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[ColonelSkills]

Jesus Christ.

Two years ago I gave these assholes the benefit of the doubt.

I don't often make judges of character that poor. But god DAMN was I fooled.

 

[InsaneElite]

Reading back through the first few pages of this thread is pretty painful.

Still, I might update it over break and play around a bit. Hard to believe it's been a year and a half since beta started and there really hasn't been any major changes or updates.

 

[ColonelSkills]

Went looking at my fiction shelf.

This jumped out at me.

How extremely fitting.

 

[HariKari]

100 pages of hatred and counting on the MWO forums.

 

[Lime]

 

[Felsparrow]

I haven't touched this game in a long time, mainly because it hasn't been progressing in the direction I liked, and instead is little more than a Mechwarrior flavored World of Tanks ripoff. I'm mainly looking for missions with more depth and stuff like tonnage based missions at the very least.

So color me unsurprised that they're still doing that.

Can someone rundown all of the other issues that the community of active players dislike? What are the problems with LRM and SRMs?

Are there currently still really unbalanced weapons and mechs?

Are founders still unable to change the founder skin colors?

 

[Lime]

Seriously. What the fuck are they doing? Are they going bankrupt or something?

 

[king picollo]

It's a ridiculous amount of money, i hope no one pays that.

 

[ColonelSkills]

It's a ridiculous amount of money, i hope no one pays that.

There are screenshots of people who already have. :\

Everyone else is promising to teamkill those who show up with golden skins though, which is no good either.

And I wonder what the thread's actual page count would be, considering posts are being deleted left, right, and center.

 

[Lime]

Anyone have any renders or large images of the Clan concept art?

 

[No_Style]

Everyone else is promising to teamkill those who show up with golden skins though, which is no good either.

Haha. This is incredible!

 

[BattleMonkey]

100 pages of hatred and counting on the MWO forums.

Thats amazing

 

[SUBZERO-08]

I haven't touched this game in a long time, mainly because it hasn't been progressing in the direction I liked, and instead is little more than a Mechwarrior flavored World of Tanks ripoff. I'm mainly looking for missions with more depth and stuff like tonnage based missions at the very least.

So color me unsurprised that they're still doing that.

Can someone rundown all of the other issues that the community of active players dislike? What are the problems with LRM and SRMs?

Are there currently still really unbalanced weapons and mechs?

Are founders still unable to change the founder skin colors?

1) The main gripes are slow development speed, incorrect ECM implementation, and ghost heat (their solution for pinpoint damage, which could have been done in a more intuitive way).

The problem with SRM's primarily boils down to unreliable hit detection compared to the other weapon systems. Depending on enemy Mech movement and other factors, they fail to register on occasion. I dunno if there's really any problem with LRM's, but the main complaint I see is that they don't require enough skill to use.

2) The weapon balance is okay, for the most part. Flamers are useless, pulse lasers and small lasers need to be changed, machine guns should probably get buffed a bit once again. Some Mech's are useless in 12-man competitive play, but for PUG's, I've never had a problem doing okay in a Mech (asides from the Locust). Avoid the Locust, Dragon, and Awesome, I suppose.

3) I think all the Founder Mech's can change their skin colors now.

 

[El'Kharn]

I almost fell off my bloody chair when i saw this..
$240 for top tier deal and $500 for gold mechs.
Crazy shit

 

[K.Jack]

I really like the concept art but apart from that... I feel sad. I think charging 500$ for what is basically almost no additional work for PGI... wow. I mean 500$, that could ruin somebody's life. That is just sad.

They look at the sales data, and probably know the 100 or so pitiable dudes who can't help but buy a Gold mech by name. "That's right Stephen [redacted], here's your Golden Timber Wolf. Yes we already know your Visa #."

Sad times for the Battletech enthusiast. MWO is a cesspool of broken promises and crushed dreams.

This gif has never been more appropriate:

 

[El'Kharn]

At least some of the rage on the mwo forums is entertaining.

 

[Lime]

I want a $500 Golden Urban Mech

 

[El'Kharn]

Spend the 500 on therapy for an unhealthy obsession

 

[El'Kharn]

I hope for the best and expect the worst.

