79 replies to this topic

[MechaBattler]

They built the game up piece by piece. And I think they felt it was built up enough to work on CW. And that took a lot of time. And since it was fairly bare bones. They've been trying to flush it out with more maps and basic features. And now they've shifted to work on the new mechlab UI. So they've always had this level of pace when it comes to feature and UI improvements.

[Mirkk Defwode]

MeiSooHaityu, on 26 May 2015 - 07:33 AM, said:

Nostalgia is great isn't it? I still feel like the Dukes of Hazard was a great show .

Nostalgia is an apt word to describe what many of us feel...as it was first coined for mercenaries fighting far from home that wistfully dreamed of going back home to those comforts again.

Part of what people are looking for is that sense they had in previous games. What I feel is missing greatly is the sense of community.

[stjobe]

Paraphrasing Russ from one of the Town Halls:

"We can't implement switchable ammo types for the Clan ACs because they guy who wrote the code left".

If their programming team is that small (I don't want to say "that incompetent", but that's the other option), there's very little hope for any features that require coding to make it into the game.

So yes, PGI is basically an art house. Pretty good, but if they can't figure out the code for the Clan ACs switchable ammo, they don't deserve to be called developers - and a game studio without developers isn't a game studio.

Edit: Before someone jumps me with the "but programming is hard!" line; I'm a professional programmer myself, that's why I prefer to say their team is small, not incompetent.

Edited by stjobe, 26 May 2015 - 08:13 AM.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Nostalgia is what keeps people here. Many of us remember our MW experiences fondly.

This game is far from perfect and has a host of problems (some which will most likely never be resolved to some people's liking). Thing is, none of the old titles or mods were perfect. They all had problems (both in core concept or mechanics). We still liked them anyway. This title is flawed too. I feel a mod like LL was a pretty good mod, but it was still flawed. Still, it was all people had for a long time so they tend to remember it fondly despite it's issues.

As for community, sure there is a lot of bickering, but this forum has people helping others with advice when it comes to builds or play styles. There were even some generous players who gave away free mechs. Despite the nerf uproars, I'd say the community here is solid. PGI just needs to get involved a bit more with the players to help them understand patches, nerfs/buffs, and upcoming content to try and help curb the negativity. I actually think they are afraid to try oddly enough.

[Almond Brown]

MeiSooHaityu, on 26 May 2015 - 07:33 AM, said:

Nostalgia is great isn't it? I still feel like the Dukes of Hazard was a great show .

But "The Beverly Hillbillies" is still top of Class.

But where would we be without the "The League of Haters"

[Gut]

A few things I took away from these interviews:

MWO has been in development since October, 2008; and has been worked on "full time" since March 2009. It was supposed to have a single-player storyline, at one point visuals became a "secondary goal" in development, and they wanted to make the mechs feel different sizes. They wanted 4 player co-op mode, information warfare, and decided that mechs would be a primary focus (in contrast to the visuals being a secondary goal), and salvage was supposed to be more than a number... and it goes on and on.

This hinged on "finding the right developer"

It makes me a little bit angry thinking about it.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

MeiSooHaityu, on 26 May 2015 - 07:33 AM, said:

Nostalgia is great isn't it? I still feel like the Dukes of Hazard was a great show .

Funny, given I found mwll better than this shitshow but Im guessing you didnt lol

[Russ Bullock]

I think these sort of threads naturally show up when the perception of new features has slowed down. There likey wasn't many thinking this way in December when CW launched, but the last 5 months although loaded with features and polish there hasn't been very many big items to sink your teeth into.

That happens because the bug fixing and polishing is super important but also because bigger items take a long time behind the scenes.

I expect people will have their fears put to rest again over the coming months as features such as Mechlab and CW phase 3 are released.

[Russ Bullock]

Gut, on 26 May 2015 - 08:19 AM, said:

A few things I took away from these interviews: MWO has been in development since October, 2008; and has been worked on "full time" since March 2009. It was supposed to have a single-player storyline, at one point visuals became a "secondary goal" in development, and they wanted to make the mechs feel different sizes. They wanted 4 player co-op mode, information warfare, and decided that mechs would be a primary focus (in contrast to the visuals being a secondary goal), and salvage was supposed to be more than a number... and it goes on and on. This hinged on "finding the right developer" It makes me a little bit angry thinking about it.

