456 replies to this topic

[Warrax the Chaos Warrior]

ExAstris, on 22 January 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:

-snip-

The way I see it, netcode, ECM, and streaks are all tangled together. Bad netcode leads to auto-hit streak boating, auto-hit streak boating leads to overbearing ECM, overbearing ECM leads to the need for even more ECM. I think they have trouble answering questions about ECM because they have such a big knot to untangle, starting with the one thing that is not an easy fix. I am wondering if the devs are seeing it the same way that I am, or if it would help if they did.

Edited by Warrax the Chaos Warrior, 22 January 2013 - 04:27 PM.

[Dukarriope]

So is anyone planning to ask in ATD 31 why it takes a month for balance tweaks to occur? Like, something that most of us acknowledge as requiring a few minutes to change by editing parameters or .xml files...
If it's internal testing, wasn't that what we beta testers are for?

[CMGrendel]

Dukarriope, on 22 January 2013 - 03:40 PM, said:

I'm not happy with all the answers, nor am I happy with the lack of detail of some of them, but I am more than satisfied with this AtD result. Plenty of questions answered and information given. The next few months look set to be a significant improvement, too.

As always I want to commend PGI for their pretty great work done in getting this game out in just about a year's time, but want to remind them that the recent decisions being made and the future outlook is often why the community (including myself) can get very volatile and caustic.

Still no answer for a Asia or Australia server, or whether you're testing with long-distance-centric netcode?


Irregardless, this kind of comprehensive answer list is what AtD has always needed. Please continue, but rein in your CR team a little... It's not good to have an unready feature randomly announced as if it were already implemented.

Personal experience in the games industry suggest that the main reason why these questions got answered so quickly is because the Customer Services (Relations) team put a load of pressure on the development team regarding forum outrage.

Further experience suggests there's a good chance they burnt up a lot of social capital convincing the development team to respond so promptly (and yes promptly, they just had 2 weeks off for Xmas). This is rather borne out by the shout out in the original thread. Also, Customer Service teams are liability aware and exacting, because they deal with complaints and facts and resolutions. Development teams deal with concepts, ideas and solutions. If reality doesn't match what you were lead to believe, whilst it might be the Customer Service team any confusion is more likely to be the result of an overly ambitious or excited producer or director.

And I (or anyone) can field your last question. No. There is no chance of a server in those territories unless you either market the game yourself to a wide enough player base or DAU in your region climbs high enough. Asia maybe, but Asia generally warrants a completely separate localisation/monetisation of a game, due to cultural differences. You could luck out and get an Asian server that isn't sharded though. Cross your fingers.

Europe will be getting servers in 2013 because our ARPPU (or projected one at least) in our territory covers their CPA and because they've decided the additional players they will gain from better performance and demonstrable investment justifies the expense of a new server farm in a European datacentre.

Probably. It's just an educated guess.

[Makhail Stolich]

Mmmm, information is tasty. Omnomnom.

[Theevenger]

This was an outstanding Answers thread. Thanks, guys!

[Thorqemada]

ARPPU = Average Revenue Per Paying User
CPA = Cost Per Action
DAU = Daily Active User

Edited by Thorqemada, 22 January 2013 - 05:11 PM.

[Voidsinger]

I'd like to thank Garth, and PGI dvelopers.

Thanks for fixing the 32-mech Master Module limit.

Thank you Garth for confirming what I suspected, that the module game is where it is at.

These answers give us some insight into where PGI's current priorities lie compared to the community's. To those who don't like them, realise the devs are under massive pressure on every front. I think content is being a really high priority right now, since the current player base can get fatigue. Remember, PGI/IGP have to do more than just produce a game the community likes, they need to make profits, and feature priorities reflect that need. They are trying (even if some of us think they fail on occasion, but don't we all do that?).

Collisions aren't such a high priority, because they are controversial, not so fun, and light mech targeting is being addressed as well by state rewinding (which may help me with my ping of 280 from Australia).

Jump Jets always come down to a vision of how they should work, so I understand that.

I do appreciate that the focus rtight now is CW, and large formation warfare.

Thanks again for detailing so many issues at once.

[Lonestar1771]

Sooo.... it definitely feels like he just rehashed the Dev blogs. Literally no new info other than what their priorities are and still everything is "be patient while we continue to collect your money".

[CMGrendel]

Thorqemada, on 22 January 2013 - 04:42 PM, said:

ARRPPU = Average Revenue Per Paying User
CPA = Cost Per Action
DAU = Daily Active User

Clarification:

CPA = Cost Per Acquisition (User who actually plays the game, definition varies from reaches X level goal to actually converts to paying)

Contrast with
CPI= Cost Per Install (Pay for each referred/installed customer)

Lonestar1771, on 22 January 2013 - 04:43 PM, said:

Sooo.... it definitely feels like he just rehashed the Dev blogs. Literally no new info other than what their priorities are and still everything is "be patient while we continue to collect your money".

