159 replies to this topic

[El Bandito]

Sjorpha, on 06 December 2018 - 03:20 PM, said:

They posted an official roadmap? Where is it? I can't find it, it's not on the homepage news feed where it should be, it's not in the FP forum as far as I can see, do you have a link?

Here. https://mwomercs.com...t-mechcon-2018/

[Peter2k]

I also want to add that I do not consider balance or the very low hanging fruit from the FP changes to be actual content (months ago we all agreed those changes would not be bringing in new players, but maybe retain players).

To me those are things that every game has to do on a continuing basis.

To be frank, I have not played MWO in a while, and after basically no update for MWO for the next months (and even those updates are razor thin mostly) I've also canceled my preorders.

What actual content is being developed? Will you guys ever make more then 2 maps a year?
Will you touch on the more unpopular modes?

I'm sure MechCon was fun for those that attended, but for me it was an utter disappointment.
I was convinced you guys saved up stuff you were working on to announce, like last year, only to find out that basically nothing has been worked on.

And again I consider balance to be maintenance, important, but not actual content

El Bandito, on 06 December 2018 - 03:40 PM, said:

Here. https://mwomercs.com...t-mechcon-2018/

Still disappointed.
And it will take months for all things to be implemented.

And after that something else will be worked on, which will take how long?
Another 6 to 8 months?

Sigh

If they start working on a new map in May then it'll be ready for the next MechCon.
Sigh

Edited by Peter2k, 06 December 2018 - 09:06 PM.

[El Bandito]

Peter2k, on 06 December 2018 - 09:00 PM, said:

Still disappointed.
And it will take months for all things to be implemented.

And after that something else will be worked on, which will take how long?
Another 6 to 8 months?

Sigh

If they start working on a new map in May then it'll be ready for the next MechCon.
Sigh

Even if they managed to do something about it, it will be minimally viable, just to keep the mode from completely dying. There has to be a term that is stronger than "jaded", for me.

[Nightbird]

El Bandito, on 06 December 2018 - 09:18 PM, said:

Even if they managed to do something about it, it will be minimally viable, just to keep the mode from completely dying. There has to be a term that is stronger than "jaded", for me.

How do you define 'minimally viable'? I would define it as 'enough to keep the population from declining though not growing it', and this would fall short of that.

[El Bandito]

Nightbird, on 06 December 2018 - 09:22 PM, said:

How do you define 'minimally viable'?

Additions/changes that require the least amount of effort just so FP doesn't die off completely and limp along in a zombie state.

[Gully D]

Just want to say its great everyone wants to improve things from the forum interest !

"viabiily" is new concept to me as I am not a programmer. so can anyone illuminate what this means ie like 10 hour work or 1000 hours work?

and thanks to pgi for the roadmap, it helps me understand whats coming, (on a group note, having some information is better than none as it stops ppl feeling like they are unheard or impotent, no pun intended, suggest to PGI to have thread suggestions link? so people do not repeat the same idea even though they have done their best to read the thread from beginning to end? also not a programmer is this even possible - like spell check ie theme check?)

Thanks again all

[Venus the Penus]

Khobai, on 04 December 2018 - 02:47 PM, said:

no I prefer the carrot approach

id make it so you can play any mech you want. but if you play a mech on your faction's list it gains your faction unique quirk(s). And if theres faction unique variants of weapons theyd only be equippable on mechs on the faction list.

I think it would be way too complex and punitive to limit people to only be able to use certain mechs/weapons based on what planets their faction owns. Although I do think each planet should have a unique bonus but those bonuses should be more in the form of cbill discounts. Or maybe even extra tonnage if you use a mech thats produced on a planet your defending (so like using an annihilator on a planet with an annihilator factory might give you +5 tons to your dropdeck or something like that). That might help encourage using different mechs on different planets.

Brilliant

[Peter2k]

Gully D, on 07 December 2018 - 03:14 AM, said:

Just want to say its great everyone wants to improve things from the forum interest !

"viabiily" is new concept to me as I am not a programmer. so can anyone illuminate what this means ie like 10 hour work or 1000 hours work?

and thanks to pgi for the roadmap, it helps me understand whats coming, (on a group note, having some information is better than none as it stops ppl feeling like they are unheard or impotent, no pun intended, suggest to PGI to have thread suggestions link? so people do not repeat the same idea even though they have done their best to read the thread from beginning to end? also not a programmer is this even possible - like spell check ie theme check?)

Thanks again all

Its not a raodmap actually.



And that thread has been in the making since early August
starting here

FACTION PLAY - A NEW HOPE (PGI TAKING INPUT) in the FP forum.

