24 replies to this topic

[Dlardrageth]

So I was thinking, hey, I'm going to spend quite some time in the "lobby" before actually entering a match. What would I prefer that lobby to be like?

The classical shady dive you hope your parents would never catch you in?

A stylish, glitzy, neo-modernistic bar, that cries out "overpriced drink'r'us"?

Or something technocratic and devoid of any distractions that looks about as homely as a major stock exchange during a financial crisis?

Yes, I know, just three slightly overexaggerated examples, but considering we most likely will spend a sizeable amount of time in that very lobby... Also a secondary question is if it might be a nice extra feature to have the lobby being slightly different for each faction. Graphically, mostly. And what "features" would we want? Just a static waiting room with limited chat/interaction options, or do we want/hope for more?

Don't take that matter too lightly, we have heard now and again how any amount of waiting will totally make loads of players leave MWO. So having a somewhat more attractive lobby where it actually is possible to spend a minute or five with something else but staring at a blank screen could be useful. For the game as a whole.

[Tannhauser Gate]

Im pretty sure we wont have avatars so standing around in a drop ship mech bay or whatever wouldnt make sense. It could be an interactive chat lobby with games and options to click on or we could spawn as mechs in a non-combat environment and interact in some way.

I have no idea really. But something that functions as a chat lobby is a MUST. Alot of the enjoyment of the game takes place in the lobby as intrigue, rivalries, and politics are played out.

Edited by LakeDaemon, 21 January 2012 - 10:07 AM.

[Nerts]

I had imagined it being the hangar, war room or briefing room on a dropship/base, I can't imagine a pilot hanging around in a bar minutes before he's due to be on mission.

[Razor Kotovsky]

MW4-style lobby and global chats are more than enough.

Leave CCP's AIDS to them.

[Omigir]

Dive, dancing girl in cage or on a pole included <3

Pharoh beer everywhere.

BTW, what does a single C-bill look like? HAHA!

[Chuckie]

Something akin to the hanger/bar in BSG would seem appropriate.

But don't think they plan on giving us a "hangout" or avatar, at least not in the beginning.

Edited by Chuckie, 21 January 2012 - 10:08 AM.

[Kenyon Burguess]

i'd like a few different choices for a wallpaper to stare at. different ones for different great houses, hangers, bars, inside a drop ship. then give the player the choice to switch them around occasionally.

[Dlardrageth]

Ooops, don't get me wrong there, wasn't suggesting an avatar at all. Could well work that you have only first-person view, no other players being seen/displayed, but maybe some slight option of interacting with the graphical surface or even a NPC or three. (A NPC meaning something as a bartender or even a mere jukebox.)

[Omigir]

Kinda like your looing at a scean before you, stagnit (mostly.. dancing girl gota make money yo) and there would be a display where you can see the chat of the other pilot and access your mech's available to make choices on what your piloting and or a mission over view. Kinda like in MW2 Merc's, your hanger was a scean that you looked at between missions.

[macmerritt]

I imagine it will be something along the lines of a mechbay or ready room for dealing with your mech. Now Merc unit leaders might also have access to a job board/board room when looking at Merc admin stuff.

In the waiting area you will most likely see a tech station for checking on your mech(s), any damage and repairs needed. Also expect a terminal to browse additional mechs, weapons, modules, and systems for purchase. Id also venture a guess at an access point for you pilots skills and such, say a dossier on a clipboard or in a folder laying on a table. Hopefully they give you the feel of a mechjock sitting in the shadow of your mech while techs feverishly repair/rearm it for the coming match allowing you time to look over your finances, resources, and check in on the comm wire(world chat).

Pirhanna could put alot of flavor in a little bit of work with the right layout(s). I agree in that id like to see some variations for each faction aside from a faction badge/icon on the folders or above mech hanger doorway. Would like to see different looking techs or architecture in the background. Would also like to see an interactive hanger option that displays each of the mechs in your personal storage, so that when I look up id see a Hunchback, Marauder, Awesome, etc. Maybe also have the various weapons loaded on the mechs properly represented instead of the default ones shown, i.e. replaced an autocannon with PPC so now see a coolant cowling instead of ammo feed.

Just hope they give us something other than a bland background while all the work is done on a standard HUD like in WoT. Felt lame just seeing the tank in the foreground, with a sheet metal backdrop.

[ELHImp]

It would be nice to see some oldschool static screens like this

[Adridos]

If I understand lobby right, then it would be nice to look like in MW2 and mercs. It feels good both lore and gameplay wise and it isn't all that hard to make.

