425 replies to this topic

[Taizan]

QuantumButler, on 03 December 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

Fresh recruits aren't given what amounts to defective gear, trail mechs are functionally defective. And they certainly aren't shipped off to the frontlines immediately, they're given training in safe conditions first so they can learn to do their job.

Well they worked for me, managed to finance my first mech after about combined trial play of 6 hours or so. Of course I wasn't as combat effective as an owned mech, but as I said after understanding how things work in MWO it worked out fine for me.

The training part is something completely different, that imo definitely needs to be included into the game. Trial mech != training mech. Its basically a demo mech, just like demo software also has its limitations and testing is free, trial mechs do so as well.

[QuantumButler]

Taizan, on 03 December 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

Well they worked for me, managed to finance my first mech after about combined trial play of 6 hours or so. Of course I wasn't as combat effective as an owned mech, but as I said after understanding how things work in MWO it worked out fine for me.

The training part is something completely different, that imo definitely needs to be included into the game. Trial mech != training mech. Its basically a demo mech, just like demo software also has its limitations and testing is free, trial mechs do so as well.

Not everyone has the patience of a saint to suffer through hours of defective gear and getting torn to shreds by streakcats and lrms.

[Sevaradan]

the NPE is fine I ground trial mechs when OB started its not that bad.

[Lanessar]

QuantumButler, on 03 December 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

Not everyone has the patience of a saint to suffer through hours of defective gear and getting torn to shreds by streakcats and lrms.

QFT. I introduced six people to this game. They haven't stayed due to the "new player retention model". They liked the game, minus net code bugs.

[bug3at3r]

The problem IMO is the trial mechs they're choosing.
A commando that can't even go over 100kph? Thats practically trolling new players that want to pilot scouts.
Then the LRM cat with laughably low ammo.
Mechs with ERPPC's without enough heatsinks to properly cool a FLE-19 stationed on an arctic planet. (If you dont get it the FLE-19 practically boated machine guns)
Stop giving us newbies trials that have multiple jump jets, that's just a slap in the face. Now that I'm thinking about it, pull all but 1 JJ out of the trials and then put in HS's/'ammo, that alone will do a lot for some of them.

The 4SP is a decent mech out of the box. Heats manageable and it packs a punch. Before i even had the money to modify it I was grinding away with it and getting cbills faster then with any of the other trials you've ever givin us, or at least that I've been around for. Give rookies mechs like that.


edit: spelling

Edited by bug3at3r, 03 December 2012 - 02:19 PM.

[Adrienne Vorton]

actually i am curious to see stock only matches... i think they could be more fun and thrilling than the ultra-fast-paced-highpower-build matches... takes more skill to fight in a stock mech, than just spamming the alpha button...

bug3at3r, on 03 December 2012 - 02:10 PM, said:

The problem IMO is the trial mechs they're choosing.
A commando that can't even go over 100kph? Thats practically trolling new players that want to pilot scouts.

yea well...the choise of trialmechs is a bit weird, i gotta give you that...i alwaysthought that it´s a bad idea to put a newbie into a slow lightmech... it´s a death-sentence (raven, w/o any EWF stuff... was the one i first scratched my head)

Edited by Adrienne Vorton, 03 December 2012 - 02:21 PM.

[INAPPROPRIATE NAME 0001]

Not the first time the devs have shown they have no idea what they're talking about.

[Taizan]

QuantumButler, on 03 December 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

Not everyone has the patience of a saint to suffer through hours of defective gear and getting torn to shreds by streakcats and lrms.

Lol .. patience of a saint. In one week if you play very casually about 1 hour per evening you got your first mech. how much simpler should it get? Have you even used trial mechs to finance your first mech?
Its so simple. You grab one, jump in a random game, try your best to support your team and about 1/3 matches you win, the other times you don't and you can bank a fixed amount of cash with no R&R. The time some people have spent in this thread saying how trial mechs are fail would have sufficed to finance your own heavy mech.

Really - this is as good as it gets right now. Maybe later on they will throw in a tutorial mission and hand out a wad of c-bills or something, but for now trial mechs do their job..

Also TBD matchmaking / ranking / trial pairing to stay on topic

[bug3at3r]

Taizan, on 03 December 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

Lol .. patience of a saint. In one week if you play very casually about 1 hour per evening you got your first mech. how much simpler should it get? Have you even used trial mechs to finance your first mech?
Its so simple. You grab one, jump in a random game, try your best to support your team and about 1/3 matches you win, the other times you don't and you can bank a fixed amount of cash with no R&R. The time some people have spent in this thread saying how trial mechs are fail would have sufficed to finance your own heavy mech.

