99 replies to this topic

[Bowelhacker]

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Dev Hunts ongoing, hoping to automate the rewards.

Didn't they used to be automatic?

[D V Devnull]

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

In Summary:

Thank you for the rapid summary, Zephrym. It is extremely appreciated, and I'm sure it will save some of us where we did not have the video watch time available.


That said, I have a few thoughts on some of the info (and I'll take a little time here to post since the Queues are currently full of those frustrating non-communicating folk that ruin the gameplay experience for constructive people like myself)... Please keep in mind that they're directed at PGI's Staff as they come back through and read this thread... alright? I'm just using the pieces of your post in order to help organize the thoughts so that they're not just one blurry-wall-of-text that nobody can really process. Also, anything not kept in my quotes was something where I can't really provide anything constructive. Please don't take offense!

(Heck, I'm skipping a bunch of emoji past this point because I know this is going to be a long post, and I know the Forum Software would choke & block me from posting if I tried to put as many of them as I really wanted to!!! Yeah, it sucks, but I'll deal with it!!!)

---

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Quarter 1 – Re-connection time to be extended to 4 minutes

It's about time that this happened, and is way overdue for coming. I've seen too many threads about people who really do get wrongfully knocked from the game, and I've been a victim of this myself. Worse, in needing to hurry way too quick, it has ended up that I've missed sending in some useful Bug Reports either because I just didn't have the time to wait for it and/or it has ended up that I've accidentally lost the report due to clicking the wrong button because of the rushed situation. So this claimed update of a Reconnection Time Extension is very much welcomed & appreciated, and I suspect that many others will be happy to have it.

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Significantly lower c-bill costs for unit recruitment

Well, this will definitely help the Smaller Units, albeit that it may let the Super-Units thrive too easily again. I guess this will just have to be a "double-edged sword" of sorts that we all have to accept and live with. Hmm... Was there any additional solution that could have been applied to deal with that connected issue?

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Bolt-ons will stay on (potential challenges exist)

Okay... This one should be on a Case-by-Case and/or Mech-by-Mech type of basis. Every person should be able to have their own options for each of their individual Mechs as to whether those Bolt-Ons stay on or fall off, and there's a more-or-less perfect spot in the Bolt-On Equipping UI where it could be put. For example, that switch could be a checkbox named "Remain Attached During Match", and placed between the final Bolt-On Slot in the current UI and the "Revert Changes" button that would then be below it, which is only a very slight (and hopefully simple) change in the UI rendering area. While some may like the different Bolt-Ons remaining on their Mech during the whole Match because of Faction Pride, Fear Factor, or other such things... There are as equally others who would prefer NOT always being constantly & forcibly given away by some random Bolt-On of theirs sticking up which they equipped, and are wanting to have it fall off once it gets shot. If this became only a "Forced To Be Always Present" situation for everyone, then there would unfortunately be many who would remove their Bolt-Ons and actively complain en-masse (Like some of the backlashes that parts of the community has thrown at PGI in the past, which I personally would like to avoid anything causing again in such severity... Anyone else remember the MiniMap Snafu from back when?) until they were given at least the option to have them fall off again. I'm personally sure that with the option available to myself of selecting which ones held onto them and also which ones didn't that there would be Mechs which would fall under both categories for myself. Heck... We could have a PTS for this kind of thing, which I most certainly would be extremely happy to dive in and help test out, and really make having both sides work & coalesce together!!! There's just no good reason to only have it limited to one way... Anyone else reading this can agree, right?

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Static time of day for 6 maps (adjustable if feedback dictates) e.g. Crimson Strait will be at dusk (6:45pm iirc)

Oof... PGI's Staff could get some angry feedback on this one. I hope they make both the Daylight & Night Versions available on each and every map that currently had Time-Of-Day as part of its' elements. There's just no good reason here to only have it limited to one singular Version of a particular Map available... Anyone else reading this can agree, right?

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Increases to the cadet bonus achievements to include such things as colours, cockpit items and GSP

I don't know how much of that will retroactively pass into the hands of those who have been playing MWO for some time, but I would not be cranky if zero of this affected me personally. That said, I do like how the New Player Experience would effectively be enhanced & improved by stuff like this, so I am thoroughly on the side of SUPPORT for having this change happen, and will look forward to seeing Future New Players giving positive comments about their Experience including this.

