MWO Community Warfare Dev Blog. This was posted years ago but I dont think the plan has deviated much from how it's described here.
Mechwarrior Online
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Erronius
Macho Ma'am
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That's a hard question for me because a lot of the stuff I disliked could have been fixed in the interim but I have no way of knowing. Light mechs being able to shrug off gauss hits was one major gripe of mine; in the tabletop game you stood a good chance of coring a light if you hit them with gauss, whereas I kept finding that it took a LOT of hits to wear away armor, including gauss. Part of it was the server code and lagging lights not having hits register or light mechs being displayed in the wrong places, but there were many times that I'd see the gauss damage on the paperdoll and it didn't do as much as it should have. I disagreed with their decision to double armor values and increasing ROF to compensate, because now to do the same amount of damage as the TT game I'd have to hit the same mech IN THE SAME LOCATION TWICE to have the same effect. Then there was the Swayback 'boating issue after the one Dev made that mocking article about "what is 'boating', anyways?" and went on to say that they didn't think it was boating while people were running around alpha'ing Atlases in the face with lazors. The hit boxes and damage transfers were atrocious and I also remember the zombie Hunchbacks running around soaking way too much damage.
I mean, I hope they fixed some/all of that, but my gamer's hunch is that for everything they fixed there are tons of new issues that cropped up. The weapon damage/armor balance really did piss me off though.
I'm glad that they finally got to where you can drop as teams, but now it's been so long now that I can't even remember the names of the people I met from F&F/Alpha/Beta that I'd like to look up again.
Did the maps get better/larger? What they had pre-release either felt hella small or like they were made to encourage flag zergs. Is the game crippled by being encouraged to open your wallet left and right, or is "F2P" a realistic option? Can new players get up to speed quickly w/o emptying their wallet or do they have to choose between an asian-style grind or camping their Visa card? Is it anything OTHER than an FPS games in the Mechwarrior universe atm? Are there various 'viable' builds or does it gravitate towards cheesing out one or two different types of builds? Are PUGs like herding cats where everyone still has to follow the herd so you don't get singled out, and do you need to drop with a premade to have any chance at coordination? Is there a huge gap between the people that have their XP leveled and have a number of mechs compared to the people who only play occasionally as casuals, or is the gap somewhat narrow?
Im not sure which maps were in the game pre-release but there is a good variety of large maps and small now. Alpine Peaks, Terratherma (aka Mordor), Crimson Strait, Caustic Valley, and Tourmaline Desert have plenty of room to maneuver around. River City, Frozen City, Forest Colony, Canyon Network and HPG Manifold are smaller but none really feel like they encourage zerging currently. One difference from pre-release to now is that teams are 12 people per side rather than the 8 it was originally. That adds a very different feel to most maps having to be more cautious and coordination definitely pays off more. There is also a new game mode called Skirmish that removes bases entirely, to win you gotta kill everyone on the enemy team or be ahead when the timer runs out.
The game has always felt pretty balanced as a FTP game. You donthaveto pay real money for anything except mech bays (which are fairly cheap if that's all you buy). The grind to make cash and buy mechs without laying out any real cash is viable but some of the larger mechs will take some time to acquire. It all depends on how impatient you are really. My advice to people is always to shell out 10 bucks and buy a single Hero mech. Hero mechs are only buyable with real cash but come with bonuses to making in game cash (as well as coming pretty much completely kitted out). Pick up one, blow shit up and the cash rolls in for you to buy other stuff with the in game currency.
No other Mechwarrior games Im aware of with an online component. There are numerous viable builds. The min/maxers may gravitate toward a certain setup on a certain mech but you can be effective with most anything. PUGs are still like herding cats and likely always will be. I highly recommend you pour through the Faction/Clan forums and find MWO's equivalent of a guild. That removes a lot of the frustration with pugs and you will have loads more fun. I joined a group called theSkye Rangers(Nidhogg did as well). There are players from all over the world online all day every day, I never solo drop unless I want to and most evenings there are multiple groups of 4-12 people playing.
Eh, a little bit maybe. You donthaveto have loads of modules to play successfully (but they help) and lacking any of them isnt likely to be a deal breaker (unless youre an ECM-less light mech pilot without Radar Deprivation). Mech skills are quickly obtained and arent an issue imo at all. Playing with a group of people can negate any module or skill shortcomings.
Money means you save time. Especially when starting out. You also can't get more mech bay slots without spending cash.
Currently each mech is going to take ~8 mil on average to purchase, tweak, and deck out. With no hero mech or premium time you will be getting 1 mil every 13 games or so if you are average at the game. So you are talking 104 games per decked out mech on average. Premium time + hero mech will almost cut that in half. Buying the mechs outright obviously cuts down the time alot as well.
Currently if you like the game overall I would get the Timberwolf pack. They are super overpowered, way too fast for what they can carry, and can be built to do just about anything. Then the rest of the cash you get while piloting your overpowered mechs can be used to purchase others, or try out troll builds.
