42 replies to this topic

[Meatball]

I know the clan invasion is exciting and all that, but why start the game timeline so close to the clan invasion? According to Sarna the Clan Invasion kicked off in the periphery August of 3049 and hit the IS in March of 3050, so we might get a few months of IS only battles. Why not let the game run a year or two with just IS warfare and then have a big upgrade to the clan invasion?

Of course, I'm biased, I prefer the 3025 tech more than the later stuff, but still, I think there's so much they'll be glossing over and missing out on if they just push the game quickly to the Clan Invasion.

What do you guys think?

Edited by Meatball, 05 March 2012 - 06:22 AM.

[CheeseThief]

The clan invasion will pretty much be the first expansion.

Canonically the clan invasion kicked off in June, so that'll give them roughly a year after the games release to get ready for it, hopefully.

[Sears]

I'm not sure at what point in 2013/3050 that the clan invasion starts, but i assume they've set it in 3049 so that they get a good 8-12 months of people playing IS warfare before they can release paid content (mechs,maps, weapons ect ect) with the clan invasion. And there's a few clan mechs that people will want to get there hands on and not have to wait a few years to do so. Plus it's a nice build up to something big, and i am interested to see how the real time passing in game will have on events.

[DaZur]

Agree with cheesethief..

The clan invasion and all the assets associated with it, is a amazing example of a built-in expansion pack.

The "Clan-Pack" is a tantalizing "dangling carrot" that will hold many members captive and involved with the community biding their time waiting for its release....

For me it's flecking hilarious... I keep visualizing the Clanners gritting their teeth, doing their XP grind with the IS mechs, all the while wishing they were sitting in an Clan Mech.

[Adridos]

Meatball, on 05 March 2012 - 06:09 AM, said:

I know the clan invasion is exciting and all that, but why start the game timeline so close to the clan invasion? According to Sarna the Clan Invasion kicked off in the periphery August of 3049 and hit the IS in March of 3050, so we might get a few months of IS only battles. Why not let the game run a year or two with just IS warfare and then have a big upgrade to the clan invasion?

Of course, I'm biased, I prefer the 3025 tech more than the later stuff, but still, I think there's so much they'll be glossing over and missing out on if they just push the game quickly to the Clan Invasion.

What do you guys think?

I thought you wanted challenge...

From the gear perspective, the best time to start is Dark Age, because everyone is equal, then and you can use all the mechs from the history, giving you the most options.

Edited by Adridos, 05 March 2012 - 06:28 AM.

[Der BruzZzler von Wiesndoof]

I love the clans, but i voted NO!
The clans will have their time, and if the time is right, i'm ready to pilot my Warhawk!
IS only is ok...for now!

[HappySpawn]

They're doing what Wargaming is doing with World of Tanks (and will do with WoWP and WoB). If you give out everything at once, people will grind until they have what they want, get bored, and wander off. If you give them a little bit at a time, you can release the game MUCH earlier, keep the players interested longer, and tweak things as you go along.

In my opinion, this is the best thing they could do. I want my Omnis, but forcing me to run around in IS equipment for a while will be a good learning experience. Afterall, I don't want to get my the paint on my Omni scratched...yet

[Colorfinger]

I would have preferred to start in 3025 but from a business perspective starting closer to the invasion makes much more sense. Many (and it is obvious in any favorite mech thread) of the modern BT fan started as a MechWarrior fan. Those fans don't want to pilot 3025 tech, they want a Timberwolf. To maximize player retention and money, they had to start the game with the carrot of those items within reach.

I would have preferred to start in 3025 and then do some time jumping in the form of expansion packs so that in a couple years we expanded into the clans but I completely understand wanting to maximize the experiences of those that started as clanners. In this set up the old BT guys have gotten the initial Mech load and the MW guys have their big get right around the corner.

[Sinitron]

I think starting with a focus on Inner Sphere 'mechs and politics is a good idea as it allows them time to perfect balance early on and balance later 'mechs around the initial wave, with minimal overlap. Some things will be broken or unfair on launch, it's pretty much a given - starting with a low number of IS 'mechs means there's less that can be blatantly unfair.

You also have to consider that ton for ton, many Clan 'mechs are just superior in every way compared to their IS counterparts. Who would pilot a Hunchback when the Hunchback IIC has close to double the firepower? In MW4, you would get racked down on for piloting an Awesome instead of a Nova Cat, and the games before that had even worse balance.

It's more important to have a fun and balanced game than 100% adherence to previous releases or table-top rules. 'Mech and weapon stats should be modified for the sake of making it as even as possible. Would you really want a team of 10 Clan 'mechs completely facerolling a team of 10 IS 'mechs? I don't think anyone would consider that fun or fair. Free-to-play is fine, pay-to-win is not - even if you have to buy access to Clan 'mechs, balance should still take priority.

