471 replies to this topic

[Gumon Choji]

Posted 20 November 2013 - 05:56 PM
In June we received leaked documents about a massive initiative designated as ‘Project Phoenix’ featuring an exotic range of ancient technology thought lost to the sands of time. After uncovering these unique BattleMechs, ComStar's adaptation of this technology is almost complete. With Saber Reinforcements expected to arrive December 17, the final chance to purchase Project Phoenix and Saber Reinforcements is December 3.
Each package delivers both the Phoenix BattleMechs of each unique chassis type, plus two Standard Variants. See the package details here for the full readout on the package contents that accompany each tier. Project Phoenix will never be made available again! A FAQ can be found here.
Project Phoenix and Saber Reinforcements will no longer be available for purchase after December 3, 2013 at 23:59 UTC.

PGI. You advertised the founders pack would never come back. If you bring it back expect legal issues from somewhere.Votes can not change this.

However making a new and different package is ok. I personally would love more Phoenix mech variants as the bonuses are great for CW and for Cbills. But please avoid breaking the law.

Q: How are the Phoenix Battlemechs cosmetically and functionally different from the Mechs already in-game?
A: The Phoenix Variants of each Project Phoenix Battlemech comes packed with the following cosmetic and functional perks:
Unique and Exclusive Custom Designed Exterior
30% C-Bill boost
10% Loyalty Point Boost
Important! These Phoenix Variants will NEVER again be available to purchase or to unlock once the sale offer has ended.

[Sereglach]

White Bear 84, on 17 May 2015 - 06:04 PM, said:

I try to look at it objectively.. ..what is more likely. I would aim to get at least one solo then dish out as much damage, inc component destruction to get kmd.. ..but yes you are right, solo kills are very heavily weighed. It is interesting since you would think 'solo kills' run counter to the team play mentality the game needs (but ill leave that there....).

Irrespective of where either of us end up, getting in the top 20, even top 10 is good work in itself! I myself am not so much of a dedicated light pilot, but I have always been a huge supporter of our lil lolcusts so highly competitive in game when I run them

I hope I place somewhere respectably, but just hearing that people are getting credit for group matches really just flat out pisses me off. I hope it's fixed, otherwise the whole tournament feels like a sham, given the rules and that some of us have been doing it honestly.

Although, as a side note, already lost 5th place by 2 points after spending all day and only getting my score to go up by 5. Therefore, you'll be trying to bump someone else off. I don't know if I'll take it back.

Honestly, I'm starting to get so frustrated with this obnoxious and pointless scoring system (again, it should be top 10 match scores) that I don't even know if I'll try at all tomorrow. I'll probably drop a few, but if its anything like the matches I've been getting all day today, then I'm not bothering. It's too much of a headache to be worth it. Play dozens of matches hoping that there'll be one in there that's an improvement over what you already have . . . it just gets pointless after a while.

Edited by Sereglach, 17 May 2015 - 07:12 PM.

[White Bear 84]

Sereglach, on 17 May 2015 - 07:10 PM, said:

Honestly, I'm starting to get so frustrated with this obnoxious and pointless scoring system (again, it should be top 10 match scores) that I don't even know if I'll try at all tomorrow. I'll probably drop a few, but if its anything like the matches I've been getting all day today, then I'm not bothering. It's too much of a headache to be worth it. Play dozens of matches hoping that there'll be one in there that's an improvement over what you already have . . . it just gets pointless after a while.

Know the feels... ...it literally took me around 200 games and the whole weekend to get to #3 for the Hunchback leaderboard & that is even with relatively consistent 500dmg avg 4/6 rounds.

I'm curious though, how is the match score calculated? For that matter actually, if it is a determinant of how well you played a match you are probably right to wonder why they do not use it as a scoring mechanism for the tournaments.. ..have PGI given any comments on this?

Edited by White Bear 84, 17 May 2015 - 07:21 PM.

[RagingOyster]

I already own all the [P] mechs anyway.

Now if they made the founders packs available again, I'd shell out for an Atlas in a heartbeat. Only reason i didn't buy one years ago was my lack of any appreciable disposable income...

