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Ok, to the point. As many may have seen/loathed, I like to throw my weight behind what is generally called ‘the hardcore’ players. Or as many know, gamers who have too much time on their hands and probably play Korean MMOs due to how hard I want this game to be. In my time in those threads I have seen a distinct line in what people are wanting/expecting. No this is not a yell at each other thried, it’s a talk to each other thread.
The first group, or the hard core group, wants a C-bill driven economy. Many of them are looking for some or all of these features:
One life/No-respawn: Basicly in a match, when your battlmech is incapacitated your done for that mach, no matter when this happens in the match. <many quote how WoT works, IE that ‘tank’ is locked until the match is fully but you can join another game if you do not want to wait for your team.>
Limited/No-Mechlab: Limited mechlab that accurately reflects the difficulty of modifying non-omni mechs. This can be anything as Variants are weapon type locked and only weapons of same type or size can be exchanged with little to no customization for armor/speed/heatsinks. Or… No-mechlab, you buy a variant, it either looks like you want, or it does what you want. If not, you buy a different variant. And or you buy a chassie and buy variant kits to change what a mech does.
Mech Maintenance: Your mech takes damage every mission, if not get totaled. After each mission you have to repair your mech, replaced destroyed weapons and equipment. <Side note, in a match that had resawn, this would be a very hard mechanic to keep. If you are a new player and you keep rushing in and dying and end a mach like I don’t know, 2/10. Whether your team wins or loses, you won’t make any C-bills after repairs, if you can even afford to repair your mech. >
Mech Destruction: Your mech gets destroyed, I mean nothing left but little bits of pixie dust in the wind, it’s gone. You’re rolling in a catapult and its ammo bins go, you no longer have a catapult. You are a proud owner of a catastrophe. <; p I know you like that pun> You now have to buy a new mech. This re enforces the ability to leave a battle field if you are simply out classed. This also means that not every mech ‘death’ means that a mech is destroyed every time (like in MW4). Just means it is too damaged to function and can be salvaged and repaired. <In no way does this means real money purchased items qualify for this dynamic. You buy custom paint/hula girl, you keep it. It’s still in your inventory. >
Mech Ransoming: This I see as a more complicated dynamic and goes hand in hand with mech destruction. The basic principle is, the other team lost and you salvage one of their chassis that you can now fix up and keep or sell back to the other team. In TT and the books, battlemechs were heirlooms and very expensive. Even though they are not heirlooms in the MW:O dynamics, a recovered chassie can have all the custom knickknacks a player puts into it like skins/emblems/cockpit additions/hula girl. These items can’t be transferred out of the recovered mech.
Faction Specific Mech Restrictions: Devs already stated that all mechs will be available for (c-bill) purchase to all factions. Yes I know, I just said it after all. They did, if I’m not mistaken, stated that different factions will see c-bill price variation depending on how friendly they are with the faction that makes them. Still some people want to have salvage be the only way to acquire these mechs.
Objective Driven Game Play: Faction warfare, as far as I can tell, is one of the most exciting things to the community as we have never really seen it in a mechwarrior game before. Not without a 3rd party group or community setting it up. Each battle will have a purpose and is not just players jumping in to see how many kills they can get without dying. Ontop of that, all the C-bills players will obtain, will come from doing missions and completing tasks/objectives. There are allot of rpers in the community, I can’t tell, who are drooling at these prospects. I’m curious to see how many stories are written about the experiences people have in faction warfare.
Solaris: Yup, the famed world of gladiators! Most of the hard core groups are kind of looking at this as a place where they will be able to escape from faction warfare to do their senseless MW3/4 styled grinders. As well as other things I don’t want to get into.
In-depth Command and Control options: Self explanatory. People want in game support to do their C&C like actives/after-action reports/pre/post mission briefings.
Now, I know I did not touch all the topics but these were the larger features that were more or less specific/interlinked into the more ‘hardcore’ game thoughts or simply viewed as ‘not fun’ or ‘un-noob friendly’ There is something you want added just let me know I am sure I can add it.
Casual gamers on the other hand tend to be looking for more of a MW3/4 feel and generally do not work with many of the principles above.
Full, Unrestricted Mechlab: They want to see it like in MW3/4 where you can make anything. Sometimes you see options where they desire a heavy C-bill or light time or a mixture of both to emulate the effort it would take in order to do the kinds of changes they want to do. This does not mean that players don’t support having to purchase mech chassis/items to outfit.
Respawn: MW4 is the best example of this. During the progression of a match, mechs spawn, walk a short distance and engage. Your goal now becomes die as little as possible and kill as much as possible. <I have lots of nasty things to say about this but I will save you the time.> <I will say that maintenance will become almost useless at this point as at the end of every mach, those who do not play tactically will end up with most loss then gain. > Many players like to say, in order to make death some kind of penalty, to make there be a ‘respawn’ timer or to have there be some sort of loss to C-bills/XP (either on your mech or pilot).
Match Making: Host privet/public games with your own settings like ‘no heat/unlimited amo’ etc etc. No real effect on Faction warfare or anything that really would be ‘MMO’ like xp, cbills or lp.
Optional LP: Players don’t want to deal with Faction warfare or fear that LP and rank will somehow interfere with how they play the game or interact with other players online.
All Mechs, Weapons, and No C-bill Costs: Essentially they are looking for MW4 with better physics are graphics where they can jump in and everything is already at their fingertips.
Essentially I see most of the dynamics that ‘casual’ players have leaned towards are MW3/4 online game play and are found pretty much in every average FPS out there. The other thing I do see allot, which I think is absolutely absurd, is the repeated assumption that the ‘hardcore’ like dynamics some, most or all, are only in favor of vetted players and will discourage ‘noobs’ or new players. I don’t see this as being true at all other wise games like WoT and EvE would not do well or be successful. At that same point, any new player who does not get put into a mach with close to the same lvl of players will be at a disadvantage regardless due to mech/pilot XP. Same goes for any game which has XP and levels such as CoD MW4 and BF3.
So again, debate if you would on casual/hardcore dynamics. Maybe we will find a balance point or maybe this thread will get locked because people can behave themselves.. Maybe. It’s not my point to start a flame war.
Edited by Omigir, 16 January 2012 - 06:03 AM.
