101 replies to this topic

[Gattling Fenn]

The title to this thread explains it fully. MechWarriors is a great franchise, I grew up with it, and am incredibly excited for MechWarriors Online. However, one thing has been nagging at me, after seeing the "regularity" of forum posts compared with other communities, and our number of likes on facebook I realized, were actually pretty small. Don't get me wrong, I love belonging to an incredibly tenacious, dedicated, community full of die hard PC gamers, but the fact remains that comparatively, we are pretty small. I am basing this comparison on other lore based franchises with die hard fan bases, most notably Warhammer, and EVE Online. The reason however, that this concerns me, is that this game is going to be on a Free to Play basis, meaning Piranhas commercial success is heavily reliant on an active and growing player base. In short, if we want to see a game with good longevity and gameplay growth, we need to do something to get this game a little more fanfare.

I won't lie to you, it is going to be difficult, other titles being released this year include Mass Effect 3, DOTA: 2, Guild Wars 2, and an array of other prominent games, all of which rightfully deserve their popularity, as they are mostly well crafted games. What this means for us however, is that we run the risk of being overlooked by many people, this is a franchise that hasn't had a true release since what? 2002? I am not asking you guys to go out and be some massive promotion *****, telling all of your friends to go play MechWarriors Online, no one likes to force themselves on others.

What I am saying however, is that we need new blood. Though, I am only 20, a major chunk of our fairly small if dedicated player base is well above that, easily in their 30s and 40s. We need young pilots to pick up the torch, and help The MechWarriors universe expand. The more people show interest in this franchise, the greater the demand for games and content becomes, as a result, we all benefit.

Now you may, as I would hope you are, be asking yourselves "Well what can I do?" Simple, make posts on forums, maybe an occasional facebook status, or when you're chatting it up in skype during a League of Legends match mention MechWarriors Online. It doesn't have to be anything obnoxious like "HEY, I REALLY LIKE THIS GAME, YOU SHOULD GO PLAY IT! NOW!" a simple mention in passing is all it takes "Hey, have you guys heard about the new MechWarriors game? No. What's MechWarriors? *conversation ensues*." This franchise has such a massive amount of lore, history, and dedication behind it, it almost brings me to tears that our community may never have the population count it deserves. On a side note, a good place to look for people potentially interested in the game would be EVE Online, as many of it's pilots (myself included) have a very similar mentality to MechWarriors fans. The Warhammer fanboys are also a good option, as they eat up lore like a fat man eats pizza.

On a final note, I would just like to state that I am not saying we have made no progress. 40k+ forum members in two months is nothing to be sneezed at. However, if we want this game to receive the attention and commercial success it deserves, then we all need to do our part, no matter how small it may be, to see to it that is is a success.

Fenn out.

P.S. I made us a steam group, if you have a steam account, please be sure to join and promote it! http://steamcommunit...hwarriorsonline

Edited by Gattling Fenn, 07 January 2012 - 09:08 PM.

[Gattling Fenn]

Bumping, because in less than a few minutes it's already been swept beneath like 10 other topics. This is important guys. The idea that a thread talking about MechWarrior Online not getting the attention it deserves, is not getting the attention it deserves, is comical.

[Russ Bullock]

Hey Thanks.

Well first and foremost a great product will bring people in and our fan base should grow exponentially and that is on us.

But sure your right, word of mouth and getting inolved with friends is a great way to make our community more than just a gathering place.

Your right in that the franchise has all the depth necessary to capture peoples imaginations if we can get them in the front door and they stay for a while.

[Alistair Steiner]

I shall concur. My buddy who got me into MW3 will be notified of this. Even though I mentioned it to him on FB, I never got a response. I will do like you said, keep the idea alive, and hopefully bring in new recruits. My 12-year-old cousin is addicted to MWLL from playing it twice, so he'll certainly jump on the idea of MWO. I too am somewhat saddened by how overlooked this amazing franchise is, as I see it as an equal to the great sci-fi franchises, both in PC-gaming and as far as movies/television when it comes to lore. I hope MWO swells the ranks of the MechWarriors to a height that it's never reached before. If I'm any small part of that, then it will be one of the proudest achievements of my life.

