18 replies to this topic

[Salamitur]

Stock battlemechs are as of today theoretical. They exist only in the store to be dismantled as soon as they are bought. Thus, many 'mechs are obsolete or non-competitive, because they don't allow for cheesy loadouts.

Wouldn't it be interesting to have a game instance that only allows for stock mechs to play?

At the least it would allow for a completely new type of game which i am intrigued to try out.

What are your thoughts?

[Vxheous]

Come play comp queue

[razenWing]

Vxheous, on 02 August 2018 - 05:35 AM, said:

Come play comp queue

To be farmed by you guys?

All jokes aside, mode selection should have a "Skirmish (Stock)" option if PGI is serious about pushing for future stock battles.

[Eisenhorne]

razenWing, on 02 August 2018 - 07:19 AM, said:

To be farmed by you guys?

All jokes aside, mode selection should have a "Skirmish (Stock)" option if PGI is serious about pushing for future stock battles.

I really hope they are not though. I had a lot of fun in MRBC last season. I was looking forward to comp play. "Stock mode" basically killed my interest in it. I told my team I'd play if the rest of them wanted to, but I wasn't super into it, and most of them were also "meh" on it, so we just never actually started playing. I doubt my team is the only one that didn't really want to do stock IS only in comp.

[process]

It's a feature that's been asked for for years. Basically a mode where your mech would temporarily revert to its stock loadout for the match. Like MWOWC, it probably would need to filter out mechs with DHS since there is a large performance gap relative to SHS.

[dario03]

Stock mechs aren't really balanced either. Actually I would say its even less so since a lot of them are just bad where as some are decent. Something like a champion mode might work though. Or if not the current champions then new community decided on builds that are balanced. I think Solaris would be more interesting with these as well. Oh and just make it a mode that changes any owned mech of that variant into those builds like how stock mode makes owned mechs stock for that drop.

Edited by dario03, 02 August 2018 - 07:25 AM.

[JediPanther]

The unit i'm in does stock group private matches. It's a lot of fun. The only flamer matches are fun too. Do private lobby with a group willing to run the most wacky builds and much fun is had. No armor one spl lcts any one?

[n8d0g]

it would be interesting, but I dont think adding more sub-modes to the game would be healthy.

[Nameless King]

Salamitur, on 02 August 2018 - 05:33 AM, said:

Stock battlemechs are as of today theoretical. They exist only in the store to be dismantled as soon as they are bought. Thus, many 'mechs are obsolete or non-competitive, because they don't allow for cheesy loadouts.

Wouldn't it be interesting to have a game instance that only allows for stock mechs to play?

At the least it would allow for a completely new type of game which i am intrigued to try out.

What are your thoughts?

It would be boring for me. Me and a few friends do stock in private matches sometimes for random fun tho.

[MechaBattler]

Perhaps they should add a 'lore mode'. Where 5 stock clan mechs fight 12 stock IS mechs. Anyone want to be cannon fodder!?

[TheArisen]

Well comp que can be pretty fun.

But for regular grp or solo que the main issue is it'd split the playerbase. It might bring some people back but it might lead to people leaving if que times get too long.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Since it's already possible to run stock in private matches, there's just no need for it... and more buckets would only hurt the game at this point. There aren't enough active players to support another mode with a separate queue.

Plus, many stock builds are deliberately bad- they represent older technology, late Succession Wars downgrades because of lostech, and in-lore corner-cutting by manufacturers. There is very little room for variety in 'Mech choice when most of the available options are objectively terrible, to the point where their awfulness is part of their backstory. That makes for wonderful detail and depth in the setting. One of those badmechs would be a great pick for a character in a Battletech RPG campaign where overcoming the limitations of your ancestral family 'Mech is part of the experience... but if you're playing 12v12 MWO and two of the people on your team took stock Shadow Hawks or Assassins, you're just screwed for no good reason. In comp that isn't an issue because the optimal picks will have been settled ahead of time, but in an open queue it'd be a serious ongoing problem which PGI would need to re-balance the whole game to fix.

[Novakaine]

IS Stock mode would be a bad joke.

[SilentScreamer]

I have suggested before that a new player queue be put into Quickplay with veteran players able to join as Stock-builds with Skill Tree disabled.

Giving New Players advantage of both better builds (Trial mechs) and use of Skill Tree over Veteran Players for least for their first 50 or so matches might help the steep learning curve of MWO.

Edited by SilentScreamer, 02 August 2018 - 11:10 AM.