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Log on volume to be lowered

About [LONG BLEEP] Time... I'm completely sick of having to rapidly change my speaker settings and/or hit my Mute Button, either in order to avoid unnecessary Real Life^TM disruptions to people nearby, or prevent my ears from getting hurt while wearing a Headset for private audio. An end to having to screw up the Audio Configuration will be extremely appreciated by all, as that also reduces disorientation and unnecessary battlefield disruptions.

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Quarter 2 – Improving existing content (mech variants) and spawn points – community feedback required and welcomed

Aware of this... Will catch up (well, if I don't forget) with that News Post as soon as I can... Definitely stay tuned for posts from me elsewhere!

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Quarter 3 – New content in the form of Matt's event queue – more info to follow

Looking forward to this... I hope some Future Event Challenges will include items like counts of "Instances where a Mech Pilot helped to incur TAG Damage on the Enemy Team", as that was a nice Challenge which happened to be something I enjoyed achieving in the past. Not having any of that for a long time now has been depressing, particularly when anyone with an Energy-Type Weapon HardPoint could easily pull this off with just a little effort. Plus, it felt to me like any time that Challenge happened to be present, the result was that people actually had to work as a Proper & Communicating Team in order to get maximum enjoyment. It would be nice to feel the return of that variety of atmosphere happening!!!

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Quarter 4 – Not sure, depends on progress and resources

It was stated that technical resources and support are hard to come by at the moment due to the demands of MW5 development. It is anticipated that more resources will become available as the year progresses but these will need to be planned and negotiated.

The Roadmap will be published soon. It is flexible, malleable and only a broad outline

Let's not overload the RoadMap again. The last time it had too much on it, and/or too many deadlines set, there were then too many pushbacks & missed things with what was on the roster, as well as too many Bug-Loaded Game Patch deliveries happening. That hellish havoc is something to avoid returning to.

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

New bundles are being created (including for Steam) – feedback and suggestions appreciated.

Well, one suggestion would be to improve the overall experience for Steam-Based Users by restoring the previous Steam Performance Packs to being available for purchase by those who never had the chance before. One such example is all the people who have joined the MWO game after those Steam Performance Packs were taken down. In my personal-but-extreme opinion, there really was zero good reasoning to remove the option of purchase in the first place, and I am in SUPPORT of such a move as this even though I use the Standalone MWO Portal & MWO Game Client myself. From how it looks to me, doing what I am effectively recommending here would be no less than an extremely & completely positive business decision for PGI to make, and would help MWO to survive for longer... Anyone else agree with my opinion?

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

More VLOGS to come on an 'every other week' basis. Additional news items as and when required.

Yeowch! You don't need to go that far into the extreme, Daeron Katz & Matt Newman, as it means the two of you would potentially lose time which you could optimize toward getting stuff implemented & done for insertion into the MWO Game itself. In my opinion, doing more of those VLogs only once every Month or two is perfectly fine, as prematurely rushing from one topic to the next can all too easily cause something to get missed, which would end up resulting in a bad experience somewhere that could possibly have been avoided. Heck, consider this constructive post from me right now as one of the attempts of helping things to avoid ending in some negative result for any part of the Player Base and/or PGI in terms of the Future Of MWO which we're still heading towards, because I want to see positive things come from this revival attempt.

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

Dev Hunts ongoing, hoping to automate the rewards.

Huh... I haven't seen a single member of PGI's Staff on the battlefields, period. Where are you guys? Are you ALL stuck down in 'Tier 5' or something? Or are there just not enough of you online at any given time for Mech Pilots like myself to have any chance of being with/against you? Is this a case where I need to ask MWO Support to take about 1500 points of my PSR off (as in, move me down to about Mid-'Tier 4' area) in order to get put in a Match where at least one of you are present? Somebody throw me a mental hint here!!!

---

And with that, I'm left to put this up for all to view, and hope that PGI's Staff can use this Feedback in order to improve things in a positive manner for all.

~Mr. D. V. "seeing much happen with MWO in 2021, but wanting to hope & help so things don't end badly" Devnull

[Bistrorider]

Cool

Happy New Year

Sure it don't have to be weekly update. Not always weekly. As for wiki there is still Sarna.net going on so maybe some join forces?

[TheCaptainJZ]

InnerSphereNews, on 15 January 2021 - 11:41 PM, said:

Appreciate the updates but can you please shorten them? We know you guys are excited but you tend to repeat yourselves a lot making the videos longer than the content actually presented. Maybe think in terms of making a stage presentation instead of an internal meeting might help with the timing? I do appreciate the sense of authenticity.

[Galenthor Kerensky]

for me, what I would like to see is as follows:

a: nuking the current version of stealth armor until it can be made to function more along the lines of the tabletop rules, it was meant to be a slight modifier based on range, not a john cena you can't see me thing... even with a uav above and an active probe, or even a tag, I am not getting stealth mechs to be lit up... unless they get hit with a ppc.. and not everyone is a ppc specialist...

b: fix the dc garbage... I am getting dc'd at least once a day, and have been for years... the same with any penalties for getting dc'd...

c: getting told that I suicided in a match... yeah right... facing a lance of mechs I didn't know where there is not suiciding... personally I would remove this tag completely since it doesn't work...

d: dropping to find your mech facing the map edge instead of towards the middle of the map; very frustrating, especially in fp... there are times you don't get the chance to power up there before someone is already sniping through your back...

e: fix/remove the current overheating mechanic; as it stands, should you over heat ( esp in clan mechs ) it's generally a one way path from losing a torso to getting you mech shot out from under you in a few seconds due to the heat spike that prevents you from being able to attempt to evade the incoming fire... I have lost track of the number of times I have ended up swearing in a match because of this, especially when my heat before losing said torso wasn't even on the borderline of overheating in the first place...

f: stop the game from kicking you out of the mechlab just because you finished one change, but wasn't done yet ( it's a minor thing I know, but it frustrating when it's a time crunch )

g: have the game stop switching the select mech display from one mode to the other randomly... alot of us have a preferred way to see our mechs displayed, that shouldn't get changed due to a random glitch... I see this happen on avg of 3 times a month...

h: premium time; pls change it back so that we the players can manage our premium time ourselves... if we end up not being able to log in for an extended time ( irl accident, surgery, tech dies on you, etc ) we shouldn't end up losing that time... as I see it, it's a waste of the time of the gm's to end up having to manage folks premium time, as that can take away from everything else that have to deal with ( such as actually having time to be able to play the game )

i: I am really wondering why the website store and the in game store operate so differently; one ends up with a shopping cart, yet the other doesn't... This is a point I have raised a few times, I figured it would be better to include this here, as I am sure I am not the only one with this concern... pls have the website store do transactions with a shopping cart as the in game store does... it will make things run alot smoother, and bring less hassle for the gm's to deal with...

I know that this was mainly supposed to address the idea of new mech builds, but new mechs aren't going to mean all that much if problems like this never end up getting addressed.

[Joshua McEvedy]

Zephrym, on 16 January 2021 - 01:27 AM, said:

It was stated that technical resources and support are hard to come by at the moment due to the demands of MW5 development. It is anticipated that more resources will become available as the year progresses but these will need to be planned and negotiated.

Uh huh....riggggght! Pretty much says it all right there. More smoke and mirrors.

[Z Paradox]

Joshua McEvedy, on 16 January 2021 - 07:58 AM, said:

Uh huh....riggggght! Pretty much says it all right there. More smoke and mirrors.

With some luck they will get 1 worker to move some slider left or right, and call it job well done... and then they will keep polishing piece of sh*t mw5 and leave rough diamond mwo in dumpster.
Just keep buying and spending money on mwo and mw5 will get more updates...

[D V Devnull]

Okay... I finally got the chance to view the video. Took me long enough. Unfortunately, now I'm on the order of potato-grade depressed here. Why? I'll break that down into two quick sections.

---

Bolt-Ons

This was the one that made me insta-facedesk... It looks like they're going to not even try taking this to a PTS first, and not even going to listen to any part of the Community which still wants them to fall off in battle when hit. Unfortunately, this will result in a backlash (and NOT one of my creation, by the way... even though I'm probably the first to make note of it coming) over Game Balance Concerns in regard to certain Bolt-Ons and how they can end up unnecessarily & horribly revealing a person's position while in battle. They really should have used a Public Test Session for this, and made more Functionality & Options for players to then use & choose how they wanted things to be. The only thing that I can do now is to Un-Equip any Bolt-Ons from possessed Mechs in my Garage Bays that stick out a bit from the surface. One particular little Mech which I have is going to end up needing its' Decals re-done too, and all because of this non-optional madness.

If anyone at PGI reads this, please blow the whistle, stop this Bolt-Ons Change from going through in the current form, and get some working UI & Functions put in to provide more to the players. Yes, I get that it would take additional development and a time delay that would have to be waited for, but the end result would be far more awesome than this draconian (I'm sure there's a better word which I could pick, but I can't think of it right now) measure that is currently being resorted to. This change was really too big to just be pushed along without either a PTS and/or some extra discussion (which if there was some already, then nobody told me about it) happening.

