207 replies to this topic

[Khobai]

Heres how id fix CW

1) integrate quickplay into CW, make it 8v8 instead of 12v12, all quickplay games now earn faction points, and count towards capturing planets. the reality is there just arnt enough players to keep quickplay and CW seperate anymore. this needs to be done to significantly decrease the wait times and to allow for seperate pug/group queues. If you dont do this the wait times will always suck.

2) have both pug and group queues in CW. there would be a total of 5 buckets. one for scout mode, two for quickplay for pugs and groups, and two for invasion mode for pugs and groups. There could be a bucket select menu that allows you to check what buckets you want to play in, so pugs could still choose to play in the group buckets if they wanted.

3) allow clans to choose a side in the civil war so they can participate in civil war fights. mixed IS/clan teams would be allowed in CW. there would be a penalty for changing sides similar to changing factions. allowing mixed IS/clan teams also helps fix the imbalance between IS and Clan by allowing clan mechs on both teams.

4) new asymmetrical dropship defense gamemode where one side has to attack a union dropship and the other side has to defend it until it refuels. There would be refueling depots that the defending team also has to defend and if they get destroyed it will slow the rate the dropship refuels at. The purpose of the depots is to break up the defender advantage by giving them multiple locations to defend. This mode would appear most often at the start of an invasion when a planet is first invaded.

5) improved immersion. CW needs to make players feel like theyre pariticipating in a galaxy wide war. basically adding more objective based gamemodes, daily missions, campaigns, planet improvements, overmap logistics/resource management, etc.... this includes all the immersive elements that CW should have but is currently lacking. Quite frankly this is a forum topic on its own so im not going to go into greater detail.

6) better incentives and better accessibility to rewards. I think faction rewards are pretty decent for the most part but accessibility to them needs to be improved. Its way too much of a grind right now to get the rewards. You just dont get enough faction points to get to rank 20 in a reasonable timeframe. these rewards need to be more accessible in order to attract new players and keep them playing the game, and right now theyre just too hard to get. Also there need to be more rewards you can only get from doing CW, like unique hero mechs for example.

Edited by Khobai, 10 July 2017 - 10:19 PM.

[Kin3ticX]

Tweaking CW doesnt seem to work. That last townhall with Xavier, Dane, and Spider won't do any good. The real problems with CW is seal clubbing 9/10 games and the 4 repawns and mode in general are garbo. Dropdecks and quickplay maps are clearly a shotgun marriage but this is not even on the radar. At this point its time to make the call to nuke it from orbit and rebuild. Its the only way to be sure.

PGI did things from the 2016 roundtable and CW still fails. At the last roundtable in January PGI said that CW has a solid base. I disagree. I will admit that phase 4 fixed some stuff but phase 3 was so bad anything would have been an improvement, its just not good enough.

CW should probably be something of a midway combination of the comp queue and CW.

Scrap the dropdecks and the pointless faction map
Scrap invasion mode and salvage the assets from vitric forge and such to make quickplay counterparts
8v8 instead of 12v12. (12v12 is just a lore thing anyways)
Mix tech
Player tier ratings CW only, then Unit Tiering
Basic matchmaker that makes it less common for tier 1s to fight tier 5 bottom feeder tier
No more solo players, stop letting solos get clubbed its killing retention

maybe maybe maybe if they keep doing these yearly iterations tiptoeing around the problem they might hit a home run, but I doubt it.

[justcallme A S H]

The last town hall didn't work because the ideas where seemingly that of people on some kinda acid trip.

And I'm not being rude by saying that, not my intention. The issue was it didn't address any of the real core concerns/issues of the game mode that most have. Too much pie-in-the-sky stuff, way too much in fact. And while that stuff is good, it's just not what the mode needs after QP4.1 and FP3.0's gigantic failures.

[iLLcapitan]

edit: Just to reduce wait times and to work around population issues, plz plz plz group whatever groups are in queue against each other, clan vs clan, is vs vs - prioritize clan vs is if there enough groups or not.

*push*

QueenBlade, on 07 July 2017 - 07:03 AM, said:

*a document I've been updating through the phases of CW*

INTRODUCTION
Faction Play takes place near the beginning of the 31st century, when the great dynasties of interstellar civilization are preparing to go to war to determine who will dominate human space.
Faction Play allows players to operate at the strategic level, where armies maneuver against armies, alliances are made and broken, and the object is not just to win an engagement, but to win the war.
Ten factions, each representing one of the five Houses of the Inner Sphere and the four Invading Clans, compete for domination. Each seeks to unite the others under themselves as either the First Lord of the new Star League (Inner Sphere Houses) or ilKhan of the ilClan. Faction Play is played in eight hour cycles, in which players may have the chance to direct their armies, attack, defend, and to perform other functions.
The first faction to control a majority of the capital's (Inner Sphere) or reaches Terra (Clans) will win the season.

HISTORY
By 2389, almost two hundred years after mankind began colonizing distant planets, ten separate states emerged in human space. At the center was the Terran Hegemony, based on the old home planet Earth, or Terra, with authority over more than 100 worlds. The Inner Sphere, which surrounded the Terran Hegemony, was divided among five powerful states: the Lyran Commonwealth (ruled by House Steiner), the Draconis Combine (House Kurita), the Capellan Confederation (House Liao), the Free Worlds League (House Marik), and the Federated Suns (House Davion). Four other states existed along the Periphery of the Inner Sphere: the Rift Republic (later known as the Rim Worlds Republic), the Outworlds Alliance, the Taurian Concordat, and the Magistracy of Canopus.
So many powerful states could not long coexist, and the 2400s ushered in the Age of War, lasting 150 years. The ten states struggled inconclusively among themselves for primacy. Taking the role of mediator in the mid-2500s, the Terran Hegemony weaved alliances among the rules of the Inner Sphere.
In 2571, the six states formed a coalition called the Star League. Ian Cameron, Director-General of the Terran Hegemony, became the First Lord of the Star League, and the rules of the five Houses of the Inner Sphere became the Lords of the High Council. Although, the four states of the Periphery were determined to keep their independence, a ferocious, 20-year campaign called the Unification War brought them into the Star League too.
The Star League ushered in a century and a half of peace, called “The Good Years.” The time of prosperity lasted until the middle of the 28th century, when the hereditary First Lordship fell to an eight-year-old boy, and the Lords of the Inner Sphere once again began to move for power.

CIVIL WAR
In 2751, First Lord of the Star League Simon Cameron died leaving his eight-year-old son Richard as sole heir. Aleksandr Kerensky, commander of the Regular Army, was named Richard’s Regent and Protector, but the Lords of the High Council immediately took advantage of the opportunity to seize control of the Star League.
By the time Richard Cameron was old enough to take over the duties of First Lord, the Council Leaders were firmly entrenched in their positions of power. As relations worsened between the Council and the First Lord, territories began to rebel in the Outworlds. General Kerensky dispatched the Regular Army to put down the rebellion.
In 2766, Stefan Amaris carried out a coup on Terra, which was weakened by the drain of military forces. After executing, Richard and his entire family, Amaris declared himself First Lord. When news of this reached Kerensky in 2767, he immediately declared war against Amaris. Both sides called upon the other Lords of the Star League for aid.
Eventually, Kerensky was victorious, but the cost was devastating. Communications with the Outworlds were severed, hundreds of millions were dead, and the administration of the League was severely disrupted. Matters only grew worse when the high Council reconvened and ordered Kerensky to disperse his troops to create garrisons for the member states. An attempt to select a new First Lord failed, as each of the five remaining Houses backed its own candidate.
The only thing the Council did successfully was to appoint Jerome Blake as Minister of Communications, charging him with restoring the League’s communication network. His creation of ComStar was an overwhelming success, but not quite in the way the Council had hoped.
In 2781, the Council disbanded. The Lords returned home, each preparing for war, each trying eagerly to buy the services of Kerensky and the Regular Army. In November of that year, after Kerensky had summoned his commanders to a secret meeting, almost three-fourths of the Regular Army troops abandoned rheir posts and joined the General at New Samakand. There, they boarded a fleet of ships, and the assembled armada jumped outward, disappearing beyond the boundaries of known space. No one ever saw them again.
With the Regular Army out of the picture, the only military forces remaining were House units and mercenaries. The five Houses of the Inner Sphere moved in and divided the worlds of the Terran Hegemony among themselves. ComStar used hired mercenaries to take the battle-torn planet of Terra of itself.