[FACEman Peck]

Steam is amazing, and I think that's the way to go if you want MWO to be advertised to the world. Great way to download, smooth updates, lots of friends to be made, etc. That may SOUND bias, kind of is, but it still is awesome. I am |GFY| l\l.λ.r.f. on Steam, and already are part of the Steam group said above.

[Wulfbane]

the main one is Dota. other wise we are on top and yes we need to step it up a nought but it would take a bit of time and we still have know idea about the game beta or anything in that line so that what is needed first.

[Blackfire1]

Your caps title made me angry. >.<

Besides that I'm sure word will spread like wild fire. In fact it already has. We're beating Diablo 3 on the IGN poll. (all bias aside) I'm a veteran Member of Tribe Gaming. Everyone knows there. Ego Gaming, Edge Gaming, and Old Timers Guild are also aware. I'm sure goons will catch wind too. Look at LoL and World of Tanks. A great F2P will being in the numbers no matter what.

Personally I would hope that MWo stays off of Steam. Is steam an option? Sure. But it shouldn't be the main one. IGP seems to be a very smart group of people. They'be probably weighed the pros and cons a million times. Steam while effective isn't exactally loaded with pro's. :\ More so with an independent dev that wants complete control over their game.
Its not very hard to make a stand alone launcher either. LoL, World of Tanks, Toribash, Anything made by HiRez all use their own client. In fact HiRez opted away from steam simply because of developmental freedom.

As for advertising, I get asked 2-3 times a day what my liscence plate means. On top of those 2-3 times I get 4-5 people who already know MECHWRR means Mechwarrior. This is Las Vegas. Many Many Many people see my plates. It'll only get better when I can afford my Timber wolf, Atlas, or Conjurer wrap. (Can't decide on which.)


Wonder if I'll get anything special is I change my wrap design to something MWo inspired. The artwork is amazing.

Edited by Blackfire1, 05 January 2012 - 10:56 PM.

[FireNova]

Gattling Fenn, on 05 January 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

The title to this thread explains it fully. MechWarriors is a great franchise, I grew up with it, and am incredibly excited for MechWarriors Online. However, one thing has been nagging at me, after seeing the "regularity" of forum posts compared with other communities, and our number of likes on facebook I realized, were actually pretty small. Don't get me wrong, I love belonging to an incredibly tenacious, dedicated, community full of die hard PC gamers, but the fact remains the comparatively, were pretty small. I am basing this comparison on other lore based franchises with die hard fan bases, most notably Warhammer, and EVE Online. The reason however, that this concerns me, is that this game is going to be on a Free to Play basis, meaning Piranhas commercial success is heavily reliant on an active and growing player base. In short, if we want to see a game with good longevity and gameplay growth, we need to do something to get this game a little more fanfare.

I won't lie to you, it is going to be difficult, other titles being released this year include Mass Effect 3, DOTA: 2, Guild Wars 2, and an array of other prominent games, all of which rightfully deserve their popularity, as they are mostly well crafted games. What this means for us however, is that we run the risk of being overlooked by many people, this is a franchise that hasn't had a true release since what? 2002? I am not asking you guys to go out and be some massive promotion *****, telling all of your friends to go play MechWarriors Online, no one likes to force themselves on others.

What I am saying however, is that we need new blood. Though, I am only 20, a major chunk of our fairly small if dedicated player base is well above that, easily in their 30s and 40s. We need young pilots to pick up the torch, and help The MechWarriors universe expand. The more people show interest in this franchise, the greater the demand for games and content becomes, as a result, we all benefit.

I do believe you hit the nail on the head on this very important (but way overlooked) topic Gattling. It has been long past due that BattleTech/MechWarrior quits living in the past and embraces the future (or be left in the past for that matter).

The devs also need to understand that killing off factions all of a sudden (Twilight of the Clans/Operations Bulldog/Serpent/Wars of Reaving) and forcing that upon certain fanbases of certain factions (Smoke Jaguars, Blood Spirits, Fire Mandrills, Steel Vipers, etc) is not what I would consider to be "expanding the fanbase" of a game....especially if it does not give the players an opportunity to continue playing as said factions as survivors of said Clans.

Just my two cents to add to this discussion.

[DeathMachine]

I was with Herbert Beas at an interview at the Catalyst forums and he was saying the same thing. The Battletech/Mechwarrior fan base is only getting older. Although I really enjoy the level of maturity from my fellow Mechwarriors, we could use some young blood too.

[Hayden]

I truly believe that this is a case of "if you build it, they will come." A free multiplayer game with giant robots (edit: bristling with electric/high-caliber/missile-bombarding death)? Who wouldn't love it?

Edited by Hayden, 05 January 2012 - 11:02 PM.

[Gattling Fenn]

The caps were necessary to capture attention. And here's the thing, we have second place in a totally arbitrary IGN poll, the poll total has less than 10k votes in it. Meaning not that many people have seen it in all honesty. And the communities, particularly eGo becoming involved, while helpful, is not necessary going to bring us the numbers we need. The positive to steam is easy updates, major publicity, and a smooth, tried and true interface.

On a final note, the reason LoL and World of Tanks (I played both) are so massively popular (I'm talking primarily about LoL here) is because they're super casual. I play LoL frequently as a distraction, the MechWarriors franchise is anything BUT casual, as evidenced by the fierce PC gamer attitude the community possess, and massively deep lore and combat.

[Gorteck]

I know that I am really hoping that this is a game that I can play. And by this I mean can I be the person in the cockpit that is in the promo vidio? Can I play this game with a joystick/s and wear a headset or am I going to have to use a keyboard and mouse? If it is the later than I will not be a good player and therefor will not play for long. Better if the people who do play this game can make videos like the one that I have watched 10-15 times, and they put them on Youtube, I strongly suspect that people will flock to the game. Lord knows even if I do not play I will want to watch. I have lots of the books, 5 tech manuals, played the RPG version of this game, I am really looking forward to this game. That video HOOKED me. I SOOOO want to be one of those pilots. And it is free so I can test before I spend....
I agree that there needs to be a bit more talk about this game and the video. Maybe a new video to go along with it? Really I like RPG games, I tend to be VARY POOR at shooters and games that I have to use key board and/or mouse, the video hooked me, even if I can not play, if I can watch that I will lurk forever.

[Tifalia]

Agreed. With all of the hype on the Transformers franchise (among many, really) it really has taken away from the spotlight the greatness of the BattleTech universe and how much it has become a staple in so many of our lives, after having grown up on it over the last 20+ years.
More needs to be done to introduce this great franchise to the next generation so that the children can experience for themselves what has enthralled their fathers (and occasionally mothers) when they were growing up.

[FACEman Peck]

Dumping MechWarrior Online at the bottom of the IGN 2012 M.A.G.O.T.Y. list doesn't help much either...

Edited by FACEman Peck, 05 January 2012 - 11:11 PM.

[Hayden]

FACEman Peck, on 05 January 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

Dumping MechWarrior Online at the bottom of the IGN 2012 M.A.G.O.T.Y. list doesn't help much either...

Better on the bottom than not at all.

[FACEman Peck]

Hayden, on 05 January 2012 - 11:13 PM, said:

Better on the bottom than not at all.

Agreed.

[SoulReaver DA]

I think youre awefuly premature to say that we need to expand. First off, take into consideration how long Mechwarrior has been out of the scene! People wil hear about its new upcomming release and show up in droves. As people are finding out about the new release they are already steadily showing up and posting in this forum, as well as clans and aliances are now being reassembled or created. In no time at all there wi ll be hordes of gamers flocking into the new Mechwarrior universe and battle mechs will be clashing in glorious battle better than in the old days.
With the advances in game designing, graphics, sound, controllers, voip's, and other new tech, this is going to be a major attraction!
Soon xplay, game informer and all the other media will be announcing Mechwarrior online. This in itself will draw major attraction to the game.
If thats not enough, then start blogging it up in FB, Twitter, an whatnot.
God I can't wait for a new game video clip and release date to be announced!

