49 replies to this topic

[Barghest Whelp]

Nah, there's plenty of stuff to grind. The fact that you need 3 of each chassis in order to achieve master makes it more of a grind.

Besides, if you think grinding for cash/xp is all there is to grind for, you are mistaken. Player skill is where it's at. Even though you have all the skills for a mech does not mean you've mastered that mech. When you can achieve top damage dealer consistently with that mech, you've mastered the mech.

Maybe not so true for the lighter mechs, it does hold true for most mediums or heavier.

[Eddrick]

MechWarrior has never been a game for people who like to "Chase the carrot on a stick". Simlar, to Fighting Games and First Person Shooter Games. You play the game because, you enjoy it and want to inprove your skills at the game to become the best you can be at the game. Not because, you need a sence of progression throug stats. The progression comes from becoming better at the game. Which, takes longer. But, is more satisfying.

[Patchimus]

warner2, on 30 January 2013 - 09:48 AM, said:

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.

Wisdom right here, soak it up please!

[Coolant]

I could care less about the grind to max out a mech. Also, to actually get a mech I just spend $$. Grinding wouldn't be a problem if other things were in the game to work toward like achievements or community warfare. It would just happen naturally while I'm focusing on other aspects of the game. Currently for me XP and CBills are pretty much useless. There is no grind for me at all at this point cause I have the mechs and variants, Pilot Skills and Modules I want. There is absolutely nothing to work for. I'm not one of those people that have to unlock everything. Also, every battle is the same except maybe a few meters away from the last time I fought on the same repetitive maps and the arcade fun is strictly limited to the gameplay which is repetitive. It's like going to an arcade and playing the same video game over and over and over and over. We need a fundmental change or addition to in-game play or a meta-game to make the game interesting. I'm glad some people are still enjoying the game and enthusiastic in their postings here on the forums, but how many of those have been playing for 5 months or more? Would be interesting to find out.

Edited by Coolant, 30 January 2013 - 10:18 AM.

[Kyryos]

Khobai, on 30 January 2013 - 09:57 AM, said:

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).

Thats a good idea. 600000 Cbills isnt even a lot. But at least it'll give you something to spend your excess exp on.

[Rakashan]

Not only has he not mastered or elited his mechs, if he's still "tweaking them with Endo-Steel" then he has not changed their stock loadouts. That's not a small tweak. That's a *huge* difference in function and playstyle right there.

I agree with his comments on WoT. I get the "I want to unlock all of <insert goal here>" mentality. I actually *like* the accessibility of MWO. Compare the ability to drop into a stock chassis of your choice in MWO to the requirement to grind through a bunch of light scouts including one which functions almost like a high-speed tank destroyer in order to reach the standard French mediums. That grind doesn't teach you anything about your eventual tank other than how to deal with an autoloader. There's absolutely no benefit to it aside from providing other players a target driving a tank he is not familiar with and probably does not particularly like.

For the OP... Unlock all your customization and get the C-Bills to outfit your mechs in some optimal config for the way you drive. There's plenty of grind out there for you.

[Lukoi Banacek]

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

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.

Disagree completely. The game shouldn't be about the grind at all imo. It should be about the community warfare. As that's yet to be revealed and we all have no idea what it's going to entail, the grind is what we currently focus on, but once CW is unveiled, that should be the long term motivator for me as a player. My mechs should be the tools I utilize within my unit/house/clan to enforce my people's will on others (aka politics through military force!oh yea!!)...they shouldn't be my reason for playing.

[Taizan]

The "endgame" grind is for the modules, not the mechs or equipment. We are just seeing the very few first steps taken into that direction with the tier 2 of some few modules. I am pretty certain there will be a definitive grind for the higher up modules.

[MaddMaxx]

Hehehehe! "Grinding for more stuff" There was a time when you had to repair your Mech. Remember that. Blame the folks that complained so much about the cost of it the Dev took it out. It was a sad day indeed.

Imagine the out cry and QQ'ing if you had actually had to grind to unlock all the individual weapon systems we currently get for a mere pittance of c-bills and can never lose after that.

Imagine having to re-buy, for full price, your XL engines. OMG! Now you buy one, you always have it.

Imagine if when your Mech got trashed you had to re-buy all the parts. Someone mentioned WoT, again.

Can you drive more than one Tank, from that garage, at a time? Did not know that...

They could have made this game a Grind Fest but instead decided to make it FUN instead. I think they are doing OK with it as well. When R&R comes back, there will be plenty of need to Grind C-bills...

[Pendraco]

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.

Did you manage to master all 4 chassis in 3 weeks? I think getting the 2X basic skills and at the very least Speed tweak is well worth the grind. Unless you are buying Mechs with MC, the grind seems just about right to me....Just as I finish mastering a certain chassis there seems to be a new shiny Mech to master.

- then again I am sure "mileage may vary" depending on how much time you have to dedicate to the game.

Edited by Pendraco, 30 January 2013 - 12:09 PM.

[SpajN]

Mazzyplz, on 30 January 2013 - 09:05 AM, said:

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?

i already got hunchback and cataphract elited, yeah thats epic "projects" did it in 1 week.. did that take 1 year for you? LOL!!!!

[SpajN]

Rakashan, on 30 January 2013 - 10:33 AM, said:

Not only has he not mastered or elited his mechs, if he's still "tweaking them with Endo-Steel" then he has not changed their stock loadouts. That's not a small tweak. That's a *huge* difference in function and playstyle right there.