Then we had a podcast about it.
then
FP PODCAST - FOLLOWUP DISCUSSION AUG 20-2018


then a long time of nothing happening
3 MONTH CHECKPOINT SINCE PAUL INOUYE COMMITTED TO IMPROVING FP/


Then again nothing happening, until MechCon, where nothing was announced MWO wise (with substance at least, last year was way better).

And now Paul made that post.
So from the beginning to gather ideas for fast and easy stuff (Pauls framework/condition) till full implementation its 8 months or so, that is if PGI can keep its schedule, which many many times they have actually not.


Sigh

For paying customers its not looking too bright, at least that's my view of it.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Quote

How do you define 'minimally viable'? I would define it as 'enough to keep the population from declining though not growing it', and this would fall short of that.

its only Group-play 24 vs 24 of generic Maps (without Background to the Lore of Planet -Tharkand a desertmap)
without each Content or background in Game
...nothing logistic , no Droproutes or Droptimes, no strategical Components (siege and Blockade of Planetsor Droproutes)
no garrisons, no stationing of troops, no logistics,
-no factory planets to conquer (to use certain chassies / variants)
- no limitation eg of ammunition if an ammunition factory is conquered (the loser can only carry 3 t LRM ammunition on per mech)
- there are always 24 fresh 'Mechs against 24 fresh' Mechs, no wear of stationed troops
There are no Combined Arms elements (the most planets have not been defended or attacked with 'Mechs), which also means ablation by conventional strait forces
- no rearm or repair
- no missions that build on one another
everything has always been completely irrelevant ... not even small acknowledgments - no "Defender Terras" badge or Luthien defender Decal

all thats Features we have in MW4 Mektek ligafights over 10 Years with the great engagement from the Unitleader involved

Edited by Old MW4 Ranger, 08 December 2018 - 12:30 AM.

[Khobai]

I could live without the logistical aspects of faction warfare. While I do think they would add some much needed immersion, I dont think its that high on the priority list compared to other things.

Id rather see an actual matchmaker, better balance, new gamemodes/maps, faction differentiation, and a reason to stay loyalist. That's the absolute least PGI needs to deliver on for faction play to be minimally viable.

[Sjorpha]

El Bandito, on 06 December 2018 - 03:40 PM, said:

Here. https://mwomercs.com...t-mechcon-2018/

Thanks.

I don't see the new faction play matchmaker concept they presented earlier this year on that list...

[MW Waldorf Statler]

The missions in unreal tournement 2003 has more of a FP as all what we seeing in mwo

[Grus]

El Bandito, on 06 December 2018 - 09:18 PM, said:

There has to be a term that is stronger than "jaded", for me.

Take your pick

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/jaded

Edited by Grus, 08 December 2018 - 09:46 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Tarl Cabot, on 05 December 2018 - 05:51 PM, said:

snip...

Example of what it would look like.

And for those who say LFE is enough, it is not at times.

Example

LFE 15% movement penalty - 15% engine heat dissipation penalty

cXL 20% movement penalty - 30% engine heat dissipation penalty

isXL 30% movement penalty - 45% engine heat dissipation penalty

As some are finding out now, losing a ST and HS on that side while running hot will seriously put some hurt in there, either shutting the mech down or sending it way over the new 100% threshold if override is enabled.

Now the challenge will be to NOT lose a ST while redlining a mech )

Quote

Destroyed Heat Sinks and Clan XL / IS Light Engine side torso destruction penalties now removes total heat threshold from the top of the available heat pool rather then from the bottom.

This will mean that instead of limiting the amount of heat your bar can be reduced to, redlining to the edge of the shutdown threshold will result in a shutdown or an overridden state if an enemy destroys Heat Sinks or damages an engine out from under you.

Heat System Design Notes: We have decided to make some back end changes to the way the heat threshold system is calculated in order to address a number of heat related display bugs that resulted in irregular heat bar behavior when components where destroyed out from under a player while they still had accumulated heat. While this change is mostly targeted to remove these heat display bugs, this will carry with it some shifts to the way that the heat system works. Especially when it comes to 'Mechs that are redlining and have their components blown out from under them. We felt this change adds a slight bit more to the risk / reward factor for those that redline their 'Mechs close to the shutdown threshold, and is most apparent when a Clan XL or Inner Sphere Light side torso destruction penalty kicks in.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 12 December 2018 - 04:01 PM.

[Joshua McEvedy]

Quote

All right Chris, since you're here now and in thread, I'll just ask you directly, and please give us a straight answer since most of us are grown men and women and can handle the truth. Has PGI ended further content development on MWO and diverted most, if not all, of its resources and staff to the development of MW5? There hasn't been an updated road map since June (https://mwomercs.com...une-july-august), and quite frankly, when you and Paul were up on that stage, you literally had nothing. (https://www.twitch.t...ge=7d&sort=time). Heck, you guys even made the B33F cry.


