18 replies to this topic

[Sanreal]

I have to admit that despite all its problems, I do have fun playing this game. But dang, does PGI make it hard to do so. Thought I would compile a list of issues:


The GOOD

1) Mech redesigns are AMAZING. Chain Alex Iglesias to his desk and crack that whip. He manages to make previously ugly mechs look beautiful.

2) Mech movement is really fluid. Mechs bob and sway nicely, and the independent arm and torso movement is a really nice feature that previous Mechwarrior games didn't have.

3) Game looks beautiful. Performance takes a hit, but still, it looks pretty; feels immersive.

4) Combat is generally fun. Balance is terrible, netcode is whack, but even so, shooting is fun.

5) All weight classes are competitive. Individual mechs and variants may have lots of problems, but at least I can compete in any weight class. The game is not decided by who has more assault mechs.


The BAD

1) Netcode. Netcode. Netcode. Sometimes my shots register, and sometimes they don't. For a "shooter," it's a roll of the dice. It has been getting better with recent patches, so I'm hopeful.

2) Game stability. Nothing ruins a game faster than crashes to desktop, or a lack of in-game battlegrid, or game cursor, to name just a few of the numerous glitches. PGI has at least fixed some of these, but the number of disconnects in-game is still startlingly high, which completely ruins the match for the remainder of the team that has to play down a man.

3) Weapon imbalance. Even a first-time noob can see that Machine Guns and Flamers are totally useless. It was true on day one of Closed Beta, and it's still true all these months later. Streaks remain completely overpowered, to the point where they are simply THE weapon for killing light mechs. Every light mech carries them (since they have to duel other light mechs), and every other mech that wants to kill light mechs also carry them. To counter this overpowered weapon, PGI added completely overpowered ECM. Now players just combine the two for double the overpowered-ness. I won't go into detail on other weapons, but what I named above are personal peeves of mine (and how about that NARC Beacon, huh PGI?)

4) Mech imbalance. Some mechs are clearly superior to others. Any mech with a symmetrical loadout has an obvious advantage, at least in the smaller number of weapon groups that its mechwarriors have to manage. Other mechs have gimped hardpoints, like one Jenner variant, the "K," that is the exact same as the "D" but with one less missile hardpoint. And then there's the Raven 3L... the only light mech currently being played because it combines Streaks, ECM, and un-killable hit boxes.

5) The "New Player Experience." It's hell. Beginners get to grind out matches in mostly awful trial mechs against veterans with maxed-out builds, without even an in-game tutorial session. If they manage to survive a couple hours of MWO: the Personal Massacre, they scrape together enough money to buy a mech--and yet have no way of knowing which mech they should even buy, or even how to properly customize it (here's a hint, don't get Ferro Fibrous armor for 95% of mechs). God help them if they buy the wrong one, just to get slaughtered endlessly before they can earn enough C-Bills to start over.

6) The Grind. Welcome to the suck. PGI improved things tremendously by removing the repair and rearm system--so I'm not really complaining about the economy, but instead about the proficiencies. The difference between mechs with no xp, and those that are elite, is tremendous. And yet, since many mech variants are underwhelming, the game forces players to grind out two mech variants that they hate, in order to play one that they love. This is borderline pay-to-win, since the advantage of converting xp is obvious.

7) The UI. How many times do I have to open, close, and re-open menus in order to ready my mech and group launch? Why can't I see what mechs my lancemates are taking? Why can't I, as group leader, see when my lancemates are busy tweaking their mechs in mechlab instead of readying? Why does an MMO bury its social features? Why can't I make weapon groups in mechlab? These are only a fraction of the issues, and PGI has at least recognized the problem. But dang, are they ever slow to do anything about it. Here's a hint to PGI: go learn from your competition, like say, World of Tanks? An online game should be a snap to form groups and play, as quickly as possible. This is ultimately a minor issue, but an easy fix. So why is it so hard for PGI?

8) Micro-transactions are wayyyy too expensive. I guess PGI has learned from World of Tanks, after all. $24 for a Pretty Baby. Really? Maybe it's just me, but I can buy a complete game off of Steam sale for that price (more like several games). I wouldn't pay more than $8 maximum for a single mech myself, and even that seems exorbitant. And then there's kitsch cockpit items for roughly $5, or single colors. Still, the market will pay what the market will bear, so if that's making money for PGI, then good for them. But they won't be earning MY money until they bring their prices far down. And I'm guessing that's true for a lot of other people too.


The IFFY

1) Feature Incomplete. As I understood from the Dev QnA Sessions, one of the ways that mechs would be balanced is around the utility added by modules. Smaller mechs wouldn't win 1v1 against an Atlas, but they might bring other abilities to the table for their team. But I guess we'll never know, since the game was pushed out before these mechanics were even in place. There is no objective way for the game to be balanced before these kinds of features are in play. Not that balance seems to be a high priority for PGI, given that many of the problems I listed above should have been rectified in internal alpha testing.

