69 replies to this topic

[Tristan Winter]

I wanted to wait a few days before commenting too much on how PGI handled the MWOWC finals, but... well, it's been almost a week.

They only posted an article revealing who won the world championship on Tuesday, and it's fairly inconspicuous on the front page, because it's just a little text and some links. No images or links in the main banner. There's no in-game information or pictures about the MWOWC finals.

The esport thing is turning out to be as much of a missed opportunity as the lore thing, in my mind. You have loads of people who would probably like to help out with this stuff for minimal pay. Doing interviews, taking pictures, posting video highlights, writing articles. I mean, MWO had fairly good player-run tournaments even before PGI got involved. One tournament even had donations and its own website. There's a lot of enthusiasm that PGI could have taken advantage of.

We've been joking about the absence of a community manager, but thought there might be a small chance that the community manager was busy taking care of MWOWC. But even after what is arguably the biggest or second biggest MWO event ever, there's none of the above being carried out by a community manager. No interviews, no articles, no vlogs, nothing.

I understand that PGI is a small(ish) company, but that's why they should take advantage of the community. And highlight the few milestones and worldwide events there are. You know, I've been playing MWO almost every day since 2012. I'm probably in the top 1% in terms of money spent and hours played. I still have no idea who most of the guys in the finals are, except Proton and Heimdelight and a few others. If you want to build an esport, wouldn't you want to promote your biggest "stars"?

I'm not posting for the sake of schadenfreude, it's just a pity that PGI keeps missing big opportunities.

[Zieten]

It would have probably been better to cut a few thousand off the price pool and invest it into more coverage of the event. I was genuinely puzzled that there was no post on monday to let me know who actually won the tournament (i'm european, so i was time-wise ahead..but still).
For the sake of entertainment it wasn't exactly great either that the stream was running only at 780p. You could see what was going on but sometimes it became really blurred.

[Lyoto Machida]

I'm not fully versed in how much reach their marketing actually had but I'm waiting for the usual suspects to try and refute what you said.

[Vxheous]

Zieten, on 09 December 2016 - 01:51 AM, said:

It would have probably been better to cut a few thousand off the price pool and invest it into more coverage of the event. I was genuinely puzzled that there was no post on monday to let me know who actually won the tournament (i'm european, so i was time-wise ahead..but still).
For the sake of entertainment it wasn't exactly great either that the stream was running only at 780p. You could see what was going on but sometimes it became really blurred.

The trick to watching casted MWO matches is to constantly look at the minimap (much like when you're actually playing the game). Watch for the movements of the teams on the mini-map and then look back towards the main screen when the minimap looks like there's going to be some action. It also gives you a better idea how the top teams attempt to exert map pressure.

Their production team definitely failed on showcasing the product though (and I don't mean Bandit and MDM, they were great and professional). The 3 finalists basically walked onto the stage and that was it. No player introductions, no pre-game interviews, no post-game interviews, nothing. It took twinky himself to put up a picture on Reddit with the names of the EmP members next to their faces (it's not my place to link it, you can look it up yourselves). The medal ceremony was unorganized and looked poorly thrown together, the whole thing just felt like it lacked direction.

Edited by Vxheous Kerensky, 09 December 2016 - 02:01 AM.

[chucklesMuch]

I've been a little surprised that there hasn't been much said about it. Officially or on the forums.The games were great to watch - especially the close ones between EON and EmP.

EmP were outstanding.

I thought the callers were very good. (BanditB17 and mdmzero). Their game analysis apt and interesting to listen to.

And there was an amazing lack of interviews, player bios etc... stuff I associate with sports of any kind.

Edited by chucklesMuch, 09 December 2016 - 01:58 AM.

[Zieten]

Vxheous Kerensky, on 09 December 2016 - 01:55 AM, said:

The trick to watching casted MWO matches is to constantly look at the minimap (much like when you're actually playing the game). Watch for the movements of the teams on the mini-map and then look back towards the main screen when the minimap looks like there's going to be some action. It also gives you a better idea how the top teams attempt to exert map pressure.

While this may be an interesting aspect for someone who is well versed in this game, I doubt ppl who did not have much exposure to MWO prior to this event would find it fascinating to watch. They probably came for big stompy robots.
Don't get me wrong, I understand what you mean, but this thread is (at least how i understood it) partly about the fact that PGI missed an opportunity to recruit new players.

[Vellron2005]

I've been waiting for some full coverage, interviews, match clips, statistics, analysis of strategies and mechs used... but alas.. just a small announcement about how it played out..

That's the difference between the big guys.. and whatever PGI is..

