34 replies to this topic

[Meep Meep]

So who wants drop decks for quick play after a map and mode are selected? An additional 5 seconds or so to pick you choice of mech which is limited to class and tonnage so no mixing in 20 tonners with 35 tonner lights etc so it would have minimal impact on the mm since every mech in the deck would be very similar.

As a carrot to pgi this would encourage grinding out additional mechs to have a variety of fits and camo to fit the map. First deck would be a somewhat expensive c-bill purchase with additional decks costing mc. Or pgi could revamp premium time to give other perks like additional qp drop decks as long as the subscription is active etc.

I'd buy three more pirates banes to have each fit out they way I like to chose at will.

[General Solo]

Don't need more min max on our min max in merge queue
The last queue casual fun loving social warrior pilots have
Save that for more organized queues

This will simply make such pilots more farmable
Unless that's the business plan?

[Meep Meep]

More choices are always welcome and it would be available to everyone so don't see how it would make anyone farmable. If someone chooses to not utilize a qp drop deck then thats their option. Also yes its a monetization move because face it. Unless people spend money on this game it can't keep the servers open let alone fix things and do balance passes and add in new content. I'd pay mc for additional drop decks and would actually think about premium time if it had more bonuses than just extra xp and credits which loses its luster once you get the mechs you prefer playing maxed out.

[John Bronco]

People would get farmed the same the way they do in fp - by completely failing to bring a mech appropriate to the map. You'd would also see long range favored on most maps, severely limiting mid and short range play options.

[LordNothing]

a lot of bad gameplay behaviors would go away if people were able to pick the right mechs for the map.

i dont hate long range maps, what i hate is when i get one while in a brawler.

Edited by LordNothing, 10 December 2020 - 11:19 PM.

[Meep Meep]

BlaizerP, on 10 December 2020 - 11:14 PM, said:

People would get farmed the same the way they do in fp - by completely failing to bring a mech appropriate to the map. You'd would also see long range favored on most maps, severely limiting mid and short range play options.

But wouldn't that be what a quick play drop deck is for? Make different fits for hot and cold maps along with camo choice so you can better blend in and perform better? Right now you can only fit out for a certain playstyle and map then hope the dice roll comes up in your favor on the map and mode. The code is there already for faction drops so it shouldn't be a huge manpower concern enabling it for quick play. As I said earlier I would easily buy premium time if it had more value than bonus xp and credits and adding these in as a premium perk would be a sure way to do it. Or sell them for a one time mc cost or offer both.

[R Valentine]

It'd help break up the stale rotatoe meta, where people only ever bring fast brawl to spin in circles for 5 or 6 minutes. Map voting also needs to be deleted from existence. HPG is virtually a guaranteed win since ppl can rotatoe on it until they puke. Mining, same story. Caustic, Frozen classic. Spinny spin spin spin spin. Bring in random maps and people might actually have to pay for only playing one tired old mech type. MPL brawl on Alpine is likely to get farmed. Or on polar in any mode but domination. Or Frozen. But 24/7 HPG/Mining is gettin damned old.

[VonBruinwald]

Kiran Yagami, on 11 December 2020 - 08:05 AM, said:

It'd help break up the stale rotatoe meta, where people only ever bring fast brawl to spin in circles for 5 or 6 minutes. Map voting also needs to be deleted from existence. HPG is virtually a guaranteed win since ppl can rotatoe on it until they puke. Mining, same story. Caustic, Frozen classic. Spinny spin spin spin spin. Bring in random maps and people might actually have to pay for only playing one tired old mech type. MPL brawl on Alpine is likely to get farmed. Or on polar in any mode but domination. Or Frozen. But 24/7 HPG/Mining is gettin damned old.

I'd like to see map-voting require premium-time.

Don't have premium time? You can still vote... for 25...

It's not exactly pay-to-win but it's an easy way for PGI to make money.

[The6thMessenger]

BlaizerP, on 10 December 2020 - 11:14 PM, said:

You'd would also see long range favored on most maps, severely limiting mid and short range play options.

I don't know, bring bracket builds then?

Don't get me wrong, I get the philosophy of min-maxing, but this sounds like you might as well just argue bracket builds. Why do you need variety instead of what just works? I would like Bracket Builds, I really do, but I have to be honest, it barely works.

And while you could say that "dedicated min-maxed brawler could work in autonomy that isn't restricted like bracket builds are", but if it doesn't work thus limiting the playstyle, I don't see the point.

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

LordNothing, on 10 December 2020 - 11:17 PM, said:

a lot of bad gameplay behaviors would go away if people were able to pick the right mechs for the map.

i dont hate long range maps, what i hate is when i get one while in a brawler.

Throwing away your mech because you can't wait for the teams to close is your fault, no one elses.

[Gagis]

I like this idea.

