74 replies to this topic

[Paul Inouye]

Objective:
Create a game layer for Faction Play players who wish to pledge loyalty to a particular Faction and be able to advance through loyalty ranks independent of their Faction's participation in a given conflict.
https://mwomercs.com...ign-discussion/

1) Faction Selection[/color
1.1) Faction selection takes place on the Faction Select screen.

• The flag carousel will provide information about each of the Factions.
  
• The player will be able to select the Faction they wish to pledge loyalty to, on the Faction description panel. (Panel opens when clicking a Faction flag.)

1.2) Faction pledge warning and confirmation.

• The player should be warned about the action they are about to take.
  
• The player should be informed on Loyalty Points (LP) and what it does.
  
• If the player clicks through to pledge loyalty, a confirmation pop-up should appear in order to make sure the player has not clicked-though by accident.
  
• Upon confirmation, the player's account will be aligned to the Faction in question.

2) Faction Alignment Display.
2.1) Faction alignment will be displayed appropriately in all areas of MWO.

• A player who has pledged loyalty to a Faction, will now have that Faction's emblem displayed on their home screen.
  
• The emblem will be displayed on the player's Forum account profile.
  
• The emblem will be displayed on all screens that display profile alignment(Main Menu, Scoreboards, Leaderboards etc.)
  
• The emblem will not change if the player is participating in Faction Play for another Faction other than the one they are loyal to.
  
• Note: The design behind this is to allow the player to participate in all Conflicts under the banner of their chosen Faction even if their Faction is not involved in the current Conflict.

3) Loyalty Points (LP)
Note: Loyalty Points do not have any effect on C-Bill or XP gains.
3.1) Accumulation of LP

• A player gains LP for in-game actions such as Kill Assists, Spotting Enemies and protecting allies.
  
• A player gains LP for winning matches.
  
• A player gains LP as a bonus on top of C-Bills and XP.
  
• A player loses LP if they team kill an ally.
  
• Note: The amount of LP totaled at the end of a match will be referred to as LP-EOM. LP-EOM is the match result total PRIOR to any bonuses.

3.2) Rate of Accumulation

• A player earns 120% LP-EOM payouts at the end of a match when fighting for their Faction if their Faction is involved in the current Conflict.
  
• A player earns 100% LP-EOM payouts at the end of a match when fighting for an Allied Faction if that Faction is involved in the current Conflict.
  
• A player earns 100% LP-EOM payouts at the end of a match when fighting for the Inner Sphere if their Faction is part of the Inner Sphere and the current conflict is between the Inner Sphere and Clans.
  
• A player earns 100% LP-EOM payouts at the end of a match when fighting for the Clans if their Faction is part of the Clans and the current conflict is between the Inner Sphere and Clans.
  
• A player earns 80% LP-EOM payouts at the end of a match when fighting for the Inner Sphere if their Faction is part of the Inner Sphere and the current conflict is between Clan and Clan Factions.
  
• A player who plays sequential matches during a Conflict without changing Faction (die hard Loyalist) will get an additional 2.5% LP-EOM per match played to a cap of 25% (10 matches) to bring their total gain potential to 145%.

3.2) Loyalty Gain Potential

• A player should be shown the potential LP gain prior to selecting a Faction on the Faction Select screen.
  
• E.g. A player who is aligned with Kurita entering a conflict between Steiner and Marik, should see the potential Kurita LP gains if they participate by selecting Marik.

4) Participation in Faction Play
4.1) Faction Picking in a Conflict

• A Loyalist player can only pick their Faction or Alliance in a Conflict.
  
• Conflicts will not allow inter-Alliance fighting.
  
• Queue balancing will be left to Mercenary Units and Freelancers.

4.1.1) Queue balancing in FP

• If the current queue is skewed to one Faction at the time the Match Maker tries to create a match, a Call-to-Arms (CtA) will be issued to all players in the game client who are not aligned to the over-populated Faction/Alliance in queue.
  
