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Plans for MWO and especially the faction play were big and grand (and what was implemented still has potential and was neat including the star map) but the focus desperately needs to be shifted towards core gameplay balance (base stats balancing for mechs/weapons without all the quirk/skill fluff) and daily gameplay loop to make MWO a viable F2P title for non-Battletech/Mechwarrior fans (more casual shooter players that like stompy mechs). Even with the inclusion of the dedicated mapping job, this game with poorly balanced gameplay mostly continues to float on the backs of diehard fans at this point.
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There is much more I could say on this topic but I've been easily distracted today and this already took far longer to type than I wanted with much more meandering about and having a hard time stay on topic from sentence to sentence. Apologies if it takes some effort to read.
With the upcoming release of MW5 finally to alternate platforms and the first DLC with it, I recently returned to check back up on MWO and the community as a whole.
Honestly, its in just as disappointingly terrible of a state as when I stopped playing. The same arguments, complaining, whining, uninvolved DEV team, ridiculously all over the place decisions and balancing, etc.
Bright spots I've seen have been the addition of Daeron as the community manager, which seeing as how long he and Matt spent being basically the unofficial community team I'm amazed it didn't happen sooner. As well as the hiring of the new team member specifically intended to work on the maps.
But this community is just as toxic, the games play just like they have, and far too many purists don't understand that making a video game adhere strictly to the source statistics and numbers is usually NOT fun. Especially when acts of random chance are involved for many core aspects of the table top game included. The closest thing that can make the least amount of deviation from the source is something such as a turn based strategy game with RPG elements.
So as sad as it is to say, MWO is not a game that is doing well, or growing. I'm surprised its somehow even still hanging on other than the fanatic devotees that have lined the company's pockets for all these years. I don't wish to see the game die, or the franchise after having waited to long since MW4 to finally have a new campaign based title again, but a few things need to happen for Battletech/Mechwarrior to survive and become more than just a niche/cult fandom.
1) The community needs to stop trying to think it knows how to balance a game. Input is great from people who are not dogmatically pushing what they think needs to be done and can be a great tool for DEVs (more on that later) when used properly. Inversely the purists need to stop pushing 1:1 translations from the tabletop being the correct choice for everything. Just no, that would make a TERRIBLE fps game and none of the Mechwarrior games we enjoy from Microsoft ever stuck to them adamantly which is why they were fun.
2. The DEVs need to figure out how to pull their heads out of their rears after all this time and finally set themselves a solid plan on what to do. Core parts of the game need to be looked over and ironed out first and foremost. Mechs having a fun scaling/survivability and weapons having their own roles to fill are key those first steps. Maps are important and rightly should be a priority as well but if your shooter isnt fun with good maps it won't matter. (and yes, this game IS a shooter first and foremost)
Understand that extra features such as the quirks, skill system, etc might be much more harmful to the base playability of the game right now than they are helping. Instead simply masking or bandaging those problems to a point where they may not easily be identifiable. Things like the disparity between the IS and Clan mechs has always been a thing and that solely the player's agreement to follow specific rules in tabletop are what allowed the game to stay somewhat balanced/fun. In this video game we don't have that so steps might need to happen that create a different play style for Clans instead of simply a direct power creep that only would be reduced by the inclusion of stronger IS weapons that made the older ones redundant and far less useful.
3) This game needs to be treated like the live service free to play game it is and have content that can be played by many varieties of people. While some may not enjoy something like a PVE mission mode, players of other shooter games eat that content up running coop with buddies that either may not want to play PVP or as breaks between those matches to enjoy them.
Dare I say it, having modes like team deathmatch with 'reinforcement waves' of either the same mech they brought or giving them the option of spawning in a mech out of a specific set (i.e. having a stable of 1 weight class each you can choose from with some matches restricted to only 2 or 3 of those) would be a much more friendly change to the quickplay modes for new players instead of possibly playing 10 minutes in a match with little happening only to get alpha struck once to core their mech.
With more players in the game you could even have things like Timeline modes where tech is limited to 3025 or 3050/60s (Clan Invasion or post Invasion more likely) which would further improve gameplay balancing ability and make the players who were fans of BT before hand even happier that they get to play those parsed down matches of specific tech levels.
Other, silly sounding features, should be explored. The bolt ons were already a community favorite and having them stay attached made them even better customization items that other people can actually see. But things such as social features, daily missions, Clan/Guild tasks (maybe weekly or every two weeks?) that give players little bonuses everywhere help retain the free to play crowd and give them extra things to do. Something like bonus XP, credits, small amounts (maybe 1-10 depending?) of MC or even specific decals for special weekend exclusive missions, having clans/guilds do longer things of taking out X amount of specific weight class mechs, do specific amounts of damage, points, etc that require effort and participation from active members to complete could reward a random (or fixed) common bolt on (so a fairly plain/less complex one) for the entire group of people to give more value to actually being part of it. Even something as different as splitting the skill system into a 'pilot level' and a mech proficiency would go a long way in creating a break point between the disparity of having a fully unskilled/skilled mech. Allowing a player who has been playing to retain a small-medium amount of that proficiency in piloting basics (slightly tighter turns, twisting, acceleration/braking, etc) reflecting learning over time for the pilot versus hard mech changes like cooling efficiency, sensor changes, durability improvements, etc from building skills in a mech proficiency side.
Edited by MauttyKoray, 04 April 2021 - 02:12 PM.
