308 replies to this topic

[Captain Polux]

Nay, but I'll adapt.

[Belacose]

LoVe It!

[SmokedJag]

Yay, prior system was awful. PGI also fixed the most noxious parts of the skill tree on test, knocking 91-point costs down to ~ 4 million and eliminating CBill respec, as well as pruning off the gate crap.

There should be a "test" button but other than that, this is good.

Edited by SmokedJag, 17 May 2017 - 08:24 AM.

[Archer Magnus]

Yay

I think the UI should make it feel like you are working on your mech, vs the Skyrim approach. But it works.

My mechs feel more responsive. I have a ton more Cbills, I have more mastered mechs. I don't have to swap modules. Hell, I bought cool shots on auto refill for my 30 mechs. To me, I made out like a bandit. I just wished I have saved those goofy consumables from events for MC.

[STEF_]

I think skill tree is a very good idea, but implemented a la pgi style.....

I like how I can customize my own mechs, putting my own quirks here and there (finally!)

the UI is just terribad.
Also, ....my poor IS mechs.....

[Clownwarlord]

Oh yeah.

[Jerry Beard]

Yay.. I like having to think about things and it does slow the game down a bit and TTK has increased a tad which is good. I see some folks complaining but these seem to be the ones who are always complaining if it affects their ego tripping. I don't play clans so I am wondering how it is for them, I feel IS gets a bit of a balance boost even after all the nerfing...

[BigBenn]

I think PGI did a great job, this will really help diversify the mechs. A Warhammer isnt just necessarily a Warhammer any more. It is... but it could be armed with the same weapons and engine, but could be slower and have a nastier upper cut (and a glass jaw). Etc.

This will be fun.

[Fox the Apprentice]

Yay

[AnimosityMonk]

Nay. The new skill tree is a total waste of man power and resources. Or as PGI calls it, "Par for the course".

[TorinZ]

For me, Yay - I like it. I like the choice to build out how I see fit. Though, I think it could have been done with less nodes. Visually it is a bit much. I would have liked a way to save a template that you cold load up and tweak on other mechs before saving. At least would have made things go faster. Though, some mechs I was going to load out, I ended up holding off because I want to wait till the new tech drops before skilling them.

My buddy had the opposite reaction. He logged in, looked at the tree, provided some choice words on Discord and uninstalled the game.

[Stonekeg]

Prior to it shipping, I had never touched the ST.

All day yesterday I browsed the forums, and have been watching the outcry of concern since the first pass on the ST had been on the test server.

Last night I logged in, and started speccing my stable of IS mechs. Then I played a few rounds to see how things felt.

Over all I'm happy with the system. The module refund for veterans, and the cumbersome tree could have been better, but for the most part it seems they attained their stated design goals.

I can't grab all the things I want for my mech, but I do get to focus on how I want each mech to play. My Mauler feels unstoppable with a full Survival tree spec, where my Cyclops feels like an deceptively agile 90ton monster with 100% mobility.

In the end, I get to tinker with my mech more freely than I was before, and play them how I really want. And nerding out on stat sheets / mech design was about 50% of the reason I was playing BT in the first place.

Summary: I was very unsure, but it won me over. Good initial impression after some light testing.

(Specced 6-8 mechs for the record. I feel for those of you trying to spec lots at a time)

Edited by stonekeg, 17 May 2017 - 09:08 AM.

[Too Much Love]

I like it.

[dqIII]

Sucks out loud

[Wyald Katt]

Meh.

I think I'm starting to come around, but I'll stick with "meh" for now.

Edited by Wyald Katt, 17 May 2017 - 09:10 AM.

[Helsbane]

Nay, with a lot of WTF were they thinking on top. Seriously, someone looked at this monstrosity and went "Yes, this seems like a fine idea. I say we implement it immediately." Personally, I can't stop laughing that this went live.

[MischiefSC]

justcallme A S H, on 17 May 2017 - 12:09 AM, said:

Well a HBR can get 10% duration, using your skillset. It never had that before.

