95 replies to this topic

[Bud Crue]

Moldur, on 26 June 2016 - 12:31 PM, said:

I don't think anyone cares enough about current FP to have organized representatives that would fulfill the foreseen roles.

To me the saddest part of this whole " oh boy a round table! Russ is going to talk to somebody!" Is the fact that some of you are excited by the very thought of this, and still others who actually think these "important people" that he will presumably talk to, would have anything more significant to say than what has been said by folks on the forums, twitter or Reddit.

If the round table takes place
Either the participants will agree with him that making this an e-sport style fps game is the way of the future and he will say "See the people have spoken!" or
More likely they will say, "ya know we would really like this game to have a bit more Battletech in this "battletech game" and he will continue to ignore them and say "it was a nice round table but with so many diverse opinions it is clear that no one path can be "best" for this game". Thus, the status quo will be maintained.

Really folks, there is absolutely no reason to be excited about the prospect of this round table. Russ has made clear he doesn't want or need community input and he is not going to change that tune even after chatting with some of his marks, I mean customers, I mean players.

[IdolElite]

I've always felt that faction warfare could very easily be almost like a MOBA but where you pilot a mech. Really just need some npc minions and map alterations to make it happen, everything else already exists.

[cazidin]

Bud Crue, on 26 June 2016 - 12:43 PM, said:

To me the saddest part of this whole " oh boy a round table! Russ is going to talk to somebody!" Is the fact that some of you are excited by the very thought of this, and still others who actually think these "important people" that he will presumably talk to, would have anything more significant to say than what has been said by folks on the forums, twitter or Reddit.

If the round table takes place
Either the participants will agree with him that making this an e-sport style fps game is the way of the future and he will say "See the people have spoken!" or
More likely they will say, "ya know we would really like this game to have a bit more Battletech in this "battletech game" and he will continue to ignore them and say "it was a nice round table but with so many diverse opinions it is clear that no one path can be "best" for this game". Thus, the status quo will be maintained.

Really folks, there is absolutely no reason to be excited about the prospect of this round table. Russ has made clear he doesn't want or need community input and he is not going to change that tune even after chatting with some of his marks, I mean customers, I mean players.

You may be right and this may never happen. There may be no round table discussion, but I'd like to see what everyone thinks about it and what they'd like to be asked. I appreciate your skepticism, but please, entertain the thought and join the discussion? I'd like to read what you'll come up with.

[Ted Wayz]

Are they discussing how to improve the current CW with no major change in mechanics? Are they discussing what benefits them, the large houses, further putting CW out of reach of Puglandia?

Don't know which way this will go, just wait and see I guess.

[Battlemaster56]

Trauglodyte, on 26 June 2016 - 12:03 PM, said:

I am become Gray. I stand between the candle and the star... (B5 quote, btw)

On a more serious note, and I'm not one of the supremo types that they'd want to talk to, but these are my feelings on the matter:

• Add a tier 6 and normalize the amount of XP needed to gain a new tier
  
• Change the PSR so that you have just as much a chance to gain as you do to lose; currently, you can gain 3 different ways but lose only 2
  
• Cordon off tiers 6-4 and put them in the Quick Play sand box so that these players can enjoy themselves and learn the game
  
• Change Faction Warfare to be Inner Sphere vs. Clan
  
• Have the tiers 3-1 play be 100% Faction Warfare
  
• Make it so that you can only take a planet on the weekend; you can allow a 24-7 removal of the planet's defenses but, on the weekend, you open the planet up to 4-6 different maps with each containing a separate "must take" objective and then have the entire community available to participate by way of an All Out War mode where every player in the game can load up 4 mechs and drop into the game (think of this, if you will, as MW:O's version of the original vanilla WoW Alterac Valley)
  
• House vs. House can still be played via tier 3-1 quick play 8v8; taking another house's planet wouldn't be possible but you could take a "node" on each planet, with each planet having a set amount, thus bringing in more gold/XP/MC to the house players that have more planetary nodes (think of this as MW:O's version of Dark Age of Camelot realm vs. realm combat)
  
• Add some different game plays for FW that would include things like Destruction of a Convoy, Mech Factory Assault, etc. so that there is something similar to Scouting for the heavier mech groups
  
• Build out separate maps for individual planets - there absolutely CANNOT be 10 planets that all look like Grim Plexus, Caustic Valley, Alpine Peaks, and Forrest Colony
  
• Finally, make it so that there are 6 "seasons" per year with each season being 2 months long. This keeps the game moving.

