193 replies to this topic

[Ragedog4]

Ragedog4, on 17 November 2020 - 05:37 PM, said:

I want to bring this up again to the community. For brand new players getting 4 standard IS variants for free (fully unlocked/mastered on all skills) would only help the new player base.

They start with a Hunchback 4g. Standard work horse, big gun, pew pew lasers. Just fun.

After 25 games along with the C-bill bonus they get a (and I'm changing this from my last choice) Thunderbolt 5s which has an array of different weapons to try out, but fun armor quirks to take a hit.

Next 25 they get a Raven 3L to test out NARC and ECM and show them they scouting way of Mechwarrior.

Last 25 they get a Battlemaster 1G giving them an assault that looks cool and has a PPC to try out with other weapons.

THE WHY: Because these mechs are not amazing or broken, they can be a lot of fun still. Giving them 4 mechs with 4 free mech bays (especially this late into the game being out) can give us this:

1) GREAT advertisement "Get 4 fully mastered mechs for free by just playing your first 75 games!" along with a new player pack "and buy the new player pack for extra bounus!" etc etc.
2) Helps cut the "bad feels" of dying in a 1 life per match to more experienced players and learning how to play a steep curve of game play.
3) They can use their Cadet Bonus to upgrade these mechs or buy the mech they enjoy more because they had time to play these mechs first before their first big purchase, and...
4) Gives them not only 4 safe mechs to fall back to when feeling bad a new mech is giving them trouble (even I do it still playing since pre-closed beta) as well as a fully unlocked skill tree in each of the 4 tonnage categories, so they can figure things out before screwing up their precious new mech they bought and wanted try out (this also helps remove feel bads)

I for sure don't need any of these mechs so don't bother giving to them to anyone who started an account over 4-6 months old, but do I ever want my new players to feel like they are having fun!

Im not sure where they want these questions for the town hall but I honestly want them to answer their thoughts on the possibility of new players starting out with a few fully unlocked standard mechs so they have some set default mechs to mess around with before they spend most of their earned C-bills and MC on things they don't understand.

[Forgeling]

Ragedog4, on 11 December 2020 - 01:36 PM, said:

Im not sure where they want these questions for the town hall but I honestly want them to answer their thoughts on the possibility of new players starting out with a few fully unlocked standard mechs so they have some set default mechs to mess around with before they spend most of their earned C-bills and MC on things they don't understand.

How come none of these are clan mechs?

[Ragedog4]

Forgeling, on 11 December 2020 - 02:46 PM, said:

How come none of these are clan mechs?

Mostly for simplicity. Those mechs are more well known besides the Atlas and Timberwolf and the Timberwolf is an Omnimech which is another thing for them to learn. Giving them mechs that are not exactly in demand, usually known, and having these 4 having a vast array of different IS weapons and equipment (that and the armor quirks) will help them get a feel for the game in a very battletech way. Then when they earn the millions of new player C-Bills they can buy a clan mech if they want for their first.

[sammydecafthethird]

Ragedog4, on 11 December 2020 - 04:17 PM, said:

Mostly for simplicity. Those mechs are more well known besides the Atlas and Timberwolf and the Timberwolf is an Omnimech which is another thing for them to learn. Giving them mechs that are not exactly in demand, usually known, and having these 4 having a vast array of different IS weapons and equipment (that and the armor quirks) will help them get a feel for the game in a very battletech way. Then when they earn the millions of new player C-Bills they can buy a clan mech if they want for their first.

I personally think that clan omnimechs are a fairly intuitive thing for a new player to get into. the basic information for each omnipod is easily seen, and hovering over that specific piece will show potential bonuses for that specific pod or full set of pods. furthermore, the specific individual pods are easily dragged and dropped, and often have locked engines, too, allowing the player to find viable builds around the engine instead of struggling to find the "best" one, allowing a smoother customization experience for newer players.

i personally believe that engines are the most difficult metagame mechanic for a new player to understand, as engines are often very (comparatively) expensive, with different traits depending on engine type that are not often conveyed to a new player. vital information such as the amount of heat-sinks they have, (or that they even have heat-sinks at all) is likewise something a new player wont find unless they're looking for it.

