484 replies to this topic

[Vampyreq]

I do fancy the idea of new weapons from time to time, but it's not really necessary at this moment in time.
What will be nice is to update weapon sounds. Like IS UAC2 and LB2X sound the same iirc. And clan UAC sounds like a joke. Not enough punch. Rebalance the volume of weapons as well. SRMs are insanely loud. And why is the first alpha of lasers so loud compared to the subsequent ones?

I'm all for faster search times. That's the sole reason I dropped from T1. I'm fine with group and solo queue merger as well.
But let's try 8v8. To also help with search times a little, close FP outside of the prime time to prevent jokers or clueless people from queueing FP.

Convert a majority of FP rewards to QP. QP is where all the action is and putting rewards there will encourage play instead of pulling people to FP where it's only active for that many hours of the day. It will help new players unlock mechbays as well instead of having to face a stomp fest in FP, lose to get miniscule XP/Cbill rewards to unlock that few mechbays. Not a nice experience for new players. There are also some F2P players who wants to unlock mechbays, but are forced to play FP for the unlocks, and once done, never touch FP again.

I think Solaris is a nice concept, but ended up being a flop. Might as well just take it out of the game, there's so little action there whenever I check it that I don't bother anymore.

[Galahad2030]

Quote

Convert a majority of FP rewards to QP. QP is where all the action is and putting rewards there will encourage play instead of pulling people to FP where it's only active for that many hours of the day. It will help new players unlock mechbays as well instead of having to face a stomp fest in FP, lose to get miniscule XP/Cbill rewards to unlock that few mechbays. Not a nice experience for new players. There are also some F2P players who wants to unlock mechbays, but are forced to play FP for the unlocks, and once done, never touch FP again.

I agree with this analysis.

[yrrot]

Rebrand the game with a timeline advancement. (maybe not MWO: Jihad, but you get the idea)

New tech refreshes the meta and give people something new to try (ie, keep playing).

However, you don't absolutely need a single, massive update to do this. Instead, you could trickle in new tech over time so balance can be addressed for the new tech easier. Roll out updated variants of existing mechs or new mechs that have the new tech stock. Example, Phoenix Hawk 5L has a plasma rifle, release it when plasma rifles are released and give it some quirks to compliment them. Instead of monetizing 6+ variants of one chassis, you could sell a batch of new variants/mechs to coincide with each new tech--hopefully at a reasonable cost since you wouldn't need a ton of new assets for all of them.

New tech ends up being like a new champion in LoL or new tank in WoT basically.

Edited by yrrot, 16 November 2020 - 09:02 PM.

[50 50]

I am against adding another new queue option even if it is just for limited events.
Personally I would prefer to further consolidate the players base and do something like:

Make Faction Play the Group queue + any solos that would like to jump in and look at different mission options like the 4v4 for scouting, 12v12 for siege and some sort of 8v8 all in a single queue. Big discussion in itself that one so not going to go into it here other than to say that if groups are removed from the solo quick play, merge it with what has always been the organised higher tier mode and work out something else.

Combine comp (and possible private lobbies) with Solaris with more options and massively reduce the queues. Again, a big topic on it's own but the comp scene is one of the few thriving areas of MWO and it would be great to reward the community by building functionality for the options that are all done out of game and then managed in areas like private lobby.
Too much detail to go into here.

New pilot feature for the skill tree.
Essentially, remove the skills from the mechs and have them reside on 'pilots'.
'Pilots' is simply a term that makes sense in the Battletech/Mechwarrior setting.
Allow pilots to be assigned to multiple mechs at once.
Buy more pilots like we can by mech bays if we want more diversity.
Option to buy pilots with X skill points available from the store.
Hero pilots from the lore that might have a unique bonus.
Community pilots as a nice nod towards various streamers or tournament winners that other players can then buy or be gifted.
Bit more too it than that but it ties in with changes to the skill tree.

