193 replies to this topic

[Darkstrand]

I would like to see an increase in starting Mechbays for new accounts, the grind for mechs are enough to start pulling hair but one of the most irritating is the mech capacity unless you shell out money. I think you should reconsider the starting amount or being more generous with event rewards for specifically Mechbays.

I get it, slots work in Warframe; but Warframe has a player run economy allowing items to be traded to other players for premium currency. We do not have that luxury in MWO.

[Forgeling]

Darkstrand, on 04 December 2020 - 09:09 AM, said:

a player run economy allowing items to be traded to other players

The ability to trade mechs and other things between players would be amazing. I came to this game from TF2 and it was by far one of the most disappointing things.

[ghostrider]

As a new player (1 month play), i got interested in this game watching streamers (Baradul, TTB). I played the Cadet mechs and really didnt enjoy my time as i found only a few were okay. For example, Gauss weapons on cadet mechs isnt a good thing. The gauss mechanic is not intuitive compared to the other weapons and most of the heavy and assault cadet mechs have 1 or more.

So the first thing i would do would be to pick a better selection of mechs and have them on rotation frequently, why not everyday? Nobody but cadets use them and if you come into the game on day X and rotation is in 2-3 weeks, and the mechs suck, you wont want to keep playing, because the mechs suck. Thats the main appeal of the game, the mechs. Make sure to advertise it as well in the client!

Second point was that i was able to buy the 4 mechs with Cbills after finishing cadet training because of the Thanksgiving sale. Without that sale, i probably would've only bought a couple, maybe 3. I haven't bought the mech bay and now i'm stuck with these specific mechs and these variants. I went through about 3 hours of videos on Youtube to make sure i didnt pick a bad one as well. I consider this an educated purchase but most people wont do this. Thus it would be good to offer players a higher resale value on the mechs or the ability to switch variants more easily. For example, i didnt buy the "optimal" variant of the Javelin and instantly felt bad because i couldnt trade it in for the other variant with the cbills i had remaining.

Finally, i would be a great idea to have in-game players act as ambassadors for new players to teach them the ropes. WoW does that with their mentor system. Thus, Tier 1 or 2 players could select an option to act as mentor for games and that player (1 per team as to not have 5 of them wreck newbies) would be designated as team commander and tell people where to place themselves or do callouts. I had one person do this in a game once out of the 100 that i played and it was amazing as a new player, you have no idea where to go or where to place yourself or where the hot areas are. That commander could get a cbill reward or something as well and new players would enjoy it more and feel like they are contributing to the game instead of rushing into a contested area and get blown up in 3 seconds.

[ImperialKnight]

Rather than Cadet Bonus, give new players challenges to improve their skills while earning CBill in the process

e.g.
100K CBills for every 1000 Damage in each weapon class, up to 10000 Damage. With the Missile class separated into SRM/MRM(ATM)/LRM 3 classes. This will incentivise people to play different weapon classes.

Challenges to play matches in each weight class. 50K CBill bonus for every match played in each weight class, up to 20 matches.

[ImperialKnight]

Darkstrand, on 04 December 2020 - 09:09 AM, said:

I would like to see an increase in starting Mechbays for new accounts, the grind for mechs are enough to start pulling hair but one of the most irritating is the mech capacity unless you shell out money. I think you should reconsider the starting amount or being more generous with event rewards for specifically Mechbays.

I get it, slots work in Warframe; but Warframe has a player run economy allowing items to be traded to other players for premium currency. We do not have that luxury in MWO.

$7 for 4 mech bays is a very fair price at the lowest MC tier. What's more there are events that allow earning of MC which can then be converted to mech bays. Not to mention the occassional half price off mech bay sales. there needs to be something to keep the lights on. I would argue if you spent enough time to fill 4 mech bays, you should start maybe spending a little bit on the game.

And with the rotating trial mechs, a player has more than enough mechs to play for free, if s/he chooses never to pay.

[3RoyalStar1]

Yes update trial mechs please

[Wristp1n]

This may sound totally crazy, But is there an actual need for a tier system?

I started MWO at the Solaris 7 release and have played pretty steadily since that time. I managed to grind my way into about mid tier 2 before the recent "tier shuffle" which put me right back to about the middle of tier 3. Since then I have managed to grind myself to mid tier 4.... I understand that this is solely due to me being a total potato, but man, I thought I was getting somewhere before. If it has taken me 2 years to get this "good" then what is the lift going to look like to a new player?

This made me sad.

This made me rage quit for a few weeks.

I turned off Tier notification in the front end under settings,

I am now playing more than ever.

How would having an open system for playing be received? By this I mean de-emphasize the Tier thing. From my limited knowledge all the matchmaking comes from all the gobbledygook in your stats, so why not make that the emphasis for those of us who are "keeping score". Make the new player experience about learning the basics at their own pace without feeling like they are making no progress and becoming discouraged.

