26 replies to this topic

[Monkey Lover]

Pat Kell, on 22 December 2016 - 10:58 PM, said:

So let me get this straight, as a merc, we do a good job for our employer, capture a few planets and then once the contract is up, we have to switch sides...and lose our tags on the planets and the MC that comes with all the hard work you put into it? Yea, that seems fair. And this point is honestly one of the least important concerns of the ones I have read. no thanks. People should be able to play what they want.

Mercs shouldn't even get tags on the planet. The employer should. Planet tags should only go to loyalist. Mercs are only about the cbills.

Edited by Monkey Lover, 23 December 2016 - 09:12 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Quote

My apologies, Tarl Cabot, but I have to shoot your proposal down as well. This idea of yours would place too much unwarranted harm against all those small Merc Units and Solo PUGs, and ultimately cause them all to want to leave MWO if they're not hyper-nostalgic lunatics.

I expected it to be shot down but do remember PGI has set this up for failure. The proposal though is really only partial solution, a segment, a stopgap in a similar manner as the tonnage difference. It is not meant to be the only solution. To make merc unit, be it one-person unit or 100-person unit decide whether or not to stay merc or go loyalist, and that is where your proposal is another segment.

Of course it is base that could be built off of. The initial CW contracts were much longer in length but just about everyone and their dog shat their pants about it, which then PGI reduced the minimum contact from a month to a week. The Clan contract length could be changed to two weeks vs IS one week, etc. The one thing though, it does not appear that PGI will get actively involved, except via coding, in an attempt to "encourage" merc units to balance out. Very few really want competition in the actual game. What they want though is to win, even if it is an "easy-seal club/just how devastating can it be" win. Sounds familiar, single player action, GOD codes, read other players strategies on how to defeat an AI opponent?

But as some should notice, a number of the posts is about me/me/em and not the overall effect mercs themselves, the moving population is having on this game mode. It is about the closest PGI has gotten to initial CW expectations but it is still a very long way off from being done.

Again, for this proposal, which is only a segment of suggested changes, I would actually change the contract lengths of the current setup to Clan contract of 2-weeks before having to take a minimum IS contract of 1-week. At least this segment will keep merc rotating instead of staying in one place while gorging themselves on the seals that are disappearing. At the same time many of those merc units are not dropping as 12-man, allowing those that do drop with them to see how they operate, tactics, etc. It won't help everyone but there is a huge difference in dropping in QP with mixed mechs vs dropping in an environment where is it Clan VS IS tech.

[Sjorpha]

It's very hard to do anything with the incentives now that there are only 2 sides of the conflict, and forcing people to do stuff is kind of off putting as well.

I was hoping for some more complexity where the relation between loyalists and mercs were more player driven, so that loyalists had a hand in offering contracts to mercs and had more incentive and resources to offer good contracts when they were underpopulated.

A faction with enough players already might not even be interested in offering any contracts to mercs.

Incentives really have to be in the actual gameplay and affect what happens in the game, external rewards like cbills and MC that does nothing for a rich player are not something you can use to really motivate the best players.

[naterist]

mercs need to lose the ability to tag planets, and instead get mc upfront when they sign on. mc is based on how good they are, with a x2 multiplier if the contract is with the side that lost the last time.

the urge to keep planet tags is what i think is hurting the urge for mercs to switch it up on a normal schedule. now its based on their wins and their rankings. also, add in a boost in rankings if they fight and beat a merc unit ranked higher than them, so their base and therefore ftotal mc winnings go up if they seek out that competition.

boom, mercs will be spreading out in an attempt to face the best and get even more mc. ideally youd max out a contract with the oportunity to win 10mc a day, and mc is payed 50/50 to the pilot and merc unit, and only payed when the person plays a fw game that day, so you have a personal reason to play tech sides you dont like, and the unit has a reason to peer preassure you into making the unit leader money (a merc unit IS a business after all, employees gotta make the boss man his $$$, or in this case mc.)

tl:dr, dont put in hard limits that feel like a slap in the face to mercs, give them genuine incentives to do what pgi wants them to do, proposal a) is above

[Pat Kell]

Monkey Lover, on 23 December 2016 - 09:11 AM, said:

Mercs shouldn't even get tags on the planet. The employer should. Planet tags should only go to loyalist. Mercs are only about the cbills.

