123 replies to this topic

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Bluten, on 13 December 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

I see Trials a lot... they're usually the easy kills. But I wish Piranha would share some official tracking numbers with us. How many new accounts, as a percentage, actually remain active after a week? Tell us, Piranha. We're dying to know.

If the numbers were good they would be. Like every MMO company out there, ever. When they have good numbers to share, they crow it to the world. When things go bad they say nothing.
I think pgi was talking up forum accounts in CB when it hit a million or something but havent heard anything about it since

[FrDrake]

I have 6 brothers with accounts to MWO, out of the 6, 2 play with me semi regularly, the other 3 are waiting for community warfare to get into the game because they don't want to come in until it's complete.

We had all played previous mechwarrior games, I don't remember having any problems picking up the controls for this game. I had watched the dev videos though so knew what the crosshairs meant, and their plans for the roles etc.

I had never heard of EVE online until I saw it mentioned on these boards. And I only heard about MWO because of my one brother who is the biggest fan of MW out of any of us.

I play for several hours most nights and I do not see a whole lot of repeat names. I also play solo or small group (2) for all my games and while it's frustrating to have to spectate the entirely unskilled guys I see enough of them that I know MWO is still attracting new people.

[Vernius Ix]

I see plenty of trial mechs.

[Lanessar]

Vernius Ix, on 13 December 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

I see plenty of trial mechs.

Note that I, as a founder, use a trial AWS-9M currently because it nets more Cbills than using an owned mech (due to R&R costs).

I don't know if any other founders have figured out that this is an effective way to grind Cbills (especially with bonuses) rather than R&R our owned mechs (even with founder's bonuses), but I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few drop in them.

[Windies]

Lanessar, on 13 December 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

Note that I, as a founder, use a trial AWS-9M currently because it nets more Cbills than using an owned mech (due to R&R costs).

I don't know if any other founders have figured out that this is an effective way to grind Cbills (especially with bonuses) rather than R&R our owned mechs (even with founder's bonuses), but I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few drop in them.

I'm still in trial mechs as I haven't been interested enough in the game in the current state. Even if I was to buy say Commando, I would still grind trial mechs as they make more money, and I would still have to grind past my Commando purchase in order to upgrade it since it's no better than a trial mech in stock config and Trials make more money without R&R.

[multiplesanta34]

Obadiah333, on 12 December 2012 - 11:24 PM, said:

Most of what I hear translates to this:  "This game is too hard for me. THE DON'T WANTS: I don't want to spend the time to learn how to do things.  I don't want to read the multiple threads on how to do things.  I don't want to watch the video tutorials on how to do things.  I don't want to grind the WHOLE 20 HOURS to get my own mech.  I don't want to team up with other people and learn to become a better player and a team member.  THE DO WANTS:  I want a free mech.  I want bonus c-bills.  I want to charge in and blow up everyone and not die because I'm L33T.  I want what everyone else has, even though they paid real money and I'm playing a free 2 play version.

In the end, this game is targeted for a niche player base.  The die hard BT and TT fans and old mech warrior vets will play, pretty much no matter how bad they screw it up.  This game will appeal on a lesser scale to the FPS gamers and those interested in this genre of game.  I don't expect that everyone will drop all their other games and come running to this one. It's still in beta and needs a lot of work.  It needs a tutorial.  It needs a real matchmaking system. It needs a lot of things.  What it doesn't need is devs pandering to casuals who whine about everything and players who have invested ZERO dollars demanding this, that and the other.

For those F2P players that dropped in a total 4 matches, posted a whine thread and then bailed, I say good riddance.

Why should any new player drop money on this game? It's beta, remember.

[Void Angel]

Well, speaking as a guy who started last week, I have two Hunchbacks and am saving for my third (pilot bonuses, and all.) However, I'm a long-time MMO and FPS gamer who really, really liked the Mechwarrior games and the Battletech universe. Other gamers might be put off by the learning curve of the game (I'm just starting to achieve competent marksmanship with lasers) or the fact that anything with ECM dominates the battelfield.

In fact, if anything would get me to quit the game, it's the total primacy of ANY mech with ECM on the battlefield. A cloak of near-invisibility combined with the lag shields of fast mechs make it just no fun to play against. I'm giving it time because this is a flipping Beta, but if it were a finished game I'd have to think long and hard about staying.

[funkynige]

New player checking in here (played 6k battles of World of Tanks so I'm writing this with that game in mind), after 18 games:
1) I'm about a third of the way to my first bought mech, that seems an awfuly long time
2) I'm a bit lost in the games as to what's going on - I was scouting ahead of our main force and was told not to bother as they were under an ECM shield so there's no point in scouting. I haven't seen this ECM mentioned in the tutorials, I assume it's something the mechs all get after the trial mechs? Everyone else seems to has ECM above their name. All in first person seems a bit strange too when your mech can move a different way to where you're pointing, doesn't help with situtaional awareness but I gues I'll get used to it.
3) Steep learning curve is a bit of an understatement, having my first games in the same battle as people who have the best mechs and hundreds of games behind them means I'm left feeling completely pointless in the games.

Hope to see you on the battlefield, sorry if I'm on your side!

