265 replies to this topic

[Warenwolf]

Marvyra, on 27 October 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

But people, it's still BETA even if it goes open.

No, it isn't - despite what devs might choose to call it. However you choose to look at it, this game's release date is on 29th. You can't hide behind "this is open beta" excuse while at same time charging for the services (MC, premium account, garage space etc, etc...) - nobody is going to buy into that excuse (except the rabid fan boys).
The average player (that 98% of every F2P gamer's player mass) that starts playing this game on the 29th doesn't give rat's "behind" for the excuses of why some fundamental features are missing from this game right now.

I am under NDA so I cannot tell specifics but I am in alpha and one close beta for the two games that have far more content than this game (as of now). Luckily for PGI they are not direct competitors but it is bit disheartening seeing the stark difference in the quality of the product (and when I speak about quality I am not only limiting myself to the contents of the two games)

I really, really wish for PGI to roll in so much money so that even the lowliest employee's kids' grandkids don't have to work a day of their life. But I suspect that are about to commit grave strategic mistake. I wish to be proven wrong - I don't think I will be .

Edited by Warenwolf, 27 October 2012 - 08:47 AM.

[HRRxStormBringer]

Chopsaw, on 27 October 2012 - 08:17 AM, said:

I scroll and I scroll looking for any responses from a staff member and I don't find one. This is what I've been finding over and over again....anemic initial communication that draws a bunch of questions and then silence. What's the point of trying? There are so many valid concerns/questions repeated over and over, but no response to them.

FWIW, the staff/mods are monitoring the threads. I know this because I was informed by a mod that my initial post was forwarded to Russ and the Devs.

More thoughts on the subject - the only logical explanation I can come to, is that the devs are under pressure from Russ who is under pressure from the Investors to go Open Beta. I don't know how they could have logically burnt through $5mil in Founders' money already, but then again, I've never run a gaming title before. So the investors are like "push the game out", and Russ, despite his best efforts to prevent that from happening, is finally having to acquiesce to the Investors' demands. There's little chance that anyone who plays this game on a regular basis feels that this is ready for Open Beta. It appeals to us because we're fanatics - but to others who aren't, this game is going to have little appeal, and in the long run, the revenue stream and size of the community will suffer as a result of a pre-mature launch.

There are so many fundamental things missing that are wrong with the game (something as simple as item descriptions with weapon damage), and other features that are ominously absent (a proper out-of-game communication interface, community warfare), that a "newbie" coming in to this game will have little content to motivate him or her to remain interested.

I mean - why don't you test it even? Get a small group of 10 non-mechwarrior fans, and let them play it for a week. At the end of the week, see if they still want to keep playing. I'd bet that the retention percentage would be fairly low - 10-20%, perhaps.


Lastly, with regards to the question of "exhausted closed beta testers", I don't think that really applies to most of us at all. Most of us are here because we love the game - and just enjoy playing something, anything that is Mechwarrior Universe based - most of us have already unlocked our mechs, and yes, although we're building up useless Exp that won't likely be used for anything, it doesn't have an impact on my decision to play the game. It has no bearing whatsoever. And, if you were to ask "would you rather have a better game and community in the long run, than "suffer" some additional "pain" while we tweak and expand the content?", I would undoubtedly say yes. Every time.

Edited by HRRxStormBringer, 27 October 2012 - 09:32 AM.

[MastaChang10]

Great decision on giving us some good well thought reasons with the announcement. I appreciate you taking the time to share some of the internal thought process with us.

The game has been a blast and I look forward to the open beta. Thanks again.

[Normon]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this in the past 7 pages, but will the closed beta testers be compensated like last patch or no?

[Zeiks]

My two cents would be that it would really have been awesome to have access to some kind of bug/task tracking tool (JIRA like) for beta tester (even if it's only read-only)

That would really have helped to unclutter some forum threads that ends up somewhat repetitive (same bug posting) and be really helpful to know on what issues the developers are working on.

Also, maybe I didn't look hard enough but I sure would have liked an in-game bug report utility that automatically notes a few data like (mech status/positions and the like) so I could report map problems/collision detection errors/FPS drop at specific spots/ etc... while I'm playing.

On a final note, I agree with the many posters that mentions there are a lots of bugs that could have been detected with internal testing. Some patch releases sounds like there's a lot of fixes that are submitted right before deadline and internal testers doesn't seem to have the time to test enough the final build before it gets into our hands.

Beside that, great job and I sure love the game!

[SuperBall]

Nicely done MWO team! (staff and players alike)

[Raptor6]

Just curious as to when you see the electronic countermeasures coming onto the game?

[SimonJames1975]

Normon, on 27 October 2012 - 09:23 AM, said:

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this in the past 7 pages, but will the closed beta testers be compensated like last patch or no?

We get 2 weeks of free premium account benefits and a choice when to activate our initial premium time by the sounds of it. Personally I have found the test to be reward enough itself.

Now let me voice my opinion on open beta, the state of the game and content. I don't require more maps, more equipment or more mechs. I feel time would be best spend on optimising the mech lab, fixing client performance issues, increasing network and server performance. Everything else can come after a solid foundation has been realised.

I believe most people in open beta will fully understand what a beta test is, why there's not a mass amount of content being released while the game has bugs and realise everything they see is a WIP and subject to improvement. I know the internet seems to be full of ****heads but that is just people being people when hiding behind a monitor with no accountability. I'm a proper tool on the internet but in real life I'm an honest, sensitive, understanding and very intelligent person, not conceited at all.

[Logi]

Jeah! Thank´s for the update Russ. You (I mean all of PGI of course) are doing a great job. I believe you are doing a great balance act between TT rules vs. FPS shooter and of course what you have in mind vs. what community wants/needs vs. what your partners and investors await from you. So please keep on the great work.

