232 replies to this topic

[Sereglach]

Didn't get a chance to watch/listen to it, yet, but reading the notes on it I'm not overly impressed. It's still extremely vague with little in the way of tangible information . . . besides . . . of course . . . another mech. I realize it's how they make their money . . . but I'd love to hear more specific information to come along with said mech-pack-advertising. Maybe there's some more specifics in the actual presentation . . . but there seemed extremely little to take notes on for a two hour town hall.

I will say it was nice to hear some actual dates for things, even if just theoretical for the time being. It's at least more of a Roadmap then, "it's being worked on" or "it's something we want to do", etc.. I will certainly give Russ credit where it's due, there. Hopefully the actual Roadmap post is more detailed and worthwhile, since he "couldn't get motivated" to do it today. I'd think a Roadmap Hallmarking the grandiose achievement of CW/FW Phase 3 release would be a big deal that he'd be enthused about. His lack of enthusiasm and motivation is not exactly inspiring.

Oh, and also positive points for being sober . . . that was good to hear. I look forward to listening to it because of that.

Also, while the team is "growing" I (and I think most of us) would love to know by how much. Just saying the team is growing could mean just 1-4 new people (well, we know it's at least 2 due to 2 new map designers . . . aka map artists/builders), which doesn't mean much for productivity improvements. However, if we're told "Hey, the team went from like ~50 to ~60 over the past few months," then we know that there should be a serious uptick in how well things are going to get done in the future. Sadly, I think the lack of numbers means it's probably just the artists that they've been hiring left and right . . . otherwise we might have cause to get excited about engineering work getting done at a better pace. I'm likewise surprised, on a related note, that there was nothing mentioned about the possible engine migration, that's been a hot discussion topic for the last few town halls.

Sadly, though, it seems there's very little about game balance being touched anytime soon. A few tiny weapon changes to LBX and PPC's (apparently so small he can't even remember the details) isn't going to cut it for what we need. Also, there was no word about Info Warfare overhaul, MG's, Jump Jets, or addressing the abysmal destruction of the Flamer (to squash the Flamergeddon of their broken system when they did some numbers tuning). There was only a vague touch on the skill system, that it's going to become "a priority" . . . but that was one of the things utterly lacking a timetable guestimate.

There was also absolutely nothing noted about these purported heat scale changes that were supposed to be coming in the very near future?! That was thoroughly disappointing and disturbing. I was really hoping to hear some solid information on that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now . . . bit of a bone to pick on the future of mech packages . . .

With the shift to single mech pre-order packs they better adjust costs accordingly. I realize $20 for a heavy/assault is a steal, but the lights are going to be an utter joke if it's $20 for the basic mech and $15 for the hero addon. After all, the Pirate's Bane is a little over $7 and the Ember is only about $14 . . . and that's just the Hero . . . the base -and stock- variants are dirt cheap for MC (averaging $6 each). Either light mech packages better be cheaper, or PGI better be throwing in a LOT with those purchases.

Thusly, without addons, 3 IS stock Lights + Hero would only average $32 (6+6+6+14) but cost $35 to pre-order. Now, granted . . . one could say all the extra goodies (premium time, cockpit items, camos, etc.) would more than make up the remaining gap to get your $35 value. However, think of this. That same $35 pre-order is going to get someone else 3 stock Assaults + Hero which would be valued at about $85 for an IS Assault chassis or upwards of $140 for a Clan Assault chassis.

Therefore, while someone pre-ordering a heavy/assault under these future plans is getting one hell-of-a steal, someone pre-ordering a light/medium is either getting seriously gipped on the deal or barely getting a reasonable pre-order discount. That said, I really hope PGI is going to consider some level of scaled pricing between chassis sizes.

I know it's supposed to be a pre-order that encourages people to support PGI (something I honestly haven't been willing to do for quite a while now), but anyone who wants to pre-order the lighter chassis is going to be getting seriously screwed in this endeavor when compared to the people who want to pre-order the bigger units.

Edited by Sereglach, 01 April 2016 - 09:56 PM.

[McHoshi]

SilentScreamer, on 01 April 2016 - 09:34 PM, said:

http://mwomercs.com/...ary-cliffnotes/

Thx

[Ghos7bearD]

SilentScreamer, on 01 April 2016 - 09:34 PM, said:

http://mwomercs.com/...ary-cliffnotes/

Thanks.

