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A quick background on myself, I work in the airsoft industry as a Senior Technician and airsoft weapon and accessory developer for a small company. (Airsoft weapons development is basically a meme without any balancing oversight whatsoever) I’m also consistently a top .2% player according to Jarls in MWO as a casual playing on a laptop and have been playing Mechwarrior since Mechwarrior 2. Though I am a Starsieger at heart and a MWO whale by wallet.
I will be breaking my suggested improvements into rough timeline based on what I understand would be the most beneficial and easiest to implement.
1. Urgent (Changes that needs to be done ASAP to get MWO on its feet and profitable without being too time consuming to implement.)
2. Soon (improvements that the game needs to be made in the near future)
3. Long Term (Features that will grow the game and cannot be implemented immediately)
I will further be adding these tags with relationship to these categories
(Sustainability)
(Player Retention)
(Balance)
(Gameplay)
(Competitive)
Urgent
1. Offer rewards between MWO and MW5 A reward that you can redeem in MWO for beating the MW5 campaign will increase interest in both franchises and bring pilots to MWO as the Mechwarrior franchise’s defacto "endgame". Perhaps a MW5 unique chassis variant or the ability to select any MW5 mech you own and have it imported into MWO with an (L) modifier and c-bill bonus. (Limit one per copy of MW5 of course) And on the flip side, a skin that you unlock in MW5 simply by having a MWO account. (Sustainability) (Player Retention)
2. More tiers of starter packs on both the steam and epic store The Solaris starter pack is great; however, it might be too much of an investment for individuals looking to get into a free to play game. Lower priced options with a non-overlapping hero mech offerings would be more palatable for interested players. (Sustainability)
3. Platform Diversification Many games are sold on both the Epic store as well as Steam. People tend to be separated by the social and gaming platforms they use. By offering both MW5 and MWO on both platforms, it will eliminate the possibility of players being unaware of the existence of the other game. Additionally, a mobile mechlab app with 3d models, build exporting, and mech emote/pose options would really turn this game into an obsession. (Sustainability) (Player Retention)
4. Conspicuous presence of MWO’s anti-cheat From what I have heard MWO has an anti-cheat function, however it seems that the majority of the community is not aware of it. The lack of a conspicuous visible presence of an MWO anti-cheat is causing some players to believe others are less than legitimate and is leading to MWO ragequits with rampant hackusations and /uninstall. By simply adding a conspicuous .png of an anti-cheat function such as Pirahna Byte Anti-Cheat™ to the corner of the launch screen, a feature that 99% of all successful arena shooters have is long overdue and will go very far in instilling player confidence in the legitimacy of the product, playerbase, and a very important part of increasing player retention rates. (Competitive) (Player Retention) (Sustainability)
5. Opt in AFK and DC light or medium backfill mechanic One of the biggest issues affecting the matchmaker are players going AFK or DC’ing at the start of the match. A light/medium backfill options checkbox which is enabled by default will not only speed up the queue but reduce the number of stomps caused by a dc or afk player. A rough functionality of this mechanic would be after a mech has been inactive for 15-20 seconds after dropping (Needs to be determined through testing and metrics) the inactive mech will eject with a queue timer as punishment and a light or medium pilot will be brought in from the queue and dropped at the same drop point or near the mech closest to the drop zone. (Balance) (Gameplay) (Player Retention)
6. More useful mechs and mechpacks Add more mechs with unique and or “meta” playstyles similar to the Dragon-5N, Urbanmech, Viper, Spirit Bear, etc. Who wouldn't love piloting an Urbanmech IIC? Masc Atlas? High Mount King Crab? Dasher/fire moth? Quickdraw with insane arm articulation? Maybe a PGI Caanon Earthsiege/Starsiege mech? Just be careful not to create another Kodipocalypse. (Sustainability) (Player Retention) (Balance) (Competetive) (Gameplay)
7. Rezone/fix the default aiming sensitivity This should have been addressed years ago... new players are leaving after getting stomped continuously simply because they cannot aim properly with the sky high default sensitivity. (Gameplay) (Player Retention) (Sustainability) (Competetive)
8. The ability to browse the Mechlab/store/skill tree/etc. while in queue As it is right now waiting in the queue is a dead zone in the game with no content other than a spinny thing to experience. This is wasted time which is causing players to fall asleep or go afk while waiting. By changing the queue so that players can access the store, mechlab, skill tree, or to drop into a (enabled by default)free for all warm up and testing map (The MW4 Solaris arena). The player will be notified of an upcoming match with a 5 second timer and an audible warning that they are about to drop into a match before they are removed from the warm up arena. This will increase MWO's profitability as a share of time that was once spent doing nothing in the queue is spent in the store instead. (Sustainability) (Gameplay) (Player Retention)
Soon
1. Add previously promised features To many this game was supposed to be an improvement and straight upgrade from Mechwarrior 4, however you could imagine their surprise when they found that MWO was lacking most of the features that Mechwarrior 3 and Mechwarrior 4 had? I was one of the players that kept playing MW4 Mektek long after MWO was released because MWO felt like it was a downgrade that’s lacking features from the previous titles. (Gameplay) (Sustainability) (Player Retention)
• Inverse Kinematics, introduced in MW3 and was promised for MWO long ago.