So despite the GHP -15%, the HBR getting 10% means the nett result is the advantage over a HBR is only 5% now where previously it was 10%.

I've sat down tonight, given it a shot.

4hrs and I've done 8 mechs. I run so many varied load-outs that I have to actually think before I fit something. Then in/out of testing grounds for baseline and then adjustments after mods and repeat half a dozen times. I thought it would be 2 weeks work, I'm thinking it's going to be much longer to do everything from QP / FP to Comp mechs.

Hell we had roughly 20 guys on TS over the last 6hrs all using Tarogato's (Cheers bro) program and one by one going through mechs as best we could to try and get ready for comp drops starting tomorrow. Debating, working it all out etc etc. No chance we'll get it done, but that's life.

The issue most have mate - it just shouldn't be this hard. It's literally trying to learn a new game from scratch but you've already invested 1000's of hours to understanding it at a fine level. A good portion of that is now redundant. If a experienced player is confused, imagine someone new/super casual? They have NFI what's going on or how to get the best outta a mech.

I'm all for change, hell that's the main part of what I do all day as a job. But not all change are good/effective or well implemented/thought out.

I know KCom spent hours in TS last night theory crafting. I got like 27 mechs done in 3 hours. My Clan decks and my Roughnecks. I'll probably tweak them all a few times but I'm happy where they are.

It is complex - honestly I like that. There's tons of synergy stuff to mine out in there. A simple example is that for heavy first waves on CW of mixed Gargoyles and MAD IICs the Goyles can skimp on speed and mobility because they're already faster - so they buff armor/structure. The MADs nerd the speed to keep up but are already pretty Tanky so it's Firepower for them. The result is a more speed neutral wave with a brutal mix of firepower and durability with good speed synergy.

However it goes deeper than that. There's some sexy little tricks you can pull out. Velocity buffs plus range and cooldown puts AC10 back on the table - in spades. Especially with missiles. Velocity buff on SRMs pushes their effective range out to 200m+ with the same accuracy vs brawling trading. Tons of stuff. Range and durability are no longer fixed - this makes trading way less predictable.

The total ins and outs of the skill tree are not mapped yet. That means there's an opportunity to blaze trails. I find that more fun and exciting than just duplicating the most successful pre-plotted course.

Too many clicks, sure. But there's some fun stuff in there.

[Scyther]

A cautious Yea, I guess. I think it's a step forward for the game as a whole, but it could definitely use some improving.

[12oz Jesus]

Yay.

Depth in Battletech (MechWarrior) games is never a bad thing.

Edited by 12oz Jesus, 17 May 2017 - 09:21 AM.

[Lupus Aurelius]

Total trash.

Making choices/concessions is one thing. The node limit does that fairly well.

It's requiring people to take skills that have no relation to what they are trying to set up. Hill Clinb has nothing to do with Heat Containment or Cool Run. Now, if they required you to have Heat containment completed before you could do Cool Run, that would make sense.

So, in the old system, you wanted Advanced Zoom, you bought the module and plugged it in. But now, you have to unlock Sensor Range 1 and Targeting Info Gathering 1&2 to be able to unlock it, forcing you to spend 3 nodes you may not want to get it. Or having to get 4 Target Info Gathering nodes in order to unlock Radar Dep 1, what the hell does TIF have to do with Radr Dep?

Heat skills should not require you to unlock cooldown skills to get. This should have been set up similar to the old skill system, in straight chains of a specific skill group.

It's requiring people to take skills that have no relation to what they are trying to set up. Hill Clinb has nothing to do with Heat Containment or Cool Run. Now, if they required you to have Heat containment completed before you could do Cool Run, that would make sense.

The problem is that skills you may have no use for are being forced to be picked to get the ones you want, and that they have NO RELATION to what you are trying to build, and reducing the numbers of nodes that are viable for that function.

Not to mention (91 nodes) x (number of mechs owned) takes way too much time from gameplay.

R. Bollocks and P. InYourEye strike again....

Edited by Lupus Aurelius, 17 May 2017 - 09:30 AM.