Was just reading another post about mechs being the proper size. The original poster seemed to have been concerned that they may be represented in the game larger than they were supposed to be. And I was thinking to myself "Wow, I don't care if they are to big. The bigger the better. I'm here to fight in giant robots and to me, that’s cool. Big giant mechs! Give me one as big as the Empire State Building and I will be happiest mechwarrior fan in the world!" Nothing against that original poster intended at all. However, that got me thinking about MWO and the mechwarrior universe in general.
First, let me say I started playing mechwarrior around 2004 with MW4. That’s about 8 years ago which may seem like a long time but as most people know, that’s rather late in the mechwarrior universe timeline. I don’t consider myself a noob, but I’m certainly not well versed in the mechwarrior/battletech universe/lore. (As you could probably tell already by my post).
Back to my post. Basically, you get the gist, I’m here to blow things up with my guass rifle and lasers. I loved my Daishi in MW4, but I don’t care if they flatten his nose and call him “Billy” (no offense to all the Billys out there). As long as I get to hop into a giant mech and have fun with my team, I’m happy. However, after hanging around the community a bit, I get the sense there are a lot of people here that are excited about bringing the mechwarrior universe to life through this game. A lot of people have been involved in the books and board game and are really interested in a “strict” translation of that universe into MWO. I want to say that I totally respect that and understand the reasoning and excitement behind that movement. Its really great and satisfying to see long running franchise resurface in modern gaming. It’s a great formula and part of what makes the game fun.
That being said, I’m wondering exactly where the creativity should stop and the story facts should kick in. “What is this guy talking about?” you may be saying to yourself.
We’ll, for example, I’m sure the developers are doing their best to translate the weapons from the books/board game and previous games into MWO in a way that is faithful to the franchise’s history but also in a way that will make gameplay balanced and fun. What I’m asking though, is how much latitude should they have? What if the developers wanted to introduce a new weapon never seen in the battletech universe before? Lets say a nuclear grenade launcher (All legal rights aside). Would this community or you as an individual accept that? What if the developers thought that it would be cool to introduce a new mech or supermech, maybe one twice the size of an Atlas? After all, the original game was conceived as a creation of imagination. Wouldn’t it just be natural to keep the imagination going and continue to expand that universe?
I guess it boils down to a simple question:
If the developers had the legal right (which I have no clue if they do or don’t) to introduce or alter major storylines and technologies in the mechwarrior/battletech universe in MWO would you support or encourage it; or would you rather they maintained the purity of the mechwarrior/battletech universe as much as possible and only strictly modify what is needed to make a playable game?
As an individual who enjoyed MW4, but has not been involved in the mechwarrior/battletech universe beyond that I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
