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Making Loyalists Appealing


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#1 Will9761

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Posted 29 January 2017 - 07:27 PM

As a loyalist, there should be ways to make that lifestyle more fun. Two of the ideas I thought about was improving rewards and adding RPG elements.

Faction Rank Rewards:
These are the types of reward that faction loyalists should earn for free based on rank. Now if a player wanted to bypass these rewards by paying for these cosmetics then that is fine, but for those who want to work hard for these rewards, it should be an option.
  • Faction Colors - Faction Colors should be rewarded to players who are able to get to a certain rank in their faction to use freely on their mechs like Steiner Colors or Liao Colors.
  • Faction & Unit Decals - Should a player reach a certain rank, they would receive decals based on both the faction and their various units. The more the player advances, the more prestigious the unit decals will be. For example Rank 3- House Steiner Decal, Rank 5- Lyran Regulars, Rank 10- Lyran Guards, Rank 20- Lyran Royal Guards.
  • Faction Skin Unlocks for Faction Specific Mechs - Should a player reach a certain rank, they will unlock faction skins for certain mechs of that faction. For example, Rank 15 in House Kurita would give a Kurita faction skin unlock for all Dragon mech variants, while Rank 18 for House Steiner would unlock a Steiner Skin for all Zeus mech variants.
RPG Elements:
These are a few elements that should make each faction feel unique. If an individual chooses a faction out of love then that's ok, but factions should be more than just "Choose a faction and stick with it." Instead, each faction for the IS and Clan should have their own identity to make them interesting.
  • Faction Leaders - As a Loyalists, they should be immersed in the lore of each IS and Clan faction through Role Play. After all, regardless of what FW is, it is still catered to the lore of the Clan Invasion and the 10 factions we have now. Faction leaders should be implemented as NPC portraits in the FW screen. It actually does make players feel like they are fighting for something on behalf of their faction and leader with their own identity. I would personally love to fight for an Archon, Coordinator, Khan, etc. They could appear to offer us rewards and let players know about certain events that are happening in their faction.
  • Event Briefings - If there is an event that has a sub-faction vs sub-faction battle in it, there should be briefings about who we are fighting, the targets we need to get and why. That way, it will make FP feel more like a campaign instead of a generic FP match. Also to add on to this, depending on what faction we are with, we can learn the perspective of our faction leader's goals.
  • Faction Rivalry Bonus - Every faction has a rival: Wolf hates Falcon, Davion hates Liao, Marik hates Steiner, etc. So it would be nice to double the faction loyalty points for loyalist who defeat units or players that stem from their rival's faction. So if a Davion player killed a Liao player, they would earn 2x "Rival Bonus" for that kill. The more rival players defeated, the more loyalty point boost you get.
  • 2x Loyalty Event Bonus Multiplier - Another alternative for loyalists to participate in Faction Warfare events. Whether you win or lose an FW game mode during an event, everyone in the opposing factions will earn twice the loyalty points compared to common FW games.
  • Factional Mech Pride - If you are in a certain faction and pilot a mech made in your faction, you should get extra loyalty points rewarded for doing so. For example, if you pilot a Kodiak and you come from Clan Ghost Bear, it could count as a "Pride Bonus". Perhaps the more Faction mechs you have in your deck, the more loyalty you will earn.
Miscellaneous:
These are features I wish was in faction warfare. They are not game-changing, but it would be nice to see.
  • Dropship Commander Speeches - If you are a loyalist of a different faction, your dropship commander would say different phrase based on who you are with. For example, if you were with Clan Smoke Jaguar, the dropship commander would say, " This is Clan Smoke Jaguar Fleet Command to all warriors on the field, pounce on your enemies with the fury of the Smoke Jaguar and show these freebirth scum no mercy!"
  • Faction Colored Dropships - Depending on which faction you are supporting, each faction would sport their own dropship skin.
  • Customizable Unit Banner- Although MC on planets is a good incentive for units, the tag needs to mean much more than bragging rights. If a unit captures a planet, the leader should be allowed the right to customize the unit banner using the colors and decals they have paid for. A coffer price should be enough for the change. So whether you are a lore-based unit or a custom one, that should give you a good incentive to play. The Unit Banner will only be lost if another unit takes over your planet, causing you to get it again. At least it would get people interested in checking out FP. Now I am aware that some unit commanders will use this system to create offensive imagery, but we are adults here. If you see some doing something like that, just take a picture and report them.
But that is just about all I could think of for now.

Good start so far, but this is some critiques of how I feel about making loyalist appealing:
  • Faction vs Faction Events - It's good to see some IS vs IS and Clan vs Clan events happen, but we still need to have a rivalry-like reason to fight other than, "I'm doing this just for the rewards" like other mercenary units. It would be nice to have something akin to the old Comstar Intercepts.
  • Faction Rewards - Faction colors and decals are good choices, but they should still be default Loyalist rewards for people joining the factions. Mechs are a nice touch and could be this games salvage.
  • The in-game event system works well, but still, it would be nice to add some RPG elements to make you feel like you are serving that faction. It would be a whole lot better than having the CoD mindset of this game being an FPS with a mech skin.

Edited by Will9761, 03 February 2018 - 09:04 PM.


