189 replies to this topic

[MischiefSC]

Mystere, on 24 April 2018 - 10:21 AM, said:

Map elimination would be fine if we have a large number and very diverse collection of maps. But we only have five and I rarely drop on the caves or factory.

Then you're doing it wrong.

You can always force 1 of 3 maps.

Kill Colluseum, then Boreal. I drop reasonably often in Factory and Caves. I see Swamp rarely - by choice, as it's very poke friendly.

[Sjorpha]

I think most of it's good. Maps are good, most of the design is good.

The rewards are extremely low though, which makes no sense for a game mode that should be about money and fame. And the divisions are quite unbalanced with the main problem being too heavy mechs in low divisions. The lack of matches to spectate are annoying since it's like that feature might as well not exist but that's not a huge deal.

I've played some, mostly enjoyed it, and I'll play a lot more when the divisions are better balanced and the rewards match the time investment as compared to quickplay and faction play.

[MischiefSC]

Payouts should be better. Solaris should pay more than QP, accounting for the long load times.

[MechaBattler]

I think if they give too much reward for Solaris. It might cause problems with the other queues. But a small increase wouldn't hurt.

[Danger817]

"I'm Duncan Fishcer.... I got you another dollar for winning your match"

https://youtu.be/ItUECpFi9_s

[Mystere]

MischiefSC, on 25 April 2018 - 12:55 PM, said:

Then you're doing it wrong.

You can always force 1 of 3 maps.

Kill Colluseum, then Boreal. I drop reasonably often in Factory and Caves. I see Swamp rarely - by choice, as it's very poke friendly.

I'm doing it wrong? My opponent usually kills both the caves and factory. What else am I supposed to do?. <shrugs>

[Mystere]

sycocys, on 24 April 2018 - 02:57 PM, said:

They did though. They spent most of the time they were actually working on FP for its release working on that silly galaxy map and its corresponding meta game.

Oh come on! Do you actually consider that extremely emaciated skeleton of a minimally viable product polished?

[Dogstar]

Mystere, on 25 April 2018 - 04:22 PM, said:

Oh come on! Do you actually consider that extremely emaciated skeleton of a minimally viable product polished?

Well they do say that you can't polish a ....

[Darian DelFord]

Bud Crue, on 24 April 2018 - 05:51 AM, said:

Oddly, I agree with just about everything you stated here. And yet, I can’t help but see that for those playing it, most that I have encountered are still really loving it. So maybe...a minimally viable success?


Seriously though, only PGI can tell if it is a success or not and then only after a bit of time has passed. Their subjective view here is all that really counts; and if they define success as it having sold a lot of “solaris 7” mech packs, and for all we know that may very well be their only standard (waves to MW5 on the horizon) then perhaps it is an off the charts success for PGI. On the other hand, if it is more along the lines of what they have publicly hinted at, namely an attempt to reinvigorate interest in MWO as a whole with a focus on Solaris style play, then yeah, it sure looks like a failure thus far. But even by that standard, it is impossible to make such a call this soon.

We have to give it time.

Time to see how they screw with overall balance in the 12v12 modes vs Solaris.
Time to see how they manipulate divisional make-up, and if they really hold to the 3 month seasonal schedule.
Time to see if Solaris becomes just an occasional indulgence or the main draw for players, how many play it at all, and how their play affects the other modes of the game. Etc.
We just don’t know, and can’t know any of this yet. Worse, is that even this data collection is going to get impacted by Battletech’s launch, so it is likely going to take even longer for PGI and us to get a real feel for how Solaris has impacted the game.

Keep in mind too that the largest % of the playing population to ever play CW at a given time was reported by Russ to have been around 17% and nominally 11% (I’ve seen others claim that it peaked to something like nearly 30% but I never saw that number reported from a dev), and they kept putting effort into that mode for a good two and a half years before apparently deciding it was no longer a priority. If it took that long for them to internalize CW’s performance as a mode, I suspect Solaris is going to need a hell of a lot longer than a few weeks or even months to know if it is truly a “succcess” from thier point of view.

I agree it does need time to work the kinks out. I am going based on my own experience with MWO since the get go and remembering the continuous amount of let downs by PGI. When I see them trying to launch a re-branding or trying to revitalize the game with a new thing like Solaris, I would expect a lot of fanfare and instead we got a patch and an event for Quickplay.

While there is NO way to make a division list that is perfect from the get go, still you have to wonder about some of the assignments.

The queue is what is really killing me. Within a week of the launch you should not be playing the same player over and over and over and over and over and over,,,,, because there is no large pool of players in Solaris, and it does not matter the division you are in. You will play the same peeps over and over.

It reminds me of them removing the player counter in Beta. The queue numbers just flat out suck from a players standpoint and you have to ask yourself.... what is PGI going to do about it.

[kuma8877]

Dogstar, on 26 April 2018 - 11:31 AM, said:

Well they do say that you can't polish a ....

Warframe would like a word.

[Bud Crue]

Darian DelFord, on 27 April 2018 - 03:59 AM, said:

The queue is what is really killing me. Within a week of the launch you should not be playing the same player over and over and over and over and over and over,,,,, because there is no large pool of players in Solaris, and it does not matter the division you are in. You will play the same peeps over and over.

It reminds me of them removing the player counter in Beta. The queue numbers just flat out suck from a players standpoint and you have to ask yourself.... what is PGI going to do about it.