I agree with his comments on WoT. I get the "I want to unlock all of <insert goal here>" mentality. I actually *like* the accessibility of MWO. Compare the ability to drop into a stock chassis of your choice in MWO to the requirement to grind through a bunch of light scouts including one which functions almost like a high-speed tank destroyer in order to reach the standard French mediums. That grind doesn't teach you anything about your eventual tank other than how to deal with an autoloader. There's absolutely no benefit to it aside from providing other players a target driving a tank he is not familiar with and probably does not particularly like.

For the OP... Unlock all your customization and get the C-Bills to outfit your mechs in some optimal config for the way you drive. There's plenty of grind out there for you.

lolz!

ofc i have changed my loadout to be optimal, double heatsinks, endor-steel.. best weapons and 3 chassis maxed out on all mechs.. yeah 3 weeks on my 3 fav mechs

SpajN, on 30 January 2013 - 03:22 PM, said:

lolz!

ofc i have changed my loadout to be optimal, double heatsinks, endor-steel.. best weapons and 3 chassis maxed out on all mechs.. yeah 3 weeks on my 3 fav mechs

and by optimal loadout i mean the best weapons for heat/tonnage/firerate.. i hope you understand.....

Edited by SpajN, 30 January 2013 - 03:26 PM.

[Jman5]

Taizan, on 30 January 2013 - 10:47 AM, said:

The "endgame" grind is for the modules, not the mechs or equipment. We are just seeing the very few first steps taken into that direction with the tier 2 of some few modules. I am pretty certain there will be a definitive grind for the higher up modules.

On top of that, dropship mode will have players buying multiple copies of those expensive modules. So you're potentially talking something like 60 million c-bills in modules alone.

[Nathan Foxbane]

Your end game grind, which is what your E-100 was in WoT, is modules in MWO. You want them? You have to work for them and they are worth it.

And nine (9) month to get an E-100? Very casual player or did you wander around the tech trees?

Edited by Nathan Foxbane, 30 January 2013 - 03:33 PM.

[Jonathan Paine]

I want 100 000 000 C-Bills, and I'll get it!

[Barnaby Jones]

Right now, the only real grind is for gxp and modules, assuming you aren't using the xp to gxp conversion.

Without premium time, you can pick a mech grind it through the 8 basic skills, and somewhere in the grind to the 21500 xp for the elites, you will have the cbills to buy the next variant: rinse repeat. This includes the cbills needed for endo and dhs, and works quite well until you want to buy one of the variants thats loaded with an xl stock. And it familiarizes you with each variant and multiple weapon types pretty well assuming you don't try and replicate builds across multiple variants too much.

The only other grind is if you are trying to amass a cbill bank for future purposes.

As for there not being much progression, I agree with the op. Having ground out master on three variants of jenners, ravens, hunches, dragons, cats, phracts, atlases, awesomes and stalkers (with endo and dhs on all of them) and used to subsequent gxp to unlock all but one of the current modules, theres very little to do but bank cbills, get that last module and bank gxp, decide if I want to grind three commandos, spiders, cents, or cicadas, or just wait for the next new mech.

Edited by Barnaby Jones, 30 January 2013 - 03:38 PM.

[Zanathan]

As most people have stated, it's a good balance now with CBills/XP as a non-hardcore player can obtain a good amount of mechs and gear without slogging it forever - plus they are competitive very early on which is good IMO as this is a FPS so to speak and not an MMO.

PGI has stated the end game are the modules as they will be releasing a fair few which is what you will be working towards and GXP isn't easy to obtain.

I would like to see consumable items enter the game though as it will not only add a money sink (hence the need to accumulate more CBIlls) but add an interesting option to the game. I am not talking about overpowered items but items such as:

- coolant boosters (e.g. reduces your heat by 50% with a cooldown of 5 mins - costs X Cbill and is consumed on use)
- speed boosters (e.g. increase speed by 10% but does 10 damage to core with cooldown of 5 mins - costs X CBills and is consumed on use)
- grenades (smoke - flash bang, etc)
- etc

You get the gist (numbers are just examples).

Edited by Zanathan, 30 January 2013 - 03:40 PM.

[Dreamslave]

Modules! I guarantee the majority of this thread dont have them!

[Davers]

Dreamslave, on 30 January 2013 - 03:45 PM, said:

Modules! I guarantee the majority of this thread dont have them!

What I have been finding is that there are certain mechs I am good at, and some that I just ain't. So I tend to play the ones I am good at. Which leaves me with a lot of extra xp. But none of the modules introduced so far make me want to convert the xp to gxp for real money. I'm more than happy just slowly grinding it out and picking them up as I go. Which PGI would rather I didn't since they would rather have me spend money on it.

The modules need to be more interesting and useful. Why am I going to spend tens of thousands of gxp (and real money to get that gxp) on modules that just get stopped cold whenever an ECM mech gets near me? They need more things to spend GXP on imho.

[Accused]

It's not that the grind is long enough, just that there isn't enough useful stuff to grind for.

Laser Jockey: 15% heat reduction
Laser Guru: 5% weapon cycle decrease
Ballistics Master: 15% heat reduction
Ballistics Guru: 5% weapon cycle decrease
Ranger Senses: 25% reduction to enemy ECM
Missile Hog: 10% speed increase to Missile Flight
Probe Specialist: 20% duration increase to TAG/NARC
Jump Star: 15% increase to Jump Jets
Night Fire: 25% decrease to Heat Signatures
Ninja: 25% hard counter to Ranger Senses
Speed Freak: 10% heat reduction when at full speed
Running Monkey:10% less damage to legs when running

I mean you get the idea. Useful pilot skills you personally can use to customize your mech.