I am coming to the realization that for me, maybe not being so focused on "leveling up" brought a lot of the fun back into the game. I am no longer viewing this game as something that is beatable, or winnable. (I think these were just ingrained video game concepts in my head).
I am starting to view the game as a journey of "SKILLING UP" where the fun comes from jumping in a match with some great people with an incredibly varied set of toys, blowing each other up, and getting better at the game. I don't need a tier to tell me how bad I am..

See you on the battlefield,
glhf
Wristpin

Edited by Wristp1n, 08 December 2020 - 04:12 AM.

[Alreech]

Darkstrand, on 04 December 2020 - 09:09 AM, said:

I get it, slots work in Warframe; but Warframe has a player run economy allowing items to be traded to other players for premium currency. We do not have that luxury in MWO.

You can buy Items & Mechs for premium currency in the ingame store.
Buying them from other players only make sense if those items can't be buyed in the ingame store (weapons with RNG buffs) or those items are cheaper and the owner don't want to use them any more (killing the MC price in Ingame store).

[Alreech]

Wristp1n, on 08 December 2020 - 04:11 AM, said:

I am coming to the realization that for me, maybe not being so focused on "leveling up" brought a lot of the fun back into the game. I am no longer viewing this game as something that is beatable, or winnable. (I think these were just ingrained video game concepts in my head).
I am starting to view the game as a journey of "SKILLING UP" where the fun comes from jumping in a match with some great people with an incredibly varied set of toys, blowing each other up, and getting better at the game. I don't need a tier to tell me how bad I am..

See you on the battlefield,
glhf
Wristpin

Thanks for sharing your experience as new player.

Did you try out the Looking for Group lobby to find other player to group up?
Do you visit Discord or Teamspeak servers for that?
Do you send friend requests to other players in your team to play together?

[Forgeling]

Alreech, on 08 December 2020 - 08:43 AM, said:

You can buy Items & Mechs for premium currency in the ingame store.
Buying them from other players only make sense if those items can't be buyed in the ingame store (weapons with RNG buffs) or those items are cheaper and the owner don't want to use them any more (killing the MC price in Ingame store).

Yes but what I'd really like to see is the ability to trade, say, a mech of mine for a cockpit item of another player, for example.

[Wristp1n]

Alreech, on 08 December 2020 - 08:52 AM, said:

Thanks for sharing your experience as new player.

Did you try out the Looking for Group lobby to find other player to group up?
Do you visit Discord or Teamspeak servers for that?
Do you send friend requests to other players in your team to play together?

I have actually made quite a few friends in game by doing some drops with a group of regulars. They are not a very large group so scheduling is always tricky. When we do play we usually used enhanced communication through Discord.

The looking for group is a joke. The times I have tried it (and appeared to be the only one there) if after much waiting I do get a tell it is usually someone not interested in my paltry skills.

Thank you for the questions, I think they point to the fact that LFG is currently a horrible system, and that a major downfall for the game currently is the inability to easily communicate with other players. We can't even scroll back text.......Many people do not have the time, patience, or desire to integrate into a community for support (clan). In my opinion there needs to be a focus on providing resources for mid range players to advance at a steady and even pace, whether that be through more stringent matchmaking and/or a more robust grouping system with better integrated communication.

Initially I wondered if maybe there should be no Tier system. Maybe there needs to be a much wider tier system. Perhaps skill lock certain faction play aspects or similar.......Thoughts.

glhf
Wristpin

Edited by Wristp1n, 09 December 2020 - 04:21 AM.

[Deathshade]

Wristp1n, on 08 December 2020 - 05:57 PM, said:

I have actually made quite a few friends in game by doing some drops with a group of regulars. They are not a very large group so scheduling is always tricky. When we do play we usually used enhanced communication through Discord.

The looking for group is a joke. The times I have tried it (and appeared to be the only one there) if after much waiting I do get a tell it is usually someone not interested in my paltry skills.

Thank you for the questions, I think they point to the fact that LFG is currently a horrible system, and that a major downfall for the game currently is the inability to easily communicate with other players. We can't even scroll back text.......Many people do not have the time, patience, or desire to integrate into a community for support (clan). In my opinion there needs to be a focus on providing resources for mid range players to advance at a steady and even pace, whether that be through more stringent matchmaking and/or a more robust grouping system with better integrated communication.

Thanks for the information. Well said.

LFG IS a joke. Players don't use it because others don't want to play with "Just anybody". Elites only please even though it is supposed to bring players together. LFG would be great if, by default, all players went there. You should have to "opt-out" to be so called elite and let other players mingle. The game is dying for that mingling. Bombadil! You have to remember the zone days.