[n8d0g]

SilentScreamer, on 02 August 2018 - 11:06 AM, said:

I have suggested before that a new player queue be put into Quickplay with veteran players able to join as Stock-builds with Skill Tree disabled.

Giving New Players advantage of both better builds (Trial mechs) and use of Skill Tree over Veteran Players for least for their first 50 or so matches might help the steep learning curve of MWO.

As a relatively new-ish player myself. What really would have helped me at the start to learn the game is

1) A slightly deeper tutorial

2) A small manual that explains armour vs structure as well as heat management, but most importantly GHOST HEAT.

3) More relevantly; my own mech to customize and play with. Playing with trial/stock mechs is not a fun way to learn about the mech system. My gameplay experience and overall damage improved once I got my first mech and i was able to play with load outs and learn about heat management.

I just didn't get the trail mechs, I was a little overwhelmed by some of the mechs that had 4-5 different weapons, and they didnt tech you in the tutorial how to change the groups. If you want to teach a new player, give him a simple laser-based mech that they can use the mouse bottons to fire two groups of, and maybe a 3rd weapons like SRMs or some AC that can be bound to mouse button 3.

But ultimately, players who want to improve will come to the forums or watch youtubers play, which is how I got much better from 100 hours ago. You can't teach those who don't want to learn, but if you show them some basic stuff like torso-twisting to absorb damage in the tutorial and have a far more combat-orientated tutorial rather than "MOVE HERE, NOW GO THERE" type of over simplistic guide, it would make a noticeable difference.

I mean, its 2018, we've had two decades of gaming, I think we can dial down on teaching WASD to move and mouse to look around.

Edited by n8d0g, 02 August 2018 - 11:18 AM.

[SilentScreamer]

n8d0g, on 02 August 2018 - 11:15 AM, said:

As a relatively new-ish player myself. What really would have helped me at the start to learn the game is

1) A slightly deeper tutorial

2) A small manual that explains armour vs structure as well as heat management, but most importantly GHOST HEAT.

3) More relevantly; my own mech to customize and play with. Playing with trial/stock mechs is not a fun way to learn about the mech system. My gameplay experience and overall damage improved once I got my first mech and i was able to play with load outs and learn about heat management.

I just didn't get the trail mechs, I was a little overwhelmed by some of the mechs that had 4-5 different weapons, and they didnt tech you in the tutorial how to change the groups. If you want to teach a new player, give him a simple laser-based mech that they can use the mouse bottons to fire two groups of, and maybe a 3rd weapons like SRMs or some AC that can be bound to mouse button 3.

But ultimately, players who want to improve will come to the forums or watch youtubers play, which is how I got much better from 100 hours ago. You can't teach those who don't want to learn, but if you show them some basic stuff like torso-twisting to absorb damage in the tutorial and have a far more combat-orientated tutorial rather than "MOVE HERE, NOW GO THERE" type of over simplistic guide, it would make a noticeable difference.

I mean, its 2018, we've had two decades of gaming, I think we can dial down on teaching WASD to move and mouse to look around.

Good points:

1) Did you launch the Mechwarrior Academy or just do the basic tutorial? I would say the Academy session which teaches players to lock onto enemies and fire at damaged areas for easier kills is definatelya step above WADS/mouse movement. PGI has said before though that Academy is "maxed out" with as much content as the game engine will allow so no new help coming there.

2) Armor vs Structure I do not see as new players needing a lot of details. Both armor and structure are hitpoints, leave it at that for your first 25 matches. New Players should be learning the maps, moving with the team and basic firing coordination. As far as Ghost Heat, it is a horrible system and new players should not be building tbeir own mechs anyway.

3) Building your own mech. Yes, an essential element of the Mechwarrior franchise, and new players are better off if they avoid it for at least their first 50 or so matches. There are almost infinite ways to build any mech and only a handfull work well. Better to use the locked Trial mechs to figure out what playstyle works for you first, then build your mech after.

[Mystere]

MechaBattler, on 02 August 2018 - 09:15 AM, said:

Perhaps they should add a 'lore mode'. Where 5 stock clan mechs fight 12 stock IS mechs. Anyone want to be cannon fodder!?

If according to the 10 Clan vs. 12 IS tests the formers' faces were used by the latter to wipe the floor, guess who's the actual cannon fodder in a 5C vs. 12IS? <shrugs>

Edited by Mystere, 02 August 2018 - 11:56 AM.

[MechaBattler]

Are we talking completely stock? No equipment changes at all?

[Khobai]

MechaBattler, on 02 August 2018 - 11:58 AM, said:

Are we talking completely stock? No equipment changes at all?

unfortunately yes