16 replies to this topic

[xXBagheeraXx]

There has been a lot of headaches regarding some aspects of the Skill tree concerning mechs.

Specifically. the fact that you have to buy 3 mechs to unlock all the efficiencies or whatnot....


Well, why not instead of efficiency we have actual Pilots per mech that lean the skills. When you purchase a mech the pilot has basic profeciencies. as you battle in that mech, you earn XP on it that can further the pilots skills, allowing him to eventually master the mech.

As you level the pilot up, the amount needed to unlock further and further skills could increase exponentially, like the crew XP setup in a certain Tank based game that I'm sure you know what I mean, but not sure if I can mention without the thread getting locked. We can finally do something with the hundreds of thousands of XP we get on mastered mechs going to waste.

As you play a mech, you can have the option for XP to accumulate on it, like normal for conversion and unlocking weapon and mech modules, or for all XP to go directly to the pilot, rapidly increasing his skill level. BUT this feature could be locked until you unlock a certain skill level on that mechs particular pilot to add SOME grinding aspects to the game.

This would fix many problems...you could buy your favorite variant and master it straight out the box. We could also add mechs in like the Supernova or other mechs that would be great additons, but do not have enough good models to fit the 3 mech setup we have now. Nobody would get stuck with that "one crappy model" that peopel insta-sell as soon as its mastered.

On top of all this, PGI could monetize this. (they are a business after all) You could spend MC when you purchase a mech to allow you to have +1 or +2 skills unlocked right off the bat. Since these pilots are also bound to whatever mech you train them on, they cannot move to other mechs without a penalty until they are properly retrained. That penalty could be poor piloting skills, such as slower acceleration, slower weapons fire, lower heat tolerances small things like that. To avoid this you could spend Cbills to partially train the pilot to reduce the amount of battles he needs before he master's the mech and has no piloting penalties, or spend MC to perfectly retrain him off the bat if you pull him from another chassis. YES its like "that tank game" but its honestly a good idea. ALSO Hero mechs can use any pilot from any other mech, and train him without penalty at an accelerated rate. Champion mechs could train them EVEN FASTER than hero mechs, So champions would actually have a POINT now.

Now here is where MWO could really get interesting. They could add newer, more powerful skills, such as skills that give your pilot faster PPCS, better ballistic rates of fire, reduced heat with specific weapons. your pilot could be better at reading his sensors, or be very quick on the stick for faster Yaw rates, better on the throttle for faster acceleration or Deceleration (besides the small basic ones we already have in the tree now)

Lets say for example you have a guy named Bob Kerensky. Bob is trained to use the Hellbringer Prime. You want Bob to be a long range specialist, so after a lot of training, Bob Is a crack shot with the ER large laser. He is very good on his sensors, so he can pick up mechs sooner at longer ranges than your average mechwarrior. He has been trained to fire and move, so his acceleration and Deceleration is top notch in his hellbringer. He also gets small bonuses with his advanced zoom scope. However he had to sacrafice a lot to specialize, he is not very good at in-fighting, so he has not trained very well with torso twising, He might lose to Jimbo Stiener, who sneaks up on him in his Ac20 armed Cataphract. Jimbo loves getting up close and personal, he has tweaked his engine out to get a bit more speed, and he is very good with ballistics, specifically the AC20, where he enjoys a slight rate of fire and velocity boost. His mech torso twists very fast, and his medium lasers run a tad cooler than most other mechs. He's also used to the heat, so his mech can run a bit hotter before it shuts down...

See where this could go? Some of these could completely replace a lot of the quirks, People could build thier mech up around their preferred weapons loadout and bring some diversity to the table.

Just a random idea. Doubt anyone reads the whole thing. LOL

[Narcissistic Martyr]

I just want borderlands style badass ranks that give fairly small but heavily front loaded buffs that you can add to every mech.

Granted this won't happen because PGI NEEDS you to buy those 3 variants to sell mechbays and clan mech packs.

I do however want to be decked out in traditional battlemech pilot atire, leotards+cooling vests for the ladies and short shorts+ cooling vest for the men.

I do not however want to have to remember where I stuck my non crappy pilots.

Edited by Narcissistic Martyr, 22 August 2015 - 05:00 PM.

[Otto Cannon]

Unless you find an alternative more profitable for PGI than forcing you to buy 3 mechs they won't be interested.

[xXBagheeraXx]

They need to buy barracs to house all those pilots you know...

There are many ways to monetize this to make up for the mech 3 packs...

and who says they have to stop selling them? They might have to sell them cheaper, but this opens the door fo rmany mechs to make it in the game that cannot due to lack of 3 viable models.

More mechs = more MC possibilities.

I'd buy a supernova prime in a heartbeat if it was released as a 1 off hero under this system.

Edited by xXBagheeraXx, 22 August 2015 - 05:24 PM.

[Kjudoon]

Immersion???


BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

I would love it if you had a pilot and had to hire crews to repair your mechs between drops. It was one thing i thought very slick from war thunder.

[xXBagheeraXx]

Kjudoon, on 22 August 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

Immersion???


BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

I would love it if you had a pilot and had to hire crews to repair your mechs between drops. It was one thing i thought very slick from war thunder.

That could be another great addition IF they add Repair bills back to the economy....

[Xetelian]

I'd pay money to unlock another persona switch between them and ride for the faction the pilots are tied too. I have a mix of innersphere and clan premium mechs. I wish I had two accounts so I could drop with the active during my timezone groups and switch to another and drop with a friend.

I'd also pay money to have skill trees like in Payday 2... or Guildwars 2.

PGI has left this unattended long enough.

Tweet russ, we need significant changes to pilot progression.

