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How Would You Fix Fw?

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#1 Sedmeister

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 11:35 AM

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?

#2 Ripper X

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 12:45 PM

2 queues. 1 just for solo players. 1 for group and solo players. Solo players should have the option to select solo and/or group play. Such changes should happen during a large event to see how it goes.

FW needs more RPG features.

Edited by Ripper X, 05 July 2017 - 12:52 PM.


#3 Naglinator

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 01:08 PM

Let another company handle it?

#4 Will9761

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 02:16 PM

1. Actual Faction Rivalries - Whether you pride yourself as a Noble Spheroid Warrior against the Dirty Clanner Scum, or a Honorable Davion warrior fighting against the Kuritan Snakes, there should be an actual reason to be a Faction Loyalist. Beyond slapping a decal, wearing purple, and calling yourself a Marik their has to be some sort of rivalry and encouragement to face you neighbor. One example could be that you would gain twice the Loyalty Points, C-bills and XP if you defeated a player or unit that was the traditional enemy of your faction, like Davion vs Liao for example.

2. Better Rewards - Faction play rewards need a huge improvement. While C-bills, XP, and MC are good rewards to start off with, the other rewards are sub-par like variants cups and other cockpit items. For every rank you get to or a mission you complete you should get a worthwhile prize like a Camo Pattern, color, decal, and a free Mech as "salvage". These would definitely boost some participation for FW.

3. NPC Portraits - This is one of the role play elements that should be in Faction Warfare. As of now the faction we do have are all bland and boring. While it is fun to role play as a loyalist unit, it needs to be expanded upon just like with Captain Adams in the Training Academy. They have no unique identity, their is no interesting fluff about them and they serve no other purpose than to exist as a faction icon. So what factions should have are faction leaders in the form of NPC portraits to interact with. This would give players an incentive on being a loyalist because it is giving you each leader's perspective and gives factions their own unique identity.

Because as it stands Faction Play is boring beyond belief. So it needs some much needed love right now.

Edited by Will9761, 11 July 2017 - 08:10 AM.


#5 TWIAFU

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 02:22 PM

View PostRipper X, on 05 July 2017 - 12:45 PM, said:

2 queues. 1 just for solo players. 1 for group and solo players. Solo players should have the option to select solo and/or group play. Such changes should happen during a large event to see how it goes.

FW needs more RPG features.



One group where you cannot participate in the primary design of CW and one where you can.

One group where you get rewards from CW and one where you cannot.

And we already know how the split queue works in CW as it has been tried and it failed then too.

Just move the few CW maps that are not there into Qp and be done with it. Solo can derp on the CW maps and never face the teamwork boogeyman.

#6 naterist

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 02:25 PM

1. campaign system

i dont think planet voting is doing anyone any favors, so i think it should be replaced with pgi planning a weekly campaign, with some text wall and maybe spring for some art of the faction leaders to stand behind it, like their sending your unit/you an hpg message or something, explaining your 'orders' for the campaign. then have like.... 7 planets per side preferably in a line, or some way that makes common strategic sense, and have us be "fighting" over those planets. the text wall can even give an explanation for what the strategic thinking is, just change it every week, like make it a monday morning conversation at the office or do it before you leave friday (or have phil and daeron or some bt expert at the office have total control over campaign and the content of the weekly campaign explaination). you can then let the units vote on the planet they want their tags on from the list of planets in the weeks campaign, if theyre successful. then have a weekly leaderboard for the weeks conflict, title it, archive it, let it live forever somewhere so the op winners of a certain campaign can always have that memorialized, then new campaign and its associated leaderboard each week. also, by putting it in pgis hands, they have more control over which factions are making huge strides, and which arent, which is more importent in the interfaction que (coming soon, supposedly), but can also help in the IS v CLAN que. at the very least the borders on the map (which yes, i care a little bit about, even though it means litterally nothing) will make more sense.

2. a unit salvage system

i think every time a phase ends, and planets shift hands, you should give everyone some equipment as salvage, be it randomized stuff, or each planet can have its own percent chance of getting X amount of equipment/weaponry Y. units could recieve equipment as well in a unit inventory, which can then be doled out to members by whoever has access to unit coffers. solos could also be eligible for this, or not, depending on pgis opinions on the matter. i would like to personally request engines be available as salvage were possible, as it would help me get new recruits in fighting shape much faster, but thats a personal request. i think that this salvage system would be better than the mc rewards we currently have, so id be in favor of ditching the mc reward for this, but i dont think they are mutually exclusive. it could go either way.


3 an in client hiring hall.

this would be a "face" for your unit, located in the fw tab, and if you were too go really deep, youd have 2, one on outreach for IS loyalists, and one on strana mechty, with freelancers and mercs able to go to either one. ideally it would have 2 tabs, one for people looking for a unit to post, and one for units. each tab would have a record of the player/units in game stats both fw, qp, and comp, and a small place for a paragraph description. another box can have said player/units prefered 3rd party voicecomms software. optionally, you could give players/units options for their background, like make it a booth or office like setup, like theres actually a rep from your unit on planet with an office for recruiting, which could be decorated by the unit/player as well.... or maybe just let units decorate theirs with coffer mc. alternatively, no in game "office" and just list with postings and the above information would work too.









the above is copy pasted from another thread i made. whatever it does, it needs to get more units involved, and it needs to make it impossible for 12 pugs to be matched against a 12man leet teir unit.

crazy bonus idea

make fw the only place big groups can drop, and make group que for small groups of 4, pug droppers are only filler for >4man, but <12 man groups.