Although I do think that people who buy the founders and/or phoenix packs the second time around shouldn't get the associated titles and badges, just to add some level of exclusivity to those who bought them way back when.

[Sereglach]

White Bear 84, on 17 May 2015 - 07:19 PM, said:

Know the feels... ...it literally took me around 200 games and the whole weekend to get to #3 for the Hunchback leaderboard & that is even with relatively consistent 500dmg avg 4/6 rounds.

I'm curious though, how is the match score calculated? For that matter actually, if it is a determinant of how well you played a match you are probably right to wonder why they do not use it as a scoring mechanism for the tournaments.. ..have PGI given any comments on this?

Match score seems to be calculated off of all of your accomplishments. Everything from damage to scouting to UAV Kills, to NARC/TAG Assists, to brawling all apply. Everything you get c-bills or xp for apply to your match score. I've had seemingly crappy matches in my light mechs but my match score is right up there with the assaults, because I did things like get at least half of the "scouting" rewards for the enemy team, lots of flanking and supporting awards, etc. etc.

They should use match score, as it gives mechs actually playing their ROLE and not fighting over damage and kills like monsters (seriously, some of the behavior out there is just disgusting . . .) just as much credence in the tournament scores.

PGI has given no comment on it. They're using a convoluted scoring system that was actually necessary at the time it was created. When these tournaments first started we didn't have jack for rewards variety, like we have now, and assists actually were worth more than a killing blow to encourage at least some modicum of team play . . . until they changed it for the new one. Of course, I think they also did a change much earlier on that made kills worth more than assists . . . and that's when the behavior for tournaments and challenge events like this just got despicable.

In fact, it's frigging hilarious that the personal challenge is using Match Score but the tournament is using the convoluted scoring system.

I don't have many bad things to say about PGI, but this weekend's tournament has turned into one thing for me that just pisses me off.

EDIT: Especially . . . E-FRIGGIN-SPECIALLY if what is said earlier in this thread is true and people are sitting on points for group matches to get the scores they have.

EDIT of the EDIT: I took time to read back a few pages and apparently it was fixed some time earlier in the weekend. I feel much better about that, now. Regardless, I'm done for the night and we'll see how it all pans out, tomorrow. Best of luck to all the Phoenix pilots out there! As it stands, I'll still be pretty damned proud if I'm in the top 10 (besides, I probably wouldn't use the Phracken pattern, anyway, as I have the Hot Rod pattern, and I'm a frigging pyro by nature).

Edited by Sereglach, 17 May 2015 - 08:08 PM.

[DAYLEET]

Gumon Choji, on 17 May 2015 - 06:53 PM, said:

Posted 20 November 2013 - 05:56 PM
Q: How are the Phoenix Battlemechs cosmetically and functionally different from the Mechs already in-game?
A: The Phoenix Variants of each Project Phoenix Battlemech comes packed with the following cosmetic and functional perks:
Unique and Exclusive Custom Designed Exterior
30% C-Bill boost
10% Loyalty Point Boost
Important! These Phoenix Variants will NEVER again be available to purchase or to unlock once the sale offer has ended.

Well that sucks. But they can make another package with the same mech and have a 30% cbills, just dont give them the badge and geometry.

[Imperius]

Stop using phoniex mechs!!!!

[Jaspbo1]

If it gets voted yes, take some of what the original phoenix had away from it, like the badges and stuff, keep the Geometry and the Camo because what's the point of having the package if there's nothing 'different' about it other than the camo?

[Winddancer]

Yeah... A new Phoenix/Sabre pack with a different Camo, different Badges etc. Maybe even throw in those fabled Phoenix cockpit items with the Loyalty bonus, HOWEVER, give the new phoenix pack the OLD bonus and give the improved bonus only to the guys that bought the original stuff!
And this time, keep the offered packages around indefinately.

