869 replies to this topic

[jss78]

Please think big in terms of how to make FP interesting to a broader percentage of the MWO player base.

I have some concerns about trying to take FP forward and then having the big units alone discuss the topic. This strikes me as an excercise that's predetermined to preserve the status quo -- that status quo being a situation in which only a fringe of the MWO community organized into units plays FP. If we're happy with this status quo, then that's fair enough, but IMO we shouldn't be.

We talk in this thread about reducing the number of attack lanes. I guess the extreme case of this would be to make FP clan-vs-IS only, a possibility discussed in a recent NGNG podcast.

In FP3 patch we briefly tried separate group and solo queues, in a major attempt to increase the player base. This couldn't be sustained because the population became too divided on different planets and separate queues on each planet.

So consider if we reduce the attack lanes -- possibly taking this as far as going IS-vs-clan only, fighting on a small number of planets. Could we then try again the separate group and solo queues?

Personally I'd greatly lament losing stuff like our Liao-vs-Davion fights, but then I'd totally accept it if this means we can sustain separate queues for groups and solos.

The simple truth is, with solos and units (of all sizes) in a single queue FP will never grow. The games are simply not good enough.

Edited by jss78, 23 July 2016 - 02:27 AM.

[Grinster]

I'd like to give my FP-N00b ideas ( GameMode stats: 946 QP games, with most of them being PUG; 38 Scout; 9 Invasion; 17 Counter-Attack).

- Have the written objectives of the Invasion and Counter-Attack modes also blasted over the comms, just like in Scouting mode. It is vital to understand the difference between 'AND' and 'OR'. This is lost on many new players when nerves are jangling.
- FP Academy - Get a badge and get set. Low bar, Nothing complex - Map navigation; Turret and Gen handling.
- Prominent News Log of Events and their consequences. A DM from "Faction HQ" would be cool.
- I have only scouted since the patch, so I have nothing to say about LT until I play under its murderous reign again.

Edited by Grinster, 23 July 2016 - 01:33 PM.

[Liveish]

PGI you do know you have players that don't live in USA right ?

Why don't you do this on a Friday so AP region can join in ?

[Nimnul]

I want the economy and trade system. Build factories and cities. Fight not over empty space, and for something worthwhile. In the factories do mechs. Broke mech doing new things.

Edited by Nimnul, 23 July 2016 - 03:09 AM.

[Kai Allard Liao]

Pls change Matchscore Calculation.

A Guy who hide and survive in 1st Mech can have 600MP, a Guy who participate and die 3 times and 2800dmg will have same Matchscore...

[bigbangattack]

make no streak allowed in FP

[Avenger 1337]

Reasons for the downfall of FW:

• phase 3 was so buggy it was unplayable
  
• new mechanics (tom, etc) unrefined and untested -> not working
  
• not listening to the community

How can we fix that?

• listen to the community (might have started?)
  
• fix your ******* bugs
  
• release things that work (at least try it once)
  
• boost rewards a lot, at least temporary. give the losing team a fair reward (no xp for loss right now)...
  
• new content esp. maps. you made beautiful maps that are just to big for solo q. put obs on them and gogo
  
• make clan vs is great again... make us fight a small border clan vs is not x clan factions vs x is factions (you dont have the playerbase)

Edited by Avenger 1337, 23 July 2016 - 03:32 AM.

[Nimnul]

bigbangattack, on 23 July 2016 - 02:54 AM, said:

make no streak allowed in FP

Make no Locust and no Oxide in FP...

The variety makes the game more interesting. Therefore it is necessary to introduce more weapons, more mechs, more maps. It is necessary to make the market. Make the economy. And the production mechs. PGI could not sell mech, but sell mech figure.

Edited by Nimnul, 23 July 2016 - 03:34 AM.

[Johnny Z]

Please add everything asap.

[Pepito Sbazzeguti]

The main issue is: FW population too low and too many queues. Small wait time is utopic now expecially for lone players.

I'm sorry for all the Lore guys but the only solution to me is keep factions only aesthetically and have 2 big groups: IS and Clan, reducing the queues to 3 to allow IS vs IS, Clan vs Clan and IS vs Clan, then reward have to be revised based on victory rather than planet conquest.

In this way you can experiment a new separation between pugs and units, and probably this time will work.

You can divide the IS map in sector rather then divide every single planet in territories so you can attack or defend a cluster of worlds insthead of a single one and that will work with reduced queues, like a Risk match.

Intels in Scout Mission have to benefit the pilot who gather them too; for example every time you get an Intel, this increases a reward bar until a max of 100 points, before you enter an Invasion match you can decide to spend an amount of your points to get individual bonuses, for example 20 points for a double use of an Airstrike or UAV or a ticket to repair and reload one of your mech in a repair bay during match.