[Rogue Jedi]

I managed to find the twitch archive for the town hall,
https://www.twitch.t...ngtv/v/58076404
the meeting starts at about 15:30

[Kinski Orlawisch]

Not happy about the new informations. I expected more.

Hmmmmm Battelfleet Gothic Armada looks more and more better ....Hmmm I think about taking a break till the CW problems are solved. PGI has time till the 28.04.

[avenger cannon]

Odanan, on 01 April 2016 - 07:45 PM, said:

Next Clan OmniMech: Viper:

I'm pleased!!

Is that the 40 tonner or 75 tonner ?

[Dawnstealer]

Kay Wolf, on 01 April 2016 - 03:46 PM, said:

You do realize, of course, that a proper MechWarrior uniform is topless, or a tank top, with bicycle shorts and MechWarrior boots, right? Very little clothing at all. A proper uniform for a forum icon I could deal with, though it would require a means of allowing unit commanders to develop uniforms for units that don't already have their own, which would also require an ability to have decals uploaded and vetted, by the community, for use.

For the record, you aren't the only one that's been playing this game for a long, long time:

[Rogue Jedi]

avenger cannon, on 02 April 2016 - 04:30 AM, said:

Is that the 40 tonner or 75 tonner ?

40 ton

[Odanan]

avenger cannon, on 02 April 2016 - 04:30 AM, said:

Is that the 40 tonner or 75 tonner ?

40 tonner omnimech.

[Dawnstealer]

You know what's right in that neighborhood?

[shopsmart]

Got the cliff notes, watched about 1 hours worth of the archived vid. Thought this one was a total fail (besides CW3 which I don't care about). Russ being not drunk sucked. I like his confident CEO slightly drunk too bad attitude. That is what players need to hear.

LBX changes, good. PPC changes good to an extent but failing the PPC itself. Minimum not removed or at least modified to clan LRM workings. Why do ACs not have minimum?

FAIL on the mech. So much FUN potential on announcement lost. Could have done urbie IIC but i was hoping for a pirahna. Though the news of another mech in next few days might balance out the FAIL. Viper isn't a fail, the use of using the perfect timing of the meeting was... Oh yeah, an annihilator would have been another FUN. So we got at least 3 fun mechs for 3 years that could have been used. All of which all 3 I would probably drop coin for, but not many other mechs left for me at this point. I caved on the kodiak, part of me shouldn't have, but won't cancel the order.

[Cy Mitchell]

To be fair, Russ admitted right up front that CW Phase 3 has been the focus of the entire team and there was not going to be much news outside of that. He also indicated that there was no sense in doing a bunch of balancing when you have two major additions on the horizon that will impact balance. CW3 and the Mech rescaling are scheduled for April and June. Both will impact balance so there is no point in making wholesale balance adjustments only to have to do them again after those additions.

The medium Clan Mech was needed as the count for Clan Mediums was lagging behind the Heavies and Assaults. In fact, the Lights are also lagging behind so the announcement of the Viper, a Medium that plays like a Light, is fitting. The bonus was the announcement that there will be an additional IS Mech announced later this month.

It was confirmed that there is a timeline in the game and there are still more Mechs from this timeline that they want to release before jumping forward in the timeline. That clears up a lot of ambiguity and the resulting mis-information that has been promoted by some members of the community.

Because CW3 has dominated their attention the heat management system is in a holding pattern but is still a priority once CW3 is released and running as intended.

Russ came close to begging everyone to try the new CW3. He emphasized that they tried to build what the community was asking for. There is now a separation of groups and solo yet everyone's participation will impact the map and there will rewards for all who partake. He promised that issues that may arise will be given priority attention to make the mode a success. It is obvious that he believes the future of MWO hinges on the success of CW.

Everyone stayed sober and the conversation stayed mostly on track. Overall the presentation seemed fairly relaxed but much more professional. My takeaway from it is that Russ is wound pretty tight over the release of CW3.

[shopsmart]

If he was practically begging for people to try out CW3, means that they are beta testing. No probs there. They will need rewards to help attract players to it. If game hinges on CW, that isn't good. I can not play 30 minute rounds with 10-20 minute waits. IRL is to important and PUGlandia is where I have to abide my time.

