389 replies to this topic

[Mongooser]

I know this is a public forum and before anyone goes off the “deep end”, let me define a professional gamer as: “An individual that is paid RL money, by a company, to play a game.” Having said that, I would like to give my 2 cents on what I have learned about the game so far. I am not in the beta yet, as I actually just found out about the game a few days ago, however I did fill out 100% of the application.

So far it seems this game, as far as the business model goes, is very closely modeled after World of Tanks. I was the first player in WOT to cap out all the vehicles in the game.(all tier 10 Heavies, tier 9 Mediums, tier 9 Tank Destroyers, and tier 8 Artillery) This took me 4-5 months and about $600, of course WOT is free to play and “pay to advance very fast”.

MWO also seems to be free to play and, correct me if I am wrong, pay to advance very fast. Premium accounts in WOT got 50% extra exp and 50% extra coin, I assume the same is true for MWO. In WOT you could buy(with RL money) premium vehicles, that for the life of them received 50% exp and 50% coin, regardless if you were a premium member or not, in fact if you used a premium vehicle AND had a premium account the bonuses actually stacked!(In MWO I believe these are called “Founder Mechs”) Also I am sure that for a price,(probably $9-$12 a month or 30 days) you can be a premium member in MWO and get the bonus exp and coin regardless which Mech you pilot.

Please do not misunderstand, I am not saying that MWO is a rip off of WOT, I am just saying that the business models seem to be the same. I am actually kind of excited for MWO as I am an “old school” gamer and have played many, but not all, of the Mech Warrior series. The purpose of this post is to give some advice,(WOT devs made a ton of mistakes post launch that really hurt the players) and ask some questions of the devs.

The largest mistake the WOT devs made as to grow the game “sideways” instead of “stronger”, so they added more vehicles, but never passed the tier cap of 10. Is this the plan for MWO? Whatever the highest tier is on release will be the highest tier(for MWO I guess this would be tonnage) for the life of the game?

I saw in a video that a dev stated that money can buy you better vehicles, but it cannot buy you skill. What is in the end game for players like me that have skill and money?

The end game of WOT consisted of a part of the world map in which clans could hold territory and earn free gold for doing so.(gold in WOT could be bought with money, but not earned in game, unless in clan wars) Gold is what is used to buy the premium vehicles and premium “rounds” that penetrated armor a lot better at range but did not do more damage then the rounds you could buy with in game coin. Of course this was a massive money maker for the game as you had to defend your territory daily and EVERYONE used “gold” rounds for the fights. So win or lose the gold rounds were expended and were replaced. Is this the same plan for the end game of MWO? If so, consider the fact that you will have clans of very highly skilled gamers that will dominate the map, this caused quite a few problems as casual gamers simply got waxed every night and held, if anything, meaningless territories.

Overhaul the laser graphics they are a horrible and look “1990'ish”, make them thicker or at least have them fire as a beam in a sequence instead of all at the same time.(would be good for heat management as well, and would still deliver the same DPS) A good vanity item would be to allow the player to change the color of the laser, by inserting a different lens?

Try to implement the least amount of player restrictions as possible. More player freedom means more player power, more player power means more player happiness, more player happiness means more dollars in your pocket.

There are A LOT of free to play, pay to win games in the market make sure you set yourself apart from them. A free play player should have access to everything in the game that a premium player has except for vanity items and premium vehicles, however should progress through the game a lot slower.(you would honestly be surprised at how many free play gamers will become premium members if becoming a premium member means you progress faster)

Game modes and maps... Another mistake the WOT devs made, way TOO FEW maps and ONLY 2 game modes. Hopefully on release you will have no less then 10 maps and release new maps at 1 or 2 per month. I can think of a ton of different game modes, capture the flag, holding way-points or mini-bases, king of the hill, team death-match, etc...

NEVER underestimate the intelligence of your gamers, when making Diablo 3 Blizzard stated that they knew that even with all there internal testing there were going to be power gamers beyond their comprehension. KNOWING this they still fell short, I have every class at level cap and most through Inferno, the game has not even been out 2 months. They have nerfed the game so much in the last 30 days, they lost an estimated 30% of their player base. I know it is difficult to keep casual gamers and power gamers happy at the same time, but you can't punish casual players and you can't punish power gamers or your game will lose it's appeal in the first couple months. The trick is too encourage casual gamers to play with casual gamers and power gamers to play with power gamers, without punishing either.(this is more difficult then you may think)

Do not believe that “content is king”, so many companies push games out with massive content only to see players burn through all the content in the first month, and the games dies and they wonder why. Content can ALWAYS be added or removed via a patch, the "king" of whether your game is a hit or a miss is core game-play.(Chess has been around for 1500 years and it is still a board with 64 squares and only 6 different pieces yet it is still massively played)

Does gravity play a realistic role? I know a laser would shoot straight, missiles will home, but what about ballistic rounds? If I jump jet off a 1000 ft high cliff do I take damage when I land?(you won't get me to believe that any amount of hydraulics will save me from that)

I would like to make more comments or ask more questions, but I don't have first hand knowledge of your title. I cannot compare this to another of the games you have made in the past because after looking at your company history, you do not have other titles in this genre.