I agree with you on the stance that IS weapons would be better for a new player to understand. IS promises a greater variety of weapons, many of which are very unique and intuitive, and do not have a 1 to 1 clan counterpart (MRM, rotary auto-cannon). that, and IS weapons are cheaper to boot, allowing a new player to customize their weapon set more. i simply think that engines are a difficult thing for new players to grasp without spending far too many C-bills first.

[Tongo Rad]

Put out a big explainer on faction play. A newbie gets no clue about what it is, how it works, why the countdown counter just keeps going and going. Most of all, it should have a big label: CADETS: WARNING! LARK'S VOMIT.

[Tongo Rad]

Prominently label stealth-capable mechs in the store.

[Forgeling]

Ragedog4, on 11 December 2020 - 04:17 PM, said:

Mostly for simplicity. Those mechs are more well known besides the Atlas and Timberwolf and the Timberwolf is an Omnimech which is another thing for them to learn. Giving them mechs that are not exactly in demand, usually known, and having these 4 having a vast array of different IS weapons and equipment (that and the armor quirks) will help them get a feel for the game in a very battletech way. Then when they earn the millions of new player C-Bills they can buy a clan mech if they want for their first.

sammydecafthethird, on 11 December 2020 - 05:34 PM, said:

I personally think that clan omnimechs are a fairly intuitive thing for a new player to get into. the basic information for each omnipod is easily seen, and hovering over that specific piece will show potential bonuses for that specific pod or full set of pods. furthermore, the specific individual pods are easily dragged and dropped, and often have locked engines, too, allowing the player to find viable builds around the engine instead of struggling to find the "best" one, allowing a smoother customization experience for newer players.

i personally believe that engines are the most difficult metagame mechanic for a new player to understand, as engines are often very (comparatively) expensive, with different traits depending on engine type that are not often conveyed to a new player. vital information such as the amount of heat-sinks they have, (or that they even have heat-sinks at all) is likewise something a new player wont find unless they're looking for it.

I agree with you on the stance that IS weapons would be better for a new player to understand. IS promises a greater variety of weapons, many of which are very unique and intuitive, and do not have a 1 to 1 clan counterpart (MRM, rotary auto-cannon). that, and IS weapons are cheaper to boot, allowing a new player to customize their weapon set more. i simply think that engines are a difficult thing for new players to grasp without spending far too many C-bills first.

As a player who has played MWO for four years but has never played another battletech game and knows very little of the lore; I find myself avoiding IS mechs almost entirely for these exact reasons. Engines are a gigantic pain and cost WAY too many C-bills. I almost exclusively use Omnimechs for the hard point and quirk flexibility. Also I started with Clan mechs when I joined the game, my first mech was a Shadowcat, then a Ebon Jaguar, then an Arctic Cheetah. I often only branch into IS to test weapons that the Clan can't do at all, such as stealth armour, RAC, etc.

[Alreech]

Forgeling, on 11 December 2020 - 07:53 PM, said:

As a player who has played MWO for four years but has never played another battletech game and knows very little of the lore; I find myself avoiding IS mechs almost entirely for these exact reasons. Engines are a gigantic pain and cost WAY too many C-bills. I almost exclusively use Omnimechs for the hard point and quirk flexibility.

Sarcasm:
But why? According to experts in the forum Clan and IS tech is equal.

The only unfair thing is that Clan XL Engines get a heat spike if the side toros is destroyed, while the IS XL-Engine kills the Mech if the side torso is destroyed. That's an issue that needs to be fixed...
...remove the heat spike for damaged Clan XLs. Mech destruction with IS XL is fine, and changing it would remove the only difference in Clan & IS tech "that adds flavor to the game"

[Erik Ouzbel]

Alreech, on 12 December 2020 - 04:43 AM, said:

Sarcasm:
But why? According to experts in the forum Clan and IS tech is equal.

The only unfair thing is that Clan XL Engines get a heat spike if the side torso is destroyed, while the IS XL-Engine kills the Mech if the side torso is destroyed. That's an issue that needs to be fixed...
...remove the heat spike for damaged Clan XLs. Mech destruction with IS XL is fine, and changing it would remove the only difference in Clan & IS tech "that adds flavor to the game"

Approaching it that way, I can see the point. New players who don't know the lore or tabletop rules won't understand the "three engine hits = dead" and why clan mechs with XL can survive, but IS ones can't. Inner Sphere being more customizable is a huge bonus once you understand how the game works, but at the same time, it's easier to get yourself into trouble. The skill tree can make or break your build if you switch everything up.

