36 replies to this topic

[Felicitatem Parco]

StaIker, on 16 May 2012 - 06:15 PM, said:

Why would anyone want to penalise creativity and diversity?

Because BattleTech is set a thousand years in the future where centuries of Wars have ravaged the Human civilization, resources such as water purification facilities and terraforming systems are now just as valuable as military bases and weapons factories, and the Costs of War go far beyond the price you pay for parts.

Technical laborors who are competently trained in Mech Repairs are very valuable and hard to come-by, and the amount of equipment and know-how needed to remove the bowels of a complicated piece of nuclear reactor-powered military machinery and swap it out with a different set of parts... well, it's expensive.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 16 May 2012 - 07:38 PM.

[StaIker]

So basically... fluff from BT novels should limit everyones ability to create interesting variants in this game.

[Heron]

The system will get a solid test when the open beta hits. I believe the combo of hardpoints and critical slots can hold its own against mini-maxing and while players will undoubtedly eventually break balance through custom loadouts the devs and community can adapt.

PGI must maintain an enjoyable and fair environment for participants.

Balance is fluid, nothing is set in stone; this game has the capability of getting everything right eventually.

[pesco]

Well, just a point of note: Introducing a cost later that was not there before is a sure-fire way to **** off a major chunk of the player-base, simply because they've come to take their free-for-all equipment swap-fest for granted ("the whole point of MechWarrior!11"). Thus this suggestion thread.

[Dihm]

StaIker, on 16 May 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

fluff from BT

Fluff from BT limits everything about this game already, that's the setting. If people can't handle that, wait for Hawken or Reign of Thunder (or whatever that games name is).

[Felicitatem Parco]

StaIker, on 16 May 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

So basically... fluff from BT novels should limit everyones ability to create interesting variants in this game.

We can take out all the fluff form BT novels if you'd like.. but that would leave us with no Mechs, no weapons, no Houses, no Mercenraies, no SLDF, and no other planets to fight on besides 21st century Earth

[00dlez]

The problem I have with free/easy customization is that mech "chassis" quickly become mere skins for any number of weapon configurations. It kills the flavor of the universe for me.

[Grokmoo]

Making players pay for customization would severely discourage the use of the mech lab, which I'm sure the devs want to avoid.

I think over time assembling a nice pool of mechs, weapons, and equipment that I can swap around at will sounds great.

[Kaemon]

Grokmoo, on 17 May 2012 - 06:55 AM, said:

Making players pay for customization would severely discourage the use of the mech lab, which I'm sure the devs want to avoid.

I think over time assembling a nice pool of mechs, weapons, and equipment that I can swap around at will sounds great.

Actually it would only discourage those that could not afford it, and if you were talking Cbills that equate to $5 or $10, that's not severely going to discourage anyone.

And yes, this is going to degenerate into a 'freeborn loaders don't have the same rights as paying customers' discussion.

If you can't afford $5 to customize your mechs, I would suggest playing with the lovely stock and variant stock (v-stock?) that they will have available, that seems more than fair, since those players have in fact, paid nothing to play the game.

Now if they try to EO - monocle us (at $70) then I have an issue with that.

Edited by Kaemon, 17 May 2012 - 07:41 AM.

[StaIker]

Prosperity Park, on 17 May 2012 - 06:29 AM, said:

We can take out all the fluff form BT novels if you'd like.. but that would leave us with no Mechs, no weapons, no Houses, no Mercenraies, no SLDF, and no other planets to fight on besides 21st century Earth

No dude. Mechs are not "fluff". I can play MechWarrior perfectly well without ever having read a TRO or a novel. Some backstory contained in a book which makes no impact on the combat part of MechWarrior is fluff.

[Yeach]

If customization costs is an issue, it may be beneficial to have two variants of the same mech rather than customize.
Say Hunchback A and Hunchback B. (I believe one of the vids showed 2 of the same mech type in the same stable)

[Tincan Nightmare]

StaIker, on 17 May 2012 - 05:57 PM, said:

No dude. Mechs are not "fluff". I can play MechWarrior perfectly well without ever having read a TRO or a novel. Some backstory contained in a book which makes no impact on the combat part of MechWarrior is fluff.

Well it wasn't just 'fluff' that created the cost of cusomizing a Mech, in fact it was rulebooks and sourcebooks for the Tabletop game that did that, it was almost never mentioned in the novels. It amazes me the amount of people on these forums who totally disregard the TT or the universe it created, because there never would have been Mechwarrior games if Battletech hadn't created the universe in the first place. So I wouldn't just call it 'fluff.' As far as customization costing a fee, possibly based on the extent, that would be easy for PGI to compensate in just adjusting how much c-bills we earn for a mission. Nobody wants to go broke over tricking out their ride.

[pesco]

Another point of note: Mechs with easily and cheaply swappable equipment are called OmniMechs. The clans invent them and don't bring the technology to the Inner Sphere until their invasion.

Edited by pesco, 18 May 2012 - 02:58 AM.

[StaIker]

This topic is pointless. The Devs answered no and that is unlikely to change for some very good reasons. Argue with the wind all you like.

[pesco]

StaIker, on 18 May 2012 - 04:43 AM, said:

This topic is pointless. The Devs answered no and that is unlikely to change for some very good reasons. Argue with the wind all you like.

It's called suggestion. Not arguing. That would be you. *yawn*

[eZZip]

Why do some many people think that realism is automatically better? Complete realism sucks **** for fun and games.

Prosperity Park, on 16 May 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

Because BattleTech is set a thousand years in the future where centuries of Wars have ravaged the Human civilization, resources such as water purification facilities and terraforming systems are now just as valuable as military bases and weapons factories, and the Costs of War go far beyond the price you pay for parts.

Technical laborors who are competently trained in Mech Repairs are very valuable and hard to come-by, and the amount of equipment and know-how needed to remove the bowels of a complicated piece of nuclear reactor-powered military machinery and swap it out with a different set of parts... well, it's expensive.

Did you forget that MWO is a game? It obviously won't simulate every damn thing to a point, and concessions are always made for gameplay purposes. People already can't customize completely freely, since they have to buy equipment, but I don't see any advantage to adding an additional fee to customization (and being annoyingly yet unnoticeably closer to lore is not an advantage).

pesco said:

[stuff here]

You obviously haven't considered any implications of your suggestion past the part where it would be realistic.

[pesco]

eZZip, on 19 May 2012 - 11:37 AM, said:

I don't see any advantage to adding an additional fee to customization

You obviously haven't read my suggestion past the part where it disagreed with your view.