181 replies to this topic

[Meldric Ward]

What good are cockpit items if FW is useless and boring? Right. Nothing.

[Racerxintegra2k]

As a Davion Loyalist, here is my experience. Was excited for the Faction play event, as were the members of my unit. We checked the event and realized as Davion's we could only play Monday and Tuesday. Last night i log on to play some faction play, not one of my unit of 47 was online. I dropped twice Solo and finished the Davion portion of the event. I'm now done for faction play for the rest of the event duration.

Event Rating: Thanks for the easy Davion cockpit items i guess (since PGI wants us to switch between factions what does faction specific swag actually matter).

2/10

[Will9761]

FP is going to need a lot more than MC and cockpit items. It has to have mean to why you should stick with your faction on a personal level instead of "free food pellet" crap that we have now. I'm glad every faction is getting love in these events, but we need to see more flare with them.

[Dee Eight]

it means nothing to me outside of events. I'm only playing it now for some quick MC and warhorns.

[Eidolon 29]

Why do the loyalist feel ignored/punished by this event? In short there continues to be no real incentive to be a loyalist in general, not just the events.

Speaking to this event in particular a loyalist is locked out of faction play except on the days of their faction's event. In addition, if you are a mercenary (don't have faction loyalty what's so ever) you can jump from faction to faction for each event. This garners no significant penalty (can rejoin a faction for loyalty points anytime) to play in every event, earning more rewards in general. So -> loyalist = less game time + fewer rewards for event + THOSE DIRTY MERCS GET EVERYTHING THEY WANT AGAIN . I can go quite in depth as to what changes I would want for the mercenary/loyalist system in general but,... wrong place for now.

As I see it faction play has 2 primary gameplay objectives:
-1st, gameplay wise, it is suppose to be end game material. Use of well equipped mechs perfected for your gameplay style and more advanced teamplay tactics required such as drop deck creation, when to drop what mech, re-group or push, and any other purely gameplay mechanics.
-2nd is the love of MechWarrior and BattleTech in general. This is where faction warfare was suppose to immerse the players into the vast history and lore of the franchise. Sadly for a multitude of reasons whether technical, financial, or simply not coming up with the right ideas MWO has failed the most.

In addition I believe this failure contributes to a large part of why many people don't play faction mode. There isn't an emotional/tribal/my group vs your group mentality to pull people into it. Few people new to the franchise know much about the factions and thus don't care much about the one picked to fight for. Not enough players in the mode leads to bucket problems etc...

To stay on topic, how to make the faction play events more amenable to loyalist? There are many good ways to do so, but many are also likely technical/work on core game mechanics time consuming and/or financially high for MWO at this stage of the game's life. However, I have some ideas that may be feasible to put into later events or faction play in general.

1st allow loyalist to play in other faction's events. Not as mercenaries or lone wolves, but as "allies." To this I mean no leaving loyalist status but perhaps letting each faction's loyalists vote right before the event as to which faction they will ally to. This would keep loyalist from being locked out of faction play, and lead to a bit more immersion into the game's lore + politicking as loyalist on both sides can vie for allies. In addition, loyalist whose faction the event is not for would receive other rewards for the event (I'd rather see loyalist for the event get faction related rewards only. Mercs, loners, and allies would get some other reward/s).

2nd, for events and perhaps just in general make loyalty levels attained mean something. The grind to level 20 is long, especially for those who can only play 1-6 hours a week or less... but once there where do you go? I don't want to advocate for addition levels but rather the use of your faction loyalty level + a weighted percentage of actual gameplay time for the previous... say month (could be week or day, but something) to give bonuses.

Example: You have loyalty level 10 and have played 15 games in the last 30 days. To achieve "full active duty" you must have played 20 games in the last 30 days. An event bonus could go along the lines of "Get 30 KMDDs for the event -> reward ={[loyalty level (10)]*[active duty level % (15/20)]}*500,000 c-bills -> (would be 3,350,000 c-bills if I mathed right)."

