FW isn’t fun in its current implementation. That’s why noobs leave.
Dropped a couple FW matches during the event and it’s just as soul-crushing as it’s always been. Horrible siege-mode maps full of chokepoints, established teams seal-clubbing pugs, lots of salt, lots of “git gud scrub.” New players don’t have the skill set. Most experienced MWO players don’t have the skill set. I find FW mostly is about getting power-focused down by seven enemy mechs spawn camping your drop zone as soon as your drop into a match, four times. **** that.
How do you save FW? You’re not going to want to hear it.
Cooperative PvE.
Co-op PvE, with a focus on lore and story-driven campaigns, giving the team something to fight for. Player control over the universe. Back in the day, my intro to Mechwarrior was a game called Multiplayer Online Battletech, on the GEnie Online service. It was EGA, based on the original Mechwarrior game from 1989. I played in 1991-93. It was co-op PvE only. The year was 3025, at the end of the Third Succession War. The game had the original Battlemaster, Rifleman, Warhammer, Locust, Shadow Hawk, Phoenix Hawk, and Jenner, as I recall. You started as a pilot in one of the great houses, in the Mechwarrior academy learning how to pilot light mechs. Once you qualified, you could run in open matches as part of a House military unit. The hierarchy were established players and I can’t remember how one became the head of the house. I do remember that I was in the Federated Suns when I qualified as a light pilot, and got recruited by the commander of the Ninth Benjamin Regulars to defect to Kurita and join the Dragon. I qualified as a medium pilot and then a heavy pilot in the 9th and became a lance leader, promoted by my Commander. We fought Davion in the Draconis March, and dropped as a unit into 4v4 PvE matches, with planet control by faction determined by number of victories in 24 hours.
Role play was common, and it was custom to greet other Kuritans in drop lobbies with “konnichi-wa,” and we used Japanese words for yes (hai) and no (iyeh). When the head of the house actually would drop with us, we respectfully called him “tono,” Lord. The opposition dropped from the same lobby and during fights for a planet there was much trash talk back and forth. Davions were pretentious, hewing to old British custom and language like we did Japanese. I later went with my Commander to the Rasalhague district when he became Warlord, and worked for his girlfriend for awhile, then tried the mercenary life (sucked) before taking over the 17th Rasalhague Regulars as Commander. Steiners were very Teutonic, very ego driven players who considered themselves elites and made sure you knew it. We had message boards on GEnie where the House leadership engaged in politics both inside and outside the faction, and as a lance leader and later company commander I had to post action reports. I moved lance and company to worlds in accord with the Warlord’s strategic directives. It was a lot of fun.
Current FW is essentially team deathmatch x10, only instead of the usual quick drop craziness it’s much more organized and serious. Oddly, the same team that will roll you 48-29 in FW will be a team you can whip 12-6 in a QP match on the same map and why that is I have no clue. I think it has to do with the way FW works, you reinforce at different rates, it’s harder to reverse a deficit, you have mix tech as a team can drop both Clan and IS mechs, and QP doesn’t have spawn camping. I note that in games like War Thunder they prevent spawn camping with mechanics that prevent a team from entering the enemy spawn. Sometimes that works, and overall, WT map design is better as well. In Armored Warfare, My.Com gets around the problems with a viable PvE mode that is more popular than their PvP modes. World of Warcraft’s PvE modes are what keeps that game relevant and keeps players in the game and returning to the game despite a long series of changes and nerfs that are as bad as PGI’s worst efforts.
If you all want FW to prosper, PGI is going to need to get some AI that’s workable and get some PvE experience into the game. It’s going to need some lore and story and a reason to fight, and a hook to keep players that aren’t up for a harder deathmatch in the fight. That simple.
Edited by Chados, 26 August 2018 - 05:20 AM.
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PeppaPig, on 19 August 2018 - 05:19 AM, said:
