15 replies to this topic

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

Hail,

I apologize if these questions have been answered. I am traveling from Houston to NYC and it's been difficult to read through the forums to find these answers.

We are currently putting our team together and a few questions have been rattling around in my brain.

1. Where can I find information on how MW:O is handling the team play aspect of the game?
a. Will MW:O have league play or will status just be accumulated overtime.
b. Will leagues be external to MW:O pulling the stats from MW:O?

2. How will the disadvantage of having teammates all over the globe be handled? (From what I understand, teams will be restricted to playing through whichever server they sign up with. My team has members from AU, UK, Germany, US, etc...

3. Will there be a chance for teams to drop in game in order to practice?
a. Will teams be able to compete against themselves?
b. Will this count towards XP, Cbills, etc?

4. How will the different classes come into play?
a. Would the battlecommander be outside of the game, having a map view, updated with enemy locations updated by scouts and stuff.
b. Will there be functioning where s/he can call in air strikes an such.

That's it for now. I may have more questions based on what's said. And please, let's keep away from conjecture. If it hasn't been discussed, I'd like to pester the developers about it.

Whomever takes the time to response, I thank you greatly.

Daisu

[Kottonmouth]

I have scoured days and nights, yet I find no definitive answer on this. Perhaps it will be part of the community warfare expected to be rolled out in... 90ish days? I'm sure if we make enough noise telling PGI how much we all love and dearly miss our league play they will make it work if and when they can. I imagine any matches where you are directly pick who's on what teams will not have much in the way of XP and Cbill gains to discourage those among us who may abuse it.

Yeah. I miss league play.

Hell, even charge us standard repair and ammo restock fees for "League" matches. Will force Leaguers to still mingle with others to get them monies to fix up the ol' Mech.

(and maybe you want conjecture, conjecture leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to Paul intervention, and Paul intervention leads to A)ban hammer B)thread lock C) some infermation)

Edited by Kottonmouth, 31 July 2012 - 08:44 PM.

[12Bravo]

I have absolutely no problem not earning XP/Cbills in league/ladder matches

[Rugarou]

Daisu: Short answer is nothing has been said about specifics. The closest we have to your answers about community warfare are one post giving dev info and another Q&A about it.

http://mwomercs.com/...munity-warfare/
http://mwomercs.com/...munity-warfare/

and this on role warfare: http://mwomercs.com/...4-role-warfare/

The exact mechanics have not been stated. Community warfare will be released sometime after the game is released. Exact date unknown for either of them.

Edited by Geaux Tiger, 07 August 2012 - 01:47 PM.

[Strum Wealh]

Quote

So, what kind of external third party league integration is being considered in relation to the community combat? –Pht

[BRYAN] Since MechWarrior® Online™ is by nature a competitive game, we’ve designed all aspects of gameplay to feed back into a variety of scoring systems to generate ladders, rankings/leaderboards, and statistics. We do not plan to support private matches or leagues at launch.

(source)

Quote

[15:20] <Rhiawhyn_Zerinth> Paul, I have an interesting question. Will it be possible to have custom private games (of which likely wont give monitary rewards) for practice and similer?

[15:21] <[PGI]Paul_Inouye> private matches are a no

(source)

The Devs have stated that MWO would not be supporting either external "leagues" or privately-held matches (at least, in the near-term), but that data and statistics would be collected and analyzed to create leaderboards and rankings (though, whether they have any plans or intent to make this data available for harvesting by outside parties remains to be seen).

That should address 1a, 3a, and 3b, yes?

Edited by Strum Wealh, 07 August 2012 - 02:59 PM.

[Rugarou]

Thanks for that Strum. Been awhile since I read those.

[TizZ]

Being Mechwarrior is enjoyed the most as a team game I cant imagine they do not have plans in the future for tournaments or some league system .
As for external leagues i am not so sure they would like to see that happen but you never know

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

Thanks everyone. This has helped a bit. Also reading about the differences between the Houses and Merc units has helped open up my eyes to some things. It's interesting there's so much focus on the game but not the actually game play. Or, the concept behind game play for MWO. It feels very driven to the individual player forgetting that there was a game 10 years ago which had significant groups and leagues built up around.

I'm still trying to figure out why if someone picks a name that's clever and associated with their long time group name it's so verbotten to use it if it's claimed first. It just feels like it's a lack of respect who have been together and stuck together for so long and saying, "just do something different..."

Anyway, I know we'd like to think that the game will turn out a certain way, but there's no telling what the developers will do until they actually do it.

