189 replies to this topic

[Cementi]

I have come and gone with this game over the years and while the last year I have just been kind of lingering. At no point until now have I seriously considered uninstalling.

I had fun for the first couple days but it got really repetative really quick. Then when someone hopped on and wanted to play some 2v2 I learned that the matchmaker will still pit high ranking players against low ranking/unranked (we had not played any 2v2 yet) when there is not enough population to generate balanced matches. I don't mind losing in a close fight but I know I should not being going up against the likes of people who are topping the leader boards and yet we did in against the same team in two out of the 5 matches I think.

It is not about losing though, even the wins are stale and boring. So many times just running in a circle with someone and twist to shield twist back to fire till I core them out.

So for me I really think unless they announce something interesting soon I might actually uninstall as I just do not see them actually developing anything in this game that I would consider fun and engaging content. That's a personal opinion and no slight on people who enjoy Solaris. To me though it is just as pointless as it is in TT. Competitive people will love it. Those of us who just want to hop in and have some fun without devoting the same time and effort to get good as we do in our day jobs probably won't give two sh...... for it.

Edited by Cementi, 21 April 2018 - 09:59 PM.

[GX9900 Gundam X]

An all around success despite what weight [Redacted]posters would have you believe. Divisions still need to be adjusted, for example Linebackers are definitely more of a division 1 or 2 mech than they are division 3, and the 6 small pulse laser locusts terrorize the division 5 mechs.

Edited by draiocht, 23 April 2018 - 02:47 PM.
inappropriate language

[Monkey Lover]

Its great but long term divs will be gone. Population isn't here to support it.

[xe N on]

It's gets a little bit boring over time.

[Darth Hotz]

Succes for the players, because of fun.
Failure for PGI, because of economics.

Why?

Because PGI itself declared that as a relaunch for Mechwarrior Online and even changed their brand name for it. But here is the failure , did you read anything about this in any gaming news on or offline? Any buzz, any hype, news, etc somewhere?

Just like their world tournament, they do not flank their actions with any marketing moves that would create a hype outside of this community. As a result they fail in their main task with solaris, to get more players into this game.

Sad, that their lack of creative marketing again makes things go south.

[Davegt27]

I haven't dropped S7 but I think its a success

counted 8500 players on the 1st/2nd day (before the weekend)

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Hitreg...Loading Times..Map sizes...the Prices ..the matched mechs and Classes...very uniteresting

[kuma8877]

Now that I've got a full handle on the map layouts and some decent builds to use, things have started on an uptick for me since launch. I'm having a ton of fun in the mechlab and then on to the arena to find what works for me. It's great practice for the fundamentals of aiming, shot control and heat management.

They do need to do a bigger marketing push to help fill the queues and stir up interest outside of the existing and retired players.

My MRM Pretty Baby has been pretty effective against the KGC's I've run into so far with it. Seems some old war machines have found a new lease on life as well.

[Thorqemada]

I think it is a success - at least for now.
I can see problems like dominating Weapons, Mechs and Weightclasses, loading times, kind of that stuff that needs to be adressed to keep it going.

Edited by Thorqemada, 21 April 2018 - 11:46 PM.

[chucklesMuch]

Success so far... needs a few tweaks. I can’t play atm but when I was dropping recently, it was my first choice for game mode. Love how it’s all on you and those frantic few final seconds, in close games, when both just need to scratch the other mech’s x section to win. (Amusing with strong sinking feelings when you see that you are paired up against somebody with a much higher skill level that your own, oh well shrugs)

[Luminis]

chucklesMuch, on 21 April 2018 - 11:49 PM, said:

Love how it’s all on you and those frantic few final seconds, in close games, when both just need to scratch the other mech’s x section to win.

Hell yes!

Went against a 4x LB10 KDK in AS7-D just now and overriding like a madman to get those last few points of damage in while he was twisting sure got my blood pumping like no QP match ever could. Partially because you barely get into those clutch situations, partially because even if you do, it doesn't really matter. And winning that one was more rewarding than any QP victory, too.

[xe N on]

Another problem. If you are in europe and get matched against oceanic players on oceanic server with Ping 400 (and vice versa for oceanic players) - this should not happen.

[Appogee]

I quit while I was ahead ... 100% win/loss rate after 3 matches

Now I'm waiting for viable Faction Play numbers to be restored.

[Sixpack]

Minor success. Basically play it for the lootboxes.

[Violent Tendencies]

Not worth my time...Does not look fun in the least.
Appreciate the effort that went into this, but of all the things that needed development attention, I really don't think this was the best use of resources.

