259 replies to this topic

[Valdarion Silarius]

Will we see our beloved Rifleman IIC, Warhammer, and Maurader in any future events? Possible redesigns where many of us are willing to pay decent money for a future unseen pack? (I'm crossing my fingers here while holding my breathe)

(Pics are taken from another thread, but would love to see similar designs)

Edited by Arnold The Governator, 10 September 2015 - 10:01 AM.

[Alwrathandabout42ninjas]

Question from Alwrath :

The community would like to see a reasonable buff to srm's. Were thinking an increase in damage for inner sphere srm's to 2.3 damage. Clan increase to 2.15, and maybe speeding up the velocity just a hair to make them more competitive to other weapon systems. As of right now, not many people take srm's anymore.

[Big Tin Man]

Ok, I can't help myself:

2 year anniversary is around the corner. Anything planned?

And what time is this thing? 5pm or 6pm Pacific? Post #1 is confusing as all hell.

[Sir Helbrecht]

new weapons ?
new mechs?
close combat?
Thank you , that's all.

Edited by Helbreht, 10 September 2015 - 10:35 AM.

[Pjwned]

Are clan XL engines going to be addressed in this rebalance? The penalty for losing 20% of the engine is practically nothing, and as far as I understand PGI staff also think that the penalty is too low but they haven't done anything about it yet.

If it's not going to be addressed with the rebalance, despite that being the best time to do it, then is it going to be addressed later or just ignored forever?

I asked Russ about this on Twitter just recently, but this seems like a better place to ask now

[CainenEX]

I'm going to echo several questions by our well poised community. Thank you IQ fish and Kanajashi for bringing these questions forward.

• With the mech re-balance is there any plans to revisit heat scale concerning ghost heat?

• With the showing of basic mech AI within the Mech Academy public test, are there any plans for inclusion of a more advanced version as AI opponents to do battle against? and if so are there any concrete plans or time-frames for it?

• Is the re-balance also going to look at specific under performing weapons such as flamers and AC2s?

• Is there any plans to look into the 10 heat sink minimum on lighter mechs that have a max engine rating lower than 250?
  
• - What are the details of the upcoming balance change? What are the goals you are hoping to achieve?
  
  - Are you looking into possibilities of changing weapon stats too to make systems like the AC/2 or the Flamers more viable?
  
  - What is planned exactly for CW Phase 3?
  
  - What are your plans to breathe new life into CW? Any new game modes or features for CW?
  
  - Which features / improvements need to be done before you can release the game to Steam?
  
  - What is the plan for higher resolution textures
  
  - Will we ever be abled to change the controller settings for the free cam tool?
  
  - How is the new gamemode progressing?
  
  - What is the status of the decal system?

Also thank you very much PGI for the incredible work you have done. Please keep it up. MWO is a great game

[HumpingBunny]

Will the timeline be moved forward to allow for the injection of 'Mechs like the Bushwacker, Sunder, Hauptmann, Thanatos, Argus, and Novacat (just to name a few)? Just throwing it out there, many of the new 'Mechs are just one laser puking machine after another. At least the Bushwacker and Argus would bring a variety of hardpoints to the battlefield, not to mention ROTARY A/C's in the case of the Argus.

Additionally, moving the timeline forward will allow for IS light fusion engines, the remainder of IS streak launchers, the reminder of IS LBX and Ultra A/C's, heavy PPC's, IS OmniMechs, snub nose PPC's and MUCH MUCH more!

Edited by HumpingBunny, 10 September 2015 - 11:05 AM.

[Lazor Sharp]

Russ,

I have been carrying the unit team play game banner in the State Of Match Making - Feedback/comments
Thread, so i will Ask here;

Instead of limiting groups to 4 mans, why not incentivize these small groups of 2 to 3 mans to join units and play as a Team in a Team based Game....!
There are too many 2-4 man newbie / Casual Friends for the match maker to handle, and we get mostly stompie bad matches with so many combinations of 2 to 10 groups.....

So, make it a no brainer for these sub set of players to have All the reasons possible to join units and learn the ropes from the vets...... And then the match maker has more large groups to chose from to make the matches easier to put together, with far less of the 2-4 mans newbies getting stomped, and the 2 to 4 mans that are left, are the vets that don't have many of their crew on, or the over flow from a 12 man being full up.