Now that I've moved down to tier 4, I'm concerned about new players in T5. At T4, the salt is real. I had matches last night where people complained about the game mode being Conquest instead of Skirmish or Assault. The Incursion match in Caustic Valley had people floundering, too, as it pretty much became a brawl in the middle of the map with lights on the other team being picked off when they went solo to try and raid our base. I've seen more AFKs and disconnects, along with more people using voice to mainly complain about everyone else on the team after they died. Even if they didn't use voice at any point before that. I hate to use the word "toxic" when describing this tier, as the word is overused, but it justifies it in this case.

With that said, I see more interesting things at T4 during matches. At the end of one on match, a light ppc stealth armor Flea was using a downed 'mech model to hide and take pot shots at a few of the enemy mechs at less than 100 meters until the model despawned. We still lost the match, but seeing that was fun.

[Forgeling]

This post mixes some new ideas and some repeats. I'm trying to combine everything from this thread that I think is a good idea into a single post.

New Player Experience

• MWO discord server visible and clickable in game.

• Change the default MWO install settings for MOUSE SENSITIVITY to between 0.1 and 0.2 My own mouse has a sniper button on it for aiming but you can't expect everyone to have that.

• Trial Mechs should be voted on or otherwise community sourced. Trial mechs should have all 230 skill nodes unlocked and customizable. Let new players learn skills first and mechlab after. New players NEED a free skill tree to practice one. If you can't find a way to do it for trial mechs find SOME way to give new players at least one fully unlocked (239/239) skill tree to practice on. Also, please remove the C-bill cost from the skill tree and find something else for veteran players to spend C-bills on instead.

• Make the in-game store more sort-able and also SEARCHABLE. Clan, IS, JJs, ECM, etc

• the in-game tutorial is pretty good but it DOES need updating. It also needs to cover twice as many things. Players need to know how ever system works, they need to learn torso twisting, they need to learn saving some JJfuel for the landing, all of that. In fact maybe trying out the skill tree can be part of the tutorial. Definitely put a link to the wiki in the game. Minimum and maximum weapon ranges and damage fall off. Remove the pad that restocks ammo and repairs when you stand on it. Instead repair and rearm the mech when the player exits the mech to try another one or destroys that mechs.

• Start at tier 5 (already done) but make the first 100 games adjust that tier much more strongly. It should be possible to hit tier 1 from your cadet bonus games.

• Cadet Bonus should be doubled. Not per game, make it fifty games instead. Maybe add in some mech bays and GSP as part of the cadet bonus too. I think the devs are absolutely right about not picking mechs on behalf of the new players. It might also be a good idea to give new players 100% refund in the inventory instead of the usual 50%.

• Mechs should be purchasable completely empty. No weapons, no engine, just a frame or omnipods.

• mentor program, Mentor Program, MENTOR PROGRAM! Player mentor programs, and not just for new players only. Players playing a new mech frame for the first time or starting a new playstyle for the first time or any number of things should be able to apply for a mentor.

• Referrals should be a thing but should be trickle up, rather than one and done. Two people, one played 6 years and the other played 4 years? Let them do it anyways. Perhaps GXP, c-bills, or some other esoteric metric. A lesser version should be in play for group members. New players brought in should confer a more significant but single time bonus.

• Update the hints AND make them show up in more places. Put a hint box in the mech lab, perhaps.

• Make sure there's ALWAYS an event on. the ongoing events can have low tier reward likes GXP and C-bills but the important thing is that it encourages good behaviour in game. Then have it end and start the same event over once a week. Weekly seems good to let people work it into their schedules. When you earn a prize for an event make the sigma flash. When an event starts, make the sigma flash.

Edited by Forgeling, 18 December 2020 - 11:24 AM.

[Zephonarch II]

• Change Starting Tier (to 4.5): Scrap it altogether. The game community is so small I see the same players each night regardless of the tier. Maybe the lowest tier I saw (when for some reason I got booted to T3 after not playing for a year... and I had to re-earn T1 with my meta mechs...) was 3 and will stay 3 but... as I said I hate seeing the same players every game. The game becomes predictable, sort of. We need players to say "Hey why don't we all defend G3?" to make it interesting, otherwise we have no choice in how we fight. If the tiers are scrapped DEFINITELY give new players meta-tryhard Champion trial mechs or THEY WILL LEAVE due to nascar tactics.
  