I gotta admit, my fave depiction of the whole situation is this:

There's something mirth-inducing about the differing spinning speed.​

hehe thanks. used to great effect

 

[wrongway]

Another piece of MWO news, another wave of disappointment, but another day of being glad that I never gave these clowns a dime when I was at maximum hype. What a joke

 

[Lime]

I still can't believe how lacking this game has been and still is when you compare it to a regular $60 dollar game with a singleplayer campaign and a robust multiplayer experience with multiple maps and game modes.

Yet this game is basically team deathmatch and now they want even more money on some new 3D models, instead of actually focusing on making the experience more diverse and allowing players to do something different.

 

[Lime]

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/144895-clan-technology-a-design-perspective-feedback/

Thoughts?

 

[Orayn]

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/144895-clan-technology-a-design-perspective-feedback/

Thoughts?

Clan tech balancing ideas seem pretty reasonable. It's understandable that they aren't making them outright better than the IS versions, so "sidegrades" are fine by me.

OmniMech customization sounds like a lot of fun and I look forward to lovingly tailoring my Mad Cat for maximum murder power.

 

[Llyranor]

I'm not sure why people are so upset about the gold mechs. They're prestige items that don't really offer any actual gameplay advantage (if anything, I'd consider the gold paint an aiming reticle pointed at the mech). If whales want to spend that time of money, more power to them.

What's less cool is the paywall behind getting access to all those mechs. Like the iconic Mad Cat at the 210 tier. Since they're all supposed to be good mechs (unlike the Phoenix pack with the pile of crap locust), letting players pick and choose a pack based on the number of mechs they want (and choose whichever one they want) would have been nice. But really, I guess you're paying a premium for early access, since they'll all get released periodically (I'm guessing over an 8-month period?)

As for me, I'll wait and see what they do with the game in the next 6 months before even thinking of investing. For what it's worth, I've played a few sessions this week and it's been pretty fun (save for a few completely unbalanced matches due to matchmaking failure - HINT: PGI - TONNAGE LIMITS). The new spawn points really help with the gameplay.

RSI has talent and real money behind it

*had* talent. Roberts hasn't made a game in 10 yrs. A lot about the game is still unproven. Fans have just gone cuckoo over the project because it's the only one of its scale/ambition focusing on that type of gameplay. People throwing 1000+ on virtual spaceships is ok because it's Chris Roberts and he's the savior of PC gaming, right?
And I'm saying this as someone who's already spent more on SC than these silly Clan packs cost.

 

[HariKari]

Clan tech balancing ideas seem pretty reasonable. It's understandable that they aren't making them outright better than the IS versions, so "sidegrades" are fine by me.

OmniMech customization sounds like a lot of fun and I look forward to lovingly tailoring my Mad Cat for maximum murder power.

You will be waiting until January 2015 to play with said Mad Cat unless you cough up the money.

And the clan tech balancing is decent enough. It's just that you are missing a huge opportunity to do something more unique instead of just nerfing clan tech down to IS levels. How about IS vs Clan player queues, 12v16? Tonnage advantages? Oh, that's right, that would require a level of technical proficiency on their part. It would also probably discourage players from mixing factions in their mech bays. Gotta sell those hero mechs and Clan packages!

The Inner Sphere basically threw a crap ton of inferior mechs at the Clans and used weight of numbers to slow them down. Clanners weren't good at fighting large numbers of enemies. It was the Battletech equivalent of the Russian T-34 tank versus the German tanks. Russia could just build three more for every single tank destroyed in the field. That should be reflected in the game design. Clans and the invasion represent a unique opportunity to do factions right. Instead, PGI is punting the chance with a nerf cop-out. It's a great example of how they continue to fetter away everything that makes Battletech unique.

Homegrown Mech Commander leagues had more meaningful faction warfare than MWO... fifteen years ago. I'm not sure how anyone can look at what PGI has uh accomplished to date and have faith that they can do Community Warfare or the invasion right.

*had* talent. Roberts hasn't made a game in 10 yrs. A lot about the game is still unproven. Fans have just gone cuckoo over the project because it's the only one of its scale/ambition focusing on that type of gameplay. People throwing 1000+ on virtual spaceships is ok because it's Chris Roberts and he's the savior of PC gaming, right?
And I'm saying this as someone who's already spent more on SC than these silly Clan packs cost.