[Threat Doc]

Dawnstealer, on 02 April 2016 - 04:50 AM, said:

For the record, you aren't the only one that's been playing this game for a long, long time:

I know, and I wasn't trying to imply otherwise. However, a LOT of folks, especially veterans, forget that the ONLY MechWarrior Combat Suit is displayed in TRO 3026. The rest of these are only the cooling vest, boots, and shorts. I DO know that, if PGI wants to have these in-'Mech setups, as the community does, they can't display the neuro-helmet, and they have to keep things decent for any youngers that might be playing. So, as much as I want to see something like the Eridani Light Horse setup, above, I seriously doubt we will.

[Sereglach]

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

To be fair, Russ admitted right up front that CW Phase 3 has been the focus of the entire team and there was not going to be much news outside of that. He also indicated that there was no sense in doing a bunch of balancing when you have two major additions on the horizon that will impact balance. CW3 and the Mech rescaling are scheduled for April and June. Both will impact balance so there is no point in making wholesale balance adjustments only to have to do them again after those additions.

Fully aware of this. However, that shouldn't have stopped Russ from going over more specifics on exactly what CW Phase 3 entails for all the different styles of gameplay. Hell, even just a rundown of the nitty-gritties on 4v4 requirements would be more information than we've had. He keeps saying "watch the Steam Launch video" but that really doesn't share a lot . . . ESPECIALLY for lone-wolf players.

As far as the balance stuff goes, that's somewhat understandable . . . however there are a lot of broken balance issues with equipment and weapons that don't need the rescale to address. Why haven't they implemented the utterly perfect overhaul to ECM that was on the "rebalance" playtests? How about Command Console overhaul . . . even just plans/concepts? Maybe consider the Jump Jet issues that Russ is constantly saying on Twitter that they're going to be looking at (comes up every couple weeks/months pretty regularly)? Let alone the fact that you don't need to rescale mechs to reengineer/balance Flamers, MG's, LBX, PPCs, SRM Ammo, etc.

If it's exclusively a manpower thing, then I think the community would be far more understanding if he would flat out say that is the issue, and then give at least an approximated timeline of when they'll be looking into balancing more. For example: "Hey, CW Phase 3 is hitting in April, and we haven't been able to really touch weapon/equipment balance because of all the hard work that's gone into it. However, start looking for some serious balancing to hit from May to August as we tackle X, Y, Z."

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

The medium Clan Mech was needed as the count for Clan Mediums was lagging behind the Heavies and Assaults. In fact, the Lights are also lagging behind so the announcement of the Viper, a Medium that plays like a Light, is fitting. The bonus was the announcement that there will be an additional IS Mech announced later this month.

It was confirmed that there is a timeline in the game and there are still more Mechs from this timeline that they want to release before jumping forward in the timeline. That clears up a lot of ambiguity and the resulting mis-information that has been promoted by some members of the community.

Admittedly, even though I have no interest in investing more cash into PGI until Flamers are truly fixed (not broken and then broken worse with terrible band-aids to avert the first broken issue . . . and then leave the weapon Broken because Russ's twitter stopped exploding in rage), I am curious as to what the next IS mech turns out to be. Of course there are also boatloads of mechs for PGI to still choose from, and since they're going to single-mech packages they've got enough fuel for the mech-wallet to last a good long time before remotely considering any timeline adjustments. The mech-pack move, while not surprising, did cause me to outline some concerns, as stated in my last post. Hopefully there'll be some word on at least that in the near future.

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

Because CW3 has dominated their attention the heat management system is in a holding pattern but is still a priority once CW3 is released and running as intended.

Funny you say that, because just last town hall he was saying it was coming with a theoretical June timeline. However, there was zero mention of it in this town hall . . . not even any more ambiguous remarks or just a "it's still on track . . . details will be announced closer to release/testing."

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

Russ came close to begging everyone to try the new CW3. He emphasized that they tried to build what the community was asking for. There is now a separation of groups and solo yet everyone's participation will impact the map and there will rewards for all who partake. He promised that issues that may arise will be given priority attention to make the mode a success. It is obvious that he believes the future of MWO hinges on the success of CW.