• Update Trial 'Mechs (regularly with appropriate consultation): Yes. The (C)-Trial mechs need to be Mastered, and have good builds in mind or else no new player will play Mwo longer than the Cockpit-FPS glamour can appeal to then. Make piloting a mech bearable for new players with enough meta builds that are fully-armoured, heat-efficient and fast so their assaults will be able to keep up. Honestly, if I started in 2017 with no mechs I don't know if I'd be tempted to buy premium mechs for an advantage. That is predatory for a f2p practice though, f2p IMPLIES you can play free or, if you want, with paid advantages. If a new player rage quits because the Trial EBJ cant use the arms as shields because there is no bloody armor in them, then they missed out on the fun endgame that is building fun mechs using the finished mechs you rely on to make c-bills.
  
• Increase Cadet Bonus: Give them enough cbills to buy 2 clan assaults... cause they will lose the will to live when they attempt to grind for it....
  
• Update In-game Tutorial: Imo, make detailed textboxes in the tutorial level. Once the tutorial ends, give textboxes for every feature in the mechlab. Also, inform the new player of IIC mechs, Clan mechs, Clan-omnipods, omni-pod bonuses, hardpoints, quirks, the skill tree (faster and shorter grind hopefully implemented...), 'advanced' skills like the zoom module, ammo-increases, capture time assist the min ranges on every weapon, more detailed dmg-range graphs, cool run, and capture assist., the command wheel, and spotting.
  
• Establish New Player Video Tutorials (official and community): No opinion.
  
• MWO Discord Channel (update MW5 Discord to MWO/MW5): No opinion.
  
• Update Wiki / Add Wiki Contributors: No opinion.

[Robinson Crusher]

Hi Daeron

So I guess this one goes in new player experience, but it's really about what happens just after the new player experience. Sorry for the "wall" of text, but you're an old geezer like me so it should be just a "page"...

For me, I started with an atlas because that's what my role-playing character had, and I was using a computer that was theoretically playable but below recommended specks. My hit registration was horrible with anything but lockable weapons (when I got a new machine my damage scores with Laser, Dakka, and Splat all jumped hundreds of points). So I was mostly an LRM and streak guy. When I learned how fast you could die, I took all my armour to the back, used IDF, and stayed out of the way... with the results you would expect.

When I learned more about the game I tried to come forward and started playing builds with mixed loadouts. I got good at playing builds that combined some DF and some IDF. Eventually the new computer came along and I was shocked at how easy the game had become, so I started playing a lot more pure DF builds. I probably spent more time in Tier 5 than anyone else still playing. I doubt I'll ever be better than the tier 2 pilot I am now, "Real Life" being what it is.


- Point one: From my perspective, the route out of the LRM assault boat, hogging armour while praying no lights find him, to becoming a front line brawler is best achieved by time in a mixed build.


The worst thing about this game is Nascar. While some may disagree, I doubt anyone will find this sentiment controversial.

So think back before the Nascar. Remember "Lurmaggedon". Everyone had AMS or ECM, and many people were playing mixed builds. Seeing one or two lurms on a mech was a common sight. There was lots to see because the servers were hopping. But eventually people who don't think rainy days should be part of the game advocated for changes. The tug of war between boaters and haters eventually left mixed builds out in the cold, so most people stopped playing them. This left the boaters with no easy route to learn their way up.

Not long after that the medium mech players stopped thinking of assaults as something to support. They were just dead weight boaters who were going to die anyways. So they rushed ahead to score their boater kills first. Even Tier one players had to adapt, and we've been running around in circles ever since.

- Point two: The LRM changes since "Lurmaggedon" seem to have been made without considering the play style of the mixed build player.

Consider the lock on changes. When the angle available for holding locks was shrunken it may have taken more "skill" to use lrms for boaters, but it destroyed the ability of the mixed build player to defend himself with a torso twist unless he gave up the firepower of the LRM portion of his build. It's a minor inconvenience for a boater, but it has a huge effect on someone up close and personal lobbing lrm fire just over the heads of his brawlers.

Assuming you can't splash damage with jump jets, the only other way to defend yourself is to peak. The introduction of new locks based on DF and IDF took away the mixed build player's ability to peak. It can be hard to notice at first, given friendly players on the minimap and UAVs, plus the fact that your spotter's target decay will help you for a moment. But anyone playing mixed builds before the changes noticed it quickly. Your own target decay no longer mattered if you mounted an LRM. Without something else to see the target, a loss of direct line of sight immediately cost you your lock. And that includes always using max target decay.