Well this is incorrect. The product PGI hoped to develop in 2009 never came to be and it wasnt until the fall of 2011 that we started initial work on MWO. It has very different goals than the feature list you mention which belongs to the 2009 product primarily (some design goals were brought to MWO of course).

[Joseph Mallan]

Russ Bullock, on 26 May 2015 - 09:10 AM, said:

I think these sort of threads naturally show up when the perception of new features has slowed down. There likey wasn't many thinking this way in December when CW launched, but the last 5 months although loaded with features and polish there hasn't been very many big items to sink your teeth into.

That happens because the bug fixing and polishing is super important but also because bigger items take a long time behind the scenes.

I expect people will have their fears put to rest again over the coming months as features such as Mechlab and CW phase 3 are released.

Not to be disrespectful, but with as much polishing as I have seen in MWO over the years... I should be able to shave looking at MW:O.

Polish isn't a word I'd use when talking about an incomplete product. Cause in my experience with Cams and Cranks. Polishing is the last thing you do before washing the finished part. MW:O is not a finished product yet. Just being honest here.

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 26 May 2015 - 08:49 AM, said:

Funny, given I found mwll better than this shitshow but Im guessing you didnt lol

I wasn't thrilled with MMLL. So YMMV.

MeiSooHaityu, on 26 May 2015 - 07:33 AM, said:

Nostalgia is great isn't it? I still feel like the Dukes of Hazard was a great show .

Yes it was!
Yes it was!

[masCh]

MWO is beautiful, everything in the battle itself is gorgeous and nothing compares to it.

However, the game itself is lacking. It is almost entirely superficial.

Many games these days are just technology demos, without any content.

Please PGI, you make great graphics and great engine.. but you may need a game director. Can you hire FASA to be your director?

Also, just the game-modes itself is crazy : conquest, deathmatch, assault.. they are very arcade like. How about Clan vs IS mode (a star vs 2 lances), Clan vs Clan, IS vs IS? And what is the non-CW game mode called really? Public queue? Public match? (that is used for queuing in a public CW match too).. how about 3 overall modes:

1) Skirmish mode (the Play Now button) - conquest & assault
- team skirmish
- solo skirmish
2) Private mode (by invitation)
3) Faction Warfare (as opposed to Community Warfare).
- team queuing
- solo queuing

Edited by masCh, 26 May 2015 - 09:37 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

masCh, on 26 May 2015 - 09:26 AM, said:

MWO is beautiful, everything in the battle itself is gorgeous and nothing compares to it.

However, the game itself is lacking. It is almost entirely superficial.

Many games these days are just technology demos, without any content.

Please PGI, you make great graphics and great engine.. but you may need a game director. Can you hire FASA to be your director?

Also, just the game-modes itself is crazy : conquest, deathmatch, assault.. they are very arcade like. How about Clan vs IS mode (a star vs 2 lances), Clan vs Clan, IS vs IS? And what is the non-CW game mode called really? Public queue? Public match? (that is used for queuing in a public CW match too).. how about 3 overall modes:

1) Skirmish mode (the Play Now button) - conquest & assault
- team skirmish
- solo skirmish
2) Private mode (by invitation)
3) Faction Warfare (as opposed to Community Warfare).
- team queuing
- solo queuing

Kingdom of Amalur Reckoning was a beautiful game. MW:O is Hazy with heavy fogginess. Cause for some reason people think I should not be able to see a 2 story building moving 800 meters away!

[masCh]

I'm pretty sure you CAN see a battlemech moving at 800m away in MWO. Even 1500m away for that matter.

[Rebas Kradd]

Russ Bullock, on 26 May 2015 - 09:10 AM, said:

I think these sort of threads naturally show up when the perception of new features has slowed down. There likey wasn't many thinking this way in December when CW launched, but the last 5 months although loaded with features and polish there hasn't been very many big items to sink your teeth into.

That happens because the bug fixing and polishing is super important but also because bigger items take a long time behind the scenes.

