23 replies to this topic

[Catra Lanis]

I started it in november i believe. The thought behind it was to have an account where I could play around with different builds i a relaxed way. I even bought a mastery pack to speed things up.

Now I'm sitting with 21 mechs that will be useless come the 21 st.

I have not nearly enough C-bills and simply not the time to get those up to speed, not if I want to play my main.

My main have enough C-Bills and XP to deck out half the mechs but even there, there are chassis that lack XP.

I think PGI should at least give away a complete tree for free on every mech that was previously mastered, after that first freebie you are on your own.

This is like the NGE in Star Wars Galaxies, in one patch the time people had sunk into the game was nullified to a great extent (NGE was worse though since it was a persistent world mmorpg).

NGE led to a massive exodus because they broke the golden rule as outlined by a dev. "you can alter and add in a game that's on live but never take away what players have already gained."

Seems like PGI is repeating the mistake SOE did, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Edited by Catra Lanis, 10 March 2017 - 08:23 AM.

[oldradagast]

Honestly, yes. And you probably won't be getting much fun out of your main account post skill-maze either.

There are lots of other games out there to explore, and future Battletech games, like the one from HBS.

Go out and explore.

[Catra Lanis]

oldradagast, on 10 March 2017 - 07:12 AM, said:

Honestly, yes. And you probably won't be getting much fun out of your main account post skill-maze either.

There are lots of other games out there to explore, and future Battletech games, like the one from HBS.

Go out and explore.

Yeah, I'll probably play from time to time on my main but stick to a few mechs. I really don't think this is good. Even if you only got 53501 XP it was kind of understood that the mech was mastered and was ready to exit the garage at any time thereafter, bargained well and done.

To continue with the SWG analogy, they lost almost half their playerbase over two weeks. They later said that they knew people were going to quit but an influx of new players would more than make up for it. A pure business decision. Problem was, those mythical new players never showed up and they had burned the bridges with the veterans...

Edited by Catra Lanis, 10 March 2017 - 08:21 AM.

[oldradagast]

Catra Lanis, on 10 March 2017 - 08:20 AM, said:

Yeah, I'll probably play from time to time on my main but stick to a few mechs. I really don't think this is good. Even if you only got 53501 XP it was kind of understood that the mech was mastered and was ready to exit the garage at any time thereafter, bargained well and done.

To continue with the SWG analogy, they lost almost half their playerbase over two weeks. They later said that they knew people were going to quit but an influx of new players would more than make up for it. A pure business decision. Problem was, those mythical new players never showed up and they had burned the bridges with the veterans...

PGI is gambling hard at this point. They seriously hope that the whole Fed-Com Civil War thing and the introduction of lots of new tech balances out the huge loss of players that will happen after the skill maze junk drops.

It's a fool's gamble, though, for several reasons
- I couldn't care less about the Fed Com Civil War if my favorite mechs are now unplayable trash. This is a mech game. I'm here to play with mechs. Bad PGI fan fiction about Fed Com means nothing to me.
- There's a large time gap between the skill maze deployment in March and the "sometime later" deployment of the new tech. That's a long enough period of time to lose a lot of players
- PGI has never shown any ability to balance any major new additions to the game. So, imagine the havoc the new tech will add to the game. What was supposed to be fun will soon turn to frustration.

This doesn't even factor in the problem the game already has finding new players and retaining them, the horribly confusing nature of the skill maze and how that will deter new players, the mobility nerf to be deployed with the skill maze, and so on. Big gamble with very small payoff, if any, IMHO.

Edited by oldradagast, 10 March 2017 - 08:42 AM.

[C E Dwyer]

I have I made it for the what mech challenge

[Morggo]

I'm actually creating an Alt account to be honest.

I plan to get a look at how both my Main, 94 mech account works and I am interested in moving though and seeing what New Player Experience is like (no rule of three, faster access to 'module' skills, level of grind greater or less, all that).