With the new Steam release coming up, The new player experience is THE Most Important thing in retaining these players....!!!!! After they go through the Tutorial, if they are allowed to just go Full On Solo / Rambo / just play with their 2-3 Friends only, than this will perpetuate the SOLO / Rambo / Gotta Play Ultra Causal PUGLandia ONLY or BUST mind set we currently have. And all the Bad Experiences that every one is having now, that go along with it!!!!!.....

If EVERY Incentive is given to ALL New players, to Join a Unit FIRST Thing!!!!! Than maybe this game can become the Team Based game it should be, with most players playing in 12 mans most of the time, vs the other way around, like the PUGLandia we have now....! A problem that a 4 man Limit is NOT going to fix...!!! (Did not the first time, will not now!). Only when you have a vastly larger selection of 8 to 12 mans, will Modes like Group Q, or CW even work very well.......

And to help with the gotta play with 2-3 man Friends / Casual Hell ONLY subset of players, PvE / mission / Co Op, is sorely needed asap!!!!!! PvE is a mode I would pay for a kick starter pack for mission / campaigns / maps in a heart beat, and play it quite regular..... Then just keep selling Mission / Campaigns / Map packs, 4 times a year or so, kinda like you do now with mech packs...... Then later, maybe a Aerotech space based add in pack to MWO.......

As a MW Fan Boy, I hope that Hair Brained, Catalyst Game Labs, and PGI, have enough Foresight, Imagination, and the BT/MW License leeway, to be able to collaborate fully, on developing all these different Game Styles and Modes that are possible with this franchise, and turn it into the Best version ever, beyond most of our wildest DREAMS............ and I have some wild dreams for this game......

Edited by Lazor Sharp, 10 September 2015 - 12:54 PM.

[Imperius]

Will the single player/coop campaign be available to play in offline mode? This is important.

[xeromynd]

Question about Mech + Pilot Skill unlocking:

It currently requires THREE clicks to unlock ONE mech skill

This can be pretty annoying when unlocking skills, especially if you want to sit down and unlock ALL mech skills at once.That means 36 clicks just to elite a mech, when it could be as little as 12.

To greatly reduce the number of clicks needed to spend XP on skills, would you consider a 'cart'-like option where you add all desired Mech Skills to the 'cart' and then click one button to unlock them all at once?

Would reduce clicking, and make it all MUCH easier to elite a mech, especially for those of us who have lots of GXP in the bank, and want to elite three new mechs from a mastery pack we just purchased. (That's 108 clicks to Master 3 mechs, oy!)

Edited by xeromynd, 10 September 2015 - 10:53 AM.

[Robot Kenshiro]

Imperius, on 10 September 2015 - 10:45 AM, said:

Will the single player/coop campaign be available to play in offline mode? This is important.

I greatly second this times infinity

[HumpingBunny]

Imperius, on 10 September 2015 - 10:45 AM, said:

Will the single player/coop campaign be available to play in offline mode? This is important.

Yes! This is very important.

[H22a1Prelude]

First Russ, Thanks for all the hard work you guys put into this game. Despite all the flak you guys get, I, and tons of others are still years into this game with no plans of quitting. You guys have to be doing something right. However, some thoughts I've had on balance/playability.

1) Has PGI ever discussed adding in weapon manufacturers and different versions of each weapon providing quirks versus chassis themselves being quirked? For Example. Introduce Magna and Tronel Large Pulse Lasers. Say the Magna gives a cooldown buff while the Tronel gives a heat gen buff. Possibly a way to work more lore into the game as certain weapons are mentioned to be vastly superior to their competitors (Lords Light ER PPC, Holly SRM Racks, etc). I would imagine you could tweak beam coloring/pulse pattern etc to give some definition between weapons too which would be neat. I think that allowing users to tweak mechs to their liking would expand meta a bit as well... This could also relate to CW in that if you control a planet that manufactures certain weaponry, it allows your faction to purchase it while the facility is owned.

2) Boardgame style heat scale. Part of the benefit of ballistics in tabletop is the heat. Penalizing (maybe not the right word) the current laser vomit meta by making the mechs sluggish at higher heat levels adds a new dynamic to the game. Not only riding the redline, but having to manage heat level based on situation.

And also, I'd like to hear more on the quirk redesign and roles of mechs, as well as any possible information on the Unseen mechs... I need a Phoenix Hawk and Warhammer... you don't understand... lol

Edited by H22a1Prelude, 10 September 2015 - 11:04 AM.