Discord is great and all but you can't launch a match from a Discord channel. Until we bring community and game together, nothing less is going bring the status quo.

What we need is room and lobby system. People don't remember that PGI waged a war on groups. Most of the LFG, game ques, players location. These are all mysteries to be hidden but instead create a toxic environment where the player is left solo. Not even knowing where the action is at? How do I find the players that are currently playing? See the disconnect now?

By Default, you should:
Be able to say hi in a lobby when players come online.

See what players are online (connect, disconnect) and also see where they are playing.

See current games in progress and who is playing. Maybe allow for limited spectating on those matches. Wonder where Solaris was born? audience. Where is the audience now? The stands are dead because that is the way it was built. To be managed by a queue that would hardly cheer for the players.

As you advance in tiers, you should be able to see more about other players. Especially there stats. Why the mystery? We have a whole game mode devoted to comp stuff. You can't comp effectively without some kind history or stats from you opponent.

Be able to join a private or "game-loading" room to talk about mechs, the next match, unit comms, etc. Allow other players to join or not join depending on the host settings. Maybe a place for setting up the next server config for the next match. Allow other players to see room name and advertising for new unit or game.

More? I don't think people are ready for the real deal.

Edited by Deathshade, 09 December 2020 - 05:44 AM.

[Tenchuu]

I'm glad to see a lot of people that are new or newly returning are having the same experience as I am. Joining the Golden Foxes really saved this game for me because I have a good group of players that have a regular schedule and aren't judgy. I can get advice and experiment, even though I SHOULD be able to do that through the cadet system.

Deathshade, on 09 December 2020 - 05:43 AM, said:

By Default, you should:
Be able to say hi in a lobby when players come online.

So fun thing I've found. If I start a mission and say "howdy" in the chat and get no response I am guaranteed to have a bad game. Communication game requires communication and without it it's just bumper cars with gauss rifles.

Edited by Tenchuu, 09 December 2020 - 10:59 PM.

[Deathshade]

Tenchuu, on 09 December 2020 - 10:59 PM, said:

I'm glad to see a lot of people that are new or newly returning are having the same experience as I am. Joining the Golden Foxes really saved this game for me because I have a good group of players that have a regular schedule and aren't judgy. I can get advice and experiment, even though I SHOULD be able to do that through the cadet system.

That is great to hear you found a unit that can show you the ropes. You are more likely to stick around. It sounds like you are already have fun within your group. Those benefits continue the more games you get and further along you grow.

I think you were blessed with finding these guys/gals. Most new players aren't lucky enough to gain that benefit from a group. You have to be persistent and hunt the groups. PGI hasn't made that very easy. Sadly...

[Horseman]

Deathshade, on 10 December 2020 - 05:42 AM, said:

You have to be persistent and hunt the groups.

And watch out to not get pulled into one of the cultish toxic groups that instead of helping you become a better pilot only really teach you how to blame everyone else for your own failures .
I won't name and shame, but there are a few around.

Edited by Horseman, 10 December 2020 - 07:54 AM.

[Bowelhacker]

Horseman, on 10 December 2020 - 07:53 AM, said:

And watch out to not get pulled into one of the cultish toxic groups that instead of helping you become a better pilot only really teach you how to blame everyone else for your own failures .
I won't name and shame, but there are a few around.

You probably really should name them, otherwise how is anyone new going to know until it's too late?

[sammydecafthethird]

I actually just two days ago introduced a friend to this game, a couple things came up when we were talking, ill post some thoughts:

it might be a idea to give new players a choice of one of four or so "starter" mechs. This will allow a new player get to things like skilling up and customizing mechs instead of being forced to wait until they've saved up 5 mil c-bills or so to make a purchase. It might be good to limit these starter mechs to light and mediums, as heavy mechs tend to have long waiting times in quick-play.
starter mechs would be a quick way to allow players to get into the meat of the metagame, but it does come with the danger of a new player making a uninformed decision on what mech they choose. (this applies to any new player making a purchase of a new mech) new players wont understand the true difference between energy, ballistic, and missile hard-points and their niches. for example, a player might decide that four ballistic hard-points and one energy hard-point on a light mech subclass would be better than three energy hard-points on a subclass on that same mech. this is, of course untrue, as ballistic weapons are generally very heavy, barring machine guns. (Which are only really effective in large numbers exceeding at least eight, looking at you, piranha!)

a referral bonus would be beneficial to encourage players to get their friends to play this relatively niche game, that is a given. Maybe make the referral bonus work so both players involved get a reward? i dunno how generous you guys wanna be. a free to play game needs steady revenue for continued development, after all.

the UI can seem unintuitive and overwhelming for a new player, after completing the tutorial, they seemed to get sent to the Solaris tab, without realizing that they weren't in the quickplay menu nor looking at the trial mechs they had. theres also many things like thermal vision and ECM that a new player will not know that they can toggle unless a tooltip or someone else in the game tells them, might need some work?

