32 replies to this topic

[Mole]

My favorite 'mech of all time has been in the game for a while. I've always loved the weird and unique way the Crab looks. And I'll be a son of a gun, the thing actually turned out to be a really decent 'mech to pilot too. So much so that my Crab was my medium 'mech of choice for competitive play back when I used to still play CW/FW/FP. But I still get excited about new 'mechs. I don't see why people are so damn salty about a new 'mech a month. I mean, wasn't that one of PGI's original promises? A new 'mech each month? Seems to me it's one of the few promises they kept.

Edited by Mole, 02 December 2016 - 04:23 PM.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Bombast, on 02 December 2016 - 11:07 AM, said:

My 'favorite' fluctuates, but the top three are the Catapult (Probably most often my favorite), the Zeus, and the Awesome. So... yes. No. 4 and 5 aren't though (Champion, Dervish). No 6 (The Bushwacker) is coming soon. Don't buy mechpacks, and the few mechs I'd like added are unlikely to make it, at least anytime soon. But this thread is a bit of trap - No one's really against frequent mechpacks when you get down to it - People just feel like the rush for easy cash (Mech Packs) is having a detrimental affect on the game as things like poorly balanced maps, infrequent new maps and map fixes, and near non-existent FP improvements are strangling it. I almost guarantee that if people felt like those things were being addressed, they wouldn't give two shits about the frequency of mech packs. But many feel they aren't, so they do.

Your 100% on the money here. The reason people are complaining about mech packs isn't because they don't like them, they are complaining because meck packs are the only content that PGI seems to be adding to the game. If PGI was doing regular content updates like adding a map a month along with those Mech Packs plus adding new features, game modes and generally were improving the game at an equal pace to the Meck Pack releases, then no one would be complaining.

[ice trey]

My favorite mech, the Thug, is not in the game, no.

However, I'd much rather throw money at them for making new game modes, making CW interesting enough that bucket reduction isn't needed, and more content to make the lore have greater relevance.

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking this game might already outnumber the mech count from any of the previous mechwarrior titles. What we really need is to bring all the mechs to tier parity, so that we're not looking at the top 10% of mechs being played into the ground, and the other 90% being hangar queens for all but the tier-5 players.

Edited by ice trey, 02 December 2016 - 06:20 PM.

[TheArisen]

Gas Guzzler, on 02 December 2016 - 11:25 AM, said:

I support the additional mechs added at a rate of 1 mech a month. Variety is good. That doesn't mean that is the only thing I want coming out of the pipes though.

This point should get it's own thread. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the disconnect between Pgi and the players was this simple?

I'm sure they do try and even please some but as others have said, mech packs are cool and I'd buy them but I'd really like other features added to the game. Fix FP, introduce a PvE campaign, Solaris, new weapons and defensive equipment, melee, etc, etc.

My favorite mech isn't in the game, the Templar. My second favorite, the Nightstar, has gotten a bit of forum support but we'll see. The Banshee is in the game and I love it very much.

[Jun Watarase]

As long as people keep buying mechpacks, PGI will never feel the need to actually add new features (re-working CW, etc). Why bother, when they can just focus on mechpacks which require a much lower investment of time and money?

Companies pick one of several strategies for their product lines. E.G. A company might try to aggressively expand their market share. This generally means a focus on R&D (so that you actually have something better than competitors), marketing to increase sales/brand awareness, etc, etc. The downside to this is the high cost since you are expending lots of money on that (not to mention, putting in the manpower hours to achieve all that).

Then there is the strategy to just maintain market share...the top guys decide that selling the same amount of units every year with minimal changes is just fine as they are still making a profit. This is commonly used by smaller businesses, like your neighbourhood discount store or family owned supermarket. They are not looking to go national or make it big, they are fine with the status quo. That's basically what PGI is doing.

[Snazzy Dragon]

Blood Asp is my favorite mech next to the Timber Wolf/Mad Cat (I never much cared for the MKII though). The Mad Dog/Vulture is a close second for the clans. Thunderbolt, Phoenix Hawk (I don't play them in MWO because of scaling issues.. :/), Black Knight, and Axeman are my favorites from the IS side.

Edited by Snazzy Dragon, 02 December 2016 - 06:56 PM.

[Mole]

Jun Watarase, on 02 December 2016 - 06:53 PM, said:

As long as people keep buying mechpacks, PGI will never feel the need to actually add new features (re-working CW, etc). Why bother, when they can just focus on mechpacks which require a much lower investment of time and money?

I think we're at a point now where if people stopped buying mechpacks and PGI realized it was either develop the game further or abandon the project, they'd just abandon the project unfortunately.

Edited by Mole, 02 December 2016 - 07:12 PM.

[JediPanther]

I've been happily using the Catapults since closed beta I can make them do things you'd have to see to believe like being shot up so bad my percent was down to twenty with yellow and red limbs every where.

I'm also a decent like mech pilot so the two and half years or so since any new light has been added(and I'm not counting the clan heroes since they are from an existing mech and not a new mech) has me agitated. I'm also one of those who are in the mech pack camp simply because while pgi's art dep can pump out mech after mech like an automated donuts factory very little is added to the game in every other way.

Unless we get a hard set firm date for lam mechs or a new engine upgrade by dd/mm/year at mechcon this weekend I'm pretty much done spending money on mwo except for a gift mech or two for my brother. He loves the wolf ® and has it tricked out to be a very efficient ach light hunter. New re-works of things we already have,half-assed attempts,hot fixes and things like the mini map and long tom don't cut it any more for me. Pgi needs to only add features after they have thoroughly been played and tested for a very long time.

