31 replies to this topic

[Asym]

I was thinking that I'd like to play Clan, Inner Sphere and Mercenary accounts and participate in the events in each catagory. Right now, I can't do that with one account.

Many players do this by creating alternate accounts: one clan, one IS and one mercenary. Why?

Why not firewall a single account and let you chose which partition you are using and that way, all benefits from events are in one "player bank" versus three... It would be a lot simplier this way and a whole more efficient when leveling new mechs.... I know players who have more than three accounts..... No wonder we really don't know how many players are in this game.

Of course, you'd have to purchase the mechs but at least, you'd have a single account that would allow you to play "both sides" for events or, just for the fun of it. The academy could only be used once.....

I wonder if this is a good idea or a bad idea?

[El Bandito]

MWO should've enabled multiple alts per account. I know a lot of people like to play each faction separately. Perhaps then we wouldn't have as many merc units oppressing FP. But as usual, such feature is but a part of "hopes and dreams".

Edited by El Bandito, 07 November 2017 - 09:55 PM.

[Shifty McSwift]

Different pilot slots, and pilot specific skills. It's a nice thought IMO.

[arcana75]

Basically a player account with character slots. Will require an overhaul of the current login and account system?

[Jackal Noble]

Can someone honestly answer why this is not possible? Because it frigging should be.
No, not a convenient excuse, but an actual rational explanation.
Otherwise it's akin to cutting ones self off from potentially more revenue. Mistakes were made.

This one is about as good as the coder taking the key with him so switchable ammo is not possible.

[Bilbo999]

They should have done it five years ago. Never gonna happen at this point.

[Appogee]

Asym, on 07 November 2017 - 09:01 PM, said:

Why...

PGI want you to have to buy multiple separate Mechs.

/thread

[Tiewolf]

Shifty McSwift, on 07 November 2017 - 10:02 PM, said:

Different pilot slots, and pilot specific skills. It's a nice thought IMO.

Exactly that! Get rid of the skill tree for mechs and skill faction bound pilots that you can exchange between mechs. That would be great and give a bit of flexibility back to try new builds.

[arcana75]

Appogee, on 07 November 2017 - 11:17 PM, said:

PGI want you to have to buy multiple separate Mechs.

/thread

If it's a single sign on account with multiple characters, each character profile could own the same mechs across character profiles, if players choose to do so.

Actually it's already semi-doable/done, cuz we all have a User ID, a string of seemingly random characters, you can see it in our Forum Profile, and then we have a separate email sign-in. What PGI needs to do is create a higher-level login based on either the User ID or a new ID, which links all the email sign-ins players have created for themselves.

For mech packs and similar stuff like mech redemptions, the main account would redeem it/buy it and the purchases go into an Inventory, which we can withdraw from and assign/apply to specific character accounts. So if players choose to do so they can buy multiples of mechpacks, then assign to their various character accounts.

Tiewolf, on 07 November 2017 - 11:27 PM, said:

Exactly that! Get rid of the skill tree for mechs and skill faction bound pilots that you can exchange between mechs. That would be great and give a bit of flexibility back to try new builds.

A Mech-specific skill tree (a Mech Familiarity Tree as it were) plus a Pilot specific skill tree (Pilot Experience/Skill Tree) pls. We don't need to choose between 2, let's have both.

Edited by arcana75, 07 November 2017 - 11:38 PM.

[Asym]

Appogee, on 07 November 2017 - 11:17 PM, said:

PGI want you to have to buy multiple separate Mechs.

/thread

Actually, i think mech sales would go up simply based on the convenience of having all of your mechs in one account.
You could seperate the account like " Asym-C, Asym-IS, Asym-M1,2,3....., Asym-BR, Asym-team name....

[Nicodemus Rosse]

I've been mulling something like this over a lot recently, because I think it'd solve several problems at once if done right, especially if there was a concurrent change in how matchmaking and FW worked to create matches, and how being a loyalist or merc worked in practice.

