117 replies to this topic

[El Bandito]

Sure hope the Steam release will go smoother than this.

[bad arcade kitty]

the bare minimum is a new tutorial and updating the web site, both are worse than terrible

[Alex Morgaine]

Kiiyor, on 15 June 2015 - 04:30 PM, said:

Holy crap, did you make that? Awesome.

Name it "Song of ppcs and heat sinks?"

[Kiiyor]

Kristov Kerensky, on 15 June 2015 - 05:02 PM, said:

That was always one of the perks of being a top unit and running your own server in games like Tribes and BF, you got to occasionally beat up on newbs, but only the ones who WANTED to get better and learn how to play the game. And that's actually more fun, because they may be newbs, but godsdamn if they ain't got huge balls of brass and heart to match. And they got to see how the pros did it, because the top teams always visited each other for friendly ball busting. It was fun and it was expected that newbs have to earn their chops and will spend time getting bent over until they get good. WE'D all been through it, made us better players, it's how all of us got our training and we trained everyone that wanted to learn, it just hurt a bit in the ego

Yeah, but there's a limit to this.

I remember learning quite a bit about the game from spectating players after I exploded.

The trouble is finding a balance between introducing newer players to more skilled ones, and letting them live long enough to actually learn anything, or feel like they are contributing. Lots of sub-100 matches gives you almost no chance to learn from your mistakes.

Meeting a more worthy foe should be about showing you something you can possibly aspire to, not showing you something you feel you can never match. Hard balance to get right, methinks.

Maybe the MM can fill 10 or so slots with n00bs, and 2 with higher ELO killers.

[spottiedogman]

You all know as well as I do that this game is in no way ready for Steam, as others have stated the negative reviews will be rampant due to lack luster tutorials, no lore or any reason what so ever in game as to what is going on or why!(Lore). The grind that PGI has put in place would run the most stubborn player off in no time.

NO single player aspect and really no plan or time line as to when this will take place, this could also be a combined tutorial and story line if handles right. Warframe did a nice job with this in my opinion.

All the modes turn into the same thing no matter the objective, and this gets extremely boring after awhile only thing that keeps me going is the friends I play with and even they are thinning out recently.

Agree with others that the skill tree is really dull because it is the same on all mechs even if some do not use that particular skill like they have no arms, just seems they should be a little different from chassis to chassis.

Most players of MMO's seem to want or more correct demand constant new content and we do not even have a balanced game to date.

PGI has a aversion for listening to the player base for any advise or ideas, of course I can't blame them too much due to fact that most on here crucify them no matter what they do. Not to say they show to be the best development team or just maybe they are crazy like a fox!

With how long it has taken them to get to this point there is no way they will be ready for release this year or even next.

[Kristov Kerensky]

The other games had the advantage of respawns, which makes a difference when it comes to learning, no two ways about it.

Still, generally speaking, we have too many players, not just new ones either, who don't want to face anyone better, period. It's sad but it is what it is.

[Lord de Seis]

The grind will turn people off, I think reviews will be mixed. MWO has it's issues but the combat is quite enjoyable, in the end it can only help MWO by making it more accessible to people.

[Bleary]

The grind's as bad or worse in most FTP microtransaction Steam titles. I don't see that being a huge problem. I think learning curve concerns are exaggerated as well - new players are always part of a team; even if they're on the losing end each match only takes ten minutes or so; and the controls, besides getting used to torso twist, are pretty simplistic.

The first big hurdle I see is the interface. It's an absurdly cluttered maze of nested menus. Even after playing for years I still lapse and forget where functions are hidden sometimes. They need to split the damn thing up. The main screen should just be an overlay with four buttons for Garage (Inventory/Store), Mechlab, Dropship (Mode Selector/Game Launcher), and Settings. 'Mech browsing in every mode should be a slideshow of the actual models sortable by weight class and tech type. Icons. Graphics. This is a game. Not an Excel document. Steam players may be used to FTP extortion, but they're also accustomed to conventional game interfaces. MWO does not have one.

The second is lack of game modes. A lot of players -myself included- are totally fine with arena shooters. An expansive single-player campaign and elaborate factional warfare system have always been unrealistic goals for this game, but " an arena shooter with more than one match type" really shouldn't be. $5 multiplayer shovelware titles offer more play options than that. I have no idea why PGI finds it so difficult to program interactive objects and zones, but they need to find some way to put more in their maps than scoring squares and destructible turrets. The combat in MWO is quite fun, but new players have literally nothing to play except round after round after round of 12v12 Team Deathmatch. It would have been wiser to put their efforts into Solaris before CW.

Edited by Bleary, 16 June 2015 - 01:31 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

El Bandito, on 15 June 2015 - 05:15 PM, said:

Sure hope the Steam release will go smoother than this.

What do you mean? The truck got emptied!

[HellJumper]

It will be bad...very bad..

a huge number of players will just come to steam to post their negative reviews in order to scare away the new player base... it will have a lot of mixed reviews with both positive and negative ones almost close to each other.

on the other side. the game will have the upgraded maps by that time, mech packs released and some more balancing is all i would say.

