46 replies to this topic

[G4LV4TR0N]

This game is probably too old for such changes.

[Katastrophy Kid]

G4LV4TR0N, on 03 June 2017 - 12:56 AM, said:

This game is probably too old for such changes.

Maybe the rendition after MechWarrior 5 someone can make MechWarrior Universe, a MMORPG version.

[Ryllen Kriel]

Katastrophe Kid, on 01 June 2017 - 11:29 AM, said:

I'd pay a World of Warcraft style subscription and a $60 buy in for these kinds of improvements.

I liked some of your ideas, but I hate pay to play. I tried WoW years ago, I quit it. They did a good job of adding new content yet the game lost its fun for me. PGI also isn't a huge developer like Blizzard, their content updates would be much smaller. I have already given PGI much more than $60 whenever I thought it was worth it, but I don't want to pay any developer a monthly fee anymore. Games like that become a job where I feel like I have to play it instead of wanting to play it to get my value each month. Some months are busier than others so if a game like this went to subscription based payments I would leave, no matter the new content.

[Nesutizale]

Well with enough manpower you can still make an old engine look good. Look console game development. They are stuck with old hardware and software for the entire livecycle of the console and what they can archive with it.
Same goes for some russian developers who can make CoD5000 run on a calculator, an old one. *Just kidding, you get what i mean*

So can the current Cryengine they use be thought new tricks? Yes in general it can if you got the right people.
Bigger question is, as mentioned before, should they?

My answere would be...yesno?!
To me the big question that PGI needs to answere to us as well as themself is "Where do we want to go?"
The current MWO is a mixed bag of all different kind of stuff. A bit casual, a bit competetive, a bit costum matches and a Unit based mode that is a mixed bag of "just fighting" and "unit managment" and bit of "lore".

Nothing here is realy flashed out to its fullest, like someone who can't decide what side of the road he wants to go on and constantly changes sides....he will most likely get hit by a car at some point.

Comming back to my original question of "should they put much into editing the code?"
I would do the following:

Let the game be as is for the time beeing, putting very low priority on mechpacks, decals and other stuff that keeps the money flowing. Easy reason for that is that you need the money.

Next step is taking one point into focus. To me I would look for something that is easy to balance and can be used to create some attention to get new people into the game.
Both very importend parts for a F2P game. Getting attention even from people who don't play is importent to keep the money flowing. A good balance is what keeps people playing.

What comes to my mind is Solaris7. The reason for this is as following:
You can create small battles pretty easly, 1v1 isn't hard to do and you can focus completly on the balance, TTK and have little to worry about getting a match.
Also you can limit the number of mechs that can participate at the beginnig to maybe a handfull and later add more and more, balanceing each new addition till it fits.
All of this can be archived with very little resources and it has a clear focus...get the balance right.

The other reason for Solaris would be the competetive part.
Players have quite a tendency to be competetive. See for example the FW units with their "Meta-only" behavior or other leagues outside of MWO that use the costum matches and don't play the normal gamemodes anyway..
With Solaris you could have the most intense quick matches for competetive gameplay.

Now comes the tricky part that PGI needs to do some coding for. 2 ideas
1) Create a "record-replay" tool that uses a small textfile, containing all the information of what happend during the battle, to recreate and spectate the battle at a later point.
2) Give a third player the option to setup multiple cameras around the arena to record the match without the need to have multiple accounts and PCs.

Both these options would be good to have as people can create their own video content more easly and put it up on youtube, whatever.
Even if people don't play a game, they still like to watch other people play. Kinda like football. Not everyone that sits in a stadium can play but everyone likes to watch.
This could create the attention MWO needs to expand its playerbase, good attention & good balance.

When you archived that you can expand from there. Create leagues, tournaments and so on but you can also take the balance changes to the still running modes. When the playerbase is finaly big enough and money comes in you can also start to expand the other modes.

Well that are my quick two cents and I think PGI think along that line too with its new 8v8 comp mode.

[Katastrophy Kid]

Ryllen Kriel, on 03 June 2017 - 02:56 AM, said:

I liked some of your ideas, but I hate pay to play. I tried WoW years ago, I quit it. They did a good job of adding new content yet the game lost its fun for me. PGI also isn't a huge developer like Blizzard, their content updates would be much smaller. I have already given PGI much more than $60 whenever I thought it was worth it, but I don't want to pay any developer a monthly fee anymore. Games like that become a job where I feel like I have to play it instead of wanting to play it to get my value each month. Some months are busier than others so if a game like this went to subscription based payments I would leave, no matter the new content.

I played WoW's Mists of Pandera expansion for about a year. My understanding was that the subscription payed for the dedicated servers needed for the game. I liked it enough at the time to be willing to pay that fee, however, for many people that may not be the case with MWO. The subscription fee was just a thought, I didn't think it would gain any tracktion. I'm pretty sure that PGI considered it before open beta and shot it down for good reasons.

[Zolaz]

PGI cant programm Knock Downs and yet you have confidence in them to bring a fully developed world for you. The best indicator of future performance is past performance.

[Katastrophy Kid]

Zolaz, on 03 June 2017 - 04:52 AM, said:

PGI cant programm Knock Downs and yet you have confidence in them to bring a fully developed world for you. The best indicator of future performance is past performance.

Well, these kinds of developments take time and hours of work. I feel like PGI has been doing the best they can with the resources they have, they can only do so much at one time. I know I've asked for a lot in this thread and I'm aware that most of it wont make it into this version of mechwarrior, I just it hope it stays in peoples minds, especially developers minds, for future reference and to influence PGI to consider a few doable ideas and incorporate them into MWO's development timeline. Maybe one day we'll have a MMORPG MechWarrior Online with Persistent Unit Bases and actual MechWarfare instead of arena battles, but for now I'll just enjoy what PGI has given us.

Edited by Katastrophe Kid, 03 June 2017 - 05:25 AM.