The problem being, at this point it looks like there's a snowball's chance in hell of MWO getting any major revisions to how accounts, faction loyalty, FW, QP, or matchmaking work. Little tweaks, sure, but a full overhaul? Not in the cards.

It's a fun thought experiment at least. I've got a whole system figured out that'd resolve wait times maybe, faction loyalty, mercs' effect on balance, the various MM bucket issues, having multiple accounts, and the weird arbitrary division between FW and QP, plus a mechanism for mixed tech. I might write it up to get community feedback—there's zero chance anything like it'd be implemented, but I'm curious what people would like or hate about it and why. I've done a fair amount of design for physical games (one was even published), and there are a lot of ways the MWO experience could be improved that are less about code and game assets, and more about player experience and good design. Tabletop design principles don't always map well to digital games, but still.

[Dogstar]

Appogee, on 07 November 2017 - 11:17 PM, said:

PGI want you to have to buy multiple separate Mechs.

/thread

Except you don't - you buy IS mechs for your IS account and Clan mechs for your Clan account, adn if you have a merc account you only buy the meta mechs for FP - and probably with C-bills anyway

So PGI don't gain _anything_ by having things this way.

/threadopen

[Jay Leon Hart]

It would certainly help folks with 2 accounts who don't qualify for the Ultimate Reward from the Rewards Program.

[Steve Pryde]

El Bandito, on 07 November 2017 - 09:54 PM, said:

MWO should've enabled multiple alts per account. I know a lot of people like to play each faction separately. Perhaps then we wouldn't have as many merc units oppressing FP. But as usual, such feature is but a part of "hopes and dreams".

If it would be possible, I would play Kurita on IS and Jade Falcon on Clan side. Playing since beta and have tons of mechs for both factions and the point to make an alt account for one faction only is just "too late".

[N0ni]

APB does this with character slots where you can have as many Criminal or Enforcer characters as you want on your account (2 Free slots with the ability to buy more off Armas). All your account wide purchases would go to all characters and character-only purchases only go for that character.

Can very well do something like that with mech packs, giving you the option of a full priced account-wide pack or a cheaper pilot specific option while ALSO having an option to buy more pilot slots if you so desired (C-Bills being separated per pilot, MC being able to use on any).

Not that i really care for the idea to begin with (because i'm content with having everything dumped onto one main account as it is now), i don't see why it can't be done.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

This is already doable by players, just creating new accounts.

Yes, it would be nice, but what would happen to FP loyalty point rewards? And many other things. It's better PGI keeps their resources to more important stuff.

Edited by Teer Kerensky, 08 November 2017 - 01:27 AM.

[Nema Nabojiv]

Its all well and good, but making faction switch instant and painless is much much easier from technical standpoint. Units though, well, if you dont join and leave unit very often you r good with alt account.

[El Bandito]

Nema Nabojiv, on 08 November 2017 - 01:32 AM, said:

Its all well and good, but making faction switch instant and painless is much much easier from technical standpoint.

That's exactly the opposite of what PGI is trying to achieve.

[Nema Nabojiv]

El Bandito, on 08 November 2017 - 01:38 AM, said:

That's exactly the opposite of what PGI is trying to achieve.

Given how smooth the last faction event worked out with the lack of people to form faction on faction invasions, they trying to achieve the wrong thing.

[Asym]

Dogstar, on 08 November 2017 - 12:36 AM, said:

Except you don't - you buy IS mechs for your IS account and Clan mechs for your Clan account, adn if you have a merc account you only buy the meta mechs for FP - and probably with C-bills anyway

So PGI don't gain _anything_ by having things this way.

/threadopen

Actually, I've talked to several on our team that have "several" accounts to do specific things. Convenience is the deliverable and happy players are more prone to buying. PGI gains because it can now "see" a whole player whereas they never have seen all 5 or7 accounts some players have. That data can help PGI do "directed niche sales" to specific teams or players....

We gain covenience and flexibility and PGI gains a better understanding of "the whole player's" habits and buying decisions....