22 replies to this topic

[Scout Derek]

Solaris; a somewhat hot topic that's coming very soon to MWO.... and a rebranding? I have no idea on that last part.

But let's try and push aside the talk of rebranding and onto why you're here. Mechanics of the reward system within this new part of the game.


Well, the first sign of mechanics is this particular picture here I got from the Solaris 7 trailer.



(Sorry for the extra white space. was a tad bit lazy making these)

Firstly we'll notice the "Sponsors" on the left. How I assume they work will be bulleted;

• Each season, you may choose to keep current sponsor or change to a new one
  
• There are no penalties assuming Faction Play is also removing their penalties for breaking a contract with a faction, and so on. However.... maybe there's a bonus for staying with a certain sponsor for each season. Maybe more Accolades (Which I'll get into later)

Next, you've probably looked at that "RANK" system. how I imagine it'll work will be as listed;

• similar to loyalty points, but with an obvious twist. Winning gains you rank percentage, losing lowers your rank. The higher your rank, the more payout you get from your sponsor, and so on.
  
• Like Faction play, each sponsor may/may not have more "Sponsor" payout than others. Maybe some give you more Cbills, maybe some give you more EXP or Accolades.

Now, we get to the real bread and butter, the one that involves this weird new currency Accolades, and, more importantly, the Bolt-on cosmetics.



Where did I get the word "Accolade"? Well, from the Store page for the Solaris-7 mechpack.

Quote

The Solaris 7 Hero Pack Includes:

• 7 Solaris Hero 'Mechs with Unique hardpoints and 30% C-Bill Boost
  
• 7 'Mech Bays
  
• 3 Warhorns featuring Taunts, Folly FX, and Crowd Reactions
  
• 1 Boosted Standing Item that gives you 5% Accolades Boost (Premium Time will also grant a 5% Accolades boost)
  
• 6 Solaris based “Sponsor Decals”

What exactly is an Accolade? Well, if we look into the definition, we get something like this;

• An award or privilege granted as a special honor or as an acknowledgment of merit.
  

• A touch on a person's shoulders with a sword at the bestowing of a knighthood.

So, with that being said, Accolade is the currency of Solaris.... that may quite possibly be used to purchase Bolt-ons.

Considering the definition and that winning will give you Cbills, EXP, and Accolades.... this is more than likely true. However... I could be entirely wrong, but not likely, or maybe missing something.




This is another screenshot of the Solaris Trailer. here, we can see the user placing on Bolt-on. what makes me peculiar about this one is the "1000 MC" in their cart. More than likely they just slapped on a camo to make the Kodiak stand out, but perhaps it's for a bolt-on they used to buy with MC instead of Accolade as an alternate way. Per se, same way you can buy Cbill mechs with MC.

And that's what I've found while digging a bit deeper into solaris. Not much, but a little bit more information to help understand if Solaris will be worth investing time into instead of Faction Play or Quickplay.


EDIT: Seems some stuff is underlined for no reason, but going into edit shows they aren't. Tried making some changes that way it isn't so ugly looking.

Edited by Scout Derek, 18 March 2018 - 07:50 PM.

[Imperius]

I’d say partially frozen.

[PocketYoda]

I really don't get what people see in this Solaris, 1vs1 and 2vs2 seems really boring and well honestly looking at QP and FW will it even work at release?

And i think i'm just too old for this bolt on crap.

Edited by Samial, 18 March 2018 - 11:08 PM.

[Imperius]

Samial, on 18 March 2018 - 11:06 PM, said:

I really don't get what people see in this Solaris, 1vs1 and 2vs2 seems really boring and well honestly looking at QP and FW will it even work at release?

And i think i'm just too old for this bolt on crap.

Unless I see some really cool bolt-ons. I’m not touching it.

[El Bandito]

Solaris will attract some of the best duelists of this game--which means they will be playing QP and FP less, and that's fine with most of the pugs. Heck I'll most likely form a 2v2 Solaris group myself.

[Racerxintegra2k]

Some of the most fun i've had with MWO has been 1 vs 1 inter unit tournaments in private lobby. I'm hoping that Solaris captures some of that.

[Bud Crue]

Scout Derek, on 18 March 2018 - 07:44 PM, said:

Solaris; a somewhat hot topic that's coming very soon to MWO.... and a rebranding? I have no idea on that last part.

But let's try and push aside the talk of rebranding and onto why you're here. Mechanics of the reward system within this new part of the game.
...
And that's what I've found while digging a bit deeper into solaris. Not much, but a little bit more information to help understand if Solaris will be worth investing time into instead of Faction Play or Quickplay.

Nice work at attempting to expound on the possibilities of the mode.

Alas, my narrow minded view is:
I don’t play MWO for “accolades”;
I don’t play for “rank”;
I don’t play it for “sponsors”.

