136 replies to this topic

[DaZur]

Clearly, my new employment and its impact on my "play-time" has negatively and Irreparably damaged the fragile ecosystem of the player base...

The effort to draw loose correlation in the leaderboard historics and the presumed demise of the game is pretty pathetic, I don't care how one chooses to spin it.

The external influences to the ebb and flow of monthly player base are enumerable... But yes, please, let's pick an choose for the convenience of your premise.

Oi...

Edited by DaZur, 05 April 2017 - 08:48 AM.

[Almond Brown]

Bud Crue, on 05 April 2017 - 06:22 AM, said:

snip.

I think it was simply PGI looking after their own financial interests.

And you make that sound like a bad thing. If they don't, who will? The "Devout BattleTech Community"? LOL! OMG LOL! What will the "Community" have if/when PGI financial interests go away? SFA is what...

PGI should have stayed the course of action for all things like they did with the 3PV "incident or debacle" pick your word. The whiners whined for no good reason and lost, and for the betterment of the game in the long run. Another "option" was added to MWO. Since then, NADA after allowing the "Whiners to kill" everything that might add to the game... Sad f'ing days really... but be assured it is always all on PGI...

Edited by Almond Brown, 05 April 2017 - 08:40 AM.

[Bud Crue]

Almond Brown, on 05 April 2017 - 08:39 AM, said:

And you make that sound like a bad thing. If they don't, who will? The "Devout BattleTech Community"? LOL! OMG LOL! What will the "Community" have if/when PGI financial interests go away? SFA is what...

PGI should have stayed the course of action for all things like they did with the 3PV "incident or debacle" pick your word. The whiners whined for no good reason and lost, and for the betterment of the game in the long run. Another "option" was added to MWO. Since then, NADA after allowing the "Whiners to kill" everything that might add to the game... Sad f'ing days really... but be assured it is always all on PGI...

A bad thing? Maybe. Merely a reasonable and inevitable thing. I make no judgement as to the good or bad of PGI pulling it merely that what THEY cited as a reason, if believed, is, well...reasonable and in their self-interest. As to my use of the word "debacle" in reference to the skills tree. It was a debacle. From the horridly misleading way it was introduced at mechcon, to the inevitable waffling, to the way it was handeled via the PTS. I think the word is perfect.

As yo my personal view, my only complaints regarding the skills tree was the nerfs, and the way I think the UI is burdensome to the NPE. Other than that, whatever. Costs, reimbursement or the other issues that PGI cited when they pulled it are irrelevant to me.

As to them pulling it...how is it that the "whiners" "lost"...if the whining got it pulled, didn't they win? But yes, PGI responded to that whining. That is their prerogative. What they themselves cited in their official thread and Russ on twitter made it clear that they thought the reimbursement issue was of critical importance. If that observation is the result of community whining or their own conclusion, its still "on them".

[Coolant]

what are these seasons that people keep talking about?

[Zergling]

Season 1 shouldn't be compared to later Seasons, because it ran for 2 months instead of 1. Longer season will skew the player numbers upwards.

Also, more recent Seasons shouldn't be compared to old without first filtering out accounts with less than 10 battles, because of the 10 battle rule for later Seasons.


Here's Seasons 2 through 9, 10+ battles played:
Season 2 / August 2016 = 38,076
Season 3 / September 2016 = 35,797
Season 4 / October 2016 = 37,040
Season 5 / November 2016 = 35,389
Season 6 / December 2016 = 41,050
Season 7 / January 2017 = 38,102
Season 8 / February 2017 = 34,663
Season 9 / March 2017 = 33,672

From August to March, that is a drop of 4,404 players, or 11.57%.

By itself, that drop isn't a big deal; it is only a concern if the downward trend continues.

Edited by Zergling, 05 April 2017 - 09:18 AM.

[JediPanther]

i'm betting power creep has some thing to do with it along with pretty much boring game modes. We've seen alphas go from the then godly 40 dual guass k2/jagger to 111 cyclops srm alpha.

Lack of being able to join small groups and not get hammered in group play still remains despite prive lobby which both people must pay real money for or have some one else willing to invite them to one.

Only reason i haven't played the game in about a year is lack of hardware due to living conditions unable to support any pc or console gaming for quite some time.

[Alex Morgaine]

Only 15 matches so far? Wow RL is bending me over. Thought i'd done more in the current season.

[Moldur]

There's no point to start playing this game really. I wouldn't recommend it to any new players. I'm guessing a lot of you will understand when I say the only reason I play from time to time is that my account is "in too deep."

[C E Dwyer]

Moldur, on 05 April 2017 - 11:46 AM, said:

There's no point to start playing this game really. I wouldn't recommend it to any new players. I'm guessing a lot of you will understand when I say the only reason I play from time to time is that my account is "in too deep."

