9 replies to this topic

[Ruar]

I played this game back when it was released. I didn't play for long though but I'm back now and really enjoying what I see. I wanted to take some time to talk about my experiences since returning and offer up some suggestions.

If it helps to understand my point of view, I've played all of the Mechwarrior games since MW2 was released. I spent several years playing World of Tanks, and while I was never great I did manage to get some above average/good ratings. I've played FPS games since Rainbow Six was released.
I don't remember much about the matches I played at release. Trying to use LRMS and not having fun. Fighting in a volcano and overheating a lot. Serious issues with match balancing causing almost every fight to be one sided. Which means I'm essentially a brand new person to the game who has understanding of the Battletech universe and Mechwarrior, but no real experience with the game.


So on to the here and now.

Academy-
I liked the training even if it was a bit bland. Having the ability to use the mechlab to try different builds is needed. I discovered this when I tried the turret shooting challenge and found none of the medium and heavy mechs was setup for long range heavy hitting. The mixed weaponry of various ranges was frustrating so I eventually gave up on the turrets.

I did the gauntlet as well but since there seems to be no way of winning and no real reward I didn't see the point. I didn't bother with the cored challenge because it just seemed like doing the gauntlet again but this time with no center armor.

I think the challenges need some kind of benchmark to show progress as well as some kind of reward to make doing the challenges fun. As things stand they are mostly boring and there's no real way to see if I'm trained enough to join real battles.

Testing Grounds-
This is a cool feature that needs some work. Being able to see the different modes and where the points, capture circles, etc are located would be a huge help. Having some of the target mechs just run in a circle or follow a preset path would be nice as well. While exploring the maps is neat it quickly proves to be boring because I don't know where objectives and spawn points are without actually going into matches. When I go to the matches I don't really know the maps because I don't know what to pay attention to in the testing grounds without knowledge of the game. Kind of a catch-22.

Additionally there REALLY needs to be some way to test a build from the mechlab without actually having to pay anything. I spent a lot of c-bills trying different setups that didn't work, something I could should have been able to check in the testing grounds for free. At the least some kind of monthly cap on testing ground funds to encourage micro-purchases would be reasonable.

Trial Mechs-
These are neat, but I find they are very limited. I have only played IS mechs and I've played both lights, the Crab, and the Grasshopper. I found I like the long range mechs but I saw no reason to attempt the brawler designs. Ultimately I think the trial mechs are up for too long. I wish they rotated weekly so I could experience other builds and options. I bought three of the four mechs I tried, but now I'm stuck waiting for the next set of trial mechs to see what else works for me. I think if there was more frequent rotation you'd see more purchases being made.

Mechlab-
The mechlab is both fun and frustrating all at the same time. Why do I have to switch to the weapon group page when I could easily assign groups from the loadout screen? I get that you guys want people to spend money but constantly switching modules and cockpit items is annoying.

Not being able to click on double heatsinks, ferro-fib armor, or endo-steel because I don't have enough c-bills makes no sense. I can mount weapons I can't afford, but I can't click on those buttons. Let me see what the changes look like so I can plan what upgrades I want to make.

Another item is the fact I can't choose which slot a weapon gets mounted on when there are multiple mount points. I have to move the weapon order around, go to the testing grounds, and then go back to the mechlab to get the right weapon on the right spot. A great example is the Grasshopper with it's high and low mounted laser points. I want my long range lasers up high but there is no way for me to designate how they are mounted. If I only put one energy weapon in that torso then the weapons are mounted down low. I have to put two weapons into the torso and I have to put the long range lasers in second to make them be up top. That's a lot of steps to get my mech setup and a lot of frustration for no reason.

Camo is nice if way too expensive. If camo was 25-50MC I'd buy a lot of it. However with the current price I might buy one or just go without because it only applies to one chassis instead of all of them. Alternately, double the price of a camo pattern but make it available to all mechs.

Cockpit items are especially annoying as there is no indication that once you purchase something it isn't available for all of your mechs. Seriously... I have to buy new speakers for every mech because you want to incentivize micro-purchases. Here's a thought... make the items about 50MC and I'll buy a bunch of the ones I like. But at the current costs I'm only going to buy one and stick with it because it costs too much to buy a bunch. Alternately if you let a one time purchase be equipped on all mechs I'd buy several different options. As things stand though I'm not going to be spending MC on items because they are just too expensive for how tedious it is to move back and forth between mechs.

Drop Decks/Faction Warfare-
I finally figured this out, but there needs to be some kind of introduction to faction warfare. At the least there needs to be better hint tips to explain what is going on with drop decks and faction fighting. I've played one whole faction match which was entirely one sided and I don't see much of a reason to play anymore matches. The fact the opposing team can simply sit on the drop point and kill the reinforcements as they come in is poor design. That's all I have to say on faction warfare though since I did only do one match.