[SubGenius23]

I would like to get more info on following subjects:
1. QUADMECHS in MWO
2. more information on end game screen: like chat history scroll and damage status/stats for your mech
3. loyalty points bonus on CW events
4. intractable cockit items
5. option to avoid some maps or pick few to drop on (within min-max limits)
6. have an option to change the mech within same weght/chassis (if that would not break the matchmaking hardpoint/tier calculations) in pug drops
I thank You for all the new stuff and I wish You a successful Steam release

[Luscious Dan]

Luscious Dan, on 09 September 2015 - 05:15 PM, said:

I too shall reserve this space for questions.

*sits around looking pensive as all heck*

OK I've thought about things a bit. First off, good work on the new maps and whatnot. The most recent patch seems to be providing noticeably smoother performance and control responsiveness, especially with thermal mode on the new River City and Forest Colony. Games the last few evenings were silky smooth, and frame rates seem to be maxed out more often. Love it.

Map Updates

Are all maps going to get major updates, or will some of them be minor/cosmetic, like adding destructible lamps, cars, trees etc. to Crimson Strait as an example? I think most maps are big enough now, and we don't need all existing maps to be super-sized. Being able to clear cut the lower area of Viridian Bog a little bit would be awesome, and there's still a few too many roots/rock steps that stop you dead in your tracks IMO.

Balance Updates

I'm always eager for any and all information on the large scale re-balancing effort. From previous comments, it sounds like the outlook is often "What would it take to make this mech top tier" but I would also appreciate "How can we encourage a variety of strong builds, including ones that keep the trademark stock equipment".

Thunderbolts are an interesting example, as they have a mix of generic energy quirks and some weapon-specific bonuses for certain energy weapons. This is pretty cool, though a ballistic quirk or two might be nice for the Tbolts that allow ballistics on the left arm

Also, a plea for Shadow Cat and Executioner quirks please. Exe with no quirks at all is lame, and the pods that don't spam energy hard points need some love. Small and medium laser vomit is just boring. Shadow Cat does have ok-ish tweaks, but everything still builds outwards from the ECM torso. I'd love anything with -UAC jam chance quirks, since UAC5 and UAC10 builds are my favorite for the Shadow Cat Prime.

Game Modes

As a guy who almost always uses the PUG queue, I have no real big issue with Skirmish or Conquest. A shorter match time limit would be my #1 suggestion, with faster resource collection rates for Conquest. I'd love to know how many matches are won on points, but I'm guessing not many.

Assault is still a bit of a gong show. I keep the box checked in my match maker for shorter wait times, but most of the time it's just another Skirmish match. Sometimes a whole team plays to scenario, and you get an EXTREMELY short game with little or no combat and the map ends. Very rarely is it a meaningful mixture of base capture and combat. I'd be OK removing Assault from the rotation until a more interesting alternative is ready.

Perhaps an objective that gives you a massive bonus for the remainder of the match, rather than ending the game automatically when achieved? Like capture the enemy's mobile command center and enemy mechs show up on your team's radar for the rest of the match. Or hijack a transmitter, and you unlock AI-controlled air strikes against the enemy for the remainder of the match. Something like that?

Questions added to my previous post. Emphasis included for clarity

Cheers.

[Nightmare1]

Terrific, another Town Hall! Thanks for taking the time to field our questions!

I have a few.

1) When can we expect to have collisions and knock-downs back? Death from Above and Highlander Burial?

2) When will the Gift Store feature everything that is also available in the game store?

3) When can we expect to timeskip and/or see new weapon systems?

4) Any word on the Devastator?

5) Timeline for Steam release?

6) Timeline for in-game reporting system?

7) Timeline for role warfare?

8) What does CW Phase 3 hold for us? Will we see CW become economically competitive with the normal queues on a C-bills/hour scale? When can we expect Unit Coffers to have functionality? When will planets have actual value? Unit/Loyalist/Clan Life? Etc.

9) Will we be able to have a Persistent Leaderboard with individual rankings (Opt-in only)?

10) How will the BattleValue System help to balance Mechs in the upcoming rebalance patch?

11) Will we be able to have passive sensors soon?

12) Will the rebalance involve removing/reducing Ghost Heat on ballistics and missiles to help balance them against lasers?

