57 replies to this topic

[Volomon]

As a MASSIVE Battletech fan of the original freaking board game 1st edition. I'm a bit saddened to see the game has changed so little. I don't want to be an *** but PGI appears to have very little creativity.

I quit around the GOLDEN MECH era of this game. Basically made me quit. As I'm sure there were many like me who quit playing after seeing that travesty. It appears their ideas are so limited in scope and depth. Their ability to make a great simulation is up there but everything else a number of steps behind. What has it been five years and not much has changed?

How?

I remember playing Warframe and that game would come out with a whole new design what seemed like every couple of years till they got where they are now.

When you log into this game you should see a STAR MAP (in fact I'm pretty sure that was one of the promised features way back when). You should be able to click on a planet and see your clans base. A homeworld where your mercenary force calls home. Complete with fully functional base.

Imagine PGI. Instead of clans buying just mechs buying base defense and other items to place in their base. $$$

Imagine then also having the ability to customize themselves man/woman and buying clothing and gear for their characters. $$$

Have players be able to buy drop ships and leopards or whatever and customize them.

Imagine these various planets have CO-OP missions vs AI. Do you know why I'm about to put $$$? Cause that means more people who don't want to PVP in order to experience the MW universe. Put materials and rare lostech as drops that have to grinded out to find. $$$

Let various groups of mercs vi for planetary control 4v4, 8v8, 16v16 whatever. Attempting to take the other clans base for themselves. Put actual defenses in the game. Claiming and destroying the base. In these matches it should be possible to LOSE your mech (if you didn't pay real money). Cored? Gone.

Infuse the game with more. I'm not saying do ANY of this. I'm saying do something, anything. If there wasn't a built in passion for Mechwarrior/Battletech this game wouldn't have lasted as long as it has.

Hell if you put in a mech pilot bar people would log on just to talk and hang out. Checking out each others $ bling on their pilots. I feel like so much focus is on the mechs because that's the only way PGI has figured out how to monetize this game.

UPGRADE, IMPROVE, ADAPT.

Yet at the same time I realize there are contractual issues. Who wants to work on a game where you might lose the license?

It's maddening how little has actually progressed with this game. I don't know maybe someone can explain this to me. How can a game this old have changed so little?

Edited by Volomon, 14 July 2021 - 03:37 PM.

[Vxheous]

PGI does not have the resources to recode this game. If you want a campaign mode, MW5 and Battletech is where you need to go to find it. MWO is a 12vs12 PVP arena shooter.

[Relishcakes]

Sir, this is a Wendy's.....

[MechNexus]

Hey buddy, I think you got the wrong door. The MW5 club's two blocks down.

[Kiiyor]

If you were out around the Golden Mech era, then the most you will have missed will be all the extra mech packs and major balance changes released after that. Also... have you checked out Faction Warfare and Solaris? You sort of mention some of their functions in your post. MW5 is also the scratch to your itch about single player or co-op mechin'.

On the whole though, MWO gameplay isn't too far removed from what it was when you were around. The reason you think things have changed little is that the original formula for an arena shooter is what keeps MWO ticking. Community Warfare and Solaris were at best distractions from the real meat of MWO, which is the PUG queues. For the average MW fan who has a few hundred to maybe thousands of drops under their belt, and little time to invest in faction warfare or in the wait times for Solaris, the core gameplay loop found in PUG drops is the easiest point of entry to some hot, satisfying mech on mech action.

Major shifts in meta are the main tracking points for MWO, IMHO. The removal of groups from the PUG queues - engine desync - rejoicing at the end of the lagraven era - the rise of the poptarts - the death of gauss + ppc pinpoint - the rise of laservom meta - the fall of the poptarts - the various quirkenings - the continuing wax and wane of LRM effectiveness - the balance between clan and sphere tech - the reintroduction of groups to the PUG queues (booooo) - fixing the maps! - cauldron - this continuous cycle of tinkering with the basic balance of mech effectiveness in the PUG queues is what will determine the future of MWO, I believe.

I'm not expecting any seismic changes from a game with this much silver in it's whiskers - mech pack releases have ground to a halt, and we're unlikely to get any new game modes - though I am excited (and trepitdatious) about the work Cauldron is doing, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that map redesigns like the new Polar were continuing.

Some more map redesigns or even a new map, and a mechpack or two will likely keep me kicking for as long as they keep the lights on.

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

Quote

What has it been five years and not much has changed?

