222 replies to this topic

[InnerSphereNews]

Greetings MechWarriors,

UPDATE 04/26/2016

Two additional items have been added to this hot fix:

• DropDecks: Fixed an issue where clicking a 'Mech portrait would revert your Ready status when Grouped
• Leaderboards: Fixed an issue where the Leaderboards would not function at certain resolutions.

We will be rolling out a hot-fix, tentatively scheduled for Thursday April 28th at 3:00 PM PDT [10PM UTC], with the following changes:

Quick Play

• River City: Fixed an issue with the Skirmish Game Mode.

Faction Play

• DropDecks: Fixed additional issues that could cause slots to revert to Trial 'Mechs.

• Solo and Unit Queues have been merged. More information regarding this change can be found in a dedicated section of this post.

• As a result of the Queue merge, Solo Loyalists can now join Faction Play Groups. All Group members must still be aligned to the same Faction, either by Contract or by Loyalty.
• Long-Tom Artillery Strike: Visual effect now renders correctly over ocean water.

Planet Value System (Faction Play)

After receiving your feedback and evaluating the metrics of planet ownership through the first week of release, we are going to be increasing the amounts of MC used for the various aspects of the Planet Value system in Faction Play.

• Any planet under a Unit’s control will now generate 15 MC per attack cycle (up from the original 5 MC).
• The maximum amount of MC a Unit can generate per attack cycle has been increased to 90 MC (up from 30 MC).
• The total amount of MC available from a planet over the total duration of its contest period has been increased to 540 MC for normal planets (up from 180 MC), and 1080 MC for capital planets (up from 360 MC).

With these changes, a Unit can receive a total daily income of 270 MC if they maintain control over no less than 6 planets through the course of the day.

Regarding the decision to merge of Solo and Unit Queues

Splitting the Faction Play Queue into Solo and Unit Queues was something we had received a lot of requests for since Faction Play was first introduced. The intention behind its release with Phase 3 on April 19th was to provide a more even playing field for players who were not part of an organized Unit.

However, after monitoring the population of the two Queues through the week since its release we are going to be merging the Solo and Unit Faction Play Queues back into a single Queue. While the 4v4 structure of Scouting worked reasonably well in the Solo Queue for certain Factions, there were simply not enough Invasion matches kicking off in Solo.
We are going to continue exploring new features and enhancements for Faction Play to help improve the overall experience for players of all types. For now we feel this represents the best overall option for ensuring players who want to participate in Faction Play can do so reliably, with minimal waiting, and with access to all of its game modes.

We will update this post as necessary if any further changes to the content or its tentatively scheduled time arise.

The maximum estimated downtime required for this hot-fix will be approximately 30 minutes.

When services are restored you will be required to apply a small patch.

[Deathlike]

That's nice, let's fix the dropdeck bug on Thursday... a week later than actually promised initially.

[TyphonCh]

MC boost is nice.
Queue merge? *shrugs* the system was self destructive anyway. There was zero incentive for Freelancers to play a solo game type, when they could just go 1 man unit merc or loyalist for more cbills and LP. Then they do that, and we go back to where we started; solo players filling in voids and getting matched with 12 man vets.
Two words: Faction Chat

[Tesunie]

I already kinda knew that splitting the queues up like that would cause problems.

One of the other problems (which can't actively be solved by the current system) is that Units tend to attack, and solos tend to defend more often.

Seen as I never agreed with the splitting of solo and unit players to begin with, I agree with these changes.

[mp00]

would have liked to see at least scouting solo cue left for those who wanted it.. why not allow that to still go for another week see how I does?

Edited by mp00, 25 April 2016 - 06:12 PM.

[Cath]

So, PGI gave split ques a week.

Players complained about pug vs 12 man for many many months.

PGI comes up with a system that actively works against players playing solo FW.

New system fails (on purpose IMO)

PGI remerges the ques in one week: so we are back to square one.

NOTE and EDIT: I was one of those "solos" that this spit was supposedly aimed at. After looking at the way it was implemented, I declined to play. Freelancers got no rewards commensurate with time involved, Mercs HAD to be in units, therefore group que. Loyalists were tied to faction much more than before, so faction hopping was not an option like before either. There was literally no method for a player that wanted to play solo could do so and earn rewards even equivalent to QP for time spent, even if player got matches. No point = no players.

Edited by Cath, 25 April 2016 - 06:19 PM.

[Dirk Le Daring]

While you are at it PGI, do you think you could slip in some proper icons for mercs ?

This thread... http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__5155691

[NocturnalBeast]

Deathlike, on 25 April 2016 - 05:49 PM, said:

That's nice, let's fix the dropdeck bug on Thursday... a week later than actually promised initially.

Your post sounds petty. At least they are fixing it. It makes more sense to release one hotfix with many changes to limit downtime, than multiple hotfixes in a short period of time.

Edited by Ed Steele, 26 April 2016 - 12:17 AM.

[JaxRiot]

Cath, on 25 April 2016 - 06:14 PM, said:

So, PGI gave split ques a week.

Players complained about pug vs 12 man for many many months.

PGI comes up with a system that actively works against players playing solo FW.

New system fails (on purpose IMO)

PGI remerges the ques in one week: so we are back to square one.

I guess one week of a buggy launch overrides months of input.

Personally I dont think the Solo/Unit spit was the problem. Its that there are now so many ques.

Originally it was 10 factions. 4 for Clan and 6 for IS.

Then the Solo/Unit split basically doubled that to 20.

And then they added a 4v4 que that also has a solo/unit split.

Unless my math is wrong, thats a total of 40 separate ques (or Buckets as Russ calls them) added in one swoop.

Thats a huge number of ques for a small population like this game has, and Im not even sure how Freelancers and Mercs fit into all of that.

