151 replies to this topic

[TanE]

There are many ideas in this (and many other) thread(s).

I enjoy the new Mechs, but I (and many others) want some more content. PGI is at work for this, but it takes much time. But CW is offically a BETA, so PGI, why don't you use the BETA condition and bring alternate Mission designs into the live servers for testing? Implement the scouting mission 4vs4. Add some placeholder objectives onto the maps for "scouting reasons" and let the player test it under live conditions. If it is not as wanted, change it and retry.

I repeat: it is officially a CW BETA. There are many chances to test new ideas.

Let suggest, there is an unfinished 4vs4: Let's make an announcement, that you put this on the live servers for 2 weeks for testing purposes. After it, you will remove this mode for improvements.

Easy: all have new toys to play and test and you (PGI) have more data to work with and to improve the game.

[Mystere]

I feel depressed. It looks like eSports has taken the front seat.

[xX PUG Xx]

Yup, there are SOME elements that were talked about here that were implied in the town hall but the majority of the changes feel esport centric.

Oh well, just need to wait and see.

[Telmasa]

Kin3ticX, on 19 June 2015 - 03:12 AM, said:

Big maps have their own problems. Walking a long time, more snipey + dropdeck system, fighting from the best spots every time rather than using different areas. It would also probably make short range builds non existent on such map. Even with the maps we have, intermediate to long range attrition makes brawling highly situational but not impossible.

That just means scouting (!) is a more important role...and besides, 'Mechs are fast. Short range builds will work just fine, they will simply have to use some actual strategy instead of the usual lazy Nascar contest.

Mystere, on 27 June 2015 - 10:56 AM, said:

I feel depressed. It looks like eSports has taken the front seat.

And on the other side of the fence, I'm ecstatic about everything Russ said in the town hall. Have to wait awhile for somethings, but ermahgerd, he totally deflated almost everything I could ever rant about.

eSports isn't that bad, y'know...or all that different from current CW really.
At least, if WoT is any example.

Edited by Telmasa, 27 June 2015 - 06:13 PM.

[Karamarka]

There needs to be bigger incentives and reward

To draw more players

If they simply made planets you've fought on give you a bonus a day. It would be good

[50 50]

So many good suggestions.
Got lots of ideas I'd like to throw into the mix a well.

Primarily:

• The drop deck should only be usable once in an attack phase.
  This to facilitate a form of attrition, repair and recovery.
  
• When you select a mech to drop into a battle with (I don't think referring to them as 'matches' helps), you do not automatically go straight back in to the same map with your next mech. It takes you a step further back to the staging area.
  This is to create the situation where players need to pick which battles they will risk a mech in and also move more players through each battle.
  
• The timer needs to go as a way to end the mission. It should instead serve as a way to mark when an objective needs to be completed by. The end is determined by other means.
  This is to create status updates from each battle to be fed back to the staging area and allow an invasion to be more dynamic.
  
• The invasion needs to be set out in stages.
  Stage 1 being the assault on the orbital cannons. Eliminate X number of these to allow the second stage to begin.
  Stage 2 is the primary assault as an open warfare territorial battle where players can drop in and out of.
  This stage is also accompanied by strategic missions which are triggered and in turn have an effect on the primary battle.

There is more detail, thought and pictures I'd like to contribute but will leave it at that for now.... or for another post.

[PappySmurf]

OP only way you will get what you want is if they redesign the private multiplayer back into a MechWarrior4 Mercenaries style drop system with a new social lobby system and the community rebounds and leagues form again like the old plagiaries ones (BTU =BattleTech Universe MW2-MW3)-(NBT=NetBAttleTech-MWL=MechWarrior Leagues) those were the 3 biggest Leagues then you had 3025 which was a puretech stock league and so forth.

But don't get up your hopes OP I think Russ would rather let MWO die than bring back MechWarrior/BattleTech back to its roots.

Edited by PappySmurf, 16 July 2015 - 06:55 AM.

[Mystere]

50 50, on 15 July 2015 - 11:22 PM, said:

• The drop deck should only be usable once in an attack phase.
  
  
  This to facilitate a form of attrition, repair and recovery.
  
• When you select a mech to drop into a battle with (I don't think referring to them as 'matches' helps), you do not automatically go straight back in to the same map with your next mech. It takes you a step further back to the staging area.
  
  
  This is to create the situation where players need to pick which battles they will risk a mech in and also move more players through each battle.

Your suggestion is going to make a whole lot of players mad at you. You're basically telling them they will be unable to bring their super duper Meta Mechs anytime all the time.

Besides, we are going to need some sort of repair and rearm system in place, not to mention a logistics system, before your suggestion will be accepted.

Edited by Mystere, 16 July 2015 - 08:13 AM.