[Radko]

New-ish player here. If I hadn't played a lot of MW2 many years ago, I wouldn't have had the slightest clue what to do. Luckily, I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

I found the basic mechanics of the game to be fun, which is the most important part, but had a really hard time getting anywhere. I read forums and watched videos (which were both filled with people talking about how the game is ruined, which surprised me since it seemed pretty fun) and sorta figured out what I was doing.

I decided to save up for an ECM Raven rather than getting a Commando, since I didn't want a Commando, and I wanted to be useful to the team.

It didn't feel like a grind at first, but then it did. I was getting a little sick of things by the time I quit saving up and bought a Catapult K2 instead. Not a bad mech, to be certain. (Especially once I found out about cheaty designs like the Gausscat) It's not that I think the trial mechs are terrible (though it'd be nice if the Awesome actually had enough heat sinks to use some of those weapons in it), but that outfitting your mech, and actually giving a fling whether you die or not, is a whole aspect of the core gameplay which I didn't know anything about for hours and hours...

Obadiah333, on 12 December 2012 - 11:24 PM, said:

Most of what I hear translates to this: "This game is too hard for me. THE DON'T WANTS: I don't want to spend the time to learn how to do things. I don't want to read the multiple threads on how to do things. I don't want to watch the video tutorials on how to do things. I don't want to grind the WHOLE 20 HOURS to get my own mech.

Listen to yourself.

Quote

It's still in beta and needs a lot of work. It needs a tutorial. It needs a real matchmaking system. It needs a lot of things. What it doesn't need is devs pandering to casuals who whine about everything and players who have invested ZERO dollars demanding this, that and the other.

You can't use "it's a beta test" to excuse problems while simultaneously demanding someone drop 15+ dollars to buy a pretend robot before you care what they say. A pretend robot with "auto detect: no signal" on all its interior screens...

Quote

For those F2P players that dropped in a total 4 matches, posted a whine thread and then bailed, I say good riddance.

The game is going to die at some point. Every game dies. It's just a question of how long it takes. Saying "good riddance" to "F2P" players, again, in this open beta, doesn't strike me as very healthy language.

Edited by Radko, 13 December 2012 - 12:34 PM.

[TruePoindexter]

OR
Most new players have gotten together enough CBills to buy a mech and are starting to run custom mechs instead of trials. I myself have noticed an influx of what are obviously new custom mechs that are still in the starting stages of being modified. Still running SHS, obviously a stock engine, near stock weapons but not quite etc.

[PANZERBUNNY]

You gotta learn somewhere. You won't be learning much from other newb pilots with everyone asking questions no one knows the answers too.

You take your lumps and get better. You learn what not to do fairly quickly.

[Taizan]

Every second match i see either at least one or two trial mechs on the enemy team, same on my team (from scores)

[Ricama]

Dark Severance, on 12 December 2012 - 08:07 PM, said:

There shouldn't be anyone really left in trial mechs anymore. Anyone even playing at the casual of casual pace would have enough CBills to purchase any mech at this point and should be actually piloting an actual mech they own.

For any healthy game there should be a constant influx of new people, even if it's just try the game a couple of matches and leave. This game can not be sustained on it's initial playerbase, eventually there's nothing for people to bother buying because they have enough c-bills for everything they want.

[Kraven Kor]

Lanessar, on 13 December 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

Note that I, as a founder, use a trial AWS-9M currently because it nets more Cbills than using an owned mech (due to R&R costs).

I don't know if any other founders have figured out that this is an effective way to grind Cbills (especially with bonuses) rather than R&R our owned mechs (even with founder's bonuses), but I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few drop in them.

I make about 90k to 150k - after repairs / rearm - per match on a good win, and only lose maybe 10k to 20k on a loss.

Trials - for me - are not a better way to make cash.

[Lanessar]

Kraven Kor, on 13 December 2012 - 01:33 PM, said:

I make about 90k to 150k - after repairs / rearm - per match on a good win, and only lose maybe 10k to 20k on a loss.

Trials - for me - are not a better way to make cash.

I don't doubt it. I am, however, having a different experience.

[Pygar]

zverofaust, on 12 December 2012 - 07:15 PM, said:

I've noticed the past couple of days that I'm usually the only person in every match playing with a Trial Mech. I think a couple of times I saw one other person, but yeah. Where are all the new players?

Dunno- new players are hard to spot, because most of them have the sense to get out of the trial mechs as soon as possible....pretty sure I stopped using them by the second or third day.

Edited by Pygar, 13 December 2012 - 02:12 PM.

[Thorn Hallis]

Quote

Where are all the new players?

Behind you establishing a line of defense while you just charged ahead.

Or something.

[Desirsar]

Rifter, on 12 December 2012 - 08:02 PM, said:

I have also noticed a drastic decline in trial mechs.

Im not surprised.

The new player experiance is horrible and they have done nothing to improve it so its no surprise that new players are not sticking around.

Luckily, we're ignoring the part where they're offering a service for money (we'll not get into how this relates to many commerce laws in various jurisdictions), and it's still "beta". When they "launch", there will be an advertising push and plenty of new players.

[Corvus Antaka]

Leaving cause I am slaughtering them with my ECM light lance and they cant do anything about it

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Colonel Pada Vinson, on 13 December 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

Leaving cause I am slaughtering them with my ECM light lance and they cant do anything about it

dance on that grave