96 replies to this topic

[Zeece]

Questions:
#What is Phase 3 Russ?

Immediate Future - April and Beyond

* Patch on Tuesday
* Pretty Happy with CW Match making as far as getting 2 teams together.
* Review of Improvements of if CW over the last couple months
* 98% Match Making regardless of time of day
* Ghost Drops remains at 2%
* Game Bias Bug Fix - Clans had a 53% win rate in CW Event, but didn't get any planets
* Wants to get Attack / Counter Attack at 50% regardless of opposition. Can get Ghost Drops on Counter Attack as of Tuesday
* Flooding the Queue was not resulting in Auto WIn scenario/Ghost Drops but was resulting in Game Mode Bias issue.
* Patch on 21st... 24th Battle of Tukkayid EVENT 63 section on the Planet to fight over. In the end either Clan or IS will have control of the planet. 3 Day Event Ending in EU Ceasefire on the Monday
* Cooldown on Faction Flipping going from 24hours to 72hours starting April 21st.
* CW Map Reset immediately following Tukkayid Event

#Will there be a 2nd Map Reset?

* Possibly One more down the road. When the game goes to STEAM.

#Domenoth You mentioned 4v4 for smaller CW games. Any details you've hashed out yet for that?
#IceGryphon How would you grow the CW queue? How would you bring more players into the base?

* Design 90% for 4v4 probably will see in game late summer.
* Contract changes between Loyalist, Lonewolves and Mercs coming Hoping to complete design by May, Development into the summer.
* 4v4 is Scouting mode... will use a mixture of maps INCLUDING Public Que Maps
* This is help define invasion corridors. If you successful scout(get 50%+) a planet then you get to attack that planet in the next attack window.
* Probably lighter tonnage
* Hoping this will bring more people into CW
* Will bring a change to the Call to Arms to attract those play now players
* Will include Attack / Defend and Counter Attack modes just like regular CW so defenders can break a scouting mission and prevent the invasion.

#Really wants to Define Loyalist / Lonewolf and Mercs better

* Lonewolves would have the fewest Faction rewards but the greatest flexibility... allowing you to jump into any match anytime.
* Mercs will probably work very much like the game does today. Wants to add some depth
* Loyalist will have unique abilities. Use Coffers to draw Mercs and Lonewolves to their cause.. still being worked out. Better Loyalist rewards Use Coffers to increase defenses (as example increase number of zones that need to be taken)
* Ability to Rank Top Merc, Loyalist and Lonewolves. Will give some benefit to players
* Number of planets held will provide a benefit


#Brawler1986 Why is the art quality from CW maps so different from regular drop maps? Are the CW maps going to be reviewed (art and game play quality wise) in the near future?

* Public Queue maps getting update... River City first. Nothing planned for CW. Wants to expand all maps so that Causitic Sized maps are the minimum

#Gas Guzzler Any bonuses for holding particular planets?

* Phase 3 will probably not include planet benefits

#Is there any plan to convert maps CW to Pub, Pub to CW

* Probably at some point in the future
* HPG CW map in process
* Swamp CW map on hold until after River City revision complete.
* Adding Time of Day of functionality to all maps.. Unknown time frame

#Moriquendi86 Are you going to revisit two initial CW maps and try fix spawn camping on defenders?

* Sees spawn camping as a issue in general.. thinks Forest map is potentially the worst of the current maps
* Extremely hard to design around griefing tactics.
* Hellbore has the safest dropzone.. wants to have dropzone up and away from the action
* Thought of having Dropships hover if there are mechs in range of dropzone.
* Perhaps have the Dropships focus fire down mechs.
* Has to be balanced against Defense and Counter Attack modes.
* Hoping to have improvements before End of Summer

#Jman5 Any plans to fix generator rushing in Community Warfare?

* Doesn't like it.. difficult to balance
* perhaps double the HP of turrets and O-gens
* key is to think how it affects a normal as opposed to griefing tactics
* Perhaps go with 1/1/1/1
* Not actively working on it.
* Expects to see it during Tukkayid, but not alot
* Jack up O-gen health prior to Tukkayid possibly to slow it down
* Perhaps adding capture points prior to O-gen attacks.


#enderassassin About CW, is there plans to ever create a new game mode(s)

* No plans at this moment other than 4v4
* Talking about adding another gamemode to Public Queue.. would like to see ASAP
* Would love to see a Defend a Dropship mode. But would probably need to remove gamemode selection. to keep queue short.

#any plan to address skill disparately in CW match making?

* Not enough players to address it at this time.
* Perhaps add a planet that is a Militia vs. Miltia so that solo players can participate vs. each other.. no groups.
* But this would remove players from CW queue and extend match making time.