[FACEman Peck]

SoulReaver DA, on 05 January 2012 - 11:18 PM, said:

I think youre awefuly premature to say that we need to expand. First off, take into consideration how long Mechwarrior has been out of the scene! People wil hear about its new upcomming release and show up in droves. As people are finding out about the new release they are already steadily showing up and posting in this forum, as well as clans and aliances are now being reassembled or created. In no time at all there wi ll be hordes of gamers flocking into the new Mechwarrior universe and battle mechs will be clashing in glorious battle better than in the old days.
With the advances in game designing, graphics, sound, controllers, voip's, and other new tech, this is going to be a major attraction!
Soon xplay, game informer and all the other media will be announcing Mechwarrior online. This in itself will draw major attraction to the game.
If thats not enough, then start blogging it up in FB, Twitter, an whatnot.
God I can't wait for a new game video clip and release date to be announced!

Well... the fact that the franchise has been out forever CAN be a bad thing also. People forget stuff.

[Gattling Fenn]

SoulReaver DA, on 05 January 2012 - 11:18 PM, said:

I think youre awefuly premature to say that we need to expand. First off, take into consideration how long Mechwarrior has been out of the scene! People wil hear about its new upcomming release and show up in droves. As people are finding out about the new release they are already steadily showing up and posting in this forum, as well as clans and aliances are now being reassembled or created. In no time at all there wi ll be hordes of gamers flocking into the new Mechwarrior universe and battle mechs will be clashing in glorious battle better than in the old days.
With the advances in game designing, graphics, sound, controllers, voip's, and other new tech, this is going to be a major attraction!
Soon xplay, game informer and all the other media will be announcing Mechwarrior online. This in itself will draw major attraction to the game.
If thats not enough, then start blogging it up in FB, Twitter, an whatnot.
God I can't wait for a new game video clip and release date to be announced!

Self promotion is never premature. Do not trust to the interest of gamers to keep this game afloat, a concerted effort from the community is always a good thing. No matter how many people show up, that number is only increased by our efforts, it has no negatives. Furthermore, we are not simply looking to bring back old clans and players, who will be brought back here by nostalgic excitement (that's basically what I am) we are in a position where we need to bring in people who have potentially never heard of MechWarrior. We have the choice between revitalizing and existing community, and remaining a small but tightly knit group of hard core PC gamers, or doing the exact same thing as the first option, but at the same time bring in a bunch of new blood. There are new pilots to be trained, we are a graying player base, we need new soldiers to fight our virtual wars.

[Wullf]

hi everyone
the battletech comunity in its day had about 300k-500k fans, and now those people are mostly working in science and technical business.
so the expactations are pretty high. most of us like games that are as complex as possible.
i myself heard about MWO by playing eve-online some guy mentioned it and now im here .

so i wonted to say if this game will become just another regular shooter with mech skin on it, it will horribly fail

in a complex universe as the inner sphare and clan space are offering, u need to cover all aspects of it to make it work.
so the guilds/corps/clans can own planets, manage the population and production facilitys (and even increase the population or build new facilitys), own there drop ships and jump ships, mine planets and asteroid fields to get materials and build stuff, so can cover the economical side. and ingame time should pass slowly so u dont need to stay all day online to have everything done, but a few hours of playtime should cover it. (or even implement a browser app to manage economy)

for battle not only mechs should be on the field, but all wepon groups. so everyone likes to control a mech so maybe other wepon systems might be controled by the player but have a npc driven AI. this way u get a very colorful battlefield with ewar turrets that shoot at u and infantery that trys to damage ur mech and fighters who get nasty if ur not coutios and so on....

also u should have some sorts of space battles where dropships and fighters can fight each other and sometimes even space battleships,
to gain air superioraty before invading a planet.

about battle size small groups of 4-12 mechs are nice but u dont get to see the epic battles like described in the novels. so u should implement also the posability to have huge battles where hundreds of players fight each other. but only once or twice a month on weekends mostly . with the background that for exemple davion declared war on kurita and on a specific planet there will be a war that changes planet ownership

well its only some raw toughts writen fast that need alot of adjustment