Even with a 10 year hiatus, Roberts has more credibility than the entire 40 man PGI team. And you are crowdfunding a game that is in development. It's the equivalent of investing directly into a AAA title. MWO is the opposite. You are keeping the lights on at a rinky-dink F2P operation that hasn't ever been worth the money or effort. RSI is just so much better at simple shit like communicating with players. And they've already demonstrated more technical proficiency than PGI ever has.

 

[Orayn]

You will be waiting until January 2015 to play with said Mad Cat unless you cough up the money.

I'm guessing September or October, to be honest.

And the clan tech balancing is decent enough. It's just that you are missing a huge opportunity to do something more unique instead of just nerfing clan tech down to IS levels. How about IS vs Clan player queues, 12v16? Tonnage advantages? Oh, that's right, that would require a level of technical proficiency on their part. It would also probably discourage players from mixing factions in their mech bays. Gotta sell those hero mechs and Clan packages!

Maybe 8v5 or 16v10 if they were to put Clan 'Mechs in stars rather than lances.

 

[Woorloog]

They are asking for balancing feedback and ideas. Do they not have these planned? Do they no have a vision?
Besides, their ideas didn't seem particularly good.
But then the game's balancing is atrocious already, so i'm not really surprised.

EDIT IS vs Clan mode, with asymmetrical team sizes would be great, even if Omni tech is OP when numbers are compared.

 

[ColonelSkills]

Oh, that's right, that would require a level of technical proficiency on their part.

I'm more worried about their DESIGN proficiency.

Nerf batting this stuff into "same but different" and suggesting things like SSRM6s being just a triple set of chain fired SSRM2s reeks of a lack of creativity and trying to jam something they aren't ready for into a system that barely works.

Tonnage limits, pairing Clanners together for team size limits and/or fine tuning a BV like system into MM isn't just a technical issue for these guys, they just aren't even designing around concepts like this. They don't have a vision for making any of this unique.

Hell, since they're so keen on having the clan tech in what'll be an IS focused war in CW (should that ever come out), why don't they put it into some sort of salvage system or something so having an omni is actually really, y'know, rare. If you destroy one in the field and have severed an arm, maybe that arm gets to be the property of the person who does the most damage to it or something, and then work on putting that arm into the inventory and allow the (admittedly relatively interesting) bit about swapping components between omnis. Don't take them away from the original pilots, but that way someone running across a Nova in the field will have a chance at taking some parts home and building another.

CTs only drop when you leg a mech. Side torsos only if the structures internally weren't damaged on that side. Arms if they were sheared off. Heads come with CTs. Legs if you cored a dude.

Works with the lore, makes for interesting match rewards instead of a C-Bill grind, gives a metagame element where there currently is none, and keeps clan tech rare so one doesn't have to nerf bat it into oblivion to make it fit into a broken system.

Granted, then everyone would be gunning for the guy running the Warhawk, but considering his array of infinitely better tech and how a team SHOULD be focused on supporting him then it makes sense.

More sense than "we'll just add more ghost heat to clan er large lasers, lol"

 

[HariKari]

Works with the lore, makes for interesting match rewards instead of a C-Bill grind, gives a metagame element where there currently is none, and keeps clan tech rare so one doesn't have to nerf bat it into oblivion to make it fit into a broken system.

See, everyone has good ideas. The Battletech universe is pretty deep, and is primed for meaningful faction warfare. The problem is that PGI's ambitions don't stretch beyond creating a World of Tanks clone arena shooter, and that's a damn shame. The game isn't that large and yet they've managed to create a shit storm 172 pages long on their own forums over this. It's like there's no attempt at being honest or upfront. "MWO is what it is, buy stuff or leave" seems to be the message. It worked in the past but I'm not sure people will fall for it a third time.

I'm holding out hope that a larger, more reputable company offers to buy them out of the license.

 

[Steel]

100 pages of hatred and counting on the MWO forums.

This is how the mech genre dies, friends.