[RickySpanish]

LB-X cannons are so OP. I've lost one out of 10 matches when I was carrying two LB20-Xs, and every single other match without. These things are so easy to use it's ridiculous. Anything with a prolonged firing time cannot compete, you are free to snap your torso all over the place inbetween shots and it is practically impossible to miss. You can easily ban maps that are detrimental to your build, and then just walk more or less straight up to your opponent and blow them away.

You need almost no ammo either, and your strategy is simple - when you see the enemy at spawn, decide if hitting a side torso will disable most of their weapons. If yes, shoot it then the CT. If no, just shoot the CT. Don't bother with legs, it's a waste of time. If your opponent moves to leg you, protect it if it has ammo in it, otherwise laugh as they lose the war of attrition immediately. If they over heat, you also win which is nice because for the huge damage that they do, the LB-X range produces relatively little heat.

Energy weapons have no place in Solaris, and neither do missiles outside of Artemis equipped SRMs and MRMs (for the truly adventurous).

It's certainly fun, but it's very, very heavily geared toward mech build and map selection, which should come as no surprise and I imagine there are going to be heat increases across the board for ballistic weapons going forward in Solaris. I wouldn't be shocked to see ammo capacity as much as halved either.

[Luminis]

God beware something other than Gauss Vomit be meta

[Bluttrunken]

PGI did an excellent job with Solaris. People just need to give it some time to mature. Every plan will change in a live environment with the input of several thousand people. The core is really solid, though, and that's what counts.

If anybody thought this would be anything else than meta-humping for the most part, they clearly didn't think it through. In such a small scale scenario every advantage counts. Hardpoints, facetime, alpha damage, survivability etc.. Mindless derping will stay QP exclusive.

If this game had like 10~20 different mechs PGI could probably manage sort off real balance but as it is there will always be underperformers, even with a generous helping of quirks. Differences between Clans and IS on top of hundreds of different chassis, now we have 3 modes(S7,QP,FW) each with unique demands on the mech, this game will never be perfectly balanced.

Either people start thinking and tinker with their mechs to make viable builds for the mode they are playing in(which can be part of the fun, just saying) or they shouldn't expect to win.

I wish I had more time for it and I hope it grows on people so I can join an active community when my schedule allows it.

Edited by Bluttrunken, 22 April 2018 - 02:10 AM.

[Bud Crue]

The OP asks us for our subjective opinions as to whether Solaris is a "success" or did PGI "miss the mark?"

Honestly, I say both.
Its an obvious success in the sense that most of the folks playing it are going all in and embracing the two play styles that the mode offers, it's divisional (however limited) metas, the fast pace, the low rewards, the silliness of bolt-ons, etc. In short, most of the folks I know who are playing it, are expressing mild to enthusiastic enjoyment of trying something new, to full on statements of indisputable love; as if PGI has finally delivered upon them mech gaming nirvana. People who play it seem to really enjoy it. So, yeah, mission accomplished, PGI has hit the mark, a new mode is born and MWO has a bit of a new lease on life.

On the other hand...
The population at the moment does not look good. If more people don't embrace it then it seems like this was a wasted effort from PGI's economic point of view. The three time periods that I played it, in three divisions, it was the same few teams playing (only have done 2v2 thus far). That means ELO is irrelevant. That means the same lopsided matches we are all used to. That means the same sorts of complaints and issues long term. That means the population trends are not likely to turn around. And THAT means nothing good for either we the players or the overall game.
But that's all looking over the long haul and like the OP says we are only 5 days in.

Personally, I suspect both the mode itself and PGI's re-branding "efforts" will fail to attract sufficient new or returning players to give the game any appreciable growth over the mid to long term, so if that is how they define success then I think they have indeed missed the mark. MWO is at its heart a team game and Solaris takes away from that and makes it a gimmick. But that being said, even I can't deny that Solaris is pretty fun. Can we really ask for much more than that from a game? I think from a 'look at the history of PGI and their efforts' point of view, this is one of their better efforts and even if I think the UI is awful, the divisions an illustration of them still not understanding or not caring how their game is played, or whatever other complaints one might have; for PGI, Solaris is great, and they have done a good job of implementing a new mode that a lot of folks seem to love. For PGI, that's a mission success as far as I can tell; a job well done.

Now then, lets talk about putting this sort of effort into community warfare...

Edited by Bud Crue, 22 April 2018 - 02:19 AM.

[theta123]

solaris is a rough diamond. At first i was like= Pff screw this.
But the more i am playing the more i am enjoying it.
Some things i would add=

-Free for all mode with 4 players
-Division where all mechs are allowed
-Potential balance exception for Solaris. For example the debate atm that people are mostly going for the legs.
-More Duncan Fisher lines
-Potential arena hazards.
-Higher C-bill payout. Its a bit low from time to time... Perhaps also some bonusses. Like a 5 streak victory gives you an additional 350k of something