63 replies to this topic

[Bishop Steiner]

Alistair Winter, on 15 July 2016 - 08:07 AM, said:

And then a game like Overwatch shows up, is a massive success, and you lose all the casual players who just enjoy arena shooters. Whereas if PGI had tried to make MWO more like MW2:Mercs online, then... what other games out there could possibly challenge their position on the market?

Hmmmm...

Good point. I think the first real hit occurred around the time Fallout 4 hit the shelves. Overwatch hit about the time FW3 flopped, right?

So that would make sense.

As for the Casuals? I told Russ in CB that focusing too much on the Casual crowd, at the expense of the Whales, was not a sustainable model for a niche title. Casuals are casuals for a reason. But even Comps can be "casual" to a degree (though far less so), and move to whatever the new "shiny" of the month is.

Been telling Russ since CB not to alienate the Btech fanbase that filled the Founders Coffers. Almost every single Founder I know, while we fight and argue and disagree over semantics, would be here still if the game had actually attempted to deliver half the immersive game they promoted.

Instead it's been one step after the next of chasing the low hanging fruit, and watching the whales swim away.

[Tarogato]

Alistair Winter, on 15 July 2016 - 08:07 AM, said:

If you look at games with incredible longevity, they usually offer something completely different from any other game (e.g. the Transport Tycoon open source community), or they are incredibly well balanced esport games with great maps and/or game modes (old CounterStrike, Unreal Tournament, Starcraft 1, etc) or they are MMORPGs with a continous stream of new content (and grinding + farming to keep people playing), or they're a combination of the above (like EVE Online).

Funny you mention EVE... last time I was browsing the steam player numbers, I noticed the EVE was quite a bit below MWO. I was surprised... I thought EVE was a bigger game, honestly.

[WarHippy]

Tarogato, on 15 July 2016 - 08:13 AM, said:

Funny you mention EVE... last time I was browsing the steam player numbers, I noticed the EVE was quite a bit below MWO. I was surprised... I thought EVE was a bigger game, honestly.

Most players do not connect to EVE through Steam, and the same is probably true for MWO as well. The EVE population was struggling for a bit but it has picked up again from what I have heard from friends that still play. Steam player numbers are pretty meaningless for games that existed long before they were added to Steam.

Edited by WarHippy, 15 July 2016 - 08:22 AM.

[Felicitatem Parco]

I think the "moving through water like it's air" comment from Alistar was one of my very first critiques of the game back in Invite-only Beta.

[Elizander]

Prosperity Park, on 15 July 2016 - 08:25 AM, said:

I think the "moving through water like it's air" comment from Alistar was one of my very first critiques of the game back in Invite-only Beta.

HPG would be a bit more fun and a good change of pace if the gravity settings were changed. :3

[Alistair Winter]

Bishop Steiner, on 15 July 2016 - 08:12 AM, said:

Hmmmm...
Good point. I think the first real hit occurred around the time Fallout 4 hit the shelves. Overwatch hit about the time FW3 flopped, right?
So that would make sense.

I didn't really consider Fallout 4, because it was such a massive disappointment for me personally. I think I was done with that game in about a week. As soon as I noticed the way the game was going, I just rushed the main quest and dumped it.

But you're right, it's interesting, because Fallout 4 offers some of the stuff MWO doesn't. There's a lot of customization, same as MWO, but it has the immersion that MWO never had. Not quite as much immersion as Skyrim, I think, but definitely more than MWO. And an open world and I guess some people felt it had good storytelling, whereas I thought it had the weakest storytelling of any Fallout game ever.

Bishop Steiner, on 15 July 2016 - 08:12 AM, said:

As for the Casuals? I told Russ in CB that focusing too much on the Casual crowd, at the expense of the Whales, was not a sustainable model for a niche title. Casuals are casuals for a reason. But even Comps can be "casual" to a degree (though far less so), and move to whatever the new "shiny" of the month is.
Been telling Russ since CB not to alienate the Btech fanbase that filled the Founders Coffers. Almost every single Founder I know, while we fight and argue and disagree over semantics, would be here still if the game had actually attempted to deliver half the immersive game they promoted.
Instead it's been one step after the next of chasing the low hanging fruit, and watching the whales swim away.

Indeed. And just like Hollywood, game devs keep treating the customers like an old dog that you can't teach new tricks. Like, you can't actually challenge the players (or viewers) to like something new, you just have to give them something they already like. Like "Avengers vs Godzilla" or something.

Instead of challenging the new Mechwarrior players to like a different sort of game, MWO just relies on people to like a Mechwarrior version of an arena shooter.

Tarogato, on 15 July 2016 - 08:13 AM, said:

Funny you mention EVE... last time I was browsing the steam player numbers, I noticed the EVE was quite a bit below MWO. I was surprised... I thought EVE was a bigger game, honestly.

That's kind of surprising, but then again, EVE is so damn old. We talk about MWO getting old in the tooth after 3 years, but EVE was out 10 years before that. Which, in video game terms, is like... Connor Macleod still killing people with a katana in the 1980s.