13) When can we expect more agile jump jets for more lore-like BT action?

14) When can we expect to have more modules (Mech, Weapon, and Consumable) to released?

15) When can we expect PGI to fully unlock Clan OmniMechs? With the release of IIC Mechs, Clan Omnis will have less customization making them inferior Mechs. That's rather silly since they're supposed to be Omnis. It's also hard to spend money on Omnis since we as players are only getting to really own half the Mech; PGI owns the other half and keeps it locked up tight so that we can't really play Legos with it. That's half the fun of MWO right there.

16) Will we ever see sized hardpoints?

17) Can we expect to have more awesome intro videos and voiceovers like what we saw in the tutorial? (Good job on the tutorial, btw)

18) Unit Decals? Will we ever see those?

19) Player contracts? Will there ever be more definition to them and can we ever expect to see player-generated ones? If I recall, the original intention had been such that one pilot could offer a bounty on another pilot, or a Unit on another Unit, etc.

20) Will the Roadmap ever get updated?

Thanks and I look forward to the Townhall!

[Dawnstealer]

CainenEX, on 10 September 2015 - 10:38 AM, said:

• 
  
  - What is the status of the decal system?

Oh yeah - what DID happen with decals? Because I want to slather my mechs in fists.

Edit: what about ejecting?

You know what would be immersive and cool? Ejecting out of your mech (or being ejected when it blows up) and then running around as a person with a (obviously useless) pistol. And if the enemy spots you and squishes you or blows you up, you can't talk or communicate anymore. So no more "ghost reports" or "ghost advice" or "ghost leaders"

Edited by Dawnstealer, 10 September 2015 - 11:52 AM.

[Luscious Dan]

Other people's questions I want to second:

Decals. Adding stripes, unit icons, and letters/numbers would be great. Ideally you wouldn't have to pay as much as for camo, but I'd love to see unit logos *cough* Wolf's Dragoons *cough* visible on the mechs.

Skill Trees. We all know the second tier skills need some work. Mostly Pinpoint, but overall the system could use some attention and added complexity. I love the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer skill trees as an example. Different skill path for each weight class would be nice too. To make the choices not be permanent, I'd suggest an XP cost to reset your skill tree, to allow different choices to be made. This shouldn't be free, but you shouldn't be locked into a skill selection forever either.

Ghost Heat. I'd love a total re-work of ghost heat, as I've suggested previously. Medium/small laser vomit is still a bit too good, and I'd love to see other variables affected rather than just heat. Firing too many lasers adding a beam duration penalty, for example. Firing too many missiles/autocannons adding recoil/reticle shake for the attacker. Also having heat scale affect your top speed and accuracy (similar to tabletop) once you hit critical levels would be welcome.

Edited by Luscious Dan, 10 September 2015 - 11:51 AM.

[Haakon Magnusson]

Awesome INTRO / PROMOTIONAL video for the game.... we need it before steam.
Maybe have community to pitch in and produce one?

[xeromynd]

H22a1Prelude, on 10 September 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

First Russ, Thanks for all the hard work you guys put into this game. Despite all the flak you guys get, I, and tons of others are still years into this game with no plans of quitting. You guys have to be doing something right. However, some thoughts I've had on balance/playability.

1) Has PGI ever discussed adding in weapon manufacturers and different versions of each weapon providing quirks versus chassis themselves being quirked? For Example. Introduce Magna and Tronel Large Pulse Lasers. Say the Magna gives a cooldown buff while the Tronel gives a heat gen buff. Possibly a way to work more lore into the game as certain weapons are mentioned to be vastly superior to their competitors (Lords Light ER PPC, Holly SRM Racks, etc). I would imagine you could tweak beam coloring/pulse pattern etc to give some definition between weapons too which would be neat. I think that allowing users to tweak mechs to their liking would expand meta a bit as well... This could also relate to CW in that if you control a planet that manufactures certain weaponry, it allows your faction to purchase it while the facility is owned.

YES PLEASE. I've wanted this forever. But that would be a LOT of balancing work for them to do.
They'd have to make sure that each model of, say, Medium Laser has the appropriate pros and cons, so they are all equally viable. This would have to factor in: price, range, cooldown time and laser duration.

Tonnage, crit slots, and heat generation, imo, should remain static between all 'models' of Medium Lasers though.