[Vxheous]

Vellron2005, on 09 December 2016 - 02:04 AM, said:

I've been waiting for some full coverage, interviews, match clips, statistics, analysis of strategies and mechs used... but alas.. just a small announcement about how it played out..

That's the difference between the big guys.. and whatever PGI is..

Exactly this. I watch a lot of League of Legends NA LCS, and the events look and feel like watching a football game on TV (I get that Riot Games has a HUGE budget vs PGI). I mean look at this video of TSM vs C9 in the Summer finals and how professional it looks (I'm not encouraging you to actually watch the game, just skim through the video to various points to get an idea of what true professional esports broadcast looks like, especially the first 20mins)

Edited by Vxheous Kerensky, 09 December 2016 - 02:11 AM.

[Johnny Z]

Going to get no love for this from some other players, but when I seen some players yoloing straight into Kodiaks at the World Championship, lets just say I was not impressed. Couple other serious mistakes to. Was not impressed all the teams only chose Canyon Network also. Couple other things to.

Overall team quality may have been lacking. Easy for me to say though. Although I wouldn't have spammed Canyon Network like that for sure.

I think it was run really well and the announcers were good to. The medals were a nice thing to.

The red and blue color over lay is not to nice looking. Shouldn't the mechs have team colors instead?
Minor complaint I guess.

Edited by Johnny Z, 09 December 2016 - 02:44 AM.

[-Vompo-]

Vellron2005, on 09 December 2016 - 02:04 AM, said:

...and mechs used...

Not much to talk about there.

[Peter2k]

You know there is a full article on the final matches

EON vs EmP right?


The strategies MechWarrior Online's best team used to become world champions

Quote

Before the match even started, when both teams had chosen their mechs, EMP noticed something odd. For the past two rounds, EON had a total tonnage of 500, but for this final round it had jumped up to 520. Without being able to see which mechs they'd be piloting, EMP Heimdelight tells me the team quickly ran the math and figured the most likely scenario was that EON had opted for two Griffin medium mechs fitting short ranged missiles

https://twitter.com/...911426287669248


It's just this weird thing that no one bothers to post it on the own homepage but uses Twitter
EXXLUSIVLY

Edited by Peter2k, 09 December 2016 - 02:50 AM.

[Tristan Winter]

Peter2k, on 09 December 2016 - 02:42 AM, said:

You know there is a full article on the final matches
EON vs EmP right?
The strategies MechWarrior Online's best team used to become world champions
just this weird thing that no one bothers to post it on the own homepage but uses Twitter
EXXLUSIVLY

I'd never seen that article before, because I don't use Twitter very much and I don't go around on PCGamer.com looking for stuff like that. One would expect to find MWO news on the MWO website, generally.

Oh well.

[Vxheous]

Peter2k, on 09 December 2016 - 02:42 AM, said:

You know there is a full article on the final matches

EON vs EmP right?


The strategies MechWarrior Online's best team used to become world champions





https://twitter.com/...911426287669248


It's just this weird thing that no one bothers to post it on the own homepage but uses Twitter
EXXLUSIVLY

Yeah, I really liked the post coverage in print, and PGI should showcase the post coverage more. All this stuff had shown up on the outreach HPG reddit by Monday, but not a single mention here.

[Johnny Z]

World Champion announcers.

[PhoenixFire55]

And yet still ... MechPack^TM > PUG > Comp.

[Bud Crue]

This thread gets at the core of much of my frustration with this company, not as a gamer (this is the only game I play) but as someone who wants to see them succeed, because my hope is that if they are truly successful, they might then invest more into their sole product, that I enjoy, and perhaps someday make it as good as they once advertised.

But it really does feel sometimes like they are going out of their way to try as hard as they can to avoid success or utilize the tools they have at their disposal to increase their chances of economic and social success.

Case in point, the article from PCGamer cited above. It ought to be plastered all over this place, and then all over every gaming blog/vlog they can find. The CM ought to be sending emails to every community member who has such a blog/vlog, every member with a unit page, etc. asking nicely if they would post that article, as well as the recently published interview that Russ gave just before mechcon, etc. But they don't. They have FREE publicity here...free GOOD publicity (as opposed to the BAD publicity that went around following the team logo fiasco)...why are they not touting it? Why are they not shouting from roof tops about this?

This sort of thing is PR 101, and yet every time an opportunity like this comes, they let it go by without comment. I find that lack of initiative just as frustrating as their random nerfing of non op mechs. I just don't get it...and of course because they never bother to explain or justify their conduct, much like in the case of those random nerfings, it just makes it all the more bewildering. I suppose it just another example of "they know best".

