45 replies to this topic

[Korbyn McColl]

I think you guys are being too literal when it comes to BT Canon.

The game will stay day to day. What will change will be the rate at which events occur. As the devs have hinted at, this isn't THE BT timeline. This is a "parallel universe" of sorts. Player actions will have an impact and the devs will adjust things as they see fit.

[TheRulesLawyer]

I'm sure we'll have jumps to introduce new tech at a reasonable rate. Sticking 1:1 would eventually stagnate the game. That's death for a F2P

[Major Tom]

I would have to look at the battletech timeline to accurately predict that, which PGI is clearly doing based on their ISN (Inner Sphere News) broadcasts. But I would guess be 9 months of realtime before we jump to a future timeline. Although I feel all time jumps will be predicated on the release of new technology to keep the game engaging. We will continue with 3049 tech until new technologies are exhausted, at which time the game will advance to another era of change.

I also believe we will be excluded from major universe defining engagements, these need to play out in a narative to preserve the timeline. But I am curious how the Clans will be handled. Will be be able to play as clans, will clan tech weaponry be availible for inner sphere mechs?

[MogCarns]

I am not exactly sure what the hell you are talking about.

The absolute last act of BattleTech was Katherine Stiener-Davion joining Clan Wolf, fiction wise. Tabletop Gameplay wise, you have a choice of any faction and a legitimate reason to start shooting any other faction.

EVERYTHING ELSE is your poorly written fan fiction. There are no Snub Nosed PPCs, Rail Guns, Rotary Autocannons, 300 ton mech, or any of that crap. We do not want to listen to it any more than we want to listen to how you equipped your Galaxy Class starship with borglasers and Qshields, then made out with Jeri Ryan.

As it is, this is the most exciting timeline in Battletech history. This is it. There is no need for there to be a speeding up of the timeframe, or skips. What are tyou going to skip to, that you cannot ALREADY do? Marik/Liao bite back? Chaos March? Bulldog? FedCom? You can do all of those already, in this timeframe.

Hell, they will need at least til the Truce just to have an established base of planets and the art for the Clan Mechs for the Clan players.

I was pretty stoked about 3015. 3049 works just fine for me.

[Seabear]

The 1-1 is an excellent way to develope and maintain the game. Not everyone is enamoured with the clans, "new tech" and the new mechs.Weither in the original BT timeline or in this on, things develop at a pace. What did they do back in the days when the universe was just the IS with the left over tech of the Star League and the ravages of 4 major wars and uncounted conflicts that made WWII look like a minor planetary disturbance (wait, that's just what it was -in game).

Mech combat is mech combat weither you carry the latest in Jihad equipment or the salvage of a 3025 battlefield. Sure you can't ignore things like heat and minimum distance, and your loadout is not as long ranged or as fast recycling, but it's still the same basic thing. Find the enemy. Position yourself. Kill him. To do so requires patience, mangement and and dealing with restrictions one may never have had to even consider before. It puts a great deal of people outside their comfort zones. That is not a bad thing. Growth comes when we face obstacles, restrictions and our own discomfort. Enjoy the moment. Learn the skills these tech limits impose. You will find you are a better mechwarrior and a better person for it.

Be patient; the shiny bright new toys are coming. I'm just afaid that too many of us will be on the pointy end of them.

[Rayge]

I don't see why they couldn't just 'jump' 10 years from the clan invasion once we're all used to the clan mechs.

[Naduk]

I don't see them jumping the time line , rather id expect them to shift events to fit.
In any case does it really matter, just being able to play the game is enough for me.

[Dlardrageth]

Rayge, on 13 March 2012 - 07:36 PM, said:

I don't see why they couldn't just 'jump' 10 years from the clan invasion once we're all used to the clan mechs.

I don't see why they couldn't just make all clans AI-controlled.

See what I did there? It might be surprising to you, but not all of us might want to "get used" to clan Mechs or even care for piloting one particularily. So why throw everything asunder to cater to just one part of the player base?

[Zarkan]

eh... there are probably 20 clan fans for every one IS fan.

[SnowDragon]

Yeah, I'd put my money on Clanner bots for the time being, until more solid data comes around. I for one like the 1:1 dayscale. However, it does present a problem in travelling from system to system, or even battlefield to battlefield on a big enough planet. I think, if the 1:1 scale is to be kept intact, there might have to be some suspension of some realism for it (Travel not putting you out of the game for three weeks IRL, for example)

[Dlardrageth]

Zarkan, on 13 March 2012 - 08:30 PM, said:

eh... there are probably 20 clan fans for every one IS fan.

Care to offer any proof for that wild guess of yours? No? Thought so, thank you very much...

Could at least have tried to make up some bogus statistics if you tried a trolling approach like this.

[guardiandashi]

anyway they don't have to do a "timejump"

if they decide they want to give people an option to play in say 3055 they could set an additional "server" that also maintains a 1:1 day time system but has the base date be 3055 instaid of say 3049-3051 when it activates

heck if its popular enough they could have 3025 (ish) 3039ish, 3050ish, 3055ish, 306x and even 3085 servers if they choose

kinda like how wow has lots of servers I mean it doesn't all have to be 3049 server davion server kurita, etc it all depends on how it goes and what they feel will work the best

[Nik Van Rhijn]

Zarkan, on 13 March 2012 - 08:30 PM, said:

eh... there are probably 20 clan fans for every one IS fan.

According to this thread http://mwomercs.com/...rs/page__st__60 it's 60:40 to IS at the moment.
Previous poll was the other way round, but a lot of Clanners were here from the beginning. Numbers have been changing consistently to IS over time. From memory first poll was 70:30 to Clans.