[Ovion]

Gumon Choji, on 17 May 2015 - 06:53 PM, said:

Posted 20 November 2013 - 05:56 PM
In June we received leaked documents about a massive initiative designated as ‘Project Phoenix’ featuring an exotic range of ancient technology thought lost to the sands of time. After uncovering these unique BattleMechs, ComStar's adaptation of this technology is almost complete. With Saber Reinforcements expected to arrive December 17, the final chance to purchase Project Phoenix and Saber Reinforcements is December 3.
Each package delivers both the Phoenix BattleMechs of each unique chassis type, plus two Standard Variants. See the package details here for the full readout on the package contents that accompany each tier. Project Phoenix will never be made available again! A FAQ can be found here.
Project Phoenix and Saber Reinforcements will no longer be available for purchase after December 3, 2013 at 23:59 UTC.

PGI. You advertised the founders pack would never come back. If you bring it back expect legal issues from somewhere.Votes can not change this.

However making a new and different package is ok. I personally would love more Phoenix mech variants as the bonuses are great for CW and for Cbills. But please avoid breaking the law.

Q: How are the Phoenix Battlemechs cosmetically and functionally different from the Mechs already in-game?
A: The Phoenix Variants of each Project Phoenix Battlemech comes packed with the following cosmetic and functional perks:
Unique and Exclusive Custom Designed Exterior
30% C-Bill boost
10% Loyalty Point Boost
Important! These Phoenix Variants will NEVER again be available to purchase or to unlock once the sale offer has ended.

Legally, all they'd need do is remove the Loyalty boost and they're golden, as it's no longer the identical variant.
Call them (P2) or (Pa), or even (p) instead of (P)
Everything else can be the same.

Also, I question how much a 'faq' page is a legally binding contract.

In fact legally, they could put it up for resale like that as is, but PGI do listen to its community (which seems to polarise over everything) which is why it hasn't.

But this will tell them if a larger percentage of people don't care than those that would be pissed off.

- In fact, really, legally it would be so murky as to be near untenable, so who in the hell would sink the money into lawyers to figure out how to do it, file the case and represent them (potentially internationally, potentially requiring temporary relocation of multiple firms), over a 2 year old $20-110 pack of digital content?

Edited by Ovion, 18 May 2015 - 02:05 AM.

[Solahma]

ShinVector, on 17 May 2015 - 02:36 AM, said:

You your little tourny exploit got taken away... QQ ?

Exploit my ASS. Group queue doesn't produce fantastic game scores, hardly an exploit. Now that I was forced to play solo, I jumped to #1 for a time and now #3, only want to be in the top10 for that mech anyway so I'm done. Solo queue produces the 1k+ games with many kills because of the gameplay style of everyone only looking out for themselves. Solo queue is just frustrating as hell during tournaments like this. I'd rather have had a relaxing time playing in group queue and only mediocre scoring, like I was at already. I was DONE with my BLR ventures, then I had to spend a few hours in solo just to make up for it. I had planned on scoring for all leaderboards, but had to spend so much time redoing games, most aren't even worth it now.

All you people who think group queue is an exploit are slow in the head.

Edited by Solahma, 18 May 2015 - 07:05 AM.

[Solahma]

bad arcade kitty, on 17 May 2015 - 02:18 PM, said:

both challenges explicitly mentioned they were soloq challenges, everybody who dropped in a group and scored to the leaderboard willingly abused a bug on pgi part and have no right to whine and actually should be ashamed

Or perhaps we assumed it was an OVERSIGHT to not include group queue in the allowed matches. IT'S HAPPENED BEFORE FYI, not just last weeks founder's one. It easily could have gone either way. I would be quicker to assume they ****** up the event TEXT than the actual, functionality of the tournament in-game. They didn't say it was excluded. They could have meant "ONLY Solo and group queue, no CW and Private".

So no, i'm not ashamed. It really makes no ******* difference if they had included Group in the boards. Just pissed a lot of people off who piloted a certain mech for two days worth of gameplay for absolutely NO impact and NO clarification.

I even asked for clarification in Sean Lang's reddit post, but he conveniently didn't reply or have it changed when it would have mattered BEFORE the event began. Instead we get this mid-way BS

Edited by Solahma, 18 May 2015 - 07:12 AM.

[ShinVector]

Solahma, on 18 May 2015 - 07:02 AM, said:

All you people who think group queue is an exploit are slow in the head.

