84 replies to this topic

[Stormwolf]

Hans Davion, on 13 July 2012 - 03:27 AM, said:

Methinks, get taken as a bondsman or a trial of some kind as in the Steiner storylin in MW4

That one wasn't very accurate....

[Hunson Abadeer]

JAMESPRYDE, on 13 July 2012 - 12:58 AM, said:

Mechwarrior 2 was my "childhood", I learnt Lore, military specifications, and fought in the Refusal War. I undertook greater study and learnt fully about my environment, and achieved "loremaster" knowledge level about 4 years later

so in essence I "joined" the Mechwarrior timeline at Mechwarrior 2, (as that was my first game, and my "gateway" to battletech "

I played MechWarrior 2 back in 1995, but I was disappointed with it. My problem with it has always been that it created a mass of Clanners that never really got into the richness of the BattleTech Universe, so they only know the shallow video game version. I find the Clans to already be shallow compared to the Inner Sphere, so a shallow version of something shallow does not amount to much.

And just to clarify, I find the Clans shallow because the eugenics program and various Trials remove anything substantive from the background of characters. The only character development usually boils down to Bloodname and rank.

[Naughtyboy]

well...a bloodname is EVERYthing..without it your nothing(i now mean inside the warrior caste) if you do not carry a bloodname your a lesser beeing maybe slightly higher then a freebirth but not much..

And well there is not much written about the life in the Clans as everything there is aimed to produce better warriors or war machines..nothing else matters...goal has always been to reestablish the TRUE Star League and conquer Terra...

[Gabopentin]

The inherent problem with having the Clans as playable is that many under 20s? will go for Clan just to get the overpowered Mechs. This will lead to an eventual migration of more and more people joining Clans just for the better gear. As in other MMOs this will lead to a horrendous imbalance on the server. Warhammeronline being a classic case. Chaos always outnumbered Empire by at least 4 to 1 on most servers because of the "I want to be a big strong unbeatable Orc". Supposed 'evil' forces will always attract more people than 'good' forces because of the predominance of a "Good has to fight harder to win" attitude of people. Having the Clans a a PVE ingame mission element gives access to the technology. by beating them, without the risk of a server becoming outnumbered by Clan 'players'.

[Hunson Abadeer]

Naughtyboy, on 13 July 2012 - 07:00 AM, said:

well...a bloodname is EVERYthing..without it your nothing(i now mean inside the warrior caste) if you do not carry a bloodname your a lesser beeing maybe slightly higher then a freebirth but not much..

And well there is not much written about the life in the Clans as everything there is aimed to produce better warriors or war machines..nothing else matters...goal has always been to reestablish the TRUE Star League and conquer Terra...

That is why I have always viewed the Clans as a plot device. Anyone can create a Clan character in no time because you basically have to be "trueborn" to be in a unit that matters (read: actually does stuff in the Inner Sphere), and then it is just a matter of rank, which is limited as the higher ranks are already named officers in the source material. You pick a first name, choose a Bloodname, pick a unit, and make yourself a Star Commander. Rinse and repeat. Wolf Clan Sourcebook (1991), Jade Falcon Sourcebook (1992), and Invading Clans (1994) named officers down to the rank of Star Captain, so Star Commander <First Name> <Bloodname> of <Clan name> is the go-to character. Just lacks the depth that people could get into with the Inner Sphere in the Houses as well as playing as mercenaries.

Gabopentin, on 13 July 2012 - 07:23 AM, said:

The inherent problem with having the Clans as playable is that many under 20s? will go for Clan just to get the overpowered Mechs. This will lead to an eventual migration of more and more people joining Clans just for the better gear. As in other MMOs this will lead to a horrendous imbalance on the server. Warhammeronline being a classic case. Chaos always outnumbered Empire by at least 4 to 1 on most servers because of the "I want to be a big strong unbeatable Orc". Supposed 'evil' forces will always attract more people than 'good' forces because of the predominance of a "Good has to fight harder to win" attitude of people. Having the Clans a a PVE ingame mission element gives access to the technology. by beating them, without the risk of a server becoming outnumbered by Clan 'players'.

That is my concern. There can be no game without the Inner Sphere, and there can be no Inner Sphere with the majority of the player base going to the Clans. This forum is full of people flying banners of the Great Houses while saying they will switch sides as soon as they are able.