77 replies to this topic

[MechaBattler]

Considering they can do an 'expansion' pack by using all the Clan mechs they already have and the IS mechs that belong in that era. I bet we won't see a new mech for a while. Probably won't bother until they actually need more for MW5.

[Tordin]

They wiill make a new original mech called "Epic" and its hero variant is "Exclusive". Oh and to put salt in the wound its an IS omnimech..

Praise the salt god! Salt to sea, sea to salt!

[FupDup]

Tordin, on 30 July 2019 - 03:54 PM, said:

They wiill make a new original mech called "Epic" and its hero variant is "Exclusive". Oh and to put salt in the wound its an IS omnimech..

Praise the salt god! Salt to sea, sea to salt!

An IS Omnimech would be a good thing though. Even if it was a garbo model it would still open up the door to future non-garbo IS Omnis.

[Appogee]

Faithsfall, on 12 July 2019 - 07:54 AM, said:

might see the odd one

Pro Tip: Any time PGI says "might" they really mean "not".

They don't like having to disclose bad news, so they fob off the question with words like 'maybe', 'potentially', 'sometime', 'in the future' and 'might'.

It's commercially driven. Your forlorn hope = their player retention.

Edited by Appogee, 30 July 2019 - 04:08 PM.

[KHETTI]

I can't imagine you will see much in the way of anything new being added to MWO, it's not really profitable for PGI anymore so why bother.
I would expect PGI to start their transition away from MWO and eventually close it all down and focus on MW5 and DLCs for it.

[FLG 01]

KHETTI, on 31 July 2019 - 07:41 AM, said:

I can't imagine you will see much in the way of anything new being added to MWO, it's not really profitable for PGI anymore so why bother.

Because people are still willing to buy Mechs, just not any Mech. I mean, if the community had wanted the Dervish, we would have gotten it many years ago.
There was no legal trouble, all that held the Dervish back was a lack of interest, which naturally meant bad sales.

All their recent IS releases have been solely focussed on how the Mechs can be used for MW:5, rather than having an eye on MWO. Of course that backfired.

Yes, the number of Mechs with a broad appeal has diminished greatly, and I'd even argue most people's favourite Mechs are in game already. But there can be profitable Mechs.

[JadePanther]

well even with mech selections being pretty hohum, theres other problems.. prolly mainly thier increase in releasing mechs with **** poor quirks only to maybe add them 6+ months down the road when they are available for cbills.. why buy it for cash when you can wait til its avialable for cbills and has gotten its quirks fixed.. also by then you know if its a garbage pile or not..

the lack of leaderboard events has prolly reduced mech sales.. good leaderboards would send mechs flying off shelves like the KDK-3 did when it landed a huge score.. sure underperforming mechs would prolly not sell much as a resort, but then again people can look at the hardpoints on upcoming releases and not be interested too..

Lack of the rule of three means you dont really need to buy a whole pack.. just wait for cbills and buy the one varient you want..

and lets not forget that all of pgi's shenanigans over the years have been whittling away at user populations and confidence...

[KHETTI]

FLG 01, on 31 July 2019 - 08:52 AM, said:

Because people are still willing to buy Mechs, just not any Mech. I mean, if the community had wanted the Dervish, we would have gotten it many years ago.
There was no legal trouble, all that held the Dervish back was a lack of interest, which naturally meant bad sales.

All their recent IS releases have been solely focussed on how the Mechs can be used for MW:5, rather than having an eye on MWO. Of course that backfired.

Yes, the number of Mechs with a broad appeal has diminished greatly, and I'd even argue most people's favourite Mechs are in game already. But there can be profitable Mechs.

Sure some players are willing to buy mechs/packs, but not enough to make it a worthwhile venture for PGI, Russ confirmed this already.

[FLG 01]

JadePanther, on 31 July 2019 - 09:07 PM, said:

well even with mech selections being pretty hohum, theres other problems..

Agreed. I just think the selection is the single biggest issue, and a good Mech would be able to overcome those other problems. It is not a sure-fire success like the Marauder back then but it would work.

I mean, I already mentioned the Dervish, but the PGI originals are another good example: they never sold well. Roughneck and Sunspider were commercial failures, and still PGI insists on adding yet another. What exactly did they expect?

I think what would sell is...
...either a fan favourite (Crusader e.g.)...
...a meta monster...
... or something really new (IS Omnis)

Last year's releases have been none of those, entering a sea of fan favourite and very powerful Mechs.

KHETTI, on 01 August 2019 - 05:33 AM, said:

Sure some players are willing to buy mechs/packs, but not enough to make it a worthwhile venture for PGI, Russ confirmed this already.