I expect people will have their fears put to rest again over the coming months as features such as Mechlab and CW phase 3 are released.

Russ, another part of it is longevity of the gamemodes. How people are feeling after six months of a feature is a valid test of quality, because it's testing how well a playstyle stands up to repetition. Part of the discontent is that we're only getting one seriously different gamemode per year and we play it to death long before the next arrives, and that the modes and maps don't allow for enough variety in gameplay. Really feel that this is doing more damage to your retention numbers than any other problem.

Edited by Rebas Kradd, 26 May 2015 - 10:06 AM.

[Lazor Sharp]

As I stated in other threads, I would LOVE to see a collaboration between PGI and Wiesman and Co, with wiesman using PGI's current and future assets to make a full featured Single Player Campaign vs AI, as a add on to MWO...... Then PGI using the Single player mission/map assets to flesh out CW.....

i would promptly pay $80 to $120 to kick start a PvE Single Player mission pack....

might make the first 3 missions as Free to Play with trial mechs to help the new players learn the game with out being put in the shark tank with the veterans.....
Then keep selling map/mission packs as you go along, adding depth and features to both the single player game and to MWO at the same time.......

Edited by Lazor Sharp, 26 May 2015 - 10:11 AM.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Joseph Mallan, on 26 May 2015 - 09:25 AM, said:

Not to be disrespectful, but with as much polishing as I have seen in MWO over the years... I should be able to shave looking at MW:O.

Russ Bullock, on 26 May 2015 - 09:13 AM, said:

Well this is incorrect. The product PGI hoped to develop in 2009 never came to be and it wasnt until the fall of 2011 that we started initial work on MWO. It has very different goals than the feature list you mention which belongs to the 2009 product primarily (some design goals were brought to MWO of course).

I can help with that

http://mwomercs.com/...-developer-qa-1
http://mwomercs.com/...-developer-qa-2
http://mwomercs.com/...ey-bryan-ekman/

[LordBraxton]

Quote

I think these sort of threads naturally show up when the perception of new features has slowed down. There likey wasn't many thinking this way in December when CW launched, but the last 5 months although loaded with features and polish there hasn't been very many big items to sink your teeth into.

Because december was the only month in the past 3 years where we saw respectable progress.

I enjoy MWO, and have spent far too much on it. At this point I know not to expect impovements. I'm still waiting for the quality we saw in CLOSED BETA to come back.

JK, gave up last year.

Now we are back to the honest truth, it wasn't all IGP's fault after all was it?

Why did all your programmers leave, crippling the game with massive sections of unmodifiable code?

Edited by LordBraxton, 26 May 2015 - 10:45 AM.

[Xetelian]

Some of the mechs look great but all of them are oversized for a FPS especially mediums.

As far as becoming a real gaming company I can kind of see that, it does feel like we're getting more art than meaningful content.

[Gut]

Russ Bullock, on 26 May 2015 - 09:10 AM, said:

I think these sort of threads naturally show up when the perception of new features has slowed down. There likey wasn't many thinking this way in December when CW launched, but the last 5 months although loaded with features and polish there hasn't been very many big items to sink your teeth into.

That happens because the bug fixing and polishing is super important but also because bigger items take a long time behind the scenes.

I expect people will have their fears put to rest again over the coming months as features such as Mechlab and CW phase 3 are released.

Here's what I think, then:

Put out a map of each type every month.
Make a new play mode once every month. (king of the hill, stock mech mode, w/e)
And also improve the game all while doing it.

To the consumer, it honestly feels like you guys sit there work for 3 months to implement one thing, then don't do anything for another half a year. FIX THIS PERCEPTION.

Edited by Gut, 26 May 2015 - 12:14 PM.

[Jetfire]

lordtzar, on 26 May 2015 - 01:59 AM, said:

If CW was hardcore mode, and the mechs paid for out of the unit's wallet........

Income from contracts/salvage/holding planets........

Phase 3 is coming eventually. The game is going to grow slowly but it has grown and will continue to. It is never going to get an infusion of cash that lets it become the next $100 million title, but it will survive and grow.

Edited by Jetfire, 26 May 2015 - 12:12 PM.