3 replies to this topic

[Impyrium]

Contrary to popular belief, PGI does read these forums, and while I don't expect them to take heed of this post if they choose not to I do hope they at least consider it.

Supply caches are nothing more than speculation at the moment. There's a few obvious problems with the concept which are all worthwhile topics, but this idea is going to focus on one specific: how it belongs in a MechWarrior game. So the theme, basically.

I have nothing wrong with a crate mechanic in MWO, as long as it doesn't affect gameplay badly (see before mentioned issues) and has worthwhile content to vie for. Problem is, the way it's been described feels very copy and paste from other games and because of that, cheap.

The crux of the idea is this: don't call them Supply Caches, call them Salvage Containers. Don't call them Keys, call them MechTechs for hire. You're not finding magical crates on the battlefield and unlocking them with random keys, you're being awarded salvage rights for the mission and have to hire a MechTech in order to find out which of the salvage is usable.

What I'm saying here PGI is, be creative! This idea is fine, but give it a BattleTech spin so that it both makes sense and has more lure to it as a unique feature instead of copy-paste. This is a good opportunity to bring something that people have wanted in while keeping it in line with a F2P suitable mechanic, and adding much needed flavor.

I think you'd find people a lot more receptive to an idea if it comes across that you're putting effort into making a MechWarrior game, rather than just trying to do what other games do without giving the source material thought.

This idea was originally going to be a huge wall of text detailing other concepts and even including a few mockup UI images, but luckily I stopped myself just in time. The entire point revolved around theming the caches to reflect salvage given to a MechWarrior, and the 'keys' to instead be MechTechs you had to 'hire' to find the usable salvage.

One could even have various levels of MechTechs/keys available- a Regular MechTech might only be usable for one salvage container, a Veteran MechTech might be usable up to five times, an Elite MechTech might always be able to find higher than Common items etc, each with higher MC prices.

A lot of people want salvage to be fully dynamic and based on what you shoot, but the reality is that **** is complicated. It's really not reasonable to expect PGI to develop something like that, and it has serious implications in terms of exploitation and how it would work in a F2P game. This is an opportunity to meet half way with a salvage feature.

[TheArisen]

I suppose this would make it easier to digest but I was thinking there were better options out there like decals & custom geometry.

[Alistair Winter]

I'm all about immersion, but I also like to not be treated like a child when I'm playing. You can't just say "Here comes the airplane" and expect me to eat whatever's on your spoon. In other words, calling it "Hire a MechTech" instead of "Buy a magic key" doesn't really make a huge difference for me.

People have been asking for stuff like MechTechs since 2012, but it was based on the old games where you hired, paid and fired employees with the "almighty C-bill". Not magical MechwarriorCredit tokens that you win during challenges or pay for with your credit card. In other words, it feels fake to me if it's not actually a part of the C-bill economy.

It would be so much better do just have a proper salvage mechanic and then let people pay MC to upgrade their salvage, much in the same way we can use MC to upgrade our C-bill and XP rewards for any given match. So you could get a bunch of lasers, jump jets, maybe some omnipods, etc. And then pay MC to even get salvaged modules, salvaged cockpit items (you could keep that Clan Wolf banner as a war trophy) or salvaged engines, if you're lucky. And the salvage would be based on who was actually in the match, what mechs they were piloting and what builds they were running.

That would feel more real than these magic boxes and magic keys. Changing their names to supply caches and MechTechs doesn't make much of a difference to me.

[TheArisen]

Alistair Winter, on 11 May 2016 - 09:57 AM, said:

I'm all about immersion, but I also like to not be treated like a child when I'm playing. You can't just say "Here comes the airplane" and expect me to eat whatever's on your spoon. In other words, calling it "Hire a MechTech" instead of "Buy a magic key" doesn't really make a huge difference for me.

People have been asking for stuff like MechTechs since 2012, but it was based on the old games where you hired, paid and fired employees with the "almighty C-bill". Not magical MechwarriorCredit tokens that you win during challenges or pay for with your credit card. In other words, it feels fake to me if it's not actually a part of the C-bill economy.

It would be so much better do just have a proper salvage mechanic and then let people pay MC to upgrade their salvage, much in the same way we can use MC to upgrade our C-bill and XP rewards for any given match. So you could get a bunch of lasers, jump jets, maybe some omnipods, etc. And then pay MC to even get salvaged modules, salvaged cockpit items (you could keep that Clan Wolf banner as a war trophy) or salvaged engines, if you're lucky. And the salvage would be based on who was actually in the match, what mechs they were piloting and what builds they were running.

That would feel more real than these magic boxes and magic keys. Changing their names to supply caches and MechTechs doesn't make much of a difference to me.

I've gotta say that would be pretty sweet and this is what they should implement, not a random treasure chest.