THE SUCCESSION WARS
The Lords of the Five Houses lost no time in going to war with each other. When Minoru Kurita, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, declared himself First Lord of the Star League in 2786, the other Lords quickly followed suit. The First Succession War that followed was unparalleled in brutality. Cities were destroyed, millions of civilians were killed, and vast industrial centers were wiped out. Trade and commerce between all worlds were disrupted. By 2815, the warring States had lost most of their hyperspace shipbuilding capacity.
An exhausted interstellar civilization settled into an uneasy peace in 2821. The five remaining ruling Houses, Davion, Marik, Steiner, Kurita, and Liao, rebuilt their military might as best they could with their surviving scientists and crippled industries. War broke out again almost immediately.
The Second Succession War was every bit as deadly and destructive as the First. Technology sunk to a level barely above that of 20th-century Earth. Warlords cannibalized existing equipment to keep fighting. Tis war ended in 2863.
The Third Succession War began in 2866, and has never officially ended. By the present year, 3026, war has become a fact of everyday life for most people. Fortunately, the level of destruction has decreased. All Houses see clearly that the survival of humanity itself teeters on the brink. Though armies still fight over possession of industrial facilities, all sides are careful to preserve the facilities themselves. The premier instruments of war are the Battlemechs, the gigantic, manlike fighting machines first introduced in 2349. Major ‘Mech battles are fought in stages, with truces that allow Techs time to repair damaged machines. Mercenary ‘Mech units often surrender to superior forces, paying a ransom for offworld release. Every side recognizes the sanctity of JumpShips, strictly obeying the prohibition placed on attacking such craft, without which the war for supremacy could not be waged at all.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
The near-unimaginable conflict of the initial Clan invasion came at a time when the Inner Sphere was perched on the edge of another round of internecine Success Wars. Each of the six realms had recovered some measure of advanced technology from the Helm memory core, and each believed it had gained an advantage over the other. Three hundred years of experience were cast aside in favor of new weapons, new BattleMechs, and the lightning warfare of the Fourth Succession War.
The combat that came, of course, proved to every Inner Sphere leader that the advantage lay not with them, but with the invaders from beyond the Periphery’s borders.
The signs of the coming invasion were there for us to see. One can’t help but marvel at our hubris. The silence that echoed from the Periphery was not the silence of the cowed and the broken, but the silence of the coming night. Hauptmann General Frederic Anderson was quoted in February 3050 saying “Damn straight it’s quiet out there. Those pirates know damned well not to mess with us anymore.” A month later, Anderson was dead and the survivors of his Eighth Arcturan Guards were desperately falling back to Somerset. At the dawn of what would become known as the Clan Invasion only the Free Rasalhague Republic was taking the Periphery pirate threat with any kind of seriousness. Had the greater nations of the Inner Sphere not been so dismissive of the KungsArmé’s efforts, there may well have had more warning of the coming storm.

INVASION BEGINS
While March 3050 is considered by most the opening of the Clans’ invasion the opening shots were fired eight months earlier. Sweeping through the pirate nations of the coreward Periphery, the invading Clans met little to no appreciable opposition. Their superior technology and strict discipline overwhelmed one world after another with little or no resistance.
Having conquered the Periphery with no real challenge the Clans were able to strike in force in March 3050. Their first wave of attacks steamrolled over House Kurita, Free Rasalhague Republic and House Steiner worlds. More than thirty worlds fell in the first month of the invasion, destroying several highly-skilled units. Kerensky and Star League Defense Force had returned.

This sets the stage for the basic scenario of Faction Play.


REPAIR AND REFIT
Idea here is an attempt to cover many concerns that is keeping players and units away from Faction Play by giving Planet’s purpose, ownership of mechs as well as planets, reduction in “pug stomping”, as well as an increase in groups facing other groups, an attrition style of warfare along with a campaign style tug of war. More mech chassis and variants being used, as well as creating a deeper rank system, and more options for coffer use.
Values would need to be adjusted so that having a destroyed mech isn’t as punishing as it was back in the Closed Beta days when Repair/Refit was first used.
On top of the repair costs there should be ways to help lower costs / reward players for their play in Faction Play. Things like higher ranks giving bonus’ to higher pay (mercs) and cheaper repair bills/timers (loyalists)

A repair / refit mechanic could be used to create the "hard core" mode that Bryan Ekman sold the idea to us on back at the Launch event in 2013.

- A timer would be applied to a destroyed mech. The user can wait out the timer to use said mech again or they can pay a fee (that diminishes as the repair time reduces) to ready the mech for deployment.

- Planets could be given purpose by allowing bonus' like reductions on costs and timers for variants, chassis', and even weight classes.
-- extending off this idea, planets that are tagged by a unit could receive higher bonus' towards defending the planet as well as passive bonus' to repair / refit

- Based on faction populations contracts could be made out to cover the costs of repairs and/or refits.

- Ranking system could be used to decrease the cost, as well as increase your pay (Rank 1 should not make the same as a Rank 5, 10, 20 etc).

- Players would not be forced to pay to have your mechs repaired, but rather the mech would be placed on a timer until repairs are completed. Paying a cost would just make the mech immediately ready for deploy.

- Loyalists cost to repair / refit would be cheaper than mercs, but mercs would have higher payouts

The soloist, freelancers will be more important in this regard, as any mechs they destroy is one less that your faction-units(groups) will face in a group drop. Then eventually groups will drop against each other. More mech types will see action due to repair costs and bonuses. More varying drop decks will be used as frontline mechs are destroyed and put into repairs.

Logistics, economics, ownerships, a greater need to have successful freelancers, and unit-warfare... all coming from Repair and Refit.

I'm hopeful that the Call to Arms mechanic will be revamped so that groups that aren't 12 people that enter the queue will trigger the Call, instead of when the enemy has entered the queue. This way freelancers will know they are joining up with a group rather than the likelihood that they are joining up against a group.

Another interesting addition of a Repair / Refit system would be that if you don't have the cbills to repair your mechs, you can drop into Quick Play to earn money and come back with repaired mechs. Which will then be cheaper as time has been applied to your mechs, so the cost will be cheaper.
Thanks to the addition of the Quick Play modes and maps, Quick Play can now serve as a stepping block into Faction Play as well a connecting the two modes to support each other. Don’t have the funds to repair your mechs and thus wait for the timer? Go drop into Quick Play and earn some extra cbills. May be you’ll see someone using mechs that are in your drop deck with builds you want to try out in Faction Play, or meet up with other players looking to recruit for Faction Play.