Very much holding back judgment on this, because recently "the community" consists of his Twitter account and NGNG . . . and nothing else. Even just a little note that he's actually reading his own forums once in a while instead of just hitting "post" once a month for a "Roadmap" would go a long way. Plenty of other games, even with a very small staff (Gazillion is a great example with Marvel Heroes . . . and their staff size is quite comparable to PGI) are very active within their own communities and forums. What happened to the community engagement that immediately followed PGI's separation from IGP? . . . It's all but died off, sadly.

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

Everyone stayed sober and the conversation stayed mostly on track. Overall the presentation seemed fairly relaxed but much more professional. My takeaway from it is that Russ is wound pretty tight over the release of CW3.

I can only hope that all such Town Halls are conducted that way in the future. Russ might be wound pretty tight, but you'd think he'd have been more elated and motivated to inform the community all about what CW Phase 3 is going to entail, since it's such a big deal for MWO.

Kay Wolf, on 02 April 2016 - 07:59 AM, said:

I know, and I wasn't trying to imply otherwise. However, a LOT of folks, especially veterans, forget that the ONLY MechWarrior Combat Suit is displayed in TRO 3026. The rest of these are only the cooling vest, boots, and shorts. I DO know that, if PGI wants to have these in-'Mech setups, as the community does, they can't display the neuro-helmet, and they have to keep things decent for any youngers that might be playing. So, as much as I want to see something like the Eridani Light Horse setup, above, I seriously doubt we will.

As an aside, it is worth noting that ComStar, just about anyone that stumbled upon a Star League Cache, and a lot of the Nobles, Aristocracy, Royalty, and affiliated "Royal" units of the houses would also still have access to full fledged cooling suits and the superior gear of the old Star League Mechwarriors. Also, of course, the Clans still have all those goodies, as well . . . and have even improved upon them with things like smaller neurohelmets that allow for more freedom of movement.

Even by 3052, where we're at now (give or take a few years) in theoretical timeline, the Houses were starting to propagate this LosTech for Mechwarriors. All provided by ComStar, from advancements courtesy of the Helm Memory Core and associated discoveries/rediscoveries. After all, NAIS was another huge contributor to these advancements . . . and they had set up shop by 3016.

I'm not saying it changes things. I wouldn't mind having a nitty-gritty and more "4th Succession Wars authentic" pilot model for general use, but it is somewhat viable that the players at this point could have access to a full fledged cooling suit . . . especially for the clanners. Don't be surprised if they eventually add in non-stock pilot models you can purchase for MC in the future.

[Cy Mitchell]

Sereglach, on 02 April 2016 - 05:00 PM, said:

If it's exclusively a manpower thing, then I think the community would be far more understanding if he would flat out say that is the issue, and then give at least an approximated timeline of when they'll be looking into balancing more. For example: "Hey, CW Phase 3 is hitting in April, and we haven't been able to really touch weapon/equipment balance because of all the hard work that's gone into it. However, start looking for some serious balancing to hit from May to August as we tackle X, Y, Z."



Funny you say that, because just last town hall he was saying it was coming with a theoretical June timeline. However, there was zero mention of it in this town hall . . . not even any more ambiguous remarks or just a "it's still on track . . . details will be announced closer to release/testing."



I can only hope that all such Town Halls are conducted that way in the future. Russ might be wound pretty tight, but you'd think he'd have been more elated and motivated to inform the community all about what CW Phase 3 is going to entail, since it's such a big deal for MWO.

Russ admitted it is a manpower thing and all their energy has been directed at getting CW3 out. That will happen on either April 19th or a week later on the 26th depending on bug squashing and polish.



He actually did very briefly address the heat management issue and said that work had been done on it but it would have to wait until after CW3 release and patching before it could be finished. That was one of the things that I was really hoping to hear more about but it looks like it will be June or July before it will be ready.



I can forgive him for not giving up too many details about CW3 at this point. It is only a couple weeks away and even though there has been very little information released on it there are many on this forum already condemning it to failure. Why give them more information that they can dissect it and proclaim it will not work and is terrible because of this or that? All that unfounded negative speculation will do nothing but keep people from even trying it. I think he did the right thing by just talking about it in general. Everyone can just wait and see the actual finished product and make their own conclusions when they actually experience it.

Edited by Rampage, 02 April 2016 - 06:42 PM.