Statistics-
My experience from World of Tanks taught me statistics both matter and are not important at the same time. I was glad to see a built in statistics tracking system, but I was let down with what I saw was available. I tend to play support mechs and skirmish fighters rather than brawlers and front line heavy/assaults. This means I don't get a lot of kills but I do put in some damage. However assists are not tracked, only kills. Does this mean the game is focused around kills and assisting isn't important? I looked at the forums and saw that I shouldn't really worry about my K/D but instead focus on how I can best help the team win. I wish the statistics reflected this mentality.


Gameplay-
The actual matches are generally fun. Escort needs some some work because being the attacker is not fun in the majority of matches. Turrets, ECM/RADAR towers, ECM on VIP, and the armor on the VIP all combine to make the defenders job very easy. In fact the only way I've seen the defenders lose were when the VIP took a path that left him in the open for a long period of time. This forced the defenders out of hiding and allowed long range weapons to be used on the VIP. Overall I dread seeing escort pop up as an option.

Conquest isn't that great either because it favors fast builds and it's just a matter of luck on how the matchmaker configures the team. I think capturing a point needs a bigger reward as it can take you out of the fight and cause you to have a low match score. So completing the objective actually punishes you.

Domination(the one with the circle in the middle) is pretty nice but the capture point needs to be adjusted on some maps. Putting the point on the top of a hill is a bad idea because it favors whichever team was blessed with LRM boats. The point needs to have plenty of cover and approaches so that short and long range builds are equally effective.

In general the fun maps are the ones with a lot of cover mixed with a few areas of long sight range. The worse maps are the ones that are just wide open with no cover once you start fighting. The open maps end up favoring mechs with more armor and long range weapons. Which would be fine if we could select a range of maps before we hit the play button, but we can't. So you end up with a brawling build on a long range, open map. Yay for getting pummeled by LRMs, PPCs, Gauss, ACs, and Lasers as you try to close the distance. Yep, that was fun.

ECM-
This deserves it's own block. ECM is so strong for skirmish fighters and so rare on IS mechs. I see so many clan mechs running around with ECM and almost no options as an IS pilot. I finally had to download Li Song Mechlab so I could figure out which IS mechs even have the option of running ECM because clicking on every single variant in the store got old quickly.

I don't think ECM is overpowered, I just think it needs to be available to more mechs. By more mechs I mean all of them and then let us figure out if the tonnage is worth the return. Then again I reckon if every mech could mount ECM we would see it everywhere which means there's a problem somewhere. That somewhere being LRMs.

LRMs-
These things feel a lot like artillery on World of Tanks except the LRM boats at least have to stay in range of other weapons. LRMs are why ECM is used so often. LRMs restrict movement on the map and force entire teams to adjust how they play. Which means LRMs are more powerful than any other weapon in the game.

Finding a solution is difficult though because multiple factors contribute to making LRMs so strong. I think the problem with LRMs is they work the same way for every mech which means the mechs that were built as designated fire support (Archers, Catapults) don't really have a role. What I'd like to see is LRMs only having the homing function on certain mechs and certain builds. Still allow any mech to equip LRMs but if you aren't an LRM specific mech then you can only do dumbfire and indirect (next paragraph) mode. Artemis would only be able to be equipped on the LRM specific builds and NARC/TAG would only work for the LRM mechs. This means the amount of homing missiles is reduced and makes choosing an LRM boat a risky proposition because everyone would know who is providing fire support.

I would also provide an indirect fire mode that can be used by all LRM equipped mechs. In direct fire mode the LRMs would take a shallow path directly to the target. In indirect fire mode a small circle would appear on the ground that shows where the missiles are aimed. This would allow the circle to be placed on the backside of cover but it would be some guess work. The missiles wouldn't fall precisely on that spot but would spread out some to impact an area. This would help negate the ability of mechs to sit behind cover and peek, but it would require some skill on the LRM user to get the rounds in the right spot. This would also allow movement to have importance when under LRM attack.

The last thing I would do with LRMs is reduce the number of shots per ton of ammo. This would force a mech to choose to be dedicated to LRM use or have them as simply a support option for certain circumstances. It would mean you couldn't sit in the back and blast away for half a match only to emerge with enough lasers to do even more damage. Either commit to throwing LRMs and have only weak secondary weapons or have strong primary weapons with LRMs as weak support.


That's it for now. Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

[SuomiWarder]

On the stats I would love to see two things. One, have a last 6 months and total lifetime. Can't tell if you are getting better without benchmarks that are timed based. Two, an assist counter that only counts mechs you did at least 40% damage to before it went down.