I'm curious, as well, will we be able to pull data for our individual members (in a merc unit) so that we can compile stats on our personal web spaces?

Anyway, thanks for the answers and if I find anything myself I'll post it here.

Strum Wealh, on 07 August 2012 - 02:26 PM, said:

(source)

(source)

The Devs have stated that MWO would not be supporting either external "leagues" or privately-held matches (at least, in the near-term), but that data and statistics would be collected and analyzed to create leaderboards and rankings (though, whether they have any plans or intent to make this data available for harvesting by outside parties remains to be seen).

That should address 1a, 3a, and 3b, yes?

Aff,

Thank you greatly.

[Taymorr]

Great questions. I really want to know how players can form teams and how teams will be paired. Say u have a 5 mech star, will u be pitted against another 5 mech team or will it be by total tonnage or some battle value? If anyone knows how to create a guild/merc company, please let me know, thanks.

[Dog killer]

I can tell alot of you didn't do much league play in mech 2 - 4 because you either don't know or forgotten how it went. Some 3rd party group of players made a web sight and set up rules and had a league board set up that had a form team leaders filled out that recorded names of players the mechs they used their rank and who got how many kills. All that info was avable at the end of the game in the recap screen. Even if MW:O don't set up league play the players themselves will. It always happends.

[Chaotic Cannon]

I find the concept of the devs not supporting private game a little dis-heartening.

That being said on one hand I can understand that in some ways they want to follow a system where stats from matches are auto collected by the servers and a automatic system rates and creates leaderboards and rankings to give the layman player a overview of where they rank. All these stats would be pulled from the matches of course, but will these be strictly individual based, team based (according to match), faction based? How relevant are these stats when I play a different class mech each game and good at all of them compared to someone that only ever plays a hunchback and is super skilled at it, and I play 6 hours a week while another person plays 20 hours a week, I play a lone wolf one day and a faction the next?

On the other hand if they are serious about clans (even allowing a clan tag in your in game name set up and a way to switch your clan tag if you switch clans but retain your permanent in game name which would be a nice things to have) would mean that there is a need for private matches. I mean if I was in Clan Alpha and our clan wants to take on another clan to find out if we can beat them or not, plan our tactics, practice for the match, etc then how do we do that? Having private matches allows team mates in clans to get to know each other, work out tactics, etc. Then my clan Alpha can challenge Clan Beta to a match at a specific time and date. Then we square off and go at it and obliterate each other. Then say clan Beta wins.. then people would be able to see the match results.

I am not asking the devs to make a in game ladder system.. not at all. I totally disagree with the in game ladder systems of several other popular games where the in game ladders break into tiers of ladders and create a whole host of issues I wont get into now. This is more so for team games or 1v1 games where there are people wanting to practice and then take on a specific opponent at specific times or perhaps having invites to certain matches would be beneficial.

This would open up both a casual and competitive aspect of the game for those that would want this, and I am sure there are lots of people out there. Someone above, Dog Killer, above mentioned that in the past mech games there were 3rd party groups that offered this, and I have seen them. The sites were dedicated to just mech warrior specific games. There are others out there that also offer the same thing, but being an online game there are issues to work around of course. Since it is always on and you can find "matches now" then it is all good, but for longevity you need the private match ability.

Say in 2 yrs time you get in game and you want to play now. You get in game and wait for players to join. How long will you wait? It depends on how popular the game is at that time which will translate into how many people are available at the same time to play. But if you had private match ability, I can find a clan or team to play with on my own through these 3rd party sites and plan that match time. Then I get online and just play them and not worry about having a random person join the match that would throw a monkey wrench into the plan.

All that being said, I have not played the beta yet. For some of you reading perhaps some of my comments are not correct since perhaps I am missing some vital piece of information that I would know if I was in the beta. I plan on getting the beta this weekend and having a go. But for me, I have been playing online gaming for years. I played since the days of C&C red alert, Mechs 1 through 3 or 4 (mostly offline), UT99, UT3, SCII and Eve Online, COD to a lesser extent and Halo on rare occassion, and each have their pros and cons but one thing that I feel most long term games need is a system that allows players to keep playing even when there is no one online at the exact time they are online. By allowing private games/matches those players / teams / clans can use third party sites to get on 1v1 or team ladders and the like and plan matches and report results and see where in their ladder they are placed. This also allows "clan specific" ladders or leagues by allowing people to CHOOSE the ladder they join and choose the people that they play with or against.

