102 replies to this topic

[Candrill]

It seems that there is less and less interest, at least on the IS side, for CW. I have noticed that the Clan specific units have grown while many IS have shrunk or even, for the most part, left CW for strictly PUG drops. I anticipate that there will even be less interest with NBT kicking off. I know that many units are turning their attention to this and other Player based leagues and CW will just be an afterthought if anything.

So, what do you think, is CW dead? Is it dying? Or is this the calm before the Pheonix rises from the ashes?

[PappySmurf]

CanDrill I personally think CW is not dead yet and can be fixed so everyone in MWO can have fun playing it a few things would help to repopulate CW.

#1 Make a new MSN Game Lobby Clone with Global chat place it on the front of the MWO UI so everyone can log online to MWO go right into the Lobby system to Recruit players chat and set up CW games in private rooms as well as play private 1v1-12v12 matches in leagues for FREE no MC required for anyone.

#2 Make C-bill rewards higher in CW games by 50%.

#3 Make mode game modes for CW and private league matches.MechWarrior2-4 had 15+ game modes to choose from.

#4 Make All Maps playable in CW and on a good map rotation!!!! Plus make all maps playable for private matches.

#5 Make MWO mechs tougher = (armor/hitboxes) or (get rid of the Alpha fire mechanisms) in CW focus fire kills mechs in 60 seconds players don't want to wait 5+ minutes to just be blown away so quickly skilled or unskilled players.

These are just a few fixes I would make to revive MWO and CW but I have said this since closed beta and the Devs wont listen or don't comprehend MechWarrior in general. MechWarrior was never a E-sport/Moba and it will not survive long like its previous PC incarnations MechWarrior2-MechWarrior4and expansions

P.S NBT-MWL-BTU were the 3 biggest private planetary leagues of the older PC MechWarrior games they were fun and diverse and very economy/tactical driven CW needs to evolve or it will just be a FAIL game mode adventure.

I know I have played 20+ years of this IP and have played in over 50+ Leagues Solaris and Planetary.

Edited by PappySmurf, 04 September 2015 - 07:52 AM.

[RjBass3]

CW isn't dead, but it is also not booming. It is still in Beta obviously. Russ tweeted that if every thing goes right, Beta 3 will be released before the end of the year. What Beta 3 will bring we don't know yet, but I can assure you, PGI is listening. When Beta 3 is released, and if it brings new features (things we have been asking for) then we may see a population growth. We will just have to wait and see.

[sycocys]

It's not dead so much as it is just not interesting for the vast majority of the players in the game.

[ApolloKaras]

Candrill, on 04 September 2015 - 07:32 AM, said:

It seems that there is less and less interest, at least on the IS side, for CW. I have noticed that the Clan specific units have grown while many IS have shrunk or even, for the most part, left CW for strictly PUG drops. I anticipate that there will even be less interest with NBT kicking off. I know that many units are turning their attention to this and other Player based leagues and CW will just be an afterthought if anything.

So, what do you think, is CW dead? Is it dying? Or is this the calm before the Pheonix rises from the ashes?

nah not dead.




But like others said its not booming either. Normally you can find a game with a little wait.

[Revis Volek]

There are people who play CW and people who dont, unfortunately the latter is a much larger group but i still play the mode for the rewards (kinda silly not to as i can get a mechbay in 2-3 games) and because it is in fact different from the 12v12 deathmatch the normal queue has to offer.

Seeing over 150 people in CW at any given time in one faction is near impossible right now though....and that makes me a sad panda.

Edited by DarthRevis, 04 September 2015 - 10:29 AM.

[CainenEX]

RjBass3, on 04 September 2015 - 08:36 AM, said:

CW isn't dead, but it is also not booming. It is still in Beta obviously. Russ tweeted that if every thing goes right, Beta 3 will be released before the end of the year. What Beta 3 will bring we don't know yet, but I can assure you, PGI is listening. When Beta 3 is released, and if it brings new features (things we have been asking for) then we may see a population growth. We will just have to wait and see.

Looking forward to good things! I feel that PGI might shake up once in awhile but they listen to their community and certainly get onboard with things

[Nightmare1]

I know that I returned to CW last night for the first time in many, many months. In two hours, my 8-man completed two drops and I earned 900,000 C-bills (rounded down). Both drops were ROFLStomps in our favor against Clanners. That being said, I have these observations:

1) As fun as CW is to play with the different gameplay and objectives, it's just too time consuming. Two matches in two hours? Really? I usually only play for an hour to two at any one point in time anyways. I know it's better to have a 12-Man, but only eight of our pilots felt like CW last night. Now PGI is talking about limiting group size to 4 as well. That will make match search times take even longer for CW if it is applied there too.