Not with Chromehounds 2, but with mechwarrior online. ;(

Spoiler

For the record I know that's a joke based on a harsh reality.

 

[ColonelSkills]

I'm holding out hope that a larger, more reputable company offers to buy them out of the license.

This is my one and only hope, too. Just keep Alex. He's the only one worth a damn.

It's a shame because now that Catalyst has taken over the TT stuff, they've produced some awesome books recently.

It's like the universe is incapable of being properly handled on all mediums at the same time or something.

 

[Zod the Bear]

...well, they've confirmed I'm never returning to the game. Too bad, as at launch I was really hoping things would stabilize and we'd have a solid MW game again.

This is ridiculous.

 

[BattleMonkey]

They are asking for balancing feedback and ideas. Do they not have these planned? Do they no have a vision?
Besides, their ideas didn't seem particularly good.
But then the game's balancing is atrocious already, so i'm not really surprised.

EDIT IS vs Clan mode, with asymmetrical team sizes would be great, even if Omni tech is OP when numbers are compared.

The game balancing really hasn't been bad, no different from any other online competitive game and their ups and downs.

The main problem has been there complete lack of providing any of the features they talked about for so long and how they treated the fans with the 3PV situation

 

[Woorloog]

The game balancing really hasn't been bad, no different from any other online competitive game and their ups and downs.

Really? It's worse than an average game really. Something is overpowered? Instead of nerfing it, they introduce additional stuff for countering it, with high price. Counter that doesn't even work properly.
Mid-range DPS builds are (were?) completely worthless, and IIRC they said something like (paraphrasing): "Experienced players might exploit the system to create heat-neutral builds", ie they ignore the fact information is available for all and the game must be balanced that in mind, for high level play, not for noobs.
They're slow to respond and recognize issues, with sub-par solutions.

EDIT did i mention mediums being rather worthless? The mech class that should be the most common type in canon. Lack of economic system certainly contributes to this (mediums are economical in canon), removal of repair costs reduces their usefulness. Increasing rewards for lighter and medium mechs doesn't work as well as a money-sink that is higher for larger mechs.

 

[Lime]

This might be the possible release schedule of the upcoming Clan mechs:

Dec 2013 - Thunderbolt
Jan 2014 - Battlemaster
Feb 2014 - Griffin/Wolverine
March 2014 - Griffin/Wolverine
April 2014 - Flea?
May 2014 - ???
June 2014 - Kitfox
July 2014 - Nova
August 2014 - Summoner
September 2014 - Dire Wolf
October 2014 - Adder
November 2014 - Stormcrow
December 2014 - TimberWolf
January 2015 - Warhawk

 

[Lime]

Also, I'm not that satisfied with the Timberwolf design. It looks too much like MW4's Mad Cat MkII. Iglesias' version is too hulked over and pointy.

I think the FASA versions and Steve Venters renditions in the 90's are the best design of the iconic mech that I've seen.

Which is also what was used as reference for the Armorcast 1/60 resin models

And also used in the Mechcommander 1 designs:

 

[Wiktor]

*sigh* If only they were able to make a full on non-f2p game....

The sad thing is - they probably easily could with the money they got from founders.

 

[king picollo]

Rather they ran with the Minecraft model £10 buy in for everyone and then free updates.

 

[ColonelSkills]

It's not F2P that's killing it.

It's not monetization that's killing it.

It's not even gold skins that are killing it.

It's a complete lack of developer resources going to actually creating a game and feature set, while not working towards an established design document, while being late on every single deliverable, while introducing things that don't work, all while not understanding the very game they're trying to make that's killing it.

I have nothing against it's F2P nature. I couldn't care less, there. I have *everything* against how awful PGI/IGP is as a developer.

 

[HariKari]

Also, I'm not that satisfied with the Timberwolf design. It looks too much like MW4's Mad Cat MkII. Iglesias' version is too hulked over and pointy.

His version fits better with the overall art design of the game, by a mile. It's very practical in that it's meant to look like a realistic military machine and not something dreamt up in the 80s.

The feedback thread for this mess has passed 200 pages, all of it outright hatred for PGI. It is now the most replied to thread ever on the forums, easily passing the third person view fiasco.

 

[king picollo]

There's an article in Forbes about it.

 

[DocGaf]

I tried MWO during beta. Just couldn't get in to it and the pay to win aspect of the game just doesn't appeal to me. I guess I was hoping for Mechwarrior 3 greatness.

Also, I don't get why MS doesn't just bring MW back. Why pump up a game like Titanfall the way they did and pay through the nose for exclusivity when they own the rights to one of the best Mech shooters already? Maybe after Titanfall exclusivity runs out they'll have more of a reason to push it. I'd love to see a MW4 done right.

 

[HariKari]

Either people quit, got fired, or PGI is looking to legitimately expand.


Dec 15th posting: 3D artist (wat), Game Designer, Project Manager, UI/UX designer (explains a lot)
November 26th posting: Art director, Concept artist (wat!?), Systems Engineer


Even Russ doesn't know what's going on with the Clan packs:

Russ Bullock @russ_bullock
@nikoliy @Paul_Inouye @bryanekman I believe there just gold. Collector/vanity mechs that is all.

 

[Erdem]

I love how the freaking President of PGI has the grammar and temper of your average highschool student. Reading his tweets is painful. He even gets into arguments with people disappointed with their game, hilarious.

Even with a 10 year hiatus, Roberts has more credibility than the entire 40 man PGI team. And you are crowdfunding a game that is in development. It's the equivalent of investing directly into a AAA title. MWO is the opposite. You are keeping the lights on at a rinky-dink F2P operation that hasn't ever been worth the money or effort. RSI is just so much better at simple shit like communicating with players. And they've already demonstrated more technical proficiency than PGI ever has.

Even though they're in development for roughly the same amount of time, MWO actually has considerable playable content and a pretty fun gameplay design. It's just lacking any meaningful game mode other than simple deathmatch.

RSI is monetizing every bit of their non-existent game upon their "good" reputation. If they cannot deliver, it will be the biggest money grab of all gaming times. By the way things are going, I don't think they will.

 

[Lime]

Either people quit, got fired, or PGI is looking to legitimately expand.


Dec 15th posting: 3D artist (wat), Game Designer, Project Manager, UI/UX designer (explains a lot)
November 26th posting: Art director, Concept artist (wat!?), Systems Engineer


Even Russ doesn't know what's going on with the Clan packs:

What the fuck are they doing?

 

[HariKari]

I love how the freaking President of PGI has the grammar and temper of your average highschool student. Reading his tweets is painful. He even gets into arguments with people disappointed with their game, hilarious.

What the fuck are they doing?

Well, this is about to get better

Russ Bullock ‏@russ_bullock 17m
Yes I am planning a command chair post as soon as possible. I am hoping I can release it today.

Someone dug up the dirt on IGP, which is actually a subsidiary of a holding company in Quebec, that has an investment from a local government fund that mandates a certain level of solvency. They may very well be on the edge.

 

[BattleMonkey]

With how they responded to the community after the 3PV fiasco, I can't wait to see them defend this.

And you know a bunch of whales probably already bought the $500 package and they wont want to return any of that.

 

[teepo]

Someone dug up the dirt on IGP, which is actually a subsidiary of a holding company in Quebec, that has an investment from a local government fund that mandates a certain level of solvency. They may very well be on the edge.

this dirt does nothing to prove that IGP is near the edge.

 

[Lime]

Someone dug up the dirt on IGP, which is actually a subsidiary of a holding company in Quebec, that has an investment from a local government fund that mandates a certain level of solvency. They may very well be on the edge.

What dirt?

 

[HariKari]

What dirt?

IGP is a subsidiary of something called 7G entertainment. How much money they took from this investment group and all that is a matter of public record and was posted to the clan feedback thread. It doesn't indicate the financial health of PGI directly, only that there's no reason to believe the money from these various grabs is going back into the game.

Mack's video basically sums up how I feel, although I was fortunate enough to get out after founders. People who paid for Phoenix AND the Saber pack thing probably feel really dumb, as they should.

I mean, this is as close to full revolt as a small game like MWO is going to get:

300+ pages, 6000+ replies basically crapping on PGI for this. And to make matters worse, they sent out the newsletter today advertising the clan invasion.