53 replies to this topic

[Marius Evander]

The "loin cloth" is a weapon holster you blind *******. rofl

[Snazzy Dragon]

Cadoazreal, on 12 February 2017 - 03:39 AM, said:

The "loin cloth" is a weapon holster you blind *******. rofl

It's not very detailed and not everyone knows pilot sidearms generally aren't stuck on the side of the leg because of legroom issues in cockpits. It's also way easier to reach between your legs sitting down than it is to reach down to your side. /shrug

[Prof RJ Gumby]

To some extent I can agree. Things like overall agility or max speed you can achieve make sense to be "skills", but it's kind of strange that you need to upgrade some things like weapon range or max heat with pilot's experience.

Still, a F2P game needs some kind of grind/advancement, to keep people playing. Paying customers have usually less grind (premium time and such), because they support the game financially. Free customers support the game by giving paying customers company to play with.

Also, advancement is an incentive to keep playing in itself, at least for some people. I remember Fallout NV, a game I liked a lot. When I like a game a lot I usually want to do everything there is to do in it. Check every corner, do every quest, try every dialogue line etc. I had a lot of fun with it, until, because my thoroughness, I reached max lvl quite early, maybe halfway through the game. Somehow, even though I still got a load of quests and places I didn't visit, I kinda lost the will to do all that, so I just rushed the main questline to see the ending and try it out again later with DLCs that were promised to increase level cap. So there is that.

Actually, MWO system is very good for a F2P game, as it combins fairness and grind, something other vehicle F2P game can't or don't want to do. There is no mech tiers and xp grind is limited and tied to mechs, so when you master one mech, you're basically on the level to take on any veteran on equal terms. Until you want to try out a new mech, of course :]

What kills fairness in other games is usually crew skills, that level up almost infinitely, making older players always have at least some edge over the newer ones. I quit WT over that: WT had a new low tier hurricane added to the game, a plane that had more firepower than other hurricanes, but was slower and less manouverable. The problem was, those new hurricanes I met in the game (that were on the same tier) had not only more firepower than my Hurricane I was playing at the time, but were also faster and more agile than mine! Why? Because it was older players with more skilled crews trying out new toys. Fun huh?

[Weeny Machine]

Bombast, on 10 February 2017 - 04:44 AM, said:

Actually, skills are Mechwarrior.

Stone Wall should get a free-renaming to Pile of Debris after posting this old character sheet


On a more serious note: Yes, the skill tree has some problems (e.g. boating is promoted like hell), however, it has potential. Personally some reduction in the number of skill points wouldn't be so bad. Currently it seems you can get too much. Also, some more emphasis on mech roles would have been great

Edited by Bush Hopper, 12 February 2017 - 04:56 AM.

[Stone Wall]

A BattleTech or D&D character sheet isn't the same as these skill trees. Heck, these human pilot skills aren't even close to the ones PGI has.

I don't remember skill trees in the past MechWarrior games. Do any of you?

[Bombast]

Stone Wall, on 12 February 2017 - 09:33 AM, said:

I don't remember skill trees in the past MechWarrior games. Do any of you?

I don't remember when tradition was ever a valid argument. Do you?

[Ted Wayz]

Bombast, on 10 February 2017 - 04:44 AM, said:

Actually, skills are Mechwarrior.

Cannot tell you how many times Land Management saved me in a mech battle.

[DRlFTER]

If you were looking for a narrative on the skill tree, it could be that your tech has suped up each mech to your specifications, fine tuning your machine and looking for hacks to get better performance. If I can do it on my PC and Camaro, I reckon they could do it on my mech.

[Saint Scarlett Johan]

Master Maniac, on 12 February 2017 - 01:23 AM, said:

What truly surprises me is that people don't seem angry for the right reason: that is to say, this "new" skill tree is obviously a really weak, ultra-lame attempt on behalf of PGI to simply reset the grind for the players who have already been playing. Presumably, I would guess, because their fixation on the grind as an income source isn't jiving with the lack of new players.

This is usually the last-gasp kind of thing FTP's pull right when they have that dreaded board meeting about insolvency.

So, yeah. Until I get proof otherwise, this is nothing more than a grind reset for long time players. That's it.

*drops mic*

... *stoops, picks up mic again*

You know what, of all the silly, misguided, waste-of-time decisions I've seen thus far, I'd say this one is the absolutely most incendiary. I already did this, PGI. I already went through the dozens-of-hours grind, pounding out "efficiencies" three-for-three across several chassis. And now I essentially have to do it again? I don't care about XP. I'm already SWIMMING in XP. The C-Bill requirement to get my mechs back to where they were prior to this half-baked mess is a joke.

Oooooh, this has me seething mad.

Basically what FireFall did... RIP, until the Chinese re-animated it.

[a gaijin]

Tripzter, on 11 February 2017 - 10:26 PM, said:

How about we just get a nuke that you can drop on the enemy spawn at hte start of the battle?

Nukes were outlawed by the Ares Conventions of 2412.

TELEFORCE, on 10 February 2017 - 05:37 AM, said:

There's more to the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe than just 'mechs. There is a full-fledged RPG component to it as well.