2) On top of that, the earnings per hour were very low. 900,000 C-bills divided by 2 comes out to 450,000 per hour. I've earned 400,000+ in the normal queue on a single match, and I know that I can earn 450,000 in two or three "average" or "bad" matches in that queue. If you think about it, even 200,000 is a pretty common earnings number in the normal queue. Divide 900,000 by that, and you get 4 and 1/2 matches of public queue games. That's still less than an hour's worth of gameplay.

For these two reasons, I think CW is dying. The queue times are population dependent, so those can't be helped as easily as rewards. Rewards, however, can be helped substantially. PGI's new Comstar Intercepts offering additional C-bills or MC are a nice touch and should continue. I think the Rewards System is fine as it is and does not need changing. However, I think the base payout for a win as well as for a loss should be higher. If the payout is much more substantial to the point where playing CW becomes economical, then more pilots will play it. This in turn will help lower queue times.

The most I've ever made in a single CW drop was 900,000 C-bills, the same amount that I made after two drops last night. The least I've ever made is 400,000 C-bills. The variance depends largely on your personal performance and your team. Based on what I've seen in the forum and what I've heard from friends, the average CW payout is closer to that 400,000 C-bill low rather than that 900,000 C-bill high. Like I pointed out previously, you can earn 900,000 C-bills in an hour pretty easily in the public queue while completing more games in the process. If CW is to live, then the base rewards for a victory and for a defeat need to be increased to make CW payouts on a per hour basis competitive with normal queue payouts on a per hour basis.

All other things being equal, that's the only thing I can think of that may save CW. Of course, if PGI ever gets around to releasing real content (Faction Lives, Planetary Ownership Bonuses, Player generated contracts, etc.), then perhaps there will be additional reasons to play. Until then, I'm going back to the normal queues where I can complete more matches for higher earnings.

Edited by Nightmare1, 05 September 2015 - 06:23 AM.

[Nightshade24]

PappySmurf, on 04 September 2015 - 07:48 AM, said:

CanDrill I personally think CW is not dead yet and can be fixed so everyone in MWO can have fun playing it a few things would help to repopulate CW.

#1 Make a new MSN Game Lobby Clone with Global chat place it on the front of the MWO UI so everyone can log online to MWO go right into the Lobby system to Recruit players chat and set up CW games in private rooms as well as play private 1v1-12v12 matches in leagues for FREE no MC required for anyone.

#2 Make C-bill rewards higher in CW games by 50%.

#3 Make mode game modes for CW and private league matches.MechWarrior2-4 had 15+ game modes to choose from.

#4 Make All Maps playable in CW and on a good map rotation!!!! Plus make all maps playable for private matches.

#5 Make MWO mechs tougher = (armor/hitboxes) or (get rid of the Alpha fire mechanisms) in CW focus fire kills mechs in 60 seconds players don't want to wait 5+ minutes to just be blown away so quickly skilled or unskilled players.

These are just a few fixes I would make to revive MWO and CW but I have said this since closed beta and the Devs wont listen or don't comprehend MechWarrior in general. MechWarrior was never a E-sport/Moba and it will not survive long like its previous PC incarnations MechWarrior2-MechWarrior4and expansions

P.S NBT-MWL-BTU were the 3 biggest private planetary leagues of the older PC MechWarrior games they were fun and diverse and very economy/tactical driven CW needs to evolve or it will just be a FAIL game mode adventure.

I know I have played 20+ years of this IP and have played in over 50+ Leagues Solaris and Planetary.

great ideas but problems.

#2: CW already makes around 2 to 4 times more c-bills then 2 normal matches / 3 normal matches as well as the faction rewards getting even more stuff and goodies. If they increase rewards right now I won't play it- the game already had good rewards and was one of the reasons I thought on the first few months that no one will ever play normal matches again due to that and how fun it was back then. I wouldn't mind contracts however interacting with each other better.

#3: as long as private matches can not win a planet and leave the people on public to not able to get it.

#4: isn't this the situation atm? And personally I do not think all maps should be on the same planet... some planets out there are literally covered 100% in snow, rock, and ice... it's weird having gas fields and valleys there...

#5: MW: O mechs are already double the strength of TT mechs. Increasing armour more will throw ballance out the window a bit more- imagine a world where firing duel AC 20 at a locust will not even core that things CT? Meanwhile the locust needs days and hours to fire it's machine guns and medium laser at your jagermech to barely hurt you. Ammo already slightly scaled to compensate but not fully. ( Ithink it was by 50% or 25%) Dissabling alpha strike is also a bad idea as not only is there loop holes for it (ie mixed durration of weapons, travel time, bay doors for missiles creating fake alpha strikes, etc) but also some mechs depend on it- for eg the 2 medium laser spider.

I think the best way to fix this problem will make CW capped at 4 man groups being the max a premade could do (8 if they use there unit coffers to pay for an additional dropship but it has to be 8 specifically) this would allow pugs and smaller units to be able to much more freely play and avoiding the spam that 12 man units can do- for eg 72 large lasers firing at you in under 5 seconds from 12 stalker 4N's. that or a more logical 31 lasers for 2 targets or 15/ 16 large lasers for each 4 targets... etc.


