31 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

Dresari Iain, on 23 February 2019 - 11:01 PM, said:

It's truly sad you seem to speak proper English and I still can't get what you're trying to say.
Forget the bucket story altogether.

I'm just wondering how long we have to wait until we can do IS vs IS and Clan vs Clan battles in FP. And if this will ever be re-implemented.

When PGI can manage to have more than 288 players in Faction Play at any given moment, without having to do an event.
As at the moment, its hard to find more than 32 players at any given time.

So, in short, never. Aside from special events.

[Dresari Iain]

Koniving, on 23 February 2019 - 11:05 PM, said:

When PGI can manage to have more than 288 players in Faction Play at any given moment, without having to do an event.
As at the moment, its hard to find more than 32 players at any given time.

So, in short, never. Aside from special events.

Got it. Although the answer dissapoints me (can you really rely on some hypothetical, temporary events?), I thank you for that clear answer

Can you attack a clan planet as a Davionist? Or does your faction have to border the faction you want to attack?
Depending on that I'll either join Steiner or Davion.

Edited by Dresari Iain, 23 February 2019 - 11:18 PM.

[Koniving]

Right now on Steam
Last 30 Days Avg (players on at one time) 764.8 Peak 1,411
Russ said last year the actual numbers are closer to double Steam's numbers. (Guess that's because they're in the PGI launcher, and that bucket and the Steam Bucket are split...)

Anyway, buckets aside, there's often only 1 to 5 people in Solaris, which has 7 different buckets...
Then you got the faction play which has 2 buckets (IS and Clan) and another two buckets (for the Scouting)... then you got the group play bucket... then the tiers 1 through 5 buckets which have a bit of inter-pliability, which collectively congeals into a single bucket at times of especially low activity.

Now if faction play was genuinely worth playing, I'd be all over it. That's all I wanted from the get-go. But it was nothing like what they described, which made me think of Multiplayer Battletech 3025...

That, while it lasted, was real good. As Steiners we had a group that made a B-line straight for another faction's homeworld. Other Steiner players saw what we were doing and the fast progress we had made and began building the supply lines and garrisons that we completely neglected in our Blitzkrieg, but alas... as the other side realized what we were doing they began the tedious process of moving units from numerous other planets, jumping from system to system in order to try and beat us to the next planet. Some would make it to our next destination and fall. But eventually there was a point where enough had gathered to stall us... with our own supplies exhausted, we ran out of the ability to repair, was running super low on ammo, had few mechs left, and our reinforcements were too far out. We made our stand, as team after team would come in to hit us...and promptly make an exit to keep their costs down. No sooner than we're back in the lobby, we're under attack by the next group to queue up...again..and again.. even if we had some ability to repair, we had no time as time is a precious resource, as were the logistics..

(The entire ordeal, from the impulsive "Why not? Lets do it" to the final demise of what we had, lasted 9 real life days of around 3 to 5 hours each. A week later, the game was shutdown, Microsoft had the Mechwarrior rights, and EA as the publisher for this obscure game company was using the name Battletech, and either tried to debate it and failed or just folded on it.)

MWO...has none of this.
Despite all the talk we heard for CW... ain't none of it here.

Dresari Iain, on 23 February 2019 - 11:16 PM, said:

Got it. Although the answer dissapoints me (can you really rely on some hypothetical, temporary events?), I thank you for that clear answer

Can you attack a clan planet as a Davionist? Or does your faction have to border the faction you want to attack?
Depending on that I'll either join Steiner or Davion.

You can technically attack any planet faction play has selected, regardless of where you are.

Side note: IS versus IS fights were great when we had them, and they had an event not that long ago where it was IS versus IS and Clan versus Clan.

Edited by Koniving, 23 February 2019 - 11:27 PM.

[Koniving]

It ultimately doesn't matter which you join in MWO.. But once you do complete the full "level up tree" I mean ranking system, switch to the next group... as each faction gives you free mechbays and such as rewards. So once you finish up one, jump to the next.