It's counter intuitive. Locks received from a teammate on the other side of the field who isn't even aware of you are stronger than a lock you go forward an get yourself. This means you get fewer effective shots off per exchange, and no amount of velocity can change that. For mixed builds this was huge. You absolutely need your three seconds or more, so you can hide behind a hill crest or building for a critical moment or land that last IDF shot as the target hides.

- Point three: Always think about play styles. The more the merrier, so long as they are balanced.

I may hate stealth and artillery, but others love them and they aren't OP... so they stay. I may have loved the style of the mixed build, not in first line or second but dancing back and forth as the battle warrants, but that's not why I'm making the points I am. Healthy performance from mixed builds is how the not quite new player moves up. We lost that.

The LRM velocity increases were given with the stated intent to make LRMs effective long range weapons. Presumably older lore loving players with money to spend would have liked this. But those are the people who also like stock builds. How many of the stock builds carry one or two LRMs? If you had been thinking about play styles instead...

ATMs were another good example. When they went around corners they were fun to play and fun to play against. After all, you just had to peek in a place where you could step back two steps instead of one... but you had to think about it, which made them tactically rich. Instead of balancing them with heat, range, damage etc... they took away the play style.

So that's my long winded thought. Beef up the mixed build performance to make it easier for the almost new player to move up. LRMs need to integrate smoothly with direct fire weapons.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

most problems thats no matchmaker can fixing or balanced is the less tactical Awareness of many Players
so the important New player Expirience is ...learning ,watching and analysis ao Matches ...its not Cod with fast Movement,one Hitzone,and one Weapon, and thats is bad without Respawn and to try new Methods of the same Map, with the same mates and Reds

The most fails was im seeing ever and ever is...

-Trollbuilds like a Mistlynx with only a single UAC2

-Runs to the cockpit Windows of the Enemy and in Friendly Fire

-Runs in Groups of enemys

-extreme Plays-No time for Wait ,and can not wait of the first error of the Reds...action...action...action or use 11 meatshilds by extrem defensive Play

-fights in small places and ramps or run fore and behind in own Firelines and blocks Support fire from mates

-Fight Close Combats in maximal Zoom

-runs with a Team wolfpack of 4 artic wolfs to a Single Target Great -runs in a waitning Masive Group bad

-Run to lowest levels and Enemys hold the better higher Position (HPG/Rubelite)

-runs and not fight, or not shoot trough Smoke for example by Red Cursor while not seeing the Enemy

-Extreme Tunnelview or fixing to a enemy and ignored the Tactical Team situation and enemys around
-bad Seetings of Mouse sensivity

the Teams with better gunplay and tactical sense wins,its the simple True

Edited by MW Waldorf Statler, 31 December 2020 - 03:01 AM.

[SlightlyNoobish]

Just came back to the game after a very long break. Was one of the original founding competitive scene players winning the first RHOD tournament during founder days. Formerly known as KaoS Hugster.

At first glance seems the META game has come back full circle. The game is really fun.
1) SRM Brawling is back
2) Long range is pretty dead in Quickplay, so it's actually fun to play
3) Poptarting is minimal
4) LRMs are minimal

One negative thing that remains, and I understand this more now as I see how statistics have been implemented in other games; is terrible player stat management.

Stats have become a critical part of the game and they drive very poor behaviour.

Being a DevOps exec, this is something that is critical for the Product team to foster. At least that's the coaching I give to my team.

There has been a larger shift to open, accessible statistics to players in all games but the way they are calculated in MWO still bewilders me. Time and time again you see posts on the forums and discussions on VOIP during matches about Stats and mental health. Yes your current stats model is negatively impacting mental health of players in the game to the detriment of your player base and thus your income. Let me explain why.

========================================================
Observation:
========================================================
KDR Calculation
---- Kill scraping is anti-competitive, and punishes performers because it effects their morale
---- Kill scraping works to the detriment of the player actually trying to progress due to multiple mechs crowding the kill
---- This causes heavy friendly damage, and causes players to focus heavily damaged targets even though they may be useless and other targets of much more valuable to the overall win scenario
---- Instead you see Kill diving, people running in, just to get the Killing Blow and then subsequently die themselves to maintain a positive KDR.