[StonedDead]

Alright, here we go. Guess I'm as ready as I'm going to get for this. Lets do this! Thanks for letting me be a beta tester.

[ackack47]

Battlecruiser, on 26 October 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:

what about game optimization. when are we getting that?

I got it, you didn't get it? You must have missed it...

[Warenwolf]

HRRxStormBringer, on 27 October 2012 - 08:56 AM, said:

I mean - why don't you test it even? Get a small group of 10 non-mechwarrior fans, and let them play it for a week. At the end of the week, see if they still want to keep playing. I'd bet that the retention percentage would be fairly low - 10-20%, perhaps.

I too fear that retention numbers will be on the lower end (that being said retention number of 20% is rather good for F2P if you open up with high numbers of new players trying out the game in the crucial initial post-release stage - I think WoT has 20-25 % and financially they are not exactly suffering). So you need more than 10 test subjects to see the true retention percentages.

[Fentus]

One thing I don't think people realize is that when you release MWO is that its not over... Even after launch with all the addicted players many will be putting money in to skin their mechs and buy hero mechs. With all this income it would be stupid for you to stop adding content after release. The whole Idea of MWO is that you can add everything in due time, but you just need to be able to pay your developers. A good example of what I am expecting is something like "League of Legends" where you get almost a monthly if not a bi monthly update with a few new goodies or a mech/variation of a mech.

Just think in a few years form now we will be seeing 100's of mechs and 300-500 different variation of mechs.

Subliminal message: Note this is from a guy who payed 120$ because he loves battletech, I am sure I will be paying much more over time. (ADD THE DEVASTATOR PLEASE!)

Edited by Fentus, 27 October 2012 - 11:26 AM.

[Skylen]

Bring on the open beta!
I just hope you guys are hiding a bunch of content under your skirts and your going to suprise the whole community on the 29th open beta patch! New mechs, maps, game modes, better match maker, better mechlab interface, dx 10,11,12 (which ever is the latest), trees that fall, buildings that take damage, collision mechanics that work, i could go on but these are my main ones =)
OPEN BETA YAY!!!

[Sesambrot]

Open Beta coming Monday?!?

Two words:
Firing Delay...

Srsly, I'd have thought that at least that would have been sorted out till OB as it pretty much equals lagshooting!
Oh yeah, and the beta-forums will explode!
Mostly with the same BS-discussions we've already seen a 100 times over, Radar, GaussRifle, Gaussapult, etc. (including the above)

[Minos Murdoc]

SimonJames1975, on 27 October 2012 - 10:20 AM, said:

I feel time would be best spend on optimising the mech lab, fixing client performance issues, increasing network and server performance. Everything else can come after a solid foundation has been realised.

They will be will working on those issues. The maps and mechs will be being worked on by the level designers, environment artist, character artists and animators. While the issues that are happening will be being looked at by other departments (gameplay, code etc...)

Edited by Youngbull1980, 27 October 2012 - 11:43 AM.

[WidowMaker91]

HRRxStormBringer, on 26 October 2012 - 04:09 PM, said:

This game only keeps our interest because we're die-hard fans - since you opened this thread for comment, I'll offer mine. You're going to go open-beta anyway, but if you were to ask, before you go open Beta, I'd suggest you:

1) Concentrate on introducing significantly more maps
2) Introduce different types of game-play other than Base Capture
3) Fix the rudimentary "chat" interface, and also create a players' lobby.
4) Make the existing maps less mundane/colour neutral.
5) Statistics. Lots more.
6) End the part where it costs millions just to tweak mechs

I don't really think for the average, non-mechwarrior fan that this game is overly interesting. I would think that someone who hasn't previously played Mechwarrior titles would think this game pretty tame. Try a few mechs, run a few maps - there's really not that much to it. Seems to me it would get rather boring pretty quickly.

So just for the record, although this post isn't overly eloquently stated (I'm exhausted atm), I think making this game open-beta is a mistake. It has nothing to do with my founders' status, it has to do with the game itself, even though, yes, it is "beta", but still - this is the unofficial launch of your product, and there is still a great deal to be added. And yes, it's a slight relief that after you go open beta, our stats will no longer be reset - but I don't think the price is worth the cost (and who's to say you couldn't give Closed Beta testers some kind of 'bonus' to relieve the pain, anyway?).


In any case, you guys are doing a great job - and thank you for it, but I think going open-beta is pre-mature.

best thing i read all day

[InRlyehDreaming]

I just wanted to say good luck, we're all counting on you.

That and thanks for bringing this game to life, and giving us the chance to break it before everyone else!

Edited by InRlyehDreaming, 27 October 2012 - 11:50 AM.

[Pax Bellum]

First, spoken like a true exec, Russ well done !
Second, Thanks for putting this old mech' pilot back in the cockpit.
Third, I say no pain no gain and pushing for open beta is definatley going to be a pain for all parties involved.
Fourth, after the open beta sixdemonbag is released, plz keep up the utmost attention to your clientel and stepped up pace of adding content for the newbies to teeth on.
Cheers and thanks for the communication !!

[Sephlock]

"We will be resetting C-Bills, MC, XP, GXP, Mechs, and inventory. The only thing you’ll keep is your friends list. However, if you have a Founders pack, everything will be added from that pack. Also anything you’ve purchased (with MC) will be added back."

So wait, that means we should frantically spend all our MC because we'll both get what we paid for and get all our MC back?

Or...?

And what if we've done the old buy-with-mc-sell-for-cbills thing? Are we SOL?

Or am I just misinterpreting the wording somehow? "Added" back"?

Edited by Sephlock, 27 October 2012 - 12:08 PM.