Engine
My first thought is that a new engine is needed, and perhaps Unreal could be used. In fact, I am curious about whether much of the MW5 game could be ported over into a mult-player PVP. This may also help in delivering more maps, as there are already several in MW5 that could be adapted. Although, more with verticality would be appreciated.
Mechlab
I would also like to see if the small, medium, large hardpoint system could be adapted for MWO2. In my mind, it would not be a straight copy, rather a hybrid of the MWO and MW5 systems. On the one hand, weapons would reflect their BT critical slots and weight, but on the other hand, the size of the weapon would be limited by its chassis location (or omnipod) to small, medium, or large, as in MW5. Or even more simply, large weapons require two hardpoints, while medium and small weapons require only one. While this may reduce some of the flexibility to customize Battlemechs, it may solve the high alpha problem and allow us to eliminate the ghost heat mechanic and charging Gauss rifles.
Features:
- All Battlemechs in game currently
- All weapons and equipment in game currently
- Competitive, Group, 1v1, 2v2, 4v4, training, testing, and faction play modes
This is likely the key point. To port this over, PGI will need funding, especially with the tall order of getting all of the existing Battlemechs into the new game. I suggest that, as with MWO's launch, MWO2 should have a founders program. It would be a starter package of 'Mechs, MC, premium time, and perhaps GSP. However, with all the content that already exists in MWO, it is likely unreasonable to expect players of MWO to buy all of their Battlemechs again. So I suggest a conversion fee based on the number of Battlemechs that an individual account has in its garage at the time of announcement (to avoid chicanery). I suggest a US$2.50 conversion fee per Battlemech, to a maximum of US$500, and everything beyond 200 mechs would be converted for free. This has the benefit of setting a maximum limit for whales (I have 320, currently.), while smaller accounts could support the transition at more modest levels.
I welcome your thoughts.