What Russ 'confirmed' is that the recent Mech packs did not sell well enough - which was rather obvious to everyone actually playing the game to begin with. That does not eo ipso mean there are not enough people willing to buy Mech packs to make them profitable.
Again, take the Dervish. The community did not express notable intrest in this Mech for years. There were no legal problems, no timeline issues, it could have been there from the beginning. But there was a profound lack of interest. If you release a Mech many people do not care for, obviously many people will not be buying it. That has nothing to do with people not willing to buy Mechs in general, and a lot to do with this particular choice of Mech pack.

It is like trying to sell Yugo cars nowadays, failing, and then saying "oh, I see! People don't want cars anymore!"

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

KHETTI, on 01 August 2019 - 05:33 AM, said:

Sure some players are willing to buy mechs/packs, but not enough to make it a worthwhile venture for PGI, Russ confirmed this already.

crowd: "we want content"

russ: "I hear ya - wana buy a mechpack?"

crowd: *sigh*

[Bombast]

Hey, what ever happened to PGI's hoard of digital artist who's only job (As far as I can tell) was to churn out mechs? I hope they're ok, jokes about the practice itself aside, the artist were pretty good.

[Armored Yokai]

Bombast, on 01 August 2019 - 06:59 AM, said:

Hey, what ever happened to PGI's hoard of digital artist who's only job (As far as I can tell) was to churn out mechs? I hope they're ok, jokes about the practice itself aside, the artist were pretty good.

Minus the 3D artist. The proportions don't exactly follow the concept art to the detail and it looks silly in some cases.
Quickdraw, Summoner, Daishi, Warhawk are prime examples of this.
Love the Texture and Mech art though!

[Mark Nicholson]

Bombast, on 01 August 2019 - 06:59 AM, said:

Hey, what ever happened to PGI's hoard of digital artist who's only job (As far as I can tell) was to churn out mechs? I hope they're ok, jokes about the practice itself aside, the artist were pretty good.

We're fine, workin' on stuff.

Armored Yokai, on 01 August 2019 - 07:27 AM, said:

Minus the 3D artist. The proportions don't exactly follow the concept art to the detail and it looks silly in some cases.
Quickdraw, Summoner, Daishi, Warhawk are prime examples of this.
Love the Texture and Mech art though!

What's worse; when it doesn't quite match up, or that when it does, it's all wonky and terrible and you realize that some things that look fine in 2d are actually really REALLY weird in 3d.

some of the proportions being weird always bothered me, and since I started doing mechs I've fought hard to address those problems on anything going forward.

[Armored Yokai]

Mark Nicholson, on 01 August 2019 - 08:19 AM, said:

What's worse; when it doesn't quite match up, or that when it does, it's all wonky and terrible and you realize that some things that look fine in 2d are actually really REALLY weird in 3d.

Please ask Russ if we can see those pictures!

[Mark Nicholson]

I did a post about one mech here.
I'll see about putting something together for the topic in general when I find some time for it.

[Armored Yokai]

Mark Nicholson, on 01 August 2019 - 09:33 AM, said:

I did a post about one mech here.
I'll see about putting something together for the topic in general when I find some time for it.

Okay, I am sorry. Thank you very much for posting this.

Can we have the radar dish for the Atlas head too? I was thinking because the cockpit item has it, then maybe it can be added to the model.

[Bombast]

Armored Yokai, on 01 August 2019 - 10:06 AM, said:

Can we have the radar dish for the Atlas head too? I was thinking because the cockpit item has it, then maybe it can be added to the model.

Sarna.net said:

A full year of development went into crafting the famous "Death's Head" of the 'Mech to achieve the perfect ratio of functionality and fear. The head is also quite roomy and allows a small satellite dish to be mounted for surface-to-space communications. During combat the pilot can easily fold up the dish and store it within a protective portion of the head.

[Tordin]

Totally off topic Mark, but I do wonder how many of you at PGI approved of the Epic deal. I know its about the survival of MW and your studio, the top dogs decide and such. But oboy the way it went took us (me at least) like handbraking at 100 km/h for turning 180 on Steam ( for now ), at least!

Glad to hear you are doing fine, guess you have your hands full at the moment.

Edited by Tordin, 01 August 2019 - 03:49 PM.

[VonBruinwald]

Mark Nicholson, on 01 August 2019 - 09:33 AM, said:

I did a post about one mech here.
I'll see about putting something together for the topic in general when I find some time for it.

While you're on it, could you find out about updating the media wing of the website. There's been a lot of great artwork but it's not centralised.

[Bombast]

Tordin, on 01 August 2019 - 03:49 PM, said:

Totally off topic Mark, but I do wonder how many of you at PGI approved of the Epic deal.

That's a question that both can't be answered of these people, and is pretty irresponsible to even ask them. May as well ask who at PGI thinks Russ's wife is ugly (Note: I've never seen Russ's wife, if he has one, it's just an example).

Edited by Bombast, 01 August 2019 - 05:33 PM.