83 replies to this topic

[Aegis Kleais]

You just know you're gonna get some people who do their Mechlab work IN a game.

Even today I can't count how many thoughtless people there are you join a game, announce they are AFK (for like 10-15 minutes at a time) either forcing players to weight or handicapping one team to have a player who isn't there.

WHO plays games just to walk away from their computer all the time? I understand an issue coming up here and there, but for some people, you can tell something is keeping them from being able to game; so quit the game and take care of it!

[Max Grayson]

Again i agree with the players that already stated the two play types that have been mentioned. I am guessing that the play types will look as follows. Quick match non-rvr type where you outfit your mech and press ready to enter a battle and let match making work its magic

and

the rvr sceniro where there is an announcement 24 to 36 hours ahead of time Faction X will fight Faction Y over planet Z at 21 hours central time. at which point everyone logs on and outfits their mech based on map and oppoent. NOW the question nobody has answered yet, who decides what players get to join the faction battle, is it based on loyalty points for faction battles and the merc commanders for merc battles.....enquiring minds want to know

[MaddMaxx]

Hmmm. Interesting question for sure. I can't see 15 minutes? 30? NEG! Have to go with, another "wait and see" until Beta item really.

P.S. The ability to run the MechLab after joining a queue would be a bad system. That would make Aegis's point a reality way to much. Queue up, set ready. Cool! Queue up, type AFK... BOOT! Next!

Harsh but a requirement for sure.

[Major Tom]

2 minutes top, and then only if it looks like things are moving along in the first 15 seconds. There is NO WAY IN HELL, I will sit around a deployment screen for 5 minutes only to have half the room be AFK.

[SideSt3p]

I didn't vote. The reason being, all the time options are to long.

Max you should need 2 mins. Reason being your 'Mechs should already be fitted with your customizations and the 2 mins should be used to deliberate on what mix you're shooting for or just making the best out of what you have. You're not going to have "optimized" lances when doing public matches. People will play what they want, and if you're good enough you can make it work!

So I'm thinking 2mins, figure out your general idea/tactic and then go. Plus if we're gonna play the "canon" card, we'd all be in 'Mechs we either stole/inherited/salvaged and we'd be HAPPY as we could be. We wouldn't easily be able to have a "stable" of 'Mechs (outside Solaris) to choose from. Slap me in my 'Mech, lock me in and I'd be happy

**EDIT** Also, if it's like LoL, somebody leaves/afks to long in the 'Mech/Champion selection screen, it shoots everybody out of the lobby and back into queue so you "start" with full teams. And if they leave/AFK/grief in the middle of the game, you get reported and usually temp banned with three strikes etc...

Edited by SideSt3p, 15 May 2012 - 07:09 AM.

[Tarellond]

Anything more than 5 minutes is ridiculous and will kill MWO very fast. Noone likes sitting in one place doing nothing.

I hope the gameplay system will be similar to what WoT has, because battles starting in 1 minute max keeps the players active and the game has some speed. If you spend 5-10 minutes sitting and doing nothing and then 15 minutes of fighting (5 if you do something stupid, which you will at the beginning) than the game is badly designed and needs reworking. If, on the other hand, the mach making system is doing well, it can be one of the strongest sides of the game. The game must be fun, waiting isn't.

[Flpngboy]

This is one that will have to get worked out in beta. I just don't know enough about the level of prematch tactics required to win a match at this point.

[CSG Gunslinger]

no more than five minutes. Back in MW4 lobbies could take ofrever while people tried tweaking mech loadouts and even the mechs they were going to take based on what the opposing team had. I really hope that the new game has some method in place to prevent opposing teams from seeing what each other are going to be driving. I remember some teams would all take a certain mech type and then at the last second before drop they would all switch to something else, kind of goofy.

[Kanatta Jing]

CSG Gunslinger, on 15 May 2012 - 09:25 AM, said:

no more than five minutes. Back in MW4 lobbies could take ofrever while people tried tweaking mech loadouts and even the mechs they were going to take based on what the opposing team had. I really hope that the new game has some method in place to prevent opposing teams from seeing what each other are going to be driving. I remember some teams would all take a certain mech type and then at the last second before drop they would all switch to something else, kind of goofy.