All in all, I love the idea of Faction Warfare but I think that PGI needs to understand that Quick Play is largely going to destroy the game if that is all that there is to do. People aren't playing MW:O because there isn't anything to gain from playing it. In other words, there is no immersion factor. When I drop into a Quick Play match and I'm on Terra Therma, I have nothing to fight for other than the want of a win. There isn't anything on that planet that makes me think, "Hey, this is important". I have no benefit in winning or losing the game, other than time.


Make me WANT to play and give me something for which to fight. If you do that, you'll have people falling over themselves to play this game. Fail to do so and it will wither on the vine.

Woah you lost me after only tiers 3-1 can play FP that utterly stupid gated off a majority of the community their some people in 5-4 who join their unit in FP and now giving them the middle finger should never be a thing at all, I rather see MWO burn, freeze, and burned again before gating off the community from a game mode

[oldradagast]

Battlemaster56, on 26 June 2016 - 02:20 PM, said:

Woah you lost me after only tiers 3-1 can play FP that utterly stupid gated off a majority of the community their some people in 5-4 who join their unit in FP and now giving them the middle finger should never be a thing at all, I rather see MWO burn, freeze, and burned again before gating off the community from a game mode

Agreed. I'd rather watch paint dry than play FP, a meaningless pit of horribly designed maps, stale objectives, idiotic seal-clubbing, foul attitudes, epeen comparisons, and all around worthless game play. Maybe it's "gotten better," but given how bad it was before, that's not saying much. So forcing people to play that train-wreck after they reach a certain tier is a bad idea. Give me a reason to want to be bothered with it vs. forcing it upon me.

[XxXAbsolutZeroXxX]

cazidin, on 26 June 2016 - 09:31 AM, said:

Greetings Mechwarriors. Russ stated his intention to speak with 8 great House Leaders, maybe including a Kahn or two

Would rather have people who are active and who use a lot of different mechs, different classes of mechs who narc, jump snipe, brawl, snipe, lrm and know a lot about what's going on in-game give feedback.

Rather than 8 house leaders who probably spend more time doing administrative, bureaucratic, work than anything else.

Edited by I Zeratul I, 26 June 2016 - 03:07 PM.

[Red Shrike]

Trauglodyte, on 26 June 2016 - 12:03 PM, said:

• Change Faction Warfare to be Inner Sphere vs. Clan

Whoa there, I like to disagree.

I want to say that that's like making a WWII game that's only Axis vs Allies (russians and americans fighting alongside each other in the pacific against the germans and japanese o.O)

Also, a part of the MWO playerbase comes from BT fans. As such you might lose a couple if you throw the factions onto the same pile. IMO it would also make FP less interesting and less immersive, hurting the mode only more instead of less.
I also feel that smashing the factions together is something that tries to fix the symptom, not the problem. The problem being that FP is not engaging enough over QP to have any kind of player retention other than BT fans who don't want to give up on their faction, whom will probably leave if you dissolve their faction. (I fight for Clan Wolf, but if I were to fight for a nameless faction called "Clans" I don't think I'd put the same amount of effort into it)

In short, I feel that consolidating the factions into 2 will probably do more damage than it fixes.

The other FP changes I'd most likely be down with.

[Carl Vickers]

Better off speaking to the merc leaders as they play both sides and have a better understanding of how both relate.

If they speak to loyalists (not having a go at loyalists) then they are only going to get one, one sided, view of the issues as it relates to their faction.

[AnTi90d]

1.) Allow players of allied factions to assist in both attack and defense battles for their allies, against IS or Clan. This would do wonders for all of FP. Defenders would no longer be mostly pugs, as they'd be spread into the attack queues. Units would have more planets to tag. Low-population factions would still have battles that they can fight.

2.) Allow allied factions to create groups and include eachother. Maybe even let them add freelancers in LFG.

This would basically split the IS into two, allowing them to fight eachother or the clans, at their own discretion. The map doesn't have to change at all and nothing has to be redrawn.

also:

3.) Replace the Long Tom with another mechanic. (Some did quit over it and won't come back with it still in FP.)

Once people come back to try out the new dynamic, then:

4.) Develop mapmaking tools and hold a monthly/bimonthly mapmaking contest. Allow your own players to develop new FP maps under a set of core rules for each game mode.. just like hundreds did for MW4. (Rules as in: Invasion-Attack/Defense must have 3 lance spawns for each team, a base structure and at least three generators.) Give an MC prize for the maps, polish them up a tad and slap them into the game.