Assists
---- Why is this not displayed on Stats page?
---- You are recording this statistic and can easily pass through to Website and record in a db

Damage Done Per Match

---- Why is this not displayed on Stats page?
---- You are recording this statistic and can easily pass through to Website and record in a db
Support Mech Bonus "aka Healer Recognition"
---- Why are the "Healers" not rewarded with visible stats?
---- There is no metric to show that you are great at Scouting/AMSing/Base captures/Arti Strikes etc
---- You have these stats, average them and display them. Teamplay should be fostered. Right now those players look like they have terrible scores and bad KDR.


========================================================
Recommendation:
========================================================
KDR Calculation
---- A kill should either a) be recorded based on highest damage landed or Posted Image split from a Killing Blow into a separate visible statistic. You are already recording these under Most Damage Dealt

Assists
---- Should be recorded, on a per match average and total

Damage Done Per Match
---- Should be recorded, on a per match average and total

Alternatively open up the API attributes for 3rd party guys to look at it and compile in a 3rd party tool

========================================================
Conclusion:
========================================================
---- Foster team play behaviour through these stat changes
---- This is a quick and easy patch, should take no more than 1 iteration to build with 1 developer for UX and 1 developer for back end API
---- Announce and implement within 1 month and see how this positively impacts Morale across the game
---- You should also advertise these global changes to players via email, to capture old player base
---- For example the positive match maker changes were not advertised and as I read more about them, they actually are really good. That should have been an email to all old players. I would have checked the game out then too.

[Valley Pirate]

I realize I'm late here, and I didn't read all the posts, so I apologize if there's redundancy, but as a suggestion, please make this site more obvious. When I first started I know for a fact that I missed quite a few event rewards because I didn't know there was something going on, and when I did, I didn't know where to go to redeem rewards. It's a small thing, but would help give new players a nice resource boost.

[latinisator]

tl,dr.


1st: Ease the grind for C-Bills.
How? Give any new players a free special variant Mech (C-Bill bonus of 30%) that sits at 50t. Either Clan or IS (players choice).
Hunchbacks e.g., HBK-4SP (S) or HBK-IIC-B (S). Both have lasers/missiles, both are equally customizable.
Have new players make that choice after their cadet rounds.

Why? Well, ease the grind for C-Bills. New players could raise funds faster and thus experiment more. Also, they might be hooked on spending some real money to get other special variants or heroes or whatever.

If we "verterans" cry about that, give us the option of each special Mech, too. No, I am not a cheapskate, I have spent on two accounts approximately 2.5k in total on MWO since closed beta.

Alternate: Give new players (and us veterans..) MC worth of a medium hero Mech, so they can decide to whether get a med or a light. Or a heavy on sale. You might also get them hooked on spending money through this, too.


2nd: Build a proper tutorial. Have the (intended) mechanics of each game mode explained in a tutorial, even though most times any mode devolves into a nascar team deathmatch.

3rd: Fix some issues like invisible walls etc.

4th: Reduce the player count per match and side for players from 0-100 matches (or something along those lines). 8 each side. Faster match-ups, more matches, more experience (at least I hope so). Also reduce the choice of maps for those players: start with a few smaller ones to choose from and widen the choice based on the number of played matches. Same with play modes.

5th: Insert bots for the first few matches so players could get used to controls etc. Poor aiming and piloting bots, then throw them into T5 QP. You should have some AI script from MW5.

6th: Be transparent on everything. Explain it to new players. Be it game modes, most relevant map points or the Mechlab. Also make it all skippable.

Edited by latinisator, 05 January 2021 - 05:01 AM.

[Vlad Ward]

Trial Mechs are going to need to be rebuilt with regular consultation from comp folks and should have a fixed 91/91 skill tree. These should really be put up for review each quarter and not just one-and-done. It should be enough to check "Do we need to update this Trial, yes/no?" and only proceed with the messy stuff if something needs fixing. If it ain't broke, etc.

Refer-a-friend campaigns that reward both players upon certain landmarks (eg completing some/all cadet bonus matches) would be nice.

Proper starter packs ($10-15 for a champion or two) would be neat.

[Robinson Crusher]

Hi again Daeron... another wall/page. Please bare with...

