28 replies to this topic

[Victor Morson]

While I really like having lances, the fact that in PUGs it won't attempt to pair you with like-tonnage 'mechs and in private matches the placement is random, they aren't very helpful at the moment.

Unless a method to assign people to lances before ever entering the game is added, there's little to no benefit to their existence - it even serves to complicate matters as you cannot assign objectives as a Team Commander to both lances.

i.e. if you get lance A with 3 Cataphracts and a Raven and Lance B with 3 Atlas and a Spider, obviously you're not going to want to pair the others with the lights. So the lance ordering becomes meaningless.

Anyway, I'm hoping something is considered for this. It's a promising start.

[alexivy]

Agreed. I like where they're heading, but it certainly isn't polished yet.

[MadPanda]

Lances are pretty failed attempt anyway in pug's. I tried to play as the "lance commander" couple of times, most people don't follow your orders and just go off on their own way. And if you are in a premade, you are already in TS. Nice attempt pgi, but how about you add ingame VOIP instead if you want some better team coordination.

[alexivy]

MadPanda, on 17 April 2013 - 11:49 PM, said:

Lances are pretty failed attempt anyway in pug's. I tried to play as the "lance commander" couple of times, most people don't follow your orders and just go off on their own way. And if you are in a premade, you are already in TS. Nice attempt pgi, but how about you add ingame VOIP instead if you want some better team coordination.

So do you like having your teammates health percentage on your HUD? What about their weapons loadouts / which weapons are still up? I think that's where they're headed and I'm looking forward to it.

[Malora Sidewinder]

Agree, but this is just initial implementation. For now it's best to just ignore it, and wait for more function to be added to it. i'm honestly surprised that people want it to be fully functional straight from the gates.

it's a new feature that will be more and more useful as time goes on.

[MacKoga]

A moment to shuffle around in the pre-match lobby would do a world of good for the concept.

Pre-launch time would need to be a bit longer, or we would need to be able to at least keep the lobby screen up while doing the power up sequence. As it is, I usually barely have time to see what's going on with my team before the screen disappears and we're going into the match.

[Victor Morson]

alexivy, on 17 April 2013 - 11:52 PM, said:

So do you like having your teammates health percentage on your HUD? What about their weapons loadouts / which weapons are still up? I think that's where they're headed and I'm looking forward to it.

I like it a whole lot. In fact, I wish it would display all the lances, grouped by lance, up on the HUD in a similar fashion. That's very handy.

Malora Sidewinder, on 17 April 2013 - 11:54 PM, said:

Agree, but this is just initial implementation. For now it's best to just ignore it, and wait for more function to be added to it. i'm honestly surprised that people want it to be fully functional straight from the gates.

it's a new feature that will be more and more useful as time goes on.

Oh I agree. That's why I don't want to ignore it, I want to encourage further development on it to bring it to something useful. It's really close to there now.

[bigdaddynash]

Have you not learned how this game works as far as developement goes yet?

New thing is implemented.

2 months later problems are considered.

2 more months later to patch first fix attempt.

Inevitably it's not good enough or is genuinely broken but released to live servers anyways. Rinse & repeat.

Source: Artemis implementation, ECM implementaion and matchmaker. Expect lance assigning through perhaps a lobby system in another 2-4 months. Your whining may vary.

[MadPanda]

alexivy, on 17 April 2013 - 11:52 PM, said:

So do you like having your teammates health percentage on your HUD? What about their weapons loadouts / which weapons are still up? I think that's where they're headed and I'm looking forward to it.

Their percentages? Not very useful once you realise that 70% can mean he's taken armor damage all over his body or that his ct armor might be completely gone, in other words it's not that telling info. Only thing somewhat useful about the hud is that it shows who's dead without you having to press tab.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

alexivy, on 17 April 2013 - 11:47 PM, said:

Agreed. I like where they're heading, but it certainly isn't polished yet.

Being that its not launched yet I wouldnt expect it to be polished

[Ralgas]

i'd suggest it'll get a LOT better once the lobby/cw gets added

Edited by Ralgas, 18 April 2013 - 12:18 AM.

[Soy]

MadPanda, on 18 April 2013 - 12:09 AM, said:

Only thing somewhat useful about the hud is that it shows who's dead without you having to press tab.

Lol, what about grid location?

[No Guts No Glory]

Victor Morson, on 17 April 2013 - 11:45 PM, said:

i.e. if you get lance A with 3 Cataphracts and a Raven and Lance B with 3 Atlas and a Spider, obviously you're not going to want to pair the others with the lights. So the lance ordering becomes meaningless.

So...putting slow *** mechs with a fast scout is bad lance makeup?

[von Pilsner]

Victor Morson, on 17 April 2013 - 11:45 PM, said:

Unless a method to assign people to lances before ever entering the game is added, there's little to no benefit to their existence - it even serves to complicate matters as you cannot assign objectives as a Team Commander to both lances.

3 friends and I have been playing and we are grouped in a 4-man before the game. We are always in the same lance.

I assume you don't mean 8-mans since you mentioned pugs in your post...

Edited by von Pilsner, 18 April 2013 - 01:31 AM.

[MaltedMule]

I'm just a scummy PUG player, so it doesn't affect me much. If there was some sort of integrated VOIP in game, it could be awesome. As it stands now, I think it is a good first step into something that may be more robust in the future. The whole command element is obviously still being experimented with, I think it may be too soon to pass judgement. I hate having no lobby or game selection elements though besides Assault or Conquest, kinda bugs me, I want to chose when and where I drop and with who.

[Relic1701]

You do know that the team commander can move people around by dragging and dropping....

[stjobe]

As Relic1701 said, the team commander can drag-and-drop people in the map view.

As for improvements to the lance window, I'd really love it to show what 'mech they're piloting (COM-2B, HGL-HM, DRG-5N etc). That's way more useful to me than knowing what grid they're in.

Also, if you haven't noticed, your compass bar now has yellow diamonds for the direction where your lance-mates are.

Edited by stjobe, 18 April 2013 - 03:13 AM.

[Willie Sauerland]

Victor Morson, on 17 April 2013 - 11:45 PM, said:

While I really like having lances, the fact that in PUGs it won't attempt to pair you with like-tonnage 'mechs and in private matches the placement is random, they aren't very helpful at the moment.

Unless a method to assign people to lances before ever entering the game is added, there's little to no benefit to their existence - it even serves to complicate matters as you cannot assign objectives as a Team Commander to both lances.

i.e. if you get lance A with 3 Cataphracts and a Raven and Lance B with 3 Atlas and a Spider, obviously you're not going to want to pair the others with the lights. So the lance ordering becomes meaningless.

Anyway, I'm hoping something is considered for this. It's a promising start.

It is a good start.

I am curious why you wouldn't want

a scout in your lances though.

Seems like a practical thing to have.

Especially if the lights have ECM

to cover your advance/flank maneuver.

Or actually do something clever and unexpected

like actually scouting...

[Joseph Mallan]

Willie Sauerland, on 18 April 2013 - 03:14 AM, said:

It is a good start.

I am curious why you wouldn't want

a scout in your lances though.

Seems like a practical thing to have.

Especially if the lights have ECM

to cover your advance/flank maneuver.

Or actually do something clever and unexpected

like actually scouting...

Wisdom!

[MonkeyCheese]

alexivy, on 17 April 2013 - 11:52 PM, said:

So do you like having your teammates health percentage on your HUD? What about their weapons loadouts / which weapons are still up? I think that's where they're headed and I'm looking forward to it.

Id prefer the percentages and locations for the entire team, if someone is weak and yells HELP in chat I can look at their location and health.