171 replies to this topic

[Juodas Varnas]

Mark Nicholson, on 03 November 2016 - 08:32 AM, said:

Also, I suspect you guys of posting extra anime memes just for me. ^-^

Anime memes? WHY NOT ANIME SCORPIONS?!

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

RestosIII, on 03 November 2016 - 08:43 AM, said:

Nope, I just have a repository of over 2,000 of them, so I make use of it whenever I have the chance. One of the main reasons I actually post on these forums. I mean, how can you resist posting stuff like this?



Also, thank you for the response. It's seriously refreshing to have someone to talk to that has the yellow name and white text, especially when they're friendly.

Mark also frequently plays withe the community too which is cool. I often see him and stella running around interacting with the community!

[Juodas Varnas]

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky, on 03 November 2016 - 09:01 AM, said:

Mark also frequently plays withe the community too which is cool. I often see him and stella running around interacting with the community!

He's also probably the best player among those bearing the symbol of the Dead Cow.

[1453 R]

Piney, on 01 November 2016 - 04:09 PM, said:

I play this game and have fun.

As of now, it's the only MW game in town........yet we post here to wish its death.

The bitter vets who no longer play still post here trashing this game..............Why?

An adolescent rejection complex that hasn't been outgrown? .

Get over it, boys and girls! Grow up!

SO many posts here wishing the end of MWO.

If you're not playing anymore, do us all a favor and STFU! Just......frikkin........go....away.

Leave the worries about how the game is progressing to to those who actually play the game.

Go pi$$ on someone else's parade in another game that doesn't fit your version of perfection.

I want to play MWO.

But whenever I do, whenever I spin the game up for a few rounds to try a new idea or hang with a buddy or just because I'm in the mood for some of those old stompy robot feel-good times I used to have, I'm reminded of the fact that I don't have those times on this game anymore.

I'm reminded of the fact that Russ has sabotaged the future of this game by sticking it in 3052-forever limbo where he can run a Tukayyid event every year and never have to pull his company's head out of the sand long enough to implement new weapons or technology.

I'm reminded of the fact that I've poured hundreds and hundreds of dollars and as many hours into a game that has not seen a major shake-up or improvement since the original Clan Invasion release.

I'm reminded of the fact that every time Piranha starts gearing up to do something exciting - the Information Warfare release, the Energy Draw tests, engine overhauls/switches, what-have-you - it ends up petering out and amounting to nothing, and I go back to puttering around in quick play using the same damn stuff on the same damn 'Mechs.

I'm reminded of the fact that Community Warfare is a long dead g'damned horse that continues to necrotically devour the brains of developers, consuming resources its userbase doesn't merit in some damnfool Quixotic quest to deliver on a promise Piranha has otherwise long since defaulted on, for whatever reasons.

I'm reminded of the fact that Piranha has gone back to Fortress Republic mode and does not communicate with its playerbase whatsoever outside of a tiny handful of carefully-laundered press statements, and have spent half a year now saying "we'll talk about this at MechCon". (Stricken in acknowledgment of Mark's contributions to the thread. Shows me for responding to an OP without at least buzzing through to confirm an assumption of 'seven pages of salt mining'. Nevertheless):

There was a time I really loved this game. There was a time I was pathetically grateful simply to have MechWarrior again, and was willing to forgive. I forgave. I forgave, and forgave, and forgave, and forgave again, until I woke up one day, reached into the forgiveness bucket, and found out there wasn't really any forgive left to give.

I don't think of myself as a 'bittervet'. I'm just as put out with the Gripsvigils of the world who keep demanding that MWO go down in flames and that everyone who works at Piranha line up for the headsman's block. I'm not going to scream at Piranha for Betraying My Trust™, or tear at the devs for not doing whatever I personally feel is The Only Way To Save MWO(C). Those salt miners really are better off just leaving and letting go.

But me? I'm not a developer, I'm not a business head. I don't know what factors may or may not be driving whatever decisions Piranha makes, and while I may speculate on what those are I'm not going to claim certainty in those speculations. What I will say is that customer satisfaction doesn't seem to be one of those factors. I don't think the game is dead, nor do I want it to die.