This is my personal opinion, based on impressions I have on the game without playing the beta yet or reading all the dev blogs and from my own personal gaming background from the games that I enjoy. As stated perhaps the beta will change my opinion on this.

Edited by Chaotic Cannon, 17 August 2012 - 04:02 AM.

[Strum Wealh]

Chaotic Cannon, on 17 August 2012 - 03:54 AM, said:

I find the concept of the devs not supporting private game a little dis-heartening.

That being said on one hand I can understand that in some ways they want to follow a system where stats from matches are auto collected by the servers and a automatic system rates and creates leaderboards and rankings to give the layman player a overview of where they rank. All these stats would be pulled from the matches of course, but will these be strictly individual based, team based (according to match), faction based? How relevant are these stats when I play a different class mech each game and good at all of them compared to someone that only ever plays a hunchback and is super skilled at it, and I play 6 hours a week while another person plays 20 hours a week, I play a lone wolf one day and a faction the next?

On the other hand if they are serious about clans (even allowing a clan tag in your in game name set up and a way to switch your clan tag if you switch clans but retain your permanent in game name which would be a nice things to have) would mean that there is a need for private matches. I mean if I was in Clan Alpha and our clan wants to take on another clan to find out if we can beat them or not, plan our tactics, practice for the match, etc then how do we do that? Having private matches allows team mates in clans to get to know each other, work out tactics, etc. Then my clan Alpha can challenge Clan Beta to a match at a specific time and date. Then we square off and go at it and obliterate each other. Then say clan Beta wins.. then people would be able to see the match results.

I am not asking the devs to make a in game ladder system.. not at all. I totally disagree with the in game ladder systems of several other popular games where the in game ladders break into tiers of ladders and create a whole host of issues I wont get into now. This is more so for team games or 1v1 games where there are people wanting to practice and then take on a specific opponent at specific times or perhaps having invites to certain matches would be beneficial.

This would open up both a casual and competitive aspect of the game for those that would want this, and I am sure there are lots of people out there. Someone above, Dog Killer, above mentioned that in the past mech games there were 3rd party groups that offered this, and I have seen them. The sites were dedicated to just mech warrior specific games. There are others out there that also offer the same thing, but being an online game there are issues to work around of course. Since it is always on and you can find "matches now" then it is all good, but for longevity you need the private match ability.

Say in 2 yrs time you get in game and you want to play now. You get in game and wait for players to join. How long will you wait? It depends on how popular the game is at that time which will translate into how many people are available at the same time to play. But if you had private match ability, I can find a clan or team to play with on my own through these 3rd party sites and plan that match time. Then I get online and just play them and not worry about having a random person join the match that would throw a monkey wrench into the plan.

All that being said, I have not played the beta yet. For some of you reading perhaps some of my comments are not correct since perhaps I am missing some vital piece of information that I would know if I was in the beta. I plan on getting the beta this weekend and having a go. But for me, I have been playing online gaming for years. I played since the days of C&C red alert, Mechs 1 through 3 or 4 (mostly offline), UT99, UT3, SCII and Eve Online, COD to a lesser extent and Halo on rare occassion, and each have their pros and cons but one thing that I feel most long term games need is a system that allows players to keep playing even when there is no one online at the exact time they are online. By allowing private games/matches those players / teams / clans can use third party sites to get on 1v1 or team ladders and the like and plan matches and report results and see where in their ladder they are placed. This also allows "clan specific" ladders or leagues by allowing people to CHOOSE the ladder they join and choose the people that they play with or against.

This is my personal opinion, based on impressions I have on the game without playing the beta yet or reading all the dev blogs and from my own personal gaming background from the games that I enjoy. As stated perhaps the beta will change my opinion on this.

While very well-said, I find that I must disagree with the notion that private matches are necessary/vital for the game at large.

Part of the reason is that being able to set private matches against specified opponents does necessarily lend itself to the rise and prevalence of "boosters" - players and teams that will set up multiple accounts and set their accounts against one another, thus fixing matches against themselves.

It is an issue that has affected other games with a territory-holding/capturing component, including Chromehounds and Armored Core V.
By removing (or, rather, not implementing) the capability to set up private matches for general gameplay, this type of metagame exploitation is made much more difficult (if not outright impossible).
(It also allows the game to neatly avoid all of the other metagame exploitation issues, politics, and "e-peen waving" that have come to characterize other games, such as EVE Online.)