Also, personally I think the 'Clan invasion was one of the most brutal and interesting times in the lore - it's something that would be fun to experience from an IS perspective, and allows for a great deal of developer-run events that players can participate in.

[Thorn Hallis]

Starting earlier would limit the amount of mechs/variants the developers could offer, which results in earlier stagnation, which results in probably less income for PGI.

[Meatball]

I agree with a bunch of posts above. If anything will kill a game quick is the 'grind' feel that World of Tanks is doing. I loved the game for 3 days, now I can't stand it. It's just a grind to get to the next tank and the misery of thinking, "Well, I could pay $10 and get some extra xp right now..." I know the free to play model required these types of setups to make people want to pay money to get a leg up, but it almost feels like they make it so miserable after a certain point to force you pay.

As for balance being a key component, I totally agree, and if there's anything more unbalancing in the universe than when the IS mechs started running up against the Clan Omni's, I don't know what it is. Seriously, Omni's were clobbering the IS troops at first. How you handle giving the Clan players a feeling of superiority while keeping the IS players from rioting due to balancing issues is beyond me.

I for one always enjoyed the earlier BT stuff. 2750/3025 because I felt like it required a bit more strategy and thinking. You couldn't fire every weapon you had because double heat sinks weren't around yet, you had to think through what to do. There was a perfect balance between speed, armor and firepower. Once the clan stuff hit the scene and the IS responded in the 3050/3055 books it got ridiculous. Mechs carried enough firepower to knock out something one or two classes higher than it.

Thorn Hallis, on 05 March 2012 - 08:15 AM, said:

Starting earlier would limit the amount of mechs/variants the developers could offer, which results in earlier stagnation, which results in probably less income for PGI.

I disagree. Take a look at the 2750/3025 books and there's a ton of mechs, especially when every mech has 3-4 variants.

[SilentObserver]

Personally i'm surprised that PGI gave themselves such a hard deadline for when the Clan expansion needed to be implimented. Hopefully they have not bit off more than they can chew with managing the initial game rollout/balancing and figuring out how to make the clans work in a way thats fun for both clan and IS players. I have faith in PGI and admire thier moxy for setting such a visible deadline.

Personally I would love to play durring the second succession war. Every could start out with star league tech and beat the snot out of each other. Then, as time passed and factories got destroyed Equipment and Mechs would become unavailable as the Universe slowy decays. But, i accept that i'm probalby one of the few that would enjoy that.

[Felicitatem Parco]

... what's a "Clan" and who are they invading?

[Nakir]

This discussion is moved to the section clans for obvious reasons.Bye !

[Fugu]

The way they do it it's just fine.
When the clans arive the IS will have plenty of players in maxed out 'Mechs. That'll be really interesting!

[Bloody Moon]

As others mentioned it's the "carrot on a stick" effect, place it too far away and players give up, place it too close and hc players will grab it too early (from the gameplay perspective). Also starting at 3049 gives the devs time to balance out the game and still implement some of the best toys within a reasonable time scale.

[Ghostrider45]

the time line is set up the way it is so you can get used to the older type of mechs with lemited star L tek then wen the clan move in the tek grows in jumps an leps till you get to the real nice XB,ER laser.an ERPPC. and all the real nice gear you see an play with in Mech 3 an 4 and they have to start some were you want them to SART all the way back at fisrt war they used mech in if so all you would have to play with would be a Mackie!!!!

[Thorn Hallis]

Meatball, on 05 March 2012 - 08:17 AM, said:

I disagree. Take a look at the 2750/3025 books and there's a ton of mechs, especially when every mech has 3-4 variants.

The 2750 mechs don't exist anymore outside of Comstar, and some of the 3025 mechs will probably never be seen again.

[CCC Dober]

OP: There are people like me that would probably like to start out on Clan Tech from day one. Last time I checked, Clan Tech was pretty popular and appealing to many players. In that sense it would be a more sensible question to ask:

Why not start with the Clan Invasion?

At this rate players like me have to wait a whole year before they can get started for real. And it's not like we're really looking forward using crutches to get our sea legs (read: IS mechs). I'm pretty sure that those who go down the Clan road want to be part of it from day one, not just a hastily added afterthought. There was bidding and fighting among the Clans to determine who was part of the invasion. That wasn't just done in one day, you know? I can very well believe that these fights were staged for the better part of a year, if that is even enough.

[Gremlich Johns]

Giving the game a year to shake the kinks out, both in the player base and software, before introducing "game-experience-changing" additions is prudent.

And I wish people would stop bringing up Dark Age. Our great grand kids might be around when that farce shows up, if ever.