49 replies to this topic

[SpajN]

Ok first off i want to say i still love the game, its a fun game but i find games like mwo and world of tanks are more fun if you have something you are working towards almost like a project.

For example when i first started playing world of tanks i wanted an e100, it took me 9 months to get one (maybe 2000 games). Im sure you can do it faster but no matter how you do it, it still takes a long time to go from tier 1 to tier 10.

In MWO when i first started i wanted an hunchback, cataphract, catapult and an atlas. I basicly got them all in 1-2 weeks.. following weeks i have just further optimzed them with DH, endo-steel and stuff like that.

So in basicly 3 week time i got everything i wanted, sure you can say "get every mech" but thats not the point, it should take a long time to get excactly what you want and i already got it.. i got no urge to play mwo to "get that atlas" like i was feeling in wot "get that e100".

As i said i still love the game, but i feel there is an missed opportunity here.. the big grind shouldnt be small buffs like modules, it should be entire new chassis imo or something else that completly changes your experience. Thats the reason wot is so succesful, its because when you get your new tank (after a lot of hard work) its often a completly different game and playstyle and it feels really rewarding. This is also true with mechs in this game but since you can accuire them so easily you basicly get the whole experience right away.

[CDLord HHGD]

I'm torn here. On one hand I agree with you, that the grind seems a bit easy. On the other hand, my own playtime is limited and while some of my friends have everything, I am still grinding and will be for the foreseeable future. I have not activated my PT and I am out of MC (soon to change though).

[Zeh]

Disagree. "The grind" should not have a huge impact on the performance of your mechs. I don't want a game where someone who's only been playing 2 months has no hope of competing with someone who's played for a year or two. WAY too MMO-ey for me. I feel this retain the core functionality of a skill-based game, with MMO-lite type tweaks applied as rewards for play (A-la League of Legends)

I think they're doing that right. You can spend your cbills on paint jobs and bobbleheads.. or experimenting and trying new mechs.

Also why should it take a "long time" to get exactly what you want? Some person might come to this game dying to play an Atlas. It will take a good bit of time to get to that already. Are you suggesting he should have to play months before getting to the reason he started playing the game for?

Edited by Zeh, 30 January 2013 - 08:58 AM.

[Voridan Atreides]

I don't know. I remember when I first started playing the grind was so awful. It still is......

Edited by Voridan Atreides, 30 January 2013 - 08:57 AM.

[Broceratops]

yeah im hoping community warfare gives a better sense of progress than the current grind mechs that I don't care about anyway routine

[Cerlin]

This is a "play a lot" vs "no free time" crowd. I think as the number of mechs increase the more there will be to "level." I actually would not play this game as much if there was a lot more grinding.

[Mazzyplz]

wait, you bought your mechs but you haven't elited them or mastered?
LOL!

and you don't think there are "projects" in this game?

[Broceratops]

Cerlin, on 30 January 2013 - 08:59 AM, said:

This is a "play a lot" vs "no free time" crowd. I think as the number of mechs increase the more there will be to "level." I actually would not play this game as much if there was a lot more grinding.

sorta .... but in this game you only drop in one mech, so even if you have an entire mech battalion stored in your hanger, it doesn't count for anything. especially if you only like a few mechs anyway.

i get what the OP is saying about there feeling like there's not much progress (he phrased it as 'things to grind'). i had my DDC mastered after the first week back in october. and then a month or so later had the modules as well. and its my favorite mech where if I had to pick a mech to play forever, that would be it ... so really I'm done with the game in terms of progress :x

[Kylere]

Voridan Atreides, on 30 January 2013 - 08:56 AM, said:

I don't know. I remember when I first started playing the grind was so awful. It still is......

I bet it is far easier with the Cadet bonus. I did not want to waste time with light or medium mechs and it took me forever to save for a Cat-C1

[jshill78]

I have Mastered 3 Hunchbacks, 3 Catapults, and elited 3 Cataphracts. The only real grind is modules but I find the cost in GXP and in CBills to be too high for the return.

Everyone knows the intention, to keep mastered mechs from being way more powerful than a newly obtained mech. I'm fine with it.

The one side effect (for me at least) is the lack of desire to play a mastered mech. I feel like I losing out when I pilot a mech I've already mastered.

[Voridan Atreides]

Kylere, on 30 January 2013 - 09:10 AM, said:

I bet it is far easier with the Cadet bonus. I did not want to waste time with light or medium mechs and it took me forever to save for a Cat-C1

Yeah no doubt. I felt so acomplished when I got my first mech, the Centurion AL.

[BerryChunks]

you should use a free account then

[Corpsecandle]

I think you want to say that there aren't enough "goals" in the game. "Grind" has negative connotations associated with it that indicate boring repetitiveness. "Goals" are long term milestones that are generally achieved by dedicated play and advancement of content. Using the term "grind" tends to put people off.

IE, typically the first time playing through a game to achieve level cap is a "goal", when you try it again with a second character it's just a "grind".

That said I think you're right. There's not enough to keep people playing. I'm down to about once a week myself. I'm really hoping that the metagame becomes gripping, and they can develop tools to support the fast release of newer content. I know they're trying to use "beta" as some sort of magical shield of protection, but if they lose too much support this early on, they game will flounder.

[dario03]

I disagree completely. If they were to add things that don't affect gameplay like badges or paint unlocks or stuff like that then fine. But I don't want things that affect gameplay. I don't want to win or lose a match because of a level difference between me and my opponents. Heck I already don't like the small grind we have now for things like modules, XL engines and DHS upgrades. And you say that getting all the mechs isn't the same but I don't see why it isn't. The different mechs do completely change your experience because you can't play a commando like a atlas and vice versa. And besides if you want you can easily impose limits on yourself by fully mastering mechs and not changing chassis size until you do.

Edited by dario03, 30 January 2013 - 09:42 AM.

[El Penguin]

Save up for the artillery strikes and air strikes. You never know if they cost 50,000 GXP...

[CG Oglethorpe Kerensky]

I agree.

I am sick to death of constantly grinding these same mobs over and over again. The AI is terrible, always upper city always run into the lake. Kudos to the Devs for whatever code makes their semi-randomized loadouts, sometimes they are dangerous and other times they are laughably awful.
I want to kill Elites and Boss mobs so I can get blues and purples!

[warner2]

SpajN, on 30 January 2013 - 08:48 AM, said:

Ok first off i want to say i still love the game, its a fun game but i find games like mwo and world of tanks are more fun if you have something you are working towards almost like a project.

For example when i first started playing world of tanks i wanted an e100, it took me 9 months to get one (maybe 2000 games). Im sure you can do it faster but no matter how you do it, it still takes a long time to go from tier 1 to tier 10.

In MWO when i first started i wanted an hunchback, cataphract, catapult and an atlas. I basicly got them all in 1-2 weeks.. following weeks i have just further optimzed them with DH, endo-steel and stuff like that.

So in basicly 3 week time i got everything i wanted, sure you can say "get every mech" but thats not the point, it should take a long time to get excactly what you want and i already got it.. i got no urge to play mwo to "get that atlas" like i was feeling in wot "get that e100".

As i said i still love the game, but i feel there is an missed opportunity here.. the big grind shouldnt be small buffs like modules, it should be entire new chassis imo or something else that completly changes your experience. Thats the reason wot is so succesful, its because when you get your new tank (after a lot of hard work) its often a completly different game and playstyle and it feels really rewarding. This is also true with mechs in this game but since you can accuire them so easily you basicly get the whole experience right away.

I think where you're going wrong is that you think the aim of the game is to "get stuff".

You haven't got anything. Just some entries in a database somewhere that indicate you "own" those digital artefacts.

You need to try and attach some value to other aspects of the game so that you enjoy playing it for different reasons.

[Zaptruder]

I quite like the amount of grindiness to this game.

It's easy enough to introduce new players to it and get them to a viable gear level within a couple days of play. After that, all you get are more and more and more options and more and more convenience.

At my level of grind - 23 mechs, I have 1 mech of every type + multiple variants of mech types that I enjoy + mastery of a majority of them.

I've played some 2300 games... so it's taken a while to get here, even with a couple months of premium time. But if I'm so inclined, I can still grind up more mechs in the garage. There's always a feedback loop if that's what's important to you.

At this point, I'm just having fun enjoying the freedom of constructing builds without worrying about resource limitations.

Also, by engaging in mechs beyond my initial goal mechs, I've found some excellent mechs that I wouldn't have expected; such as the Dragon chassis in general.

I played the Dragons to 0/1 master level before moving on... but I've since come back to them and found them to be fresh all over again. They're excellent mechs that are a lot of fun that introduces quite an interesting and unique play style to the game.

Before that, I was enjoying the hell out of the Stalkers... which I had left for nearly a month after getting full basic on the 3F model.

Point is; the game is structured to invite you to experiment. No grind to master is so onerous that an average gamer can't achieve it... and there's more than enough variety to keep a hardcore ****** playing for quite a while without stopping.

For an absolute completionist, there's a couple thousand hours of gameplay; if your plan is to master all mechs and get them uniquely the best of the best.

[Khobai]

I agree. There's not enough to spend XP on. I have 600,000 XP accumulated on my Atlas. I refuse to spend MC to convert it to GXP. So basically all that XP is just wasted.

Either:
1) When you master a mech, there should be a button that lets you turn excess XP into extra C-bills
-OR-
2) PGI needs to add a new way to spend excess XP (like a more comprehensive skill tree with unique skills for each mech).

Edited by Khobai, 30 January 2013 - 09:59 AM.

[Gamgee]

HELL NO!