But we are the people who can read the rules.. That can't be right. QQ

[Solahma]

ShinVector, on 18 May 2015 - 07:19 AM, said:

But we are the people who can read the rules.. That can't be right. QQ

Reading written rules alone doesn't mean anything. Many people used their heads and saw that group queue games were counting, read the rules, and deduced that the rules must have been written incorrectly or there was an oversight (they like to copy+paste these things evident by the Phoenix event saying "Founders Leaderboard" at first. What do you think is easier to screw up? Text on a website by accidentally leaving out one little part of the rules, or writing those rules to specifically be solo queue only, then NOT actually implementing it? I guess you can say that the in-game implementation of the rules is complex enough and easy to mess up which apparently they did, but that's why you have QA and make sure it works correctly asap, not MIDWAY through an event. It's also very easy to miss a word, and PGI has missed a lot of words before.

Concerning group queue as an exploit, nice of you to not directly respond to my statement. Group queue is NOT an exploit. Most players produce WORSE scores in group queue compared to the high potential scores from solo queue. This is because teamwork results in faster games meaning less damage and kill potential. Especially solo kills which net the most points for your score. You may have a much better AVERAGE score from group matches, but AVERAGE matches don't win tournaments.

Edited by Solahma, 18 May 2015 - 07:32 AM.

[ShinVector]

Solahma, on 18 May 2015 - 07:30 AM, said:

Reading written rules alone doesn't mean anything.

Thanks for putting that line first. Stop reading just right there....

[Solahma]

ShinVector, on 18 May 2015 - 07:52 AM, said:

Stop reading just right there....

Reading so difficult, sorry I can't make it easier for you. I could try to reduce the content so you have an easier time, but we can't all stoop that low.

[DAYLEET]

Solahma, on 18 May 2015 - 07:02 AM, said:

Exploit my ASS. Group queue doesn't produce fantastic game scores, hardly an exploit. Now that I was forced to play solo, I jumped to #1 for a time and now #3.

You are right it was not an exploit it was a bug.

Group queue is a ton easier for certain class and not at all for others. Ive no doubt you can easily do awesome on a blr in solo but not so much on other mechs. Which is why when group queue got erased a lot of the top player disappeared and it took more than a day of adding games for solo players to catch up to the score that had been made already in group.

[Thorqemada]

Fundamentaly i feel this is a good event idea - though i feel also still somewhat exhausted from the last event and when i start up MWO and look at my fully outiftted and ready SHD-2H(P) i think "meeeh - no want play MWO" and power MWO down to play Civ V or something else.

Maybe next time...

[Moldur]

Wasn't the best way to avoid reselling the Phoenix package to just not play in your phoenix mech so the kill count wouldn't be achieved to begin with?

All these people screaming... I wonder how many of them joined in..

[Solahma]

DAYLEET, on 18 May 2015 - 09:44 AM, said:

Group queue is a ton easier for certain class and not at all for others. Ive no doubt you can easily do awesome on a blr in solo but not so much on other mechs. Which is why when group queue got erased a lot of the top player disappeared and it took more than a day of adding games for solo players to catch up to the score that had been made already in group.

fyi, i'm piloting the other mechs as well. Only have had time to get SHD on the board though. Might have had time to get the rest on if i wasn't spending all that time getting BACK on the board for BLR.

Also, your explanation makes no sense. They did WORK in group queue, ground their way to the top, then it all disappeared, then they had to grind AGAIN in solo only to get back up top. So... what you're saying is, IT DIDN"T MATTER. The good players STILL got to the top regardless. So what was the point of making them grind again? Explain that to me? I'm sure quite a few just said "F it" and didn't try again, but they easily could have if they simply played Solo to begin with. So what's really the point of your reasoning? I'm still on two boards, Odwalla still got to top of Griffin, GrnMonster still got back in top group of BLR, Lucy Lui is on the board for SHD, etc. I'm sure there were more, these are just the ones I noticed.

So again, I'll ask you, what's the point of removing the group queue grind matches? It was just as difficult if not MORE difficult to score well enough to effect your score in the Top50. Easier to get wins, for sure, but certainly NOT easier to get a good score for the tournament.

Edited by Solahma, 18 May 2015 - 10:39 AM.