339 replies to this topic

[NAMEUNKOWN]

right i want to say something here.there are good suggestions posted here. but
its simply not touching on the subject that made the hard core fans leave. and that is faction play.

mwo got started by crowd funding, from the founders. in other words people paid money, to get this game off the ground. after certain promises where made to them. those promises never came to pass. these are people, that will stay and pay.

sure we need new players. but most want a shoot em up fast killer game. if everything was perfect in this game. how many new players out of 10 will stay for the long haul. maybe 1 or 2.
get the people that matter back first. then we concentrate on groups in solo play and everything else.that has been mentioned.

[w0qj]

Monetization idea that other online games are already doing:

https://mwomercs.com...-6/page__st__80

[Repost for your convenience, as below]:

w0qj, on 10 November 2020 - 06:38 AM, said:

...other online games allow you to pay with ingame currency (like MC, or real life cash, etc.) to let you retroactively achieve the Trick-or-Treat-6 event, usually up to 1-2 weeks after event deadline cutoff date.

OR in this case, allow for up to 2 week extension for purchasing Complete Collection as top-up loot box amounts to retroactively achieve the 250-loot-box-grand-prize quest!

For details pls see below:

======================
Just answered my own question!

~On Nov 9th 2020, bought one (1) Complete Collection.

~Unfortunately there was no additional 50 loot box, to help you finish your 250-loot-box-grand-prize quest, if you did not achieve this before the deadline time (see below).

~Therefore the deadline time really was the campaign reward cutoff date/time, of Nov 3rd 4:00:00 PM (PST) / Nov 4th 12:00:00 AM (UTC).

Edited by w0qj, 10 November 2020 - 06:44 AM.

[Curccu]

Gotta wonder why wasn't most of those changes listed done 3 Years ago.

[Curccu]

Monkey Lover, on 09 November 2020 - 09:11 PM, said:

Lot of good stuff but,


What here is going to bring in 50,000 new players?

Some of those could bring back old players at least?
and maybe keep new players playing.

Edited by Curccu, 10 November 2020 - 06:47 AM.

[w0qj]

[Conversation_tangent_warning]:
I'm a MechCommander 1 fan, also a MechWarrior 3 fan, both for PC/Windows!
This was why I've joined MWO!
[/Conversation_tangent_warning]

Gr Armpit, on 10 November 2020 - 06:41 AM, said:

Yes, this absolutely... Really shows that I'm a Mechcommander 2 player with my votes
If we could get it in game--thus allowing more players to see it--and have short descriptions for each mech so players who aren't as deep in the lore as some of us have more to go on than just those with the coolest names, I think this would be an incredible tool for PGI. Also potentially adding something to say "which weight class do you most want?"

[R5D4]

XDevilsChariotX, on 09 November 2020 - 09:33 PM, said:

I think a bullet point should be added under the Map section and I would have to say it's one of the biggest gripes about game play.

• Map redesigns to reduce Nascar (adding obstacles or blocking off areas)

More community feedback needed on which maps are the worst and possible solutions?

Maybe add to some Map redesigns that take into consideration the different sizes of mechs. Like for example having area's of a map more tailored to light and medium mechs so that they can slip away from or sneak towards enemies or an area that assaults and heavies can traverse with their longer legs but lights and mediums can't.

One thing I absolutely hated about the rescale was how the Jenner no longer fit under the ramps at HPG manifold. Those ramps were clearly made with enough space to just fit light mechs underneath but as soon as the rescale hit CLUNK sorry you don't fit any more.

[Vidarion]

Quote

Not everything listed is guaranteed to make it in. We're still considering more options.

If this is truly going to be a community-driven change, the list needs to include all the options. If PGI is considering options that are not in the list, then the change is being driven by PGI, not the community. We've seen how that goes.

If the "more options" are things that haven't reached the level of consensus or for which there is no clear monetization, that's fine, but for the love of Kerensky, put them in the list as such. And it's not that the community hates the ideas that PGI might be thinking of, but the last thing that anyone wants (PGI or the community) is for a change to be advertised as "you're going to love this" and then we get surprised by something we didn't ask for or an implementation that is the opposite of what we wanted.

At this stage, PGI needs to be looking at fixes / changes / etc with a "there can be NO surprises" mindset. You want the community to give input and feedback and ideas for how to make MWO into a great game again, then you need to show all the cards. No dealing out cards and everyone expecting a game of poker only to have us take a look and see a tarot reading.

As for the changes themselves,

• it seems like there is a vocal group of people that love faction play as it is. I'm not a fan of faction play myself. It was an intriguing mode but doesn't work for me. The only way it might work for me is if there was even a little bit of tie-in between QP and faction play / faction rewards. I could see that being event-driven, but for the love of the players, don't break something that people love just to do that.
  
