348 replies to this topic

[InnerSphereNews]

Hey Mechwarriors!

We have a Roundtable meeting with Russ Bullock to discuss the ongoing development and improvement of Faction Play!

When: Friday, January 27th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 2am UTC

Where: twitch.tv/NGNGtv

[Scout Derek]

Mmm.

This will be interesting. I call upon Taro's assessment of a possible ideal to help supplement Faction Play:

Tarogato, on 22 January 2017 - 09:11 PM, said:

The problem is that this requires a redesign of almost every map in the game. It's too much to ask for.

Even with the Quickplay maps in CW, you have individual lances in different locations, esp. like on Tourmaline, River City, and Frozen City... and each of those are inevitably camped in turn. In fact that ends up just being a strategy... push toward one of the spawns, camp it until it's dead, and move on to the next one.

How do you fix this without making the maps actually larger? Especially the CW maps, which are all in some kinda of bowl or canyon. You have to redesign those maps to accommodate for this. Instead of that... I'd just rather see PGI implement a matchmaker for CW.

You would rate each player individually. And the average of the 12 players represents the team for matchmaking.

The Underline Bolded is the main point of his suggestion to help complement and balance teams as far as players go.

[Javin]

Could we rescale the IS lights to be... light sized rather than larger than most mediums and some heavy mechs?

[Bombadil]

There is a community-lead pre-roundtable discussion going on right now: https://www.twitch.tv/mech_xavier

Will also be monitoring comments, suggestions, and feedback here.

[Wing 0]

This better not be a waste of time listening to mere idiocy like we had last time. There were only a few good things that came thanks to it but most of it was a waste of time.

[Fake News]

you invite any clan loyalists to the group, or are you vonna keep stomping them into star citizen?

[Cy Mitchell]

I listened in for a while but it is kind of a free for all with people talking over one another to the point that it is frustrating to try to follow the conversation/

Who are the community representatives that will be involved in the discussion?

[Bombadil]

If you agree or disagree with what is being discussed, please post your suggestions here. Even if you're not listening, but have suggestions to improve Faction Play, please post here.

[Monkey Lover]

How many loyalist are we going to have this time?
Might be hard to find as they have been basically removed from the game

Edited by Monkey Lover, 24 January 2017 - 07:50 PM.

[Mcgral18]

Could we get an official statement regarding the XL (and general) engine balance?

Because the Patch Notes spiel was pretty weak, being summed up as:

"Clam Battlemechs can feel free to have their superior XL engines, and completely ignore STDs, while Spheroid XLs must pay the death tax to use them"

Quote

of IS XL Engines being provided the same benefits as Clan XL Engines, but in light of the other benefits provided by larger Engine sizes and the massive offensive boost XL Engines can facilitate, such a change is not currently conducive to appropriate XL versus Standard Engine balance

Clam Battlemechs have exactly that choice, often with lighter and outright superior weaponry.
Clams have options with larger, and smaller engine at the 75 ton bracket, and both are top tier. Not all are, see Mr Gargles, but the Battlemechs have the same construction rules as Spheroid mechs, but get all the good tech.

The fact this message completely ignores the current necessity of buffing STD engines is appalling. They compete with Clan XLs at the moment, and it is a COMPLETELY laughable idea to ever consider one on a Clam battlemech.
The XL has no real consequence which is outweighed by the heat penalties, because you still avoid death.


And no, making cXLs die upon ST loss would just ruin the current lineup ranging from GodTier to rubbish. It would also decrease TTK a large amount, while most would agree a slight increase would be nice


Buffing the STDs to not be worthless in the form of +Structure and +Agility (because you sacrifice weight, you often sacrifice engine size, which is directly proportional to your mechs twist speed, and as a result damage mitigation via twisting)

Buff the isXLs in one of two ways:

• sidesToDie=2, cXL method. Easy, simple, still inferior
  
• Buff STs to equal CT, or greater HP wise, keeping ST death. This means they have a greater potential for damage, and have a higher skill floor and ceiling compared to Clan XLs, which would just have the ST penalties (and 60% damage reduction through destroyed components)

STD buffs are required either way, because they compete with cXLs
LFEs coming in won't fix the engine imbalance, they'll just shelve the STDs from ever being used again





TL:DR

What's up with the Patch Notes XL engine post? It completely misses the reality of the game, and ignores Clan Battlemechs.
This is relevant to Faction Warfare, because the XL imbalance (and faction imbalance) is a large part of population differences, as one is seen as more powerful/durable

Edited by Mcgral18, 24 January 2017 - 08:27 PM.