Yeah. Not sure what they can do about this. I have only played doubles a handful of times (still haven’t been forced to solo), but even over the opening weekend we ran into the same few teams playing us over and over. Playing during this last week has been far worse. On Wednesday NA prime time for example, group queue was barren and so two of us played D1 Solaris and only one other team was on. Beat them twice, then moved to another division. Same guys had moved as well, and were again the only players in that division too. Hopefully this is a Battletech effect and not a “we don’t like Solaris” one (like I said, group queue was empty too). As far as I can tell, besides the missing FFA aspect, PGI has given the players who are interested in Solaris as a mode, just about everything they have asked for; so I am not sure what if anything they can do to make it more attractive to a greater part of the community.

[MischiefSC]

Mystere, on 25 April 2018 - 03:08 PM, said:

I'm doing it wrong? My opponent usually kills both the caves and factory. What else am I supposed to do?. &lt;shrugs&gt;

So you force swamp and smash the other guy. Next match they ban swamp and you likely end up factory and they try to stay near their spawn to play eange, run up a side on them. After that they may try caves.

You train people to behaviors. Make them pick between swamp, caves and factory and you'll get factory and caves more often.

[Mystere]

Darian DelFord, on 27 April 2018 - 03:59 AM, said:

The queue is what is really killing me. Within a week of the launch you should not be playing the same player over and over and over and over and over and over,,,,, because there is no large pool of players in Solaris, and it does not matter the division you are in. You will play the same peeps over and over.

I just switch to a different division, or quit.

[Asym]

Bud Crue, on 27 April 2018 - 06:25 AM, said:

Yeah. Not sure what they can do about this. I have only played doubles a handful of times (still haven’t been forced to solo), but even over the opening weekend we ran into the same few teams playing us over and over. Playing during this last week has been far worse. On Wednesday NA prime time for example, group queue was barren and so two of us played D1 Solaris and only one other team was on. Beat them twice, then moved to another division. Same guys had moved as well, and were again the only players in that division too. Hopefully this is a Battletech effect and not a “we don’t like Solaris” one (like I said, group queue was empty too). As far as I can tell, besides the missing FFA aspect, PGI has given the players who are interested in Solaris as a mode, just about everything they have asked for; so I am not sure what if anything they can do to make it more attractive to a greater part of the community.

Of the crew I played MWO with, they tried S7 (six of them out of 52 at the moment) a couple of days and haven't returned... They seemed to like the mode, playing individual games and talking on TS was a bit errie but, it was the "same people over and over" I think that made them shy away and, the low rewards was a "is this worth doing" question discussed... I tried it one game and it's a nice addition to the MWO stable but not a horse I would ride.......just not value added when there are other games that do the same thing and have value to average players who play for the fun of it.... MWO is an "all left or all right" game....a game of extremes because of the population. It forces you to chose and as said above: switch or quit...... which, in any rationale business paradigm is a self fulling prophecy of doom......

[MischiefSC]

Battletech just came out.

It's absolutely incredibly amazing (if you can run it. New patch seems to have helped many) and is more fun than Solaris.

I just punched a Centurion into debris with an Atlas and crushed a Dragon with a Death From Above with my Highlander. How can you compete with that.

[El Bandito]

MischiefSC, on 28 April 2018 - 11:08 AM, said:

Battletech just came out.

It's absolutely incredibly amazing (if you can run it. New patch seems to have helped many) and is more fun than Solaris.

I just punched a Centurion into debris with an Atlas and crushed a Dragon with a Death From Above with my Highlander. How can you compete with that.

Two very different games. I enjoy both, though BT's RNG can be as frustrating as that of XCom's. What do you mean you missed close range AC5 shot that had 95% probability to hit?

[MischiefSC]

El Bandito, on 28 April 2018 - 11:20 AM, said:

Two very different games. I enjoy both, though BT's RNG can be as frustrating as that of XCom's. What do you mean you missed close range AC5 shot that had 95% probability to hit?

I mean sometimes you just derp. I had a Solaris match last week where I flubbed totally and missed an easy cockpit on an overheated Kodiak. I shot his *arm*. Aiming with wrong reticle.

RNG is real.

[Nightbird]

MischiefSC, on 28 April 2018 - 01:05 PM, said:

I mean sometimes you just derp. I had a Solaris match last week where I flubbed totally and missed an easy cockpit on an overheated Kodiak. I shot his *arm*. Aiming with wrong reticle.

RNG is real.

Exactly. Another example, laser vomit, if your aim and timing is good, full damage on one component. If bad, spread to 5 components. RNG

(modified by your and the opponent's pilot skill)

[Khobai]

failure.

playing battletech instead

[Bud Crue]

Khobai, on 28 April 2018 - 05:26 PM, said:

failure.

playing battletech instead

I have to agree here that PGI's timing could not have been much worse for Solaris.

I was really worried that Solaris would drain the population out of the Group and Solo QP queues, but for those first few days...I didn't even notice much of an increase in wait times, and over the next few days after launch -weekdays mind you- we still had only a couple less than our normal nightly group of 8-12 on TS playing.

Then Battletech dropped.

Wow. Now group queue, even on Friday and Saturday was pretty barren. Solo was not much better. So out of desperation the two of us who were on played Solaris and at one point on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday there were ZERO other players in ANY of the Solaris queues. We were literally the only ones playing. Left to finally try individual Solaris and could only find a match in Division 1 and 5. Certainly, things finally picked up as the evening got later, but still, the wait times are now noticeable if not intolerable.

Good thing there is no market overlap and no one who enjoys an FPS will be drawn to a turn based game. /s
I suspect (and hope) that this population drain is temporary. But still, seems like a lot of the players of this here FPS have gone to play a turn based game instead. Solaris didn't stand a chance against the nostalgia and novelty of BT.

Edited by Bud Crue, 29 April 2018 - 04:05 AM.