• any color/sprite changing must be 100% client-side with zero change from the perspective of other players. If player A wants pulse lasers to be rainbows, that's fine, but player B should still see red for SPLs, green for MPLs, and blue for LPLs. If player A wants purple hearts instead of LRMs and red balloons instead of SRMs, let them have that, but player B in the same match should still see the regular missiles.

As for the rest of the changes... if they bring more players to the game, it can only result in better matches... which will bring more money to PGI, which might (in the end) pay for any engine changes that will bring it up to 'modern' engine performance. Having seen the havoc that an engine upgrade can cause in a game, I wholeheartedly see that as a "if everything else succeeds in bringing more money in". The engine upgrade / change has to 100% be paid for by whatever monetization gets added to the game.

[R5D4]

Monetization wise here's something that never seems to get brought up. What about the Pilot model?

One thing I always say about MWO is that I don't feel like I'm playing a pilot I feel like I'm playing a Mech because that is all I ever see. Why not add in a layer to let players customize a Pilot model with skins and hell give me a barracks to put the pilot in where I can customize what I hang on the wall and put objects into. Seems like a pretty easy source of revenue (pay to customize both Pilot and Barracks), gets people feeling like they are a pilot not a Mech, AND best of all it has zero impact on gameplay.

[Al_Bundy]

so if you can already make suggestions,

I would like to have the Templar Mech in the game, an IS Omni Mech with 85 tons, I think some would buy that thing

Edited by BoneHunt, 10 November 2020 - 07:39 AM.

[Horseman]

Daeron Katz, on 09 November 2020 - 09:27 PM, said:

Separating solo and group queue is definitely on the table! I think for it to happen though, other things might have to happen first, like for example moving Solaris and Faction Play to being event-based. This would put more players into the Quick Play queue, and potentially allow for a separated solo and group queues. I also think reducing matches to 8v8 could play a part in this. Added it to the list, let's talk about it!

I think separating the queues isn't going to work out.
Let's not kid ourselves, Quick Play likely already accounts for most of the playerbase. The queue merge has been implemented because the group queue's population was in a death spiral for months.
If you separate the queues again, you once again end up with a dead group queue and most likely lose more of the group-inclined players.
The only way to solve this is keeping the merge but tune the matchmaker to handle groups and group synergy better, and possibly tighten the tier separation back to 2 again (which we had shortly after PSR reset, the matchmaking went to **** after the separation was relaxed to 3 tiers)

Seth Kalasa, on 10 November 2020 - 02:17 AM, said:

Stock mechs mode.
I recall the answer about this mode, that it will create one more “bucket” in queue what is risky with the current playersbase. But! If the playerbase will increase please consider about adding this mode, at least to quick play. I think you understood already that the main base of this game is hardcore fans and hardcore fans like hardcore gameplay. Why? Because it is hardcore!

You know you already have that option in private lobbies, right?

selfish shellfish, on 10 November 2020 - 06:23 AM, said:

Could someone elaborate on what this means?

That the "heat management" value in the mechlab is at best misleading if not total bunk. You can read a bit about that here: https://mech.nav-alpha.com/pgiheat/

But essentially: the important values to know are your capacity, generation and dissipation. The current mechlab shows nothing of the first, while munging the latter two into something that isn't really helpful.

Edited by Horseman, 10 November 2020 - 08:01 AM.

[R5D4]

How about Integrating Quick Play into the Faction Play?
Basically make the Faction Play screen the default (with the star map and everything) have it so people can either play strategically by picking planets to conquer with specific objectives rotating each month (different objectives based on planet -- some it could be conquest mode only, some it could be FP style only whatever) or they can just hit the Quick Play button at the top and get thrown into whatever match needs the most people that round.

I would also add back in the Game Mode Opt Out option as people will hate (and I do mean HATE) certain modes of play and want to avoid them at all costs. This way it's the player that is limiting themselves to a certain "bucket" of game modes and if they find they're not getting matches it's up to them to Opt back into modes.

You can even emphasize that game modes may be more or less played at any one time by showing how full each gameplay mode is. I'd replace the whole mechclass % indicator with this as frankly no one pays attention to the weight classes indicator when choosing to play, they just pick what they want and wait until the matchmaker finds something.

Edited by R5D4, 10 November 2020 - 07:55 AM.

[Manei Domini Krigg]

This is not correct from the point of view of the original, but it may be worth giving a choice of the type of engine for IS Omnimechs: STD / Light / XL with no size selection?
Clan Omni have CXL and dont need it. But IS Omny have big problems with engine.

[Mothykins]

Ah, I forgot this, because in my mind it's really important, and I brought this up years ago when we went from Mastery to the Skill tree, So I'm bringing it up again -

MWO is not an RPG. The Skill tree does not make sense in its current form in a shooter - An additional 20% armour for no drawback just because you've spent longer playing?

Skills should be, and always should have been a give and take system - Want more range? Take more heat. Want Speed tweak? Lose some internals. Improved sensor speed/decay? Lose some sensor range. More armour? Lose heat dissipation.