Yes that's why MWO follows the guidelines as set for by previous MechWarrior games such as longer range Clan weapons and the BattleTech Novels which.... oh wait a sec MWO doesn't follow any of that at all..well maybe it does but really, REALLY loosely

If we're gona have this new skill tree that 'represents' what 'each pilot of that mech' is a specialist in, then it sure would be cool there was cut scenes and what not and some sort of actual story to go along with all this instead of just what seems like a "framework" with a lot of placeholders for a lot of what seems to be missing material.

/end vague rant

I like what MWO has so far, but I REALLY want it fleshed out, and sooner rather than later, seeing as I put good faith in PGI and been paying into since 2012.

[Marius Evander]

Snazzy Dragon, on 12 February 2017 - 03:54 AM, said:

It's not very detailed and not everyone knows pilot sidearms generally aren't stuck on the side of the leg because of legroom issues in cockpits. It's also way easier to reach between your legs sitting down than it is to reach down to your side. /shrug

I didn't know why it was there but could tell what it was thankyou for that interesting factoid that will enhance my life immensely.

[RestosIII]

Cadoazreal, on 12 February 2017 - 04:28 PM, said:

I didn't know why it was there but could tell what it was thankyou for that interesting factoid that will enhance my life immensely.

Unreasonable hostility detected. Deploying a cuddly animal gif to try and calm down the thread.

Spoiler

[Druarc]

RestosIII, on 12 February 2017 - 04:31 PM, said:

Unreasonable hostility detected. Deploying a cuddly animal gif to try and calm down the thread.

Spoiler

So cute.

[RAM]

Bombast, on 10 February 2017 - 04:44 AM, said:

Actually, skills are Mechwarrior.

Distinctly different from skill trees


RAM
ELH

[Stone Wall]

Ted Wayz, on 12 February 2017 - 02:32 PM, said:

Cannot tell you how many times Land Management saved me in a mech battle.

Only skill that relates to our video game version of BattleTech is Mech Piloting. So let's encourage the boating skill tree.

[INKBALL]

what i would like as ''tweaking mechs'':

Instead of this tree leveling couldn't this been simpler and better like this ? (i didnt put hours on that but i cant see where its wrong..(i feel like diagram will be easier to balance))[/color]

Couldn't the new skills have been triangles/circles/stars (for weapons) where you simply put a dot on the diagram on how you want your weapons to be tweaked (could be changed in mechlab between games for each weapon you have at least one point in):
First level or 2 is pure bonus then it could be a trade off (negative buffs).

You can have it for any weapons. Paying points still.

MEDIUM LASER
Level one(could be): for 2 skill points
+3% damage or +5% range or -5% duration or -2% heat gen.


Level two (could be) for 4 skill points:
pure:
+5% damage or+8% range or -8% durationor-2% heat gen.

or

combos:
3% damage+5% range3% or damage+ -2% heat or etc.


Level 3 (could be) for 6 skill points:
pure:
+7% damage +2% heat gen or +11% range +5% duration or etc.


And on for Level 4 and Level 5.

So tweaking would be tweaking.


You could choose[ +12%damage but having +5% duration and +6% heat gen (and you pay 10 skill points ).

OR

You could have 2-3 weapons lvl 2 (at 4 point each) and getting slighter bonus (without negative buffs)...


OR
You could still max out a lot of offensive weapons and putting less points im other specs of the skill tree.


______________________________________________

I even think we could apply this to ''tweaking'' mechs also. You want extra max speed, you have to trade it for something could be heat/accel/decel/turn rate...

THAT is tweaking: You want to overclock your computer ? there's a trade off; it will not last as long and it might crash, it might overheat...

[roboPrancer]

My only hope is that they don't make the skill tree OP. Some of the stuff I hear about the PTS seems kinda ridiculous, but with some fine tuning I would be fine with it.

I don't really understand people who complain about having to grind again though. As long as non skilled mechs are viable, it's your choice. Most online games have a helluva grind, and noone is making you focus on the skill tree either, you can buy new mechs with that munns if you so fancy.

[Anjian]

Skill trees are very F2P. They are a common trait or feature in F2P games whose sole purpose is to increase grind, and in so doing, make people cough up money to speed up the grind.

[Appogee]

But it says right there on the web page "A BattleTech Game"...!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

At the very least, they could have named the skills "Mech optimisations" and added some lore-friendly explanation about how "your growing prowess in piloting this chassis enables you to work with your techs to tune chassis and its components".

But no. We're dealing with PGI here, devoid of imagination and ambition, content with least-effort copying instead of exploiting BT's rich lore.

So we get 'Skill Trees' instead of 'Mech Optimizations', and 'Supply Caches' instead of 'Battle Salvage' etc etc etc

[Anjian]

Just to add, consumables are not part of Mechwarrior and Battletech lore, but they are also F2P money grabbing devices, so they are here.

Also not a part of lore are modules, but these are also F2P money grabbing devices.

I miss the old days when the F2Pism of this game is not as apparent.