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1. A mercenary group/faction mechbay feature.
So that in addition to "trial" and "owned" mechbays, a merc group can pool resources together and purchase Mechs and componenets for the team, to be managed by a commander or executive officer, that can then be accessed by all members of that faction/merc company.
Perhaps even some sort of taxation system could be implemented, so that a certain percentage of each member's earnings, determined by the CO/EO, is taken automatically and gathered in the faction account.
For example, whilst it would take an individual c. 100 games to earn 10,000,000 c-bills, with an average gross income of 100,000 c-bills per round, a company of 12 mechs could achieve the same, for their merc group, in a 12th of the time (9 games). With that money they could buy an Atlas for the team, deciding amongst themselves the rota for piloting it.
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2. Remove/substitute trial mechs.
New players would be mechless, having to join a faction just to get into the game. Each faction would have a garage of mechs, in a similar vein to the trial mechs, but faction friendly. For example, the Draconis Combine would field Catapults over the Federated Suns' Centurion. The player won't have any freedom to modify these mechs, and would merely earn a standard Mechwarriors wage, with the odd bonus thrown in. However promotion into higher ranks would grant a higher wage and access to heavier classes.
With new players, by default, being forced into light mechs as greenhorns, and not being giving trial Atlases straight of the bat, we can maintain diversity on the battlefield, promote a role-playing, progression based experience, and make those rare appearances of assualt mechs, piloted by Elite mechwarriors, a real sight to behold, as they should be.
After the player has saved up their wages on House campaings, they may decide to lone wolf it or join a merc group, granting much more freedom in respect to custom loadouts etc.
Of course, new players could just join a merc group straight off the bat if they have someone willing to sponsor them i.e. a friend or clan-mate, and loan them one of their pooled mechs.
I have a feeling the current trial mech system is a substitute or placeholder for a faction mech system anyway, so any confirmation on that?
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3. Dynamic galaxy map.
This one does not necessarily have to built into the game, although it would be a bonus. I expect the community to set up a league leaderboard of their own with galaxy map. Merc groups and factions could then wage war over planets themselves.
However, the dream would be full implementation into the game of a working, dynamic galactic warfare mechanic, with unique maps for a a fair number of high profile worlds, with plenty of generic maps to make up the numbers.
I say dynamic because I actually want to see planets being lost and won, and penalties and rewards being given for doing so.
For example, capturing the planet of Al Na'ir gains your faction/merc group access to the Yori 'Mech Works, producing the CPLT-C3 Catapult and the AS7-K Atlas as wells as various components such as engines (Vlar 300 XL) and weapon systems (Martell medium laser), making these items much cheaper to purchase. Whilst losing this planet would make such items harder to get, and thus more expensive.
Aside from adding a role-playing element, something like this would be an incentive to wage war for planets other than relatively meaningless point scoring on a community run tournament leaderboard.
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4. Pirates, they're better than ninjas.
Continuing on from point 3, some form of piracy would add yet more diversity to the meta-game and even in-game. (Faction, Merc, Pirate, Lone Wolf and Clan drops)
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Anyway, just some thoughts that jumped out at me these past two weeks of playing Open Beta. What are the chances of any of these being implemented and if so, in what form will they take, taking into consideration economic, technological and time limits.
And final question, what would you like to see?
