2 replies to this topic

[Sasha Volkova]

Hello Mechwarriors

Today I want to talk to you about some serious issues.
More specifically Community Warfare and Merc Units.

So I have been wondering about the balance of CW for quite a while now, and personally I think I may have come up with a possible solution to the problem..
Or atleast a huge part of the problem.

For starters the elephant in the room - the Merc Corps.

Now some of this may be a little harsh, but try to bear with me.
If you are ready, then lets go right into the fray..

Both lore and game wise, it makes perfect sense to limit a Merc Corp so they only work for the Inner Sphere.
Now now, please hear me out here.

From a gameplay point of view, I get that it makes sense to have more options and not be limited from content, just because you decided to play as a Merc Corp.

However from a critical point of view, it makes no sense that a faction would hire or even consider to re-hire a merc unit that constantly changes side in a conflict, since they would be likely to be spies or saboteurs.
Plus as it is right now, it completetely removes the reason for loyalists to even exist in the game.

Now an added bonus of my suggestion, and possibly the biggest factor or reason behind my idea, is that it would limit large Merc Corps, I am looking at you "EVIL" as an example(I have nothing personal against you) and make them unable to jump from side to side, and constantly offset the balance of the game by pug-stomping on Clan one week and then IS the next week, when all the poor IS pilots change to Clan since they are tired of losing every game.

Now what I propose is perhabs a bit of a band-aid solution, and this is just an idea and, is as such, entirely up to PGI to balance out. But something needs be done before CW4.1 dies out, just like it's predecessors.

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So my actual solution, the TL;DR, I suggest changing the following;

- Loyalists gain more loyalty points with their individual factions.
This makes you gain ranks faster than a merc.

- Loyalists earn a weekly payout based on the rank they have within their faction.
This gives you a reason to get higher ranks and also gives you an actual salery for being in an army.
(makes sense since soldiers are not a charity foundation)

- Merc corps are limited to working for the Inner Sphere only, and as such use IS tech.
They are not clans - so why would they have Clan Tech.
(dont hate me)

- Mercs work on contracts instead of having an actual salery, as such they gain a win bonus based on rank.
NOT a battle bonus, since you wont get paid for losing a battle you were hired to win.
(This could be taken further by reducing the pay of merc when they lose, but let's not get unfair or give PGI bad ideas)

Now I know this all may seem rather harsh on Mercs, however I doubt the original plan for Community Warfare was Merc Warfare.

But I really want to hear your opinions on this matter and perhabs some feedback on my proposal.
So, Mechwarriors, what do you think needs to be done to make CW great again?

[Insanity09]

Lore-wise that sounds perfectly accurate, inasmuch as clans would not hire mercs.
In game though, to change that now would cause a few too many problems and be harsh, not to the mercs (who absolutely deserve it, the shiftless money grubbers), but rather to the clans.
Mercs make up too much of the population, afaik, for that to be a good change.

However, I think you are correct that the merc units swapping back and forth between IS and Clan, like the tides, is causing some issues. Perhaps a partial solution there might be to make mercs enter a 'negotiation period' when switching. When they cancel one contract, they can't actually sign another one for a period of time (a day? a week?). During that time, they could still make faction drops (for their previous faction?), but would not get any bonuses, win, lose, or draw, and would not earn any faction rep (basically, for the period between contracts they count as freelancers).

I would agree that only loyalists should get faction points for a loss, and I would say that faction points for both wins and losses should be bumped a tad.

Last note, if we allow that mercs could be hired by clans, it makes a tiny bit of sense that they would also have access to clan equipment. Further, if people will continue to complain about clan vs. IS tech issues, maybe allow mercs to make IS drops in clan mechs?

[Miles McQuiston]

Implement this. If you choose to be clan your stuck with your choice. If you choose to be IS/MERC you are stuck with your choice. In my humble opinion the ability to switch factions should not be permitted or should cost real money like changing your callsign. They need to incentivize loyalty. Large groups would be much smaller groups if everyone had to shell out real money to make the change. Some would be willing but most would not.

Edited by Miles McQuiston, 31 December 2016 - 11:08 AM.