[Dresari Iain]

Koniving, on 23 February 2019 - 11:21 PM, said:

Right now on Steam
Last 30 Days Avg (players on at one time) 764.8 Peak 1,411
Russ said last year the actual numbers are closer to double Steam's numbers. (Guess that's because they're in the PGI launcher, and that bucket and the Steam Bucket are split...)

Anyway, buckets aside, there's often only 1 to 5 people in Solaris, which has 7 different buckets...
Then you got the faction play which has 2 buckets (IS and Clan) and another two buckets (for the Scouting)... then you got the group play bucket... then the tiers 1 through 5 buckets which have a bit of inter-pliability, which collectively congeals into a single bucket at times of especially low activity.

Now if faction play was genuinely worth playing, I'd be all over it. That's all I wanted from the get-go. But it was nothing like what they described, which made me think of Multiplayer Battletech 3025...

That, while it lasted, was real good. As Steiners we had a group that made a B-line straight for another faction's homeworld. Other Steiner players saw what we were doing and the fast progress we had made and began building the supply lines and garrisons that we completely neglected in our Blitzkrieg, but alas... as the other side realized what we were doing they began the tedious process of moving units from numerous other planets, jumping from system to system in order to try and beat us to the next planet. Some would make it to our next destination and fall. But eventually there was a point where enough had gathered to stall us... with our own supplies exhausted, we ran out of the ability to repair, was running super low on ammo, had few mechs left, and our reinforcements were too far out. We made our stand, as team after team would come in to hit us...and promptly make an exit to keep their costs down. No sooner than we're back in the lobby, we're under attack by the next group to queue up...again..and again.. even if we had some ability to repair, we had no time as time is a precious resource, as were the logistics..

MWO...has none of this.
Despite all the talk we heard for CW... ain't none of it here.


You can technically attack any planet faction play has selected, regardless of where you are.

Side note: IS versus IS fights were great when we had them, and they had an event not that long ago where it was IS versus IS and Clan versus Clan.

Does faction play choose different planets depending on where you are? Are they all the planets in the Clan/IS borders?
I'm pretty sure you mean selected planets are common to all IS players but I wanted to be sure.

And yeah IS vs IS was actually entertaining, instead of unfairly punishing, linear, repetitive and hopeless (as IS vs Clan)

[Dresari Iain]

Oh Ok, you just answered Thank you, so I can now go as a Davionist loyalist. Still get my butt kicked as usual vs the clans but oh well. And too bad I bought those 4 Ebon Jaguars for CW. I will NEVER use them against the IS. They were meant to attack the falcons (playing as a wolf)

PGI just stole my money

Edited by Dresari Iain, 23 February 2019 - 11:34 PM.

[Koniving]

Dresari Iain, on 23 February 2019 - 11:29 PM, said:

1) Does faction play choose different planets depending on where you are?
2) Are they all the planets in the Clan/IS borders?
3) I'm pretty sure you mean selected planets are common to all IS players but I wanted to be sure.

And yeah IS vs IS was actually entertaining, instead of unfairly punishing, linear, repetitive and hopeless (as IS vs Clan)

1) I'll be honest, its been so long. Last I recall, the factions make a vote on the next planet or planets available, though if there is more than one I'm not even certain if you get to pick anymore.

2) If you pop the game open and look at the menu, any contested planet should appear to have small explosions on it. If there's more than one, well then there's more than one. But the last time I tried to play it I couldn't even tell if I was able to pick a planet or not. Either way you'll have your answer.

3) That's what I meant, the selected planet/planets are going to be common to all forces, so if you join Steiner and the planet (or one of the planets) that is currently contested is in Kurita space, you'll magically teleport through all the Clan occupied territory to join that fight.

Admittedly though, FP is basically like a 24 player 96 mech free for all... Which was great, until the FP event was over... and then there were crickets. I could've come to accept it, but since most of my friends basically abandoned the game... I'm all alone and crap out of luck.