Now I would recommend it to people, if they like things of WoT and WoW nature, as this is pretty much the same type of game.

They have Zero expectations on what the franchise is supposed to be, and what P.G.I said they would produce.

[Amsro]

Don't forget it's spring for a large portion of the player base, they will be crawling out of the basements to enjoy some sunshine.

As in, play less often.

Once may is here I'll see you guys in the fall!

[ScrapIron Prime]

I recommend it to people all the time, because its free and fun. Players come and go, and the game isn't for everyone. No game is. But its not starved for cash at this point, so I'm not going to worry over these numbers, I'm just going to keep playing.

[Heffay]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

[Jman5]

JayRtech, on 05 April 2017 - 04:35 AM, said:

are you forgetting how many of those players are alt account holders (>.>)

Few bother with alt accounts and even fewer bother keeping them active season after season. It's not the kind of game that encourages alt-accounts.

[Buster Machine 0]

Clanners are quitting because the game is finally being balanced based off of PGI's internal statistics.

With overinflated clanner egos finally rupturing because they are no longer stomping the Inner Sphere in 20/1 landslides the 6/5 matchups are too much for them to handle.

[SQW]

Once Battletech from HBS ships in July-ish, MWO will see another dip. Some people may think shooter MWO is fundamentally different to turn based Battletech but they forget a lot of hardcore fans play MWO because of nostalgia for the universe, not just Mechwarrior.

I wonder what the crisis point is for PGI. 30k? 20K?

[Heffay]

SQW, on 05 April 2017 - 04:27 PM, said:

I wonder what the crisis point is for PGI. 30k? 20K?

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

[oldradagast]

SmokedJag, on 05 April 2017 - 04:58 AM, said:

Scrapping something intended to help start-up players because people who have already spent the vast majority of the money they are ever going to spend don't want changes to their entrenched system is...bad. Like not understanding basic economics bad. Not that long-term loyal players should be actively mistreated but much of the skill tree howling that continued after the initial costs were scrapped had nothing to do with that.

Nope - Rule 1 of business: you don't piss off existing customers because, "Uh, we might find some new customers to replace the ones we pissed off."

PGI stays alive thanks to whales - whales who buy lots of mechs. Most of those whales already exist in the game. There is no huge population of players who are eager to spends lots of money on Battletech who have not already heard of (and probably tried) MWO. That means there is NO huge influx of new players to replace the whales they were harming with that idiotic skill maze and the trashing of most of people's previous purchases.

So, pissing off the whales was a hugely stupid part of the skill maze; the rest of it was an idiotic mess of gated must-have skills, false choices, horrible UI, and a sad attempt to substitute grind for content. The skill maze, as presented - along with the insane nerf to weaker mechs - was a terrible idea that died the death it so rightly deserved. And don't kid yourself for a moment; PGI doesn't care what goes on these forums, but they do care about their bottom line, and the skill maze fallout almost made things much worse for it.

As for the rest, all games fade away with time, and MWO is no exception. Too early to panic, but this game could be so much more if real effort, Lore, and so forth was put into it.

[PhoenixFire55]

Minimally Viable Product^TM. Soon^TM.

[Appogee]

oldradagast, on 05 April 2017 - 05:31 PM, said:

As for the rest, all games fade away with time, and MWO is no exception. Too early to panic, but this game could be so much more if real effort, Lore, and so forth was put into it.

Yep. PGI's single biggest failing is a lack of ambition.

[Bud Crue]

Appogee, on 06 April 2017 - 01:44 AM, said:

Yep. PGI's single biggest failing is a lack of ambition.

And a bewildering lack of awareness of how their own game functions, who plays it, and why.

[See loyalty summoner (PGI: (Huh? high hard points are a thing? Who knew?), see arguments elsewhere about P2W mechs, (PGI: Huh? You mean giving a new variant more and/or higher hardpoints makes it a better variant? Who knew?), see consistent use of nerfs applied broadly to good and bad mechs alike which doesn't effectively nerf anything but those that already suck (PGI: we are nerfing UACs because the Kodiak 3 is out of control, but it is the Enforcer 5P that is really the problem here wink, wink), see some of the truly mind numbing statements that come out of their presidents mouth as to what he sees as being important in the gaming experience (Russ during phase 3 pre-round table: "the core game play is fine, its a lack of population that's the problem...wadiyamean the longtom is OP?" Russ in re original goodie crates idea: "Ya know what would really bring in the kids? Having randomly dropped equipment stashes located on the battle field! That will be great for gameplay!") etc. etc. etc.]

Edited by Bud Crue, 06 April 2017 - 02:45 AM.