Mechwarrior (reboot)

[FictionalCharacter]

And it PC only.  :'(  :'(  :'(  :'(
Man, now I have to find a way to scrounge up for a new rig.  [tickedoff]

free-to-play games generally take it pretty easy on the system requirements in order to remain accessible to as broad a base of casual gamers as possible, so depending on what you have, you may still be okay.

if i recall, the faq says they're supporting back to direct x 9.

[StCptMara]

Forget the Atlas...I want a miniature of the Jenner in this article!

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/31/meet-mechwarrior-online-piranhas-free-to-play-tactical-mech-sim/

[Atlas3060]

Dat Hunchback.. 8)
Dang I want one!

[YingJanshi]

I want to see a Vindicator. And a Blackjack. And an UrbanMech!

[BigDuke66]

I hope it goes the way "Rise of Flight" does.
In that way we would buy mechs that we then can pilot, this would mean a constant flow of money and expansion of the game, also a good way for the community to show what they like or don't like by buying or not buying.
Later on other stuff like vehicles or ASFs would be interesting, also packs to customize your mech, and I can already see the cammo spec guys assisting in getting the original paint schemes into it so any player can use the scheme of "his" unit.
What I definitely want to see is a good support of input devices, just like me my pedals, throttle, joystick & Track-IR can't wait to steer a mech.

I simply hope they don't ruin it by some silly decisions just to get a few more buyers into the game, this wasn't, isn't and won't be a game for the brought mass so it also hasn't to be made that way.

[Kargush]

I hope it goes the way "Rise of Flight" does.
In that way we would buy mechs that we then can pilot, this would mean a constant flow of money and expansion of the game, also a good way for the community to show what they like or don't like by buying or not buying.
Later on other stuff like vehicles or ASFs would be interesting, also packs to customize your mech, and I can already see the cammo spec guys assisting in getting the original paint schemes into it so any player can use the scheme of "his" unit.
What I definitely want to see is a good support of input devices, just like me my pedals, throttle, joystick & Track-IR can't wait to steer a mech.

I simply hope they don't ruin it by some silly decisions just to get a few more buyers into the game, this wasn't, isn't and won't be a game for the brought mass so it also hasn't to be made that way.

"Buy to win" is a travesty. And the developers have said that they won't do that. No mechs for sale.

EDIT: Besides, your business model would see us have a ton of Clan stuff, a few IS mechs, and then the rest would be up to people who can either hassle their parents for money or who have disposable income and enough time to play this game more than an hour or two each week. I'd rather submit to scaphism than see that happen.

[PsihoKekec]

Since game is set shortly before clan invasion, my guess is that the pay elements will be IS Level II equipment.

[StCptMara]

Since game is set shortly before clan invasion, my guess is that the pay elements will be IS Level II equipment.

I am thinking, since they said that the pay elements are not to give you any sort of tactical advantage,
that they likely will not be.

I just hope that it will be favourable to
a) those who are casual players
b) those who might not be able to coordinate times with a wide variety of players due to work/school schedules
c) those who are not hooked up to it 24/7

[Netzilla]

I just hope that it will be favourable to
a) those who are casual players
b) those who might not be able to coordinate times with a wide variety of players due to work/school schedules
c) those who are not hooked up to it 24/7

Or, at least, not too punishing of.  The scheduling issue is what keeps me away from most online games.  Still, once this starts, we should create our own CBT Merc Company(s).

[Frostfly]

"Buy to win" is a travesty. And the developers have said that they won't do that. No mechs for sale.

They don't say anything about no mechs for sale.  They said no pay to win.  I'd expect mechs for sale, but they would be things that are similar to other designs.  So basicly just new skins.

[Kargush]

They don't say anything about no mechs for sale.  They said no pay to win.  I'd expect mechs for sale, but they would be things that are similar to other designs.  So basicly just new skins.

Ekman also promises that while players will be able to buy items with real money, nobody can buy anything that will confer a tactical advantage. “Anything that would affect or give you a tactical advantage, you can’t purchase with real cash. You have to earn that by playing the game,” he says.

Tell me, how would purchasing mechs for real money not give a tactical advantage to those with the means?

It might be "Pay 2 stand out with a shiny new paint job or something shiny", but not "Here, have a mach, only X amount of money"

[Peter Smith]

Tell me, how would purchasing mechs for real money not give a tactical advantage to those with the means?

Buying down. Assume you can only pilot one 'Mech per game, and you can't trade 'Mechs. You're cleared for (let's make up a term here) Rank Seven 'Mechs. Every rank is better than what's below it. You can spend real money on...say...three levels below your rank. If a Dragon/Grand Dragon is a Rank Seven 'Mech, say an UrbanMech is a Rank Four. You can pony up for the UM-R60 with real cash, but you're probably going to survive longer in the Dragons.

