91 replies to this topic

[New Day]

hanitora, on 21 November 2012 - 05:06 PM, said:

WTF r you talking about. Atlas is cheap as dirt to repair & rearm. No FF or endo steel.

The most expensive mech in the game is cheapest to repair?

[DogmeatX]

Surprised nobody has mentioned this but about the rearm and repair comment - I don't think that it is against the terms of service to NOT repair/rearm.

People don't repair/rearm because of the costs involved and the tedious extra grind that's required if you do fully repair and rearm. That's not bad behaviour, it's a fault of the game/grind. People are by default selfish and if there are shortcuts to make life a bit easier/feel less forced to do stuff they will take it (assuming the cost of the shortcut, if any, to them is worth it)

People typically respond better to carrots than stick i.e. reward over punishment. If the game gave more reward at the end of the match because you started off with full repair/ammo, then people would go in with full repair/ammo.

As it is in several cases you're better off personally not rearming and in some cases not fully repairing. Change that to make it more of a reward to go into battle fully kitted out and you'll see the change in behaviour you want.

Edited by DogmeatX, 21 November 2012 - 11:37 PM.

[cmopatrick]

while i agree with most of the op's premise, i have to ask just how common afk or suicide farming is... and how do you know they are farming? just the next to last match tonight, folks were accusing a pilot of afk farming, when i know he had crashed (we were on comms with him). for that matter, i had a "suicide" a few nights back when mine crashed while i was running away from traffic on the 3 line after an initial scout run in caustic (not even sure if i had any points at that stage). solos have no way once the client goes down to tell us they are not there. judging from the number of times a teammate or myself has had one of many locks or crashes, i am loathe to encourage treating folks with that misfortune as pariahs.

i think they need to simply eliminate the problem by giving zero reward to those who are not killed (by another mech), or have no activity in the last minute of the match. yes, this will hurt those who crash, but not as much as branding them as the moral equivalent of cheats. it will remove all incentive to "farm" with either suicide or afk... and make it more obvious that it is probably a LOT more rare than it might seem.

Edited by cmopatrick, 22 November 2012 - 12:00 AM.

[Taryys]

Essentially you will not necessarily know. Just report it and let the mods sort it out.
Some people are self reported farmers and that is easy enough to deal with.
If someone is farming they will have a specific play routine that is easy enough to determine.

[Volume]

renahzor, on 02 November 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

The problem isn't banning people for breaking rules, its naming dying too quickly an exploit/TOS violation because you failed at creating a game that was more rewarding to play both in currency and fun terms, than it is to die quickly. Think of how utterly ridiculous that sounds for a second. What if in Counterstrike you got banned for dying within a minute or so of match start? Not just banned but steam account wiped because its a TOS violation. The whole idea of it is asinine.

Also, we can go round and round about what PGI has said "Open Beta" means to them, which is essentially "We're going farmville beta" to cover our **** from everything that is broken/unfinished, but still make some cash. However by ignoring industry standards you also subvert the expectations of consumers therein. There are no more data wipes, money spent is permanent, that is a product BEING SOLD AT RETAIL. They want people spending money on it *now* not at "hard launch" whenever they get around to it.

I've had 3 friends come try MWO with me since open beta, All of them played no more than 10 matches and said they might come back in 6 months. First impressions are hard to get back.

This might be the best post I've read all day. Thanks for telling it like it is. I wish PGI realized they can only have "one launch" and just delayed open beta. The few friends I tried to get into the game just gave up with this trial 'Mech stuff. I'd even gladly give them the C-Bills or MC to buy a Hunchback, but the game has no function for that, either.

[Icebound]

Supposedly they're still planning on making changes to how trial mechs work. So maybe it won't be so bad later..?

[Taryys]

I have fixes listed here:

How To Reduce The Grind And Create A Great New User Experience

[Variance]

renahzor, on 02 November 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

The problem isn't banning people for breaking rules, its naming dying too quickly an exploit/TOS violation because you failed at creating a game that was more rewarding to play both in currency and fun terms, than it is to die quickly. Think of how utterly ridiculous that sounds for a second. What if in Counterstrike you got banned for dying within a minute or so of match start? Not just banned but steam account wiped because its a TOS violation. The whole idea of it is asinine.

Also, we can go round and round about what PGI has said "Open Beta" means to them, which is essentially "We're going farmville beta" to cover our **** from everything that is broken/unfinished, but still make some cash. However by ignoring industry standards you also subvert the expectations of consumers therein. There are no more data wipes, money spent is permanent, that is a product BEING SOLD AT RETAIL. They want people spending money on it *now* not at "hard launch" whenever they get around to it.

I've had 3 friends come try MWO with me since open beta, All of them played no more than 10 matches and said they might come back in 6 months. First impressions are hard to get back.

QFT. I love the MW IP, which is the reason I still lurk these forums even though I gave up playing not long after starting. People afk farming, not repairing and rearming, etc, are the SYMPTOMS of bad game design, not the disease. And the very fact that OP made this topic is proof of that. Who is this open letter to? New players. People who are coming into this fresh, they see a system/game/whatever, and they figure out the best way to play it. If they play 10 games and realize that they're never going to get anywhere because they spend every last cent they make repairing and rearming....surprise, they aren't going to do it anymore! And the answer isn't to "subscribe". If PGI just wanted every person playing to be a sub, they should have just stuck a price on the tin and sold it lock, stock, and barrel.

Edited by Variance, 03 December 2012 - 02:36 PM.

[xX_Nero_Xx]

some of this is just cause ppl like to troll no lobby means the troll in game

[ArmandTulsen]

Reporting people for not repair/rearming?!

LOLOL GTFOUTTA HERE WITH THAT NONSENSE!

[kilgor]

The other problem is if your computer does crash or you exit trying to fix the cockpit display, there is no way to get back in the game, so there needs to be a way to join back in as long as your 'Mech hasn't been destroyed.

[Taryys]

Yea, a reconnect option is a great idea.