---

Map Time-Of-Day Removal

This one leaves me puzzled & confused... With the current intended changes, several flavors of enjoyable maps are all suddenly gone. Why do we have to lose...

• River City @ Night Time (22:00 – I'm going to miss the starry sky overhead which this had)
  
• Viridian Bog @ Night Time (22:00 – the ThunderStorm Edition ... strangely a favorite of mine)
  
• Forest Colony @ Night Time (22:00 – Again, I'm going to miss the starry sky overhead which this had)
  
• Polar Highlands @ Night Time (22:00 – I'm going to miss the starry sky overhead which this had too)
  
• Crimson Strait @ Day Time (10:00)

...when they could have all been provided as separate Maps as well, and alongside what is currently coming with an Upcoming Game Patch for all to play on? You'll also note that most of those ones I've listed are Night Time Map Versions which happen to be disappearing. This really sucks badly, because it takes away a lot of the gameplay variety which I and others have come to enjoy. They should not push this change out until they have BOTH the Night & Daytime Variants available for everyone to enjoy afterward.

---

Other than those two big things, I'm either positive or indifferent about the rest as per the previous posts from me in this thread up to so far. But, those two above most certainly need further work & discussion before they're considered anywhere near being fixed and worth having a Patch distributed.

~D. V. "Some good coming in the Next Game Patch... Strongly disagree on restrictive changes to Bolt-Ons & Maps" Devnull

[Deathshade]

InnerSphereNews, on 15 January 2021 - 11:41 PM, said:

Give your feedback on the new variants you want to see added to the game

Once again having to wait on MW5 content. You guys should just wait til they release then focus on MWO.
It IS fairly easy to do these types of changes, "like just some xml edits".
What you guys bring up is all the testing that would be needed or double checks on what these changes may effect other parts of the code flow. Typical stoppers for any major changes.
You guys seem to forget that these same types of major changes get thrown in with out the same type of testing or double checking of code for new things ALL the time. The whole Solaris 7 update was a HUGE change. Go back and look at how that rolled out. Who was behind that speed delivery?

A completely different system but still got thrown in there without the same type of scrutiny your requests are getting now. Don't let them fool you, MWO will get the speedy development when it continues to make more money.
Focus on what you did last month and reproduce the player number returns that will get the coders behind MWO again. Add them double zeros you took for unit join costs and add them to ALL player rewards. Talk about player numbers going up. Don't let the established players keep the real draw to this game and the tech that MORE REWARDS gives players. We don't need to forget that most players speed a majority of their time in the mechlab. Lab ratting.

[KRZZPFFF]

Thank you guys, I am very excited about 2021. You rock!

[Hellfire666]

I see a year of picking a low effort items while claiming it's all super complicated to try and keep the few players they have left.

Once the MW:5 DLC is done, I have a feeling PGI will drop MW:5 and MWO in favor of the new IP Russ was drooling about. Think about it, if don't have the resources to handle what they have now, what do you think will happen when they add ANOTHER project in the mix.

I can tell you, it will mean something gets dropped. MW:5 was a flop that few outside this community care about. It was barely a blip on the radar when it WAS finally released. MWO is an aging mess of a code base that PGI apparently barely has an understanding of how it works.

PGI is a hot mess and have no CLUE what they are doing. The community gave them plans on a SILVER PLATTER yet they sit here and act like they don't know what to do.

This 50 minutes is just PGI stringing along everyone and once again, everyone is falling for the same old BS lines. Nothing real is going to change. PGI has no desire to do it and it shows.

[Nightbird]

Basically nothing added. Time for the pop to churn away...

Pop got a temp boost because US and EU went into second lockdown, but vaccine will rollout over the next 1/2 year. I don't see anything over the next two patches that will better retain people.

Edited by Nightbird, 16 January 2021 - 12:06 PM.

[FupDup]

Hellfire666, on 16 January 2021 - 09:30 AM, said:

I see a year of picking a low effort items while claiming it's all super complicated to try and keep the few players they have left.

Once the MW:5 DLC is done, I have a feeling PGI will drop MW:5 and MWO in favor of the new IP Russ was drooling about. Think about it, if don't have the resources to handle what they have now, what do you think will happen when they add ANOTHER project in the mix.