[justcallme A S H]

6 biggest issues.

1. Having people at a round table that are hardly active. People already commenting on stuff they clearly don't understand.


2. Eternal QP / Not enough Invasion. Just QP for 7hrs is driving people away. Look at how the population has dropped off in less than 2 months. PGI will have this data, and I can say that without a doubt, wait times are up and ghost drops are back - Population is down, cause there are still major issues with it

3. Quality of players is disgraceful since 4.1 - If a MM is implemented it should only be after the MM is actually useful and not a EXP bar. Fully redesigned/reset.

MORE DETAILED Match Maker discussion/point

Spoiler

QP PSR cannot be used in FP unless:

1. PSR is reset.

2. PSR "increase" conditions are changed. A win should be worth 50-75% less points that it is now, this would ensure Pilot Skill actually factors into it heavily. This would lead to far less T1/T2 players. Match score to rise should be increase slightly across the board as well.

3. There are T3/T2 players with a avg KDR/Match score of 0.8/150 - Such players should realistically be in T4 and no higher if you can't play at a 1:1 ratio. 1:1 should be T3, so it needs to be much tougher on how it calculates.

4. FP Performance must also contribute to the PSR bar in that instance. If you perform poorly, do less than 250dmg a mech etc you should be punished heavily because you are not a good pilot.

So yeah, apply the MM - But you gotta fix the damn thing first. Right now as long as you win, even if you play poorly - up you go. That simply should not be the case.

4. Domination mode is just pointless/crap. It's too easy for premades to win in 5mins. Skirmish is just a farm fest. Conquest is actually decent

5. Integration to actually help people to group up, currently it's all done out-of-game for the most part

6. Loyalists got shafted. PGI said they were going to do something about it. That was 4 months ago, nothing has happened. This is a massive part of the community that is being ignored time and time again, they are p*ss*ed off and you know what - It's absolutely NOT good enough.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 24 January 2017 - 08:25 PM.

[WANTED]

Agree with the loyalists buffs but NO on mixed drop decks ( clan and IS ) for only Mercs. That will make everyone play Merc even more.

[Gas Guzzler]

Mcgral18, on 24 January 2017 - 07:51 PM, said:

Could we get an official statement regarding the XL (and general) engine balance?

Because the Patch Notes spiel was pretty weak, being summed up as:

"Clam Battlemechs can feel free to have their superior XL engines, and completely ignore STDs, while Spheroid XLs must pay the death tax to use them"



Clam Battlemechs have exactly that choice, often with lighter and outright superior weaponry.
Clams have options with larger, and smaller engine at the 75 ton bracket, and both are top tier. Not all are, see Mr Gargles, but the Battlemechs have the same construction rules as Spheroid mechs, but get all the good tech.

The fact this message completely ignores the current necessity of buffing STD engines is appalling. They compete with Clan XLs at the moment, and it is a COMPLETELY laughable idea to ever consider one on a Clam battlemech.
The XL has no real consequence which is outweighed by the heat penalties, because you still avoid death.


And no, making cXLs die upon ST loss would just ruin the current lineup ranging from GodTier to rubbish. It would also decrease TTK a large amount, while most would agree a slight increase would be nice


Buffing the STDs to not be worthless in the form of +Structure and +Agility (because you sacrifice weight, you often sacrifice engine size, which is directly proportional to your mechs twist speed, and as a result damage mitigation via twisting)

Buff the isXLs in one of two ways:

• sidesToDie=2, cXL method. Easy, simple, still inferior
  
• Buff STs to equal CT, or greater HP wise, keeping ST death. This means they have a greater potential for damage, and have a higher skill floor and ceiling to Clan XLs, which would just have the ST penalties (and 60% damage reduction through destroyed components)

STD buffs are required either way, because they compete with cXLs
LFEs coming in won't fix the engine imbalance, they'll just shelve the STDs from ever being used again





TL:DR

What's up with the Patch Notes XL engine post? It completely misses the reality of the game, and ignores Clan Battlemechs.
This is relevant to Faction Warfare, because the XL imbalance (and faction imbalance) is a large part of population differences, as one is seen as more powerful/durable

[justcallme A S H]

Also - Who is going to the round table this time?


