METAL SEPARATOR, on 13 March 2017 - 12:47 PM, said:
Exactly what I've just been thinking. The game requires investments (of time, resources etc) into new real content like maps for example. The skill tree is as it is, it's not perfect but it's part of the game and definitely not a game breaking feature that needs correction ASAP. Why rush into that direction and spend resources on it? I don't understand. They are like chicken running around the yard, hitting random things on its way.
While I agree with everything you've said, here, and I understand where you are coming from... PGI gave us their word -not a promise, just a very strong idea of what they wanted this game to be, which was good enough for me to invest as a Founder- that they would build a four-piller Warfare system ('Mech, Community, Information, and Role) and the introduction of the new system -which I agree should have been taken care of in 2012-13, is what's taking place, now. I also understand the push-back on this system, as what we've seen thus far -upcoming crisis meeting outcome explanation pending- is pretty crappy. My hope is this crisis meeting held today will do one of two things...
1. Delay the release of this system, perhaps one to two months, pending further design iteration and PTS work, ~OR~
2. They have taken a solution from some of the highly intelligent -if "passionate" (read jerks)- folks on this forum and are going to quickly work through implementing and testing that, instead, requiring two to three weeks to work through the changes.
If PGI can pull this off right, even if it's an 11th Hour Hail Mary to the Bucket at the End of the Rainbow, it is possible for them to get their playerbase back, at least a good portion of it, and for a long time at that. For my part, I'm thinking the new tech tree system is way too big and overblown, and that they should fall somewhere in-between the present 13-node improvement system and the new one. I don't see why they couldn't make a General 'Mech, 'Mech Variant, General Pilot (including Piloting and Gunnery Skill, and Tactics parent nodes with sub-nodes under them, including Information), and Pilot Role overall parents, and then have players go through and purchase nodes based on the expanded node system, but where new nodes do not appear until "parent" selections are made (a la World of Tanks), and then have them be powerful in scope, each, with a moderate expense that allows a player to Master everything they mastered, before, but then to be able to go beyond that through further game-play (some of you call it grind, I call it skilling up).
Guys, I caution patience... I know PGIs history with us, I know they're going to disappoint us, again, but perhaps the level of disappointment will be a little bit less, until they realize they owe their existence to us, as a community, and actually start to listen, particularly to those of us who've been in the tabletop AND computer games in this genre for a BLOODY long time. For those who don't understand what I'm talking about... BattleTech, and MechWarrior with it, were never designed to be Call of Duty in heavy machines; they don't operate like the Human body, they lumber and are cumbersome and inaccurate and they are supposed to be somewhat clumsy. If this were a tank game, they would be more steady and have better ability to track and fire, but the average one of the Inner Sphere machines is well over 200 years old. So, let PGI work it out, let them hear us.