#Deux Instead of quirks why don't you release different versions of weapons like one company's med laser does more damage and heat, another's has better range etc?

* Its another layer of complexity that we might add on in the future but no plans to do it at this time.

New Tutorial Coming will make you dream of what PVE content will be like

New Mechlab COming
New Mechs Coming
Steam Release Probably late summer
Wants to Improve Spectator Tools
Wants to Add Solaris VII
Wants to Add Solo Player / PVE content

#SpiralFace Will there be more "non-weapon" based quirks introduced to help chassis out beyond just weapon quirks? (Ammo per ton quirks, Sensor quirks, Target retention quirks, etc.)

* Yes.. no brain... JJ, Ammo per ton for certain mechs.
* No brand new question son the list

#Deacon Rapier Will there be any more rebalancing of Weapon Quirks?

* Yes.. will be a constant effort
* need to revisit the skill tree.. wants to make them mech specific, hoping to start work on this soon

#Vincent V. 1. What are your comments on the community calling for even more nerfing of Clan Technology? What do you think of IS v Clan Balance

* Feels pretty good on balance.. but certain areas that need to be addressed.. IE Game Bias in CW
* Going to Leave IS with the extra 10tons at the moment.
* Not looking to nerf the clans at the moment. Will revisit after Map reset and see how things go.

#Rebas Kradd Will you please give us a projected month/quarter for your Steam release? I'm getting a little worried that you're going to spring it on us prematurely and without warning, a la the Clans or Transverse.

* No Month or Quarter... probably late summer

#Moriquendi86 After going to steam will we still have an option to purchase MC, packs and stuff directly from PGI? What I'm worried about is that steam uses conversion rate in which 1 dolar = 1 euro, for someone like me living in central europe and not earning in euro that would mean 20% increase in price without increased value comparing to purchase done with USD.

* Not familiar with Steam Conversion, but plans allow direct purchases outside of Steam.

#Anakha When will we see some improvements to clan ultra auto cannons? Either an increase in velocity or a decrease in shell count or a combination of the two?

* Wants to address... not sure at this point on how to balance them. Dislike laser vomits bias at the moment.
* Thinking along the time reduce time between shells so more damage to zone.

#Hyper99 Russ - like what you've been doing for CW. My question surrounds Solaris/Solo players. I'd like to know if you could give us a very rough estimate for Solaris.

* Probably the same size feature as CW.. .Significant development needed Probably 2016

#SpiralFace Can we look forward to non-CW game improvements coming down the pipe beyond the retooled smaller maps? (recent twitter about ‘River City’)

* Want New Game mode during Summer
* Tweaking maps
* Wants to change ELO so separate for Group vs Solo and how it goes up and down.

Reward 3.0 in planning.. Would like add more in this area to breath some fresh air into the game.

#RedEagle86 & CGBI I would love to know whether PGI is ever planning on fixing Clan XL by removing that silly heat penalty and introducing a movement speed penalty instead?

* Heat Penalty hasn't really had an impact, but not looking at movement penalty at the moment.

#Imperius 4k textures and high end PC user things?

* Needs to ask dev about it, probably a massive client update.. sorry.. probably not going to give you a good answer to this
* Definitely need to adjust minimum spec UP!
* Want to focus on DirectX 12
* Wont take new CryEngine because it drops Direct X 9 support

#Gas Guzzler Any JJ changes coming? Would love to see HoverJets go

* Super Super gun shy.. wants to avoid return Poptarting
* Probably time for a JJ adjustment, especially Assault Class
* Highlander needs love
* Wants to introduce JJ quirks to do good balance
* Wants to avoid single JJ jumping.

#RaKa Can you reveal to us what your plans are for MASC?

* Design Done, Tech Review done, Being Engineered now
* HUD Indicators like JJ
* Will give boost to speed and acceleration until you max it out like JJ
* If you use it too much you will take start doing internal damage to legs
* Artic Cheetah Max speed 170kph perhaps a little higher

#JTSR Any update to the arrival of Unit selected created decals?

* Work is done.. programming is done.. just front end remaining. Priority went to mech lab, will swing back to Decals after mechlab

PUBLIC Test for Mechlab maybe next week .. Release May 19th probably.. not guaranteed

Very much encompasses full Smurfy functionality.

Going to be huge improvement

#Hawk819 When can we expect the Mauler, Black Knight, and Cyclops BattleMechs? Also, any chance that the Wolfhound and Bushwacker will make an appearance in the game?