And with a Repair / Refit system the “pug stomping” will be slowed down or lessen due to their ability to continue in the war effort. The efforts that groups put in to claim a planet will feel less wasted due to whichever side has more pugs. As it will more likely be that groups will meet up and face other groups.

A balance to the tech imbalance can be gained from the use of Repair / Refit. Clan tech COSTS more. A lot more, especially after a player has made modifications. It is quite possible to see a slow down in the Clan advance simply due to the fact that Clan tech costs much more than IS tech.
An added bonus to this effect is you will be able to see which mechs are being used more, used first, picked over from other mechs and can adjust their repair and refit costs as a means of supply and demand to balance their use in Faction Play. The timer could be something that reflects off of the cost as well. Idea being that light mechs would repair faster than assault mechs. (a good reference post for this paragraph by player 50 50 https://mwomercs.com...30#entry5605030)


PLAYER ROLES
LOYALISTS:
Can either be Solo or in a Unit.
Loyal to their faction
Can only fight for their sworn Faction and its allies.
Handles votes to determine planetary assaults
Reputation gains are increased
Cbills gains are based on reputation rank (rank 20 will make more than a rank 1) but are lower than Mercenary pay
House/Clan based Mechs repair/refit faster and cheaper than non-House/Clan based Mechs
Players can use reputation to cover repair/refit expenses or cbills or MC.
Breaking loyalty will reduce reputation gain. Must undergo a 5-match probation period before receiving full benefits.

MERCENARIES:
Must be in a Unit.
Must sign a Faction Contract.
Can only fight for their contracted Faction and its allies
Fighting for the highest bidder, does not vote (7 day contracts)
MRBC reputation gain stays normal (instead of ranks, use MRBC rankings A+, A, B, C, D, F)
Cbills gains and bonuses are increased and are based on reputation rank
Repair/Refit costs and timers are increased
Players can use reputation points to cover repair/refit expenses or cbills or MC.
Breaking of contracts are met with severe penalties. Reduction in contract bonus.

FREELANCERS:
Cannot be in a Unit.
No Faction Contract or allegiance is required.
Can only drop into matches by accepting an Urgent Call To Arms
Receives only standard cbill gains
Does not receive Faction Loyalty or MRBC reputation points.
Repair/Refit costs and timers are standardized

ATTACK TYPES
SCOUTING
4v4 Game Mode, where one team tries to steal/gather Intel, while the others try to stop them.
1 mech, 20 to 55 tons max

INVASION
12v12 Game Mode, Tug of War combat in an attempt to remove the enemy forces from the planet and take control for your faction.
Each battle can sway the capture percentage from two to five percent.

Crushing Victory - Win with more than 36 mechs difference for your side, 5% pull (kill score)
Clear Victory - Win with 35-24 mechs difference for your side, 4% pull
Average Victory - Win with 23-12 mechs difference for your side, 3% pull
Close Victory - Win with less than 12 mechs difference for your side, 2% pull

This would create a more dynamic approach to the battles. PGI and players would be able to clearly see the outcomes of each drop, which faction is getting more sway (whether it be from population, or quality of players, or maybe the matches are close?) and be able to set / offer contracts to better suit the faction that isn't doing as well.

For many, there will be the argument that is makes the main objective less. In that case, how about introducing cases for them as well.

Conquest:
750 - 1250 resource difference, 5% pull
749 - 550 resource difference, 4% pull
549 - 350 resource difference, 3% pull
349 - 1 resource difference, 2% pull

Assault: % of base bar remaining
75 - 100% difference, 5% pull
74 - 50% difference, 4% pull
49 - 25% difference, 3% pull
24 - 1% difference, 2% pull

Domination:
1:00 - 1:30 difference, 5% pull
:59 - :45 difference, 4% pull
:44 - :30 difference, 3% pull
:30 - :01 difference, 2% pull

Skirmish:
Use the formula at the top

LEAGUE MAP
Faction Play map shows the realm of space known as the Inner Sphere. It is here that the six ruling Houses and four invading Clans battle one another over control of worlds. The Inner Sphere is divided into realms controlled by each Faction at the beginning of the game. Each planet contributes to the costs of repairs towards your Mechs. As planets are lost and gained, repair costs and timers will increase or decrease. These planets are also connected by a lattice system that Loyalists can vote on as part of determining which Planets their faction will assault.

Lattice Map reference: http://iscs.teamspam...30.20020918.jpg

FACTION REPUTATION
LOYALISTS:
Rank 1 to 20 will increase pay from 0% to 20%, and decrease repair cost/timers. The attached rewards are given only once, ranks are reset after seasons.

*Change how Clan loyalist gain reputation. Rename to Honor.
Honor is gained by dropping with tonnage available (reducing their total drop deck tonnage by taking lighter mechs). The more tonnage available in their drop deck, the more honor that is gained. Honor can be increased further through victories.

MERCENARY:
Rank A+ through F (MRBC ranking system), will increase pay from 0% to 20%, and decrease repair cost/timers. The attached rewards are given only once, but ranks are reset after seasons.

Another idea: Using elo formula to determine a user’s rank. Something that can both increase and decrease based upon the user’s performance in Faction Play. Which can then also be used to reset player’s ranks with new seasons.

Formula: Using “algorithm of 400” / Chess rating

For each win, add your opponent's rating average plus 400,
For each loss, add your opponent's rating average minus 400,
And divide this sum by the number of played games.

(((Total of opponents rating/12) +/- 400 x (Wins - Loses)) / Total Games played)
2800 and above: Rank 20
2600–2799: Rank 19
2400–2599: Rank 18
2200–2399: Rank 17
2000–2199: Rank 16
1800–1999: Rank 15
1600–1799: Rank 14
1400–1599: Rank 13
1200–1399: Rank 12
1000–1199: Rank 11
900–999: Rank 10
800–899: Rank 9
700–799: Rank 8
600–699: Rank 7
500–599: Rank 6
400–499: Rank 5
300–399: Rank 4
200–299: Rank 3
100–199: Rank 2
0–100: Rank 1

*personal note - I’d like to try and get Match score into this formula to better represent a player’s contribution to the rest of the team.

FACTION POPULATION BALANCE
https://mwomercs.com...82#entry5131382

In some cases of extreme population percentage imbalance, a contract could cover the cost of Repairs and Refits in an attempt to give that faction a boost recovering lost planets.

Faction population % as of 2/7/2017 7:51 PM Pacific
IS - 56%
Clans - 44%

PLANETARY TYPES
With the addition of quickplay maps there posses an opportunity to make Planet types based on climate.

CW MAPS
Boreal Vault
Emerald Taiga
Grim Portico
Hellebore Springs
Sulfurous Rift
Vitric Forge
QP MAPS
Alpine Peaks
Canyon Network
Caustic Valley
Crimson Strait
Forest Colony
Frozen City
Grim Plexus
HPG Manifold
Polar Highlands
River City
Terra Therma
The Mining Collective
Tourmaline Desert
Viridian Bog

Examples:
COLD WORLD
CW map: Boreal Vault
QP maps: Alpine Peaks, Frozen City, Polar Highlands

HOT WORLD 1
CW map: Victric Forge
QP maps: Caustic Valley, Terra Therma, Viridian Bog

HOT WORLD 2
CW map: Sulfurous Rift
QP maps: Caustic Valley, Terra Therma, Viridian Bog

HOT WORLD 3
CW maps: Victric Forge, Sulfurous Rift
QP maps: Caustic Valley, Terra Therma, Viridian Bog

Idea here is that it would make building drop decks simpler and tuned towards Planet types instead of map

PLANETARY TONNAGES
To add a depth of drop deck tonnages, planets would no longer all be the same tonnage. Instead two ideas that could be used.