Really - this is as good as it gets right now. Maybe later on they will throw in a tutorial mission and hand out a wad of c-bills or something, but for now trial mechs do their job..

Also TBD matchmaking / ranking / trial pairing to stay on topic

I've grinded through trials as well, and I have to be honest;

I didn't enjoy the experience.

Edited by bug3at3r, 03 December 2012 - 02:26 PM.

[Drenzul]

BFalcon, on 03 December 2012 - 07:30 AM, said:

I think they're trying to drop the hint: Learn on the lighter mechs first... for one thing, they earn more money when you have your own...

I'd sooner see BVs brought in - let stock (and near-stock) mechs face the trials... they're comparable and still balanced (otherwise you risk dropping some poor begger in his first owned mech against everyone else if you make the Trial/Non-Trial division).

Please let them do this.

I'd love dropping my Atlas-RS with a load of similarly matched mechs. Its fully custom but the BV is very low (zero special equipment or T1/2 stuff), its really cheap to run and I beat most of everything with it, including streak cats, gauss cats and 4xs

Let the massacre in noob town commence!

The problem is, a lot of experienced players will work out quickly that they can build extremely effective, low BV mechs like this quite easily and massacre noobs all day. Think about it for a second, a 9 small laser hunchy with singe HS is extremely low BV (much lower than some stocks) yet extremely effective. Its not the only pure T1 build that works very well either.

[Mordale]

Trial Mechs are just fine. I just started playing this weekend and i did ok,..yep i got killed alot in them. But i got Cbills and got my own mech. There will ALWAYS be someone better than you and have a better mech. But that should make you get your skills up to speed and take them down a peg or two! Happy Hunting!

[Taizan]

bug3at3r, on 03 December 2012 - 02:25 PM, said:

I've grinded through trials as well, and I have to be honest;
I didn't enjoy the experience

That is unfortunate that you did not get anything out of it and that it felt like a grind to you. I guess everyone has a different threshold from when on something feels like a grind. Many other subscription based or retail games have way more grind involved than this if you want to be competitive in multiplayer / PVP.

[John Norad]

Sevaradan, on 03 December 2012 - 02:07 PM, said:

the NPE is fine I ground trial mechs when OB started its not that bad.

Judging others by your own standards is a bad way to make money in a F2P environment. Or let's say it can be a very bad way. Depends on your standards..
At any rate trying to understand your customers and to build a game they enjoy playing tends to be a bit smarter, and more successful. Otherwise you're relying on your luck.

[Sprouticus]

What makes trial mechs a problem

1) Armor: Not just the stock amounts, but the torso front/rear values are out of whack for MWO. You get hit in the back a LOT in MWO, especially for light mechs.

2) heat sinks: Cant say more on this than has already been said

3) Ferro: Ferro was more common than endo in BT (I believe due to costing). Not true in MWO, in fact Endo costs a LOT less to maintain.

4) Weapons: This is actually the easiest thing to fix. Once weapons balance is addressed, most of the weapons loadouts will be more viable

5) Ammo: Just not enough stock.



But the biggest factor is.....{drum roll}

skill. Straight up. New players need to be isolated, even more than stock trial mechs.

[Sevaradan]

how much less of a grind do you want? everyone to be given 1 of each variant at account creation?

[Accurs3D]

Russ says trial mechs are extremely good because he obviously doesn't play the game.

[Gremlich Johns]

I believe the Trial mechs to be great exposure to new players who need to learn about managing a "stock" mech without expending their own funds foolishly. Weapons grouping and heat management in addition to learning the way an engine feels is great on someone else's dime MC/C-bill account. If you know how to pilot a mech well, keep your points of view about "stock" to yourself. Frankly, I think there should be stock-only drops - this would test the mettle of any pilot. This would eliminate a player's crutch.

Trial mechs are great. I take one once a day whether I need it or not. Win or lose, I still get some c-bills for my test drive. I also do not die everytime I take one out. (No, I don't hide)

Edited by Gremlich Johns, 03 December 2012 - 02:49 PM.

[Fiachdubh]

The problem with stock mechs is that people are not using them in the role that they were designed for. I use 3 near stock Hunchies (removed small laser on all) and was having a disastrous time until eventually changed my play style to suit the individual mech weapons load out and they have been great since then (at least when I remember not to stroll into enemy mech formations while day dreaming).

[Dirk Le Daring]

@OP : I ran all my founders mechs to the point of xp cap WITHOUT modification, and I discovered that stock mechs are good. You just gotta learn how to use them.

[Teralitha]

yawn....