Additionally, it doesn't really make sense from a narrative standpoint - the IS operates on something closer to a "total war" model, and will generally not declare (or expect their opponents to declare) their force strength and expect to match for a "fair fight".
That is the practice of the Clans (the "descendants of the SLDF", rather than the "player guilds"), not that of the IS militaries.

However, while I disagree with the notion that private matches are necessary/vital where territory control is at stake (e.g. the main part of the game), I can see it having a place if/when (and only if/when):
1.) the Devs opt to implement Solaris VII and the associated Solaris Games.
2.) the Devs opt to implement inter- and intra-Clan conflicts, where the Batchall and Trial rituals should come into play.

As far as third party support, the Devs are also not obligated to make match results or player stats/ranks/achievements able to be automatically harvested by third-party applications (though, this wouldn't be a problem if someone doesn't mind entering the results manually).
Though, they could make that information publicly available (or even make public availability an opt-in/opt-out choice on each player's part), if they so choose.

As far as training, the recent interview with Russ Bullock did allude to some form of tutorial:

Quote

G: MechWarrior Online is based heavily on teamwork. Is there any plan to include a training area where player units will be able to practice their teamwork, gunnery and skills without having to deal with a live enemy? Maybe even a possibility to create mock battles with training weapons between the members of the same unit divided in two teams, or between two friendly units?
R: [color=#333333]I think all things are possible post launch if we have a successful product on our hands. The only thing planned for launch or just after is a tutorial level where we can teach players that are new to the[/color]MechWarrior[color=#333333] universe how to pilot the unique controls of a Battlemech.[/color]

I do note that the same quote alludes to the possibility of some "league"-like features, but does so in no terms more specific than "[color=#333333]all things are possible post launch[/color]"...

[Chaotic Cannon]

Good response.

You pointed out some things I had not considered in this type of game play. The metagaming issues can become problematic indeed. I was thinking from the point of view in an ideal situation where players play as a single account in a game and not specifically looking for loop holes in order to exploit them.

I prefer clans and teams and players that look for gg's and competition and good fun on both sides.

I will look forward to see which way the devs take on the development of the topic for sure. Either way I am sure we will all get gg's one way or the other.

[StarfyrGuns]

Dog killer, on 09 August 2012 - 12:51 PM, said:

I can tell alot of you didn't do much league play in mech 2 - 4 because you either don't know or forgotten how it went. Some 3rd party group of players made a web sight and set up rules and had a league board set up that had a form team leaders filled out that recorded names of players the mechs they used their rank and who got how many kills. All that info was avable at the end of the game in the recap screen. Even if MW:O don't set up league play the players themselves will. It always happends.

Lmao...I REMEMBER those days! Whoever was "low-man" had to screen shot the end results, log into the League site(we played Star League and Vengence League), put in what mech each piloted, score/points/kills and send the screen shot in with it (iirc)......if you didn`t screeny it, you hoped like hell SOMEone had one..lol..good times! An "outside" league doesn`t need to be connected to MWO for a league to work. It was all from screen shots as I mentioned.

[SuomiWarder]

I see a potential revenue stream for the devs in selling "private" server time to groups. I'd spend MC for X hours of server for my merc unit to use for practice or challange of other units in a skrimmage. Surely clan players would so the same for trials of grievance and for the hardcore rank advancement.

I don't see MWO leaning towards a league like we remember from VnR (and many others) days, as the mercs seem to have an ability to control planets for resources. How they plan to arrange the timing for the fight that determines ownership I don't know - the timing of getting two teams together was always the biggest league challenge.

Eventually they might put in a Solaris type set up with solos and "stables" - where a stable might be a merc unit or house group.

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

For MW4, the matches were handled through the zone, both owned and operated by Microsoft.

That wasn't external. From what I understand with some of the external leagues there were a host of issues that came about due to the fact that things weren't handled in house. Again, not necessarily a ladder system needed but instead a concise way of gathering and collecting data and allowing for match making.

I think some people miss out on the fact that though it's not being paid attention to, there are clanners that will be operating as Mercs. They will still have their culture and climate and will be 'masquerading' until the clan invasion (if that even takes place as a user playable system). Intra clan trials will still be taking place to decide issues, rank and positions, and I know our group has talked about the potential necessity of using MW4 to keep such rituals continuing.

And any clan worth it salt is NOT going to ply status and fool around with a private system as it goes against clan honor. You have to worry more about the dirty Mercs and IS houses when it comes to that stuff.

Khan DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa