26 replies to this topic

[Tarl Cabot]

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.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 23 December 2016 - 11:20 AM.

[Tiantara]

- Such restriction bad for game where players fight with players. I'm merc. I change side if possible really often. Because I getting bored of one type mech or another every 2 week. If i have restriction - I go to QP or go offline until I get ability to choose side again. If there even for both side I'm glad to play for both. Because I'm also happy to test new builds, mech or strategy. Better add small side called MERC and give them specialization of faction mech they use and put them in conflict between clan and IS.

[Spheroid]

I very much support this idea. For some reason being a merc is the path the riches where in lore you were basically a slave to a nation state(as it should be).

PGI using their hand of God could manually set all the contract lengths to desync mercs and still have a higher active player base since discouraged pugs outnumber elites by a huge margin.

Freelancing pays garbage and so you either get with the program or retire.

[Tarl Cabot]

Okay, I have modified my proposal to keep it simple for PGI and company.

[Hobbles v]

Bad idea let people play what they wanna play. The more you restrict people playing a game, the less likely they are to stick around.

[Tarl Cabot]

Hobbles v, on 21 December 2016 - 04:47 PM, said:

Bad idea let people play what they wanna play. The more you restrict people playing a game, the less likely they are to stick around.

It is a slight restriction, but if it gets mercs rotating back and forth then PUGS may not feel overwhelmed/used and spit out and actually stick with FP. Without pugs and most merc units on Clan side 90% of the time, there will be nothing to fight except ghost drops.

MWO does NOT have the population for at the large active, vet/elite segment of the player base to stay on one side of the Mason-Dixon Line in FP or else it becomes a ghost town again, where there is only one or two battles occurring. This is especially true if PGI is going to rely on ACTUAL programming, okay a facsimile of programming.

[Hobbles v]

Tarl Cabot, on 21 December 2016 - 05:58 PM, said:

It is a slight restriction, but if it gets mercs rotating back and forth then PUGS may not feel overwhelmed/used and spit out and actually stick with FP. Without pugs and most merc units on Clan side 90% of the time, there will be nothing to fight except ghost drops.

MWO does NOT have the population for at the large active, vet/elite segment of the player base to stay on one side of the Mason-Dixon Line in FP or else it becomes a ghost town again, where there is only one or two battles occurring. This is especially true if PGI is going to rely on ACTUAL programming, okay a facsimile of programming.

Restricting contracts will hurt new players too. Especially ones that want to play clans. Many of the can't afford enough mechs to play both sides with a proper deck. And just like the vets, being forced to play a side you don't want to play will make them leave as well. They are actually probably less loyal to mwo and more likely to bail.

This idea is still stupid.

Edited by Hobbles v, 22 December 2016 - 09:11 AM.

[FallingAce]

Problem is that there are many loyalist units posing as merc units to farm the merc reward tree.

A roll back to phase 2 contract system where mercs were rewarded based on length of contract and loyalist were actually rewarded for being loyalist would be a good start.

[Commander A9]

Why not?

Why should mercs be restricted from sticking with a single faction for more than a week? To curtail Clans' progress?

But now that the newest iteration of Faction Warfare is involved, what's to stop people from jumping between Clans rather than Clans-to-Inner Sphere?

[Monkey Lover]

Hobbles v, on 21 December 2016 - 04:47 PM, said:

Bad idea let people play what they wanna play. The more you restrict people playing a game, the less likely they are to stick around.

Pgi been to nice to mercs basically giving them everything . Mercs are paid to do what they're told to do. they should be 100% restricted because they're not free but are well paid.

Mercs should be limited of course Cbills should be increased to balance this.

Edited by Monkey Lover, 22 December 2016 - 10:58 AM.

[Commander A9]

Why?

We're all mercenaries in the end.

That and...why do you want to punish mercenaries for the success they've achieved?

Don't blame mercs for playing the game as it was presented to us-blame PGI for designing it that way if you feel it's flawed.

[naterist]

is it the mercs fault for taking advantage of the situation

yes.

is it their resposibility to worry about it?

no.


pgi is more at fault, and it looks like they have an eye one fixing it, but its understandable people are looking at the mercs because thats the face of the problem.

[Pat Kell]

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.

[Bradigus]

People seem to keep forgetting that there have always been and still are more inner sphere loyalists and pilots than there are clan pilots.

This sort of contract enforcement would lead to weeks of overwhelming numbers for inner sphere which clog up queues. There are more IS factions that people remember compared to clan factions, IS has a shorter barrier of entry due to lower initial prices which further inflate faction numbers, and the vast majority of battletech fans are avid fans of inner sphere houses. The population, while not participating to the new FW/ CW/ FP, hasn't really gone anywhere but into the quick play queues. Were PGI to organize another Tukayyid event, you would once more see more than twice the amount of IS players in queue compared to the clans, as was with the two previous iterations of that event.

[xX PUG Xx]

If a unit is doing well, tagging planets, getting all tht glorious MC (yes sarcasm)....then why not become a Loyalist unit for that faction? I think what a lot of us have missed, not thought about or ignored is that doing well for a Faction should be rewarded and IF the Loyalist rewards were sufficient it would encourage both doing well AND being loyal.

The system AS IT IS rewards Mercs better than being loyal but if PGI were to change that system, would this discussion/arguement be happening or would units choose a side and reap those benefits? Or would they remain Mercenary to maintain the freedom to move faction every week and choose which type of tech they want to use from week to week?

Perhaps there should be a greater reward for Loyalists to offset that lack of freedom.

[Mochyn Pupur]

FW doesn't need anymore restrictions. It needs better ways of involving all players when they want to join in the rich atmosphere created around the BattleTech Universe. Each time CW/FW has been fixed, more people become disillusioned and leave, or you end up with vast disparity in faction support and the player base dries up. Ease of moving between clan/IS or factions made for a more dynamic player experience. As is the case at the moment, with so few strongly participating IS Loyalists, there is a reliance on PUG drops, rofl stomps and new players not keeping up with FW or probably looking for another game format to play.

The recent move to straight forward IS v Clan in FW is so far from the original concept, it is almost derisible. IS fought IS and Clan fought Clan using mercenary forces to take best advantage of an unstable period, this still needs to be reflected in MWO.

[Myantra]

xX PUG Xx, on 23 December 2016 - 01:44 AM, said:

The system AS IT IS rewards Mercs better than being loyal but if PGI were to change that system, would this discussion/arguement be happening or would units choose a side and reap those benefits? Or would they remain Mercenary to maintain the freedom to move faction every week and choose which type of tech they want to use from week to week?

Perhaps there should be a greater reward for Loyalists to offset that lack of freedom.

That is exactly what is needed. The loyalist rank rewards are nice, but they are insufficient to motivate someone to remain or become a loyalist and give up the freedom to move around as a merc. My unit has had CSJ contracts long enough that we should be loyalists, but there is no good reason to change over.

I suspect some of the active FP merc units would consider moving to loyalists if there was a tangible bonus to it. Personally, I would like to see loyalist C-Bill payouts substantially increased, and maybe even greater rewards. I would like to see something similar implemented for mercs per contract if they actually move to a faction where they are needed. No punishment for merc units that want to maintain contracts with a specific faction, just an incentive to move around as needed for those willing to.

[Albino Boo]

Myantra, on 23 December 2016 - 05:31 AM, said:

That is exactly what is needed. The loyalist rank rewards are nice, but they are insufficient to motivate someone to remain or become a loyalist and give up the freedom to move around as a merc. My unit has had CSJ contracts long enough that we should be loyalists, but there is no good reason to change over.

I suspect some of the active FP merc units would consider moving to loyalists if there was a tangible bonus to it. Personally, I would like to see loyalist C-Bill payouts substantially increased, and maybe even greater rewards. I would like to see something similar implemented for mercs per contract if they actually move to a faction where they are needed. No punishment for merc units that want to maintain contracts with a specific faction, just an incentive to move around as needed for those willing to.

You are aware that the merc rank rewards are less than the loyalist. The reason why a lot of high end players are mercs is because they already have rank 12 in the loyalist factions. People did the mech bay tour in the past and have nothing left to get. When you have 100+ mechs and 100 million + cbills in the bank, the motivation to play isn't the rewards but to win. All these pie in the sky plans forget that the win is primary motivation of the competitive players.

Edited by Albino Boo, 23 December 2016 - 07:48 AM.

[D V Devnull]

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.

On other related notes, some time back, I came up with a BluePrint which I call "10 Bullet PointsTo Repair Faction Warfare" (https://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/230053-things-that-would-make-faction-play-better/page__view__findpost__p__5224643)... Unfortunately, PGI has only implemented maybe about 10% of it, and the rest has fallen by the wayside. If they did implement all the parts of that BluePrint, then I think MWO would easily have 25+ Years of Extra Life in it, but that's just my opinion. As it stands right now, the current state of MWO makes me think it will be dead in about 3 years maximum, and my calculations for a "Casual Player" put the game at 34 years to complete all the paths. That kind of kills off anyone trying to be a Completionist of MWO. Hey, maybe some of you could go give my ideas a read and maybe add a Like as well?

~Mr. D. V. "Not really trying to be someone 'tooting their own horn', as the adage goes..." Devnull

[Monster Ultra Zero]

****, Mercs should really be used for population balance, if nothing else.