Planets close to a faction’s capital would have higher tonnage allowances than enemy factions. This would bring the idea that planets near your capital are easier to defend, versus planets farther away would be harder to capture.

Another idea would be that all planets would have varying tonnage limits from a set of tonnages instead of one value spread across all planets.

PLANETARY VALUE / LOGISTICS
By including the Repair/Refit system, planets can now be valued where they affect repair costs and timers. Factions that begin to lose planets, repair costs and timers would begin to increase but limited by a base value of 100% and can not increase beyond this value in hopes of preventing a snowball effect against the losing side.
Special planets (lore based?) can be labeled to affect the repairs towards specific mechs (variant or chassis) and/or specific weight classes as well. Encouraging factions to hold or take these planets.
MC can still be used as an added reward, keep costs similar to those that would cover repair costs for unit members.
Planets tagged by units could gain extra bonus’, further encouraging units to hold and take planets.

Mercenary:
Can tag a max of three planets for MC income, the planets tagged will be the three highest generating planets.
Loyalist:
Can tag a max of nine planets for MC income, the planets tagged will be the three highest generating planets.


END GAME OBJECTIVES / SEASON END / MAP RESET
Clans: Capture Terra
Houses: Capture majority of House capitals (3)

The idea here is that by sharing objectives this will encourage Clans and Houses to fight not only each other but themselves as well. Upon completing these objectives, the unit with the most impact towards a faction’s victory will receive rewards that they can show off next season.

If Clan win:
Loyalist
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - ilKhan
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - ilClan
Mercenary
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - Colonel
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - Wolf’s Dragoons

If House win:
Loyalist
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - First Lord
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - Star League Defense Force
Mercenary
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - Colonel
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - Wolf’s Dragoons

UNIT COFFERS (similar to World of Warcraft’s Banking system)
Currently the coffer’s cover the cost of recruitment.

Repair NPCs have a 'pay for repairs from guild funds' button based on guild permissions (up to withdraw limit). *World of Warcraft*

In MWO, based on rank that the Unit leader sets up, can allot a daily allowance that can be spent to cover repairs from the Unit coffer funds. Which could reset either by phases or daily, etc.


GAME MODES
Tug of War system that changes the mode based on Phases of 20% for each side of the line.
0-20% : Skirmish
21 - 40%: Conquest
41 - 60%: Domination
61 - 80%: Assault
81 - 100%: Invasion

Players have been requesting more randomization towards Game modes. If possible, I’m wondering if the engine could handle changing the value of a variable based on the changing of the tug of war bar. As the bar crosses into the different thresholds that would normally change the gamemode, how bout instead it would change the weights of the possible gamemode that would get picked.

Example: 0-20%: Skirmish = 1
Conquest = .8
Domination = .6
Assault = .4
Invasion = .2
21-40: S = .8
C = 1
D = .8
A = .6
I = .4
41-60: S = .6
C = .8
D = 1
A = .8
I = .6
61-80: S = .4
C = .6
D = .8
A = 1
I = .8
80-100: S = .2
C = .4
D = .6
A = .8
I = 1

Edited by iLLcapitan, 11 July 2017 - 01:30 AM.

[Balilaika]

Sedmeister, on 05 July 2017 - 11:35 AM, said:

I've interacted with some really clever and thoughtful players over the years playing this game with some great ideas on how to improve the FW experience. So I thought I'd start a thread and gather some of that creativity in one place.

So, give me your thoughts. What would be your top three recommendations to fix/improve Faction Warfare?

Without the actual playerbase changing it's very nature I'm not sure you can.
We have people here, who are anti grouping down to the core, for a whole host of made up/irrational reasons.
Then you have the lazy ones.
Then the arrogant ones.

I dunno, I've never seen such anti social behaviour in a playerbase before. How do you change people's social thinking?

[Bud Crue]

vandalhooch, on 10 July 2017 - 06:45 PM, said:

I think the complaints about unit tax are ridiculous. Every unit has players loaded with massive amounts of C-bills. It's nothing to them to pay for hiring new pilots.



Or, the playerbase is smaller now and those interested in Faction Play have already completed their tour.

Sure they do. Not the point though. It, the unit tax, is a mechanism designed to deter group building in a mode that is all about playing as a group. That is stupid. When they instituted it, I knew right then that this mode was doomed to be a tangential aspect of the game that PGI doesn't understand why and how people play it.

As to the former motivations of the tour relative to current population interest...to me that is circular: Of course the player base is smaller now. Its smaller because they took away one of the key motivations at least for casual players to bother playing, namely the potential for easily gained rewards via going on a tour. Those "already interested" in faction play weren't playing for those rewards...they were...rather are, playing for their existing interest in the mode. The fact that there are apparently relatively few of such players proves the mode needs something (like better rewards) to attract more players NOT "already interested" to the mode.

[Kin3ticX]

Have any of you ever wondered if there were secret player roundtables before phase 3. We all know how phase 3 went. Its almost a guarantee there were. You have to be careful with player ideas. With all the **** I post I also never expect PGI to do any of it.

Queenblades list would be good if it was 2015.

Edited by Kin3ticX, 11 July 2017 - 01:55 AM.

[50 50]

justcallme A S H, on 11 July 2017 - 12:05 AM, said:

The last town hall didn't work because the ideas where seemingly that of people on some kinda acid trip.

And I'm not being rude by saying that, not my intention. The issue was it didn't address any of the real core concerns/issues of the game mode that most have. Too much pie-in-the-sky stuff, way too much in fact. And while that stuff is good, it's just not what the mode needs after QP4.1 and FP3.0's gigantic failures.

The town hall?
Didn't it just talk about weapon balances, the new civil war tech and then somehow Solaris?
Is that what you mean?

The last Faction Play round table did very little other than suggesting a way to pick drop locations and something about fixing a loop hole in the mercenary contract system.

Kin3ticX, on 11 July 2017 - 01:54 AM, said:

Have any of you ever wondered if there were secret player roundtables before phase 3. We all know how phase 3 went. Its almost a guarantee there were. You have to be careful with player ideas. With all the **** I post I also never expect PGI to do any of it.

Queenblades list would be good if it was 2015.

A MechWarrior conspiracy!
Word of Blake working behind the scenes.

[Crockdaddy]

QueenBlade, on 07 July 2017 - 07:03 AM, said:

*a document I've been updating through the phases of CW*

INTRODUCTION
Faction Play takes place near the beginning of the 31st century, when the great dynasties of interstellar civilization are preparing to go to war to determine who will dominate human space.
Faction Play allows players to operate at the strategic level, where armies maneuver against armies, alliances are made and broken, and the object is not just to win an engagement, but to win the war.
Ten factions, each representing one of the five Houses of the Inner Sphere and the four Invading Clans, compete for domination. Each seeks to unite the others under themselves as either the First Lord of the new Star League (Inner Sphere Houses) or ilKhan of the ilClan. Faction Play is played in eight hour cycles, in which players may have the chance to direct their armies, attack, defend, and to perform other functions.
The first faction to control a majority of the capital's (Inner Sphere) or reaches Terra (Clans) will win the season.