I just can't really bring myself to consider it 'alive' anymore, either. It's in the same holding pattern it's been in for a few years now, Piranha is back to being just as bad at dealing with its playerbase as they were in 2013, Tina is completely MIA, and Russ has openly admitted that the two things I want more than anything else in MWO - functional Information Warfare, and a sensible plan for FutureTech - are two things he will never work on.

ironically, I don't play MWO much anymore because every time I do, I'm reminded of the times when it was my favorite game I couldn't wait to get home and play. The fact that it's not anymore sucks. I keep tabs on the boards at work between calls, see if anything interesting happens, and contribute to discussions where I can/feel like because again, it keeps me amused during lulls.

I don't hate MWO. I just can't bring myself to care anymore. Not after the ED boondoggle, not after Russ killed FutureTech. Caring sucks too much.

Edited by 1453 R, 03 November 2016 - 09:10 AM.

[Mark Nicholson]

Juodas Varnas, on 03 November 2016 - 09:03 AM, said:

He's also probably the best player among those bearing the symbol of the Dead Cow.

I play for fun and don't actively try to improve. There's a handful of people around here who would be a tough challenge for me.
However I'm pretty confident I've logged the most hours of play.

[Teslar Kain]

Holy S***! A dev actually interacting with the community in a semi meaningful way?!?... You're toying with my nostalgic heart sir! Keep that up and I may just reinstall the game and start playing again.

[Deathlike]

Teslar Kain, on 03 November 2016 - 09:21 AM, said:

Holy S***! A dev actually interacting with the community in a semi meaningful way?!?... You're toying with my nostalgic heart sir! Keep that up and I may just reinstall the game and start playing again.

I suspect he'll be suppressed soon enough. Every dev (that's not of the big 3) that's around and becomes popular doesn't have much more time left here.

Edited by Deathlike, 03 November 2016 - 10:21 AM.

[Requiemking]

Mark Nicholson, on 03 November 2016 - 08:32 AM, said:

I know that Paul is aware of the issue.
However, I know absolutely nothing about plans for that; they tend not to invite me to design meetings for obvious, practical reasons.

People asking me about Jumpets and such should read the above sentence.

Also, I suspect you guys of posting extra anime memes just for me. ^-^

And yet, they don't feel the need to fill us in on stuff that people actually want, such as buffs to JJs, buffs to Light mechs, more weapons and such, ect. You see why we ask about this stuff constantly to any dev who appears on the forums? Its mainly because anyone who asks Russ, Paul, ect, on Twitter either gets ignored or blocked.

[MischiefSC]

Here's the thing. If there was something big and positive you'll see a sea change from the bitter vets.

Look back 2, 3 years on the command chair posts. Back when there were discussion posts llinked to every post. You'll see all us bittervets white knighting all over. Huge proponents of MWO. The majority of us would *love* to be fans of the game again. However repeated disappointments and broken promises are what made us bittervets. Lost opportunities, neglect, how FW wws handled from beginning to end.

Please. Give us a real excuse to be fans again.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

Deathlike, on 03 November 2016 - 10:21 AM, said:

I suspect he'll be suppressed soon enough. Every dev (that's not of the big 3) that's around and becomes popular doesn't have much more time left here.

Noooo please dont jinx it!

[DiabetesOverlord Wilford Brimley]

Well the Devs are supposed to be busy. We know the art team is always at 200% so if he disappears it's because he's working on the cockpit for the end of the world mech the Mad Cat MK II!

Edited by DiabetesOverlord Wilford Brimley, 03 November 2016 - 11:46 AM.

[kuma8877]

WarHippy, on 03 November 2016 - 08:21 AM, said:

We are not actually as far off in our opinions as you seem to think. Passion is great, a willingness to go the extra mile is great, but your original statement in defense of Mark was that people should go work there and create working content during off hours in hopes that it will be used. If someone wants to go above and beyond on their free time that is their choice, but under no circumstances should it be a requirement to get something done. Getting something done at PGI beyond more mech packs seems to be a nearly impossible task no matter who is working there in the trenches. Advocating someone get a job there and do what actually needs to be done in their free time(because it isn't getting done otherwise) is what is absurd.

Mark and whoever else might be fighting tooth and nail to get things fixed/added, but if the people at the top are not interested or capable of getting it fixed/added for whatever reason they may have it is a waste of everyone's time. Mark more than likely is a a stand up guy, but he is a representative of PGI and all that is associated with it. You may have a problem with lumping him in when people are frustrated at PGI but no matter how you or he feels he is a part of PGI and all that goes with that.