The same type of formula could be used for a permanent or temporary sales bonus on faction specific paints, decals, paint patterns, and mechs that are strongly associated with the chosen faction. The added benefit to Piranha Games would be the encouragement of players to get into faction mode more, and to play often enough to get the full bonus of their loyalty level.

I could come up with many other ways to improve faction play and events for it, but many would probably be far more expensive to implement right away or perhaps ever. The above 2 ideas I think (with my little knowledge of video game software writing and expenses) are relatively easy and cheap methods that could be put into the game somewhat quickly.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents on the subject. Hope it was constructive or useful to any developer who may read it. MWO has faults, but I think it has been implemented the best in the franchise for multiplayer so far.

[DarkFhoenix]

Racerxintegra2k, on 06 November 2018 - 06:32 AM, said:

As a Davion Loyalist, here is my experience. Was excited for the Faction play event, as were the members of my unit. We checked the event and realized as Davion's we could only play Monday and Tuesday. Last night i log on to play some faction play, not one of my unit of 47 was online. I dropped twice Solo and finished the Davion portion of the event. I'm now done for faction play for the rest of the event duration.

Event Rating: Thanks for the easy Davion cockpit items i guess (since PGI wants us to switch between factions what does faction specific swag actually matter).

2/10

Did you enjoy getting into games in under 5 minutes ? Compared to normal faction game times , this is awesome.
You can thank people who jump between factions for that . Maybe their motives are nothing more than mc fishing but it helps the queuing times and this event. MWO does not have enough players at this time for everyone to stick to one faction only .

You lose nothing and have everything to gain . Your only "punishment " is ten matches to get back to your original rank in your favorite house or animal tribe . You need to support all houses and clans of the innersphere , just as we temporarily exchange our favorite clan or house for Davion .

Next time you get a ghost drop , remember it's because of selfish people and units like you . You are killing faction play not mercs or "MC" loyalists . Your favorite lil house won't mean anything if the FP plug is pulled due to lack of interest and players .

How much premium currency , mechbays , Camo,s , warhorns and mechs has your pride cost you ? Was it worth it ?

Edited by DarkFhoenix, 07 November 2018 - 08:57 AM.

[Xeno Phalcon]

I know what they were TRYING to do, which was smart - but the execution is lacking some VITAL coding effort: chiefly the reward system is starting to show its age, rather than one event that smartly tracks what faction your in we have a series of them that only recognizes one faction and has the others locked out. Thats bad juju right there - case in point right now is usually a 'prime time' window with just over 1,000 players on steam, at the moment thats down to a discouraging 644.

[MechWpnsTech]

Eisenhorne, on 05 November 2018 - 07:37 AM, said:

Come on, really? You're equating playing a role in an event in a video game to a legal team switching sides while under contract? That's just a level of obtuseness that is rarely seen outside of US politics. It's an event... just enjoy it. Or don't. Nobody is forcing you to play it. They went out of their way to make sure every faction has a couple of days they can play here.

lmao you are a hypocrite, you have no loyalty at all, since you have been changing sides and clans just like the others, thanks for proving my point .

[Eisenhorne]

MechWpnsTech, on 07 November 2018 - 09:26 PM, said:

lmao you are a hypocrite, you have no loyalty at all, since you have been changing sides and clans just like the others, thanks for proving my point .

Its. A. Video. Game.

This isn't life or death, loyalty doesn't mean anything here.

I'm sorry you are so into roleplaying that you refuse to temporarily switch to participate.

[DeadWeight18]

For me being new to FP this event was fun concerning the Invasion drops. Could do 2 challenges with 2 to 3 drops which is fine for me. Clans I couldn't do because I didn't had the mechs to field. Bad luck

Otherwise It felt like a longer QP. Do I chase for mech bays in FP or should I? I don't know!

[DarkFhoenix]

DeadWeight18, on 08 November 2018 - 03:36 AM, said:

For me being new to FP this event was fun concerning the Invasion drops. Could do 2 challenges with 2 to 3 drops which is fine for me. Clans I couldn't do because I didn't had the mechs to field. Bad luck

Otherwise It felt like a longer QP. Do I chase for mech bays in FP or should I? I don't know!