[Kyrie]

My wishlist for improving CW:

-Real implementation of Houses. (see link to MPBT design document and my own wall of text thread from waaaay back when, link is in my sig).
-Logistics and opportunity costs.
-Hex style strategic map for planet capturing/defense (again see MPBT design document link in my sig)

Actual strategy to be used at map level as well as tactical fps level, player controlled. For example:
-Deciding where and with what to attack;
-Planning normal directly in range attacks vs deep strikes away from supplies
-Raids vs full-scale conquest assaults;
etc.

Edited by Kyrie, 16 July 2015 - 10:32 AM.

[Thumper3]

Jetfire, on 06 May 2015 - 09:27 AM, said:

Here is a huge opportunity.

Replace Ghost drops with NPC Mech, Tank, Artillery and Infantry resistance rather than artificial timer delays. Make them fairly challenging but not insane and offer comparable rewards.

No, they can not have comparable rewards because that will reward those for trying to drop against "stupid" AI.

Setting up PvE with AI would go a long way to shore up the biggest symptom issue in CW; population. However population lack is a symptom of the real issue, lack of depth in CW.

OP's ideas are great, but they put the cart before the mule.

Before anything suggested here can be done and count, we need a real economy, planets to count for something, and more maps and modes so it's not the same old same old time after time.

I can't imagine AI would be that hard to implement, I mean, AI in games has been around for, well, since games started LOL. Sure, fine tuning it to the right power level may take a bit, but you have to use it to do that.

Love to see not just mechs but tanks and aerospace units as AI, add more variety.

But again, the rewards would have to be less....and again, we need more modes and maps plus the economy before we can even discuss how to expand gameplay for more depth.

[Kain Demos]

Mystere, on 16 July 2015 - 07:50 AM, said:

Your suggestion is going to make a whole lot of players mad at you. You're basically telling them they will be unable to bring their super duper Meta Mechs anytime all the time.

Besides, we are going to need some sort of repair and rearm system in place, not to mention a logistics system, before your suggestion will be accepted.

I would welcome it. I am probably in the minority but the billion or so c-bills I have made in thsi game have all been spent building and putting modules on every 'mech so they are ready to drop. Some chassis I have anywhere from 6-11 ready.

[R Razor]

Mystere, on 16 July 2015 - 07:50 AM, said:

Your suggestion is going to make a whole lot of players mad at you. You're basically telling them they will be unable to bring their super duper Meta Mechs anytime all the time.

Naw, they'll just buy multiple copies........shoot I bet PGI would really consider this if more of those "super duper Meta Mechs" were only available for MC........Russ's pupils would look like giant Dollar Signs.

[50 50]

@Mystere
Unfortunately didn't really have time to elaborate on my thoughts when I put that up but I can now so here goes:

The scenarios
By only allowing one dropdeck per attack phase players need to be more careful in their selection and pick and chose which battle they would commit to.
So commitment starts when selecting a planet to either attack or defend, but when you launch into battle, it's only with one mech.
When your mech is destroyed you are returned to the staging area and out of that battle and that mech is no longer available (see repairing destroyed mechs below)
If your team manages to win and complete the mission, you are returned to the staging area and your mech is returned to your drop deck where it is repaired, rearmed and available for another drop.
To further enable players to stay in the fight they need to be able to retreat. Players who manage to get their mechs back to an evacuation point will once again be returned to the staging area and are out of the battle. Their mech is returned to the drodeck to be repaired and rearmed and available for another drop.
I would also suggest a 4th scenario for a bit of variety and that is losing the mech by being captured. By this I mean being on the side that has been defeated by the end of the battle and you have failed to reach an evacuation point and get out of the battle. This is an alternative status to being destroyed where the mech is no longer available in the drop deck. (see recovering mechs below)

Repairing and rearming a damaged mech
Without putting in a lot of complex options, this is can merely be a status marker of Under Repair in the drop deck for one or two matches so there is a delay before you can use the mech again. With the change on how you join the battles by returning to the staging area first, it's not going to be a quick jump back into the action anyway, but neither should a mech be instantly repaired for use.

Repairing a destroyed mech
This is an option that becomes available after the successful completion on particular missions. There has been a lot of great ideas for different modes, but this is more about mission objectives and I could see this tying in with the scouting mission ideas that have been put forward by PGI.
The scenario is simple.
At some point during the invasion, a mission to capture a supply dump or mech repair facility becomes available.
Could be anything but it should logically tie in with the objective.
It's a strategic mission to enable any player who has committed a drop deck to the current attack phase to be able to repair one of the destroyed mechs in their drop deck. They don't even need to complete the mission themselves. It's a bonus mission where one team gets the chance and then everyone can benefit.
If successful, as soon as the player returns to the staging area, the status update from the mission allows for them to select a mech in their drop deck to be repaired. Go to the above point where the mech then shows the status Under Repair.