I would agree that we are not that far off. After some thought, it seems we are coming at Mark's original statement from opposite viewpoints. I'm not reading it necessarily as advocating for others to have to go to work there and do free work, but that is in fact what Mark chose to do with his own abilities (not the free work part, the go to work there to make it better part). From Mark's other remarks, I gather, that the game was clearly out well before he began working there, he plays the game a fair amount over the long haul (being tier 2), often can be found in game by the community (verified by the community), and that he takes an active interest in what the forums have to say (but can only contribute in a small sphere of topics).

There's a fair amount of evidence that Mark's original statement, was just describing what he did, and wasn't intended to be condescending or brash in any way. At this point, I would say he's doing a good job of representing PGI, or more specifically, the art dept so far, even despite some negativity along the way.

If we, as a community, remember that when someone from the dev team reaches out to us, the word "developer" isn't an all encompassing term that means they have their fingers in all areas of development, we can be specific to each dev, and what they can help us with. If we understand that someone like Mark only has a certain sphere of influence, and we limit our questions and the issues we bring up to that specific dev, we can successfully recreate bridges with the team members and end up with advocates for the community within PGI rather than adversaries.

We can't ask Mark to comment or do anything about JJ's or damage dispersal, he has no influence there. But he does have some influence in the models and being able to try and push to get some fixes on the patch schedule for us (and himself). We can help give the issues some weight by discussing it with him civilly and specifically here on the forum.

It's easier for him to go to his superiors and say," Hey, the community pointed the issue with this model out to me so I took a look into it. A couple of us think we can get it fixed in a couple of hours (or however long) can we get this on the patch schedule?" than to say, "What about getting JJ's back to being JJ's again...."

If we recognize the dev's as individuals, and treat them accordingly, we will have a much better success rate for meaningful conversation about the product, and advocacy within PGI for community issues.

[DiabetesOverlord Wilford Brimley]

Well I will say I messaged the texture artists about the king crab having a low resolution caution tape texture on the claws.

[Johnny Z]

Deathlike, on 03 November 2016 - 10:21 AM, said:

I suspect he'll be suppressed soon enough. Every dev (that's not of the big 3) that's around and becomes popular doesn't have much more time left here.

Trolls are sneaky bunch. Its like taking a nice walk in the park and stepping in dog ****.

[C E Dwyer]

Rainbow Star Glitter, on 01 November 2016 - 07:28 PM, said:

Mine too, oddly enough.

Everyone will just need to imagine the captions...






\o/

When sh*t happens..it happens big time !

Juodas Varnas, on 03 November 2016 - 08:59 AM, said:

Anime memes? WHY NOT ANIME SCORPIONS?!

This is why there will never be Scorpions in MWO, no sidestrafe button

[Juodas Varnas]

Cathy, on 03 November 2016 - 12:13 PM, said:

When sh*t happens..it happens big time !


This is why there will never be Scorpions in MWO, no sidestrafe button

I'd argue that my keyboard has more than enough buttons for that.

However, if implemented in a way that I think they should be implemented, they would not require any additional buttons (unless they decide to add additional functionalities like going prone).

I believe that WASD would control the mech's directional movement;
W/S - Forward/Backward,
A/D - Left/Right,
while the MOUSE would control the entire mech's orientation (since there would be no torso to twist).

The control scheme itself would be very similar to a traditional FPS.

Edited by Juodas Varnas, 03 November 2016 - 12:32 PM.

[AnTi90d]

Cathy, on 03 November 2016 - 12:13 PM, said:

This is why there will never be Scorpions in MWO, no sidestrafe button

They don't torso twist, so they could have the WASD work as movement in those directions (forward, backward, side strafe) and the mouse x axis set to turn the entire mech.. and give them permanent arm lock.

[WarHippy]

kuma8877, on 03 November 2016 - 11:51 AM, said:

I would agree that we are not that far off. After some thought, it seems we are coming at Mark's original statement from opposite viewpoints. I'm not reading it necessarily as advocating for others to have to go to work there and do free work, but that is in fact what Mark chose to do with his own abilities (not the free work part, the go to work there to make it better part). From Mark's other remarks, I gather, that the game was clearly out well before he began working there, he plays the game a fair amount over the long haul (being tier 2), often can be found in game by the community (verified by the community), and that he takes an active interest in what the forums have to say (but can only contribute in a small sphere of topics).