Currently each mech is going to take ~8 mil on average to purchase, tweak, and deck out. With no hero mech or premium time you will be getting 1 mil every 13 games or so if you are average at the game. So you are talking 104 games per decked out mech on average. Premium time + hero mech will almost cut that in half. Buying the mechs outright obviously cuts down the time alot as well.
Currently if you like the game overall I would get the Timberwolf pack. They are super overpowered, way too fast for what they can carry, and can be built to do just about anything. Then the rest of the cash you get while piloting your overpowered mechs can be used to purchase others, or try out troll builds.
OneofOne
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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^^ speaks the truth about the Timberwolf. Damn thing is FAST. Also, 4/5 of the time that I see someone doing 1200-1300 damage in a game, they're in one. Now whether great players are attracted to it skewing the numbers, or it's just a sign of how damn good it is, dunno. Seeing how it and the other Assault will be the absolute last mechs available for earned currency, of the Clan mechs, I don't expect to see any nerfs to it for some time, while PGI sell as many of the damn things as possible.
OneofOne
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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New vblogAsk the Devs - Vlog #6 - YouTube
Highlights:
jump jet scaling + heat
Clan mods
new mod slots on mechs (consumables, weps, other) will allow more overall mods, but less per type (since right now there is no limit on type)
no minimum range on Clan LRM but scaling damage within 180m (even so, really?)
2 new maps inc soonish with light teaser of first one, and more to come after, though likely using exists assets and weather variations of existing maps (lazy and lame)
community warfare part 1 (sounds like nothing more than creating merc corps and having identification icons on mechs, guild chat, etc) coming before end of summer, and part two (not really described) coming before end of year
Highlights:
jump jet scaling + heat
Clan mods
new mod slots on mechs (consumables, weps, other) will allow more overall mods, but less per type (since right now there is no limit on type)
no minimum range on Clan LRM but scaling damage within 180m (even so, really?)
2 new maps inc soonish with light teaser of first one, and more to come after, though likely using exists assets and weather variations of existing maps (lazy and lame)
community warfare part 1 (sounds like nothing more than creating merc corps and having identification icons on mechs, guild chat, etc) coming before end of summer, and part two (not really described) coming before end of year
Erronius
Macho Ma'am
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I think I remember Forest Colony as being the first map, if that's the one with the damned cave in it and the shallow lake on the other side. I want to say that Frozen City was the second map, with people trying to rush through the mountain pass on one side or the low lying trail on the other, with the crashed dropship or whatever it was buried in the snow in the middle. The third map, I think they added that in right after I walked away, it was a lava map? I can't remember for sure.
Sorry, my wording was ambiguous. I meant"Is MWO anything other than an FPS games in the Mechwarrior universe atm?". I should have continued on with something like"...or is it nothing more than an FPS, even now?"
Denamian
Night Janitor
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ITS ANNOUNCED, ITS REALLY COMING!
Like, guild chat and guild tags!
No ETA Though, with such a complex and resource hungry feature getting worked on, for real now, no kidding!
Like, guild chat and guild tags!
No ETA Though, with such a complex and resource hungry feature getting worked on, for real now, no kidding!
Faith
Useless lazy bastard.
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I fear it will be far from complex, more of a guild chat channel, some forum tags, special queue to calculate scores for map "progress" for your faction.
Things I would like to know:
If we can "fight over resources", does that mean we can attack specific planets?
If we can attack specific planets, how will the attack/defense be handled? Who decides when the fight is? Who gets to partake in it? Can the planet be flipped every 2 hours or is there a lockdown timer? Will the loss of the Atlas-factory on Madeupplanet 2 mean the losing faction now can not buy Atlas mechs?
Speaking of, what mechs can we use in the CW? Clan mechs for Clan units only? Will the Houses be limited to what they actually produced and used? How will Mercs access mechs and tech?
What rewards are planned for sticking to a faction? Are we stuck in a faction or can we switch sides effectivly just turning this into a rep grind? Will rewards from a faction be usable if I switch?
How will solo players get to take part of the CW?
And on and on and on.... them saying "oh we will release module 1 and 2 this year" then just mumbling about create units is really not enough, we need a rough outline for what they envision the CW to be and any planned limitations/rewards.
Things I would like to know:
If we can "fight over resources", does that mean we can attack specific planets?
If we can attack specific planets, how will the attack/defense be handled? Who decides when the fight is? Who gets to partake in it? Can the planet be flipped every 2 hours or is there a lockdown timer? Will the loss of the Atlas-factory on Madeupplanet 2 mean the losing faction now can not buy Atlas mechs?
Speaking of, what mechs can we use in the CW? Clan mechs for Clan units only? Will the Houses be limited to what they actually produced and used? How will Mercs access mechs and tech?
What rewards are planned for sticking to a faction? Are we stuck in a faction or can we switch sides effectivly just turning this into a rep grind? Will rewards from a faction be usable if I switch?
How will solo players get to take part of the CW?