HISTORY
By 2389, almost two hundred years after mankind began colonizing distant planets, ten separate states emerged in human space. At the center was the Terran Hegemony, based on the old home planet Earth, or Terra, with authority over more than 100 worlds. The Inner Sphere, which surrounded the Terran Hegemony, was divided among five powerful states: the Lyran Commonwealth (ruled by House Steiner), the Draconis Combine (House Kurita), the Capellan Confederation (House Liao), the Free Worlds League (House Marik), and the Federated Suns (House Davion). Four other states existed along the Periphery of the Inner Sphere: the Rift Republic (later known as the Rim Worlds Republic), the Outworlds Alliance, the Taurian Concordat, and the Magistracy of Canopus.
So many powerful states could not long coexist, and the 2400s ushered in the Age of War, lasting 150 years. The ten states struggled inconclusively among themselves for primacy. Taking the role of mediator in the mid-2500s, the Terran Hegemony weaved alliances among the rules of the Inner Sphere.
In 2571, the six states formed a coalition called the Star League. Ian Cameron, Director-General of the Terran Hegemony, became the First Lord of the Star League, and the rules of the five Houses of the Inner Sphere became the Lords of the High Council. Although, the four states of the Periphery were determined to keep their independence, a ferocious, 20-year campaign called the Unification War brought them into the Star League too.
The Star League ushered in a century and a half of peace, called “The Good Years.” The time of prosperity lasted until the middle of the 28th century, when the hereditary First Lordship fell to an eight-year-old boy, and the Lords of the Inner Sphere once again began to move for power.

CIVIL WAR
In 2751, First Lord of the Star League Simon Cameron died leaving his eight-year-old son Richard as sole heir. Aleksandr Kerensky, commander of the Regular Army, was named Richard’s Regent and Protector, but the Lords of the High Council immediately took advantage of the opportunity to seize control of the Star League.
By the time Richard Cameron was old enough to take over the duties of First Lord, the Council Leaders were firmly entrenched in their positions of power. As relations worsened between the Council and the First Lord, territories began to rebel in the Outworlds. General Kerensky dispatched the Regular Army to put down the rebellion.
In 2766, Stefan Amaris carried out a coup on Terra, which was weakened by the drain of military forces. After executing, Richard and his entire family, Amaris declared himself First Lord. When news of this reached Kerensky in 2767, he immediately declared war against Amaris. Both sides called upon the other Lords of the Star League for aid.
Eventually, Kerensky was victorious, but the cost was devastating. Communications with the Outworlds were severed, hundreds of millions were dead, and the administration of the League was severely disrupted. Matters only grew worse when the high Council reconvened and ordered Kerensky to disperse his troops to create garrisons for the member states. An attempt to select a new First Lord failed, as each of the five remaining Houses backed its own candidate.
The only thing the Council did successfully was to appoint Jerome Blake as Minister of Communications, charging him with restoring the League’s communication network. His creation of ComStar was an overwhelming success, but not quite in the way the Council had hoped.
In 2781, the Council disbanded. The Lords returned home, each preparing for war, each trying eagerly to buy the services of Kerensky and the Regular Army. In November of that year, after Kerensky had summoned his commanders to a secret meeting, almost three-fourths of the Regular Army troops abandoned rheir posts and joined the General at New Samakand. There, they boarded a fleet of ships, and the assembled armada jumped outward, disappearing beyond the boundaries of known space. No one ever saw them again.
With the Regular Army out of the picture, the only military forces remaining were House units and mercenaries. The five Houses of the Inner Sphere moved in and divided the worlds of the Terran Hegemony among themselves. ComStar used hired mercenaries to take the battle-torn planet of Terra of itself.


THE SUCCESSION WARS
The Lords of the Five Houses lost no time in going to war with each other. When Minoru Kurita, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, declared himself First Lord of the Star League in 2786, the other Lords quickly followed suit. The First Succession War that followed was unparalleled in brutality. Cities were destroyed, millions of civilians were killed, and vast industrial centers were wiped out. Trade and commerce between all worlds were disrupted. By 2815, the warring States had lost most of their hyperspace shipbuilding capacity.
An exhausted interstellar civilization settled into an uneasy peace in 2821. The five remaining ruling Houses, Davion, Marik, Steiner, Kurita, and Liao, rebuilt their military might as best they could with their surviving scientists and crippled industries. War broke out again almost immediately.
The Second Succession War was every bit as deadly and destructive as the First. Technology sunk to a level barely above that of 20th-century Earth. Warlords cannibalized existing equipment to keep fighting. Tis war ended in 2863.
The Third Succession War began in 2866, and has never officially ended. By the present year, 3026, war has become a fact of everyday life for most people. Fortunately, the level of destruction has decreased. All Houses see clearly that the survival of humanity itself teeters on the brink. Though armies still fight over possession of industrial facilities, all sides are careful to preserve the facilities themselves. The premier instruments of war are the Battlemechs, the gigantic, manlike fighting machines first introduced in 2349. Major ‘Mech battles are fought in stages, with truces that allow Techs time to repair damaged machines. Mercenary ‘Mech units often surrender to superior forces, paying a ransom for offworld release. Every side recognizes the sanctity of JumpShips, strictly obeying the prohibition placed on attacking such craft, without which the war for supremacy could not be waged at all.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
The near-unimaginable conflict of the initial Clan invasion came at a time when the Inner Sphere was perched on the edge of another round of internecine Success Wars. Each of the six realms had recovered some measure of advanced technology from the Helm memory core, and each believed it had gained an advantage over the other. Three hundred years of experience were cast aside in favor of new weapons, new BattleMechs, and the lightning warfare of the Fourth Succession War.
The combat that came, of course, proved to every Inner Sphere leader that the advantage lay not with them, but with the invaders from beyond the Periphery’s borders.
The signs of the coming invasion were there for us to see. One can’t help but marvel at our hubris. The silence that echoed from the Periphery was not the silence of the cowed and the broken, but the silence of the coming night. Hauptmann General Frederic Anderson was quoted in February 3050 saying “Damn straight it’s quiet out there. Those pirates know damned well not to mess with us anymore.” A month later, Anderson was dead and the survivors of his Eighth Arcturan Guards were desperately falling back to Somerset. At the dawn of what would become known as the Clan Invasion only the Free Rasalhague Republic was taking the Periphery pirate threat with any kind of seriousness. Had the greater nations of the Inner Sphere not been so dismissive of the KungsArmé’s efforts, there may well have had more warning of the coming storm.

INVASION BEGINS
While March 3050 is considered by most the opening of the Clans’ invasion the opening shots were fired eight months earlier. Sweeping through the pirate nations of the coreward Periphery, the invading Clans met little to no appreciable opposition. Their superior technology and strict discipline overwhelmed one world after another with little or no resistance.
Having conquered the Periphery with no real challenge the Clans were able to strike in force in March 3050. Their first wave of attacks steamrolled over House Kurita, Free Rasalhague Republic and House Steiner worlds. More than thirty worlds fell in the first month of the invasion, destroying several highly-skilled units. Kerensky and Star League Defense Force had returned.

This sets the stage for the basic scenario of Faction Play.