[Karel Spaten]

Tk3997, on 10 March 2012 - 02:56 PM, said:

The key wars and battles aren't spaced in a way to accomdate it either, there's a HUGE gap in the middle of the 50s were nothing much happens for instance.

The Red Corsair raids, the Pirates War, the Dragoon Civil War, the assassination of Melissa Steiner-Davion, another Skye uprising, the WoB nuclear cluster**** on Gibson, the Refusal War and Operation Guerrero are definitely examples of nothing much happening.

[AdamBaines]

People are so antsy for the Clans. I like the clans, but there is so much to do in the universe until they get here. Hey here is an idea. How about everyone steps outside of their box and try something different? Get a new universe perspective. I have always been House Marik but here I'm going to try something different. If you have not noticed, I have not chosen an affiliation because I want to see how it all shapes up, then choose something different. Yea its fun being Clan sometimes and whacking people around with my big stick. But its also fun being the exact opposite, a bandit on the fringe right before the clan invasion.......

The diversity in Battletech is what makes it fun....not just sitting in your box throwing stones.

[MaddMaxx]

Karel Spaten, on 14 March 2012 - 03:25 AM, said:

The Red Corsair raids, the Pirates War, the Dragoon Civil War, the assassination of Melissa Steiner-Davion, another Skye uprising, the WoB nuclear cluster**** on Gibson, the Refusal War and Operation Guerrero are definitely examples of nothing much happening.

And those are only some of the ones written/known about. With +2000 Planets across the vastness of the Inner Sphere, it seems more than plausible for the Dev to write new Historic events and add them to the Legend Sheet.

It is my real hope, that some day, if not my own MW handle/nickname, the name of my Merc group, may see itself in/on the Inner Sphere News Feed. Whether it be due to heroics on behalf of a House, or due to something not quite so heroic. perhaps done in the name of the almighty C-Bill. Either way, MWO has an opportunity, as do its players, to help write a brand new Chapter of IS history, that can ride alongside, with pride, the existing one.

Perhaps the Dev will allow some of us to write up stories, worthy of the News Feed, consider them AAR's based on how we saw the battle that we took place in on some remote Border planet. That would be very cool.

Real events, in Real Time told by those whom were actually involved.

OMG! I think I just had me a MWO based nerdgasm from the future. LOL

[FireNova]

Tk3997, on 10 March 2012 - 02:56 PM, said:

I think they probably break it then and fast forward about six years to 3058/59 and pick up at the counterattack into Clan Smoke Jaguar space.

Slight obvious fix.

Which brings us to the point where a bad precedent was set: Killing off fanbases (obviously the Jaguars in this case as most people have curiously not mentioned directly in here so far). I keep wondering if the devs have any plans to prevent the 3058-3060 part of the timeline that they will inevitably fast forward to from becoming one huge "denial of free choice" clusterfunk event and only **** off a good number of people who have invested time, effort and, to a larger business view, MONEY, into playing as the Jaguars and buying camo color options, mechs, purchasable items, whatever, etc. This is something that I would like to see addressed sometime in the near future hopefully so as not to drive away/and or alienate potential new players from wanting to have free choice when it comes to faction selection. Because who would want to select a faction only to have it not be available later on and have all that hard work and effort swept aside like that?? It would be like saying that players would select/play as the Horde in WoW and then later knowing down the road they would be killed off......who would put effort into making/leveling a Horde character knowing it would be pointless later on? NOBODY THATS WHO.

Because nothing says "discouraging faction selection" and "limiting options" more than indirectly telling players: "We are gonna skip to Bulldog/Serpent and remove entirely the CSJ faction with no hope of survivors to play as in the Periphery or elsewhere so better choose another faction quick despite all the time and effort you put into leveling your character/capturing planets for the Jaguars for the past two or more years throughout the entirety of the Clan Invasion."

Not being rude in any way here, just saying why following BT canon lore/timelines exactly to a T in a video game like MWO is not good. And yeah there will be "timewarps". No way this game can go by 1:1 timeline for 10+ years and still remain a strong game in a fast paced and ever rapidly changing gaming industry.

Either way, some leniency is needed I think if this game is going to be successful without having unneeded and sudden disruptions to the time that people invest in a certain faction simply because "the lore said so".

Again, another example of counter-productivity when it comes to the lore/gameplay balance. A competitive game MUST be balanced with little to no "lore regulations" if we are to ever see real competitive gameplay come to this game. Competitive play and canon lore is like water and electricity - THEY DO NOT MIX.

[Gorith]

If your talking about skipping to introducing new mechs and equipment... theres PLENTY that exist upto 3050 I don't see them running dry anytime soon.

For that Im estimating something like LoL in this factor prolly releasing a new mech every month or so. At that rate they would still have years of content to drop on us even at 1:1 ratio

Edited by Gorith, 14 March 2012 - 09:13 AM.

[MaddMaxx]

Quote

"Again, another example of counter-productivity when it comes to the lore/gameplay balance. A competitive game MUST be balanced with little to no "lore regulations" if we are to ever see real competitive gameplay come to this game. Competitive play and canon lore is like water and electricity - THEY DO NOT MIX.

Especially if you pick the FRR on day one. Your Factions time is quite limited, or your turf (ownership of) gets very heavily compressed.

[Damocles]

I don't see them jumping around or abandoning the 1:1 scale.

Honestly there will be areas some fans might miss due to things happening too fast.