[Y E O N N E]

Features that I want to see:

1. More MechLab building options; gimme all the stuff from Derek's list plus:

Mech Mortars (Clans and IS)
Plasma Rifles (IS)
MagShot Gauss (IS) - could balance against AP Gauss with shorter cool-down and/or larger simultaneous charge group size limit (e.g. 6 vs. 4 for Clans)
Light ACs (IS) - could balance against standard ACs with lower velocity, i.e. LAC/5 does 1100 m/s vice 1300 m/s
High Velocity ACs (IS) - could balance against standard/light ACs and Gauss by giving them dramatically increased crit chance and velocity
Binary Laser Cannon (IS)
XXL Engines (Clan) - instant death on ST loss like IS XL
Compact Engine (IS)
XL Gyro (IS) - could implement an agility penalty on ST loss as the trade-off over standard gyro
Small Cockpit (IS) - could implement lower structure as the trade-off over normal cockpit

Admittedly, a lot of the expanded equipment list besides the weapons may require some re-work to the MechLab, which currently doesn't seem to support some of these items as swappable gear and just treats them as unusable slots labelled "Gyro" or "Cockpit".

2. Ammo-switching; I'd really like to see the game finally get this feature. It's also necessary to really open up the way for added features on LB-X and standard ACs and new equipment like Multi-Missile Launchers.

3. Real colorblind support; I don't just mean add a color palette filter, I also mean implementing HTAL displays as an option. PGI also wouldn't be remiss to add a discrete charging bar for Gauss and any other weapons using that mechanic, because the little pips going from yellow to green are easy to miss even for somebody who isn't colorblind. The charging sound is not particularly audible in a fight.

4. Speaking of displays, can we get the cockpit monitors working again (probably belongs in the other features thread)?

[Yondu Udonta]

Vampyreq, on 16 November 2020 - 08:53 PM, said:

Convert a majority of FP rewards to QP. QP is where all the action is and putting rewards there will encourage play instead of pulling people to FP where it's only active for that many hours of the day. It will help new players unlock mechbays as well instead of having to face a stomp fest in FP, lose to get miniscule XP/Cbill rewards to unlock that few mechbays. Not a nice experience for new players. There are also some F2P players who wants to unlock mechbays, but are forced to play FP for the unlocks, and once done, never touch FP again.

The only action in QP is mech movement around an imaginary circle, with less brain activity happening in the whole of QP compared to Faction Play despite having a much bigger population. Just provide new players more mechbays to start with, while also shifting the mechbay rewards higher up the Faction Rep ladder to prevent new players to go for the low hanging fruits and getting slaughtered due to their inexperience. Imagine opting to disincentivize players from playing a less populated game mode when there are better alternatives.

[SoulRcannon]

+1 for removing soup queue and bringing back 8v8 group queue, and I for one would definitely use a solo opt-in for said group queue. Group queue could be the place an event queue might work within for ~48hr periods.

It would be really disappointing if the "Faction Play solution" ends up relegating a mode with more depth than most of the game to being partially active in the "event queue". Please don't shelve Faction Play for your event queue. If group queue comes back, I think that that'd be the place to screw with mutators or special event bonuses for 48h-or-so periods. At least in that case Faction Play would still be there for people who want that sort of thing more.

Can we get a "queue for" list of checkboxes perhaps, even if it's just for solaris divs, just to get into a game faster?

[Voxsera Hazen]

Daeron Katz, on 16 November 2020 - 12:54 PM, said:

In this thread, lets discuss ideas for adding new features to MechWarrior Online, such as:

• Special Event Queue (Possible Faction Play/Solaris and 8v8/12v12 Solution)

Definitely a HARD NO on the special event queue. Let the 3 different buckets for now stay - QP, FP and Solaris.

Vampyreq, on 16 November 2020 - 08:53 PM, said:

Convert a majority of FP rewards to QP. QP is where all the action is and putting rewards there will encourage play instead of pulling people to FP where it's only active for that many hours of the day. It will help new players unlock mechbays as well instead of having to face a stomp fest in FP, lose to get miniscule XP/Cbill rewards to unlock that few mechbays. Not a nice experience for new players. There are also some F2P players who wants to unlock mechbays, but are forced to play FP for the unlocks, and once done, never touch FP again.