To answer the underlying question in OP... up to you but not sure why you'd abandon an account you have time and money in. Costs you nothing to keep and gives you the same optional play that you set it up for.

[Nesutizale]

I never understood why people in MWO have a second account. To me it takes long enough to get all the money I need for one account. A second account just doubles the workload as I am not able to transfere things in between them.

Oh and to your question, yes.

[vettie]

Nesutizale, on 10 March 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:

I never understood why people in MWO have a second account. To me it takes long enough to get all the money I need for one account. A second account just doubles the workload as I am not able to transfere things in between them.

Oh and to your question, yes.

Not being a smart a$$ here but
some have an IS account and a Clan account AND the time to play them both (mostly FP I am guessing,not sure tho)

[Maurice Thorez]

I can get the frustration at feeling like you are being set back. Depending how many modules you have, that could be quite a bit. I am fortunate in that I have a full moduled out CW ready group of 6 mechs and a smattering of modules to cover any quick play needs, so with the lowered costs I should be mostly fine. Especially since I have not touched some of my mech garage for 2 years.

That said, even mechs without a single skill point invested will not be as disadvantaged as a mech without basics was previously. Heat generation, cooling, mobility buffs, fire rate, and more have all been lowered, even after being maxed out, compared to the old skill tree. The only new areas a fully skilled out mech could have a greater advantage than previously is in armour/structure, JJs, total ammo, laser duration, or weapon velocity. The latter two probably convey the greatest advantage, but from my standpoint it appears the gap between a new mech and a fully skilled and module equipped one has shrunk.

Edited by Maurice Thorez, 10 March 2017 - 09:39 AM.

[Nesutizale]

vettie, on 10 March 2017 - 08:56 AM, said:

Not being a smart a$$ here but
some have an IS account and a Clan account AND the time to play them both (mostly FP I am guessing,not sure tho)

And you split that what for? Except you want to be on both side in faction warfare at the same time I don't quite see a reason.

[Bishop Steiner]

Nesutizale, on 10 March 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:

I never understood why people in MWO have a second account. To me it takes long enough to get all the money I need for one account. A second account just doubles the workload as I am not able to transfere things in between them.

Oh and to your question, yes.

because it would look really odd for Bishop Steiner the HBK pilot and Lyran Loyalist to drop with CGBI in a Summoner?

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 10 March 2017 - 10:14 AM.

[Catra Lanis]

Nesutizale, on 10 March 2017 - 09:56 AM, said:

And you split that what for? Except you want to be on both side in faction warfare at the same time I don't quite see a reason.

Maybe some want one pilot to be a pure IS pilot and vice versa. I have both IS and Clan on my main which is about 2.5 years old. If I could do it all again I would split them between 2 accounts.

Edited by Catra Lanis, 10 March 2017 - 10:06 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Nesutizale, on 10 March 2017 - 09:56 AM, said:

And you split that what for? Except you want to be on both side in faction warfare at the same time I don't quite see a reason.

Because you likely have no understanding, or interest in the RPG and Lore aspects of the game ( I could be wrong, but the nature of this question largely would imply such), which is fine and dandy. Certainly not required to play, or have fun. (Though I find it enhances my fun) I guess the simple answer? (And again, not to be a smartass).... why does it matter if you understand it or not? It's allowed, and some people simply prefer to keep their clan and IS stuff separate.

I don't get the appeal grown men have for my Little Pony... but I mean... as long as they "get it", more power to them.

But if you must have a "logical" reason? It makes it much easier to keep track of power levels and compare IS tech vs Clan when I can compare unsullied data. One is collected purely from an IS Data Pool, the other purely from a Clan Data pool.

Thus I have clean data for comparing KDr, avg dmg between factions, etc.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 10 March 2017 - 10:30 AM.

[vettie]

Bishop Steiner, on 10 March 2017 - 10:05 AM, said:

because it would look really odd for Bishop Steiner the HBK pilot and Lyran Loyalist to drop with CGBI in a Summoner?