A bunch of people that have barely been active in FP, who don't really know the issues other than 2nd hand information?

Or

Actual people who actively play 4.1?


There was plenty of people in the "MS" pre-meeting today that were discussing a bunch of stuff that was factually untrue/not happening etc. And not being rude to them or anyone attended. But if you're going to discuss issues and problems, you have to at least understand them first.

[AnTi90d]

1.) Solo guys are dropping less. FP's population is in decline, again, and we're seeing ghost drops on both sides.

• Reward all players for each FP match with a pittance of MC to keep them playing, even when the're on a losing streak. 1MC for a loss / 2MC for a win would keep people playing to save up for mechbays / decals.

2.) Invasion goes days, in some timezones, without being played. People do want to play Invasion modes, but they don't want to be locked into them for hours if one side is losing early-on.

• Vote for game-mode -> randomized map -> ready-up screen to select drop decks -> drop

3.) Mercenary should be able to have mixed tech dropdecks, but it should be balanced.

• Mercenary dropdeck of 240 tons / Clan loyalist dropdeck of 250 tons / IS loyalist of 265 tons

4.) Invasion maps still have invincible trees.

• Fix Invasion maps to have trees that fall over.

5.) Loyalists are sad that they've maxed out their reward tree.

• Make a loyalist rank 21 that can be repeated over and over. Something like, "earn 10,000 LP = win X cbills and Y MC."

6.) Alpine map is is terrible in FP / dropzones easily farmed from mountain peaks.

• Remove Alpine from all of FP.

[Fake News]

loyalistz don't care Bout spacebucks.

now that that's over,

we want to shoes which planet we drop on, tagging a planet, special decals, special colors, status Rewards

[Monkey Lover]

Bombadil, on 24 January 2017 - 06:43 PM, said:

There is a community-lead pre-roundtable discussion going on right now: https://www.twitch.tv/mech_xavier

Will also be monitoring comments, suggestions, and feedback here.

haha I will sum this pre roundtable up,

" idea #1"
"reply, no it will not work"
"another idea"
"no it will not work"
"give them cbills"
"yes more cbills"
"agreed we should give more cbills"

[Liveish]

Bombadil, on 24 January 2017 - 07:35 PM, said:

If you agree or disagree with what is being discussed, please post your suggestions here. Even if you're not listening, but have suggestions to improve Faction Play, please post here.

Does it have the numbers to have a match maker ?

Playing from AP can be hard, can we get a clock to let us know how many people are playing ?


Main reasons i do not play CW is

No MM playing 48 - 0 is never fun, long wait times.

Edited by live1991, 24 January 2017 - 08:57 PM.

[Monkey Lover]

live1991, on 24 January 2017 - 08:53 PM, said:

Does it have the numbers to have a match maker ?

Playing from AP can be hard, can we get a clock to let us know how many people are playing ?


Main reasons i do not play CW is

No MM playing 48 - 0 is never fun, long wait times.

There is no way it has the numbers for a match maker. The only thing they could do to help solo would be to offset tonnage like they do in group Q.
Lower tiers get more tons, bigger groups get less and so on.


For what i saw again on the "preround table" They would fix by giving you cbills and a solo board to xp.

Personally i dont think people would take cbills and mechbays to get smashed lol

Edited by Monkey Lover, 24 January 2017 - 09:06 PM.

[justcallme A S H]

live1991, on 24 January 2017 - 08:53 PM, said:

Playing from AP can be hard, can we get a clock to let us know how many people are playing ?

Asia Pacific 100% does not have room for a MM.

I'm doing more and more ghost drops by the week as the population is now thinning because of the influx of lop-sided matches/stomps since 4.1...

Stomps are much worse than FP3 ever was, because 4.1 has brought in a bunch of players that just aren't that good or at the level that FP requires. Said players are getting sick of being beaten 48-12 and thus giving up playing the mode.

So you cannot apply a MM in Oceanic because it'll always be overridden given the low population now the new/shiny has worn off.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 24 January 2017 - 09:08 PM.