Yep a repair bay will be a great addition to the game.

This will grant more search for intels rather than dog fights, then intels can still work globally like now reinforcing the sector with scanning radar or other bonus in Invasion match.

Long Tom is not good right now, you have to reduce the frequency to a couple of time in a match or reduce the damage to an artillery strike level.

[Kaio-Kerensky x10]

One of the winning strategies in Scouting is to not interact with the other team at all at any point if you can avoid it.

Why even bother queuing if a match can end up like this?

[Johnny Z]

Kabum, on 23 July 2016 - 01:06 AM, said:

Keep players hook. Right now I play few CW because of a single fact:It does not matter!
Let me exain it a bit. It's in the best interest of developers and community to have a wide strong base. Right now you reward big units and good or very good players. You appeal to CBILLS as reward for actions. You let beside the most important factor that made a player base. You forgot the ego and fluff of the game. Its not only a question of introduccing "lore". It is a question of making the people live it, be a part of it. Also rewards have improved, but are not so much linked to faction or lore. Yeah! we have a new ladder with ranks that is amazing, does it give continuos reward or inspiration: no. Should the game be giving continually assets and losing money, neither. Broke PGI means bad bussines for everyone that wants to play MWO.So what should be done. Problaby a bit of many things.

Stimulate the player, give constant reward for well played matches, create a subdivison that makes feel alive the universe(faction houses with soul and not only the name).

In the personal aspect of the player: people like to see that what they do matter. Right now you playa match and after all the points are alocated (xp and money) it stop to exist. Maybe as player I had the time of my life, crushing with a light 2 assaults and a heavy, all alone and finished withno arms a legs and no armor on the side torsos an central. wow,looks like a tale to be told. Yeahh.... but how... Maybe I recorded the match... maybe not... anyway remember this with a 10 minute video is difficult. Difficult for me to see each time, each frind I want to brag about it or just some extranger that want to know about me.
untill here you agree?
It should exist a file accessible to everybody (public) with different sheets and more important a graphic or 2 ( which could be a uniform and a medal box or similiar). People can assimilate few info easy, so is much more effective to make a general view and later some buttonn or selector to switch to concrete info: Page 1 uniform showing grade (showing different uniforms from enlisted, non-commisioned and commisioned officers) and medals and service branch( most used mech category or similar). the objective is to give deep to the player. Page 2 a cronological list from recent to old in which campaigns(community warfar and weekend challanges each with a name), comendations( introduce this for feats like killing 6 enemy mechs, 10 cw jumps in a weekend with a hight score etc) and medals( really hard hachievements and campaign participation of large consecuences) gets the mechwarrior (all by participation, nothing buying pack related) a deeper profile in graphical form which can be check easy by everyone and make a link to publicate it. this is just an example. can be as simple or complicated.

Ok. this is not even a 10 percent but i'm on a tablet. later more.

+1 for the sentiment.

[JernauM]

NightStalker97, on 23 July 2016 - 12:34 AM, said:

The whole point of FP is to have long matches that have an advantage for the defender.

Incorrect. The point of FP/CW is to give lore-heads the experience of fighting to determine the future of the Inner Sphere. PGI's decision to build an asymmetric base defense game mode is a choice they made to try to create that experience.

NightStalker97, on 23 July 2016 - 12:34 AM, said:

Choke points are one of those benfits. Planning a defence is part of that. Learning about your opponent over 30 minutes of gameplay is part of that.

Long matches distinguish it from quick play. Defences distinguish it from quick play. You learn about your opponent. You have time to prepare strategies and traps. It's the reason why it is enjoyable.

You seem to describe an Invasion match as some drawn-out strategic battle of wits, and I have no idea what you're talking about. This isn't chess; it's barely checkers. Over 90% of CW matches play out in entirely predictable patterns dictated by the design of the map and game mode.

NightStalker97, on 23 July 2016 - 12:34 AM, said:

just play quick play then.

Way ahead of you bud. Me and most of MWO's smallish player-base, it seems. But I guess that's the problem PGI would like to solve here.

NightStalker97, on 23 July 2016 - 12:34 AM, said:

I admit, some of the maps are too thin, but eliminating many of those areas and the length of time it takes will ruin the whole point of the game mode.

Walking down a long hallway on Sulfurous or Hellbore to get back into the fight after a respawn is not game-play, it's not strategy, it's not maneuver, it's just a waste of time.