• e.g. The Conflict is between Kurita and Davion. Kurita has 48 people in the queue, Davion has 11. The CtA will be issued to all players aligned to Davion and Davion's allies, as well as Clan players who would want to play as Merc/Freelancer.
  
• Accepting a CtA will give an additional CB boost at the end of the match.
  
• People entering the queue from the CtA will automatically be put on the Faction side that is shorthanded in the queue.

5) End Game Rewards
5.1) Looping rewards after Rank 20

• An additional rank will be added to each Faction
  
• The title associated with this new rank is "Hero of X" where X is the name of the Faction in question.
  
• The LP requirement between Rank 20 and Hero is going to be substantial but with rewards given out at intervals between Rank 20 and Hero.
  
• Rewards will be functional rewards (not cosmetic) and include things like MechBays, GXP, GSP, MC and Drop Decks.

5.2) Switching Loyalty as a Hero

• If a player has reached the Hero rank and decides to switch Factions, they will not lose any rewards that they earned.
  
• If a player has reached the Hero rank and decided to switch Factions, they will lose all LP beyond the LP requirement for Rank 20.
  
• If a player has reached the Hero rank and decided to switch Factions, they will lose the Hero title.
  
• The player will retain Rank 20 for the Faction.

[Paul Inouye]

Things of note:

"A player who plays sequential matches during a Conflict without changing Faction (die hard Loyalist) will get an additional 2.5% LP-EOM per match played to a cap of 25% (10 matches) to bring their total gain potential to 145%."

The above was derived from some comments about adding a stacking bonus for players who play for their Faction sequentially and never switching sides.

Participation and Rewards are new based on other feedback on the matter. A decision has been made to have the Loyalists be loyal and have the Mercs and Freelancers balance the queue if needed.

[shaytalis]

Paul Inouye, on 18 June 2019 - 02:32 PM, said:

Things of note:

"A player who plays sequential matches during a Conflict without changing Faction (die hard Loyalist) will get an additional 2.5% LP-EOM per match played to a cap of 25% (10 matches) to bring their total gain potential to 145%."

The above was derived from some comments about adding a stacking bonus for players who play for their Faction sequentially and never switching sides.

This is a really great addition.

Paul Inouye, on 17 June 2019 - 09:30 AM, said:

3.2) Loyalty Gain Potential

• A player should be shown the potential LP gain prior to selecting a Faction on the Faction Select screen.
  
• E.g. A player who is aligned with Kurita entering a conflict between Steiner and Marik, should see the potential Kurita LP gains if they participate by selecting Marik.

This along with several other interface design choices are going to help a lot. I like that it communicates info to the user before choices are made etc.

Paul Inouye, on 17 June 2019 - 09:30 AM, said:

4) Participation in Faction Play

4.1) Faction Picking in a Conflict

• A Loyalist player can only pick their Faction or Alliance in a Conflict.
  
• Conflicts will not allow inter-Alliance fighting.
  
• Queue balancing will be left to Mercenary Units and Freelancers.

This addresses concerns about "literally not able to play," thank you.

Paul Inouye, on 17 June 2019 - 09:30 AM, said:

4.1.1) Queue balancing in FP

• If the current queue is skewed to one Faction at the time the Match Maker tries to create a match, a Call-to-Arms (CtA) will be issued to all players in the game client who are not aligned to the over-populated Faction/Alliance in queue.
  
• e.g. The Conflict is between Kurita and Davion. Kurita has 48 people in the queue, Davion has 11. The CtA will be issued to all players aligned to Davion and Davion's allies, as well as Clan players who would want to play as Merc/Freelancer.
  
• Accepting a CtA will give an additional CB boost at the end of the match.
  
• People entering the queue from the CtA will automatically be put on the Faction side that is shorthanded in the queue.

And this will really help with keeping the queues balanced. I like that it rewards folks for answering the CtA, this is really great.