#2 Guile Votoms

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Posted 31 January 2017 - 02:43 AM

I was really surprised when I saw that the faction rank rewards are not actually faction items like banners, warhorns, logos, or patters, but completely random ones like soda cups, hamster weels and lucky cats. Definitely get's a +1 from me.

It would also be nice to have faction internal hub areas that display animated scenery that represents the house or clan, so we don't only get to see the mechlab.

You could add a faction chat area, a notice board where you can leave public messages for MC (unit recruitment posters, for example) and maybe even a shop with items that you can only aquire as a loyalist of a certain rank.

Edited by Guile Votoms, 31 January 2017 - 02:43 AM.


#3 Will9761

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Posted 04 February 2017 - 08:45 PM

I agree, the rewards we have right now are lackluster and though MC and C-bills never hurt, loyalist rewards leaves much more to be desired.

Edited by Will9761, 04 February 2017 - 08:51 PM.


#4 C E Dwyer

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Posted 05 February 2017 - 08:19 AM

Yes they're currently pretty weak.

Another typical P.G.I thing.

Rush a product into the game less than half finished, with place holders, then turn the announced rewards into things to buy for MC, a year late, and make the soda pop cups the de facto rewards

#5 Kael Posavatz

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Posted 05 February 2017 - 04:14 PM

The original rewards were put in when the only faction content available were the loyalty point buff medallions that were handed out to IS factions as part of the Phoenix Project.

It took PGI what, 24 or 25 months to say, "oh, we need to do something for loyalists?"

Well, aside from Phase III's change where there actually are loyalists. As originally implemented everyone was a merc, just some would change factions and others did not.

#6 Will9761

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Posted 12 February 2017 - 02:54 PM

Still it would be nice to have the feeling of being a loyalist. Killing rival players of a faction and NPCs would still be a nice touch instead of having factions being bland.

#7 Johnny Z

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Posted 12 February 2017 - 06:20 PM

Some guys that hopped factions got a lot of rewards, but guys that didn't get a lot fewer rewards. Simple, and not really fair.

#8 naterist

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Posted 15 February 2017 - 02:49 PM

View PostGuile Votoms, on 31 January 2017 - 02:43 AM, said:

I was really surprised when I saw that the faction rank rewards are not actually faction items like banners, warhorns, logos, or patters, but completely random ones like soda cups, hamster weels and lucky cats. Definitely get's a +1 from me.

It would also be nice to have faction internal hub areas that display animated scenery that represents the house or clan, so we don't only get to see the mechlab.

You could add a faction chat area, a notice board where you can leave public messages for MC (unit recruitment posters, for example) and maybe even a shop with items that you can only aquire as a loyalist of a certain rank.


this. yes.

#9 Will9761

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Posted 26 February 2017 - 10:10 PM

Updated to show a few new ideas.

#10 Will9761

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Posted 22 June 2017 - 06:35 PM

bump

#11 Will9761

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 03:01 PM

bump

#12 InvictusLee

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Posted 17 September 2017 - 03:30 PM

I'm all for this.
give mercs a reason to pick a side.
Then find a way to balance out between uberpopular factions.

#13 TheFallOfTheReaper

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Posted 18 September 2017 - 12:13 PM

All the win will, and even our resident german, with his efficency, upvoted you :3

#14 Insanity09

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Posted 19 September 2017 - 05:37 PM

Loyalist points spendable on faction related things: colors, cockpit items, mech variants (that -K often means a Kurita variant, for example), etc.

#15 InvictusLee

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Posted 20 September 2017 - 03:41 PM

I neeed loyalist rewards in my lifeeee...

#16 InvictusLee

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Posted 21 September 2017 - 04:28 PM

bump

#17 Will9761

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Posted 24 September 2017 - 09:25 AM

The loyalist side of FP needs to be fixed.

#18 Will9761

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Posted 03 October 2017 - 06:06 PM

Another problem with loyalists is that only die-hard lore people will go towards that path, compared to the guy who thinks that the symbol is cool. As with the former, they know about the factions through Field Manuals, Handbooks, and Sourcebooks as the latter doesn't care about lore. While picking a faction out of style or love isn't a bad thing, RPG elements need to be expanded to FP and events instead of what we know from the books. That way it could help leave a longer impression on factions.

Edited by Will9761, 04 October 2017 - 06:38 PM.


#19 50 50

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Posted 04 October 2017 - 06:09 PM

There is the simple dirty and cheap answer which is to make the loyalist path repeat itself. ie. you get to the end and start again.

My preference is to have something more robust and engaging and that would be to have the loyalist points as a currency we can spend on various things.
That could be as a substitute for c-bills or mc to purchase faction related mechs or items.
It could be as ways to adjust different variables for a limited time such as a small adjustment to drop deck tonnage.
It could be for brand new items such as mech bay items which in turn could provide some benefit should we get a couple of extra features added to Faction Play that we can adjust!!

Something similar could be done for the Mercenary Reputation points but you really want to keep some differences in the career paths and options so there is appeal to both sides.

Here's a post you might find interesting:
https://mwomercs.com...-as-a-currency/

#20 Will9761

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Posted 24 October 2017 - 10:15 AM

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