(this is more of a general balancing thing, but i feel its relevant to a new players experience) standard engines being equipped by default on nearly all IS and some clan mechs essentially means that theres a pretty big hidden cost attached to any mech that starts with one. i myself blew most of my cadet bux on standard and xl engines until i ran out and had to grind engines the old fashioned way, before realizing that XL engines can be very risky anyways due to the massively increased vulnerability. it might be prudent to change the tooltips on those particular engines to say things like "uses up three vital slots on both side torsos, thereby making destruction of a side torso lethal". of course, if engines are re-balanced this is liable to change.


as a player who played on and off again for a total of about 250 hours now, i only just weeks ago found out about the "events"; essentially free battle passes that reward c-bills and cosmetics, unlocking each "challenge" on a daily basis but still allowing players to access rewards from weeks before. Its a very neat battle-pass system. probably the best one ive seen for a F2P game. However, it can be difficult for a new player to find the current event without a link, let alone understand the significance of it. maybe allow a player to access the event rewards from in-game, instead of requiring the player to log in from their steam/(epic? does epic games have a built in browser?) google/mozilla browser, as requiring a player to sign in from forums might discourage them from signing in without knowing what these "events" are or if they even qualify for rewards from them (they usually do.)

alright! i think thats everything! uhhhh. yeah, one more thing.
please allow the initial game sign-in to remember your mwo password so I dont have to repeatedly imput my password before i can play the game.

ALRIGHT BYEEee-

[Horseman]

Bowelhacker, on 10 December 2020 - 04:28 PM, said:

You probably really should name them, otherwise how is anyone new going to know until it's too late?

Not without getting banhammered, which I've no desire for.
All I can say is, watch for the following markers:

• Shifting the blame for their failures, such as:
  
  • Complaints that most of (or all) higher ranked players are cheating
    
  • Complaints that PGI is favoring the opposing side when your team loses matches in Faction Play
• Promoting bad play without recognizing its' consequences:
  
  • Trying to discourage you from ever touching meta (including gems such as "playing meta is cheating")
    
  • Trying to objective rush in FP Siege without considering the mechs and tatical situation (I'm not saying objective rushes can't work, but in some situations they're a straight out suicide)
• Authority figures / "veterans" who are just plain bad at the game
  
  • Boast a lot but are ranked below 50% on Jarl's List ( https://leaderboard.isengrim.org/ )... if they ever play the 10 matches it takes to be ranked at all
    
  • Suicide rush in situations where it just costs your team their mech
    
  • Clinging to how things were instead of giving you relevant information on how they are
    
    • When asking about XYZ, you are given a spiel about something that happened / was a thing 3+ years ago (PROTIP: There was a bunch of changes introduced in 2017 and 2018 that made substantial changes to the game - Civil War tech, to skill tree, dequirkening, engine desync, heat changes and lock-on missile changes to name just the major ones)
      
    • Believing MetaMechs is still relevant (MM died in 2017, right after the Skill Tree hit; it doesn't account for the quirk changes, engine desync, Civil War tech or heat changes).

[Horseman]

sammydecafthethird, on 10 December 2020 - 06:35 PM, said:

as a player who played on and off again for a total of about 250 hours now, i only just weeks ago found out about the "events"; essentially free battle passes that reward c-bills and cosmetics, unlocking each "challenge" on a daily basis but still allowing players to access rewards from weeks before. Its a very neat battle-pass system. probably the best one ive seen for a F2P game.

The "battle pass" style of event is fairly uncommon, usually they're 1 page of objectives that last for a week or so.

Quote

However, it can be difficult for a new player to find the current event without a link,

Usually found in the news browser you're shown on login.

Quote

maybe allow a player to access the event rewards from in-game, instead of requiring the player to log in from their steam/(epic? does epic games have a built in browser?) google/mozilla browser, as requiring a player to sign in from forums might discourage them from signing in without knowing what these "events" are or if they even qualify for rewards from them (they usually do.)

It exists - click the big Sigma (stylized E) at the bottom of the UI. It works for most events, except loot bags and pick-a-prize rewards (both of which have to be redeemed through the website)

Quote

please allow the initial game sign-in to remember your mwo password so I dont have to repeatedly imput my password before i can play the game.

We've asked about that a few times, PGI adamantly refuses.

[Deathshade]

sammydecafthethird, on 10 December 2020 - 06:35 PM, said:

I actually just two days ago introduced a friend to this game, a couple things came up when we were talking, ill post some thoughts:
...

Thanks for the post. You can get loads of points from grouping up with players and finding an organized unit. It also helps to have a wing man at your back to help out.