[Warwulf]

First of all first post so hi all o/
And as I write this I'm in a field in a tent on night shift so I'm aware I'm not going to be as coherent as I usually am lol
Personally I like the old lounge/forum/load screen from tribes 2. Simplistic screens, one for your load out/mech bay, a forum for chat, a browser screen with individual pages for yourself, your "clan" or whatever, a game screen to select your match and a news screen where you can keep up to date with ISN news and major game/match news. Add into this mix a shop/auction house and there's no need to include avatars or anything. Just some kind of pic on your profile page which can be generic or personally uploaded. Just spitballing but I think this would work well o this game.

To conclude loving what I'm reading, great ideas and great announcements sounds like this once die hard mechwarrior will be dusting off his old catapult again.

[Volume]

MW2 Mercs + Wing Commander 3 bridge.

Oh yeah.

"Minimum viable product" and such considered, I am hoping/expecting something along the lines of a World of Tanks garage, except it's a hangar full of 'Mechs. That would be plenty fine - functional, and (if attractively presented) entertaining.

If I was one to dream, it would probably look like MW2 Mercs, except rendered in full by CryEngine 3 instead of FMV (don't get me wrong, FMV is cool too!). Think Starcraft 2 campaign. This in-station/base screen would have various areas you could move to (if not as a first-person pilot, perhaps as a mid-90's adventure game (e.g. move mouse over a door and left-click it). From the main hub area, possibly your "office" or living quarters, there would be links to the following:

• The hangar, which looks like a combination of the Armored Core, Corehounds, and Mechwarrior 3 Mech Labs, with a dab of the Serious Sam 3 Netricsa (fully rotating weapon components, cool techy information dialogue boxes, mind-blowingly beautifully rendered/lit/etc.)
  
• Access to a market of sorts, where you buy/sell 'Mechs/Equipment (and if it looks anything like a WoW AH I will rage)
  
• A mission/briefing/ready room, where you have a 3D star map with live-updating, showing results of other battles across the system(imagine looking at the map, available missions, and a planet changes hands while you're looking to drop there...All of a sudden, the "Capture the base" mission becomes a "Defend the base" mission...I know it's non-canon, since anything would have to be transferred via HPG, but I can dream, right? It'd be interestingly dynamic.)
  
• A "guild hall" for lack of a better term, that shows your house/unit/merc-corp's pilots, statistics, spot for recruiting others,
  
• Trophy Case, with piloting achievements/statistics/best-of-times performances/medals/etc. Might be redundant, and instead just have the below:
  
• Pilot profile lookup screen, merc corp lookup screen, house unit lookup screen, etc. Shows win/loss record, accuracy, average kills per battle, most used mech, owned/unlocked mechs, owned/unlocked skill tree(pilot skills),

I really need to stop but I could go on about this all day...Would be nice to have a race-driver GRiD style hangar, where you can see technicians working on your 'Mechs and stuff...

Edited by Volume, 21 January 2012 - 04:17 PM.

[DEVASTATOR]

I expect plenty of dancing Hula girls. Possibly private rooms. But...........the drinks should be on the house.

Edited by DEVASTATOR, 21 January 2012 - 03:56 PM.

[Alaskan Viking]

I would LOVE to see like, merc bars, contractor offices, and maintenance bays in the background of the menus like in classic mechwarrior games! Photo-realistic mechs in the background being repaired, sparks flying, workers walking around, cranes and mech bays...Or the photo-realistic Comstar computer animation where you got contracts in MW2: Mercenaries.

Though I don't think we will see them, at least not at first, given the limited resources the dev's have.

Edited by Alaskan Viking, 21 January 2012 - 04:07 PM.

[FrOdO]

http://mwomercs.com/...6441#entry46441

[Maximilian Thorn]

No avatars outside your Mech. I guess the lobby is gonna be non-stop screens of 'Pong-playing-vids'. This will force players to either jump into a match as soon as humanly possible...or risk going insane.

[Dlardrageth]

Yeah, I'd definitely pass on something like EVE-O's "Captain's Quarters", major waste of resources and more likely to introduce annoying bugs only. And MechWarrior is not really about getting fancy dresses or hats for a fictional pilot, that is in fact... you. Enough games with "virtual life" content out there already.

[Cyric30]

Hum, Lets see who figures this one Out, How about the Marader ills