I also think Invasion:Counterattack should be the defenders attacking 1-3 dropships that have landed.. which is something Russ has said he thought about adding into the game and a mission that we commonly fought in MW4. Hopefully, with the development of what they're doing with Assault, it could be incorporated into FP and the mapmaker (new turrets, dropships, destructible walls, etc.)

[LordNothing]

i think its a mistake to take only unit leaders. there should be some top pugs in there too. if you are going to include them in fp then their opinion matters.

really i dont expect this to be more than a farce anyway. its just so that in the following town hall when queried about pgi's lack of community interaction, they point their finger at this council and brush the matter under the rug. aside from the fact that meeting with unit leaders only will present a one sided view of things. i think russ just wants people to pat him on the back and say good job.

Edited by LordNothing, 26 June 2016 - 04:32 PM.

[The Lost Boy]

They could take a lesson from the people who do PROXIS and have a real vision of how FW could be. Intresting, fun, purpose, strategy etc.

[Bud Crue]

cazidin, on 26 June 2016 - 01:28 PM, said:

You may be right and this may never happen. There may be no round table discussion, but I'd like to see what everyone thinks about it and what they'd like to be asked. I appreciate your skepticism, but please, entertain the thought and join the discussion? I'd like to read what you'll come up with.

I've said numerous times what I would like CW to be: a battletech game. That isn't going to happen so instead I'd like a game that at least has something to do with that universe other than just sharing the names of the mechs. I'd like a pilot...not mech...specific skills tree...a tree with tough choices and consequences. I'd like the houses and specific clans to mean something...again have pros and cons to choosing one. I'd like game play that isnt always the same gates, rush, die, repeat, maybe win every time. I'd like planet specific maps. I'd like progressive maps that many have proposed as a process for taking a planet. I'd like faction play to have something to do with factions instead of just being the location where mercs decide to play this week.

I could go on, but I am just repeating what many others have repeated for 4 years. But Russ hasn't listened to ANY of them. Why would I think he cares what I have to say after a mere 2k spent and a year playing? He didn't listen to the founders, doesn't listen to paying customers, but maybe he is going to listen to 8-10 "house leaders" all of a sudden? I guess that could happen...as long as tbe say "Yeah e-sports!!"...then yes I think he will listen. Short of that, I just don't see any input coming from a "round table" as having any more influence than what folks have been asking for here.

Sorry for grammar and typos on phone

[Trauglodyte]

Battlemaster56, on 26 June 2016 - 02:20 PM, said:

Woah you lost me after only tiers 3-1 can play FP that utterly stupid gated off a majority of the community their some people in 5-4 who join their unit in FP and now giving them the middle finger should never be a thing at all, I rather see MWO burn, freeze, and burned again before gating off the community from a game mode

oldradagast, on 26 June 2016 - 02:29 PM, said:

Agreed. I'd rather watch paint dry than play FP, a meaningless pit of horribly designed maps, stale objectives, idiotic seal-clubbing, foul attitudes, epeen comparisons, and all around worthless game play. Maybe it's "gotten better," but given how bad it was before, that's not saying much. So forcing people to play that train-wreck after they reach a certain tier is a bad idea. Give me a reason to want to be bothered with it vs. forcing it upon me.

Red Shrike, on 26 June 2016 - 03:28 PM, said:

Whoa there, I like to disagree.

I want to say that that's like making a WWII game that's only Axis vs Allies (russians and americans fighting alongside each other in the pacific against the germans and japanese o.O)

Also, a part of the MWO playerbase comes from BT fans. As such you might lose a couple if you throw the factions onto the same pile. IMO it would also make FP less interesting and less immersive, hurting the mode only more instead of less.
I also feel that smashing the factions together is something that tries to fix the symptom, not the problem. The problem being that FP is not engaging enough over QP to have any kind of player retention other than BT fans who don't want to give up on their faction, whom will probably leave if you dissolve their faction. (I fight for Clan Wolf, but if I were to fight for a nameless faction called "Clans" I don't think I'd put the same amount of effort into it)

In short, I feel that consolidating the factions into 2 will probably do more damage than it fixes.

The other FP changes I'd most likely be down with.

The point is to keep the tiers 6-4 players into a specific area so that they can learn the game. One of the biggest issues with the game is that so many people suck at it.

