Thursday, December 27, 2012

State of the Game (MechWarrior Online)

TL;DR: It is still beta.

Details:
Right now, we have no repair or rearm bills. Once you purchase a mech (either with C-bills you earned or by dropping real money in game) you can play that mech without any penalty. This leads to some reckless behavior by some pilots. It also leads to some severe frustration when playing with people outside of communication.
There is a side of people trying to play this game as if it were solo ...they are very interested in their stats (either win loss ratio or kill death ratio or both). There is another set of people interested in playing a team game with comms that is learning to play using strategy and techniques. Then there are those who just play the game for fun they love the IP and will play just to pilot a 80 ton mech.
Now you can be a member of any of these groups or all of them but there are 2 pieces of information that are vital.
With so many gaming choices out there - Are you coming back to play this game?
What would you pay to play if they were charging or would you find something else?

Replayability is huge it keeps you drawn in and talk to your friends about it. It makes you stay for "just one more" when you are thinking about shutting down. It makes you say the next time I/We will win or at least take out an enemy before I/we am/are done for the night.

ECM is a problem.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/ECM_Suite
The game shows one mech umbrella covering all the mechs in 180 meter of the ECM. It is overpowered and with little negative repercussions. Sensors can sometimes override this jamming, though by that point the enemy unit is already within visual range and can track the opposition with their own eyes.
What this has led to is a game of who has more ECM in many cases.
My Suggestions:
  • A huge cost for ECM if destroyed (100,000 cbills) 
  • A large amount of heat generated while in use 
  • Forcing the ECM mech to remain stationary while active (reducing the range while moving would work)

Stalkers are HARD to kill!

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