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https://mwomercs.com...gestion-thread/
So there are familiar items like scaling, agility passes and requirkening to make more of the iconic chassis in-game already more playable, and following a revamped new player experience things like opening up customisation systems, modes of play or the monetisation process to once more encourage purchases. Other things that I wouldn't have considered otherwise came up in some of these discussions too, like adding more colours (I think perhaps for cockpits, or an additional layer on the camo tab that allows you to add pearlescent, metallic sheen, gloss or matte finishes to existing colours/patterns), persistent bolt-ons, UI/UE fixes, overhaul of engine mechanics to encourage use of all engine types beside crit slots... the list goes on. Many agree I think on removing heatspike on ST loss for CXL/LFE a good first step on that last one. Should STD engines have mild survivability bonuses added to encourage use? Should IS XL engines behave like CXL/LFE do now, if the effect Torso loss CXL/LFE has on heatcap, speed and dissipation was then reduced by between a third and half? It's up for discussion now, so we'll see.
From what I've heard, If you at PGI are leaning toward re-tooling the existing shop around a more opened up game, the mech packs don't need to be priced at the same rate as other whole games, and need to offer more value. To re-iterate a point or two made in the above thread, this is only worth doing once you've brought back enough life into the game through changes across various systems, earned goodwill and made it accessible for new players. And again, this game's model needed GSP to be handed out like confetti when skill tree hit, with mech packs, with events, everything - to help the newbies and actively encourage mech purchase and monetisation for everyone. Generous GSP rewards are required to ensure fun where you have a skill tree, whichever form the tree takes in future.
Oh, and this game could do with some marketing once enough of these changes get made. And one of the simplest ways of pointing toward a new feel for MWO? Why isn't there a button in the main menu for MW5 going “Hey like multiplayer? Try out MWO, it's free!”?
So on to the point of my post, which I now feel is relevant as we're eventually looping more and more into the discussion about the future of the franchise, where the scope is getting larger; Parallel development of MW5 alongside a final re-invigoration of MWO... where does it all lead? In my mind it's simple, the latter is to tide people over, hit those low hanging fruit and breathe the life it should've had into it while work is also done on the former to where there's a clear conclusion of both - the production of the game that would serve as the successor to both MW5 and MWO. We'll call this MWO2 for now. This is a notion that covers the long term, likely requiring an additional extension of the MW licence to fully achieve, but let's just pretend that the licence is further extended. What I am saying is that even if it isn't, there would still be saleable titles in the work done on MWO2 through the MW5 series.
In this, MW5 Mercenaries' last DLC(s) would fill out those last missing classic mechs from early Battletech history, and adding more interaction to follow the Fourth Succession War making lasting alliances and bitter enemies out of the major powers and in the process opening up options to further customize mechs (with endo, ferro, XLs), and the opportunity to take an outside part in some key scenarios from either side's perspective, depending on allegiances. Maybe rival mercenaries pop up on the MRB board and they become part of the forces your enemies employ against you. Also, melee maybe? And as you'd expect, more biomes and mission types too. This of course gets reflected in MWO, with new maps in the biome(s) introduced to MW5, adaptations of the new mission types, the new mech chassis and a MW5:M DLC-themed battlepass with additional events and rewards. The aim in the long-term however is to have a framework in the Unreal Engine for IS mercenary play for players to familiarise themselves with, to bring forward as part of the successor game.
Now comes the next bit, the Clan Invasion. This is it's own standalone game/campaign, Mechwarrior 5: Invasion, which brings the player through the unlikely but inevitable process (damn deus ex machina/player fantasy), first choosing the clan to lose to then go through the process from a mere stravag bondsman to a bloodnamed warrior of the clans. Just as the first game has you playing not-Grayson Carlyle, now you're playing as not-Phelan Kell. This comes with the trials and tribulations involved as you move from claiming your place to bidding for conquest of planets, carefully straining the supply chain from the homeworld planets, facing fiercer resistance and manoeuvring against your rival clans over the course of the game leading up to the endgame scenario on Tukkayid. There the player doesn't necessarily change the overall outcome, but perhaps twists the fates of their's and their rival clan's performance at their respective objectives during that iconic event.
As above, this gets looped into MWO in a similar fashion, with new modes, chassis, features and creates a framework in the Unreal Engine for Clan gameplay for players to get accustomed to, for the purposes of bringing some of that over to a potential MWO2. You could also include clan content for owners of both MW5 games by introducing an incredibly hard "stem the tide" IS defense endgame to MW5Mercs, with 3050's tech where players would go to the top of the map to risk their hard-won chassis or even their campaign for that tasty clan salvage.
See where this is going? There's further scope for exploring the FedCom Civil War or the Wars of Reaving using those previous titles as a basis for new content for those 2 campaign perspectives, but I'm talking about the other thing. The successor game, MWO2. What if the building blocks from both MW5 titles were used together to create an experience around an online map that was malleable to the influence of the player (but not completely so).
This of course comes with the effort to create the online elements too, which is it's own bag of issues, but at this stage hopefully the license extension is granted based on the intent and revenue from the 2 title lines in tandem (MW5/MWO). Players could carve fiefdoms out of the outer periphery, where the line between mercenary, pirate, dark caste clanner and ROM operative blurs. Or vie to be the next FFA Solaris Champion. Holding the line defending your chosen faction's holdings against aggressors, or being part of that future conquest as the invaders. The online map would feature both PVP and PVE, and would have easy ways for the player to choose what they wanted to be, pick out and build their mechs and to hop into a game mode(s) of their choice ASAP. Bonuses are offered to both to players who want depth with loyalty rewards for their allegiance, and to players opting to press the “play now” button to fill out places on modes via ad hoc mercenary bonuses. Perhaps queues/matches could be balanced more by being dynamic/variably sized. At any rate, the depth becomes optional but still there for those who seek it.
I know it sounds fanciful, but because of the potentially modular nature of future MW5 development, MWO tie-ins and how they lead into MWO2 I feel like there's enough potential for something of this scope in the long term. The reason I bring this up like is because I'd like for people to realise that all talk of FFA, PVE, melee, game engine change, all of the things that're of this sort of scale I feel are something for further down the road. There are things that can be done to make MWO better now, and there are things that can be borne in mind for part 2. And the good thing about PGI continuing to develop MW5 like that for people who prefer MWO is that in this scenario there'd be related content made for MWO too, and that the work they do becomes part of something that'd culminate in the creation of MWO2.
And I want to make it clear that I feel that none of this would come to the detriment of MWO, or in any way replace plans for things that can be achieved in MWO in the short term, on the contrary the capacity for this to enrich and grow MWO's audience through parallel development and cross-promotion is pretty clear to me at least. There's synergy there between MW5 and MWO leading into MWO2 if it's developed with that in mind. And when that shift to the successor occurs, you get the attention of both game's audiences and hopefully be able to appeal to them both. Just a thought.
Edited by SoulRcannon, 07 November 2020 - 07:39 PM.