There's a fair amount of evidence that Mark's original statement, was just describing what he did, and wasn't intended to be condescending or brash in any way. At this point, I would say he's doing a good job of representing PGI, or more specifically, the art dept so far, even despite some negativity along the way.

If we, as a community, remember that when someone from the dev team reaches out to us, the word "developer" isn't an all encompassing term that means they have their fingers in all areas of development, we can be specific to each dev, and what they can help us with. If we understand that someone like Mark only has a certain sphere of influence, and we limit our questions and the issues we bring up to that specific dev, we can successfully recreate bridges with the team members and end up with advocates for the community within PGI rather than adversaries.

We can't ask Mark to comment or do anything about JJ's or damage dispersal, he has no influence there. But he does have some influence in the models and being able to try and push to get some fixes on the patch schedule for us (and himself). We can help give the issues some weight by discussing it with him civilly and specifically here on the forum.

It's easier for him to go to his superiors and say," Hey, the community pointed the issue with this model out to me so I took a look into it. A couple of us think we can get it fixed in a couple of hours (or however long) can we get this on the patch schedule?" than to say, "What about getting JJ's back to being JJ's again...."

If we recognize the dev's as individuals, and treat them accordingly, we will have a much better success rate for meaningful conversation about the product, and advocacy within PGI for community issues.

I mostly agree. I will say though that it is important for those individual devs to also understand why they get pounced on every time they make an appearance. The devs have from pretty early on have had abysmal communication. Desperation for any form of communication has lead to greater and greater frustration on one end of the spectrum, and people willingly going down on their knees in thanksgiving for the slightest of interactions on the other end. Any dev to make a comment is going to get the full gamut of responses because there is nobody else to aim them at.

It is true Mark or any other devs can really only speak about the topic they are involved with, but damn it he/she is probably sitting close to someone that can speak on something that they themselves can't. I know they are busy, but taking 20 min out of a week to answer some questions shouldn't be that big of a deal. Honestly, if you want to talk about going the extra mile and showing you care about a product then talking with your customers about it is the best way to show it, and it creates a lot more good will than silence or snarky comments.

People like to complain a lot about these forums being toxic(compared to most games its pretty tame) so they don't blame the devs for not talking to us. The problem with that is if they did interact more there would be a lot less anger and it would actually give the impression the devs actually care about the game. The more silence there is the more toxic things become. It is a self fulfilling prophecy type scenario.

[kuma8877]

WarHippy, on 03 November 2016 - 01:09 PM, said:

I mostly agree. I will say though that it is important for those individual devs to also understand why they get pounced on every time they make an appearance. The devs have from pretty early on have had abysmal communication. Desperation for any form of communication has lead to greater and greater frustration on one end of the spectrum, and people willingly going down on their knees in thanksgiving for the slightest of interactions on the other end. Any dev to make a comment is going to get the full gamut of responses because there is nobody else to aim them at.

It is true Mark or any other devs can really only speak about the topic they are involved with, but damn it he/she is probably sitting close to someone that can speak on something that they themselves can't. I know they are busy, but taking 20 min out of a week to answer some questions shouldn't be that big of a deal. Honestly, if you want to talk about going the extra mile and showing you care about a product then talking with your customers about it is the best way to show it, and it creates a lot more good will than silence or snarky comments.

People like to complain a lot about these forums being toxic(compared to most games its pretty tame) so they don't blame the devs for not talking to us. The problem with that is if they did interact more there would be a lot less anger and it would actually give the impression the devs actually care about the game. The more silence there is the more toxic things become. It is a self fulfilling prophecy type scenario.

A thick skin for the devs coming back here would be helpful for the first few comments that can come from venting frustration. Hopefully, with the help of some of the team members like Mark, we the community, can collectively take a deep breath, and start to make some room for the dev's that want to be a part of the community. Maybe that helps some of the others come out of their shell too.

These forums aren't that bad for toxicity, you should've been on the Steam DayZ forums for the first year and a half if you think this is bad. At least some folks here have real gripes and reasons to feel angry.

[Jay Leon Hart]

Alistair Winter, on 01 November 2016 - 04:33 PM, said:

"Put a STD engine on your SRM Centurion so you can zombie with medium lasers when you lose your side torsos, bro!"

I, er... still run my Cents with STD engines