#7 Commander A9

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 02:40 PM

I wasn't aware Faction Warfare needed to be 'fixed.' As far as I see it, Faction Warfare works fine as produced and intended.

Now it could stand with some different maps, of course.

#8 Sedmeister

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 03:06 PM

View PostCommander A9, on 05 July 2017 - 02:40 PM, said:

I wasn't aware Faction Warfare needed to be 'fixed.' As far as I see it, Faction Warfare works fine as produced and intended.

Now it could stand with some different maps, of course.


My bad. The thread title says "fix" but the OP says "improve". You have any thoughts on how to "improve" FW? Make it more immersive, strategic or whatever?

#9 Sedmeister

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 03:14 PM

View Postnaterist, on 05 July 2017 - 02:25 PM, said:

1. campaign system

i dont think planet voting is doing anyone any favors, so i think it should be replaced with pgi planning a weekly campaign, with some text wall and maybe spring for some art of the faction leaders to stand behind it, like their sending your unit/you an hpg message or something, explaining your 'orders' for the campaign. then have like.... 7 planets per side preferably in a line, or some way that makes common strategic sense, and have us be &quot;fighting&quot; over those planets. the text wall can even give an explanation for what the strategic thinking is, just change it every week, like make it a monday morning conversation at the office or do it before you leave friday (or have phil and daeron or some bt expert at the office have total control over campaign and the content of the weekly campaign explaination). you can then let the units vote on the planet they want their tags on from the list of planets in the weeks campaign, if theyre successful. then have a weekly leaderboard for the weeks conflict, title it, archive it, let it live forever somewhere so the op winners of a certain campaign can always have that memorialized, then new campaign and its associated leaderboard each week. also, by putting it in pgis hands, they have more control over which factions are making huge strides, and which arent, which is more importent in the interfaction que (coming soon, supposedly), but can also help in the IS v CLAN que. at the very least the borders on the map (which yes, i care a little bit about, even though it means litterally nothing) will make more sense.


Funny. Mech the Dane and I had a brief discussion about setting this up ourselves. The idea was a bunch of games in the context of taking a planet. Round 1 invasion. If the invading force won then round two would be at such and such a location. At one point, if one team "captured the facility" opfor in the next round would have limited missile ammunition tonnage restrictions and other such stuff. Etc etc.

We could do it ourselves, time consuming and of course no in game rewards as we'd have to do it all via private matches.

#10 Ripper X

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 03:16 PM

View PostTWIAFU, on 05 July 2017 - 02:22 PM, said:



One group where you cannot participate in the primary design of CW and one where you can.

One group where you get rewards from CW and one where you cannot.

And we already know how the split queue works in CW as it has been tried and it failed then too.

Just move the few CW maps that are not there into Qp and be done with it. Solo can derp on the CW maps and never face the teamwork boogeyman.


Far as I know this type of 2 queues wasn't tried. A solo player that does not want to go up against organized units can play in the solo only queue. I have had plenty of great games with a group of all solo players. Solo players that want to participate in the competitive side can join the group queue. A solo player that wants to do both can select both solo only and group.

Now I have done some seal clubbing rolling in a 12 man. Not fun either. No challenge. Solo players don't want to get rolled by a 12 man and a 12 man that wants a challenge doesn't want to roll over a bunch of seals. I see this as a win win.

Do this during a large FW event for a test run.

Edited by Ripper X, 05 July 2017 - 03:39 PM.


#11 Kill Chain

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 03:27 PM

I'd like to see reward incentives for people to switch to the underpop side like +10% C-bills and XP or something which could make it easier for people who have only one side of faction mechs to switch and start a new deck.

#12 Spheroid

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 03:43 PM

Persistent capture bar that doesn't reset at ceasefire. Planet would fall if capture threshold reached at ceasefire and move to next planet on contested front.

Return of fronts

Shared offensive bucket for all contested planets minus loyalty bonus for non-involved houses.

Devaluation of the merc economy.

Establishment of a player controlled bidding house to directly transfer unit coffer funds to merc units as a bonus of their base pay during a contract duration. This function would counterbalance the automated game functions that seek to spread mercs across factions at the cost of wealth and therefore self-balancing in the long run.

Post level 20 loyalty rewards or duplicates of first set.

Faction equipment (flavor) bonus

Territorial control bonus to shift mercs to losing factions

Return of Long Tom

A.I. tank horde mode to replace ghost drops

More scouting modes or small scale combat modes.

Asymetrical assault mode and or Dropship attack mode.

More planet capture rewards with greater grainularity so that all involved who are loyalist and participated can get their piece of eight. Either by using a very large MC amount paid over time infrequently or a small amount possibly a fractional non-integer value.