[Lyoto Machida]

While I'd personally love to see more immersive stuff like this in game, it doesn't cater to the e-sports/CoD type demographic they're trying to capture.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

xXBagheeraXx, on 22 August 2015 - 05:25 PM, said:

That could be another great addition IF they add Repair bills back to the economy....

wont happen. ppl figured out to game the system by not repairing... then you have the problem of not being able to play if you run out of money

then again you can buy it for real $$

SHHHH dont give them ideas!

[xXBagheeraXx]

Xetelian, on 22 August 2015 - 05:51 PM, said:

I'd pay money to unlock another persona switch between them and ride for the faction the pilots are tied too. I have a mix of innersphere and clan premium mechs. I wish I had two accounts so I could drop with the active during my timezone groups and switch to another and drop with a friend.

I'd also pay money to have skill trees like in Payday 2... or Guildwars 2.

PGI has left this unattended long enough.

Tweet russ, we need significant changes to pilot progression.

I dont mess with twitter. youare more than welcome to drop this idea off tho. If thats how you would actually get his attention.

[SolarCleric]

Kjudoon, on 22 August 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

Immersion???


BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

I would love it if you had a pilot and had to hire crews to repair your mechs between drops. It was one thing i thought very slick from war thunder.

They had other mechwarrior games in the past that did that. It was pretty cool. The pilot gained experience which in turn would unlock mech quirks. Bought mechs needed to spend credits on mech maintenance and repairs. If you didn't get enough salvage you sometimes couldn't fully repair.

What I really wish they would let us do is create our own mech paint jobs....like cars in forza and share with the community. But since pgi charges even for the paint....I doubt they would every do it.

Edited by SolarCleric, 22 August 2015 - 06:16 PM.

[Kjudoon]

Lyota, the more they focus on garnering thd favor of the CallofDoody crowd the more this game will shrink as it becomes a niche immitation of that franchise.

If we wanted to play CallofDoody we would be playing it already and not this. I want to play Mechwarrior like i envisioned it to be as a kid playing tabletop with all the out of cockpit stufd that can go with it like that first apple 2 game could never provide.

[xe N on]

The whole skill system is highly illogical. Most of these "skills" are in fact tweaks on the mech. Mechs don't get more experienced, so using XP to upgrade your mech is always giving me a headache.

The skill system need to be completely revamped. There are countless forums threads with ideas to introduce different skills for different weight classes.

However, I won't see that coming pre mid 2016 at the current speed PGI is doing improvements.

Edited by xe N on, 22 August 2015 - 11:04 PM.

[Impyrium]

Lyoto Machida, on 22 August 2015 - 05:52 PM, said:

While I'd personally love to see more immersive stuff like this in game, it doesn't cater to the e-sports/CoD type demographic they're trying to capture.

Sadly I think this is the case, I keep seeing Russ say e-sports and everything from CW to the way matches are still played suggests it.

Obviously it hasn't ever done MWO any favours, but PGI seems pretty intent on pursuing this idea of theirs that if they copy what other F2P games have done they'll suddenly have a popular game.

[El Bandito]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 22 August 2015 - 05:54 PM, said:

wont happen. ppl figured out to game the system by not repairing... then you have the problem of not being able to play if you run out of money

then again you can buy it for real $$

SHHHH dont give them ideas!

They already sell C-Bill packs with MC. They can go further.

I must admit, that buy 3 to elite 1 is a very stupid idea and I am sick of it.

Edited by El Bandito, 22 August 2015 - 11:35 PM.

[Tincan Nightmare]

SolarCleric, on 22 August 2015 - 06:15 PM, said:

They had other mechwarrior games in the past that did that. It was pretty cool. The pilot gained experience which in turn would unlock mech quirks. Bought mechs needed to spend credits on mech maintenance and repairs. If you didn't get enough salvage you sometimes couldn't fully repair.

What I really wish they would let us do is create our own mech paint jobs....like cars in forza and share with the community. But since pgi charges even for the paint....I doubt they would every do it.

I remember the one mission in MW4 Mercenaries where you take on a Clan unit, and one of the benfits to winning was gaining a Clan pilot for your roster. MechCommander had a similar system of managing what pilots you put into what mechs, trying to match the right machine and weapons to the pilot that could get the best out of it. Instead in MWO, we get a skill tree with things like pinpoint that doesn't even DO ANYTHING ! sigh .

[mailin]

To those who want to reinstate Repair and Rearm, if this happens you WILL see a lot more people who hide and shutdown when it's obvious that they've lost. I don't look forward to that at all. Also, in order to make a fundamental change like pilot skills instead of the current grind, PGI would have to work out what to do with players that have spent a lot of time and possibly money under the current system. Unless, you're simply talking about adding a new immersion aspect I don't think it will happen. And if you are talking about adding a new immersion aspect, that will make the grind longer, not shorter. Remember in Mechwarrior commander, the computer was controlling those pilots. In this game, that's us. Our skill DOES get better the more we drive a particular mech or use a certain weapon system, so the pilot skills are already built in to the system, we just don't fully realize it.

Something as simple as pressing R or torso twisting to spread damage is something that new pilots can really struggle with.

To be completely honest, the current system really isn't that bad. So you have to buy 3 mechs to get the one you want fully mastered. Big deal. There is now CW wherein pilots can get some mech bays without having to spend a dime. You have the choice: stay totally F2P and have to sell mechs to keep some bays available or spend a little bit of real cash to get the mech bays you need. Also, there are events that can earn you enough MC to buy mech bays without spending real money.

PGI has to make money somehow to keep the lights on.

Edited by mailin, 23 August 2015 - 01:59 AM.