[Sereglach]

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:40 PM, said:

Russ admitted it is a manpower thing and all their energy has been directed at getting CW3 out. That will happen on either April 19th or a week later on the 26th depending on bug squashing and polish.

He actually did very briefly address the heat management issue and said that work had been done on it but it would have to wait until after CW3 release and patching before it could be finished. That was one of the things that I was really hoping to hear more about but it looks like it will be June or July before it will be ready.

Insightful. Thank you for that information. Again, I look forward to actually listening to this one when the YouTube video hits (I'm guessing Monday or Tuesday). It seems there may be a bit more info out there then what people took notes on. However, again, it seems to be mostly extremely vague without much new or solid information, and that is quite disappointing.

Rampage, on 02 April 2016 - 06:40 PM, said:

I can forgive him for not giving up too many details about CW3 at this point. It is only a couple weeks away and even though there has been very little information released on it there are many on this forum already condemning it to failure. Why give them more information that they can dissect it and proclaim it will not work and is terrible because of this or that? All that unfounded negative speculation will do nothing but keep people from even trying it. I think he did the right thing by just talking about it in general. Everyone can just wait and see the actual finished product and make their own conclusions when they actually experience it.

Difference of opinion, here. I think if he'd have given some more solid details about what will be coming it'd accomplish a couple of positive things:

1. It'd show the sheer level of work that went into it if it truly is as grandiose as he's making it out to be.

2. It'd give the majority of the population, the lone wolves, more to feel good about then the 5 second slide of "Lone Wolf Play" . . . that literally just said "Lone Wolf Call to Arms" in the Steam Launch Video.

3. Actual details and solid information, from the source, would be capable of actually dismissing speculation and remove some reasons for worry/negativity.

4. More details would encourage more people to be willing to give the game mode a try.

5. Discussion of some of the features and their technical hurdles would actually enlighten the community on, "Hey, this isn't as easy as it looks," if something isn't as amazing as we currently may expect it to be.

6. More information and timetables would alleviate more concerns about the "finished product". After all, while we're supposedly still in "CW Beta Phases", the "Beta Tag" only works so long for games like MWO because they're always supposed to be developing, evolving, and expanding. Yet there's a PTS that hardly ever sees any use. The concerns of many is that -regardless of how good or bad it is- what we get on patch day is going to be what we get, and they'll call it "good" . . . as has happened with so many other things. I think one of the biggest reasons that CW Phase 3 is being condemned to failure (by some), before anyone gets to touch it, is the fact that we haven't even gotten to touch it; and yet -as you've even said- they plan on releasing a "finished product."

Overall, the ambiguity and obfuscation . . . then just dropping "finished products" on people's heads is something that has constantly come back to bite them, over and over. It's a trend they really need to work on breaking. It's proven that breaking that trend works well for them . . . after all, while some things were held off from the Rebalance PTS Phases, there were lots of positive changes and iterations made based exclusively on player feedback. Also, if they hadn't bothered with the player feedback, then there would have been some extremely unpopular features that would have been sent to live without testing, and they wouldn't have decided to refine Info Warfare before releasing it (still waiting on more info for that).

[PFC Carsten]

What I cannot understand wrt to the cooling vest thing: For what kind of people who are old enough to grasp the controls and stuff of MWO (my guess: ~12yo+) is it really a thing to see virtual thighs? I mean you get more nudity on a public beach (bellies and such) than this? And the internets is full of [worse things] anyway - so why is it a problem to see „your own“ thighs? It's not like a detailed crotch shot up close or anything.

[Dawnstealer]

Kay Wolf, on 02 April 2016 - 07:59 AM, said:

I know, and I wasn't trying to imply otherwise. However, a LOT of folks, especially veterans, forget that the ONLY MechWarrior Combat Suit is displayed in TRO 3026. The rest of these are only the cooling vest, boots, and shorts. I DO know that, if PGI wants to have these in-'Mech setups, as the community does, they can't display the neuro-helmet, and they have to keep things decent for any youngers that might be playing. So, as much as I want to see something like the Eridani Light Horse setup, above, I seriously doubt we will.

Well, they weren't all pantsless:

[ulrin]

OMFG, are you all saying that they will change again the pilot for putting a tina benoit virtual copy in cooling vest ?!!!
OMFG !!
OMFG !!