14 replies to this topic

[Felicitatem Parco]

I think the K.I.S.S. prinicple is not law by any means, but is *sometimes* true.

The Ultimate Answer to balance that encourages e-sports, monetary investment, and player-immersiveness is this:

Give a new option to Private Matches when all members have Premium Time. Give them access to "weapons.XML" alongside the usual Map and Game Mode choices.

Tournament hosts and clan/guild coordinators can set their own balance rules for every match. The PUG rules would be set by default weapon values (games accessed via the Quick Play button) and also Community Warfare matches, but Private Stuff can be balanced by hand, even to the point of this week's poster child of fun, the 1000% QuickDraw. To be Honest, that typo in the PTS is what let me to create this thread. It reminded me of other games where I would alter the weapon table values to make the game feel "mine."

That's it, right there. It made the game feel "mine."

Edited by Prosperity Park, 18 November 2015 - 04:54 PM.

[Mcgral18]

That should be given to 2 people with Premium Time in a Private match, in my opinion...

Edited by Mcgral18, 17 November 2015 - 11:08 PM.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Mcgral18, on 17 November 2015 - 11:08 PM, said:

That should be given to 2 people with Premium Time in a Private match, in my opinion...

Yeah, maybe if "all" players are premium. That would work.

It would let us have a bona fide SandBox Mode that's more than just a Mechlab, it's a full-on TechLab.

The biggest problem I see with this is that it would pull people off the public servers, but the requirement for Premium Time might offset that enough.

[LordMelvin]

First off, I think we should keep e-sports as far away from MWO as possible. Tournaments and events are fine, but we don't have the playerbase or level of balance to even be thinking about that sort of thing. Every game doesn't need to be League of Legends.

Second, I think it would be easier to have a "Turbo Mode" option with percentage sliders. Giving full access to the weapons.xml would be a bit excessive seeing how many stats there are for even a medium laser. Just put a check box that enables a series of sliders for Heat Scale, Rate of Fire, Range, Damage and maybe another one for ammo consumption. Much easier to manipulate on the fly without needing two hours of setup and easier on people who aren't familiar with reading XML files.

In order to get the most out of such an option I think custom games would need to be free for everyone. The premium time restriction kinda kills it as an option for people who can't/don't want to buy PT, and necessitating that both teams have it only makes that worse (why would my dad buy premium time when he only plays once a week or so?). I can't imagine PGI makes a ton of money off people buying PT for private matches.

[Malagant]

It has always vexed me that private matches are reserved for those with premium time...if you open a feature to one group, it should be open to all...

[Mcgral18]

LordMelvin, on 18 November 2015 - 10:18 AM, said:

Second, I think it would be easier to have a "Turbo Mode" option with percentage sliders. Giving full access to the weapons.xml would be a bit excessive seeing how many stats there are for even a medium laser. Just put a check box that enables a series of sliders for Heat Scale, Rate of Fire, Range, Damage and maybe another one for ammo consumption. Much easier to manipulate on the fly without needing two hours of setup and easier on people who aren't familiar with reading XML files.

<Loc iconTag="StoreIcons\MediumLaser.dds" descTag="@ML_desc" nameTag="@ML"/>
<WeaponStats maxDepth="10.0" volleydelay="0.0" speed="0" lifetime="0" duration="0.9" tons="1" maxRange="540" longRange="270" minRange="0" ammoPerShot="0" ammoType="" cooldown="3.0" heat="4.0" impulse="0.0" minheatpenaltylevel="7" heatpenalty="1.0" heatdamage="0" damage="5" numFiring="1" projectileclass="" type="Energy" slots="1" Health="10" visRange="1500"/>

This is what I'd want to edit, not sliders...

Malagant, on 18 November 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:

It has always vexed me that private matches are reserved for those with premium time...if you open a feature to one group, it should be open to all...

Server load, it makes sense. If you remove a 24 player game to put a 2 player game in, it costs more for less gain.

[Mechteric]

I just don't see the point. This is a centralized based game, not one that has dedicated servers hosted by individuals.

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 18 November 2015 - 10:56 AM.

[Mister Blastman]

Twenty four folks with premium time is a bit much. We should be able to host these private games without any at all and just give us an "altered" game mode where we can test and tweak the .xml all we want.

[Almond Brown]

Prosperity Park, on 18 November 2015 - 08:44 AM, said:

Yeah, maybe if "all" players are premium. That would work.

It would let us have a bona fide SandBox Mode that's more than just a Mechlab, it's a full-on TechLab.

The biggest problem I see with this is that it would pull people off the public servers, but the requirement for Premium Time might offset that enough.

A fine idea but a wrinkle soon arises. If ALL 24 players have Purchased PT, they ALL would expect to be able to "make it their own". How is that resolved? If only the Leader (first) gets that bonus, how do we entice 23 "others who want their own" to join the "I will make it mine" Matches that get created?

A true K.I.S.S. based system would be to allow selection of "No Heat" and or "Unlimited Ammo" type stuff. Others could be added like "All XL's are same" "Optimal Range Only" etc. etc.

Edited by Almond Brown, 18 November 2015 - 11:47 AM.

[Sandpit]

CapperDeluxe, on 18 November 2015 - 10:55 AM, said:

I just don't see the point. This is a centralized based game, not one that has dedicated servers hosted by individuals.

Private matches are just that though. They may not be dedicated servers hosted by the players, but they are a dedicated server that the player is paying to rent.

[Mystere]

Mister Blastman, on 18 November 2015 - 10:58 AM, said:

Twenty four folks with premium time is a bit much. We should be able to host these private games without any at all and just give us an "altered" game mode where we can test and tweak the .xml all we want.

The problem is cost vs. revenue. What would happen if 10,000 FTP players suddenly do only such free private matches?

Edited by Mystere, 18 November 2015 - 12:15 PM.

[Sandpit]

Mystere, on 18 November 2015 - 12:13 PM, said:

The problem is cost vs. revenue. What would happen if 10,000 FTP players suddenly do only such free private matches?

I don't think they should be free but I think they should have a different system. Maybe a sliding scale of cost based on size and offer server rental fees alongside the premium time. A player might want to host custom games but not want or need premium time packages. Giving them a standalone option adds a new revenue stream and, if done correctly, sets up new microtransaction opportunities as well.

[Jazzbandit1313]

Changes I would make:

All Lasers: 1.5x heat multiplier
All LRM's: .6x ammo multiplier
All SRM's: 1.75x damage multiplier

Aaaaand brawl.

Completely serious changes I would make for completely serious *fun* matches

Atlas: 300% AC/20 cooldown
Streak SRM2: 1000% Cooldown (Thank you based PTS god)
Max Gauss Rifles Fired at once? 6
TAG's do 20 damage under 10 meters
PPC heat generation 2.5x multiplier
LRMS have .5 velocity
ECM doesn't actually do anything besides make "Never Gunna Give You Up" on the enemy mech's HUD and has a range of 300 meters
Small Laser beam duration x.1

Aaaaand chaos.

Edited by Jazzbandit1313, 18 November 2015 - 01:12 PM.

[Mister Blastman]

Mystere, on 18 November 2015 - 12:13 PM, said:

The problem is cost vs. revenue. What would happen if 10,000 FTP players suddenly do only such free private matches?

I paid my sixty bucks. I bought the game as far as I'm concerned. That's why they should get rid of f2p and move to user hosted servers. It will cut costs and allow them to focus on making content instead of selling mech packs.

[Felicitatem Parco]

I just edited my Opening Post. I removed the "24" and just said All Players in a match. That's fair.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 18 November 2015 - 04:56 PM.