93 replies to this topic

[Ruediger Steiner]

All the "i want this" and "can we have that" for new weapons and mechs comments.
Can we please fix the basics of MWO gameplay, before we think about new stuff?

[The6thMessenger]

Wishmast3r, on 11 October 2020 - 02:00 AM, said:

All the "i want this" and "can we have that" for new weapons and mechs comments.
Can we please fix the basics of MWO gameplay, before we think about new stuff?

I honestly think that they got the basics of mech piloting right, for the most part. They still lack the fun parts like Ammo Switching, Crit-Splitting. Stats are easy to change. And if anything, it is just limited to a few environments, that makes the game as a whole feel old.

[Alreech]

Unconstructive Waste of Time, on 09 October 2020 - 07:03 PM, said:

To allure totally new player to start and stay with MWO, make a simplified set of keyboard controls for beginners. I guess a lot are scared away by the initial complexity of the total set of controls: the list is impressive and difficult to understand in the beginning. Give also general easy solid tips to start with a mech.

MWO needs just WASD and 2 Mouse Buttons and need to know to press Overheat at the start of the match and maybe center legs.
Yes, you can set up 6 weapon groups for different ranges ect and make use of stuff like switching arm lock ect... but thats' playing MWO wrong.

The bigger thing for new players are the Trial Mechs:
No Radar Derp nodes, no armor & structur Quirk nodes and sometimes bad weapon loadouts for new players (Gauss Rifles,ect...).

[Alreech]

OZHomerOZ, on 09 October 2020 - 12:02 AM, said:

Edit: No weapon rebalance will ever fix skill gap as those on the right end of the skillgap will just take the new rebalance and use it to beat up the ones on the wrong side of the skillgap as always while matchmaking is not doing its job proper good. Proper guid means skill gap is minimal.

And that's the reason a license like Mechwarrior with it's lore is bad for a skillbased shooter like Quake, Unreal Tournament or MWO Solo Quickplay.

For that kind of game you don't need 22 different lasers, 12 different short range missles, 12 different autocannons, 4 different gauss rifles, 20 different long range missles, 6 different machine guns...

In fact "only one type of every kind of weapon" work with that kind of game best.
So adding more weapons (or infantery & tanks as others wish) to solo quickplay is just a waste of time and money.

Edited by Alreech, 11 October 2020 - 03:56 AM.

[Alreech]

Wishmast3r, on 11 October 2020 - 02:00 AM, said:

All the "i want this" and "can we have that" for new weapons and mechs comments.
Can we please fix the basics of MWO gameplay, before we think about new stuff?

Why, the MWO basic gameplay is great, isn't it?
Nobody is forced to team up for a game (so you don't have to convince your friends to play MWO), just drop solo. And use the big 12 player team as meatshield. Quit ASAP after death to respawn with the next Mech in a new game.

You don't need to have many Mechs, because you can almost build every loadout with a few Mechs.
The only way to improve that is to allow clan weapons on IS Mechs, adding more weapons and getting rid of indirect limits like Ghost Heat.
O.k., adding new mechs is stupid, because you don't need them to build a special loadout.

Edited by Alreech, 11 October 2020 - 03:24 AM.

[Alreech]

K4I 4LL4RD LI4O, on 08 October 2020 - 01:58 AM, said:

1. More Maps for Gameplay value
2. Balancing Mechs so it is fun to play them all again looking at you Executioner and Nightstar.
3. Balancing Skill tree system cause a newbie with 0 Skillpoints on his mech is just canonfodder.
4. Classic Mechs like Crusader, Wasp, Stinger, Macky because we carry those mechs in our hearts.
5. Events that are actully fun to play and not the omnipresent get 5000 dmg with weapon xyz.
6. Insert new Gamemechanics like Melee, Actually jumping Assaults, Death from above, Ramming and collisiondmg.

• More maps? Sorry, most players choose the same small maps like HPG or Canyon Network for Solo Quickplay. They don't need new maps. Also PGI can't sell map packs without splitting the player base.
  
• Balancing Mechs? Most Mechs are bad due their Hardpoint placement. Balancing them while keeping the "unrestriced Mechlab" doesn't work. If you want to run PPCs with Gaus Rifles on a Assualt you dont have to use the Nightstar. Battlemaster, Zeus or King Crab works too or better. Just replace the Medium Lasers with PPCs or the Machine Guns or AC 5 with a Gaus.
  
• Replacing the unskilled Trial Mechs with pre-skilled Cadet Mechs will remove the joy of grinding XPs for new players...
  
• Classic Mechs like those are useless, because you can rebuild all of them with the Mechs already in MWO, thanks to the unlimited Mechlab.
  
• Those events work best in Solo Quickplay, do you want events what force you to group up before the match?

Quote

Thats only my 5 cents on how to improve the game. And I am sure if the game is good players will come back and money will start flowing again cause people like to pay for good stuff, not for half done things that are patched into olivion every 4 weeks.

Good players are the ones in Tier 1 at Solo Quickplay. They don't need any of that stuff to enjoy the game.