NightStalker97, on 23 July 2016 - 12:34 AM, said:

Compare it to LoL. Fast matches can take under 20 mins. Long ones over an hour. The length of the match still hasn't deterred people from have over 30 MILLION active players (not all, but active).

Long matches are not inherently wrong, if players can have a reasonable expectation of fun gameplay in a balanced match. Every time players queue up for an Invasion mode match, they are gambling 20-30 minutes of their time with a too-low probability of getting that outcome.

[Johnny Z]

I hope everyone is seeing what I'm seeing because there really is a lot of great ideas. The more than 1 planet per cycle for example and the home worlds being capturable and many others.

Edited by Johnny Z, 23 July 2016 - 03:44 AM.

[TWIAFU]

1. Remove the ability of Trial Mechs to enter CW. They do no good in CW and are a hindrance to the team that has them and only helps the enemy.

2. Alliances. As demonstrated in Op:Galahad, an alliance type system has benefit to all that play CW.

3. I recently read suggestion on limiting Mercs on where they can go, they can only go and bolster lower pop Faction/Clans. This line of thought should be debated and investigated. Might have some merit.

4. Keep LT but it HAS to be "fixed" where as it does not clear combat queues. We want to play CW and not let that do all the fighting, for either side.

5. Lore Centered Events/Battles. Why is this not done?!?!? Known space in the BT 'verse is HUGE. BT lore is rich and fantastic source that is way underutilized. Immerse me! I can literally walk 6 feet, open one of my numerous source books, and have Major/Minor battles in our current timeline, give or take few years, for most, if not all to take part in. They are more battles that went on then just the Battle of Tyukiad (spelling).

[Ninjah]

More maps for Faction Play and weekly events with lets say 3 mechbays at the end of the month if you score XXXX every week

[Rebel Ace Fryslan]

• Waiting times or too high
  
• Listen to the NON-american players !!!!!!!
  
• no info about the scout when waiting for invasion, WHY
  
• Other info not intgrated, planet info What is going on with que's all kinds of tactical info.
  
• Dropships shoot your own mechs, because they detect enemies behind a wall/hill
  
• Clan dropships should have lower range, clanners have more ecm and jumpjets to get out of the zone.
  
• LT should not kill trough mountains (Get your bloody physics right)
  
• Fix disconnects,
  
• Introduce More drop profilesssssssss.
  
• Give info what is in my mech in dropselection

[AtomCore]

FP is unplayable until we reach 20000 players per 24-hour window. It is x10 times more than we have now. And 40000 players at least for server region separation.
Mr Bullock must realize that
1) customers don't like unfinished and low-quality product. If you try a rotten apple, you'll never buy apple in this store again. - I mean MWO is a beta version of some session shooter and have ZERO game content. And it lasts 3 years.
2) some customers are unable to try product - I mean game is not optimized for medium-grade dual-core PC.

Make game content!
Optimize game for CPU usage!
Populize battletech books. Hire writers to make new. Cooperate with film producers.

Balancing weapons and new mech is not a game content.

You have no qualification to balance it. You just scare away cybersport population. Hire qualificated people before than left this game ( god, if you look an eye in FP leaderboards - there only 40 people left, that play its frequent and with high skill).

You have no qualification to make game economy (everybody see this by the rewards for planet capture, or supply cash drop chances) - hire mathematician with Ph. D. . Economy is a needed part of game content. its fundament. its blood.

Start doing game content.
Start doing economy. It could be implemented write now in live client as a test in a form of 3rd game type (1st -solo queue, 2- FP) - realistic career mode ( where you own only 1 mech and do misssions, and pay for repair)
Leave maths for professionals.
Build complete game growth strategy for next 5 years. Separate interests; every part, every role on must be all-sufficient.

You failed with FP 3rd stage, balancing mechs and decals. Instead of painting own units decals, people making genitals stickers on their mechs... All are disappointed.

It's all been told for last 3 years Mr Bullock.

Edited by AtomCore, 23 July 2016 - 04:34 AM.

[AmazingOnionMan]

Controversial: add your stock mode-button to faction play as well as private matches.
It won't see much use on the clan borders, but it will make the Chaos Marsh so much more interesting.

[Pihoqahiak]

Nimnul, on 23 July 2016 - 03:10 AM, said:

The variety makes the game more interesting. Therefore it is necessary to introduce more weapons, more mechs, more maps. It is necessary to make the market. Make the economy. And the production mechs. PGI could not sell mech, but sell mech figure.

They cannot sell figures. They do not have, and almost assuredly will never be able to get the licensing to do that from Catalyst.

Edited by Pihoqahiak, 23 July 2016 - 04:11 AM.