• Rear View Camera (A quickdraw hero that can shoot backwards anyone?!) Introduced in MW2.
• Flood Lights a MW3 feature, will have a gameplay mechanic of blinding mechs that are using night vision and are facing you in close proximity.
• Adjustable radar ranges as well as radar modes, introduced in MW2
• More functional cockpit monitors. In the early designs for MWO the paper doll as well as the map were displayed on the cockpit monitors, though that seems to have fallen by the wayside.
• Crouching, moving forwards, backwards, jumping, or turning will break the crouch, introduced in MW3, can also be used as a counter for DFA.
• Targeting Allies, this will let you know their armor condition and if you should in the front of them or behind them. Has been in all non PGI Mechwarrior games since MW1
• Add more features, Mechwarrior is supposed to be a simulator and a sequel.
• [color=#CCCCCC]A tactical, 'Mech-based online shooter set in the rich BattleTech Universe.[/color]
• The complex(Tactical) nature of this FPS is what gives it its appeal so make it even more complicated(Tactical) to increase the depth of MWO's content and to make it even more appealing.
2. Unified Solaris 7 queue including a classic Solaris free for all mode (inb4 stealth armor hiding). Having too many queues is spreading the playerbase far too thin. Solaris 7 should instead be limited to a single queue with weekly divisions and Solaris match types with weekly leaderboards. Grudge Match options should also be added. (Gameplay) (Player Retention)
3. Model accurate barriers / fix the Invisible Walls in my opinion this is what hurts the competitive side of MWO the most. It literally requires players to memorize map glitches at the highest tiers of play to see which terrain you can see and or shoot through (in my experience). This issue most realistically can only be solved during the unreal engine port. (Gameplay) (Competitive) (Balance)
4. Fixing bad Spawns Bad spawns on many existing maps are causing stomps in solo QP and need to be redone. (Balance) (Gameplay)
5. Blind Drop / Procedurally Generated Map option Having an option for a procedurally generated map during voting will literally create an infinite amount of content for this game. If this is implemented correctly by utilizing MW5’s procedural map creation engine, then there will never be a feeling of stagnation as players have the opportunity to play on a completely new and unique maps via the map voting process. Most likely this feature will not happen until MWO is ported to the unreal engine. (Player Retention) (Gameplay) (Sustainability)
6. Moba game mode for Faction Play Does a Moba Incursion mode with ai vehicles, repair bays, and respawns tickle your fantasy? It almost feels like Incursion was meant to be played this way but was released half-way before it was finished. This mode will work, bases(3,600 Ton Union Dropships) will need to be armed and a lot more tanky and need at least 2 waves to take down. (Gameplay) (Sustainability)
Long Term
1. Fix all the bugs Dropships returning to drop off non existent mechs, clan hud, dropping outside of the map... and then warping back to the drop zone, falling endlessly and taking severe leg damage, game freezing for a sec right as you pull the trigger, invisible walls, ghost heat, missing mech panels, animation collisions and glitches, etc. (Gameplay) (Player Retention)
2. Engine Unreal Port As much as everyone wants to see this happen, the port will take a while to happen, and by that time MWO might be truly dead. But when it does, this is also the best opportunity to fix all the glaring issues with MWO such as the shading and invisible walls. (Player Retention) (Sustainability) (Gameplay) (Competitive) (Balance)
3. VR Support The track-IR head tracking code which is already present in MWO shouldn't be too far off from VR. If the TrackIR code is adapted to support VR headsets, MWO can compete with VOX Machinae, another Mechwarrior clone VR game that is leeching players from the Mechwarrior franchise. (Player Retention) (Sustainability) (Gameplay)