* No time line at the moment but Lots of mechs to come... IICs would be awesome to see!
* Wolfhound definitely game.. have concept art for Mauler, Black KNight and Cyclops.
* Has recently reached out to Harmony Gold.. Zero Change. Its less about Harmony Gold now and now about the movie rights that are in Sony's hand. Probably not going to happen, but how knows we might just go for it and change them enough to defend the decision.

#Psychosmurf96 1. The Urbanmech was a fan request mech that seemed to go well. Any chance that there will be more fan demanded mechs in the future?

* Would probably only happen if its a mech that wouldn't fall into a mech pack. Would have to be something in the same category as the Urbie.

#Egomane When do the European players get their promised MWO release event?

* Promised by IGP, but was never a plan by PGI. It might happen in the future but no promise.
* Would like to do a test to see how local servers in EU would adjust queues
* Would probably need to add logic to handle queues between NA and EU to keep queues low.

#Another MWO Event in the future?

* Steam launch party! Potentially at Pax Prime, Potentially have Final Tournament events at same time


#Imperius Director/Replay and spectator mode (gives the community creation tools and helps build and strengthen community interactions)?

* Specator getting priority real soon(next couple months). No ETA on Replay/Director mode

#Free form Q&A
Would love to see CW maps / Dropshop mode added into Specator mode, Full 48 v 48 awesomeness.

April 21st - Going to be add 10 new variant into the store 7 Clan 3 IS variant on the 21st,

* Griffin 2N (ECM),
* Locust 3v,
* Myst Lynx D,
* Ice Ferret B,
* Nova C,
* Highlander 732B,
* Stormcrow B,
* Timberwolf A,
* Gargoyle B

May 1st New IS Pack ... Reinforce Pack 2

April 21st Faction skins available for ALL mechs.. all channels unlocked!

Would like to see Clan Faction skins on IS mechs next

Next Hero Mech.. May.. Wolverine or Thunderbolt

Griffen 2N hard points 2 Missile LT, 2 Missile RT 2 energy RA


#Stock Mode?

* Thats another bucket so probably never in public que... But in Private.. sure

#Clan LBX v UAC ammo swap

* Dead, former programmer code makes it neigh impossible to do in the near future.

# Multiple Drop Deck in CW

* Eventually

#Game Client Crashes

* QA environment incredibly stable. Understand the difference between Disconnect and Crash.. Run the 64 client.. MUCH MORE STABLE, 32 bit client incredibly inefficient. Not much more we can do for 32 bit OSes. Still Crashing REPORT it! Send in the Crash Dumps!

#DX11?

* Improvement coming in soonish patch

#Custom Sound or Warhorns?

* Don't edit the pak files.. that a violation of TOS.
* There is possibility of client side specific download in the future, but alot of work before it can happen

#Colorblind mode?

* Would need to gather stats before it becomes a priority. Tina.. get on it!
* Need definition of what is the problem. Please contact Tina!

# 3D?

* Work on fixes.. coming in soon patch

#Updating in Game UI?

* would like to look at it
* would like to fix the pilot model

#Narc?

*In Game NARC indicator coming in one of next 2 patchs

#Dropship in Pub Queue?

*Yes, starting with new River City.. Dropship will drop you off

#AI?

* New Tutorial will be the first step on this path

#Clan Hero Mechs?

* Unknown... omni mechs make it an extremely difficult to define. Probably figure it out after the next set of IS Hero mech.

Edited by Zeece, 16 April 2015 - 08:03 PM.

[Gas Guzzler]

Thanks for doing this! Looking forward to it.

Hoping for details on the next mech pack too... and MASC... but we will see!

[MoonUnitBeta]

Thanks Zeece!

[Zeece]

Russ just came into the room... we have all the players... starting in 5ish

[Xetelian]

I love that you're doing this, good job man.

[Armorine]

Here's a question.... What will it take to get us merchandise? Shirts, keychains, rubies mug. Figures etc???????

[Alistair Winter]

Phase 3 with 4v4 + different lifestyle choices (Loyalist, mercenary, lone wolf) coming late summer, at the earliest.

That's cool. I figured they'd forgotten about the whole loyalist, mercenary, lone wolf aspect. It'll be interesting to see how they do implement it. I guess I'll be cautiously optimistic about it.

[Ace Selin]

Yea, thanks.

[One Medic Army]

Quote

#RaKa Can you reveal to us what your plans are for MASC?

* Design Done, Tech Review done, Being Engineered now
* HUD Indicators like JJ
* Will give boost to speed and acceleration until you max it out like JJ
* If you use it too much you will take start doing internal damage to legs
* Artic Cheetah Max speed 170kph perhaps a little higher

Is that last one supposed to be Shadow Cat, rather than Arctic Cheetah?