Welcome to FTP in an uncertain market.

[Lord Denning]

Thank you for taking the time to produce these answers, they responded to many of my own questions about where the game is going.

This game has a long, hard road ahead of it. But I hope the developers keep in mind that there are many players who appreciate all the hard work that goes into producing this game. I personally want to thank them all for working to make come true a game concept that i've dreamt of (Mechwarrior MMO + community warfare-type thing) for a very long time.

[UnseenFury]

Thanks for the answers, I feel better now. I really excited about idea of Solaris VII when players can BET MC or C-Bills in an in-game totalizator.

My stats were already wiped two or three times, do YOU really need to wipe them a 4th time?

I mean if you wipe it, it will only increase my k/d and w/l, but I just don't want to lose my possibly 2000 kills (now I have 1500).

[Stunner]

I at first wasn't real excited about the answers I saw but at least some of the questions were at least addressed. Some had answers of "no plans" which at least means quit asking for now while other questions were answered with "not a priority". I would like to see factions implemented quicker so we can start grinding out the xp for our factions and start earning/unlocking/purchasing things such as unit logos and paint jobs.

[ExAstris]

Dukarriope, on 22 January 2013 - 04:33 PM, said:

So is anyone planning to ask in ATD 31 why it takes a month for balance tweaks to occur? Like, something that most of us acknowledge as requiring a few minutes to change by editing parameters or .xml files...
If it's internal testing, wasn't that what we beta testers are for?

Bryan Ekman, on 22 January 2013 - 01:09 PM, said:

Q: Why does it take so long to get any weapon balance changes through?
A: From the moment we make a fix, to the time it goes live – 4 weeks. We can rush some fixes immediately (hotfix), but we try to avoid these as they are very risky. Priority also comes into play, we have a lot of high priority items, and sometimes things just have to wait.

It was actually my question. I'm not sure I find the answer fully satisfying, but its alot better feedback than nothing. They surely a good policy for major changes that can wreck gameplay. (But then again, how did ECM get through?) But I still scratch my head about such small things as increasing machine gun damage incrimentally from patch to patch until they start getting used in normal/competative games. Yeah, I want to avoid completely borking the game up, and I suppose they're just erring heavily on the conservative side and/or have a rigid process for all gameplay changes, no matter how small a change they are on the programming side of things.

But summarily, they do have a process to impliment changes, and that process takes time.

Warrax the Chaos Warrior, on 22 January 2013 - 04:27 PM, said:

The way I see it, netcode, ECM, and streaks are all tangled together.

Yes, this is surely the case that these factors play off of each other, so changes to any effect the others. (In fact, most game elements are like that, hence the difficulty of balancing!) So it is a serious issue of finding the best balance with respect to how everything else is working at the time. Then as things start working differently (hopefully better!), rebalancing may be in order. But generally I would think that balance could be patched up around the game's core functionality as it is, then waiting for it to improve before implimenting a balance pass.

Either way, we'll have more info once the Command Chair post goes live.

[Lord Ikka]

Thank you for the biggest Q&A post yet. Keep working!

[ArmyOfWon]

I must say, this QA post has been the single most informative post I've seen in a long time, and this post alone singlehandedly makes me want to play the game once more (coming back from a long break)

Kudos! Congrats! Thank you!

See you all on the battlefield!

[Clideb50]

Thanks for the answers devs. In my opinion you guys are doing great, especially when you guys do your best to release patches and information every two weeks. I looked at some of the forums earlier and surprised you guys didn't give up just from all the raw hatred there. I'm ashamed of some of these people. For everyone who complains over and over: Rome wasn't built in a day.
Also the reason I no longer take forums seriously (Thank you ctrl-alt-del):

Edited by Regulus1990, 22 January 2013 - 05:07 PM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Garth, Bryan, and the whole lot of ya.....

THANK YOU

While not every answer was what I had hoped for, I also know that you have to work on the "big picture" sop some things we feel as "vital" might actually cause future issues, etc.
Love the new format, and hope to see many more of these.


Even when we feel passionate about something, it's no excuse to act the ***. Sadly the anonymity of the internet allows people to feel they have carte blanche on being dickweeds. I still wonder about a few decisions made, but on the whole, would say that the ridiculous amount of time I still spend on here means you must be doing something right.

Thanks again, and I'll see you guys dirtside.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 22 January 2013 - 05:05 PM.

[LionZoo]

Thank you! This has been a great ATD. In fact, it's exceeded my wildest expectations. Great good guys!

I agree that while not every answer was what I hoped for, being kept in the loop about what is happening makes me feel so much better about this game. Once you see a bit more of the forest instead of the trees, you definitely feel much better.

Edited by LionZoo, 22 January 2013 - 05:22 PM.

[Coolant]

Sincere thank you for the excellent communication

[SpajN]

thanks for good answers on many important topics.

Im ashamed how this community behaves.

Love your work and love mechwarrior, peace!