Before you say otherwise I think your ideas are great and it's better then the ideas of "ban pugs from CW" Or "just remove CW hurr durr" but it isn't exactly picture perfect.

[Vlad Ward]

CW rewards are stupidly high for good players and stupidly low for average or bad players. Welcome to the world with no skill based matching and 4 Mech respawns.

Paul already mentioned that Russ had them looking in to boosting average CW rewards, though.

Capping groups is awful and makes even less sense for CW than it did for group queue.

Quadrupling armor or whatever is silly, and no amount of ghost heat is going to make Mechs die any slower when anyone with half a brain, a single good eye, and a mouse that's younger than the Russian Federation can hit a Mech in the CT with any non-missile weapon.

Is CW dead? Nah. But Marik is.

[VoodooLou Kerensky]

CW looks pretty but has no substance.. Its CoD:MechaMayOhhem. There are no supply lines or logistics to worry about, plabets arent worth anything or vary as to change things up. Areas in the middle of the maps that are no man lands and kill you might as well just be covered cement block walls (because if they were drywall you'd just bust thru it instead of being stupid and going thru a door). Where is the 'Thinking Persons MechWarrior Game'?

[Candrill]

I have to agree, maybe not dying, but not doing as well as it should be. There are a lot of good ideas here, Increasing rewards and decreasing wait times sound like a good start. Make it worthwhile while keeping the time down would help to attract a lot more competitive players which would help make the matches a hell of a lot more interesting. Not too keen on the unit cap idea. I think it would drive away more than it would attract.

On a side note, it is nice to see some constructive conversation about CW.

[Kjudoon]

Cw is on life support and very possibly wont come out of its coma.
What i expected the execution or at least direction of CW when it came out: Master Of Orion style galactic campaigns from a first person vantage point.
What i got:  no holds barred Thunderpdome mech on mech brawltardery with a fancy epeen board on bad claustrophobic mechs and zero balancing.
You can see why i was disappointed.  I wanted the mercs suppliment. Not solaris 12man tag team respawn.

Edited by Kjudoon, 06 September 2015 - 08:02 PM.

[Commander A9]

I think it's more of a lack of participation on the part of the units who used to be all over it.

I can name only a handful of units which regularly play nowadays.

Maybe people are still burned out from Tukayyid; maybe it's lack of new content, or frustration over the same playstyles on the maps...

I know I'm kinda bored with it, I admit...

[Black Ivan]

CW is defntily on life support / dying and PGI knows, where else are all this mini events with bribes to play certain small factions comming from?

The bad blood between units and solo's does not help either to make it any better.

From the start CW should have catered to Solos and units, not favouring one over the other and defintily give higher rewards.

[LordNothing]

id say its stagnant, maybe a little sparse, but its not dead, there are a few peak hours especially during the na phase where games are played.

[Kjudoon]

If i could make 4 suggestions to settle some of cws woes without going down the road that REALLY needs to be taken in the form of total gameplay redesign of cw into a logistical strategy overlay game... And quadrupling the size of all maps eliminating chokepoints and other funneled design... It would be this.

1. Slow the game down and allow a campaign atmosphere to become normal. Set planetary capture to be 2 or 3 day events. Not thrice daily. This would prevent burnout.

2. Boxing match scoring. You can search it out better on the site as i did a few posts on it. Essentially victory is attained like scoring a boxing match each hour of the day so no single hour outweighs the importance of another. The faction with the most victories over the course of the campaign as determined by winning 'rounds' would win campaigns and the planet after the 2 or 3 day period of battle was done.

3. unit psr based contracts. The higher a units success different missions are opened up for them to select at higher ratez of pay. The catch is you would face units of similar skill as you. I know this isnt hard cord mode like promised. The problem is very few people enjoy thaT mode. So it is better to reward high tier players for being good and fighting tough opponents. It would be very much like the vroup queue is now. The other option would be to incentivize newer players with biv skill disadvantages with massive buffs to their xp lp and cbills while nerfing the earnings of a good group for getting an easy match with no challenge.

Also narrow the buckets down to only have 2 fronts for each faction. Call them "guard" queue that defends the border and the "expeditionary" queue that sends your unit abroad to fight on someone elses behalf. Or you could make an IS queue versus clan queue respectively so you fight those factions. This is mostly due to the extremely small population. It would be removed once the logistics game is built and the population was big enough to support this playstyle.

[Kjudoon]

http://mwomercs.com/...-round-scoring/

This is what i am talking about with boxing round scoring.

[Gattsus]

ATM it seems to be comatose....

[SuomiWarder]

CW is dead as far as my unit is concerned. Someday we might get interested in it again - after a lot of changes. 4x4 scout drops sound fun though. If we ever see them actually happen.