PM.

[Jackofallpots]

1. Why do you still play this game?

I'm OCD when it comes to video games and I'm not truly happy unless I can tinker with things for hours on end until I get them just the way I like them.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?

I took a 6 month break a while back because all of my friends quit.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
No idea.

I'd like to see adjustable mech hardpoints that let you swap sides like a mirror image, so you can have your right sided hardpoints on the left and vice versa.

And better jump jets.

And letting you buy an upgrade once and switch back between them for free, so you can try out new builds without spending a million cbillz everytime.

[Apnu]

1. Why do you still play this game?
Because: Battletech
Also, I said I'd do the MMO thing once for reals (and not be a cheap skate mining free stuff, like I did in DDO) so I committed to ride the game out. I'm sure there's a point where I'd find the game "unplayable" but I haven't found it yet nor do I know where that point is. Basically I'm sort of an investor and sort of curious to see how this whole thing turns out.

2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?
Sometimes I take breaks. Sometimes its time related, sometimes its good to just rest and when coming back the game seems fresh again.


3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changed?
More immersion in the universe of the Inner Sphere. Let players make "pilots" which would be a MWO version of a character found in other MMOs and let the player allocate mechs and factions to those pilots. Pilots can specialize in say weight classes and roles for perks kinda like modules -- it would be something else for players to grind at and so forth. "Pilots" should be associated with a faction and that would allow for the players wanting to both swap clan and IS tech in any given game session.

Also make 90% of all games played in MWO matter to the IS map some how. Bring Assault, Skirmish, and Conquest into the umbrella as one-off game modes for PUGs but have them duke it out on planets already successfully Invaded by a faction. I can go deeper on this idea and flush out how I think it could work, but you want short, so I'll stop at this point.

But the other 10%???? SOLARIS!

[Alexander Garden]

1. Why do you still play this game?
BattleTech is awesome and this game is straight-up fun. I've only racked up 212 games since September, but so far every match has lead to something novel or exciting. I was in a Community Warfare match yesterday under my alt. account with 11 other solo players, and we achieved victory against a 12-player Ghost Bear Unit. That was really cool, and it's a kind of experience that's unique to this game in a lot of ways.


2. Do you take regular breaks? If so, why?
This game is my job, so it can lead to different kinds of burnout than if I were a standard player. Days or weeks where I spend a lot of time testing reported issues in-game can lead to nights or weekends where I'd prefer to boot up something else in my personal time (Bloodborne is currently my everything), or times where I'd rather unwind away from a monitor for awhile.


3. How can PGI/MWO improve?
New player experience for sure.

[Rebas Kradd]

1. Why do you still play this game?

Because believe it or not, MWO is very well-balanced and engaging at its core. The sound, feel, and sights of MechWarrior, all perfectly nailed. A variety of different roles and playstyles are available, and I can switch back and forth when I get bored of one. Open customization was a great decision in my view, so many possible permutations out there.

2. Do you take regular breaks? If so, why?

...because I still get bored. There's no intrinstic reward, nothing to work towards, except mastering or experimenting with a new chassis.

3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to see changed?

Story, progression, and immersion. Make me feel like a cadet who's jumped (or been thrown into) an unforgiving galaxy, forced to fight for his life, and required to earn things. Give me hundreds of missions with universal context, real consequences, and challenging objectives. Make the factions into significant entities ("oh he's a Kurita, you can expect this and that from him...") and make my choice of faction matter in terms of my skills, available mechs, weapons, and play style - some reason to choose one faction over another.

Hardcore mode. Eventually, those hardcore elements that got scrapped in favor of higher accessibility (repair/rearm, larger maps, actual ECM, salvage) need to make their way back into the game. Same for CW Phase 3...actual force movement, logistics, costs, time penalties.

New game modes. Tired of the monotony. Turkey shoot, escort, territory control, protect the MFB...get some new players from Steam and shake it up a bit. Then integrate them into CW and make them a significant element of the war.

Edited by Rebas Kradd, 27 March 2015 - 03:45 PM.

[VoodooLou Kerensky]

1. Why do you still play this game?
Because Im totally stupid and hope the Clans will be granted the same quirks the IS got.
2. Do you take regulary breaks? If so, why?
no
3. How can PGI improve? What would you like to have see it changedToo numerous to list but just for starters, return to tabletop style of mech building without designated hardpoints and slot sizes, Maps that take an hour to cross with variety of terrain and the removal of time limit for CW battles.