2) Role Warfare kinda sorta not really. I like the attempt from PGI for team-based mechanics, but where are they? Right now, it's limited to ECM and TAG. The problem for PGI here, is that as they release a new feature, it unbalances everything else. Another reason why this game was just released a good year or two too early. I was excited to hear that it would be possible to play as the Commander role, but being able to place down one team marker doesn't cut it. Until I can individually order waypoints for my lancemates, with in-game voice chat, there just won't be any strategy except "find enemy, kill enemy."

3) Community Warfare MIA. I'm not spending my premium time until this is in. Period.

4) Clans incoming? Or not? So when are clans going to get added, and how? Are they playable factions? Do they have exclusive mechs and weapons? According to the timeline, they are supposed to invade the Inner Sphere next month, but given that PGI still has five more announced Inner Sphere mechs to add first, there's no way that the clans can launch (didn't PGI announce it for August?) with any of their own mechs. Unless PGI is working on them in the background, secretively. But since I'm guessing mechs won't be exclusive, it'll be rather disheartening to see every Inner Sphere pilot running around in Timber Wolf mechs, and likewise, the Clans invading with Raven 3Ls....

5) Content deficit. I think we're all sick of the same maps by now. Mechs are being added one per month, which is bare minimum. Many weapons haven't been added yet (probably a good thing owing to existing imbalance). There is no meta-game, and no PvE. Let's face it: we've played this game to death already, and it's really not a complete game yet. I know people will point to the "Open Beta" sign, but PGI is accepting money, and we're not getting a lot for our money right now.


Alright, if anyone actually reads all of that, congratulations and thank you. I've said my piece, and despite my concerns, I'll still be playing the game. If anyone else has more to add, by all means, I'd like to see it, and like for PGI to see it too.

[Chavette]

I have no words for how mad criticism posts make me about my- *cough* this game.

[Thirdstar]

TL:DR

Just kidding. I wanted to address this one point

Sanreal, on 21 February 2013 - 12:00 AM, said:

1) Mech redesigns are AMAZING. Chain Alex Iglesias to his desk and crack that whip. He manages to make previously ugly mechs look beautiful.

I'm told that a lot of designs have already been churned out, awaiting either modeling or just being held back for some reason.

I wholeheartedly agree with your New User Flow point, it's a topic that I'm very interested in as well.

[PapaKilo]

As to the "many weapons haven't been added yet" comment -- if we're following the timeline, they won't be in until later. We're in 3050 now. Some come in late 3050s, or 3060s. Some "advanced" stuff that the Clans have in 3050 doesn't arrive until 3067 or later for the Inner Sphere. We have to deal with this deficit for a good while yet.

[GalaxyBluestar]

sums up where we're at in a way but it'll get better believe me what we have now is very different from what we had 2 months ago. hopefully all things will get adressed a little more at the end of another 2 months?

[PapaKilo]

Yep. Most people wouldn't believe how far MW:O has come since July/August when Founders were let in. This game has only been in development for a year and a half or something like that.

[lsp]

Balance is fine, streaks have already been nerfed into the ground. Any further nerfing and they might as well just be removed from the game, they're always going to be superior to dumb fired missles just like real life. That's just the way it goes, some things are superior to others( level 2 tech cough), nothing is perfectly "balanced" and shouldn't be. Unless you want CoD with robots, where every weapon is the same with a different skin.

Edited by lsp, 21 February 2013 - 02:06 AM.

[Onmyoudo]

I agree with almost everything in OP, but PGI is evidently working hard. Seems like every 2 weeks we're getting a fair amount of fixes and content and while I would like to see it all done and rolled out tomorrow (including Clans, CW, NUE and all the rest) I am resigned to being patient. In a couple months we could be looking at a very different beast.

[GalaxyBluestar]

lsp, on 21 February 2013 - 02:05 AM, said:

Balance is fine, streaks have already been nerfed into the ground. Any further nerfing and they might as well just be removed from the game, they're always going to be superior to dumb fired missles just like real life.

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 21 February 2013 - 02:13 AM.

[WolvesX]

Nice review!

[Dagnome]

I see a lot of crying here, nothing really that constructive. Plus for a "Feedback" its not posted in the right forums. This would be more of a "General discussion" list.

The Good:
Overall, MWO is awesome as a BETA and once all the kinks are worked out will become a very good game.

The Bad:
PGI is catering to all the whiners WAY to much, anyone that has been here since closed beta can most likely attest to that fact (Example: Where did repair and rearm go? Oh that's right people kept crying because they couldn't run a Quad LRM15 boat W/ Artemis every match because ammo was "Too expensive". I never had a problem affording it back in the day.)

The Iffy:
If PGI keeps Dumbing this game down and caters to the whiners they are going to turn a great Mech simulator into a Big stompy Robot call of duty (Only 1/4 the speed of Hawken) which will result in, again, a massive loss of its player base.