[RestosIII]

I agreed with most of what you said, but dear lord please don't make everyone have ECM, and especially don't nerf the crap out of LRMs like you're proposing. They're a feast or famine weapon currently, and the changes you proposed would just make them plain terrible to use. We really need MW:LL's LRM system IMHO.

Oh, and I believe that ECM should only increase lock times, not completely block lock-ons like they do currently. Guardian ECM/=/Angel ECM, PGI.

Edited by RestosIII, 29 December 2016 - 01:06 PM.

[Lostdragon]

On ECM... if it were available on all mechs, virtually all mechs would take it. It is the most powerful piece of equipment for the weight that you can get. The IS have a dozen or more mechs spread across every weight class that can carry ECM, so there are a lot of options but some of the ECM variants have less desirable hardpoints or other drawbacks. The clans have a bit more flexibility because if a variant has ECM you can tack on that omnipod and use it on anything, but you usually have to give up some weapon hardpoints from other omnipod options for it.

Giving ECM to all mechs would mean it gets equipped 99% of the time, and I don't think anyone really wants that. It is simply too powerful not to have some kind of drawback or sacrifice.

[Bud Crue]

RestosIII, on 29 December 2016 - 01:00 PM, said:

I agreed with most of what you said, but dear lord please don't make everyone have ECM, and especially don't nerf the crap out of LRMs like you're proposing. They're a feast or famine weapon currently, and the changes you proposed would just make them plain terrible to use. We really need MW:LL's LRM system IMHO.

Thought the exact same thing. Great comments OP, but I think you are a bit off on the IS ECM collection. We have several mechs in each class that can run ECM. I think rather than give it to more mechs, I think I would rather see it on fewer, but that ship has sailed.

[Ruar]

Bud Crue, on 29 December 2016 - 01:06 PM, said:

Thought the exact same thing. Great comments OP, but I think you are a bit off on the IS ECM collection. We have several mechs in each class that can run ECM. I think rather than give it to more mechs, I think I would rather see it on fewer, but that ship has sailed.

I don't play the heavier mechs and finding a medium IS mech that mounts ECM was a challenge. Cicada, two Phoenix Hawk, and a Griffin. That ain't much.

If ECM is truly so strong then maybe it should be reworked some. I'm honestly not sure since I'm still so new, but I know I like playing as a skirmisher and ECM is pretty much required for that style of play. Sadly there are so few options for IS.

[RestosIII]

Ruar, on 29 December 2016 - 01:11 PM, said:

I don't play the heavier mechs and finding a medium IS mech that mounts ECM was a challenge. Cicada, two Phoenix Hawk, and a Griffin. That ain't much.

If ECM is truly so strong then maybe it should be reworked some. I'm honestly not sure since I'm still so new, but I know I like playing as a skirmisher and ECM is pretty much required for that style of play. Sadly there are so few options for IS.

Well, there's also Radar Derp. I hate that it exists, but it's a module that makes it so that people lose locks/targeting data on your as soon as you leave their LoS. That helps skirmishes a good deal.

[Orville Righteous]

Running the gauntlet cored is trying to teach you to torso twist. That's the point of the exercise. I agree, I wish there was an achievement for doing it. It's a very important skill to learn. I wish I was better at it.

The camo patters can be purchased as 'one-shot' camos. They're pretty cheap (75MC for most I think). The one shots are one camo pattern per mech and if you change it, you lose it, but that's why it's called a one-shot. The non-one-shot camos are available on all of the same chassis mechs, forever. Events let you earn MC to buy the one-shot camo patterns.

Cockpit items can be moved from 'mech to mech. They have events where you can earn cockpit items (mounted, hanging, etc.). I've never bought a cockpit item.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the stats page. Play the game however you like. Your stats will get better and then plateau as you play more. I wish they'd show KMDDs as well as kills.

[Tibbnak]

I think we could give ECM to all mechs if it was Guardian ECM.

Guardian ECM could be given as an option for most mechs.

Guardian ECM counters Artemis IV systems, the ability to share targeting data with friendly mechs, and counters NARC. It also counters BAP's range extension and terrain/obstacle penetration, but the user of the BAP is aware that something vaguely in range is countering the BAP.

Guardian ECM does not affect streak and standard guidance; only Artemis.

Angel ECM could be limited to specific mech variants, as it is an experimental suite first developed by the Clans.

Angel ECM counters most forms of guidance and detection in addition to doing what guardian does. Basically how ECM is implemented right now. Streak missiles can be fired at Angel ECM units but they can only be dumb fired.

Edited by Tibbnak, 29 December 2016 - 01:18 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Allowing Streaks to be dumb-fired in MWO would be ridiculously powerful. Nay, I say.