Author Topic: The Fate of MWO (Read 38777 times)

Wrangler · « **Reply #60 on:** 29 July 2019, 06:07:53 »

There different dynamic to worry about if anyone cares about MWO. I do, there sense community left there that treats each other with some respect while in Company vs Company matches.

Worry is if MW5 fails because this Epic fail, that MWO may have shut down. Remember income for the company is pretty weak, MW5 is it's last chance. We may end up waiting for years for another MechWarrior-style (first shooter/Simulator') to be made. Nevermind if the the would-be company may not treat the property as well as PGI in comparison. They've included the CGL's in their development in some degrees, with Randal Bills involved. Hairbrain Schemes worked out agreement to make their game with models MWO uses. They fought and arguably won the fight against Harmony Gold's mad trolling.

I rather see devil we know survive, vs devil we don't.

Jim1701 · « **Reply #61 on:** 31 July 2019, 14:10:07 »

Not specific to MWO but for me if it isn't on Steam, it doesn't exist.

Sartris · « **Reply #62 on:** 31 July 2019, 14:59:38 »

i started on GoG and have a fair collection over there - mostly old games that i enjoyed in my teenage years that would never be put on steam. outside of that niche, i'm in the same boat - get it to steam or it's not getting my money

Hextic · « **Reply #63 on:** 01 August 2019, 13:20:33 »

Wait, I missed a step somewhere. When was it announced it was going to have an exclusive release initially on Epic Games? That actually makes me want to refund my pre-order a bit.

Thorvidar · « **Reply #64 on:** 01 August 2019, 16:18:51 »

It's on the MW5 forums under announcments.

slh · « **Reply #65 on:** 02 August 2019, 13:08:16 »

Quote from: Hextic on 01 August 2019, 13:20:33

Wait, I missed a step somewhere. When was it announced it was going to have an exclusive release initially on Epic Games? That actually makes me want to refund my pre-order a bit.

I saw it posted all over facebook at the time, but it looks like the main link (dated Jul 25) is:

https://mw5mercs.com/news/2019/07/9-development-update

Cyc · « **Reply #66 on:** 15 September 2019, 16:40:42 »

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/1172560074914459648

Don't care about paint schemes, was just hoping for new IS 'Mechs to play...

Wrangler · « **Reply #67 on:** 16 September 2019, 07:21:29 »

Quote from: Cyc on 15 September 2019, 16:40:42

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/1172560074914459648

Don't care about paint schemes, was just hoping for new IS 'Mechs to play...

That's costs money. I don't think they have resources pump to a money-lossing game like MWO until MW5 launches for them being income.

Luciora · « **Reply #68 on:** 16 September 2019, 09:38:47 »

MWO wanted to be World of Tanks, unfortunately and unsurprisingly, giant mech combat is far more niche than tanks. And I'm not even going to go into how controversial the devs have been with MWO.

It's a small miracle it's been alive for this long, but paint schemes and mechs can only keep the game alive for so long.

MW5 at this point is getting too sullied to predict if it will be able to sustain both itself and MWO. Also considering it's meant as a stand alone single player game, unless it's backed by some major distributor, it's not going to be a source of long term constant income.

PGI really needed to make more than 1 game in order to be solvent. The Mechwarrior franchise relied too heavily on nostalgia to carry it, when PGI had nothing else to keep themselves afloat.

(I do not play WoT, but I'm certain they have had their fair share of issues as well)

pheonixstorm · « **Reply #69 on:** 23 September 2019, 23:11:23 »

If anyone is interested (and hasn't seen it) SidAlpha posted a vid with information on paid exclusives. It gives enough info we can get an idea on why PGI was willing to risk alienating fans to skip steam for a year. Makes me wonder how bad they were hurting for money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_oCqa58lUw

Jayof9s · « **Reply #70 on:** 23 September 2019, 23:32:15 »

Quote from: pheonixstorm on 23 September 2019, 23:11:23

Makes me wonder how bad they were hurting for money.

Probably running pretty low, since MWO was no longer bringing in enough based on their own comments. But I also assume they realized they were approaching Deadline 3.0 and still had a steaming pile of unfinished nothing. So they took a cash injection and delayed things another three months to try and make something playable. Despite all that time, they are likely to be in roughly the same place with a minimally viable product. More than a year after the original release date.

PGI seems to not understand project management in any form. And then they'll blame the fans for not seeing their brilliance. They'll blame Epic, like the blamed Steam (despite their game having been out for years and had already driven away most potential customers long before they showed up there.) They'll blame everyone but their own management and the fact that they didn't advertise the game. At least not beyond lying to their own small community of players and battletech diehards that still pay attention to them for some reason (myself included).

