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[Zirconium]

Introduction

A small suggestion to assist a worldwide playerbase.

I have previously played online mechwarrior games such as Neveron and Invasion 3042. Whilst both of those games have been and gone, had combat on 2D hexagonal maps and don't offer the level of customization and action that MWO can, they faced a problem that MWO also faces - how to handle an around-the-clock playerbase?

I started playing Faction Play / Community Warfare just before the recent event and have racked up around 50 invasion matches. I am in the United Kingdom and play at weekends, in addition to weekday evenings after work and dinner from around 20:00 onwards.

Observation / Area for Improvement

The weakness in MWO that I have seen is that the interval that Faction Play runs with is the same every day. The daily (I assume its daily, or I just haven't seen a more frequent chance) voting, ceasefire and planet refresh happens at the same time every day.

The problem I have in the UK is that the ceasefire falls at 22:30 every day, for a planet refresh at 23:00. It's too late for me to start games after this point that will in practice take me up to 23:45.

To compound the issue, because I effectively log on late in the day, the planets available before the refresh have usually been decided one way or the other already, making it hard to get a game that isn't a ghost drop attack or a counter attack defence with the scouting benefits against you.

Overall, this routine difficulty to get a decent game in what is a narrow, but for me prime time, period of day gives a negative image of Faction Play.

Constructive Suggestion

My suggestion to help develop the global playerbase is to change the length of time that planets are available and the frequency at which ceasefires / voting occurs. Specifically, changing the time period to a duration that means players don't face the same situation every day, or on the same day every week.

For example, instead of a 24 hour period, adjust to a 20 or 30 hour period.

Therefore, the timing is still regular and methodical, units can still plan ahead indefinitely. However, the inconvenience and disruption, as well as the opportunity for fresh opponents, is systematically moved around the clock. No particular time zone loses out because of a daily event.

For example, adopting a 20 hour period would result in 6 changeovers within 120 hours (5 days), in comparison to the 5 changeovers currently seen in that same time. Adopting a 30 hour period would result in 4 changeovers within the same 120 hours.

With either of these time periods, the inconvenience that I currently see daily would occur only once every 4 or 6 days, meaning that I am not disadvantaged because of where in the world I am. As long as a revised period is not a multiple of 168 hours (7 days), having the inconvenience on the same day every week would also be avoided.

I hope that I am explaining my observations and proposal clearly. Any thoughts?