Edited by Alreech, 11 October 2020 - 03:55 AM.

[Alreech]

The6thMessenger, on 11 October 2020 - 02:06 AM, said:

I honestly think that they got the basics of mech piloting right, for the most part. They still lack the fun parts like Ammo Switching, Crit-Splitting. Stats are easy to change. And if anything, it is just limited to a few environments, that makes the game as a whole feel old.

Lifting Arms to make low hanging arm Hardpoints more viable (Warhammer and many more). But still useless if you can put a PPC or Gaus Rifle in the Torso Hardpoint of a Warhammer.
Flipping Arms for Mechs like the Jaegermech.
Mech Pilots with piloting skill, and skill rolls to avoid falling after Gyro & Leg Actuator damage. Perma Death for Mech Pilots after Cockpit destruction

[MarsThunder]

Wishmast3r, on 11 October 2020 - 02:00 AM, said:

All the "i want this" and "can we have that" for new weapons and mechs comments.
Can we please fix the basics of MWO gameplay, before we think about new stuff?

Absolutely!
I wonder why so many ppl don't demand it :-)

[General Solo]

Alreech, on 11 October 2020 - 02:54 AM, said:

And that's the reason a license like Mechwarrior with it's lore is bad for a skillbased shooter like Quake, Unreal Tournament or MWO Solo Quickplay.

For that kind of game you don't need 22 different lasers, 12 different short range missles, 12 different autocannons, 4 different gauss rifles, 20 different long range missles, 6 different machine guns...

In fact "only one type of every kind of weapon" work with that kind of game best.
So adding more weapons (or infantery & tanks as others wish) to solo quickplay is just a waste of time and money.

A big difference between Quake/UnReal etc and MWO is in those old games you got to pick what server you played on.
Players in them old days picked what server they were happy with, in other words players did their own match making.

With MWO and its f2p game service model and the inability for players to create and join servers, match making now falls squarely on the shoulders of the developer

That is a big difference between those games.

If matchmaking was functioning guid those 22 different lasers, 12 different short range missles, 12 different autocannons, 4 different gauss rifles, 20 different long range missles, 6 different machine guns would add game play flavour options.

But with unsatisfactory match making all those weapons make less difference when its the skillgap that dominates games.

Best to balance one thing at a thing so the impact of the change can be seen more easily.
And imo can't balance weapons/mechs while skill gap exists.

Creating a proper guid matchmaker will ensure that all player demographics have a place of their own in MWO.

Rebalancing weapons at this stage won;t do much.

imo

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 11 October 2020 - 09:32 PM.

[Guile Votoms]

Videos like this are a mirror of the core problems of PGI.

This video is two hours of unfocused, unplanned rambling with information that could have been condensed into maybe 10 minutes and addresses many things that are completely irrelevant.

MWO is a solid base game buried under a terrible UI, constant performance issues, years of detrimental patches and poorly thought out features.

The skill system is a bloated mess. Faction Play is unfinished and abandoned.
Solaris is way more complicated than it has any reason to be and is basically dead.

What you need to do is go back to the drawing board.
New engine. Polished base game. Streamlined and clear UI.

Then you can worry about all the other nonsense you already wasted years on.

Edited by Guile Votoms, 12 October 2020 - 10:44 AM.

[Alreech]

OZHomerOZ, on 11 October 2020 - 09:22 PM, said:

A big difference between Quake/UnReal etc and MWO is in those old games you got to pick what server you played on.
Players in them old days picked what server they were happy with, in other words players did their own match making.

In the good old days no body picked a server because the other players were one the same skill level.
Most gamers played with friends on the same server, and in the same team.
Switching the team to make even balanced teams was a common, sometimes enforced with server scripst that moved players at the end of the round to the other team.

MWO players almost play Solo, and the team is disbanded after each match.

Quote

With MWO and its f2p game service model and the inability for players to create and join servers, match making now falls squarely on the shoulders of the developer

If matchmaking was functioning good those 22 different lasers, 12 different short range missles, 12 different autocannons, 4 different gauss rifles, 20 different long range missles, 6 different machine guns would add game play flavour options.

But with unsatisfactory match making all those weapons make less difference when its the skillgap that dominates games.

I agree, but i think most MWO players won't accept the needed changes to improve matchmaking.

To keep the different flavours Clan & IS Tech must not be mixed in the same team.
-> Most Solo Quickplay players won't like if they are forced to play in an all IS or all Clan team.

Both teams should have the same tonnage. Could be done quick with dropdecks.
-> Most Solo Qiuckplay players hate respawns

Individuall skill is less importand if the game enforces coordinated teamwork (like Battlefied does it with Squads). Could be done by enforcing the use of the LFG.
-> Most Solo Quickplay players won't drop with other players.

At the moment the simplest way to improve matchmaking would be to move most of the balancing from matchmaking to the group function & use of drop decks:
Clan / IS separation? -> In game now with drop decks.
Tonnage balancing? -> In game now with drop decks
Creating Lances of 4 players -> Group function

Instead of creating a 12 vs 12 match with 24 individual players the matchmaker could create a 12 vs 12 match from 6 groups of 4 players.