Edited by Bud Crue, 09 December 2016 - 04:22 AM.

[Appogee]

Posting an article about the finals on the web page would require effort.

Interviewing the players and posting bios would require effort.

Post-match media engagement would require effort.

PGI doesn't do "effort".

That sounds cynical, but it's true. It pervades their whole approach to developing, patching, road maps, balance changes, server issues. It's all slow, it's most often reactive, and if it happens in the evening or on the weekend ... well it can just wait til Monday morning.

After Mech Con, I think they all went home and caught up on all the naps they missed during the week leading up to the event. Or gave themselves a week off.

Either way, it's just one squandered opportunity after another. As a passionate Mechwarrior and hugely-invested customer, it just breaks my heart.

Edited by Appogee, 09 December 2016 - 04:32 AM.

[DoctorDetroit]

MWO really needs to be streamed in hd or you cannot really see what is happening.

Also could they have screened that Q and A better. The people that asked questions were very bad at communicating to say the least. Several just rambled and didnt even ask a question.

Edited by DoctorDetroit, 09 December 2016 - 04:36 AM.

[Hunka Junk]

Lemme get in my licks here and then I'll try to be constructive.

I think they thought esports was an easier way to go because they don't have to finish their still-in-beta-after-four-years-game.

That didn't really hold true. It was a lazy, ill-planned excursion into something that they were completely out of their depth at handling competently. Mostly at the initial stages in terms of organization, but there is really no excuse that, tuning in daily to this website, I had no idea or updates that this grand event was even happening.

Now, to be constructive. How to do it better:

-Going to the special forum provided you with all the info, but no one goes to said forum except for those involved. It should have been splatted everywhere. I shouldn't have been able to make it to the forums without clicking off amazing announcements of MWOWC derring do.

-Taking Starcraft and CS:GO as examples, what you see in typical esports coverage is from a player's POV with additional game views. The special view offered by the tournament software turned the mechs into blobs of blue and red. Even at 1080p, that wouldn't have been much to watch.

-90% of what I learn in the game is from watching better players after I'm dead. Me and a lot of other people could have learned a lot from watching the top people from their cockpit view. Their loadouts. How they used terrain. How they managed heat. How they moved as a team in cockpit view (cuz I might not be out of position so much if I were watching the game from a skycam).

-Replay. Let me go back and watch every one of those players from the view they had. Let me study their actions. Likewise, have the commentators rewind back to key points that they thought determined the match.

-Map choice. I understand that some maps were left out of competitive play, but the maps that were allowed should've all been included. The teams should've been forced to play them all

-Stats. If i can see my own pathetic Madstats with how bad I am with a weapon, I wanna see the stats of pros playing pros. Nothing pleases me more then watching some dude miles above me miss with a dual erppc shot. It's the same joy I get when Federer double faults.

-Color. What I definitely learned is that, to be pro, I need to work on my username and what i wear while gaming. A guy named Twinkey with a serious headband pretty much carved up the whole mech world. what about that other dude with the near afro (halfro?)? I wanted to see interviews with these people (I also wanted to see interviews with the 11 or so people sitting at those tables in cam view that I watched for 9.5 hours).

-Fun. The winning team flattened their competition. The end of that should've been to send that team to the 1v1 servers to carve each other up. Ideally, a FFA, but we don't such a thing now, do we?

Uh oh. I just felt sodium.

I'll stop here.

Edited by Hunka Junk, 09 December 2016 - 04:46 AM.

[Bud Crue]

Appogee, on 09 December 2016 - 04:32 AM, said:

Posting an article about the finals on the web page would require effort.

Interviewing the players and posting bios would require effort.

Post-match media engagement would require effort.

PGI doesn't do "effort".

That sounds cynical, but it's true. It pervades their whole approach to developing, patching, road maps, balance changes, server issues. It's all slow, it's most often reactive, and if it happens in the evening or on the weekend ... well it can just wait til Monday morning.

After Mech Con, I think they all went home and caught up on all the naps they missed during the week leading up to the event. Or gave themselves a week off.

Either way, it's just one squandered opportunity after another. As a passionate Mechwarrior and hugely-invested customer, it just breaks my heart.

I'm sorry for this I really am), but your whole post struck me as an effective series of mottos for this game as it historically seems to operate.

MWO: We don't do effort.

MWO: Slow, Reactive, and it all happens on the weekends!

MWO: It'll wait till Monday.

MWO: May as well take a nap.

MWO: One squandered opportunity after another.

MWO: It just breaks my heart.