74 replies to this topic

[Reno Blade]

I like the concept very much.
One comment here:

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.

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 that's not the same deck, it's no longer valid."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.

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

Looking at the Cockpit items we have (was it Phoenix?) that give 5% LP bonus, woudn't that work "fairly easy" as mech quirk in the same form?
Say Dragon-5N get 5% Kurita LP.

[Paul Inouye]

Been reading all comments and see the questions. Just don't have time to get to them today. Will do starting tomorrow morning.

[tee5]

Proposal is good BUT....

Don't make switching loyalities cost anything,

timeline of the past:

switching loyality impossible
switching loyalitiy lose 25% LP and 10 Probation matches
switching loyality 10 Probation matches
switching loyality free


Why drop back in the darkages and make it cost again or lose something (LP;CB, MC) again. You PGI made it easier and easier and easier to switch Factions and NOW you are planning to make it cost something or make it lose something. I don't want this.

Edit: Spelling

Edited by tee5, 20 June 2019 - 05:05 AM.

[Van mw]

Just to present opposite idea. Make the switching cost significant and add incentives/compensation for staying in return. Loyalists are not mercs. There is a correlation in past changes/switching and FW population. Make something different this time.

[GweNTLeR]

I like the stuff. Especially solution for 20+ ranking. The thing I don't get - so 21st rank is reachable and there are no more rewards after it? Where is that rewards looping then? Hopefully you will implement it.

[Remover of Obstacles]

Van mw, on 20 June 2019 - 03:01 AM, said:

Just to present opposite idea. Make the switching cost significant and add incentives/compensation for staying in return. Loyalists are not mercs...

With Mercs being able to hot drop into a "Call to Arms" to get near instant matches and a fat C-Bill bonus, the Merc cake is looking pretty damn tasty.

[Paul Inouye]

-Spectre, on 18 June 2019 - 07:47 PM, said:

First, the question: is the only way to participate in an IS vs IS conflict as a Clanner, and vice versa, to accept a call to arms, or can you select which side you want to fight for and fight for them?

The idea would be that if you fight as a Clan Loyalist in the IS vs IS fight, you could pick which side to fight for. (This is where the UI pathing needs cleaning up as mentioned earlier).

Quote

Now, the requests: 1) I would like to see the "Hero of [faction]" title be a selectable title, rather than displayed automatically when you select "display faction rank," so that if I want it to say "Galaxy Commander III" instead of "Hero of Ghost Bear," I can do so.

This too is intended sort of like how you pick your Faction display on the forums.

Quote

2) um, I honestly forgot. It seemed important when I could remember it...I'll edit this when I remember it.

Answer is no!

[Paul Inouye]

SilentScreamer, on 18 June 2019 - 08:49 PM, said:

One question though, will Freelancers get a chance to earn Rep Points or Loyalty Points? I often wonder how many players have made single player Units just to earn points for the Merc reward tree....

Freelancers will not earn Loyalty Points, nor do Mercs. Mercs DO earn RP which is for their own reward tree. There could be a place for Freelancers to earn RP but it would be at a much more reduced rate than a Merc. Remember, FP is about units in both the Merc role and Loyalist role. People can be solo players as a Merc or Loyalist but the bigger/faster payouts through team play is where the real benefit is. Freelancers are essentially a solo Merc but without the notoriety of hiring a company to engage the enemy. This is why RP (Reputation Points) were created to let Mercs be known for their accomplishments.

[Paul Inouye]

justcallme A S H, on 18 June 2019 - 09:16 PM, said:

So if I am Kurita Loyalist. There is a Kurita v Davion - I cannot select Davion at all. I am hard locked to Kurita no matter what happens once the events starts? But once it ends I then can? Yet if there was a Davion vs Steiner (or Clan Wolf). I can select either side and application LP-EOM applied? I guess that ties into sequential match bonueses to a degree.

You would not be able to select Davion in the scenario you described, you would be locked to playing for Kurita. In the Steiner vs Davion conflict you described, as mentioned in the first post, allied Factions will not be fighting each other. If it's Steiner vs Clan Wolf, you'd be locked to playing for Steiner being an IS Loyalist. Going one further, if it's C-Wolf vs C-Jade Falcon, you would be able to pick whichever side you want.

[Nightbird]

Paul Inouye, on 20 June 2019 - 10:50 AM, said:

You would not be able to select Davion in the scenario you described, you would be locked to playing for Kurita. In the Steiner vs Davion conflict you described, as mentioned in the first post, allied Factions will not be fighting each other. If it's Steiner vs Clan Wolf, you'd be locked to playing for Steiner being an IS Loyalist. Going one further, if it's C-Wolf vs C-Jade Falcon, you would be able to pick whichever side you want.