REPAIR AND REFIT
Idea here is an attempt to cover many concerns that is keeping players and units away from Faction Play by giving Planet’s purpose, ownership of mechs as well as planets, reduction in “pug stomping”, as well as an increase in groups facing other groups, an attrition style of warfare along with a campaign style tug of war. More mech chassis and variants being used, as well as creating a deeper rank system, and more options for coffer use.
Values would need to be adjusted so that having a destroyed mech isn’t as punishing as it was back in the Closed Beta days when Repair/Refit was first used.
On top of the repair costs there should be ways to help lower costs / reward players for their play in Faction Play. Things like higher ranks giving bonus’ to higher pay (mercs) and cheaper repair bills/timers (loyalists)

A repair / refit mechanic could be used to create the "hard core" mode that Bryan Ekman sold the idea to us on back at the Launch event in 2013.

- A timer would be applied to a destroyed mech. The user can wait out the timer to use said mech again or they can pay a fee (that diminishes as the repair time reduces) to ready the mech for deployment.

- Planets could be given purpose by allowing bonus' like reductions on costs and timers for variants, chassis', and even weight classes.
-- extending off this idea, planets that are tagged by a unit could receive higher bonus' towards defending the planet as well as passive bonus' to repair / refit

- Based on faction populations contracts could be made out to cover the costs of repairs and/or refits.

- Ranking system could be used to decrease the cost, as well as increase your pay (Rank 1 should not make the same as a Rank 5, 10, 20 etc).

- Players would not be forced to pay to have your mechs repaired, but rather the mech would be placed on a timer until repairs are completed. Paying a cost would just make the mech immediately ready for deploy.

- Loyalists cost to repair / refit would be cheaper than mercs, but mercs would have higher payouts

The soloist, freelancers will be more important in this regard, as any mechs they destroy is one less that your faction-units(groups) will face in a group drop. Then eventually groups will drop against each other. More mech types will see action due to repair costs and bonuses. More varying drop decks will be used as frontline mechs are destroyed and put into repairs.

Logistics, economics, ownerships, a greater need to have successful freelancers, and unit-warfare... all coming from Repair and Refit.

I'm hopeful that the Call to Arms mechanic will be revamped so that groups that aren't 12 people that enter the queue will trigger the Call, instead of when the enemy has entered the queue. This way freelancers will know they are joining up with a group rather than the likelihood that they are joining up against a group.

Another interesting addition of a Repair / Refit system would be that if you don't have the cbills to repair your mechs, you can drop into Quick Play to earn money and come back with repaired mechs. Which will then be cheaper as time has been applied to your mechs, so the cost will be cheaper.
Thanks to the addition of the Quick Play modes and maps, Quick Play can now serve as a stepping block into Faction Play as well a connecting the two modes to support each other. Don’t have the funds to repair your mechs and thus wait for the timer? Go drop into Quick Play and earn some extra cbills. May be you’ll see someone using mechs that are in your drop deck with builds you want to try out in Faction Play, or meet up with other players looking to recruit for Faction Play.

And with a Repair / Refit system the “pug stomping” will be slowed down or lessen due to their ability to continue in the war effort. The efforts that groups put in to claim a planet will feel less wasted due to whichever side has more pugs. As it will more likely be that groups will meet up and face other groups.

A balance to the tech imbalance can be gained from the use of Repair / Refit. Clan tech COSTS more. A lot more, especially after a player has made modifications. It is quite possible to see a slow down in the Clan advance simply due to the fact that Clan tech costs much more than IS tech.
An added bonus to this effect is you will be able to see which mechs are being used more, used first, picked over from other mechs and can adjust their repair and refit costs as a means of supply and demand to balance their use in Faction Play. The timer could be something that reflects off of the cost as well. Idea being that light mechs would repair faster than assault mechs. (a good reference post for this paragraph by player 50 50 https://mwomercs.com...30#entry5605030)


PLAYER ROLES
LOYALISTS:
Can either be Solo or in a Unit.
Loyal to their faction
Can only fight for their sworn Faction and its allies.
Handles votes to determine planetary assaults
Reputation gains are increased
Cbills gains are based on reputation rank (rank 20 will make more than a rank 1) but are lower than Mercenary pay
House/Clan based Mechs repair/refit faster and cheaper than non-House/Clan based Mechs
Players can use reputation to cover repair/refit expenses or cbills or MC.
Breaking loyalty will reduce reputation gain. Must undergo a 5-match probation period before receiving full benefits.

MERCENARIES:
Must be in a Unit.
Must sign a Faction Contract.
Can only fight for their contracted Faction and its allies
Fighting for the highest bidder, does not vote (7 day contracts)
MRBC reputation gain stays normal (instead of ranks, use MRBC rankings A+, A, B, C, D, F)
Cbills gains and bonuses are increased and are based on reputation rank
Repair/Refit costs and timers are increased
Players can use reputation points to cover repair/refit expenses or cbills or MC.
Breaking of contracts are met with severe penalties. Reduction in contract bonus.

FREELANCERS:
Cannot be in a Unit.
No Faction Contract or allegiance is required.
Can only drop into matches by accepting an Urgent Call To Arms
Receives only standard cbill gains
Does not receive Faction Loyalty or MRBC reputation points.
Repair/Refit costs and timers are standardized

ATTACK TYPES
SCOUTING
4v4 Game Mode, where one team tries to steal/gather Intel, while the others try to stop them.
1 mech, 20 to 55 tons max

INVASION
12v12 Game Mode, Tug of War combat in an attempt to remove the enemy forces from the planet and take control for your faction.
Each battle can sway the capture percentage from two to five percent.

Crushing Victory - Win with more than 36 mechs difference for your side, 5% pull (kill score)
Clear Victory - Win with 35-24 mechs difference for your side, 4% pull
Average Victory - Win with 23-12 mechs difference for your side, 3% pull
Close Victory - Win with less than 12 mechs difference for your side, 2% pull

This would create a more dynamic approach to the battles. PGI and players would be able to clearly see the outcomes of each drop, which faction is getting more sway (whether it be from population, or quality of players, or maybe the matches are close?) and be able to set / offer contracts to better suit the faction that isn't doing as well.

For many, there will be the argument that is makes the main objective less. In that case, how about introducing cases for them as well.

Conquest:
750 - 1250 resource difference, 5% pull
749 - 550 resource difference, 4% pull
549 - 350 resource difference, 3% pull
349 - 1 resource difference, 2% pull

Assault: % of base bar remaining
75 - 100% difference, 5% pull
74 - 50% difference, 4% pull
49 - 25% difference, 3% pull
24 - 1% difference, 2% pull

Domination:
1:00 - 1:30 difference, 5% pull
:59 - :45 difference, 4% pull
:44 - :30 difference, 3% pull
:30 - :01 difference, 2% pull

Skirmish:
Use the formula at the top

LEAGUE MAP
Faction Play map shows the realm of space known as the Inner Sphere. It is here that the six ruling Houses and four invading Clans battle one another over control of worlds. The Inner Sphere is divided into realms controlled by each Faction at the beginning of the game. Each planet contributes to the costs of repairs towards your Mechs. As planets are lost and gained, repair costs and timers will increase or decrease. These planets are also connected by a lattice system that Loyalists can vote on as part of determining which Planets their faction will assault.

Lattice Map reference: http://iscs.teamspam...30.20020918.jpg

FACTION REPUTATION
LOYALISTS:
Rank 1 to 20 will increase pay from 0% to 20%, and decrease repair cost/timers. The attached rewards are given only once, ranks are reset after seasons.

*Change how Clan loyalist gain reputation. Rename to Honor.
Honor is gained by dropping with tonnage available (reducing their total drop deck tonnage by taking lighter mechs). The more tonnage available in their drop deck, the more honor that is gained. Honor can be increased further through victories.