I can tell you, it will mean something gets dropped. MW:5 was a flop that few outside this community care about. It was barely a blip on the radar when it WAS finally released. MWO is an aging mess of a code base that PGI apparently barely has an understanding of how it works.

PGI is a hot mess and have no CLUE what they are doing. The community gave them plans on a SILVER PLATTER yet they sit here and act like they don't know what to do.

This 50 minutes is just PGI stringing along everyone and once again, everyone is falling for the same old BS lines. Nothing real is going to change. PGI has no desire to do it and it shows.

TL;DR:

[HansStahl]

D V Devnull, on 16 January 2021 - 12:19 AM, said:

I second this. Not everyone has time (or the ability to focus) for a 50-plus-minute video. Yes, I'm Serious... I'm EXPLICITLY NOT trying to be mean to PGI's Staff here!

I will try to force myself to watch the whole video later in one sitting if I can possibly get the time, but I can't make a promise on that... Sorry!

~D. V. "could also really use an unbiased pack of text notes telling what the video contained" Devnull

no worrys pal
i think no one cares.
And if you have other, more important things in live to do HOW coud anyone be mad about this

[HansStahl]

dude... they got their mechwarrior license expanded for another 5 years + they make a living out of it.
And if its really the case like you say(no players left, MW5 mercs was a flop) then boy, OH BOY, pray that they get another project up on the feet if you love MWO and want to keep on playing it

Hellfire666, on 16 January 2021 - 09:30 AM, said:

I see a year of picking a low effort items while claiming it's all super complicated to try and keep the few players they have left.

Once the MW:5 DLC is done, I have a feeling PGI will drop MW:5 and MWO in favor of the new IP Russ was drooling about. Think about it, if don't have the resources to handle what they have now, what do you think will happen when they add ANOTHER project in the mix.

I can tell you, it will mean something gets dropped. MW:5 was a flop that few outside this community care about. It was barely a blip on the radar when it WAS finally released. MWO is an aging mess of a code base that PGI apparently barely has an understanding of how it works.

PGI is a hot mess and have no CLUE what they are doing. The community gave them plans on a SILVER PLATTER yet they sit here and act like they don't know what to do.

This 50 minutes is just PGI stringing along everyone and once again, everyone is falling for the same old BS lines. Nothing real is going to change. PGI has no desire to do it and it shows.

dude... they got their mechwarrior license expanded for another 5 years + they make a living out of it.
And if its really the case like you say(no players left, MW5 mercs was a flop) then boy, OH BOY, pray that they get another project up on the feet if you love MWO and want to keep on playing it

Edited by HansStahl, 16 January 2021 - 02:19 PM.

[LordNothing]

Saved By The Bell, on 16 January 2021 - 12:16 AM, said:

Its possible to add more background music?

Even Faction Play has 2...

Or may be no music, like mercenaries 2.

mw5 had great music, just do a couple more tracks for mwo.

[LordNothing]

w0qj, on 16 January 2021 - 04:34 AM, said:

3) Finally, can MWO/PGI consider changing the Clan Omnimech "Set Bonus" to "Set-of-6" instead of "Set-of-8" in order to enjoy the set bonuses?
I strongly feel that this would make Clan Omnimech sales much more interesting for MWO, both for Clan Omnimech "Hero" and above proposed "'Mech Performance Pack".

just make set of 8 quirks fractional. you want the full bonus install 8, but if you only have 4, then the quirk values are haved. would go up in 1/8 increments and the pods have to be the same as the ct for it to count (if you put 7 a variant pods on a prime chassis, it only counts as one prime, with 1/8 quirks).

Edited by LordNothing, 16 January 2021 - 02:48 PM.

[LordNothing]

also any update on the mw5 dlc?

[Gorn Commander]

My buddy shot a flea in the back with four LBX10s at point blank range, and the flea ran off.
I'm aware this isn't plain ole battletech, but stuff like that makes me question what you guys are thinking when it comes to this game. That should've popped him like a zit instantly. Moreover, clan mechs, as much as I hate the clans, are supposed to be superior to invasion era IS mechs in nearly every way.
Something something balance, yeah whatever. Why does my 45 ton phoenix hawk tank far
more damage than my 60 ton hellfire? Its just goofy.
Thats all the ranting I have. I love this game, even if it nearly makes my brain melt every time I watch a 20 ton mech effortlessly slaughter an Annihilator.

[Nelos Kniven]

Event Queue! Definitely not the only thing I heard and want...