Rather, I play this game for its mix of nostalgic mechporn and Alex’s modern take on what was, and because of the team and even greater community aspect of the game. I can see how Solaris will expand the game a bit in regard to the potential for some interesting community created mechporn, but I see it actually harming what I consider to be the core team play aspect. I think it’s overall effect/impact is going to be that of hurting wait times for the team based modes of the game, as folks rush in for the short term novelty, and retain the more solo minded folks (and thus reduce the pool of players in the team based modes they would otherwise be playing) over the long term. So, Solaris’s mechanics may be cool or interesting or whatever, but to me, they are little more than a new mechanic to increase my wait times. Still, I look forward to the mechporn at least.

[Scout Derek]

Bud Crue, on 19 March 2018 - 04:52 AM, said:

Nice work at attempting to expound on the possibilities of the mode.

Alas, my narrow minded view is:
I don’t play MWO for “accolades”;
I don’t play for “rank”;
I don’t play it for “sponsors”.

Rather, I play this game for its mix of nostalgic mechporn and Alex’s modern take on what was, and because of the team and even greater community aspect of the game. I can see how Solaris will expand the game a bit in regard to the potential for some interesting community created mechporn, but I see it actually harming what I consider to be the core team play aspect. I think it’s overall effect/impact is going to be that of hurting wait times for the team based modes of the game, as folks rush in for the short term novelty, and retain the more solo minded folks (and thus reduce the pool of players in the team based modes they would otherwise be playing) over the long term. So, Solaris’s mechanics may be cool or interesting or whatever, but to me, they are little more than a new mechanic to increase my wait times. Still, I look forward to the mechporn at least.

Oh yeah definitely.

I mean, I think Solaris honestly to me will be another way to play MWO when I'm getting fed up with quickplay que.

[DAYLEET]

I needed a Solaris thread. Im trying to figure out if the Solaris pack is anything but new good lookin mech that are cheap. Some of those mech are...subpar, why take them into solaris?

Are mech ranked separately by class or by chassis or by variant?

Are bolt-on permanent? Once you own one its yours or you need the sponsor to be at a certain level?

Can you transfer bolt-on between mech?

finite Seasons or like infinite Tiering?

[Stinger554]

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 11:11 AM, said:

I needed a Solaris thread. Im trying to figure out if the Solaris pack is anything but new good lookin mech that are cheap. Some of those mech are...subpar, why take them into solaris?

Are mech ranked separately by class or by chassis or by variant?

I got the pack for the MDD CT energy bro everything else is extra .

Mechs will be ranked by variant AFAIK. I don't know about the rest of your questions.

[Scout Derek]

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 11:11 AM, said:

I needed a Solaris thread. Im trying to figure out if the Solaris pack is anything but new good lookin mech that are cheap. Some of those mech are...subpar, why take them into solaris?

Are mech ranked separately by class or by chassis or by variant?

Are bolt-on permanent? Once you own one its yours or you need the sponsor to be at a certain level?

Can you transfer bolt-on between mech?

finite Seasons or like infinite Tiering?

I'll answer in order using the information in the Solaris trailer.


Mechs are ranked more than likely based on variant, hardpoints, and tonnage. This means we might see mechs such as the Orion IIC competing with the Victors, Gargoyles, and so on. Mechs that have raw brawling power, would be grouped together. That is to say, though, that this might not be the way it will be, but rather this is a generalized idea of how it will be.

Bolt-ons are permanent probably. Once you buy it, you own it. Though I'm guessing that certain sponsors hold unique bolt-ons other sponsors don't have, and so on. But I do think that you will have to be at a certain rank to purchase another bolt-on if you did drop rank.

Bolt-ons will more than likely be transferable. In the Solaris Trailer, we can see the user interchange the bolt-ons after equipping one in the shoulder.

Finite Seasons. If I recall correctly, the first season will be one month long to sort out the elo ratings of players and so on, and from then on there, each season will be 3 months long.

[DAYLEET]

Stinger554, on 19 March 2018 - 11:37 AM, said:

I got the pack for the MDD CT energy bro everything else is extra .

Mechs will be ranked by variant AFAIK. I don't know about the rest of your questions.

Does that mean a PNT-9R only fights other PNT-9R or that the 9R can be ranked with any other chassis like the BLR-1G and play with any other mech of that rank?

Scout Derek, on 19 March 2018 - 11:46 AM, said:

Bolt-ons are permanent probably. Once you buy it, you own it. Though I'm guessing that certain sponsors hold unique bolt-ons other sponsors don't have, and so on. But I do think that you will have to be at a certain rank to purchase another bolt-on if you did drop rank.

uh, arent bolt-on prizes given by sponsor? you know, for street cred. Though it would make sense to have anyone with enough Accolade to buy the bolt-on they want. that way more people play and grind rather than the ten pro guys.