[Anjian]

BlaizerP, on 10 December 2020 - 11:14 PM, said:

People would get farmed the same the way they do in fp - by completely failing to bring a mech appropriate to the map. You'd would also see long range favored on most maps, severely limiting mid and short range play options.

Do it with random maps. That way you are forced to bring a multirole drop deck.

If the game has been running such modes after a while, the game would evolve to provide counters to long range play only options, such new content designed to counter snipers, to designing new maps and modifying existing maps to discourage dominant long range play, to providing game objectives for the map that encourage movement and shorter range play. Not the least, the players themselves would figure out options for themselves. Call it evolution in the development end and adaptation on the players end.

Team based PvP games with drop decks have proven to be very successful ranging from War Thunder to War Robots so this is not an unproven supposition. So are the ideas mentioned above.

Edited by Anjian, 11 December 2020 - 04:11 PM.

[LordNothing]

justcallme C L O U D, on 11 December 2020 - 03:07 PM, said:

Throwing away your mech because you can't wait for the teams to close is your fault, no one elses.

i like aggressive play. deal with it.

my point is if i knew it was going to be a campy tradey match, i could bring one of my campy tradey mechs instead.

and this can go the other way too, erll traders are weak when forced to deal with srm dive bombers on a brawly map. fp has this feature and how often do you get nascar in fp, or people sitting in holes waiting for the enemy to close for that matter?

and while they are re-working the vote screen to allow mech select, add some other gameplay options like time of day or stock mode to the vote. this would greatly increase match diversity.

Edited by LordNothing, 11 December 2020 - 05:12 PM.

[Absaint]

If you want to stomp new players to the ground, this is the way to do it.

[LordNothing]

thats an npe problem, and i already cast my suggestions on that front. like the one to just give everyone free starter mechs.

that might also take expanding the limits on what mechs you can choose from variants, to same tonnage, a tonnage range or same weight class. weight class would be my preferred way and easiest to limit. a qp deck for each weight class. first deck in each class is free. you can buy more if you want more options, perhaps being able to choose from up to 4 decks worth of mechs. if my free mech selection is done then every new player would have 2 mech options for each weight class initially.

Edited by LordNothing, 11 December 2020 - 05:23 PM.

[Absaint]

Instead of breaking the only part of the game that works, i suggest focusing on fixing Faction Play, solaris, or finding some new cool thing to do.

[Gagis]

Absaint, on 11 December 2020 - 05:14 PM, said:

If you want to stomp new players to the ground, this is the way to do it.

False. New players will be in tier 5 where nothing they see will be optimized by any means. This is not astomping issue.

[John Bronco]

I just don't think you're achieving "match diversity" when you know polar and caustic will be all LRMs, or when grim/rubellite/tourm/alpine will be blue lasers and PPCs, or when solaris/classic frozen will be all brawlers.

I'm also not in favor of adding more time to get into a game, it already takes way too long to get into a game for a 4 minute match. If people want more organized game modes they just need to take the pluge into the other modes that already exist.

[Anjian]

BlaizerP, on 11 December 2020 - 05:41 PM, said:

I just don't think you're achieving "match diversity" when you know polar and caustic will be all LRMs, or when grim/rubellite/tourm/alpine will be blue lasers and PPCs, or when solaris/classic frozen will be all brawlers.

I'm also not in favor of adding more time to get into a game, it already takes way too long to get into a game for a 4 minute match. If people want more organized game modes they just need to take the pluge into the other modes that already exist.

If you have total random map selection, a heavy LRM or long range drop deck becomes a huge liability if you happen to drop into an LRM unfriendly map.

When you have a random map selection, people will configure their drop decks with a combination of long, mid and short range. A minimum and maximum tonnage means your drop deck is forced to have a selection of lighter and heavier mechs.

From the developer's side, and its not player's fault PGI has bad map design, maps ideally should have both brawling and sniping sections. Understand that the maps I have seen with team PvP games with drop decks feature both brawling and sniping sections. And even those without drop decks, they still have maps that feature both long and short range sections.

Another effort from the developer's side is to add objectives within the games, such as capture. If you have a map with long range sections, but what happens if the same map also have crowded sections with capture points? You have to create a drop deck strategy where you break down the game into phases where you can deploy your sniper or your long range vehicle, and when you can deploy your fast vehicle for flag capture and contending around the points.

If we assume the developer's side is going to be too lazy to modify their maps, then randomizing the maps and adding objectives within the map should drive drop deck variety. The developer can also modify the percentage of maps dropping to favor certain maps and disfavor others.

[Dr Wubs]

I think it's a good idea.

Have a fafnir when it's time for that point control **** sucks. If everyone had lights and mediums, that mode would be a lot more fun.

If the result is people getting farmed, people are already getting farmed because of the group drops. I say game on.

Plus, the one thing this has going for it is that the drop decks are already programmed. They just need to be adapted a bit.

Anything with radical new progamming is doomed. This is one of the dew ideas that makes the most of the parts we already have.