I think Solaris is a nice concept, but ended up being a flop. Might as well just take it out of the game, there's so little action there whenever I check it that I don't bother anymore.

LOL what in the mechdad hell buggery is this? FP rewards should stay in it NEVER be ever moved to QP. You want to nascar your mech around stay there and stay away from FP. If you wanted to actually fight or learn, then join FP and find groups of people who do so.

Rewards and New Player Experience is for another thread, but giving options to get some mech bays should be good, but not the entire FP reward tree. Then like Yondu has said - move the FP mechbay rewards further up the ranks to prevent newbies going "OH SHINY MECHBAY" when they have no experience, or mechs to even properly kit out 2 decks required for FP.

[nuttyrat]

I am for a periodic special event queue, which is something that similar games do (see World of Warships and World of Tanks). It shouldn't be related to faction play or solaris at all, but something that will just inject some simple fun into the game .. and only for the sake of fun. Very limited, very special events that come up that need their own queue rather than trying to piss people off in normal queue (LRM damage events anyone?). Yes, it is another bucket, but if this comes with the ability to select multiple queues when queueing up, then lets go for it! I want to stress: As long as we can queue up for multiple game modes when searching for a match!

I am against limiting faction play to a special events queue. There are units/groups that are dedicated to FP only so to do this would be a big 'F U' to them, which is not fair. Faction Play should get separate and deliberate attention at some point and will let players more knowledgeable on that subject comment on it.

[E_DJORDJ]

My opinion is to start the timeline in the faction map from the beginning. Repeat the entire timeline (take newbies, interest them), but fix clearly how many real months this or that historical period / event will play out (for example, the invasion of clans will play for 2 month in real live). At the same time, introduce restrictions on mechs, weapons and other things when playing out the timeline making it more close to universe of Battletech (for example, the beginning of time, star league, respectively, there are no clan mechs and modern weapons), make canonical drops (for example, if an invasion of clans is played out, then the battles are 3 lances of the inner sphere against 2 stars of clans, and this is 12 by 10 mechs, then a balance with the weapons of clan mechs will not be needed, there are less of them).
.
Then more closer the game to universe of Battletech, more old players will comeback - this is the only true thing that love everyone.

Edited by djordjik, 16 November 2020 - 11:26 PM.

[XX Sulla XX]

Galahad2030, on 16 November 2020 - 07:27 PM, said:

Yes.this gives you (PGI) a chance to rollback or fix balance and weapon/bug issues with each patch. A modular approach rather than grand HUGE updates like Solaris that was received with empty queues.

Yep it also keeps things interesting from patch to patch even if it is just a small amount.

[Paul Meyers DEST]

For FP Yondus Post:
https://mwomercs.com...-play-proposal/

And atleast tripple the rewards in CBills and XP for FP, its the game mode where i have to put the most effort into and it has within a loss the most less rewards. And do more FP events, remove cadets and trials from FP.

Remove groups from single qp and reinstall 8vs8 group mode where single players can opt in.
Install a 60 second timer (like in solaris or fp) to balance matchmaking.

Solaris: Put the 7 divisions in 3 divisions. Ban the winning chassis in div 1 for 3 seasons to make it more interesting to build a new meta. The 3 worst chassis in div 1 should be moved to div2, replaced with the best 3 chassis from div 2, the 3 worst chassis in div 2 should be moved to div3, replaced with 3 new chassis.

Edited by Paul Meyers DEST, 17 November 2020 - 01:08 AM.

[Bistrorider]

Kaukas, on 17 November 2020 - 01:03 AM, said:

we still having this conversation about faction warfare being only event based that just show how far away pgi is from "faction warfare comunity " - comunity wants mode being developed and expanded not cut down and shrank.

That's why I wanna be sure (and many others wanna be sure) that Faction won't go "event based only". With current state of Faction it's the worst idea I've seen here. Besides "event based only" means somebody don't respect my time. In pvp game it's nice when you have all options on the table, you just choose.

AND ONE BIG NO for removing strikes from game or QP.