[Elizander]

For whatever critical features the game may lack, they can go the humble route on Steam and not over-hype themselves on the store page and claim that future features are in the pipeline and direct them to the monthly(ish) dev update posts.

Might be better than going "This is going to be the most awesome thing you will experience in your life!!11!11oneone"

It all depends on what they can string together by Steam launch. You should still have some hype, but too much just backfires. People who appreciate honesty might have a higher Life Time Value as opposed to those who just want to ride the hypetrain. Of course a proper hypetrain leads to viral popularity but that's almost always a crapshoot to aim for unless you have a good casual-friendly product and a massive user acquisition budget.

Edited by Elizander, 16 June 2015 - 01:31 AM.

[El Bandito]

Joseph Mallan, on 16 June 2015 - 01:25 AM, said:

What do you mean? The truck got emptied!

Ah Jo, the eternal optimist...

[Moldur]

I predict that a lot of people will call out PGI on their absurd pricing because they have more experience (read: experience) with the micro-transaction models of other companies and aren't 30-50 years old with good income.

See, we're a captive audience. A majority of the people playing MWO are simply in love with the franchise, and it doesn't matter how much of a blood-sucking vampire PGI is, they'll still be playing it because it's Mechwarrior. I foresee many newcomers from the steam release will see MWO and PGI for what they are. No bias. That's good as long as Piranha Games doesn't just fold or ignore everyone. It'll encourage them to get their act together because nothing is keeping this new audience playing apart from how good the game is and how well it is managed.

[Bobzilla]

Regardless of what they add or fix, steam will bring a huge influx of players. Most of them won't stick around very long, but a very small amount will stay.

Some of the reasons i like this game is what will drive people away. It's no respawns and the fact you need some patience to play.

That and a lot of people don't like PvP only.

[Tombstoner]

My predictions

1- Will suck in a new crop of players for looting. PGI's last best piggy bank
2- That cash will be diverted into something other then MWO.....again
3- Tweeks to CW/pug matches That gives a damage resistance buff to the loosing team. only no one is told.
4- PGI will announce a new game - Aerotech online
5- New founders single player campaign hat passed around.
6- PGI will announce armor - tanks/ hover craft to be added.

[Mr Hunter]

Every moron with a computer will see "MECHS! SHINY! FREE!" Then in about 2 weeks most of them will ragequit when they discover this thing called a "Learning Curve" and realize that there not playing cod or planetside.

Edited by B8hunter, 16 June 2015 - 03:59 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

El Bandito, on 16 June 2015 - 02:13 AM, said:

Ah Jo, the eternal optimist...

Optimism has nothing to do with it. I'm lazy and that was genius!

[SmoothCriminal]

Optimist: new content, new game types, expanding player base.

Cynic: initial increase in revenue looks better on balance sheet => sell and asset strip before the initial surge subsides.

[Johnny Z]

Moldur, on 16 June 2015 - 03:08 AM, said:

I predict that a lot of people will call out PGI on their absurd pricing because they have more experience (read: experience) with the micro-transaction models of other companies and aren't 30-50 years old with good income.

See, we're a captive audience. A majority of the people playing MWO are simply in love with the franchise, and it doesn't matter how much of a blood-sucking vampire PGI is, they'll still be playing it because it's Mechwarrior. I foresee many newcomers from the steam release will see MWO and PGI for what they are. No bias. That's good as long as Piranha Games doesn't just fold or ignore everyone. It'll encourage them to get their act together because nothing is keeping this new audience playing apart from how good the game is and how well it is managed.

Have you seen whats on Steam or have you seen E3 this year? The most exciting thing Sony( I like Sony alot by the way) could come up with is a remake of FF VII. Now true thats possibly the best game ever made and the remake will be legendary but still that wont be out for a long time and it was probly added to save some of E3 as a whole. Bethesda has Fallout 4 and a load of garbage( I truly pity the people that had to work on some of those games by the way). EA I didnt even bother to watch and the rest of E3 a few exceptions aside is a train wreck lol.

Anyway, my point is this is one of a very few online games that shows any promise what so ever. All the competition did was blow TONS of money they made with some excellent games and some not so good games they tricked players into buying, on third rate, rehashed, no vision, no imagination or down right negative drivel and they are trying to pawn this abusive garbage off as good!!!!

The whole indie scene that is bleeding players dry for half finished or never finished games is living off this void of quality games. Mass Effect 4 isnt coming out for a long time and that could be awsome though.

To get on with my point, Mechwarrior Online stands to cash in on this complete gaming disaster if they can break past of any troll forces. Stormy seas for game makers these days it seems.

Also Mechwarrior players are far from a captive audience and if so it is only because its one of the green spots in the vast static wasteland that is modern gaming.

Edited by Johnny Z, 16 June 2015 - 06:34 AM.

[Rebas Kradd]

Moldur, on 16 June 2015 - 03:08 AM, said:

I predict that a lot of people will call out PGI on their absurd pricing ...

Absurd pricing? You mean the part where everything's completely free?