Right, we choose to be mercs, therefore we should be denied the ability to get MC like loyalists....another fair sounding option. I like the way you guys think. Exclude half the population or more because they are doing things that you don't like, AWESOME.

naterist, on 23 December 2016 - 01:26 PM, said:

mercs need to lose the ability to tag planets, and instead get mc upfront when they sign on. mc is based on how good they are, with a x2 multiplier if the contract is with the side that lost the last time.

the urge to keep planet tags is what i think is hurting the urge for mercs to switch it up on a normal schedule. now its based on their wins and their rankings. also, add in a boost in rankings if they fight and beat a merc unit ranked higher than them, so their base and therefore ftotal mc winnings go up if they seek out that competition.

boom, mercs will be spreading out in an attempt to face the best and get even more mc. ideally youd max out a contract with the oportunity to win 10mc a day, and mc is payed 50/50 to the pilot and merc unit, and only payed when the person plays a fw game that day, so you have a personal reason to play tech sides you dont like, and the unit has a reason to peer preassure you into making the unit leader money (a merc unit IS a business after all, employees gotta make the boss man his $$$, or in this case mc.)

tl:dr, dont put in hard limits that feel like a slap in the face to mercs, give them genuine incentives to do what pgi wants them to do, proposal a) is above

This I think I can get behind, instead of looking to punish people into spreading out, he is searching to incentivize the move...may need flushed out more but it's thinking in the right direction.

[MacClearly]

Tarl Cabot, on 20 December 2016 - 09:15 PM, said:

Posted this in a long thread and decided it could use its own thread. Adding - This proposal is meant to be on a segment of changes to be considered. It is not meant to be the only item to be reviewed.

Okay, after further thought and consideration – and to use KISS principle/coding for PGI. Keep the current 1-week contacts with one exception. Mercs cannot renew/run consecutive Clan contracts. Merc units will have to take at least one IS contract before obtaining a new Clan contract.

Revised.

• Clan contract length 2-week, non-consecutive.
  
• IS Contract length 1-week, renewable

Post discussing the change. https://mwomercs.com...ost__p__5542424



If PGI modifies it, at the time of implementation PGI can randomly set which of the active, vet merc units get a by initially to renew their Clan contract for one more week. All other mercs whose contract runs out for the Clans will not be able to obtain another CLAN contract immediately, said merc will have to obtain an IS contract for at least a week.

previous proposal

Spoiler

Force units that want to stay mercs play both sides of the fence but with different contract lengths and boundaries. Any monetary-wise, whatever PGI believes is appropriate.

• Contract-wise, Clan stint is set for 2-3 weeks max while breaking a contract has 1-week penalty.
  
• A Clan contract with previous or other Clans can not be renewed after just finished one. Clans do not really use mercs, so Clans like to keep it short and to the point then get rid of them, or merc unit leaves before a Clans decide to absorb them.
  
• Merc unit would have to go IS for 4-5 weeks. Breaking a House contract incurs 2-week penalty.
  
• When IS contract ends merc unit can renewal IS contract with current or another House (for a shorter stint but coding may be a pain) or can get a new short Clan contract, again for only 2-3 weeks. Contract ends, back to IS for 4-5 week stint. If a unit really wants to stay Clan, they should go as loyalist.
  
• Loyalist desertion - 1.5-2 week penalty.

The only other way I can see PGI getting some footing on how mercs move around would mean PGI would have to actually get involved, work with most of the active merc units and have them voluntarily route so that it is more merc unit balanced for each side.



Noted in his post at near to bottom of the first page, DV Devnull's link for other changes that could be considered and implemented. Again, it is not the only items, nor does it address the tech differences, the reason many mercs do go Clan most of the time but with the flexibility to change to IS when PGI does their tonnage changes. Though it is not working like it did before because of some of the more recent Clan mechs, which still works well within an organized teamplay scenario vs more pugs/seals than not.

No. I would be more on board with there being no mercs for Clan and only loyalists. Even then, players should be free to change and move about albeit with penalty like there is now.

[LordNothing]

the reduction to 2 side system kind of makes contract selection pointless, just choose the side with the highest bonus, unless you actually care who you fight for or dont care about score or something like that.

each faction would simply have a merc budget, which can only support a certain number of units/players. if one side is saturated with mercs, then there should be no slots open at all. people who want to keep a particular faction banner really should be loyalists anyway. merc budget would also mean that factions with more loyalists will have less money for mercs. you can get rid of the bonuses, since they wouldn't mean anything at that point.

free trade down also needs to be a thing. if a player wants to move to an inferior faction, then that move should be penalty free. no 25% hit to loyalty, no desertion/probation penalties, no cbill fees, none of that crap and the switch needs to be instant. switching up will still cost you.