Scout Derek, on 19 March 2018 - 11:46 AM, said:

Mechs are ranked more than likely based on variant, hardpoints, and tonnage. This means we might see mechs such as the Orion IIC competing with the Victors, Gargoyles, and so on. Mechs that have raw brawling power, would be grouped together. That is to say, though, that this might not be the way it will be, but rather this is a generalized idea of how it will be.

OK. I hope variant also have dynamic ELO and not just a set value. Because then youll end up with mech that are just better than the rest of the same rank and it becomes another stale comp scene with very limited choice or fun to be had. Pure variant separation would be cool though impractical . I want to know whos the SDR-5K king damnit!

Edited by DAYLEET, 19 March 2018 - 12:00 PM.

[Scout Derek]

Sorry If I'm using wording like "more than likely" and "probably", because any one of these things could change before release, and I don't want to tell you false information.

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 11:47 AM, said:

Does that mean a PNT-9R only fights other PNT-9R or that the 9R can be ranked with any other chassis like the BLR-1G and play with any other mech of that rank?

refer to what I said.

Some mechs will be paired up against mechs of smaller and bigger size, depending on the mech. I don't see huge tonnage differences going to be allowed in this. maybe 5-10 difference at most.

[N a p e s]

Racerxintegra2k, on 19 March 2018 - 04:36 AM, said:

Some of the most fun i've had with MWO has been 1 vs 1 inter unit tournaments in private lobby. I'm hoping that Solaris captures some of that.

Yup, that's the sort of experience I'm also looking for.

I like that there will be a lot more players in the pool of potential duelists but the intra-unit duels were fun because we could set our own rules, if only for the sake of mixing things up.

[DAYLEET]

Scout Derek, on 19 March 2018 - 11:48 AM, said:

Some mechs will be paired up against mechs of smaller and bigger size, depending on the mech. I don't see huge tonnage differences going to be allowed in this. maybe 5-10 difference at most.

Is that from the mouth of PGI? Is that separate from ranking? How will mech or will mech even be adjusted after seasons end? I cant imagine PGI setting every mech in a rank based on a set value and then allowing a small tonnage difference and call it even. Well im willing to try but im pretty sure we will end up with mech variant totally out classing the rest of their rank.

[Kalimaster]

Prediction, I think PGI will find out how baaaaad they have nerfed Clan Mechs and will will see some improvements.

[Imperius]

Kalimaster, on 19 March 2018 - 02:43 PM, said:

Prediction, I think PGI will find out how baaaaad they have nerfed Clan Mechs and will will see some improvements.

Doubtful when you balance because something is different I don’t have high hopes.

[Khobai]

PGI is still nerfing clan mechs

so they obviously havent seen the error of their ways

[Scout Derek]

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 11:47 AM, said:

uh, arent bolt-on prizes given by sponsor? you know, for street cred. Though it would make sense to have anyone with enough Accolade to buy the bolt-on they want. that way more people play and grind rather than the ten pro guys.

Maybe so. Maybe both ways. For each rank you earn, maybe you'll get unique bolt-ons for reaching a certain point.

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 12:10 PM, said:

Is that from the mouth of PGI? Is that separate from ranking? How will mech or will mech even be adjusted after seasons end? I cant imagine PGI setting every mech in a rank based on a set value and then allowing a small tonnage difference and call it even. Well im willing to try but im pretty sure we will end up with mech variant totally out classing the rest of their rank.

It's from looking at the 7 different categories listed in the trailer. Each one had a different chassis size and loadout, as well as Tier rank.



You'll notice the change in tier rank when they quickly click the centurion. starts at 1:00

[Tier5 Kerensky]

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 12:10 PM, said:

Is that from the mouth of PGI? Is that separate from ranking? How will mech or will mech even be adjusted after seasons end? I cant imagine PGI setting every mech in a rank based on a set value and then allowing a small tonnage difference and call it even. Well im willing to try but im pretty sure we will end up with mech variant totally out classing the rest of their rank.

Mechs can be adjustted by changing the division they are in. Tonnage doesn't matter. They would initially use tonnage and other factors to deside on the division but once it's set, tonnage doesn't matter.

Because we have hundreds of mechs and Solaris will have 7 division, a lot of mechs will be permanently in the bottom of any division they would be placed, and majority will be medicore at best, which will be a problem as people take better mechs making medicore mechs essentially weak.

DAYLEET, on 19 March 2018 - 11:47 AM, said:

Does that mean a PNT-9R only fights other PNT-9R or that the 9R can be ranked with any other chassis like the BLR-1G and play with any other mech of that rank?


OK. I hope variant also have dynamic ELO and not just a set value. Because then youll end up with mech that are just better than the rest of the same rank and it becomes another stale comp scene with very limited choice or fun to be had. Pure variant separation would be cool though impractical . I want to know whos the SDR-5K king damnit!

Any mech in division X can fight any other mech in same division.

ELO rating on the other hand is player based, each player will get a rating and hopeflly it will mean better players will eventally fight amoung each other and weaker with weaker.