I guess that's my long winded way of saying; I expect to be heavily disappointed by what they eventually put out. And I won't even be playing it until it's no longer on Epic.

packhntr · « **Reply #71 on:** 02 December 2019, 06:55:58 »

A friend and I tried to play some MWO last night after taking a month or so off. WOW. We got in, tried a group drop (just two of us) and after waiting over 20 minutes with just the swirling circle of DUH....we gave up and decided to try dropping separately...quick play. He managed to get in after 10 minutes. Kinda. He got to select the map and such, then got stuck on the load page....by the time he was able to get into the game, the rest of the team had been killed and there was only 4 minutes left..... This happened to him twice more. I managed to get in after waiting 7 minutes.....then wait another 5 for the load screen. The other two drops were even worse. When I managed to get into a game, It was just a glitchy mess. Couldn't get any locks on anything, just a mess. Honestly, this game is dead. The developers killed it.

Wrangler · « **Reply #72 on:** 02 December 2019, 07:10:30 »

Skirmishes is usually main venue of play on MWO. You will find enough players for the moment. Sure there wait time, but i read until it drops its still no more than couple minutes. Yeah, there not alot people playing the other mods. It's shameful.

packhntr · « **Reply #73 on:** 02 December 2019, 10:14:57 »

Quote from: Wrangler on 02 December 2019, 07:10:30

Skirmishes is usually main venue of play on MWO. You will find enough players for the moment. Sure there wait time, but i read until it drops its still no more than couple minutes. Yeah, there not alot people playing the other mods. It's shameful.

Heck, our (separate) wit times averaged 15 minutes. Didn't matter what gameplay. It was 15-20 minutes just to find enough people to play. Sad. The game was good until they screwed with it so much.

Maingunnery · « **Reply #74 on:** 02 December 2019, 12:09:54 »

Quote from: packhntr on 02 December 2019, 06:55:58

A friend and I tried to play some MWO last night after taking a month or so off. WOW. We got in, tried a group drop (just two of us) and after waiting over 20 minutes with just the swirling circle of DUH....we gave up and decided to try dropping separately...quick play. He managed to get in after 10 minutes. Kinda. He got to select the map and such, then got stuck on the load page....by the time he was able to get into the game, the rest of the team had been killed and there was only 4 minutes left..... This happened to him twice more. I managed to get in after waiting 7 minutes.....then wait another 5 for the load screen. The other two drops were even worse. When I managed to get into a game, It was just a glitchy mess. Couldn't get any locks on anything, just a mess. Honestly, this game is dead. The developers killed it.

Isn't it because MW5 is in beta?

packhntr · « **Reply #75 on:** 02 December 2019, 20:20:19 »

Quote from: Maingunnery on 02 December 2019, 12:09:54

Isn't it because MW5 is in beta?

I really wish I could say it was... However, it has been this way for several months now. That is why we stopped playing. When you have to wait 10 to 15 minutes just to get to the map select screen it gets quite bothersome. Add in all the nerfs that have been done to weapons and the mindless run and gun, it is no longer any fun. There is little if any communication in the game. I always announce myself and say hello. Rarely do I ever get any communication back. And there is never any coordination anymore. The comradery is fully gone. No more group drops, no more communication. Sadly, all gone.

Wrangler · « **Reply #76 on:** 02 December 2019, 21:03:21 »

I hope they fix the AI, apparently it's Laughable.

BATTLEMASTER · « **Reply #77 on:** 03 December 2019, 15:00:48 »

Well, guess I should've enabled my year's worth of banked premium time a while ago.

mechnut450 · « **Reply #78 on:** 03 December 2019, 15:41:33 »

Quote from: BATTLEMASTER on 03 December 2019, 15:00:48

Well, guess I should've enabled my year's worth of banked premium time a while ago.

I think i gotten more over the time i played I never really get to play much of anything due to working so much

Colt Ward · « **Reply #79 on:** 03 December 2019, 15:53:38 »

Quote from: BATTLEMASTER on 03 December 2019, 15:00:48

Well, guess I should've enabled my year's worth of banked premium time a while ago.

Yeah . . . heck, I am not sure when I last updated- some of the 'improvements' bothered me and I never played again in the first year- especially when the real time Invasion never really kicked off. BUT I consider my investment worth it since I got HBS models down the line and they slapped HG around.

kato · « **Reply #80 on:** 05 December 2019, 05:53:14 »

Quote from: Wrangler on 02 December 2019, 07:10:30

You will find enough players for the moment.

Highly depends on the time of the day and the servers chosen. For quick drops play on weekends, but don't expect any sort of coordination with the event grinders. Depending on time of the day it may help to speak Russian, there's a considerable player base there still.

The group queue has been dead for months as stated. There's usually a couple groups active on the faction play queue.

Wrangler · « **Reply #81 on:** 05 December 2019, 09:25:20 »

Quote from: kato on 05 December 2019, 05:53:14

Highly depends on the time of the day and the servers chosen. For quick drops play on weekends, but don't expect any sort of coordination with the event grinders. Depending on time of the day it may help to speak Russian, there's a considerable player base there still.

The group queue has been dead for months as stated. There's usually a couple groups active on the faction play queue.

I usually play at night (eastern US) i usually find people playing, so it's not so horrible. I wish hell they hadn't botched this MW5 launch, things would be bit different.

kato · « **Reply #82 on:** 05 December 2019, 09:40:06 »

I actually see entirely new players on MWO (streaming it too) since the advertising for MW5 started, so there is some trickle-down effect.

Wrangler · « **Reply #83 on:** 05 December 2019, 10:29:07 »

Hope they stick around. Only thing i've ever seen really going is the quick matches. I seldom see the faction warefare stuff get enough people to launch. I usually do the small Scout missions since you have a chance to get enough people fight and do the mission.

Caedis Animus · « **Reply #84 on:** 05 December 2019, 17:06:12 »

Quote from: Wrangler on 05 December 2019, 10:29:07

Hope they stick around. Only thing i've ever seen really going is the quick matches. I seldom see the faction warefare stuff get enough people to launch. I usually do the small Scout missions since you have a chance to get enough people fight and do the mission.

I'm kind of hoping the population sticks around long enough for me to get back. I want to get back into it-been too long since I harvested some LRMboat salt.

BATTLEMASTER · « **Reply #85 on:** 05 December 2019, 22:17:47 »

Quote from: Colt Ward on 03 December 2019, 15:53:38

Yeah . . . heck, I am not sure when I last updated- some of the 'improvements' bothered me and I never played again in the first year- especially when the real time Invasion never really kicked off. BUT I consider my investment worth it since I got HBS models down the line and they slapped HG around.

So true! I really did have a good time playing MWO despite its shortcomings and other missing features, like split-crit weapons. I really love the 'mech models - really refreshing! And yes, slapping HG around was also nice. I bought a special Warhammer to celebrate that :D

Wrangler · « **Reply #86 on:** 06 December 2019, 07:46:27 »

I still play nightly, couple matches here and there. I enjoy talking to fellow Battletech/MechWarrior or just Mech fans, gives me sense i'm part of a community which isn't around where i live openly at least.

GoGo Yubari · « **Reply #87 on:** 23 December 2019, 03:19:13 »

I played lots of MWO in its early days and I enjoyed it quite a bit for a good while. However, over time my faith in PGI kinda went and well... while I have goods memories, I'll honestly be happy if they lose the license and someone will then hopefully pick it up and give it a new try. Might be a while though as MW5 is breathing new life into the corpse (and will unfortunately delay what could be another online MW game).

I do think early on World of Tanks was an albatross on MWO's neck, as the latter came out after the first and probably influenced it negatively.

Any new MW game will have the difficulty of appeasing all the game's old fans (in any of its old iterations), while trying to innovative and move on to better things. Some change is definitely needed and that will probably require some bold choices, which may tick off segments of the population used to the old mechanics.

I'd like to see more emphasis on 'Mech movement/abilities beyond being a just glorified tank. So yeah, more agility and movement. Physical attacks and options. Destructible terrain/buildings obviously (well, seems we have that in MW5 already). A factional meta-game that is actually compelling (and maybe has a seriously constrained focus, ie. not the whole galaxy). Perhaps narrow the era down more tightly and differently (ie. just say no to Clans, or move boldly head and embrace higher tech full on, but don't try to be all things to all people). I think the tighter focus/era is what could really do the trick and open up options for innovation. Hell base the whole game on the Clans, with the meta-game being Trials etc. Or just go full tilt with a Solaris game. Something different though.

I definitely don't think PGI is the company to do the renovation though.

But I do miss an online MW game which I'd be stoked to play. :(

The_Big_Red_Bear · « **Reply #88 on:** 01 January 2020, 01:10:15 »

PGI is a local company for me, so it's really sad to say this but...

I hope they lose the license, and I hope that Paradox Interactive is smart enough to buy into it. BATTLETECH's numbers are way higher than anything PGI's currently got, either for MWO or MW5 I suspect. I don't expect PGI to survive it's license review with Microsoft in 1-2 years. It's just not doing much. I used to be a drop caller for MWO, but I just left because the game just was too repetitive. I put hundreds of hours in, and never felt like it was satisfying.

Seeing what "game" they released as the sham that is MW5, with 10 year old graphics, an awful storyline, and voice actors who all can barely read, along with terrible lines to boot and very similar gameplay to MWO... it's... it's just a tragedy that this is where Mechwarrior ended up.

The pitch video for Mechwarrior 5, all those years ago, is the MW game I'd rather have played. PGI was never the company to deliver that.

packhntr · « **Reply #89 on:** 27 January 2020, 10:10:01 »

MOW was really fun before they made it into a glorified shoot-em-up. There was strategy, purpose for all weapons. Now, the most devastating weapon in the game is a machinegun! The game has lost all of the original players. They never delivered what they promised either. Sad, it had great promise. I am playing MW5 a lot and really enjoying it. MWO, I haven't gotten on maybe a handful of times in six months. The last few months, it took 10 minutes to get into a quick drop.