This would be good. You should be locked to your faction, your alliance, or your side in a conflict if you are a loyalist.

[Paul Inouye]

TheCaptainJZ, on 19 June 2019 - 08:05 AM, said:

Would it be possible for the rewards for a faction level to be a sort of token to spend on a selection of items instead? So you get a free "mech token" for your faction and depending on that faction, you can choose (perhaps on the webpage) which mech from a list you want like we do with certain event rewards? And that way the list of mechs available depends on your faction and can be changed from time to time if desired. Would it also be possible to add a custom variant for this reason? Or even a custom weapon with different specs. But just one not infinite. Maybe Davion gets 5 AC 10s with a built in 5% cooldown over the regular gear and they can put that on any mech and use it in any mode. A little power creep, but not behind a paywall thing? Sort of a way to reward Faction Play with unique rewards. In Solaris, maybe these are banned.

This is similar to adding another currency and also adds a rather complex feature that would require the type of Client/Server authorization that would make development requirements out of scope for FP. Essentially, the security requirement for something like this would be out of scope for MWO in it's current state. We would need to implement something like this on a level of ensuring the client doesn't send false information (data injection) saying "yo... I'm using a token to buy this 'Mech". This doesn't interact with the usual back end services for LP tracking etc, it hits the actual transaction services which is separate from the game/server connection.

The filtering of chassis/variants isn't a small task either and adding another filter for 'banned from Solaris' is exasperating the problem.

[Nightbird]

Paul Inouye, on 20 June 2019 - 10:58 AM, said:

This is similar to adding another currency and also adds a rather complex feature that would require the type of Client/Server authorization that would make development requirements out of scope for FP. Essentially, the security requirement for something like this would be out of scope for MWO in it's current state. We would need to implement something like this on a level of ensuring the client doesn't send false information (data injection) saying "yo... I'm using a token to buy this 'Mech". This doesn't interact with the usual back end services for LP tracking etc, it hits the actual transaction services which is separate from the game/server connection.

The filtering of chassis/variants isn't a small task either and adding another filter for 'banned from Solaris' is exasperating the problem.

What about creating FP variants of mechs that give +30% LP bonus only for that faction (remember will need 4 in a drop deck for full bonus)? There's already in game items that provide this effect, and you'll encourage loyalists for that faction to use these mechs giving some flavor to each faction.

[evil kerensky]

Nightbird, on 20 June 2019 - 11:11 AM, said:

What about creating FP variants of mechs that give +30% LP bonus only for that faction (remember will need 4 in a drop deck for full bonus)? There's already in game items that provide this effect, and you'll encourage loyalists for that faction to use these mechs giving some flavor to each faction.

That would be cool. You could even make varients of faction totem mechs (ghost bears kodiak, steiner atlas, liao raven/urbie... etc) and make them rewards for reaching hero rank, and only accessable by reaching beyond rank 20. It would give an awesome long term goal, and fielding one would be a status symbol. Kinda like halo 3s recon armour and hyabusa armour.

[justcallme A S H]

Paul Inouye, on 20 June 2019 - 10:50 AM, said:

You would not be able to select Davion in the scenario you described, you would be locked to playing for Kurita. In the Steiner vs Davion conflict you described, as mentioned in the first post, allied Factions will not be fighting each other. If it's Steiner vs Clan Wolf, you'd be locked to playing for Steiner being an IS Loyalist. Going one further, if it's C-Wolf vs C-Jade Falcon, you would be able to pick whichever side you want.

Excellent. That's exactly what I thought just just needed to clarify

That really puts emphasis but not toj much as same time. Esp with the 140%/10 game bonuses.

[slide]

So because this thread hasn't run to 10 pages instantly, does that mean we have a consensus on the way forward?

(I sure hope so)

[Nightbird]

slide, on 20 June 2019 - 10:57 PM, said:

So because this thread hasn't run to 10 pages instantly, does that mean we have a consensus on the way forward?

(I sure hope so)

Regarding loyalist changes in FP, sure. We will see zero boosts in the FP population though, since no work is planned for improving match quality.

[Paul Meyers DEST]

I dont want to give up hope that one day they get away from the Tier System and take something usefull.

[BROARL]

Nightbird, on 20 June 2019 - 11:11 AM, said:

What about creating FP variants of mechs that give +30% LP bonus only for that faction (remember will need 4 in a drop deck for full bonus)? There's already in game items that provide this effect, and you'll encourage loyalists for that faction to use these mechs giving some flavor to each faction.

what about mechs in house skins get LP bonus? does tying the LP bonus to the skin make it easier to code?

[50 50]

Thanks Paul

[Paul Inouye]

So just an update.. I'll be putting this first draft in front of the devs for a Tech review so we can get an early indication of what is involved and what we can and cannot do. Will report back Thursday on the findings.