[Kargush]

Buying down. Assume you can only pilot one 'Mech per game, and you can't trade 'Mechs. You're cleared for (let's make up a term here) Rank Seven 'Mechs. Every rank is better than what's below it. You can spend real money on...say...three levels below your rank. If a Dragon/Grand Dragon is a Rank Seven 'Mech, say an UrbanMech is a Rank Four. You can pony up for the UM-R60 with real cash, but you're probably going to survive longer in the Dragons.

And surprise isn't a tactical advantage? Or even uncertainty? "He had a Dragon when we saw those guys last night, but he might have splashed out for a Jenner, so watch out."

But yes, I can see your point.

[guardiandashi]

it could also be things like different varients become available or available sooner if you drop cash

something along the line of if you don't invest money you can get the pxh-1 phoenix hawk, but if you drop X dollars you can buy the phx-1D phoenix hawk, the only differencs is the -1d dumps the machine guns and ammo for 2 extra heat sinks
yes you get a somewhat better heat curve, and you loose a potentual 4 damage/round but you also get rid of the big ammo bin

is it a huge tactical change? not really and its definately not a pay to win advantage

yes you go from being able to run and fire the large laser without overheat to being able to walk, fire the large and 1 medium laser without overheat

[BigDuke66]

I don't see buying something to play is a "Buy to win", it isn't that way in RoF and if the set-up here is right it won't be that way in MW.
Sure depending on what mission you play certain types would benefit and other types would punish you but I hope we don't talk about a simply Solaris set-up instead a real missions bases system that gives a place for every mech that is in the universe even an Urbanmech.
If they get it that way buying mechs would only be expanding/supporting the game.

Also I think it's the best way to get the game going, do you really think a lot people would give money for sissy stuff like paint jobs? Even when, what could you take  for a paint job, 1 dollar?
This is a niche game they have to make something good to get the money they need and give the players what they what to keep the game rolling.
A new mech, just like a new figure for BT, would surely find buyers more buyers than a paint jobs that is at best a nice addition to an existing mech.

[YingJanshi]

Now this is just my take on what they're saying, but it sounds like 'Mechs you "buy" will be bought with in game cred that you earn just like XP for your pilot. So the real money stuff will probably be cosmetic, which people will buy (at least some will).

[YingJanshi]

THIS is one of the coolest BattleTech images I've seen in awhile - http://mwomercs.com/media (the coastal battle)

[Netzilla]

Purchasing of mechs would potentially be unbalancing as not all builds are equal.  For example, if only the "primary" designs are available for free, some of the best builds in a given weight class & tech level will only be available to those willing to pay (such as the WVR-5M, MAD-3D, WHM-6K, etc).  While this is not an insurmountable advantage, it is an advantage.  It only gets worse if real money is the only way to get advanced or experimental tech.

On the other hand, in addition to purely "cosmetic" stuff, there are other things that they can charge real money for.  For example, they can limit the number of pilots you can have active at one time unless you're willing to pay for more.  As you can only play one pilot at a time, the only real advantages this gives you is the ability to try out more builds at one time and give you more chances to play if there is any sort of down time built into the game (such as time for repairs or to return to base after a deployment).  Likewise, they could charge a fee for entry into special events (they just need to make sure such events don't confer any bonuses not available outside said events), such as large-scale operations and the like.

I think there's enough options for non-balance threatening micro-transactions that are still interesting enough to be a draw that they don't and shouldn't go the route of charging real money for mechs.

[Snake Eyes]

THIS is one of the coolest BattleTech images I've seen in awhile - http://mwomercs.com/media (the coastal battle)

I showed that pic to my sis tonight when she came to visit........she doesn't play big stompy robot games, but she seemed quite interested in MWO

[Wrangler]

Does anyone know who the artist is?  I keep thinking it one who did concept art for MW4, but i'm not sure.

[Youngblood]

No, that's David White.

This is Alex Iglesias.

http://flyingdebris.deviantart.com/gallery/

[PsihoKekec]

Also known as Slayer of the Furries.

[BigDuke66]

*facepalm* I should have seen the resemblance between the TRO Prototypes cover and that picture.
Now that I see what he already did for BT I really hope they keep him doing it, there is some great stuff on that page, I love the "Dropship fighter screen" picture.

[TheOldGuy]

Now this is just my take on what they're saying, but it sounds like 'Mechs you "buy" will be bought with in game cred that you earn just like XP for your pilot. So the real money stuff will probably be cosmetic, which people will buy (at least some will).

And I am willing to spend on the game.  If it was a "normal" mechwarrior game then I'd spend $60 plus maybe expansions.

