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Unrestricted Mechs For Faction Play?


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#1 Yukari Akiyama

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Posted 14 October 2019 - 02:53 AM

I'm sure it's been mentioned but could we unrestict the mech types for faction warfare? Judging by the mechs available such as the Mad Cat Mk II, the timeline is at a point where IS forces have access to Clan mechs due to salvage or clans outright selling them to IS interests and Clanners are using Inner Sphere mechs due to attrition or for secondary forces like Solahma formations. Also allow players to use clan skins on IS mechs and vice versa.

Additionally this will have the benefit of giving players the option to use mechs they perceive as better, or simply their favorite. Totem mechs are not restricted to the House or Clan they are affiliated with so this would be a great step towards parity.

#2 Appogee

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Posted 14 October 2019 - 06:03 AM

I'm not a fan of this idea, sorry.

While balance in this game has never been particularly good, the Clan vs IS technology/Mech divide is at the heart of what makes a Mechwarrior game something more/different than a generic first person shooter.

Faction selection has already been devalued to mere tags that we can change at whim. (They could have been more meaningful, with faction-specific Mechs, prices and rewards.)

What you are proposing would make FP even more like QP with respawns.

Let's try to retain what little flavour we have.

Edited by Appogee, 14 October 2019 - 06:04 AM.


#3 Nightbird

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Posted 14 October 2019 - 06:15 AM

no

#4 Prototelis

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Posted 14 October 2019 - 06:37 AM

No.

#5 Spheroid

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Posted 14 October 2019 - 11:08 AM

This is a bad idea. In F2P games you never want to lessen the grind. Right now if one wants to play both Clan and I.S. you need two separate decks with chassis duplicates if you care to win. Consolidating the techbases would reduce the total ownership requirements for a competitive selection of mechs by much greater than a simple halving.

Faction needs more restrictions not fewer. A competitive Capellan deck should look a lot different than a Draconis deck. A Wolf deck would be a lot different than a Diamond Shark deck etc.

Recently there was a topic in the GD about selling Timberwolves. The consensus was not wrong, they are subpar. If they served some bigger faction meta or income role then they would not need to be sold off or mothballed.

A final consideration. If you reduce the ownership barriers to faction you will be harming QP wait times. When not playing faction many people spend time in QP leveling mechs. Removing this stimulus to QP population will exasperate the death spiral the game is already in.

As PGI no longer is releasing new content for this game don't you think it rational to promote sales of existing digital goods? Each duplicate meta mech requires a mechbay which under non-sales conditions at the lowest MC buy in level equates to $3. It may not be good business to consolidate the techbases.

#6 K O Z A K

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Posted 14 October 2019 - 12:28 PM

clan vs IS is the best part of the game, it has a bit of an asymmetrical balance to it which makes it more interesting

#7 50 50

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Posted 15 October 2019 - 04:24 AM

View PostSpheroid, on 14 October 2019 - 11:08 AM, said:

Faction needs more restrictions not fewer. A competitive Capellan deck should look a lot different than a Draconis deck. A Wolf deck would be a lot different than a Diamond Shark deck etc.


I don't know why mechs that might be considered as originating or favoured by a particular faction didn't get a little bonus reduction when counted on the drop deck tonnage.
Doesn't force anyone to use them but might bring a bit of a common thread into drop decks if players see they could save 5 tons on one mech to bump another up.
Might have been an interesting way to build a little more depth into the individual factions while it was still more of an open universe.

#8 wilson0x4d

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Posted 14 January 2021 - 02:22 AM

View PostSpheroid, on 14 October 2019 - 11:08 AM, said:

As PGI no longer is releasing new content for this game don't you think it rational to promote sales of existing digital goods?


Yes, and I would like to buy and use Clan mechs, but since I can't use them in FW I see no reason to spend the money. It is limiting my purchases by several hundred dollars. At some point sales saturate/decline and despite the argument made here it would make more sense financially to allow the use of Clan/IS mechs by both Clan/IS factions.

In terms of canon, it has always been the case that IS salvaged Clan mechs and Clan salvaged IS mechs, for various reasons. Those fighting this are essentially just attempting to prevent their opponents from gaining access to like-technology. Not being able to use restricted mechs often drives me toward droll QP queuing and restricts my purchases. What used to be an interesting experiment is now just a disappointing aspect of the game.

#9 Cichol Balor

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Posted 14 January 2021 - 04:02 AM

One of the major draws to FP is the dynamic of ISvsISvsClanvsClan if you want mixed you have QP. But there really is a different experience and meta built up when you and your enemy are limited to one group or the other.

#10 K O Z A K

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Posted 14 January 2021 - 09:54 AM

View Postwilson0x4d, on 14 January 2021 - 02:22 AM, said:

Yes, and I would like to buy and use Clan mechs, but since I can't use them in FW I see no reason to spend the money. It is limiting my purchases by several hundred dollars. At some point sales saturate/decline and despite the argument made here it would make more sense financially to allow the use of Clan/IS mechs by both Clan/IS factions.

In terms of canon, it has always been the case that IS salvaged Clan mechs and Clan salvaged IS mechs, for various reasons. Those fighting this are essentially just attempting to prevent their opponents from gaining access to like-technology. Not being able to use restricted mechs often drives me toward droll QP queuing and restricts my purchases. What used to be an interesting experiment is now just a disappointing aspect of the game.


what exactly stops you from using clan mechs in FW?

#11 Swamp Ass MkII

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Posted 15 January 2021 - 04:05 PM

No...

#12 Bistrorider

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Posted 16 January 2021 - 05:35 AM

Thought about option to give IS one clan slot per drop deck and vice versa. Is it good idea? Dunno.

#13 Swamp Ass MkII

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Posted 17 January 2021 - 10:10 AM

Drop deck weights would need to be evened between IS and Clan. As it is, 255 for Clan, and 265 for IS...

#14 K O Z A K

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Posted 17 January 2021 - 10:22 AM

View PostSwamp *** MkII, on 17 January 2021 - 10:10 AM, said:

Drop deck weights would need to be evened between IS and Clan. As it is, 255 for Clan, and 265 for IS...


yeah there's really no reason for this anymore

#15 Cichol Balor

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Posted 20 January 2021 - 02:20 AM

View PostHazeclaw, on 17 January 2021 - 10:22 AM, said:


yeah there's really no reason for this anymore



IDK I don't really feel much difference fighting in or against most Clan 90t vs 100t however I definitely feel it when it comes to IS

#16 Mochyn Pupur

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Posted 22 January 2021 - 03:59 AM

Probably the biggest issue here is that this mode is not Faction Play, but Community Warfare, according to the hash up years ago as part of the restructure of the mode. Creating two simple buckets of IS & Clan, although some may say is not great due to the performance of each side's mechs, it does make for relatively even drops (gear wise - not piloting skills etc. that's a whole different thing). If you really want to see what it was like when the Clans dropped into the Inner Sphere, search out youtube articles that showed roll after roll by the Clans over the IS (This in a way followed cannon exceptionally well with the appearance of this almost alien like war machine). During this time, there was no suggestion of balance or equity and it was only the strongest of the Faction Units that stood up well against the Clans.

Balances have been thrown around with abandon since then, but, the only constant has been IS v Clan. This is what makes it a unique mode. I wish that the old FP was still around when the matches were IS v IS, IS v Clan and Clan v Clan. Units created their own story lines, set up match weekends and LIFE was GOOD!

So in response to the op - Nay, nay and thrice nay!





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