Dresari Iain, on 23 February 2019 - 11:33 PM, said:

Oh Ok, you just answered Thank you, so I can now go as a Davionist loyalist. Still get my butt kicked as usual vs the clans but oh well. And too bad I bought those 4 Ebon Jaguars for CW. I will NEVER use them against the IS. They were meant to attack the falcons (playing as a wolf)

PGI just stole my money

I'm sure eventually you'll use them against the IS. No need to worry; one of the other reasons FP is kinda dead... is the map keeps resetting, meaning this "1 to 1 time scale" and "we control the future of the IS"...also went out the window. I'm sure none of the IS players will scorn you for using them.

In fact, some might be grateful. Ebon Jags are easier to deal with than some mechs.

This said: they're more of a Clan Jaguar thing.. >.>

[Dresari Iain]

Wow thank you man, you made stuff a lot more clear for me.

I did not know you can vote to pick a planet for conquest. I suppose Steiner and Kurita have no more votes per player than any other IS player (due to them being on the border to the clans).

I know I'm a bit paranoid, just trying to make sure I don't pledge loyalty to a faction that has fewer rights (like before) than another.

But I'm probably guessing too far. I just remember being a Davionist unable to attack Falcons and It pissed me off lol

Edited by Dresari Iain, 23 February 2019 - 11:44 PM.

[Koniving]

Side note: you can still use them in virtually any other play even if you refuse to use them against the IS.
Though if you paid for them... was it through the Invasion pack or MC? If MC... please don't use MC for normal mechs. A hero I could see (though even then in most cases the direct cash option from the MWO website store for the hero is cheaper). But spending on it a normal mech...even 50% off... is outright highway robbery. For the price of some of these virtual mechs, I can have a real life 9 inch model WarHammer to put together in front of me, with a METAL SKELETON!

I use this set of golden rules: If MC, only when 50% off and only heroes.
Mechpack: Just enough to get what I want of the Loyalty stuff, spaced out to not hurt the wallet. Though if truly financially conscious, anything under 70 tons isn't worth 20 bucks. So much easier to just snag 'em for cbills.

[Koniving]

Dresari Iain, on 23 February 2019 - 11:42 PM, said:

I know I'm a bit paranoid, just trying to make sure I don't pledge loyalty to a faction that has fewer rights (like before) than another.

But I'm probably guessing too far. I just remember being a Davionist unable to attack Falcons and It pissed me off lol

Only loyalists had the ability to vote. So the only ones with "fewer" rights are the mercs. Not that there's any real difference.

Last I knew the vote happens...once per cease fire? I think? To be honest I never experienced the vote. But I know the most action happens near a cease fire, and the "MC" earning incentive on a unit making the biggest contribution to winning a planet really pushes big groups in for the whole "winning planets" tidbit. Since they could throw around a hundred players at a planet, a 12 or 24 player team like what I had basically had no chance of outdoing a bigger group in "most contributions" since more matches would have the big group's name.

In the past, don't know how far back you're remembering, you were limited to your own borders.

[Dresari Iain]

Yeah in the past IIRC you could just attack anything that was on your border. You still had to motivate people to join you though. I did it once as a Wolf clanner against the falcons, but back in the day I did not have a single clan mech so only trials and it was a disaster. But still more kills than with fully mastered IS mechs lol.

About the Ebon Jags and MC, you give good advice. Yeah MC is too precious to use on normal mechs and IMHO even premium time.

I invested about 60M Cbills into those 4 babies (the millions came without premium time and in trial mechs, so imagine the time I spent). Granted I need 1 Jag for quickplay or solaris… But the other 3...
I use MC only for Mech bays. A hero mech would be nice but a bit too expensive IMHO. Oh and It would have to be the Ultraviolet Dire to be Cbill efficient. And that one costs a hell of a lot of MC.

[justcallme A S H]

Dresari Iain, on 23 February 2019 - 11:01 PM, said:

It's truly sad you seem to speak proper English and I still can't get what you're trying to say.
Forget the bucket story altogether.

I'm just wondering how long we have to wait until we can do IS vs IS and Clan vs Clan battles in FP. And if this will ever be re-implemented.

You'll need to bring your own bucket.