5 replies to this topic

[Excalibaard]

Lots of players I talk with would love a Solaris 7-type game mode in the game.

My idea is that Solaris VII doesn't need new game modes at all.
The only thing you need, is a new announcer.

---------- Explanation
The current game modes are already very arcade-y. Incursion's batteries in the middle of the field to power radars 700m further ahead; it makes no sense in a 'real battle' kind of way. But would be a great game mode as entertainment, like paintball in giant robots. Same for Assault (could become a 1-flag or 2-flag CTF kind of mode to set it apart from Incursion), Skirmish, Conquest, everything but the disliked Escort, probably. Playing the 1v1, 2v2, 4v4 maps in private lobbies (with stock mode) is a lot of fun too, so if it becomes viable to run smaller games, I'd love to see these implemented too.

Change the announcer from pretending like your C-Bill grind has invisible military/tactical value and add some cheers and an announcer like MW4:Mercs' Solaris matches. This would change the feel of these modes for the better (shout out when someone picks up a battery = more feedback you're doing something right).

------------Moving forward
Additionally, this could free up modes like Free-For-All deathmatches, where the concept of teams are just thrown out of the window (not for group queue) so you can shoot whoever you want. This is very good for players who are here for the mech combat instead of tactical approaches. If there are more people playing heavies at the moment, they can be put together in a 12 man FFA, so the team games have a more balanced distribution of classes.

You can implement a tournament-like mode where you enter a pool of players and try to become the top player, or like Hearthstone Arena you're paired with people that have the same W/L ratio or Total Match Score as you since the start of the tournament. It'd be very similar to the mech-release events we usually have.

Pilot rank will have bigger meaning within the game. It makes sense that there are certain ranks of players in a kind of 'sport'. This may be extended to diamond/master ranks in the same vein as other competitive 'arcadey' games like Hearthstone and MOBAs.

Lastly, new maps can be styled more like an arena, which is easier to (symmetrically) balance and add interesting elements than the maps that try to create realistic landscape and end up with only 1-2 approach tactics that work. HPG Manifold is in itself for example already a pretty fun 'arena' map that many people enjoy. As I said earlier, the 4v4 maps are pretty fun. Give them textures and a flying camera or tribune, and you'll have an amazing aesthetic. You can also go with some crazier designs, for example a ring-shaped map with like 5 levels where having many jumpjets has a big impact. Things like that will spice up the game.

--------In conclusion

With a new announcer pack:
- People get Solaris 7
- MWO embraces it's arcadey aesthetic

And that easily leads to being able to develop:
- More widespread & balanced game modes
- Better distinction Military Faction Play and C-bill grinding QP matches.

Edited by Excalibaard, 08 June 2017 - 02:57 AM.

[Nesutizale]

From what I heard Solaris 7 isn't done because the server costs for lots of 1v1 or small teams servers are to high.
IIRC every time you start a game there needs to be an extra "server" that processes your data to communicate between the two parties in the match. Regardless of it beeing 2 (1v1) persons or 24 (12v12), its all the same cost.
So in the worst case you have 12x the cost of hosting 24 people in Solaris (12x 1v1=24people) then you have in just makeing one 12v12 server for QP/FW.

That is what I head. I don't know nothing about Serversetups and if its true or if its just the way PGI set their Servers up that it works this way.

A solution to this could be private servers that players organize or let one player be the host of a 1v1 match, if his connection or PC works for that or not is not PGIs problem.
The client would need an option to host a game on you own PC or if you have a spare use that one as a host. Else support external servers like other games do.
Next thing would be that you need the client to send the "aftermatch results" to PGI to update the leaderboard and confirm that the match followed the rules setup by PGI for Solaris.

This would reduce the servercost for PGI next to Zero, they would still need one server that hosts the leaderboard and gives out rewards. Should still be cheaper then hosting 12 matches.
PGI could then concentrate on hosting bigger events with the finaly at mechcon.

As for the willingness of PGI to do Solaris, IIRC some interviews pointed to some members of the staff also wanting to do Solaris, at MechCon I got the impression that there are staffmembers that want to do Solaris and bring it up in meetings every now and then but are hold back.
So overall there seams to be people willing to invest their time into it...question is what is holding them back?
Is it costs like I mentioned above? Is it what was presented at the meetings not good enough to get a go? Are there technical problems like they need specific code for it? Is the playerbase not big enough to justify an extra mode?

I think there are a lot of questions we don't know anything about and since we won't get any answeres here....maybe a massiv tweeting would help?
All tweet: "Solaris 7, when?" to Russ.

[Guffrus]

Its probably something to do with the licencing.

There are no good reasons why we had to wait a million years for mwo in the first place, there was no shortage of players and no shortage of game makers the problem can only have been the franchise owners and it is likely that it is still the problem with developing mwo.

There obviously should be a Solaris and its nothing to do with servers or technical problems, there are thousands of indie games out there run on a shoe string.

We should be asking questions like 'why isnt the next generation of planetside scale mwo themed game finished yet?'

To be still waiting for Solaris is inexcusably rediculous, there is no reasonable answer.

Guffrus

[GI Journalist]

Faction Play and Quick Play already feel like arena combat, not simulated battles. MechWarriorOnline would feel more like the BattleTech universe if PGI would embrace the gladiatorial combat themes of Solaris and other gaming worlds.

[Excalibaard]

Whether it's named Solaris 7 or not to avoid copyright, it'd be great if quick play got a shake-up into something that motivates the grind with a good voice-over that sets a more believable tone.

The fake military 'capture the points or we lose them to the enemy' without anything to back it up (in faction play you actually have repercussions!) is very boring and not engaging with the game mechanics. With a new announcer that does a sports-like commentary on the game, that could link well into Pilot Rank and doesn't disappoint with a lack of underlying content. The people who'll want the 'military tactical' part of the game play can get into FP (which is far from perfect), the people who just want to shoot robots, can get in smaller arena's and play just that, and feel like they're participating in a game.

Edited by Excalibaard, 13 May 2017 - 08:03 AM.

[Excalibaard]

Still waiting for a new announcer to make QP more fun & immersive