Matt Newman, on 07 February 2021 - 05:13 PM, said:
<<<
snip>>>
yes the goal will be to have weekly missions to accomplish.
My one concern with that is if someone is away for a week they would miss out unless I have them un the whole month but with weekly start dates
then the 4 missions each starting a week apart but all culminating at the end of the month. So technically you could still try and grind them all out at the end of the month.
Also think it would be good to have a choice of variant for options.
Like lets say March is the hunchback. You technically could have a choice of Hunchback Standard Variants.
Lots of ideas
Thanks for your feedback!
<<<
snip>>>
I would have the 4 mission sets run till the end of the month but then start them weekly. Technically could grind them out in the last weekend still. That way weekend Warriors can distribute their playtime.
Hi again, Matt... I have read through the thread thus far, and think that the format which you used to launch February's Earn-A-Mech Event is already the best idea. Please avoid letting anyone make you alter, mess up, and/or change your already chosen format even slightly. Why? Some people will only have time either in the beginning or middle of the month, but will not have time in the end of the month, and trying to make it an evolving type of Event that stacks up to a final result will only completely shut out those people who have no ability to be around at the end. In some cases, trying to force being around during a particular part of a month (
or having to do constant play throughout a month to minimize personal load) will actually have the reverse effect on people and make them give up before they tried, all because they did not feel that they could fit MWO into their own scheduling, which would result in losing players at a time when we both want the Player Base to grow as much as possible. Maybe I'm a little crazy, but would be rather nice to have the population reach at least half of what it was back in December 2015 at this point, and I think your current chosen format can achieve that, possibly even reaching better amounts of players online.
Sure, we're going to have a minor few people (
as someone earlier in the thread noted, this is not as prevalent as others want to make it seem) who pull that 'yolo' junk, but that could also happen at the end too for people who wait for everything to become available. They wait, and then they carpet bomb people with the same behavior because they're rushing due to the lack of understanding that they could have worked on it earlier, with more time to do so. Staggered and/or delayed starts could just as easily have a bad effect later on, as some people would not take too well to the smaller time limit on one part or another, and throw all in suddenly somewhere along the way. Having this kind of Event set up in the format which you're already using right now, such that any part can be started at any time during the month, can only have a result where it will enable some people to completely dodge the madness that other players resort to, and I really think you'll find the experience for them comes out better for it. Whether or not those people who liked this format take the time to post back and tell you they preferred it is entirely another matter. Maybe putting up a Poll on the MWO Forums to find out how people feel, and having a News Post routing to it could help, since some people do not trust third-party company operations?
Also, please do not let anyone talk you into cross-linking these Earn-A-Mech Events with requirements to play specific Game Modes to complete them. I still remember some time back when that happened with the Loot Bag Events going on. That turned into a nightmare where some people could not get a Match and/or had such high delays before they could get one, which resulted in their being unable to get enough for some parts and/or complete some of the heavier/greater goals. Time ultimately ran out, and people therefore ended up locked out where it should never have happened. I think we can agree that a repeat of that kind of situation is best to avoid, right?
Yet, I would be derelict after all these items to avoid altering on the format if I did not give something constructive in the other direction on things worth doing. I can not remember even after three passes through the thread so far (
Probably because I was moving through so fast after multiple IRL disruptions in order to re-gather my thoughts to put on the above paragraphs... Shame on me, eh?) whether you were the only person to mention the idea of a choice in Variant for whatever Chassis is up for earning. However, that would be an
excellent idea to enable people to choose the Variant which they want upon earning the ability to get one, and gets my complete
SUPPORT for several reasons. I am sure you are already aware of the reasons, but for others to see... One side to this is simply the differences in HardPoints available on each, and how any Loadout ultimately would best use a certain starting Variant to work with. I'm thinking the bigger positive is likely the Quirks allocated to each, particularly in the case of OmniMechs and the fact that people can only get the "Set Of 8" additives if they don't change the pods. I wonder though about what the mentality of other people is about certain geometry on one Mech or another, as I've tended to go with the flow in many cases...
That brings me to one last thought... I must apologize for
the last time I pinged you with a quote, but did not have a happy-minded Forum-wide Signature on display. I was definitely not in the best frame of mind at the time due to something on another thread. Sorry about that one.
Well, almost the last thought... Is there any chance I can ask what caused the difference between the Website News and Event Page listings? I am starting to wonder if there was some kind of partly-hidden punchline related to Star Trek here, something about "there are 4 lights/dice" versus "there are 5 lights/dice" going on? (
Dang... I think that I will never forget the whole "Picard captured by Gul Dukat" scene! Too many things end up reminding me of it...)
Once more, since I have not been able to start the Event myself before now...
Thank You for making it a month-long Event with all the parts fired off at the same time which people can pick up and do at any pace. It really takes the stress off and can enable a very positive learning experience. Pardon me while I hit the battlefields!
~D. V. "
keeping this post about the month-long format to only one quote because more would have been too messy" Devnull