I'd happy spend all of 2017 on the pts if pgi said we are doing pts testing of new ai npcs and player controlled reinforcements but we want to spend all year testing and patching the bugs out so play the pts as much as possible so we can launch it in game on dec 23/2017 at 10am est. I'd spend money monthly if that ever happened. I think the best investment or announcement pgi could make is "we are switching over to a new game engine on dd/mm/end of 2017."

[KoalaBrownie]

Yes and yes.
My favourite mech is probably the Marauder and its derivatives, so it's already in the game. There are room for more favourites to be added, like the Dragon Fire, etcetera.

I've only bought a single mech pack, but at the time I bought it not 100% for the mech but to get Premium Time because I got sick of the relentless grind. If another mech comes along and I run out of premium time, I could throw another 20 bucks at it. Nothing on the horizon right now and other games are taking my attention away from MWO anyway.

People who are opposed to mechs each month I think don't understand the genre. This is a free to play game, and surviving means bringing in regular money. Compare this to a game like League of Legends, where there are dozens of heroes which have been released over the years. Similarly, heroes are put into rotation for people to try out or you can purchase them for cash/currency. It's a proven formula which leads to a long-lasting and successful game. It's worth noting that despite the overwhelming success of LoL, it also has less maps and less game modes than MWO does.

If PGI were to stop mech packs and start developing other content/features exclusively, then there is the possibility for player interest to diminish and thus the player base. And once the player base gets low enough, then a game like this goes into what's called a Death Spiral where the lack of players compounds the disinterest of those still playing until eventually, no one except the very keenest diehards are still going and the game is effectively dead.

One will also notice that events for this game are often featured around new mech releases. The events promote the use of the mechs and promote people playing as well. Without new content coming out, will those events be as regular? Will they become more sporadic and people will gravitate to other games?

If you as a player don't like mech packs fine. Don't buy them. But it's a very dangerous road asking to stop mech packs for something else.

Edited by KoalaBrownie, 02 December 2016 - 08:51 PM.

[CycKath]

1) No - Guillotine
2) Yes, I support every Inner Sphere.

[HauptmanT]

Yes my favorite is in the game. The Vulture/MadDog is my beloved. In all of it's Glass Cannon glory!

The next mech I want to see, wasnt really a favorite of mine, but it is needed in game. The Firemoth/Dasher.

As far as my real favorites... I'm torn. They are the originals. The ones marked "Unseen" now. Sure now we have the Battlemaster (ok job) Phoenix Hawk (ok job) Rifleman (looks great) Warhammer (wtf is that? So wrong!) Marauder (great job) Locust (excellent job, looks better than the original!) ShadowHawk (good) Griffin (wrong!) Wolverine (wrong!) Archer (good) Thunderbolt (good to great)...

So seeing the Longbow, Wasp, Stinger, etc... Are they going to ruin them since they must change them?

Future mech packs, yes I enjoy them. It gives me an option, to toss in a little cash, to keep the lights on, and get me 3 very cheap mechs. $20 for 3 Kodiaks? Shut up and take my money! With an MC cost of 6k each, that's $90 not even including mech bays. Sure I could grind them out the old fashioned way, but at 1 mil c-bills an hour (average-ish) that's a lot of time investment in-game... or an hour out of game. Want those Marauder II-Cs? Well grind out 40 million c-bills (40 hours) or spend an extra hour of overtime? Hmmmm.... I dont know... hmmmm.... what should I do? Shut up and take my money!

By the way PGI, start accepting Steam bucks if you want more of my money. $9 extra charge on a target card is ********, and no I wont get robbed by no bank just to buy some mechs... or will I?

Edited by HauptmanT, 02 December 2016 - 09:26 PM.

[Valdarion Silarius]

1. No, not yet at least. Still waiting for that Rifleman IIC.

2.I'm hoping that one of the announcements at mechcon, would be something like an IS/Clan mech for each month starting after December. I don't like waiting a whole month just because it's the IS turn and vice versa for the people that feel the same way about clan mechs. And I don't want to hear the typical "small business" excuse. They could pull it off if they really wanted to.

To answer your question, yes if it's only clan. The only possible thing I could look forward to coming from the IS mech side is probably the Fafnir. The IS does have some nice tanks however....Alot prettier than most of the clan tanks.

[BearFlag]

No favorite. New to BT through MWO.

I do believe that the mech-a-month business model will lead to bankruptcy. I have plenty of mechs and a boatload of c-bills and MC. Why do I need (to pay for) a chassis that is distinguishable only in appearance? PGI runs the very real risk of saturating the market for mechs and of having no backup plan. Judging from many forum posts they may be nearing that horizon.

I warned of this back when the mech avalanche started. You can't run this model indefinitely with geometry changes and buff/nerf cycles to attract buyers. It contributes to power creep and makes obsolete (read unsellable) old mechs. Who's going to buy a Victor? But there SHOULD be reasons to buy the venerable Vic.

Back then I suggested they should make mechs distinctive by giving them character, even role. I called it "Quirking for Character." The idea was to impart uniqueness by giving a family distinguishing quirks and/or integral modules and/or integral weapons. You could just add to a mech or you could use a buff/nerf approach. Big buff here, big nerf there to really give him a strength/weakness profile.

I didn't know lore so I used mech names as inspiration. Maybe the Quickdraw family all have crazy fast torso turn. Maybe the Shadow Hawks all have radar deprive. Maybe the Firestarter and Dragon have integral flamers. You get the idea. Make mechs with family unique qualities (competitive would be nice too). Keep all mechs pertinent, sellable.

If it worked they could ramp down mech production a bit and switch some resources to, I dunno, developing the game. They really need to diversify their revenue stream too.

Edited by BearFlag, 02 December 2016 - 10:45 PM.