I just caught up on my watching of Baradul's daily dose and had a thought about my earlier post regarding mixed builds. I've always assumed that the current behavior of LRM locks was intentional, but it may be a bug of which the devs are unaware. So I thought it might help to illustrate some of the things I referred to in reference to his Daily Dose 1325 Mad Dog LRM build. It's not really what I would call a mixed build, really it's a boat with a little laser support, but a few things are clearly illustrated.

First, he states his intention to play at about 300 metres. My preferred distance for mixed builds was 180-300m. Still, notice throughout the match how little time he spends at that range, regardless of intent. One of the effects of the switching arc changes is that low bumps in the terrain cost you opportunities to fire, and as a result you need to move back to get consistent locks.

Secondly, he's using three skill nodes for target decay, giving him a supposed 2.1 seconds of lock retention plus the base amount. He miscounts this as only 1.4, but he has 2.1. Before the changes, I always used to use the full 3.5 seconds. Combined with the base time of 3 seconds minus my target's radar deprivation, i had a guaranteed few seconds to land a shot or two when i lost line of sight. It doesn't matter now though. When a DF lock switches to IDF and there is no third person spotter, then the DF lock is gone and the IDF never picks it up. You never get any target decay when you are on your own.

- Around the 4 minute mark he's firing at some lights with lots of observation sources, but at 4:47 the cougar he has locked passes out of all line of sight and his lock is just gone. He blames it on lots of radar derp, but this is not required. Radar deprivation used to only effect the base amount, so with target decay you were guaranteed some time before the lock dropped. But this is an example of what I described in the previous paragraph.

- At 7:42 there's an interesting lock drop on an awesome. Looking at the mini-map closely you see his spotter has moved briefly out of direct sight and he instantly loses lock, but it is picked up again very quickly. Either his spotter gained an instant lock from pressing R as he registered damage or somebody's target decay was still in effect and the IDF lock was recovered. I've seen this happen but haven't been able to determine which it is.

- At 8:17 he's finally in close with a spider and the flattened arcs cost him a missile volley that would have killed. In a boat that is back at medium or long range this doesn't happen often, but in a mixed build in close this is a regular occurrence. I lost roughly a third of my damage with these builds when the latest LRM changes came in. Volleys going into the ground and volleys flying off to the horizon were just part of it. It was all the opportunities to fire that I could no longer self generate. I stopped playing lurms when I couldn't find a way around this.

- At 11:11 he's engaged a flea. Looking at the mini-map you can see that his lock remains because of the teammate behind and left of him. By 11:15 the flea moves out of view of both and the lock is once again instantly gone. This sort of thing negates any chance of peeking with Lurms while alone.


When I was a newish player and I had finally learned about armor sharing, I dropped to a max of 40 lurms went to 85 ton assaults and beefed up my DF weapons. It eventually took me to the front line. Someone trying to do that now will only discover that his locks break and his damage decreases, with a resulting decrease in PSR.

As a final note, one thing that is very important to the mixed build player is the instant lock you can achieve by pressing R during the time when damage you score turns your HUD red. NEVER change this. Too many people are unaware of this feature as it is. There have been many times I've rallied a few remaining lurm boats to push forward by telling them how to get their own locks this way. Perhaps it should be included in the tactical hints that flash up while we wait for matches to start.

Happy new year to all the staff.

Edited by Robinson Crusher, 07 January 2021 - 07:13 AM.

[VonBruinwald]

Alreech, on 12 December 2020 - 04:43 AM, said:

The only unfair thing is that Clan XL Engines get a heat spike if the side toros is destroyed, while the IS XL-Engine kills the Mech if the side torso is destroyed. That's an issue that needs to be fixed...
...remove the heat spike for damaged Clan XLs. Mech destruction with IS XL is fine, and changing it would remove the only difference in Clan & IS tech "that adds flavor to the game"

Omni-mechs add a great deal of flavor to the game. Heatspike and (IS) XL-death are punishments with the latter being much more harsh.

Allow the XL to survive the 1st ST destruction, remove the heatspike for the LFE/cXL and give it to the XL. People act like the heatspike is a death sentence as it is so giving it to the XL won't make much of a difference, right...

[BigBadVlad]

MM still broke as f**** 3 assaults to none, 12-3 stomp, not fun for new or old players...........

Just outsource MatchMaker function, or buy someone else's.

Edited by BigBadVlad, 07 January 2021 - 10:22 PM.