MERCENARY:
Rank A+ through F (MRBC ranking system), will increase pay from 0% to 20%, and decrease repair cost/timers. The attached rewards are given only once, but ranks are reset after seasons.

Another idea: Using elo formula to determine a user’s rank. Something that can both increase and decrease based upon the user’s performance in Faction Play. Which can then also be used to reset player’s ranks with new seasons.

Formula: Using “algorithm of 400” / Chess rating

For each win, add your opponent's rating average plus 400,
For each loss, add your opponent's rating average minus 400,
And divide this sum by the number of played games.

(((Total of opponents rating/12) +/- 400 x (Wins - Loses)) / Total Games played)
2800 and above: Rank 20
2600–2799: Rank 19
2400–2599: Rank 18
2200–2399: Rank 17
2000–2199: Rank 16
1800–1999: Rank 15
1600–1799: Rank 14
1400–1599: Rank 13
1200–1399: Rank 12
1000–1199: Rank 11
900–999: Rank 10
800–899: Rank 9
700–799: Rank 8
600–699: Rank 7
500–599: Rank 6
400–499: Rank 5
300–399: Rank 4
200–299: Rank 3
100–199: Rank 2
0–100: Rank 1

*personal note - I’d like to try and get Match score into this formula to better represent a player’s contribution to the rest of the team.

FACTION POPULATION BALANCE
https://mwomercs.com...82#entry5131382

In some cases of extreme population percentage imbalance, a contract could cover the cost of Repairs and Refits in an attempt to give that faction a boost recovering lost planets.

Faction population % as of 2/7/2017 7:51 PM Pacific
IS - 56%
Clans - 44%

PLANETARY TYPES
With the addition of quickplay maps there posses an opportunity to make Planet types based on climate.

CW MAPS
Boreal Vault
Emerald Taiga
Grim Portico
Hellebore Springs
Sulfurous Rift
Vitric Forge
QP MAPS
Alpine Peaks
Canyon Network
Caustic Valley
Crimson Strait
Forest Colony
Frozen City
Grim Plexus
HPG Manifold
Polar Highlands
River City
Terra Therma
The Mining Collective
Tourmaline Desert
Viridian Bog

Examples:
COLD WORLD
CW map: Boreal Vault
QP maps: Alpine Peaks, Frozen City, Polar Highlands

HOT WORLD 1
CW map: Victric Forge
QP maps: Caustic Valley, Terra Therma, Viridian Bog

HOT WORLD 2
CW map: Sulfurous Rift
QP maps: Caustic Valley, Terra Therma, Viridian Bog

HOT WORLD 3
CW maps: Victric Forge, Sulfurous Rift
QP maps: Caustic Valley, Terra Therma, Viridian Bog

Idea here is that it would make building drop decks simpler and tuned towards Planet types instead of map

PLANETARY TONNAGES
To add a depth of drop deck tonnages, planets would no longer all be the same tonnage. Instead two ideas that could be used.

Planets close to a faction’s capital would have higher tonnage allowances than enemy factions. This would bring the idea that planets near your capital are easier to defend, versus planets farther away would be harder to capture.

Another idea would be that all planets would have varying tonnage limits from a set of tonnages instead of one value spread across all planets.

PLANETARY VALUE / LOGISTICS
By including the Repair/Refit system, planets can now be valued where they affect repair costs and timers. Factions that begin to lose planets, repair costs and timers would begin to increase but limited by a base value of 100% and can not increase beyond this value in hopes of preventing a snowball effect against the losing side.
Special planets (lore based?) can be labeled to affect the repairs towards specific mechs (variant or chassis) and/or specific weight classes as well. Encouraging factions to hold or take these planets.
MC can still be used as an added reward, keep costs similar to those that would cover repair costs for unit members.
Planets tagged by units could gain extra bonus’, further encouraging units to hold and take planets.

Mercenary:
Can tag a max of three planets for MC income, the planets tagged will be the three highest generating planets.
Loyalist:
Can tag a max of nine planets for MC income, the planets tagged will be the three highest generating planets.


END GAME OBJECTIVES / SEASON END / MAP RESET
Clans: Capture Terra
Houses: Capture majority of House capitals (3)

The idea here is that by sharing objectives this will encourage Clans and Houses to fight not only each other but themselves as well. Upon completing these objectives, the unit with the most impact towards a faction’s victory will receive rewards that they can show off next season.

If Clan win:
Loyalist
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - ilKhan
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - ilClan
Mercenary
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - Colonel
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - Wolf’s Dragoons

If House win:
Loyalist
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - First Lord
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - Star League Defense Force
Mercenary
Leader: Title, Decal, and Camo - Colonel
Unit members: Title, Decal, and Camo - Wolf’s Dragoons

UNIT COFFERS (similar to World of Warcraft’s Banking system)
Currently the coffer’s cover the cost of recruitment.

Repair NPCs have a 'pay for repairs from guild funds' button based on guild permissions (up to withdraw limit). *World of Warcraft*

In MWO, based on rank that the Unit leader sets up, can allot a daily allowance that can be spent to cover repairs from the Unit coffer funds. Which could reset either by phases or daily, etc.


GAME MODES
Tug of War system that changes the mode based on Phases of 20% for each side of the line.
0-20% : Skirmish
21 - 40%: Conquest
41 - 60%: Domination
61 - 80%: Assault
81 - 100%: Invasion

Players have been requesting more randomization towards Game modes. If possible, I’m wondering if the engine could handle changing the value of a variable based on the changing of the tug of war bar. As the bar crosses into the different thresholds that would normally change the gamemode, how bout instead it would change the weights of the possible gamemode that would get picked.

Example: 0-20%: Skirmish = 1
Conquest = .8
Domination = .6
Assault = .4
Invasion = .2
21-40: S = .8
C = 1
D = .8
A = .6
I = .4
41-60: S = .6
C = .8
D = 1
A = .8
I = .6
61-80: S = .4
C = .6
D = .8
A = 1
I = .8
80-100: S = .2
C = .4
D = .6
A = .8
I = 1

Queen, just want you to now that I actually read this entire document. Nice write up.

[AssaultPig]

the main problem with the player townhalls is that the attract all these players who're super enthusiastic about CW and have lots of high-level ideas... and who completely ignore the reasons CW may not appeal to players who aren't already super enthusiastic about it.

like here's this dude who's written a 3000+ word document/proposal/whatever... and the whole thing's completely irrelevant. Repair and refit, loyalists vs mercs, planetary tug of war mechanics, etc. None of this is remotely as important as people just being able to get into competitive games regularly.

[Bud Crue]

AssaultPig, on 11 July 2017 - 04:03 AM, said:

the main problem with the player townhalls is that the attract all these players who're super enthusiastic about CW and have lots of high-level ideas... and who completely ignore the reasons CW may not appeal to players who aren't already super enthusiastic about it.

like here's this dude who's written a 3000+ word document/proposal/whatever... and the whole thing's completely irrelevant. Repair and refit, loyalists vs mercs, planetary tug of war mechanics, etc. None of this is remotely as important as people just being able to get into competitive games regularly.

Yup. I admire what Queenblade presented. Alas, it is not remotely within PGI's willingness or ability (see last three years of their history with this mode) to attain. In every instance of criticism that Russ has deigned to acknowledge, his constant refrain for CW is "the core game play is fine" or "the core mechanics of the mode are fine" (see round tables). What we have at its basic level is all we will ever have. That is what we need to focus on and make realistic suggestions to PGI to improve upon.

