4 replies to this topic

[Detriitus]

I don't have an all-figured-out concept like some thoughtful posters here (thanks for the reads, guys!), but I want to emphasise 3 major concerns for me:
1) Changing something so important will only work well if you adress the core issues first and work down towards the finer points. Without decisions and solid development concepts regarding engines and the tech imbalance everything else is build on sand. Likewise the concepts for the new skill tree system and the differentiation of classes should be known before talking about quirks.
2) Keep it simple. I don't want to optimize my positive percentage in a sea of unintuitive quirks, but rather secondguess the point of a chassis by seeing it played. I'd love to have a system were baselines are applied by class (e.g. assaults are tougher), the handling and speciality of mechs are decided on per chassis and individual mech quirks are only emphazising different play styles.
3) Don't leave your precious vision to the rumors. Tell us in detail beforehand why the PTS is set up the way it is and don't ever leave it (this subforum) unattended while you are testing. A few words might have prevented a lot of bad vibes. Take the time to ensure the PTS-accounts are saturated with money and think about incentives to get more people on the servers.
Thank you.

[Mystere]

#1. PGI chose to start with one area (i.e. sensors) while many wanted then to have started with something else (i.e. weapons). I myself have no issue, assuming(!!!) of course that they are planning to iterate a few times among the 4 diamond corners.

#2. Yeah, that long list of quirks can potentially get really unwieldy. They should either cut them down or give mechs only a few to create variety between variants.

#3. That is the biggest issue. Many are just guessing what are PGI's actual motives given the lack of detailed explanations. As a result, a lot of angst and anger are running around that might turn out to be based on very wrong assumptions.

Edited by Mystere, 13 September 2015 - 01:01 PM.

[Andi Nagasia]

Remember in the Town Hall where Russ Said,
"its not Done, Not Even Close, but we are gonna Put it in the PTS to see what the Community thinks,
PGI is giving us an Advanced Look at their New Balance System which is in Alpha,

[oldradagast]

1) Without weapon balancing up front, the rest of the data is meaningless.

Seriously, what are we supposed to tell them? "I like being able to gather data quicker, but it's too bad my sucky IS mech with inferior weapons couldn't DO anything once it had the data?"

2) Nevermind the length of the quirks, look at everything from the typos to the inconsistency between mechs of a similar chassis and tell me with a straight face this was thought out at all.

3) Much of the anger is based on PGI's track record and the simple fact that anyone who presents a trainwreck like this with no explanation or justification for the terrible decisions made deserves to be lambasted. Let us not forget that much of the white-knighting and support for this mess is also being based on assumptions that are not supported by any facts:
- PGI will totally change this before it goes live
- Oh, they'll fix Clan and IS balance later, but before it goes live
- This is just the start of an amazing info warfare system with passive/active radar, smoke grenades, etc.
- I'm sure they were just experimenting with the values and didn't actually intend to use them.

And on and on it goes. There's no facts to back up any of that. All we have - for certain - is a PTS with a horribly unbalanced game and a company with a poor track record of being able to handle even small balance tweaks and properly integrate customer feedback. We have a right to be concerned.

[Chuck Jager]

Hopefully they are trying to create a control group for new quirks.
By not giving info they do not influence data or are held accountable for stuff outside of their control

I have worked with PR before doing design. It is strange, but the no news or generic news does work better than giving real info. Like the saying goes "you can not handle the truth". It was a let down to learn this, but it works in the long run.

If this is not the case we may be in real trouble.