SECOND BIG NO to limiting strikes. You wanna go strikes you have to spend some skill points. You wanna strike good, you have to learn how to use strikes. You're mech is shelled to often? You doing it wrong.

Let's just strip this game from any cool content and then we can go fight with muskets. How about removing mechs from MWO?

[Garran Tana]

Arty and air strikes are supposed to be area control consumables, preventing murder balls and camping if I'm correct. But right now they are often used offensively (nothing wrong with that) as they lack the terror / warning factor. They would be way more usefull for area control if the game would show a red circle (or line for air strike) where the danger zone is, with a timer in the middle going down from X (where X is more seconds then it is right now) with decimals. It should ve visable on map and from cockpit, for both teams. It makes you want to get out of the area. The timer (wait) should be a bit longer than now, but also the strieks should continue a bit longer. If you want to risk it, you know about it, it's a decision. IMO (and experiancing similiar solutions in other games) it's a way better area control than red smoke who half of the people affected don't even see.

Edited by Garran Tana, 17 November 2020 - 03:01 AM.

[il1il]

Magic Pain Glove, on 16 November 2020 - 06:28 PM, said:

I think a separate event queue might be detrimental since its gonna take away people from regular matchmaking , and forcing everyone to participate in the main queue would also be detrimental since some people would just like to run "regular" stuff . But you can add a special mech (with a locked loadout , special quirks ) which would be temporarily unlocked to all players in order for them to play in the regular queue for the event rewards . Everyone could chose to play or not to play this mech , so it would be completely optional , wouldn't separate the queues and could achieve a similar effect. With a couple of downsides , but I think they are smaller than the alternatives .

I have often head this idea of "separating the community" in games but I find it rarely makes sense. if the game needs to expand than attractive features will increase the number of players. (of course this needs to be qualified by the situation)
but a "special events" queue may imply that it is not happening all the time.
perhaps imagine a 2 hour Uribe only Q? rather than an "event" queue.

So while i understand that there is reason to be cautious about how modes are applied I think fleshing out the idea is required before rejection based in concern for population which is what it is undoubtable meant to help.

[Bistrorider]

Garran Tana, on 17 November 2020 - 02:51 AM, said:

They would be way more usefull for area control if the game would show a red circle (or line for air strike) where the danger zone is, with a timer in the middle going down from X (where X is more seconds then it is right now) with decimals. It should ve visable on map and from cockpit, for both teams. It makes you want to get out of the area

Sucha solution was in Mechcommander and there it has a sense.

Longer strike, with timer or not, gonna kill you. You wanna tottally eliminate element of surprise. People will stop scream "smoke" in comms, so matches will be even more silent. Last thing I need is some additional countdowns, timers and numbers on the map and seen from the cockpit. It gonna look great when 6 people gonna use strike at the same time.

[Garran Tana]

Bistrorider, on 17 November 2020 - 03:58 AM, said:

Last thing I need is some additional countdowns, timers and numbers on the map and seen from the cockpit. It gonna look great when 6 people gonna use strike at the same time.

Only two arty / air strikes are possible at the same time - one from team A, one from Team B.

Also I believe in PGI art department, they will not make something obnoxious.

And if you get the warining and few seconds before the strike, mechs will scatter. At I belive that was the idea behind the strikes - area control, not succer punches.

Edited by Garran Tana, 17 November 2020 - 05:46 AM.

[MarsThunder]

IMHO only Siege Mode should be left for FP. Siege mode and unique maps made FP attractive to me.

[Joshua McEvedy]

Well, there are plenty in this sub-forum, that again went mostly ignored through the years. Lots of good ideas for events in there, if PGI would only have listened.

https://mwomercs.com...nt-suggestions/

[Lieutenant Hedgehog]

Quote

Also, so many other games do this ... Why cant we select to play multiple game modes ( at least as a solo player ) as long as you have your builds / decks ready ?

I'm just going to chime in and give this a +1
I'm a relatively new player and almost exclusively play Quick Play because FP/Solaris queues are so empty.
There's an entire audience devoted to FP; you don't want to make it any smaller, or you risk alienating a core player segment.
You want to make these modes easier to engage in for new players and for more players.