149 replies to this topic

[Fluffinator]

I don't like this idea as its not enough to start in Dire Wolf (Daishi)
Not that they would let us anyway

Edited by Fluffinator, 27 February 2012 - 12:50 AM.

[Hannes]

Will there be a Gold CC for Steiner members?

nice idea though, but maybe not an atlas first xD

Edited by Hannes, 27 February 2012 - 01:28 AM.

[Fluffinator]

Hannes, on 27 February 2012 - 01:28 AM, said:

Will there be a Gold CC for Steiner members?

nice idea though, but maybe not an atlas first xD

They have specifically said in interviews that they don't want to have people have to play a mech they don't want to for 50x times to get to one they do want to play. They stated both that they want people to be able to start in what ever class they want...but for the assult class not to be the only class people want/desire to play.

[autogyro]

Kip Wilson, on 26 February 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

You are certainly entitled to an opinion, and if this was a single player game I would agree with you. But as a team based game, jumping into any Assault class 'mech and not having any idea of how to pilot it or knowing the map you're on or anything else that helps your team is doing a great disservice to your fellow team members. They are counting on the Assaults to hold the line while they can do their jobs. If an Assault pilot is inexperienced or just to selfish to care, it turns a fun game into an unpleasant experience for everybody.

I agree with you though that grinding isn't fun. However some limited amount to let a new player become familiarized with the game would be fair and appropriate IMO.

WoT allows the brand new player to buy a teir 8 tank without a single second of grinding, hense my whole previous post. So if MWO did the same, they wouldn't be the first to do it. They would be the first to do it for free.

Maybe everyone just has to start in a Chameleon for the first 25-50 games as part of ”training" THEN they can choose whichever 'mech they want. I'd be OK with that as well.

You are assuming, of course, that a light 'Mech has less value than an Assault mech. The whole concept and promotion of role warfare is that a any class of 'Mech is just as useful, and implicitly, the loss of one class is not necessarily weighted towards tonnage or tier as in other games and can be overcome by the cunning and strategy of the surviving Mechwarriors.

In other words, if you are down an Atlas in a game it shouldn't cripple you as much as if you lost a top MM Lowe.

Secondly, playing higher tier tanks in WoT is not substantially different than in lower tiers except for light scouts. Role considerations play a much greater influence on playing style in MWO, and I would expect that the play style will vary so greatly that there will always be a learning curve when piloting an Assault over say, a Light.

The positive of allowing anyone to start on any 'Mech is that, very quickly, a player can learn the nuances on his/her favourite 'Mech and be a much greater use on the battlefield in subsequent games.

[Xenois Shalashaska]

I like autogyro concept. My 2 cents is it will all depend on tactics & variety of mech your facing. The Atlas pilots would be smart to stay together in team formation with support mechs mainly because once some one picks up an atlas signature, it is usaully what people chatt about in game & reference the location to be obliterated. If any of you play mechwarrior living legends you would know that support mechs make the biggest impact on the battlefield if used correctly. The medium & heavy mechs are the most significant in fire power a mobility.

10 Million c-bills is a good starting point & buys the cheapest of weapons that only pew pew & not Boom Boom.

Me personally i will be watching out for Hunchback swarms of ac20 lances. EEEeppppp.

[Corsair114]

1 requisition form (gets you 1 'mech of your choice at start up).

10 million C-bills. Covers expenses, modifications, and whatever other tomfoolery the devs implement.

[Kenyon Burguess]

its a decent way to do things but i think a better number would be 7million. that nets you a low end heavy. people need to work to get the better mechs.

[MaddMaxx]

Geist Null, on 27 February 2012 - 05:40 AM, said:

its a decent way to do things but i think a better number would be 7million. that nets you a low end heavy. people need to work to get the better mechs.

Problem in that scenario is if they do not give out C-Bills like Halloween candy, getting the required funds for an Assault, after spending most of the starter funds, could take a long long time. Factoring in ongoing maintenance cost on the current ride.

It would be good to see all Classes represented and as noted, if done right, a Lance of Atlases wandering around would just be Missile bait for a well balanced Lance, with good Scouting capabilities.

Edited by MaddMaxx, 27 February 2012 - 06:12 AM.

[Ave]

I agree with Corsair114, everyone should start with 1 Mech and the rest of the money should cover the operating costs.

If 10 Million C-bills gets you the biggest Mech from the factory floor, then that should ok.

As to the rest of the C-Bills, its for operating costs.

My 2 cents on Operating costs.
Repairs and Ammo:

-Weapons:
More Ballistic weapons = higher operating costs for ammo.
Repairing a weapon should reduce its resale value, as well as may cause it to malfunction occasionally. Replacing a weapon will definitely have a cost; the bigger the weapon the higher the costs. Inexperienced Hunchback pilots may want to modify it to a Swayback after the first unsuccessful battle they barely walked away from.

-Armor:
Heavy armor will save you, and will costs more to replace after the battle. A light mech can dodge a shot, and won't cost much to repair, or to buy a new one if its beyond repair.


In regards to customization, customizing a Mech from a Mech factory should definitely have the Mech's price increased by a large magnitude beyond its market value, especially since it'll require a Mech factory and an army of engineers. This shouldn't be allowed unless the pilot has had a lot of kills under their belt already. No mech factory would associate with an untried pilot, let alone customize a mech for them, no matter how much C-bills it'll cost.

Simple customization or field modification should be allowed, as its within the means of say a Mech support team with field equipments and components. Which should make for an interesting game play, coz you'll need to disable a mech in order to salvage the good stuff. Destroying a mech in battle nets you scrap metal.

[Wyzak]

What I would like to see is a progression of pilots in game starting with lighter mechs and slowly earning enough in-game currency for "better" mechs. That way it might be a few weeks or months into the game when you would spot your first Atlas and your pilot would realize just how serious your two Houses are taking this conflict.

P.S. Dev's and playtesters and paying members can use assaults for specific battles early in the universe to add flavor.

Edited by Wyzak, 27 February 2012 - 07:31 AM.

[CoffiNail]

I would very much like to see something like this. Where you can pilot an Assault if you want to, Still need to earn for other mechs, or buy them heh. But I very much think that the ability to start in a asset of your choice is key here. As someone who wants to play as a commander role to start would need to grind with a light to get the mech he wants and has just wasted a week or two of putting points in to that light he has no intention on playing. This way he wants to be a Assault pilot Commander he can do that right awayand start tossing points in to that mech.

I think idealy a pilot should be able to take what ever starting asset he has and roll with it through a good few months maxing it out to the best of its abilities. It would suck having to level your mechs afte leveling another mech if you did not choose that.

Plus it is my guess a light mech will handle differently than a Assault, so you end up learning how to pilot the light mechs and then have to transition to the Assault. I think time being spent in the asset of choice would make the gameplay more enjoyable for all.

[Colonel Bogey]

Going with mechwarrior cannon I think any mech should be available at launch depending on your employment. Say for example, you start the game in house Steiner. Really only house Steiner mechs should be available. The ability to pay for and use an assault mech right away should be there, as well as maybe a few variants. That said, the game will probably chew you out pretty good if you do not think. My hope is that this game, being a team based game, will depend on coordination, making other mechs like scouts and medium mechs vital. If an assault mech runs out and dies off the bat because he does not pay attention to his team, balance has been acquired. For all the c-bills paid, that assult just became scrap.

Edited by Colonel Bogey, 27 February 2012 - 07:56 AM.

[AlanEsh]

Kip Wilson, on 26 February 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

... jumping into any Assault class 'mech and not having any idea of how to pilot it or knowing the map you're on or anything else that helps your team is doing a great disservice to your fellow team members...
WoT allows ...

MWO needs to avoid several pitfalls that WoT did not. This is one huge example... the fact that the heavies are simply better tanks than the mediums and lights, as a whole. If MWO succeeds with "role warfare" as they have described, a noob playing our scout will be just as detrimental to the team as a noob driving an Atlas.

If MWO ends up being a reskinned WoT, or decides to follow too many of WoT's paths, then I won't be playing no matter how cool it looks.

[Win44]

I think that as we open standard f2p accounts we will be given enough c-bills to buy a base level light mech, and have some c-bills leftover for repairs after I get my mech shot out from under me the first few matches. If I choose to invest some cash right at the start, I will be rewarded with a proportionate amount of c-bills that will allow me to start with a larger class of mech.

The tricky part with this idea is the c-bills earned per match vs repair/maintenance costs ratio. If I go with a big enough cash investment to turn in c-bills for an atlas, then get it shot out from under me the first match, I shouldn't be able to afford to fix it with the c-bills earned in that match.

Pulling another bad example from WoT, players will benefit from knowing repair/maintenance costs for a mech chassis before they purchase.

[Stripes]

Well, since people like to draw anology with WoT (and they have a right do so - WoT closest thing to MW:O concept so far), and after reading good sir Colonel Bogey post i suddenly got an idea. Developers, in one of blogs or interview (dont remember with enough accuracy), was telling us what they looking and WoT and LoL as example - so why not to use both approaches? Mix Free Weeks of LoL (damn, thats sounds very... strange to outsider ) with "nation" based tech trees of WoT. We already know, what players will be in need to chose between different Houses - then why (at least for "newbie" stage of the game - first several levels) not give then easy (compered to other techs) access to several most popular "house" mechs and weapons?
PreClan IS is all about money and influance - so if you want something special (lets say Cyclops as Steiner player) - well, be ready to earn and pay for it!
Ofcouse it leaves us a little mercs problem... But even them have favorite tools to get job done - it will be fun to see Annihilator as "free" assault for mercs

Edited by Stripes, 27 February 2012 - 09:40 AM.

[TheRulesLawyer]

10,000,000 c-bills is too much. Give them the minimum amount that will buy an assault chassis. Give people who buy a cheaper chassis the change.

[Leetskeet]

Voted for the Centurion because it's versatile and we don't know what the other two heavies will be. As much as I love the Catapult I have no idea what variants you'll be able to use, and I really don't want to play long range support right off the bat.

Also, I don't really think you should start off that kind of money in the beginning. I'm feeling more of a "Name your Pilot"/"Pick a house"/"Pick a role" and it'll give you the option of three or four mechs that suite that role well. You get different modules based on what role you chose. So choosing scout and then taking an Atlas gets you scouting/EW modules etc. etc. And once you're good to go, you start with something like 1.5m C-bills for ammo and repairs.

Makes a bit more sense to me than HERE'S ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY ANYTHING IN THE GAME GO FOR IT BRO

[Toothman]

You are certainly entitled to an opinion, and if this was a single player game I would agree with you. But as a team based game, jumping into any Assault class 'mech and not having any idea of how to pilot it or knowing the map you're on or anything else that helps your team is doing a great disservice to your fellow team members. They are counting on the Assaults to hold the line while they can do their jobs. If an Assault pilot is inexperienced or just to selfish to care, it turns a fun game into an unpleasant experience for everybody.


I play WoT also and the insta heavies can be annoying although anyone who's worked their way up can generally beat the insta tanks. Its also quite clear that the player base will be looking for which mechs are "op" and head right for those. With little or no knowlege they will automatically assume that bigger is better giving us fights with a disproportionate number of assault class mechs. I'd have to vote for making people earn them.

[Win44]

Aegis Kleais™, on 27 February 2012 - 09:49 AM, said:

I kind of find these threads a bit humorous as I do unsettling.

It basically comes down to the community having so little finite or tangible "goods" from the developers, that you start to see a lot of "what is your fave" or "what would you do" scenarios get played out which go into confined options rather than utilize the open-nature of the topic.

In short, it means the community is bored. I hope GDC KO's us out of our stupor with a nice 1-2 punch of new Mech goodness.

Good call, i've noticed this change on the forums myself. Here's to GDC information frenzy!

[Aegis Kleais]

Toothman, on 27 February 2012 - 09:54 AM, said:

You are certainly entitled to an opinion, and if this was a single player game I would agree with you. But as a team based game, jumping into any Assault class 'mech and not having any idea of how to pilot it or knowing the map you're on or anything else that helps your team is doing a great disservice to your fellow team members. They are counting on the Assaults to hold the line while they can do their jobs. If an Assault pilot is inexperienced or just to selfish to care, it turns a fun game into an unpleasant experience for everybody.

I play WoT also and the insta heavies can be annoying although anyone who's worked their way up can generally beat the insta tanks. Its also quite clear that the player base will be looking for which mechs are "op" and head right for those. With little or no knowlege they will automatically assume that bigger is better giving us fights with a disproportionate number of assault class mechs. I'd have to vote for making people earn them.

Well, it would have to be understood by the community that EVERYONE (Assault, Heavies, etc.) are all starting this game from the ground-floor. We're gaining experience in the game with every passing moment, so there will be a lot of Assaults who can't fight worth a lick and Scouts out there (un)successfully taking on 4 Mechs by themselves.

There will be tons (get it? TONS) of min/maxing going on in any game that affords the player so much customization. In MW4, I would hand out my Griever Timber Wolf build to those who said my abilities were based on my Mech's loadout alone. Once they had my build and came up against me I thoroughly trashed them, hoping they would then realize it really comes down to player skill in tandem with a good config.