Paul Inouye, on 17 June 2019 - 09:30 AM, said:

5) End Game Rewards

5.1) Looping rewards after Rank 20

• An additional rank will be added to each Faction
  
• The title associated with this new rank is "Hero of X" where X is the name of the Faction in question.
  
• The LP requirement between Rank 20 and Hero is going to be substantial but with rewards given out at intervals between Rank 20 and Hero.
  
• Rewards will be functional rewards (not cosmetic) and include things like MechBays, GXP, GSP, MC and Drop Decks.

Excellent.

Paul Inouye, on 17 June 2019 - 09:30 AM, said:

5.2) Switching Loyalty as a Hero

• If a player has reached the Hero rank and decides to switch Factions, they will not lose any rewards that they earned.
  
• If a player has reached the Hero rank and decided to switch Factions, they will lose all LP beyond the LP requirement for Rank 20.
  
• If a player has reached the Hero rank and decided to switch Factions, they will lose the Hero title.
  
• The player will retain Rank 20 for the Faction.

Excellent.

Really great updates, I'm looking forward to this and I hope that it ends up being possible from a tech standpoint. If it turns out certain aspects are too time-intensive to implement could you come back to us with either choices made or choices you need to make? Stuff you want our input on in terms of priorities?

Edited by shaytalis, 18 June 2019 - 03:28 PM.

[VileKnight]

I really like what I see here.

One quick observation... I only see one entry for the 80% LP tier. I assume this was an oversight, and we would have that same tier for clans. Correct?

Quote

A player earns 80% LP-EOM payouts at the end of a match when fighting for the Inner Sphere if their Faction is part of the Inner Sphere and the current conflict is between Clan and Clan Factions.

I like the addition on the "Hero" reputation level as well. Very cool.

Edited by VileKnight, 18 June 2019 - 03:30 PM.

[Paul Inouye]

VileKnight, on 18 June 2019 - 03:29 PM, said:

I really like what I see here. One quick observation... I only see one entry for the 80% LP tier. I assume this was an oversight, and we would have that same tier for clans. Correct? I like the addition on the "Hero" reputation level as well. Very cool.

Yes, the 80% LP gain would be mirrored for a Clan player playing in an ISvsIS Conflict.

shaytalis, on 18 June 2019 - 03:15 PM, said:

If it turns out certain aspects are too time-intensive to implement could you come back to us with either choices made or choices you need to make? Stuff you want our input on in terms of priorities?

Yes, that's the plan. Get a tech review done... come back with results and see what we can work out to get more stuff ironed out.

There is one more thing that will be a bigger picture longer term item and that's a bit of a revamp to the UI of Faction Play. Should be a lot more streamlined. Speaking on behalf of myself and only myself... I hate stuff in hidden tabs... so will put together a new flow and screen layouts.. I'll even throw them here on the forums to see what you guys think.

[Nightbird]

Cost of switching loyalty before rank 20?

[Paul Inouye]

Nightbird, on 18 June 2019 - 03:45 PM, said:

Cost of switching loyalty before rank 20?

Still open to debate on this. As I mentioned earlier, I feel that MC is a bit heavy handed.

C-Bills is also a touchy topic.. say you grind to rank 19, on the way you've been buying 'Mechs and upgrading etc. CB cost to switch Factions is 25M (for example).. you have 3M... you have to grind 22M CB to change factions.. which could take quite a while to do.

However, if the penalty is LP and associated ranks... that kinda makes sense as the Faction you're leaving wouldn't be overjoyed with you leaving your post. I'm not saying ALL LP.. but it would have to be fairly significant. The other benefit to LP being used is that since you're not losing all of your LP, it's a LP grind to where you were before... which is playing for your Faction again.

[slide]

I like what I am seeing here.

I particularly like Call to Arms putting players where needed.

Nightbird (edit:name correction) is correct we still need a way to break loyalty if needed.

Other than that I think you have addressed most concerns people have.

Once it's done we need a big event to get people into the mode and give that MM a chance to work.

Paul Inouye, on 18 June 2019 - 03:50 PM, said:

Still open to debate on this. As I mentioned earlier, I feel that MC is a bit heavy handed.

C-Bills is also a touchy topic.. say you grind to rank 19, on the way you've been buying 'Mechs and upgrading etc. CB cost to switch Factions is 25M (for example).. you have 3M... you have to grind 22M CB to change factions.. which could take quite a while to do.

However, if the penalty is LP and associated ranks... that kinda makes sense as the Faction you're leaving wouldn't be overjoyed with you leaving your post. I'm not saying ALL LP.. but it would have to be fairly significant. The other benefit to LP being used is that since you're not losing all of your LP, it's a LP grind to where you were before... which is playing for your Faction again.

I think one drop in LP level (Rank).

That way at lower levels the cost isn't too high and people can shop around a bit to see what factions they (dis)like. But as you get higher it encourages you to stay on as the cost get proportionally higher.

Edited by slide, 18 June 2019 - 04:10 PM.

[Paul Inouye]

slide, on 18 June 2019 - 03:56 PM, said:

Night Scorn is correct...

You know, calling him Night Scorn is like him calling you armd.

[SLUGOTHA]

1) Faction Selection[/color
1.1) Faction selection takes place on the Faction Select screen.

• The flag carousel will provide information about each of the Factions.
  
• The player will be able to select the Faction they wish to pledge loyalty to, on the Faction description panel. (Panel opens when clicking a Faction flag.)

1.2) Faction pledge warning and confirmation.

• The player should be warned about the action they are about to take.
  
• The player should be informed on Loyalty Points (LP) and what it does.
  
• If the player clicks through to pledge loyalty, a confirmation pop-up should appear in order to make sure the player has not clicked-though by accident.
  
• Upon confirmation, the player's account will be aligned to the Faction in question.

1.2 isn't working. When I go into the faction description screen after looking at the faction carousel and select a faction for info there is nowhere to pledge. No buttons to click.

P.S. This is after the most recent patch [6/18/2019] BTW.

Edited by SLUGOTHA, 18 June 2019 - 04:10 PM.

[slide]

Paul Inouye, on 18 June 2019 - 03:57 PM, said:

You know, calling him Night Scorn is like him calling you armd.

Your right going back and correcting now. Thanks.

(At work and in a rush apologies)

[Nightbird]

Paul Inouye, on 18 June 2019 - 03:50 PM, said:

Still open to debate on this. As I mentioned earlier, I feel that MC is a bit heavy handed.

C-Bills is also a touchy topic.. say you grind to rank 19, on the way you've been buying 'Mechs and upgrading etc. CB cost to switch Factions is 25M (for example).. you have 3M... you have to grind 22M CB to change factions.. which could take quite a while to do.

However, if the penalty is LP and associated ranks... that kinda makes sense as the Faction you're leaving wouldn't be overjoyed with you leaving your post. I'm not saying ALL LP.. but it would have to be fairly significant. The other benefit to LP being used is that since you're not losing all of your LP, it's a LP grind to where you were before... which is playing for your Faction again.

Actually, LP is far more costly

"If a player has reached the Hero rank and decided to switch Factions, they will lose all LP beyond the LP requirement for Rank 20."

Say you reached level 21, that's 1000 matches from level 20 lost. You will never want to go back to that faction again. Comparing 3 months of work grinding to 2$ of MC, I'd say the latter is letting you go easy.

Edited by Nightbird, 18 June 2019 - 04:12 PM.

[Paul Inouye]

SLUGOTHA, on 18 June 2019 - 04:06 PM, said:

1) Faction Selection[/color 1.1) Faction selection takes place on the Faction Select screen.

• The flag carousel will provide information about each of the Factions.
• The player will be able to select the Faction they wish to pledge loyalty to, on the Faction description panel. (Panel opens when clicking a Faction flag.)

1.2) Faction pledge warning and confirmation.

