48 replies to this topic

[Prototelis]

Uhhh, I dunno about you but I've found most of the people I know through playing the game.

The game could definitely use more social tools, but there is nothing stopping you from sending a friend request to peeps or asking to be added to a group for the next drop. Just about any of the remaining active units would be happy to have another person on their comms in match.

[Jack Dawes]

Prototelis, on 06 December 2018 - 10:00 AM, said:

Uhhh, I dunno about you but I've found most of the people I know through playing the game.

The game could definitely use more social tools, but there is nothing stopping you from sending a friend request to peeps or asking to be added to a group for the next drop. Just about any of the remaining active units would be happy to have another person on their comms in match.

You can't even add a note to the request. Practically useless. I don't answer calls from "unknown" on my phone. Why should I expect anyone to add me just because I asked?

Edited by Jack Dawes, 06 December 2018 - 10:33 AM.

[Spheroid]

Jack Dawes, on 06 December 2018 - 09:47 AM, said:

And, even then, you have to FIND TS / Discord / etc servers to find people to play with.

And, yes, for me, it's a big deal. So take your glib BS somewhere else.

So basically you are saying you have VOIP phobia. Those TS addresses are posted in teamchat. Its hardly a chore connecting to them.

Also external communications tools have been part of MechWarrior for decades. Microsoft Game Zone being a prime example. All that coordination was done outside that possible by the base games.

Edited by Spheroid, 06 December 2018 - 10:53 AM.

[General Solo]

Wot, Mechcon killed Faction Pray again!

Get guid faction play!!!

Learn to Faction Play, Faction Play!!!

gg close wp

Faction Play do yo even!

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 06 December 2018 - 12:14 PM.

[TheBossOfYou]

Spheroid, on 06 December 2018 - 10:52 AM, said:

So basically you are saying you have VOIP phobia. Those TS addresses are posted in teamchat. Its hardly a chore connecting to them.

Also external communications tools have been part of MechWarrior for decades. Microsoft Game Zone being a prime example. All that coordination was done outside that possible by the base games.

The problem with FP is low population. It is not going to fixed that by continuing to do what has been done the last few years.

YOU need to change to save FP, not the QP players. QP already has minimal requirements(build stompy robot, press play button), minimal matchmaking difficulties(groups and the 2 tech trees), and no need to populate certain games within certain timeframes(uncontested victory due to no opposing team).

[FireStoat]

I'm a filthy casual. I play Faction War only when an event is going on and only if the rewards are pretty good. If it isn't the case, I stick with Quickplay drops. The reason for this is my experience with faction play when dropping as a solo is that I get matched up vs full or nearly full company players and seal clubbing ensues. This isn't a sour grapes attitude that I'm trying to express - many other players are in the same situation I'm in and have roughly the same opinion.

Riot games recognized this situation of the solo player and group players VERY early on with their League of Legends game in that people who played as a solo or a duo were allowed to drop into a solo player bucket for a game, and all players in groups of 3 or better were off in their own bucket to face against each other. And guess what? That is one of the critical elements of that game that helped it succeed in terms of the single player experience.

I'm honestly uncertain what to suggest to PGI involving Faction Play and the solo player in light of where the game is now and the population the company has to work with. I'm willing to give what they offer in terms of changes a try once it rolls out. I'm just hoping PGI learned from their Solaris 7 situation as well as taking all suggestions for changes from company players with a huge grain of salt - unless FW will be finally intended as a coordinated group play experience and nothing else. That's okay for PGI to be upfront about that too.

[Dimento Graven]

FireStoat, on 06 December 2018 - 01:10 PM, said:

...
Riot games recognized this situation of the solo player and group players VERY early on with their League of Legends game in that people who played as a solo or a duo were allowed to drop into a solo player bucket for a game, and all players in groups of 3 or better were off in their own bucket to face against each other. And guess what? That is one of the critical elements of that game that helped it succeed in terms of the single player experience.

...

The current Tier system would support this if, and only if:

1. PGI actually advertised their game to get constant flux of new T5 players coming into the game so that the T5 queue was large enough to isolate by itself and let the new players learn how to play the game on their own.

As they played they could learn the game and progress in to T4 which could be isolated to T4/T3 range, and if they continued doing well enough to progress eventually get into T3 which could be isolated to T2/T4 ranges, and then again eventually progressing to a T2 and T1 where similar constraints on who you faced could be enabled.

But all this is based off the premise that the game would have a continued influx of new players to replace those that 'exp'd out' or quit playing.

2. This brings up advertising.

Without advertising it's only going to be a long slow attrition of existing players where the queues and Tier system can no longer function properly without undoing constraints, pretty much as it is right now.

I hope Microsoft makes license renewal contingent upon an advertising budget of 20% of the gross.

This game exists in nearly a vacuum as is, there wasn't much of a bump from the BattleTech release, I'm kind of expecting there to be a negative bump when MW5 is released, so actually spending some dough to advertise this game NOW AHEAD OF the MW5 release, and proactively before license negotiations, would be a smart move.

UNLESS, the plan is to show Microsoft that there's little interest in the IP, in an effort to attempt a reduction in licensing fees, which I think would be a short sighted thing to attempt to do.

I dunno man, I just know that no one will even TRY a game they don't even know exists...

Edited by Dimento Graven, 06 December 2018 - 01:23 PM.

[General Solo]

Skill gap is wot killed or is killing Faction Play and well as group que.
No amount of rearranging the goal posts will change that. (Weapon balance, Mech, map mode changes etc)

People, well just me iz even starting to complain about quick play as its MM needs a reboot too.

Separate FUNCTIONING skill pools was always the answer and still is.
Built dat and they will come.

Edit: And stop leaving so much

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 06 December 2018 - 03:26 PM.

[Warning incoming Humble Dexterer]

During and just after MechCon, I noticed a clear influx of (totally clueless) new players, using trial mechs to get into Faction Play. So I'd say MechCon has a noticeable effect on attracting new players to MWO...

Unfortunately they were mercilessly thrown straight into Pugs vs Premade right from their first Faction Play matches, with the expected results on both their performance and how long they stuck around after MechCon was over : A wasted opportunity.

I know there's not enough players to separate solo queues from group queues (if only because groups obliterate new players before they get a chance to stick around), but PGI should consider giving Tier1 players their own separate queue instead.