^ this and

When CW/FP came about, we were not sure how it would play out with Factions, Clans and Mercs.
Many decided to make alt accounts so they could play both sides if they wanted. Not the mention the real $ investment to get Clan tech early. IF I remember correctly, the Masakari Invasion Pack was something like 240$ US.

Let me say this, if I has spent that much money ona single package, I would want to play the contents not only in QP but in CW/FP. Faction Play does not allow cross tech so if you were an Inner Sphere Faction you could not use your shiny new Clan mechs.

For the record, I have 1 account and it is a (large) mix of IS mechs (been here since 1 map only in Closed Beta) and Clan mechs. I bought the Clan Mechs (most bought with CBills) out of nostalgia from MW2, but I do enjoy playing them.

[CDLord HHGD]

I wish I could make an alt and have all my Clan mechs transferred over.....

[Mister Glitchdragon]

Morggo, on 10 March 2017 - 08:49 AM, said:

not sure why you'd abandon an account you have time and money in. Costs you nothing to keep and gives you the same optional play that you set it up for.

That makes sense. OP is not about making sense. OP is about expressing frustration.

I get that some players have more mechs than a Periphery state. But they can still only play one at a time. So it doesn't matter how long or how much money it takes to skill them. If the skill tree hadn't changed, they'd still only be able to play one at a time.

This is really about completionists and how they respond to a new system that defies completion. Many feel like they've "won" already because their Select Mech page looks like a towering shadowbox of mastered thimbles, and PGI is taking that away from them. We all play for different reasons, so I respect that. These players look at their collection, each master badge proudly displayed, and feel a sense of accomplishment. I understand. For them, it must feel like PGI is pulling a smash-and-grab on their trophy case. That sucks.

But from the outside looking in, nothing will have really changed for them: they still have all the XP they had, and every time they get into one of their many many many many mechs (the vast majority of which they never play anyway) they can take some time in the mechlab to skill it out.

But the more mechs they have, the longer it's going to take to get their thimbles back to pristine, display-worthy condition. And then there's the troubling definition of "pristine" in this new environment. The new skill trees are meant to grow and evolve with the state of play; PGI is banking on it. What if they've got mechs in their shadowboxes skilled-out for laser vomit and the meta shifts to PPCs, for example, are those mechs really "pristine?" Are they even giving out the little Master badges, anymore?

I'll tell you one thing for sure: I'm glad I'm not the type to lose sleep over what's mastered and what's not in my mechbays.

[VonBruinwald]

Nesutizale, on 10 March 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:

I never understood why people in MWO have a second account.

Lore/loyalty/"pure" accounts are common reason. Lore and loyalty is all good since FP likes to penalise loyalists. "Pure" is often an excuse for though those who want to power-play though since they can use it as a justification of playing overpowered (often clan) 'mechs all the time, with the tech difference being narrowed since the original clan inception though this is much less common or a legacy from the vets who have been here

Another reason players use alts is to farm lower tiers for their E-peens and attempting to swindle themselves the Death Star achievement with minimum resistance.

Fox with a Shotgun is probably the only exception to the above. He's never in another 'mech so I suspect he has an alt. for when he wants to try something different. Either that or he has a serious... attachment.... to the thing.

[Wildstreak]

This is one of several reasons why I am glad I never got an alt.

[CDLord HHGD]

Nesutizale, on 10 March 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:

I never understood why people in MWO have a second account.

Because PGI decided that I cannot play my clan mechs that I paid real $$ for for CW without changing my loyalty (not so easy when you factor in the unit dynamic).

I've learned to live with it but would jump at the chance to change it.

[El Bandito]

Bishop Steiner, on 10 March 2017 - 10:05 AM, said:

because it would look really odd for Bishop Steiner the HBK pilot and Lyran Loyalist to drop with CGBI in a Summoner?

That can be easily explained by you being taken as isorla.