As to turning the entire game into Faction Warfare, that would only be done so that everyone is working towards that end goal. Quick Play would still exist but it would end up being skirmish games to hit various logistical points on a given planet. Think of it like this, it would be Quick Play with normal QP returns along with FW returns BUT the game goals would actually along the lines of Faction Warfare (read: taking a weapons production facility) instead of humping a satellite dish in a big green circle. What I'm talking about is turning Quick Play into something meaningful for the masses while also turning the current FW into something that the big units actually want to play. On top of that, I'm talking about, once a planet's defense are down, having a 2-3 day battle royale for the actual planet which would be something that everyone could participate in if they queued for it. Think of it like this: <insert unit here> takes out a planet's 5 (random number) planetary defense guns. Doing so opens up 6 (another random number) different zones that can be fought over Saturday and Sunday, within certain times for each server, with different game goals depending upon that zone. Everyone can queue into it with a drop deck of 4 mechs. When someone uses up their 4th mech, they queue out and someone new drops in. That continues on until all 6 zones are taken which opens up the planetary capitol zone. Once that is taken, the IS/Clan takes the planet. If the capitol isn't taken, the planet reverts back to the owner and the new weeks starts. On top of that, more games modes for smaller groups would be added beyond Scouting.

And to keep things lively, IS and Clan factions could do inter-faction battles. It would just be limited so that there would be no taking of planets because that should be the sole focus of FW - protect the inner core and push the IS/Clan back to their primary planet.

Does that make more sense?

[SpectreHD]

Spheroid, on 26 June 2016 - 10:36 AM, said:

What will be the ratio of worker, warrior and religious caste in this proposed Grey Council?

Strum Wealh, on 26 June 2016 - 11:03 AM, said:

More importantly, do the Anla'Shok become a player-selectable faction?

Mystere, on 26 June 2016 - 12:05 PM, said:

I still have my chest insignia just in case I get the call. Do you?

Wanted to make a B5 reference but you guys nailed it.

[Metus regem]

So they are going to talk to the big Merc units and NGNG?

[Trauglodyte]

SpectreHD, on 26 June 2016 - 05:52 PM, said:

Wanted to make a B5 reference but you guys nailed it.

<sigh> My quote totally got overlooked I guess that I don't really stand between the candle and the star... f'ers!

[AnTi90d]

Metus regem, on 26 June 2016 - 05:52 PM, said:

So they are going to talk to the big Merc units and NGNG?

It's typical PGI; let the people who care the least about Battletech make all the decisions.

[SpectreHD]

Trauglodyte, on 26 June 2016 - 05:54 PM, said:

<sigh> My quote totally got overlooked I guess that I don't really stand between the candle and the star... f'ers!

Haha. I missed it with your on topic part.

[Battlemaster56]

Trauglodyte, on 26 June 2016 - 05:45 PM, said:

The point is to keep the tiers 6-4 players into a specific area so that they can learn the game. One of the biggest issues with the game is that so many people suck at it.

As to turning the entire game into Faction Warfare, that would only be done so that everyone is working towards that end goal. Quick Play would still exist but it would end up being skirmish games to hit various logistical points on a given planet. Think of it like this, it would be Quick Play with normal QP returns along with FW returns BUT the game goals would actually along the lines of Faction Warfare (read: taking a weapons production facility) instead of humping a satellite dish in a big green circle. What I'm talking about is turning Quick Play into something meaningful for the masses while also turning the current FW into something that the big units actually want to play. On top of that, I'm talking about, once a planet's defense are down, having a 2-3 day battle royale for the actual planet which would be something that everyone could participate in if they queued for it. Think of it like this: <insert unit here> takes out a planet's 5 (random number) planetary defense guns. Doing so opens up 6 (another random number) different zones that can be fought over Saturday and Sunday, within certain times for each server, with different game goals depending upon that zone. Everyone can queue into it with a drop deck of 4 mechs. When someone uses up their 4th mech, they queue out and someone new drops in. That continues on until all 6 zones are taken which opens up the planetary capitol zone. Once that is taken, the IS/Clan takes the planet. If the capitol isn't taken, the planet reverts back to the owner and the new weeks starts. On top of that, more games modes for smaller groups would be added beyond Scouting.

And to keep things lively, IS and Clan factions could do inter-faction battles. It would just be limited so that there would be no taking of planets because that should be the sole focus of FW - protect the inner core and push the IS/Clan back to their primary planet.

Does that make more sense?

You removing a huge part of the FW group and then the big issue of queue times come up without lower teir players atlast keeping the queue times low just better scrap the whole FW and focus on qp only, your idea is nice better their just some things that won't work at all and gating off the community is not one of them.