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- The Hardcore TableTop Fan: These guys keep insisting that "going back to BattleTech values" is the way to proceed. Many of them have never seen that attempted in a MechWarrior game before, but I have and it's awful. I've heard MW:O started friends & family with TT values as well, and found that out first hand.
Sometimes there's good ideas found in Table Top. I do think adding more penalties such as movement and inaccuracies to high levels of heat is one of many good ideas that can be taken from from Table Top.. and made MW:O's own, with it's own thresholds and effects. However, this very vocal minority simply will not be satisfied with using the concept; they must have it match TT directly or will claim it is broken, now and forever.
This is also the crowd most loudly asking for "convergence" or cones of fire, to "dice roll" their weapon systems outside of player control, something that I think the majority of people playing do not want (unless it is tied to a user controlled variable, again, like heat).
The Problem: Table Top rules simply do not work in a sim; they will never be satisfied. Also TableTop is kind of an unbalanced mess in it's own right, but that's a topic for another thread.
- The Frankenpug. These guys believe in a few mottos - they include "Every 'mech can be made to work!" and "It's skill, not the 'mech." They fail to accept that the game begins before it even launches, with the 'mech setups, and that they set the tone from everything outside of it.
There's some overlap between the Frankenpug and the TT fans, with many TT fans insisting on driving TRO or otherwise substandard designs so that 'mechs are loaded out more "as they pictured." The bottom line is only a tiny handful of Frakenmech builds are driven by good pilots knowingly; the majority are driven by either casuals that are still learning the game, or those unwilling to change through stubbornness. All of their weapons feedback data is borderline useless, and their opinions on weapons cannot possibly be close to accurate as a result.
The Problem: Every time a terrible weapon is called "fine," it's likely the work of the Frakenpug. Every time a serious imbalance is blown off, they'll be there. And every single time they run into a competitive team, they will last 2 minutes.
- The NostolgiaWarrior. These are guys who view one specific incarnation of MechWarrior as the "best" and simply judge any and all changes from that version of MechWarrior as a serious problem. This seems to mostly occur with players of MechWarrior 3, but can be found in fans of all the series. The bottom line is, until it is exactly like their beloved game, MW:O will simply never measure up. Ever.
This is not to say there's not good lessons in past MW games. MW4's hardpoint system remains popular because it was an interesting idea that could work with MW:O and offer more 'mech and variant diversity in general. However, MW4 fans are less likely to gush about the lack of critical space, the simplified engine restrictions, no critical hits.. coolant that flushes like laser ammo.. broken hitboxes..
... you get my point. MW4 was far from the perfect game or perfect mechlab. I bring it up sometimes to talk about how it had more roles, or again, joining in hardpoint conversations - but I always want to point out the bad with the good. I don't want MW:O to be MW4; I don't mind if it takes a few lessons here and there, but you have to be careful to remember the flaws when discussing past works.
Comparing MW:O to MW4 is like comparing a rebooted film franchise to it's original counterpart. Both will have strengths and weaknesses, and the new film needs to be careful to identify what worked in the original without just making the original again.
The Problem: These kinds of players will often try to make their favorite builds from past games work, as well as operate on tactics from those titles. Both will leave them behind the curve and most feedback will be tainted purely because MechWarrior: X did/didn't do it separately. Example: The continued rage against MW:O Coolant (which causes no trouble) because of the bitter hatred of the MW4 Coolant system.
- The Competitive Puggers. One of the most dangerous groups for feedback is a group that considers themselves a competitive unit, while failing to meet any of the criteria. There are a couple units now that are large in number but have developed horrendous reputations for both group management and combat skill. One must be careful which teams are talked to, because if a group is full of Frakenpuggers, it's not going to give very valuable feedback.
The Problem: That anyone might take them seriously as a competitive unit, despite the fact they don't follow any of the hallmarks of such - beginning at 'mech loadout.
- The Competitive Players. This group is comprised generally of mixed backgrounds, including long time BattleTech fans, long time fans of the MechWarrior series and even some new blood brought into these groups. These teams are generally focused on the real time simulation part of MechWarrior and are very open to changes to weapon mechanics to accomplish a better game in the end. Many of them have seen things that have been tried and failed, or were tried and worked, in past MechWarrior games - most of which is still applicable today.
The biggest difference with this group is that they are playing to win the game in front of them, whatever game that might be. The only way to prevent a few "power builds" in the competitive community is to make each 'mech, weapon, equipment and variant useful in the right situation, so that experimentation can be had, and new tactics can be found. Until all the weapons are on a parity, these guys will always find what is most powerful and make it standard issue.
The Problem:While a small % of the community, they also have the greatest understanding of the game and it's systems. The problems lies within the fact that eventually their "power builds" will be posted numerous places and more and more low-ELO brackets will see use of them by less experienced pilots, damaging the game - if imbalance allows it to be damaged. They are, however, the best bet to locate and balance concerns before they even happen.
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Long story short is that while I suspect a lot of people will come in defending their "group," there is only one niche group in MW:O that honestly has no agenda aside from seeing MW:O a well balanced game - in it's own right - and that's the competitive players. They are open to seeing changes to the TT property values as long as the spirit is reflected and definitely believe in more options and game play diversity.
They also understand the game systems and how they work in practice from a "ground level" very well, leaving them the ideal group to find imbalanced weapon configurations and, if PGI were to contact them routinely with a survey, stomp them out before they even happen. They will always understand the "real" way the game plays because they spend far and away the most time there.
Again, out of all the vocal cliques here, the competitive guys are the ones that both accept the reality of the balance situation.. and also, the ones who want to see the situation changed. They have the goal of MW:O being a deeper, more interesting game.. not transforming it into anything else to meet their personal vision.
Thus, again, I implore you PGI: Get ahold of a few notable units with good reputations here - just check the user leagues, I'd recommend folks like SJR or the Luna Wolves as good places to start - and start dropping them by-weekly surveys about where balance is and where it should be going. And listen. That's all I've been asking for, really, for a while now - and I think it is bar none the clearest way to get accurate feedback.
Remember, identifying the power combinations is the first step to preventing them. And these are the guys who are equipped to make an honest evaluation about the gun in MechWarrior: Online without dragging three different rulebooks or novels into the mix. Please consider this.
EDIT: I didn't include the Casual Player because they both have little useful balance information to offer, but also are a rarity on these forums overall. They suffer from the same fate as the Frakenpug however, even if they are playing the current meta (just less frequently than some).
EDIT 2: I am writing this as more and more topics show up along these disastrous lines. I want PGI to listen to their community more and I believe my polls reflect that, but they need to be selective who they take balance input from - and they positively need another source of input outside of their internal test offices, that much is apparent.
Edited by Victor Morson, 10 July 2013 - 10:51 AM.