Aside from FP which is a whole different discussion does much have to had changed? It sounds like you wanted MWO to be a completely different game from what it was, games don't change that much you and must have surely played MWO back in 2013 and realised that the gameplay you got was probably going to be the core of the game.

Gold mechs were two months after the game's full release so you played the game at 'release' so why did you think it would change to dramatically after release? I honestly think you're just being naive.

[Belorion]

Changes have started again... you can back just in time. You can post specific ideas in the Command Chair threads.

[Ajantise]

I am hoping PGI lose the licence and a good company takes over. That is the only hope.

[RickySpanish]

Dude's been gone so long he doesn't even know about MW5.

[PocketYoda]

Vxheous, on 14 July 2021 - 03:43 PM, said:

PGI does not have the resources to recode this game. If you want a campaign mode, MW5 and Battletech is where you need to go to find it. MWO is a 12vs12 PVP arena shooter.

Who's fault is that, not the customers.. How does a company that made the game not have resources to recode their own game.. I smell something off about that whole line..

Ajantise, on 14 July 2021 - 06:21 PM, said:

I am hoping PGI lose the licence and a good company takes over. That is the only hope.

A company that actually gives a toss would be great..

Edited by MechaGnome, 14 July 2021 - 07:01 PM.

[Kynesis]

I understand PGI being put off by each of their attempts at different game modes failing but the negativity & closed thinking from PGI and the community about this kind of thing doesn't help.

If things don't change, MWO will exactly as everyone says, just keep on sinking into oblivion. FW & the arena format are great for the few people who love them, but they are demonstrably not viable on their own, as-is as a continuing business.

Digital Extremes had a very rocky start with Warframe and made some tough choices to fundamentally change their game according to feedback from players (ie the parkour movement system and a couple of other things that certain devs still disagree with & work against where they can). They've also been accused of shooting themselves in the foot on somewhat similar issues, chiefly where the devs have made the game too complicated and grindy.

Their community engagement team are constantly doing their best to get people involved and act as a conduit between players and devs.

DE makes a lot of money, they're hugely successful even while their aesthetics are weird & niche, game features and mechanics are very complicated & demanding, game play arenas infamously repetitive and the entire game generally known for being super grindy & often buggy.

Much like MWO, their business model relies on selling Mechs/Warframes, cosmetics, premium time & short term boosts (to income & resources).
And yet, they've grown their business, game world and features every year.

WarThunder started out as just a flying sim & now includes dog fighting with everything from bi-planes to modern fighters, ship combat, tanks and maps that integrate air & land, scenarios, a bunch of game modes, events and a similar business model to it's peers (Warframe, MWO, World of Tanks, World of Warships).

MWLL - Living Legends is as old as MWO and entirely community built - and offers a ton of features that MWO might only dream of (Elementals, aircraft, tanks, mechs...).

No-one else is building anything that might compete with MWO, and there are other games in the BattleTech universe raising the setting's profile.

The criticisms that keep MWO and MW5 relegated to their tiny niches are generally technical and entirely solvable.
Previous generations of MechWarrior games were massively popular. I doubt that you could find a PC gamer who didn't at least have fond memories of one of those generations & likely bought several of them. There's a huge potential market out there - the only people reaching out to them in any way are YouTubers & streamers, essentially in their own time.

[FinnMcKool]

If it means anything to you the biggest change is the fact that through the events they are giving so much MC aS WELL AS OTHER THINGS AWAY
Free
Free
Free Stuff

just saying there isn't any other game I know of that blows away the idea of pay to play as this one Sorry all you who disagree but you know where you can shove it!

anyone can get anything in this game , with out paying a red cent,
too me that's a good reason to play.

Edited by FinnMcKool, 14 July 2021 - 09:25 PM.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Most of the Main Coders and Programmers leaves the Party 2014/15 after the "Transverse" Disaster and the internal Wars and the Reddit-Ban...PGI was over Yeras outblooded by Personal Ressources and not find a New Crew for the Cry3 Engine...UE4 and MW5 was the logical step for Future of PGI

https://imperium.new...-transreversal/
https://forums-archi...m/topic/372910/

after MW4 and long Time in maintance Mode , now with the Coudron Team a Little hope is back for a Little New Content like Mechs, Maps ,Now good Looking Bolt Ons

Edited by MW Waldorf Statler, 15 July 2021 - 02:06 AM.

[Saved By The Bell]

To say the truth, I started in 2020 Sep. After piloting the cadets free mech, I was going to buy some cheap for real money... I was surprised, you can play this game without any money.