We are never getting repair and refit. We are never getting planetary based logistics. Etc. All that high level and especially lore based stuff should just be forgotten. If PGI hasn't done it yet, they are never going to. But some of the other ideas, the lower hanging fruit (if you will) of Queenblade's write maybe is within PGI's capabilities. Lets try and push in those directions. They may be willing to throw in some new modes and new maps; maybe even climate sequenced maps to creat a campaign like feel. They may be willing to change loyalists vs merc rewards and advancement structures. Etc. But guys, go back and listen to the town halls and the round tables. Really listen to Russ, and then tell me that you think he is willing to even consider tasking someone to even think about some of this stuff, let alone actually working toward achieving it.

[Deathlike]

Bud Crue, on 11 July 2017 - 04:36 AM, said:

Yup. I admire what Queenblade presented. Alas, it is not remotely within PGI's willingness or ability (see last three years of their history with this mode) to attain. In every instance of criticism that Russ has deigned to acknowledge, his constant refrain for CW is "the core game play is fine" or "the core mechanics of the mode are fine" (see round tables). What we have at its basic level is all we will ever have. That is what we need to focus on and make realistic suggestions to PGI to improve upon.

We are never getting repair and refit. We are never getting planetary based logistics. Etc. All that high level and especially lore based stuff should just be forgotten. If PGI hasn't done it yet, they are never going to. But some of the other ideas, the lower hanging fruit (if you will) of Queenblade's write maybe is within PGI's capabilities. Lets try and push in those directions. They may be willing to throw in some new modes and new maps; maybe even climate sequenced maps to creat a campaign like feel. They may be willing to change loyalists vs merc rewards and advancement structures. Etc. But guys, go back and listen to the town halls and the round tables. Really listen to Russ, and then tell me that you think he is willing to even consider tasking someone to even think about some of this stuff, let alone actually working toward achieving it.

There was one FP/CW townhall about buckets, buckets, and one bucket.

See how that turned out.

When Russ is set out to do one thing, he's mostly made up his mind despite consequences be damned.

Merging the "buckets" (the pools of each faction's players) did not really help CW/FP fundamentally, if not it's consequently gotten worse.

It is truly akin to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic... addressing the real problems is work, and addressing "the fluff" (such as buckets and adding QP modes into FP) that has a lesser meaning does very little in the grand scheme of things.

Edited by Deathlike, 11 July 2017 - 06:15 AM.

[Jman5]

justcallme A S H, on 10 July 2017 - 06:34 PM, said:

Problem is you've now just introduced an even more complex variable for PUGs/Solo's who already have no idea what is going on or how to work in a team (ie, just follow the guy infront of you and shoot what he shoots).

People will deliberately pick the "wrong" DZ just to suicide from the match earlier.

And the more aggressive side reinforces faster which defeats the purpose of "waves" of mechs and even the change to come-back if your opponent is forward reinforcing.

Can't see much good coming from it

Being able to pick drop zones is coming to Faction Play, so we will see how it turns out. I don't think it's really all that complex and could be done intuitively if they do it right. On death, you pop up a map and have players click the dropzone on the map. If you make the map dynamic, you can see where your allies and targeted enemies are. Then you can make an informed descision. Failure to click a dropzone sends the player to their default one.

As for suiciding, people do that already. I don't think adding one more way to do it is really going to increase the frequency.

Edited by Jman5, 11 July 2017 - 06:41 AM.

[Commander A9]

You know...I'd love to go up against a 12-man PGI group in Faction Warfare...any time...anywhere...

Hell, it'd give them firsthand experience as to what it's like to play the mode.

And no, I'm not talking about pitting them against a bunch of 12 randoms, I mean versus a dedicated team like MercStar, or Kell's Commandos, or EVIL, or Skye Rangers of Terra, NS, 420M, any unit, any 12-man unit.

THEN they'll see what work they need to do.

People WANT to play this mode, but sometimes, they need to be motivated to CONTINUE playing the mode. They're bored-it's stale for some people...

But there is something that keeps me coming back...and that's my team.

PGI ought to consider that...

Edited by Commander A9, 11 July 2017 - 07:11 AM.

[vandalhooch]

Bud Crue, on 11 July 2017 - 01:42 AM, said:

Sure they do. Not the point though. It, the unit tax, is a mechanism designed to deter group building in a mode that is all about playing as a group. That is stupid. When they instituted it, I knew right then that this mode was doomed to be a tangential aspect of the game that PGI doesn't understand why and how people play it.

Seems you don't actually remember why it was implemented and why it had a progressive price structure.

Quote

As to the former motivations of the tour relative to current population interest...to me that is circular: Of course the player base is smaller now. Its smaller because they took away one of the key motivations at least for casual players to bother playing, namely the potential for easily gained rewards via going on a tour. Those "already interested" in faction play weren't playing for those rewards...they were...rather are, playing for their existing interest in the mode. The fact that there are apparently relatively few of such players proves the mode needs something (like better rewards) to attract more players NOT "already interested" to the mode.

Not necessarily circular. You still see new players doing their tours, it's just that there are far fewer new players to the whole game these days.

[Bud Crue]

vandalhooch, on 11 July 2017 - 02:04 PM, said:

Seems you don't actually remember why it was implemented and why it had a progressive price structure.



Not necessarily circular. You still see new players doing their tours, it's just that there are far fewer new players to the whole game these days.

I remember a lot of whining about "big teams ruining CW" that I thought was baloney then and I still do.

As to fewer players: YES. We have fewer players since phase 2. I simply assert that that decline is due to the changes PGI made since phase 2.

[vandalhooch]

Bud Crue, on 11 July 2017 - 02:15 PM, said:

I remember a lot of whining about "big teams ruining CW" that I thought was baloney then and I still do.

Clueless. Got it.

Quote

As to fewer players: YES. We have fewer players since phase 2. I simply assert that that decline is due to the changes PGI made since phase 2.

You are claiming that there are just as many new players to MWO now as then? If not, then the changes to the mech bay tour have nothing to do with the population decline.

[Bud Crue]

vandalhooch, on 11 July 2017 - 02:56 PM, said:

Clueless. Got it.



You are claiming that there are just as many new players to MWO now as then? If not, then the changes to the mech bay tour have nothing to do with the population decline.

By all means educate me.

As to population...what? I never asserted populatikn was the same. It was empirically decreased.

[vandalhooch]

Bud Crue, on 11 July 2017 - 03:04 PM, said:

By all means educate me.

Please. You've heard the explanations already. You chose to remain clueless because it fed your martyr complex.

Quote

As to population...what? I never asserted populatikn was the same. It was empirically decreased.

You said that there are fewer new players to Faction Play because of the changes to the mech bay tour. If the general population is smaller, how can you possibly know that it was changes to the mech bay tour that caused the decrease of new players to Faction Play?

[Bud Crue]

vandalhooch, on 11 July 2017 - 03:13 PM, said:

Please. You've heard the explanations already. You chose to remain clueless because it fed your martyr complex.



You said that there are fewer new players to Faction Play because of the changes to the mech bay tour. If the general population is smaller, how can you possibly know that it was changes to the mech bay tour that caused the decrease of new players to Faction Play?

I dont known that i merely believe thatbis a factor.

Btw...what am I martyring? I am simply asserting that phase 2 was better than what we have now. The reduced rewards as a result of making the faction tours more prohibitive is just one manner in which that is true.