So what about it? Does MWO have a future looking forward into 2020 and beyond, or is it sunsetting in favor of MW5?

Chris Lowrey, on 04 December 2018 - 12:13 PM, said:

No.

We just pushed a full blown heat system re-vamp a few months back that still has a number of Known Issues that need to be addressed, announced at 'Mechcon that we will be moving forward with a number of Faction play improvements, and said that we will be looking into other systems in a similar way to how we came to the heat system changes. Development has not stopped on MWO. As it would be fairly pointless to have a designer such as myself 100% attached to MWO (which I currently am,) if I did not have anyone around to implement any changes that I have worked on designing.

As Russ said in the PGI Mech_Con block, we are looking at a more open ended approach with how we align the next series of changes. So Faction Play is what is on deck right now. And we want to hear from everyone what else we can target ahead to see that past faction play, what is the next squeaky wheel that needs the grease for some potential improvements in a similar vein to how we conducted the recent PTS series that ultimately brought about the recent heat changes.

Between ensuring that this year's Mech_Con was the best yet, American Thanksgiving that saw some of us with family in the US take time off, and the upcoming Christmas / New Years holidays that will see even more heading home to spend time with family, things around this time of year do slow down, but they will pick back up again in the new year.

I know many want specifics. On that front, the only thing I can say are the things I was cleared to say at Mech_Con for the QA session but was never asked. At the moment that is that we are "targeting" a Stealth Armor re-work for Dec. as well as carving out as many of the mobility improvements to mechs as we can. December "should" see a great deal more mechs getting improvements over previous months.

I say "targeting" and "should" only because QA at this point is on-going for these changes, so there is still the possibility of some being bumped into January depending on what happens.

For the faction play stuff, I can only say that some of it is coming on the sooner side rather then later, but as to what those changes are, that would be something that Paul would have to go into, as he is much more involved with that end of production than I am.

Sooooo...Chris, in light of Russ' May 31st podcast, in which he announced that MWO and mech packs had not been sustaining the company for a year, that MW5 was the future and that MWO would ride along, and that the game is essentially in maintenance mode after Paul tries to fix things that you guys broke last patch, what do you have to say about your comments to me up thread last December?

Just curious...seems like PGI has been stringing us along for over a year now with no plans for any development whatsoever.

Edited by Joshua McEvedy, 05 June 2019 - 05:47 PM.

[Feral Clown]

They can't be listening to anybody really. The latest CW patch is a prime example. They were told repeatedly that incorporating scouting instead of it being a separate mode was not going to work. They killed loyalty after a good portion of loyalist units were very vocal about being excluded from events and such at times for a good period, and certainly there are loads of players who don't touch CW but would like to be affiliated to their favourite faction. They dropped the update with long phases of the same mode after we'd already had this fixed from last version as nobody wants to play 48hrs of incursion.

They have said they are dedicated to resolving some of this but at what cost already? This update has been an epic fail, even for PGI and the other news from the Dev stream is certainly not going to do anything to draw more people in or retain people.

Which is a bit of a shame as balance is pretty good right now, and there are more varieties of playstyles especially with the re-intro of old maps. All we needed was to address a couple of things for player experience and a bit of a refresh, instead they gathered as many dumpsters as they could to set ablaze.... Burn baby burn???

[LordNothing]

Monkey Lover, on 02 December 2018 - 04:29 PM, said:

It looks to me the game is dead unless the lic holder jumps in. PGI isn't going to put more money into the game. This is why we havn't seen a real update in year or more.

https://clips.twitch...ableChowderMau5

im not entirely sure we have ever seen a real update. a thin veneer on a rusted out hulk of a slightly modified antique game engine.

wait why is this old *** thread at the top of the forum, who necrod? oh well its still relevant.

Edited by LordNothing, 05 June 2019 - 06:05 PM.

[Joshua McEvedy]

LordNothing, on 05 June 2019 - 06:03 PM, said:

wait why is this old *** thread at the top of the forum, who necrod? oh well its still relevant.

I did. I posed a direct question to Chris up thread back in December following the big nothing burger at the 2018 MechCon and he gave me a direct answer.

But now, here we are and I would like to know what he thinks, in light of what he told us then (as quoted above) and what Russ said last Friday night. How does he square that circle?

Edited by Joshua McEvedy, 05 June 2019 - 06:18 PM.

[JediPanther]

The answer is always russ. Doesn't matter what the community tries or how skilled workers are. Poor management will always ruin a company and I've worked for a few that went under.

[PhoenixFire55]

Joshua McEvedy, on 05 June 2019 - 06:10 PM, said:

How does he square that circle?

Changing one .xml value per month still counts as development I guess.