Will it create some min/max? Yes, but the current tree just gives Max/Max. If there's a drawback, it makes people have to think about what they're doing and makes it so that it should help level the gap between fresh chassis and leveled up chassis while still letting people have some form of progression.

Will it be divisive? Probably. But just like how this proposed system works, you can't have everything; you can't win everyone over and its better to pick whatever side will give you the most enjoyment.

[R5D4]

I think many of us can agree that one of MWO's big UI issues is just how freaking SLOW it is to do certain things.

Take for example switching from one Mech to another. As it stands today in QP if I get killed through my own stupidity early on in a match and want to drop out and "quickly" grab another mech I can get all the way out to the mech select screen, hit quick play and then oh what's this? I'm starring at my own smoking corpse again! Da*n it! I hit rejoin instead of quick play with selected mech!

Seriously guys this is an easy fix, if I am out of a match and have selected another mech and hit quick play its because I want to quick play I do not want to go back to starring at my own rotting corpse thank you very much. The UI is full of these small annoyances that end up adding time and slowing down the user experience. Do an analysis and Get Rid Of Them!

[Bolo Atari]

Laser color customization is a bad idea. Man, you guys and gals gotta trust me on this one.

[Alreech]

Mothykins, on 10 November 2020 - 08:22 AM, said:

MWO is not an RPG. The Skill tree does not make sense in its current form in a shooter - An additional 20% armour for no drawback just because you've spent longer playing?

Sorry, something like the MWO Skill tree is a ongoing trend in online shooters, and I hate it.

Good example is Battlefield 4: you start with bad weapons an unlock stuff that makes them better by grinding / playing (optics, handles, barrels...). Don't want to grind? Buy an Upgrade pack from EA.

Same in MWO: you start with a bad Mech and can unlock skill nodes that make your Mech better by grinding XP. Don't want to grind? Buy a GXP Pack or convert XP with microtransactions to GXP.

In Battlefield 4 that mechanic is just anoying, in MWO it stacks with the quirks and creates balancing problems.

IMHO: get rid of the skill tree. Access to Air Strikes & UAVs could be done by pilots who grind military ranks.

If PGI want's to have a 2nd grinding mechanic in the game besides grinding C-Bills: add Knock downs after critical hit to Gyro & Hip and add piloting skill checks. Add Pilots with skill levels, and let Cockpit crits / head destruction kill pilots.

Edited by Alreech, 10 November 2020 - 11:13 AM.

[SkubaSteve]

Great list of topics. One thing that stuck out to me is "improve cadet bonus". This is definitely on track, but what I think would be easier and a lot less ambiguous of a decision here is to just give a voucher for a free mech in each weight class. This way the cadet can pick the one they want, and they have something for each general play style. It could be really cool to have these attached to a training camp for each class but I understand that isn't exactly low hanging fruit.

As far as maps go, just removing a couple (Polar highlands and the bigger frozen city) while they get a rework would greatly improve daily game play. Nobody likes to get sniped for 5 minutes and then mopped up when they try to push. And players ESPECIALLY hate getting lurmed to oblivion.

The 8v8 thing is a fantastic idea. It's the only likely method to end the NASCAR ridiculousness. Would be much harder to stomp another team as well because you can't snowball as hard when you have fewer mechs to focus people down. I realize people are afraid teams with a 4 man group would be too out of balance but that is really overblown. Any team of PUGS who are willing to listen to a good caller are going to win full stop. It doesn't matter if they have a group, what matters is whose calling the shots and who is listening. If it's really such a big deal make the que 9v9 and limit groups to 3's.

Love the list guys, keep up the good work. Can't wait to hear more.

-Skuba

[Garlion]

Hi Daeron,

Could you add (or at least consider adding):

1) IS SRM hit registration on the vapor eagle (its broken, often missiles do not get recognized.)
2) Add skill point training to the cadet training. When someone finishes training, they should have a fully built, at least partially skilled mech and be able to tell the difference between a skilled / unskilled mech. (perhaps even go as far as allowing players to drive the same mech fully skilled / unskilled in a training scenario to be able to feel the difference.)
3) allow players to do something when waiting in queue (browse/purchase from the store, modify mechs, etc...) sitting in queue, especially FP is very time consuming, often having players alt-tabbed from the game while waiting.

[Znoop]

I want to see an IS Highlander with enough slots to have a Heavy Gauss Rifle in the Arm, and massiv jump jet quirks.

[Kojin]

I'm going to say this again here.

Please get someone to tidy up the forum. It's a mess.


Also the website as a whole needs a bit of work. New and returning players need more visible ways of finding out what's what and how things affect your gaming experience. What Match Score is, what PSR is, how those work etc as well as tutorials on the basics and more advanced features and mechanics.

Edited by Kojin, 10 November 2020 - 09:52 AM.