4. Death from Above Mechanic This feature has been talked to death, but I have new proposed solution. Simply put, if a heavier mech lands on top of you, you would suffer significant damage spread from the section that is hit as well as leg damage and a knockdown. Arm weapons can still be aimed accurately during the getup phase if the mech has the arm articulation for it. Not only would this make jump jets in heavies and assaults more viable as a competitive option, it’d also add another layer of strategy and importance on holding the high ground and understanding your mech and your opponent's mech. If crouching is implemented it can be used as a way to balance and counter to DFA by allowing mechs that fully crouch in time to resist or ignore the knockdown effect. (Gameplay) (Balance)
5. Cross Platform MWO on consoles sharing the same server as PC players would dramatically increase the playerbase and reduce the significant hardware pay wall of being a PC game. It would also seed the tiers and allow the matchmaker to work as intended. For consoles 3rd person view must feel arcadey/Mech Assault-like and be fully playable without convergence issues with a working map display. Additionally a mobile mechlab app "Mechwarrior Mobile" with integration and build exporting into MWO and some lightweight solaris 1v1 dueling minigame with leaderboard based on comparing mech stats with rng or something. There can be rewards between both games for accomplishing tasks in both games. (Sustainability) (Player Retention) (How Mechwarrior makes it to the next generation)
6. Command interface RTS Battletech / MWO integration What if the command interface doubled as a lightweight version of battletech? What if you could issue commands to individual mechs and the pilots could see pathing and indicators on the hud for the command you issued to them? What if unique mech icons were shown on the map instead of the little diamonds? MWO has a lot of potential in this regard. What if game plans could be drawn on the map before drops? (Gameplay) (Competetive)
7. Additional pilot animations and models, This game is a mech piloting simulator and needs to emphasize its immersion, if the pilot presses buttons to turn on the mechs, he should also be pushing additional buttons for the other functions such as the override, jump jets, masc, weapon bay doors, etc. (Player Retention)
8. More Ambient NPC units The majority of MWO's maps feel far too sterile. It’s almost as if nothing else happens in the game other than mechs duking it out. Where are the people, the vehicles, and the NPCs? Being able to see civilian or noncombatant vehicles fleeing the battlefield to a despawn point during the start of a drop would really breathe life into the game and hammer in how terrifying of a mobile war machine you are piloting. The Viridian Bog Lobsterpede does very well in this regard. (Player Retention)
9. Balancing I for one support ghost heat as well as the majority of current mech scaling and believe PGI has done a passable job with balancing; however if you balance a game based on metrics alone you must continually to do so otherwise weapons that were overbalanced such as the IS Large Pulse Laser are no longer competitive or useful. Instead it should be up to the players to find the meta for the game, not to capitulate to the requested meta as defined by the most vocal players. This is especially important because power creep is an important part of profitability. Just be sure that the skill to return ratio makes sense otherwise we will experience another lurmageddon. (Balance)
10. Cash shop HUD and audio customization options PGI could make a killing by selling customized hud options. How hasn’t this been capitalized on? Not only would this appeal to Mechwarrior players of all generations with retro HUD options, MWO could also appeal to other mech game players as well. (Gameplay) (Sustainability) (Player Retention)
PGI, please make this happen. Pushing out MWO2 with a hard reset will be the final blow that kills your golden goose.
Edited for clarity.
Edited by Buster Machine 0, 03 November 2020 - 05:20 AM.