Edited by Alreech, 12 October 2020 - 10:04 AM.

[General Solo]

Wow so were did the solo players touch you

Out of all queues, solo queue was the only queue not to die of lack of players.

They merged groups into solo queue, not the other way around. Most groups are a joke.

Cannot handle playing other groups in GQ and FW but then come to Solo/Soup que and preach teamwork

pathetic, who wants to drop with that

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 12 October 2020 - 10:28 AM.

[Galahad2030]

I never listen to podcasts, but I listened to most of this one.

Feedback for Russ, PGI, and company.

1. Monetization isn't everything. A game must be interesting and have content/gameplay updates to keep the game alive.

2. Monetization ideas. This really is PGI's job, not ours. I will list some things that I would be willing to pay for or will generate PGI some income however.

• Referral Program with rewards for the recruiting player AND the recruited players. This will increase your playerbase and potential customers. Regardless of Russ's viewpoint that this is a niche game, a game without new players will ultimately fail.
  
• Roadmaps and community communication. Especially for smaller game communities that want to grow, it must be clearly visible that the game is active and dynamically moving forward.
  
• Subscription service. Not everyone is smart enough to figure out how to do a subscription with your transaction model. Offer a month/semi-annual subscription service for a flat fee that includes some perks like premium time, MC, free mechs, free exclusive cosmetics, whatever you guys can come up with. Advertise it.
  
• Market and advertise the game. No media outlet is covering your game. Get updates out and get them reviewed by PCGamer, PC World, IGN, you name it.
  
• New mechs and/or game mechanics. Do I need to tell you why? See point #1 Monetization isn't everything.
  
• Set population increase goals and achieve them. Calling your product niche is an easy out instead of recognizing you've failed a large part of the community by not making your product as huge as the original Mechwarrior series. Maybe you don't remember but MW2 was one of the hugest PCs games of it's time.

I hope to see at least the referral program and the subscription service go live soon. Those I would participate in.


My two cents.

Galahad2030

[Jobalisk]

Personally, the one thing I'd love to see in MWO, is to bring back a "classic" terra therma

[BROARL]

please make MWO unreal4, please make MW5 PvP, please make money making players happy.

[Tenchuu]

Expanding on what Galahad2030 said, open up a World of Warships account and play through level fifteen and absorb every damned bit of it. They have a huge player base because they do exactly what they should. There are explanatory videos linked into things, there are awards for completing things, and most importantly there are constantly new achievements and narrative goals for the players that show immediate progress from a single game.

I've had the game since the KS, and this is the first time I've posted because I dropped it for years because of the inaccessibility. Now I'm playing again, and *I* am one of those few people you talk about that is still spending money. I want that going towards a reason to log in and play, reasons to actually join clans, and a system that actually awards things like "being the mech with ECM that keeps all the assaults hidden and is critical to the match but barely does any damage" instead of "200 xp and welcome to tier 5." It's bad enough the text is absolutely microscopic on my current monitor. Update your engine, that's probably the expensive ask. The inclusion of a system like World of Tanks or World of Warships should be a comparatively simple thing that adds huge value the minute any player opens the game. If you can't do that and you can't run a Twitch stream where you answer player questions monthly please give the IP to someone that can.

[General Solo]

Lockheed_, on 12 October 2020 - 11:40 AM, said:

There's even a specific unit that like to drop with 4 people (not always the same though) that when they are on my team I know we are going to lose.

Sounds like that's a good group, can't fault them that. Being good is not a crime after all, it should be imitated more imo


They and the likes of them and lack of proper guid matchmaking in Group Queue and Faction Warfare queues is why those queues died imo.

Quick play had relatively good matchmaking in comparision and it was the queue that seemed to do the best, go figure!

With good matchmaking all demograaphics can be catered.
With non functioning guid match making only the pilots on the right side of the skill gap are served.
The 1%, lets say its' 10% or 20% instead just to broaden the scope abit.

That means 99% or 90% or 80% of players are not catered for, and imo a big monetization opportunity missed.

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 12 October 2020 - 11:28 PM.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

[movie]


we have no Frodo ---and the old Generals praying to the new Players, without a Army

Edited by MW Waldorf Statler, 13 October 2020 - 12:46 AM.

[General Solo]

Well its up to Rus and Co whether the tree of the Mech King flowers once more.

[Kell Aset]

What a waste of time, 2 hours of random rambling, "everything is on the table" and "low hanging fruits" (oh the flashbacks) but completely ZERO specifics and Russ wants ppl to post suggestions on the forums, like if forums are not filled with suggestions already after all those years heh. Well all I got from this podcast is that the future of MWO is unknown even to its devs since they had completely nothing specific to say/show, they have no plans, what a suprise ehh. Come back to us when you will have something to say or better yet something to show. Talk is cheap and I sure won't believe anything coming from Russ and his minions.