I will say this though, the online market is extremely competitive and you also have to keep all the old school mech warrior fans happy, you don't want to know what happens when a big name game comes out that does not stay true to it's franchise or predecessors... I can give you some examples though: Warhammer Online, Star Trek Online, SWTOR, Diablo 3 etc... Diablo 3 would seem to be a devs dream, I mean selling 6 million copies in the first 7 days of release? With that much money you don't have to worry about the lawsuits from players, but indictments from countries? Try typing this in google: “france germany korea indict blizzard” over 30,000,000 results...

Anyway I hope the game does well, actually really miss Mech Warrior. Where is my beta invite? I would just jump in on the preorder offers, but with me it is either all or nothing and if I play MWO then I would opt for the $120 package. History however has taught me to hold my money until I can at least see the game. Hopefully you wil have a little open beta before release, in case some of us don't make it into the closed beta.

[CCC Dober]

OP: Plenty of your questions have been answered already, but they are a bit scattered, so you may have to dig a bit more. Both games are similar on the outside, but MW:O is a more matured concept handled by professionals that actually care for the franchise. I've also migrated over from WoT and I think PGI has a much better idea how to handle a game with great potential. That said, welcome aboard and enjoy the ride =)

[combatplayer]

the founder mechs do not give extra EXP, they do however give extra money. also i am pretty sure it is impossible to make anything higher than 100 Tons since MWO is built in a universe where that seems to be the top in most cases, you should probably read up a bit on the lore, would give you a much better understanding.

and the laser thing is for balancing.

i think we can all appreciate that you want to help but far most of your questions and/or 'complaints' are explained elsewhere.
also as you can see i too dropped a lot of money into this, it was more to pay the devs for reviving the series than anything else.

[LordDeathStrike]

theres no special ammo or weapon penetration issues in the battle tech universe. of which mwo is part of.

assaults are siege weapons, if you stand in front of one you will be atomized quickly.

heavies are either built to brawl, go fast and hunt down little pissants, or fire missiles in support.

med mechs can carry a big stick, hunt scouts, brawl other mediums, fire support missiles, basically anything, just not super duper well.

lights make the best scouts, as for top speed at least.

you need them all on your team to win if the devs do it right.

[peer]

I'm not sure listening to self-professed "professional gamers" is the best of ideas, especially when they attempt to lecture developers on how their game should be made, as if they're the acknowledged authority on the subject. The fact that you've obviously jumped right in with "here is what your game should be like" while having only a vague idea of what it's about doesn't make you look any better. Grats for spending a lot of money on WoT, I guess?

[KageRyuu]

Actually it will most likely be a long open beta from what the devs have released so far, though so far we have no date on the exact open beta launch, only Founder Beta launch which is Aug 7th I think (can't remember). They pretty much don't plan to stop developing the game until there's no content left in the BattleTech Universe to make and going off their 1 day for 1 day timeline progression idea starting with 3049, they could progress to 3081 and beyond, there's just that much content to build on. Though no one knows if they'll stay true to the 1:1 during the more quiet years in BattleTech History.

Additionally there's a rumor going around that Founders are priority closed beta invitees, also they haven't released a date yet but the Founder Packages are a limited time offer. Just thought you'd like to know.

[Squeak]

2 issues here

1. you havent played the game so everything you say is a guess
2. you have presented nothing to support your claim as a proffesional gamer other then spouting facts that any causal gamer would know by googleing a few basic things

my conclussion, you are ether someone who is full of them self, or a troll

[Bloody Moon]

Awesome and all, but could you post your WoT name here just to clear up atleast part of your claims?

That is the only game you said you were playing on a competitive level in the OP. Diablo doesn't count sry.

Edited by Bloody Moon, 02 July 2012 - 02:21 AM.

[SinnerX]

A "professional gamer" who plays WoT is like a professional athlete who plays tee ball.

[Squeak]

SinnerX, on 02 July 2012 - 02:14 AM, said:

A "professional gamer" who plays WoT is like a professional athlete who plays tee ball.

i think hes on to something here

[Saiqo]

SinnerX, on 02 July 2012 - 02:14 AM, said:

A "professional gamer" who plays WoT is like a professional athlete who plays tee ball.

Nothing but the truth!

[Schlifer]

I am an professional gaming manager.

......what prove me wrong people prove me wrong, of course in the internet you can be anything you want.

[Oswin Aurelius]

peer, on 02 July 2012 - 02:06 AM, said:

I'm not sure listening to self-professed "professional gamers" is the best of ideas, especially when they attempt to lecture developers on how their game should be made, as if they're the acknowledged authority on the subject. The fact that you've obviously jumped right in with "here is what your game should be like" while having only a vague idea of what it's about doesn't make you look any better. Grats for spending a lot of money on WoT, I guess?

He isn't a "self-professed" professional gamer. That's like saying Mike Tyson was a "self-professed" professional boxer. This dood gets paid money by people to play games, and from the look of his accomplishments, he is indeed a professional.

That being said, I believe he should have done a bit more digging before he posted, as most of the things he's asking about have been answered already.