Well technically we all have clan and IS trial mechs . You should be able to participate regardless .

Of course you should grab a free mech bay bro . Its 10 scouting matches to get rid of probation and about 3 invasion wins . A bit more if you lose .

Edited by DarkFhoenix, 08 November 2018 - 05:55 AM.

[50 50]

Think I've played MWO more in the last week than I have in perhaps a month and it is thanks to these events.
Enjoying picking a side and getting some battles in and mixing it up between IS and Clan.

Do I think there is opportunity to try setting it up a different way?
Sure.
Depends on what can and can't be done with the event system.
The prospect of playing through a number of 'ages' sounds like fun though.

[Racerxintegra2k]

DarkFhoenix, on 07 November 2018 - 08:40 AM, said:

Next time you get a ghost drop , remember it's because of selfish people and units like you . You are killing faction play not mercs or "MC" loyalists . Your favorite lil house won't mean anything if the FP plug is pulled due to lack of interest and players .

Now I've heard it all.... loyalists are killing faction play. No brother PGI did that on their own.



Pre Long Tom and single bucket etc ... I remember joining up on the Davion TS and coordinating with 5-6 other units. We even had a high command that my unit commanders would listen to and plan our strategies against. That was incredible and fun. In those days i probably spent a good $800 because i felt engaged. Faction play is basically quickplay at this point. These events structured as such dont do anything to further engagement. Your attitude toward loyalists is funny, you dont understand what drove us to play in the first place. We don't care about missing out on free swag.

Edited by Racerxintegra2k, 09 November 2018 - 08:47 AM.

[GamerPro4000]

Hey Matt. None of the colors, decals, or cockpit items are on sale for the "CLAN WOLF VS STEEL VIPERS" event.

[C337Skymaster]

Seems to be off topic, but why are none of the Steel Viper specific customization items on sale, as has been the case with all of the other factions? Woulda been the perfect time to unlock its decal...

[arcana75]

27m cbills from TSP, a further 18m cbills and 1800 mc from event rewards alone. Massive haul, thanks PGI!

[Satans Pooper]

There is one benefit from this event that I would like to highlight.

More Streamers are streaming Faction Play games lately. I have seen how to successfully (and not) engage enemies on maps I do not regularly see as a QP Potato PUG.

I have enjoyed watching games on Critical Rocket and Kanajashi's youtube channels.

I bet the fact because of this event more of our favorite streamers show more FP games which means more newer players (and some old potatoes) try out FP (again) for the first time and don't immediately suck at it because they have seen it played. Those players then stick around because FP can be fun and the game mode stays vibrant.

Good Job on the unexpected benefit because of your Faction Event there PGI. Keep up the good work.

[MegaBopper]

Hi Matt Newman,

Just a question. From what I see on the event page it looks like there are colors, decals and cockpit items that should still be on sale as I am writing this. Is it possible that a gremlin has gotten into the system? Again?

I am looking forward to the next mech bay sale now that I have some MC I can use to buy them ... hint ...hint .

Also is it possible that at some point we could have a sale on drop decks? Maybe half off? ...Please???

Best Regards,

Megabopper
(Living the dream .. I play Mechwarrior Online .. and now they're coming to take me away .. ha ha - hee hee - ho ho - hoo hoo - ha haaaaaaaaaaaa.......)
(with apologies to Dr. Demento)

[Bud Crue]

Just want to say, that despite the dumping on of a lot of negativity on Matt as a result of his question up above, this little event that he put together has been a blast. Lot of fun. Easily achievable goals (1-2 matches for most). A player may miss a few do to RL, etc. but a casual hour or so of play will make up for the days missed. Got a lot of folks of all skill levels playing the mode (for good and ill, but overall I think for the good). Even the folks I play with who tend to avoid FP (since about phase 3) all seemed at least willing if not excited to play. So the loyalist complaint not withstanding, this event has been a real pleasure. Hope to see more like it. Thanks again!

[Bwah Ha Ha]

Says we should receive 3 cloud standing items, I only received 1.