And on and on and on.... them saying "oh we will release module 1 and 2 this year" then just mumbling about create units is really not enough, we need a rough outline for what they envision the CW to be and any planned limitations/rewards.
Mr Creed
Too old for this shit
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If anyone expects something more then your wins increasing the wedge your house claims on a pie chart then they are kidding themselves or have not followed this project long enough. The part I bolded especially is something PGI would take a decade to implement at their current pace and ability.
I cant see them ever doing anything like limiting who can buy or pilot certain mechs due to their faction or CW status, that'd be potential money out of their pockets. If those gold plated clan mechs taught us anything, it's that PGI wont skip a chance at making dollars.
Echoing the above post, I personally dont think CW is going to be any more involved that your match wins adding points to a faction wide pool. Wear a Steiner tag and win one of your matches, you earned House Steiner some points. If House Steiner has earned more points than everyone else on the River City map then House Steiner now owns the planet River City is on, etc.
I have no idea how resource control or whatever will play into things but I wouldnt expect there to be penalties on anyone for not owning a certain planet or whatever, only benefits of some sort for who does.
Echoing the above post, I personally dont think CW is going to be any more involved that your match wins adding points to a faction wide pool. Wear a Steiner tag and win one of your matches, you earned House Steiner some points. If House Steiner has earned more points than everyone else on the River City map then House Steiner now owns the planet River City is on, etc.
I have no idea how resource control or whatever will play into things but I wouldnt expect there to be penalties on anyone for not owning a certain planet or whatever, only benefits of some sort for who does.
OneofOne
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Fury
Silver Knight of the Realm
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It's interesting to see the chat smack talking picking up lately. Last night for us was very interesting. It's just a four man team - me and three buddies. Although we have Marik tags, we are not part of the Marik house guild. In particular, during one of our matches where we dropped in our LRM boats, the smack talk really picked up about how "our Assaults are letting us down"... "get in the fight you coward Assaults", etc, etc,. Of course after we won the fight 12 - 7, with each player in my Lance doing 600 - 700 damage and us killing 8 of the 12 enemy mechs (personally I was 3 kills 692 damage - not bad for an Orion LRM 30), it didn't seem to factor in on verbal thrashing.
Is this a more prevalant thing in the group/team dropping compared to the solo/PUG dropping?
Is this a more prevalant thing in the group/team dropping compared to the solo/PUG dropping?
I was being sarcastic, i dont even follow the game closely and the guy doing the video seemed incredibly sheepish, deer in headlights style like "Huh heh hey guys, we working on guild tags and guild chat, like for real now" like it was some big feature and then ends it with no eta though! As if its that hard to commit to a timeline over such seemingly simple features.
Faith
Useless lazy bastard.
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Actualy they (Paul) stated recently that if people think the mix of IS and Clan mechs that we have currently will be the standard for the CW they were wrong, so I dont know about that.
Anyone intrested can follow their "progress" atMWO: The Plan
I can only make assumptions but by "current mix" I sincerely hope for the future of the game he's meaning something like splitting the teams up between IS and Clans with Lone Wolfs filling in on either side.
I cant see a way that's feasible for PGI to put limitations on which mechs the player can pilot based on their clan/faction affiliation. You're mixing game lore with real dollars and the outcome will be disastrous. People have been spending cash for years on IS mechs and now huge amounts of money have been spent on Clan mechs. In a few months with CW if PGI pops up and says that if you're part of an IS faction you cant use those shiny new Clan mechs you just spent $240 on, there will be riots. The people who invest heavily in the game will be the ones they will push away and PGI cant afford to do that.
I cant see a way that's feasible for PGI to put limitations on which mechs the player can pilot based on their clan/faction affiliation. You're mixing game lore with real dollars and the outcome will be disastrous. People have been spending cash for years on IS mechs and now huge amounts of money have been spent on Clan mechs. In a few months with CW if PGI pops up and says that if you're part of an IS faction you cant use those shiny new Clan mechs you just spent $240 on, there will be riots. The people who invest heavily in the game will be the ones they will push away and PGI cant afford to do that.
OneofOne
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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If the game actually had more to it, like say pilots, that wouldn't be an issue. You got your clan pilot and your IS pilot, but that's even MORE work so yeah... Otherwise I agree, I can't see how they are going to cut people off from half the mechs they've bought, unless they say screw it, any faction/clan can use any mech in which case, well, that's where we are now, and waters the game down quite a bit, but it's PGI.
OneofOne
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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So module slots have been revamped this week. Initially was bummed as my A1 Catapult should have lost a mech mod slot, but... it didn't. So I don't know if that was mistakenly not added to the patch notes, or if it's going to be fixed. And now the weapon mods are their own slots I guess there's a reason to use them, other than the price. They add very little, and yet aren't cheap. Speaking of which, does PGI plan to add the IS UAC/5 mod to the list? Clanners got it, but we're still missing it.
Also still hating on the Timberwolf. I got $20 says it's nerfed before it's released for earned currency.
Also still hating on the Timberwolf. I got $20 says it's nerfed before it's released for earned currency.