• MWO will not have "premium" mechs other than the Founders' Mechs, and even then, it's only a 25% C-Bill boost.
  
• Lasers colors denote what size laser they are, red for smalls, green for mediums, and blue for larges.
  
• There is no "premium" ammunition, and while some weapons do have different ammo types, they often do radically different things, like Inferno SRMs adding heat to an enemy mech or LB-X Autocannon rounds firing in a shotgun spread.

Edited by Oswin Aurelius, 02 July 2012 - 02:28 AM.

[Necrodemus]

Mongooser, on 02 July 2012 - 01:40 AM, said:

A good vanity item would be to allow the player to change the color of the laser, by inserting a different lens?

If I jump jet off a 1000 ft high cliff do I take damage when I land?(you won't get me to believe that any amount of hydraulics will save me from that)

Changing the color of a laser is done by changing its wavelength. My understanding is that the lens is to focus or collimate. Other internals determine the wavelength. Anyway... they could also be used to add variety. Certain armors could reflect/refract certain wavelength more effectively than others. More complex and maybe not true to canon, but an option nonetheless.

Gravity does have a purpose. It has been mentioned that 'Mechs can take fall damage from toppling over (if unbalanced due to external forces) and jumping from too high. I think I saw a dev post about ballistic trajectories being affected by gravity, but I cannot find it and don't remember who stated it. Considering the engine they will be using, basic physics like gravity could easily be taken into account.

Edit:
Founder's Pack - August 7th.
Open Beta - Summer 2012 (Last day of summer is Sept. 21)
Release - TBA (Really... there's no difference in Open Beta and Release on a F2P game)

Edited by Necrodemus, 02 July 2012 - 02:29 AM.

[Gabopentin]

So much is wrong in this post. You know little about the lore behind the game. You know little about the concept of the game. You know little about the game itself. You have failed to investigate properly before making statements about the design of the game world and model. Not very professional at all. The end paragraph says it all really. "I'm a professional gamer. Wheres my Beta invite? I want it now, immediately, this minute or I'll sqeam and sqeam until I'm sick". Some of us have been on here since the first concept was made public. Not all are verbal and preferred to read rather than post, by the way. Ypu ak about 'end game'. What is this precisely? We have a sudden invasion of super mechs that we all have to gang up on to kill? With the improvement of ingame lore technology over the Mechwarrior universe, such as Clan Tech appearing at some point, there will be constant updates for the weaponry you can fit. Therefore a constant 'change' to be made to even the highest 'tier' of mech you may own.

[Bloody Moon]

Oswin Aurelius, on 02 July 2012 - 02:22 AM, said:

He isn't a "self-professed" professional gamer. That's like saying Mike Tyson was a "self-professed" professional boxer. This dood gets paid money by people to play games, and from the look of his accomplishments, he is indeed a professional.

Without proof those are just words. I can claim to be Mike Tyson on the internetz.

Also those "accomlishments" he mentioned so far only prove he has a lot of free time, IF they are true.

Edited by Bloody Moon, 02 July 2012 - 02:35 AM.

[peer]

Oswin Aurelius, on 02 July 2012 - 02:22 AM, said:

He isn't a "self-professed" professional gamer. That's like saying Mike Tyson was a "self-professed" professional boxer. This dood gets paid money by people to play games, and from the look of his accomplishments, he is indeed a professional.

Really? I didn't see any accomplishments beyond "I spent $600 on WoT" and "I totally beat Diablo 3 on the hardest difficulty with my eyes closed", with a little bit of "I have money and skill". By this definition, I'm a professional athlete. Whatever, maybe that's good enough for you.

Even if he was a "professional gamer", though, that doesn't mean anyone should care about his opinion on how things should be done, especially when, as I said, it's obvious he doesn't know more about the game than perhaps the title and that it has lasers in it.

Edited by peer, 02 July 2012 - 02:32 AM.

[Taiji]

I read the OP and the reponses and I don't get why people are questioning the guy's authority or why he makes a play for some.

Point being, he doesn't need any authority to back up his comments since they're common sense:

1) Give people something fun to do.

2) Don't **** people off.

3) ????

4) Profit.

....

Edited by Taiji, 02 July 2012 - 02:41 AM.

[MajorLeeHung]

Squeak, on 02 July 2012 - 02:11 AM, said:

2 issues here

1. you havent played the game so everything you say is a guess
2. you have presented nothing to support your claim as a proffesional gamer other then spouting facts that any causal gamer would know by googleing a few basic things

my conclussion, you are ether someone who is full of them self, or a troll

My thoughts exactly. Iv been playing WoT since alpha and have never heard of this guy. Go away troll. Also if you had played ANY of the mech warrior games as you said you have you would know after 10 mins of play 100 tons is the cap and always has been.

[HANGMAN1962]

have played wot sence 3rd day of closed beta and didnt get payed didly scuat!
all the closed beta players got was a free premium tank!
your statements on wot mark you as the personifacation of a wot wallet warrior who was a pay to win player!
and that mantality is what drove me away from wot!
oh ya and i use the same ingame callsign in both games no need to hide who i am lmao

sincerly the "hangman"