Also, assuming this hasn't been posted elsewhere the reason its PC exclusive (and why it became MWO instead of more traditional) apparently has to do with Microsoft blocking any release for PS3 which resulted in distributors being much less interested in the product.

[BigDuke66]

And that is good so, the less the console market is involved the better it is.
I don't want something that is made for any console and then just ported(and not even good) to the PC, seen enough of this crap where you could constantly facepalm because of the easiest things on PC were just not in because if came from console and they wanted to make as few changes as they could get away with to bing it to PC.

That also reliefs us a bit of the worry that the game would be made much below the level we dream of just to please the console kiddies.

[guardiandashi]

yup according the the piranha page they had a tough sell product but a pitch they thought would work anyway and then the game development economy tanked right along with the general economy so their tough sell turned to no sell in under 6-8 months :(

after that they decided that if they were gonna proceed they needed to be under direct control of the costs but able to reap the full rewards and the new model allows that to happen better.  plus and heres the big cross your fingers aspect if it does well enough it might allow them the funding to develop the mechwarrior game we would like to see even more than this one.

IE I can live with a battletech "world of tanks" isk game but I would really prefer a more...

create a ATOW charactor that can go do things like doing missions such as defending whatever, piloting an aerospace fighter attacking or defending my planet from raids/invasions.  jumping into a mech and doing various missions, being the tech that repairs the shot up mech fighter or etc.

actually there is this really interesting steam game called "moonbase alpha" that was developed in collaboration with NASA where you are doing these quick basic missions to repair things to get the base base back online.  one of the things you can do is a "minigame" where you will take for example 2 minutes to repair "whatever" but if you do the minigame (using a solder iron to repair a circuit) if you complete the minigame fast enough it shaves time off the repair. 

playing as a tech for a mechwarrior game there could be "minigames" involved in the repair process to make it more fun than "click repair" and your char goes over and goes "hmm 3 points of internal str are damaged, ok this is going to take me (insert time) 90 min to 270 min or whatever to repair ... I might as well switch to my mechwarrior char on server xyz because my tech is tied up for the next 3 hours doing repairs
wheras if there was a "minigame that will allow me to shave up to say 10 mins off a repair process per successful completion I likely would do that if its fun.

[Nostra]

Now that the game's no longer delayed and even has it's own website, I'd love to see a more...fiction-accurate depiction of 'mech warfare. Mechwarrior 4 and the Mechassault games seemed to be under the assumption that EVERY time a 'mech is destroyed or taken out of action, the reactor goes critical. I'd also like to see some variation in the weaponry. Different company-brand weapons and equipment would be nice, making your options much larger. I've always liked the background/rules info for weapons that mention how not all weapons are exactly the same- for example, a standard autocannon is a large projectile weapon, but different brands/companies make different variations that still do the same damage, an AC/5 Crusher Superheavy Cannon is a 150mm weapon that fires ten shells per shot, while an AC/5 Chemjet Gun is a 185mm cannon firing much slower; the two weapons are both AC/5's, and therefor cause the same amount of damage in gameplay, but they operate differently. I'd like to see weapons more like that in the games.

[S4W4T0]

- cut -
 Mechwarrior 4 and the Mechassault games seemed to be under the assumption that EVERY time a 'mech is destroyed or taken out of action, the reactor goes critical.
- cut -

... And the effecton other mechs (MW4) is somehow negligible. Am i wrong or the explosion did very little splash damage? That seems like Stackpoling a battle armor, while the Mech burns like a match... A bit underwhelming to me, raised with the Mechwarrior 3 cinematic...

Purchasing of mechs would potentially be unbalancing as not all builds are equal.  For example, if only the "primary" designs are available for free, some of the best builds in a given weight class & tech level will only be available to those willing to pay (such as the WVR-5M, MAD-3D, WHM-6K, etc).  While this is not an insurmountable advantage, it is an advantage.  It only gets worse if real money is the only way to get advanced or experimental tech.
- cut -

They say that through money you can obtain faster or instantly what you want. But they also said, about the updated content, that it is made available to all the audience through automatic download.

Maybe some limited production models will have or gain extreme pricing, but everyone, given time and progression, can purchase it.

Just my 0.02$.

[YingJanshi]

  The whole MMO model sounds interesting, but what I'm really looking for in this game is just some simple one-off matches like regular multiplayer. So if I'm not feeling like going with my character for awhile I can just jump in a game and blow stuff up. Anyone else feel this way too?

[Mechwarriorfreak]

THIS is one of the coolest BattleTech images I've seen in awhile - http://mwomercs.com/media (the coastal battle)

I've already signed up! ;) I'm gonna be all over that man!