This is killed the game. No money - no future. We dont need so many mechs. All of them should be not free.

If it was for money, I used several mechs only and it was my treasure.

[Bud Crue]

MechaGnome, on 14 July 2021 - 07:00 PM, said:

Who's fault is that, not the customers.. How does a company that made the game not have resources to recode their own game.. I smell something off about that whole line..



A company that actually gives a toss would be great..

PGI made a boat load of cash off of this game (I believe PGI in their purchase disclosures claimed something like $(CA) 70 million over the life of the game), which allowed them to make the game Russ always wanted to make, namely, MW5. Say what you will about Russ, but he has always been clear that MW5 was the goal (well, that and maybe Transverse I guess) that MWO was designed to achieve. This game was originally advertised as being developed on a minimally viable development model strategy, and it achieved the end it was designed for.

Given the history, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that this game hasn’t been developed much beyond its minimally viable, arena shooter roots. Enjoy it for what it is, because it will never be much more than that. Some other game, someday might be, but MWO will always be essentially what it is right now, and no one, not now, not in 5 years should reasonably expect it to be otherwise. Now go buy a mechpack.

[Daneel Hazen]

This is an IP that has been through a lot of turmoil and the licensing is always complex. Every so often it gets a moment in time where something can happen like MWO or the kickstarter or HBS or something but then I'm not really sure what happens. Frankly I suspect during the gold mech era they were short on petty cash or something haha. Vanity items aren't a big deal to me so I really still don't understand the aversion to it. I think pricing it at WoT level was probably a mistake overall. MWO IMHO is better than WoT but it is sci fi and smaller. The past is the past but even if you walk around some of these maps its still like WOW this looks awesome.

I was here today looking around for something that indicates what the plan is. Like the BIG plan. There are new owners, there's some activity in this game for developing it... but it's really old. MW5 is new... other games are out there. What does it all mean for this game? Can we start talking MWO 2? If not is it a money thing? Is it a licensing thing?

[Wildstreak]

It is the old argument of small vs big business.

Features being asked for are found in games put out by large companies that have a lot to staff to devote to such things and sometimes they still get stuff wrong.

MW5 does not have everything either.

[Bud Crue]

Daneel Hazen said:

1626352121[/url]' post='6416892']
I was here today looking around for something that indicates what the plan is. Like the BIG plan. There are new owners, there's some activity in this game for developing it... but it's really old. MW5 is new... other games are out there. What does it all mean for this game? Can we start talking MWO 2? If not is it a money thing? Is it a licensing thing?

In regard to licensing, yeah, that’s a big issue for this game and any potential MWO2 descendant. Microsoft owns the rights to the Mechwarrior in terms of its video game usage. PGI has a license from MS, which they renewed (either last year or the year before, I don’t recall) for another 5 years. PGI could possibly make an MWO2 game in that time, but who knows if they could pull it off, even if they wanted to, which they have given zero indication that they want to. Rather, Russ, at the time of PGI’s recent acquisition stated that they would be emphasizing further development of MW5, and directing resources to some other project unrelated to mechwarrior (many Transverse-II! jokes were made).

In terms of money, from PGI’s perspective, a lot of their initial development capital rode on the back of nostalgia and pent up demand of a small but very dedicated community of fans of the previous MW games that had been unmet for 10 (edit) years. A new MWO2 game would not likely benefit from that demand, plus it would have the baggage of PGI’s own history of mishandling the MWO brand and the community that originally supported it. So yeah, I think money is certainly an issue too; at least if the theoretical developer is PGI, and probably for anyone else as well.

Edited by Bud Crue, 15 July 2021 - 05:53 AM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

OP is looking for the game that PGI originally pitched in the first two years, but in reality, it never got past the core gameplay loop. I feel a lot of founders were looking for more of an MMO but PGI never had the resources for something of that scale and it's doubtful there would have been enough players to sustain it anyway. In the end, they created a good core gameplay loop and...that's it. But at least that's the most important part.

[Nightbird]

TheCaptainJZ, on 15 July 2021 - 07:36 AM, said:

OP is looking for the game that PGI originally pitched in the first two years, but in reality, it never got past the core gameplay loop. I feel a lot of founders were looking for more of an MMO but PGI never had the resources for something of that scale and it's doubtful there would have been enough players to sustain it anyway. In the end, they created a good core gameplay loop and...that's it. But at least that's the most important part.

Core gameplay loop? Do you mean QP which was basically intended to be the Academy?