• The player should be warned about the action they are about to take.
• The player should be informed on Loyalty Points (LP) and what it does.
• If the player clicks through to pledge loyalty, a confirmation pop-up should appear in order to make sure the player has not clicked-though by accident.
• Upon confirmation, the player's account will be aligned to the Faction in question.

1.2 isn't working. When I go into the faction description screen after looking at the faction carousel and select a faction for info there is nowhere to pledge. No buttons to click. P.S. This is after the most recent patch [6/18/2019] BTW.

This is a design spec for a future update.. it is not in the current patch.

[Pain G0D]

May I ask how long will this take to be implemented if you had to guess ?

[Sigmar Sich]

I like it.

Since LP bonuses are considered now, a question - is it possible to attach LP bonuses to a certain mechs for a certain faction? By "possible" i mean is it an easy (ish) task you're willing to do.

For example a Kurita playing Jenner or Dragon or ... gets +2.5% LP bonus per "proper" mech used in the match? Stacks up to total of +10% for the dropdeck.

[Paul Inouye]

Pain G0D, on 18 June 2019 - 04:11 PM, said:

May I ask how long will this take to be implemented if you had to guess ?

That's something I don't like doing. What may seem simple could be complex due to client/server stuff. What may seem complex might be easy. The Tech review would allow me to share what the people involved think it will take so I'll be holding off until then. Is it a 6 month thing? I CAN say no... it wouldn't take that long. But I can't say 1 month either.

The Tech review process will also allow us to identify anything we can roll out in stages.

[slide]

Paul,

Is it possible to add faction specific rewards to the trees? ie paint colours, decals, cockpit items

[Paul Inouye]

Sigmar Sich, on 18 June 2019 - 04:14 PM, said:

I like it. Since LP bonuses are considered now, a question - is it possible to attach LP bonuses to a certain mechs for a certain faction? By "possible" i mean is it an easy (ish) task you're willing to do. For example a Kurita playing Jenner or Dragon or ... gets +2.5% LP bonus per "proper" mech used in the match? Stacks up to total of +10% for the dropdeck.

This would be a big ask for the devs. That type of dynamic movement in rewards would be difficult to maintain.

The thing about online client/sever stuff is that the front end menus don't necessarily share information with the game or the back end services. All of these things treat you the player almost like a football passing you from one step to the next. In a lot of cases, once you're passed off, the previous systems erase you from their memory. For example, the lobby might say, "oh, this guy came in with this drop deck... fine let him do it... passing him off to the match maker". Meanwhile, you've changed your drop deck while waiting for the match maker... the lobby has already said "this guy has this drop deck" and the match maker is now thinking "Wait.. that's not the same deck, it's no longer valid." While this is a really simplified description of what happens in pathing from menus to the game and back, it shows how complex something like dynamically assigning rewards to a player can be.

slide, on 18 June 2019 - 04:27 PM, said:

Paul, Is it possible to add faction specific rewards to the trees? ie paint colours, decals, cockpit items

I believe so... each Faction has it's own reward tree.

[Sigmar Sich]

Paul Inouye, on 18 June 2019 - 04:28 PM, said:

This would be a big ask for the devs. That type of dynamic movement in rewards would be difficult to maintain.

Thanks for the answer.
Are there ways to simplify this idea, make bonuses static? Game knows somehow when to apply C-bill bonuses for hero mechs used in CW, right?

[slide]

Paul Inouye, on 18 June 2019 - 04:28 PM, said:

I believe so... each Faction has it's own reward tree.

In that case I would consider adding some stuff in the early trees to encourage new players to take the step. Up to you how much you give away, but I would go with a faction decal at level two and add paints, cockpit items etc from there up to about level 10. (I get most current loyalists will already have this) but we also want to encourage more into the mode and history shows that free stuff can achieve that.

Note, Paul has seen into my account and can confirm I don't need any of this stuff, it's purely for newer players who sign up to show their loyalty.

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