Guess back to Units crushing Pugs again. Se La vie I guess.

[AnimeFreak40K]

I think the idea of splitting the queues was an idea that had some merit and was worth at least trying out. Especially considering that *LOTS* of people had been complaining about Solos/PUGs on both sides; solos didn't want to face off against units and units really didn't want to face off against PUGs. Units wanted some sort of challenge/opposition and Solos/PUGs didn't want to keep getting their teeth kicked in.

However, I think one of the things that worked against the whole Solo queue from the start was the fact that quite a few folks went ahead and just made 1-man units which pulled those players out of the Solo Queue. It doesn't help that you have some folks like me who want to play both IS and Clan, want to build up LP for both (because they have mechs and cockpit items that let them do this) but don't want to go Loyalist due to the hideous penalties.

I think all of these things created a perfect storm for the Solo Queue to just, well, fail spectacularly.

[Hans Davion]

Duno if you will read this PGI, but the way i see it, people are really enjoying the 4 v 4 - it gives the smaller units a chance to get a 'full team' and coordinate and the solos a chance to run around in crappy mechs and still do something.

but it would be SO FUN if you guys introduced a tonnage restricted 4 v 4 skirmish/domination mode. somethign like 200 tonnes, then you can bring 4 50 tonners or maybe 3 lights and an assault...people would be into it judging by the interest in general 4 v 4 fighting

[Morggo]

Bummer, and I really looked forward to getting into FW. But, with what could only be described, based on fact observed, the intended failure of solo queue me (and a lot of others) will continue to decline FW participation. I continue to love the game, just wish I could enjoy all of it. *shrugs*

[Deathlike]

Ed Steele, on 25 April 2016 - 06:21 PM, said:

Your post sounds petty. At least they are fixing it. It makes more sense to release one hotfix with many changes to limit downtime, then multiple hotfixes in a short period of time.

I'm the not only idiot playing FW and suffering from this pretty much after every 2 matches. It's incredibly annoying and drives me nuts.

Unless you are actively playing FW, this is the running joke by everyone thinking about the word "hotfix" and "FW" all throughout the weekend.

Supplemental link to how others feel:
https://www.reddit.c..._constant_drop/

It was ironically better BEFORE the hotfix than AFTER the hotfix.

Edited by Deathlike, 25 April 2016 - 06:38 PM.

[Moebius1]

Fix the Huggin, put it's SRM4 cooldown quirks back to how they were so they are viable in scouting. No reason oxides should be the only decent light mech now. Or nerf the oxide.

[MovinTarget]

@morggo,

Dude, its one thing if you've done lots of drops, but don't just rely on the opinions of forumwarriors...

[NocturnalBeast]

Deathlike, on 25 April 2016 - 06:35 PM, said:

I'm the not only idiot playing FW and suffering from this pretty much after every 2 matches. It's incredibly annoying and drives me nuts.

Unless you are actively playing FW, this is the running joke by everyone thinking about the word "hotfix" and "FW" all throughout the weekend.

Supplemental link to how others feel:
https://www.reddit.c..._constant_drop/

It was ironically better BEFORE the hotfix than AFTER the hotfix.

I agree that the dropdeck bug is infuriating, especially since it happened to me every FW match I have played since the last hotfix, but it is not game-breaking.

Edited by Ed Steele, 25 April 2016 - 06:41 PM.

[MovinTarget]

I find the drop deck reset issue to be only slightly annoying as i typically change myech every match depending on the map and circumstances...

[Deathlike]

Ed Steele, on 25 April 2016 - 06:41 PM, said:

I agree that the dropdeck bug is infuriating, especially since it happened to me every FW match I have played since the last hotfix, but it is not game-breaking.

While not gamebreaking - trying to set up that dropdeck within 1 minute (insta-drops) with a semi-buggy mech selection screen breaks dropdeck synergy with teammates.

It's super-suboptimal when you don't have much a chance to screw up and get stuck with what you're running.

[The14th]

I love the people coming out complaining about the re-merger of the queues. I was solo loyalist the whole time, and I saw everybody ditch out to form solo merc units instead of sticking with it. And apparently PGI saw that too.

[MischiefSC]

Deathlike, on 25 April 2016 - 06:35 PM, said:

I'm the not only idiot playing FW and suffering from this pretty much after every 2 matches. It's incredibly annoying and drives me nuts.

Unless you are actively playing FW, this is the running joke by everyone thinking about the word "hotfix" and "FW" all throughout the weekend.

Supplemental link to how others feel:
https://www.reddit.c..._constant_drop/

It was ironically better BEFORE the hotfix than AFTER the hotfix.

I spent 40 minutes with a Davion 12man just trying to drop in a match where it would have some in invasion some in scout and kick the whole group, then screw up decks.

It was 2 matches worth of time wasted due to this sort of stuff. I get that phase 3 was a lot of changes and will have bugs - I'm tolerant of that. I get that it takes time to fix and fix well - I'm okay with that. However it's still really irritating and its reducing overall population participation.

The14th, on 25 April 2016 - 06:51 PM, said:

I love the people coming out complaining about the re-merger of the queues. I was solo loyalist the whole time, and I saw everybody ditch out to form solo merc units instead of sticking with it. And apparently PGI saw that too.

If everyone was willing to play in unit queue for good rewards, why split it?

Rather than try to give solos the exact same reward for less challenge/risk (not playing against units) why not just give everyone, solos, small units and all, the exact same rewards as big units and keep everyone in the same queue?

If rewards were based on how many wins you played in that flipped a world instead of tags you'd have way, way less friction between units and solos/small units. You'd also have more motivation for solos/small units to coordinate with bigger ones to build matches that get them wins and flip worlds.