#13 Tarl Cabot

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 04:03 PM

  • 1. A bigger payout. And for the losing team that payout could be modified by the number of enemy mechs left, the closer the drop is to being a pyrrhic victory for the winner, the defeated 48-38 benefits more than the defeated team who lost 48-12.
  • 2. Systems have different values - Rasalhague would require more battles to be won/lost than Rockland. If feasible, that could be modified by what Cannon units are garrison on said planet, or at least ADD said info, build up the planetary system information.
    • Adding, for Clans, the planets they win would not be a lesser modified, building up to the IS value over time. It would take 2 weeks-3 weeks after the planet is no longer being contested. This would also change how systems are selected.
  • 3. 2 ticker banners announcing IS/Clan units, or adhoc units pre-formed, that have dropped or waiting in the queue to drop.
  • .......The above, those units dropping of 6 or 7+ w/solo+smaller group would have stay in the queue a little bit longer in an attempt to get any units on the other side time to drop. Code in play to prevent Sync drops w/smaller numbers of same unit, which is the best that can be done on that issue. If no group drops in time then said unit drops normally against pugs. Pugs would at least KNOW that the unit had been waiting for enemy unit.
Edit, none of these would fix/improve FP. The items would enhance it but it would also take PGI making some other changes to help encourage FP over Solaris type mode of QP (without FFA).

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 05 July 2017 - 04:32 PM.


#14 Chagatay

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 04:20 PM

Add escort mode

#15 Sedmeister

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 04:33 PM

View PostChagatay, on 05 July 2017 - 04:20 PM, said:

Add escort mode


If one of the players could be the escort then yes, otherwise no way.

#16 naterist

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 04:41 PM

i wanna put an added thing onto my splurge of suggestions, i would like to see a mechanic that allows you to have a greater or lesser effect on the slider. idk what it should be to be honost, but if there were sub-objectives, or various win conditions, with each win moving the slider a different amount based on if you completed x y and z in match or not would move your slider different percents. maybe percentage of kills your up on, is you go 12-48, then maybe you get 3% movement on the slider, if its 36-48 you move it 1%.

that way you have a chance if your really rolling, to get ahead of the other pug matches your sides losing. would double as a reason for losing pugs to continue to fight hard, after its clear they have already lost, since losing by less is still more incentivised than quiting and getting stomped.

#17 MadRover

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 04:46 PM

Make it faction vs faction in truth. What we have is sphere vs sphere not faction vs faction. not too sure if PGI understands this concept just yet.

#18 justcallme A S H

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 07:37 PM

Had a number of these threads the past 12 months or so.

Sadly the vast majority of the ideas that come out from them are simply not viable for no other reason than, PGI. PGI are utterly incapable of delivering proper FP. Look at what was promised 3-4 years ago vs what we have. They are literally as opposite ends of the footy field.

Also most ideas are not "quick wins". They are in depth / pie-in-the-sky items that would be 6 months of solid work/testing and then potentially make things so complex it would actually stop people playing, not encourage.

To "FIX" FP, in that, get some quick wins

1. Fix rank 20 Loyalist - And loyalist in general. Once you reach rank 20 there is nothing more to do.

2. Fix rank 10 Merc - Same as loyalist, once you reach max.

3. Null Conflicts / Crap tug of war. Currently 70-80% of "conflicts" are resulting in a null result (no-one wins). This is because the tug of war bar is, stupid.

4. More siege. The "randomiser" added last patch is nothing more than a joke.

5. Proper population calculation - PGI currently calculates off overall calculation. Not from the current/active population. This is such a simple fix it is mind boggling that it hasn't occurred yet.

6. Maps - It's been covered many, many times. No point going over it again.

7. Planet voting as loyalist - Means nothing since "Buckets". No clue what PGI were thinking

8. Proper MC earnings. Motivation for players to PLAY the mode. Things like 1MC for a win, 0.5MC for a loss, cap it @ 3MC per cycle or something. Leave unit rewards as is. That would get people playing for sure

9. Change Faction / Contract - Unit tags currently stay if you switch contract between Clan to Clan or even Faction from Clan to IS. It's more just a dumb bug that PGI are aware of but have done nothing about again.

10. More thought into events - Fact is lots of events KILL off the FP Queue if they are heavily QP based. Vice Versa for FP events, more thought here wouldn't hurt.

11. IS vs IS, Clan vs Clan - Promised to be delivered in Q1 2017, still not delivered. Just appalling. (Although due to PGI inactivity FP population is so low right now, it's no longer viable IMO)

I could go on all day, make a "top 20" of quick wins, but alas it'll go nowhere. Lots of the Town Halls people got carried away with Pie-In-The-Sky ideas when talking to PGI and as a result nothing truly meaningful really came out of the T/H's when there could've been some really solid stuff done rather than stupid band-aids.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 05 July 2017 - 07:37 PM.


#19 Stonefalcon

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 07:49 PM

I would promote the game to friends, building the player base to get more frequent drops rather than whinging about how pgi develops their product.

#20 justcallme A S H

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Posted 05 July 2017 - 07:55 PM

Most of my friends that have/did play have stopped because of the lacking/poor development. I couldn't even keep my brother playing :P





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