That said, MASC sounds like it's actually going to be good, and the Executioner might not be DoA due to being 95tons with the pod space of a timber wolf.

Edited by One Medic Army, 16 April 2015 - 07:23 PM.

[El Bandito]

Armorine, on 16 April 2015 - 04:57 PM, said:

Here's a question.... What will it take to get us merchandise? Shirts, keychains, rubies mug. Figures etc???????

When it is worth mass producing them, I bet. I doubt there are significant population to justify it for now.

One Medic Army, on 16 April 2015 - 07:22 PM, said:

Is that last one supposed to be Shadow Cat, rather than Arctic Cheetah?

That said, MASC sounds like it's actually going to be good, and the Executioner might not be DoA due to being 95tons with the pod space of a timber wolf.

Gargle is not DoA, so I think Executioner is gonna be ok. Nothing spectacular, but ok.

Edited by El Bandito, 16 April 2015 - 07:25 PM.

[Pjwned]

Quote

#RedEagle86 & CGBI I would love to know whether PGI is ever planning on fixing Clan XL by removing that silly heat penalty and introducing a movement speed penalty instead?

* Heat Penalty hasn't really had an impact, but not looking at movement penalty at the moment.

Real smooth answer, heat penalty doesn't do enough but too lazy to do anything about it.

Nice.

Quote

#Clan LBX v UAC ammo swap

* Dead, former programmer code makes it neigh impossible to do in the near future.

Why promise this sort of feature from the get-go then? That is also of course a terrible reason to not do it since it basically says "because we are incompetent."

Amazingly unprofessional.

Edited by Pjwned, 16 April 2015 - 08:23 PM.

[One Medic Army]

El Bandito, on 16 April 2015 - 07:24 PM, said:

Gargle is not DoA, so I think Executioner is gonna be ok. Nothing spectacular, but ok.

I have a friend, he enjoys playing what are generally referred to as "bad" mechs. He tried the Gargoyle and said it was beyond redemption. The new omnipods coming might help, but let's be honest, an XL400 is a terrible thing to put on any mech.

[FupDup]

One Medic Army, on 16 April 2015 - 07:36 PM, said:

...but let's be honest, an XL400 is a terrible thing to put on any mech.

Wubshee said:

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

Edited by FupDup, 16 April 2015 - 07:37 PM.

[luxebo]

@Zeece can you specify when they will release AS7-S and CN9-AH? They said it somewhere but I don't remember exactly what they said.

[Ultimax]

One Medic Army, on 16 April 2015 - 07:36 PM, said:

The new omnipods coming might help, but let's be honest, an XL400 is a terrible thing to put on any mech.

Weighs less than STD 340s that people do, in fact, put on mechs.

[Otto Cannon]

Griffin 2N sounds very useful.

Some promising sounding plans there- new mechlab is sorely needed.

They're going to keep having poptart balance problems with jumpjets until they finally bite the bullet and limit shooting ability while jumping properly instead of trying to limit the actual jump itself.

[Zeece]

Annnnnnd we're done... whiskey time!

luxebo, on 16 April 2015 - 08:00 PM, said:

@Zeece can you specify when they will release AS7-S and CN9-AH? They said it somewhere but I don't remember exactly what they said.

I'll do some digging.. and find out

[One Medic Army]

Ultimatum X, on 16 April 2015 - 08:05 PM, said:

Weighs less than STD 340s that people do, in fact, put on mechs.

Why yes, but XL400 vs STD 340 for an IS mech is a difference between life and death when you lose a side torso.

The bigger issue is the weight scaling, you spent a lot of tonnage getting those last few points of engine rating, for not very much speed.

[Zeece]

One Medic Army, on 16 April 2015 - 07:22 PM, said:

Is that last one supposed to be Shadow Cat, rather than Arctic Cheetah?

That said, MASC sounds like it's actually going to be good, and the Executioner might not be DoA due to being 95tons with the pod space of a timber wolf.

I'll have to go back and listen once the podcast is up... Russ rambled a bit there and lost me at times.

Basically in the end he said NOTHING will be faster than the mechs currently on the battlefield. that 170kph ceiling remains in place.. MASC will just let some other mechs get to the ceiling.

[FupDup]

Ultimatum X, on 16 April 2015 - 08:05 PM, said:

Weighs less than STD 340s that people do, in fact, put on mechs.

Don't they normally put those on mechs who have Endo and mechs heavier than 80 tons in general?

For the Glarg, I think I'd take an XL320 (assuming TT engine rules of the rating being a multiple of your tonnage) for 15 extra free tons rather than the XL400.

Edited by FupDup, 16 April 2015 - 08:15 PM.