[Thirdstar]

Dagnome, on 21 February 2013 - 02:43 AM, said:

I see a lot of crying here, nothing really that constructive. Plus for a "Feedback" its not posted in the right forums. This would be more of a "General discussion" list.

The Good:
Overall, MWO is awesome as a BETA and once all the kinks are worked out will become a very good game.

The Bad:
PGI is catering to all the whiners WAY to much, anyone that has been here since closed beta can most likely attest to that fact (Example: Where did repair and rearm go? Oh that's right people kept crying because they couldn't run a Quad LRM15 boat W/ Artemis every match because ammo was "Too expensive". I never had a problem affording it back in the day.)

The Iffy:
If PGI keeps Dumbing this game down and caters to the whiners they are going to turn a great Mech simulator into a Big stompy Robot call of duty (Only 1/4 the speed of Hawken) which will result in, again, a massive loss of its player base.

This is what's wrong with the Gold vision. No connection with reality at all.

[Impyrium]

I for one don't care too much for the little details. I may be new to the game, but no so BattleTech/MechWarrior, and I'm just glad to be stomping around 'Mechs in a glorious modern engine.

Sure, it has problems, but so does everything. In BETA. If Lights are so terrible against Assaults there's probably a reason for that, and 'Mech imbalance means I have a challenge. So there.

Also, dakadakadakadaka. I just love MGs. Crappy or not, they successfully annoy an opponent to the point he'll eject. Or not. But they should. And they look/sound/feel awesome.

[Sifright]

Dagnome, on 21 February 2013 - 02:43 AM, said:

I see a lot of crying here, nothing really that constructive. Plus for a "Feedback" its not posted in the right forums. This would be more of a "General discussion" list.

The Good:
Overall, MWO is awesome as a BETA and once all the kinks are worked out will become a very good game.

The Bad:
PGI is catering to all the whiners WAY to much, anyone that has been here since closed beta can most likely attest to that fact (Example: Where did repair and rearm go? Oh that's right people kept crying because they couldn't run a Quad LRM15 boat W/ Artemis every match because ammo was "Too expensive". I never had a problem affording it back in the day.)

The Iffy:
If PGI keeps Dumbing this game down and caters to the whiners they are going to turn a great Mech simulator into a Big stompy Robot call of duty (Only 1/4 the speed of Hawken) which will result in, again, a massive loss of its player base.

not going to lie the bolded part made me lol.

I really don't get where the smug superiority of some of you comes from acting like this game is some how more high brow than any other first person shooter.

[Salicar]

agree with every point made by the OP. I am going to go play something else for a bit until the ECM stuff is sorted, there is no point in playing any other type of light while it is in

[Dagnome]

Sifright, on 21 February 2013 - 02:52 AM, said:

not going to lie the bolded part made me lol.

I really don't get where the smug superiority of some of you comes from acting like this game is some how more high brow than any other first person shooter.

In my opinion, it is about game Tempo. Any first person shooting I have played (Lets use Call of duty as a reference for FPS) has been fast paced, high action. MWO is more of a Simulation/Tactical shooter (We will forget the fact that PGI has stated it is a simulation game) which has a much slower pace than your standard FPS game. It also has to do, in part, with the history of the Franchise.

The argument between Hawken and MWO is a good example. Hawken is more of a "Mech based" FPS and MWO would be your Operation Flashpoint (Dragon rising not that red river crap) of Mech based games (Keeping in line with the FPS theme).

[Thirdstar]

Catering to whiners/casuals/THEM is an argument used by people who know they've lost. It's the last desperate screams while being forgotten by the majority of a game's population.

This has always been the case with gaming. There are always people who are fearful of progress, of having their niche taken away.

You see 'Catering to X', we and the Devs see the game getting better, more inclusive.

You give BT fans a bad name.

Edited by Thirdstar, 21 February 2013 - 03:16 AM.

[elbloom]

agree nearly 100% with OP, thank you for the nice read.

[Sanreal]

Dagnome, on 21 February 2013 - 03:08 AM, said:

In my opinion, it is about game Tempo. Any first person shooting I have played (Lets use Call of duty as a reference for FPS) has been fast paced, high action. MWO is more of a Simulation/Tactical shooter (We will forget the fact that PGI has stated it is a simulation game) which has a much slower pace than your standard FPS game. It also has to do, in part, with the history of the Franchise.

The argument between Hawken and MWO is a good example. Hawken is more of a "Mech based" FPS and MWO would be your Operation Flashpoint (Dragon rising not that red river crap) of Mech based games (Keeping in line with the FPS theme).

I can respect that MWO is not Hawken. But I disagree that MWO is very simulative. Nor that anyone wants it to be. Simulating marching orders for days on end just to die to an airstrike doesn't make for a very fun game.

I appreciate slower pacing because it allows opportunity for more strategy. But that's the point of my post; there really isn't much strategy available now, given that teamplay mechanics are not implemented, Commander role is non-existent, there's no voice-chat, and lancemates don't even have separate UI coloring.

The strategy for PUGs boils down to "don't leave the group. Never leave the group."