Agreed, I don't think opposing teams should even sit in the same lobby.

[Gigaton]

30 seconds to a minute sounds pretty good. No exchanging loadouts and 'mechs once you have gone this far either.

Nobody seems to have pointed it out yet in this thread, but the battle timer is set to 20 mins currently. Do you really want to idle 30 mins in pre-planning screen (with most people alt tabbing until the battle starts) to fight a match that takes 20 mins at it's longest?

Edited by Gigaton, 15 May 2012 - 10:10 AM.

[Melissia]

Five minutes, and if there's not enough people on one team, shuffle the teams so they're even.

During pre-battle, it should be a free-for-all romp, too, so we have something to do.

Edited by Melissia, 15 May 2012 - 10:10 AM.

[Pvt Dancer]

I also think people are reading /waaaaaay/ to much in 'Command modules' to mean you should be the leader and everyone has to/should listen to you. I mean, that is the purpose of this post is pre-match planning time, right?

Listen folks, you know what 'Command Modules' means to me? I think of kill streaks in the Modern War games, where you calling artillery, air strikes, and other 'support', one shot options. Scouts spotted a camper? Someone with the command module should call in artillery on the location to make them pay for sitting there. You have 4 people with Command Modules? Well, that might be 4 artillery barrages on that SOB. You know what rank means to me? The person has played long enough to get certain perks, that they are not a total newbie. That they should know hat they are doing and are competent. Does this mean I am going to listen to them? Maybe, but I do not feel obligated /to/ listen to them.

[Kargush]

As long as it takes.

Patience is a good thing.

[Deathz Jester]

What is this pre-battle of which you speak?

[Paradat]

Less than a minute for a normal puplic battle. Short Q time then quick countdown as people sync up.

No idea what the enemy force will be, and no idea what map it will be. Absolutely zero time to adjust your mech.

[Toothman]

I have to go with forget the pre battle. Just line 'em up and drop them. a la WoT. Other wise its just another chance for someone to abuse things.

[DarkTreader]

Oi.

For starters, this is not Medal of Duty: Battlefield Warfare 3099. This is not a twitch game. It won't be the 'click click click click' crap that you find in game lobbies for those games. If you're playing this like a twitch game, you're doing it wrong - and I'd be more than happy to face you.

Easiest way to handle this -
5 minute timer between matches, broken up into phases like LoL
Phase 1: 2 minute timer for meet-n-greet, determining who's doing what, shuffling lances around, etc... This'll be necessary during pub matches.
Phase 2: 3 minute timer for final tweaks in the MechLab. This would also be the only time the MechLab is allowed after the players drop into a game. At the end of this, if players haven't checked the 'Ready' button, they will get a 30 second warning before their build is locked in and they drop with whatever is slotted at that time.

Players can hit the 'Ready' button and skip to the next phase at any point, and if all players have exactly what they want they can just skip over everything and drop right into the match.

5 minutes is a solid amount of time, allows for people to grab a drink, use the restroom, etc... and still stay in a game queue. I don't honestly understand people who're like 'zomg if i can't play in 90 seconds, imma QQ and find someone else to play with ***' 90 seconds is barely enough time for 12 people to say hi and figure out which hand to polish their AC/20 with. And really, if you've got an hour lunch break, 5 minutes between matches is still more than enough time for you to get 2 drops in an hour (assuming it lasts a full 20 minutes for the drop).

[ArcaneIce]

Id' say 2-3 mins max. People are impatient and they're not going to just wait around. Besides, you can always adapt on the fly when needed.

[FrostPaw]

90 seconds is a good time limit.

It needs to be long enough that the entire team loads the map and all the mechs on it, if you make the time limit shorter you end up with some players still loading when the match begins because of latency, computer speed etc which is no better than starting the game with an imbalanced number of players/tonnage.

[ManDaisy]

I think you guys are mistaken in that you think you'll be able to see whom, and the amount of people you'll be fighting. Unless its a private unrecorded match, the only way to do it correctly is to have blind team matches vs random opponents (another team looking for a battle) similar to your match value.

Edited by ManDaisy, 15 May 2012 - 01:42 PM.