Edited by Alistair Winter, 15 July 2016 - 08:47 AM.

[Tatula]

You may also consider that it is summer break time and a lot of people are on vacation and away from their computers. OR they are all out wandering around looking for Pokemons.

[Papaspud]

Sadly, I see this too. Out of 100's of peeps on my friends list, rarely see more than 20-30 on at a time during peak. Most of the time less than 10. Could be me though as I rarely sign on and usually that lasts 1-2 matches and then I turn it back off. The game has gotten stale and I don't see any shining light in the future to keep me interested.

"alas poor MWO, I knew him well................

[dervishx5]

MWO:

[Bishop Steiner]

Aloha, on 15 July 2016 - 09:33 AM, said:

You may also consider that it is summer break time and a lot of people are on vacation and away from their computers. OR they are all out wandering around looking for Pokemons.

You know this is the 4th summer for MWO, right? (first with Pokemon Go though, admittedly.... watch out for cliffs, oncoming traffic, don't climb into zoo enclosure, etc, please?)

So pretty familiar with play patterns.

Papaspud, on 15 July 2016 - 09:46 AM, said:

Sadly, I see this too. Out of 100's of peeps on my friends list, rarely see more than 20-30 on at a time during peak. Most of the time less than 10. Could be me though as I rarely sign on and usually that lasts 1-2 matches and then I turn it back off. The game has gotten stale and I don't see any shining light in the future to keep me interested.

"alas poor MWO, I knew him well................

Yeah, GDL another crew I don't see about anymore... for whatever reason.

[Tyler Valentine]

There are probadly 50 or 60 on my list and I rarely see more than 4 or 5 on. Often they are the Colorado based MS guys playing.

[Stone Wall]

MW3 kept people online playing the game until the servers went down.

[Bud Crue]

Aloha, on 15 July 2016 - 09:33 AM, said:

You may also consider that it is summer break time and a lot of people are on vacation and away from their computers. OR they are all out wandering around looking for Pokemons.

Sorry for the aside, but as I read the above...I mean at the moment I read the above...a young woman walked into one off the large windows of my office while staring at her phone. Never had that happen before. Can only assume she was looking for pokemons.

[Stone Wall]

Aloha, on 15 July 2016 - 09:33 AM, said:

You may also consider that it is summer break time and a lot of people are on vacation and away from their computers. OR they are all out wandering around looking for Pokemons.

Summer break actually increases the number of players for games. I know it did for Diablo 2 and MechWarrior 3.

[dervishx5]

Stone Wall, on 15 July 2016 - 10:05 AM, said:

MW3 kept people online playing the game until the servers went down.

LONG LIVE THE ZONE

[Deathlike]

I don't see the comp community overtaking the "rest" of the community in terms of population. I can kinda see it happening, but realistically the comp community would be fed up just as well, so you're just going to have a lot more discontent players.

Even for me being somewhat semi-comp, I don't even think the tourney was a good thing (this is even before the fact). The problem was PGI not having a vision (I mean, rules anyone?) so even up to this point, they still have no true/useful tiebreaking rules, so PGI's probably planning to figure this out in the last minute instead of at the very beginning.

Anyways, the lack of active people on your Friends List is Working as intended™... despite some of them actually being signed off after you logged on.

[WarHippy]

dervishx5, on 15 July 2016 - 09:51 AM, said:

MWO:

That hurt me right in the feels because I know it is true...

[Bishop Steiner]

Deathlike, on 15 July 2016 - 10:50 AM, said:

I don't see the comp community overtaking the "rest" of the community in terms of population. I can kinda see it happening, but realistically the comp community would be fed up just as well, so you're just going to have a lot more discontent players.

Even for me being somewhat semi-comp, I don't even think the tourney was a good thing (this is even before the fact). The problem was PGI not having a vision (I mean, rules anyone?) so even up to this point, they still have no true/useful tiebreaking rules, so PGI's probably planning to figure this out in the last minute instead of at the very beginning.

Anyways, the lack of active people on your Friends List is Working as intended™... despite some of them actually being signed off after you logged on.

PGI needing a vision/direction.... where have I heard this before.... (literally ANY direction is better than dog-paddling in a very slow, small circle like we seem to be doing)

[WarHippy]

Some of the people on my friends list haven't played in awhile in part because they are having a better time in a phone app called Walking War Robots. Pretty sad really.

[dervishx5]

Deathlike, on 15 July 2016 - 10:50 AM, said:

I don't see the comp community overtaking the "rest" of the community in terms of population. I can kinda see it happening, but realistically the comp community would be fed up just as well, so you're just going to have a lot more discontent players.

Even for me being somewhat semi-comp, I don't even think the tourney was a good thing (this is even before the fact). The problem was PGI not having a vision (I mean, rules anyone?) so even up to this point, they still have no true/useful tiebreaking rules, so PGI's probably planning to figure this out in the last minute instead of at the very beginning.

Anyways, the lack of active people on your Friends List is Working as intended™... despite some of them actually being signed off after you logged on.

So i can't see whose posting until I press a button, but I knew this was Deathlike before I even bothered to see who it was.