Recovering a captured mech
As with the above suggestion, this is a special strategic mission.
A team goes in, captures the location and achieves victory for the mission.
Players receive a status update in the staging area and any mech that they might have marked as captured can now be returned to their drop deck.

Obviously these are just suggestions and there would be a fair change to some of the structure of CW, a lot of which I have not attempted to cover here.
But through this functionality we create purpose in the missions and allow players to make some additional tactical options in a battle.
It's also to help move away from the concept of it being a 'match' by giving value to each mech and the deliberate choice of whether to risk it in a battle.
Leave 'matches' for Solaris.
Anyway, that's the outline of the idea but it's a small part of what I feel could be done.

[Telmasa]

Thumper3, on 16 July 2015 - 12:54 PM, said:

However population lack is a symptom of the real issue, lack of depth in CW.

I disagree. People, as a group entity, absolutely lack depth and always will. Any PvP environment, no matter how many bells and whistles you throw on it, will lack depth.

Someone somewhere recently said something about how every game has a "skill plateau" that with just a bit of effort is quite easy to surmount, because most people as a rule just do not give a damn. That, in other words, means people by and large are unwilling to put in the effort, to create a challenge, to add *depth* to competition.

I love watching football. But I do not think it's a "deep" game and that it has depth merely because of the players involved. The stadiums, the cheerleaders, the grass or turf, the paint, the uniforms, the crowds, the coaches and their gameplans, the rules (to an extent - eyeroll at NFL here), the scheduled season, the post-season Bowl games, the parties and fandom and Superbowl commercials - *those* are what add depth.

Edited by Telmasa, 17 July 2015 - 03:52 AM.

[Thumper3]

Telmasa, on 17 July 2015 - 03:48 AM, said:

I disagree. People, as a group entity, absolutely lack depth and always will. Any PvP environment, no matter how many bells and whistles you throw on it, will lack depth.

Um, I think you either misunderstood me....or just ran off into the woods on your own there. LOL

The idiosyncrasies of people and their lack of willpower thanks to participation trophies over the last couple of decades has nothing to do with how the game is developed, coded, and presented.

The lack of depth I am referring to is that taking planets has no bearing on anything other than a small font number at the bottom of the screen. That matches are rinse/repeat with the same modes and maps over and over with meaningless respawns and no consequences or rewards (salvage/destruction).

Sure the lack of people playing could be from their personal laziness, but that doesn't change the fact that the game itself lacks depth. And if we are blaming the laziness of the players, the game right now is as easy as it gets, since there are no repair/rearm costs or destroyed mechs.......so if that is the worry, then this game is dead because the logical assumption would be to make it easier. And the second they add shields, ammo pickups, and auto aim to the game I'll burn my PC to ash and send it to PGI.

[Tuis Ryche]

Find some other matchups besides 12v12. When I look at the map and see all the planets with multiples of 12 (or barely over), then I go elsewhere because I don't have time for that ****. If there's an opening slightly under that magic number, I'll play. Otherwise, I head for the PUG lanes because I know I'll only need to wait 2 minutes for a drop instead of 15-20 for a ROFLstomp.



For instance, I'm not even going to bother. I'll come back after a couple of PUG matches and if it's the same...rinse, repeat. I really don't even care which planet I drop on, I just want to play. I don't give a **** about the planets because, as they are, there's nothing to care about.

I get that the uber competitives out there want CW to be all for them, but face it, the population is at a pathetic level and if CW is going to be the centerpiece of MWO, it needs to accommodate the bulk of the customers by providing engaging content in a timely manner.

Edited by Tuis Ryche, 17 July 2015 - 04:55 PM.

[Imperius]

After they get PVE out they can come back to CW.

[Mystere]

Imperius, on 17 July 2015 - 05:46 PM, said:

After they get PVE out they can come back to CW.

PVE should be a training tool for individuals and small groups (i.e. coop), not a major game mode. Straying from it's PVP focus has it's own big pitfalls.

I think people are seriously underestimating the effort required to produce quality PVE.

Edited by Mystere, 17 July 2015 - 11:40 PM.

[Imperius]

Mystere, on 17 July 2015 - 11:39 PM, said:

PVE should be a training tool for individuals and small groups (i.e. coop), not a major game mode. Straying from it's PVP focus has it's own big pitfalls.

I think people are seriously underestimating the effort required to produce quality PVE.

I think people are seriously underestimating the benefits and need for PVE.

[Mystere]

Imperius, on 18 July 2015 - 05:50 AM, said:

I think people are seriously underestimating overestimating the benefits and need for PVE.

FTFY.

By the way, this thread is about CW, and we already know you despise CW. So, if you want to talk about PVE, start another one.

Edited by Mystere, 18 July 2015 - 07:50 AM.