Mechwarrior Online

[Llyse]

Well, they do give 'MechBux and months of premium membership.  The Legendary package is probably the weakest deal of the three considering, but still gives a little something extra.

Yeah, I went Legendary to support what they're doing but if you're really pinching pennies wait for Free play.

[Arthur_Parker]

Mechwarrior Online River City Trailer

[Ironwood]

Well, they do give 'MechBux and months of premium membership.  The Legendary package is probably the weakest deal of the three considering, but still gives a little something extra.

Yeah, I get that, but it's not reallllly the draw there, is it ?  And I don't find the draw that compelling.

And, no, I don't think details of Mech Specs are actually public yet, considering they're not even private.

 

[Merusk]

And, no, I don't think details of Mech Specs are actually public yet, considering they're not even private.

 

Wut? 

[Ghambit]

And, no, I don't think details of Mech Specs are actually public yet, considering they're not even private.

 

Wut? 

Mech specs are indeed private if you know where to look.     But smart not to make them public as I'm sure they're probably not even slightly set-in-stone.
As for those people whining about Founders costs.  Hey, you had your chance with IGN to get into the beta for the price of an expensive latte.  Love/hate IGN who cares.  It's Battletech.  There's a beta.  Nuff said.  Cancel the sub. after you get in.

I didn't do Founders because they couldn't be arsed to come up with a solid revenue model before asking for my money; for an F2P game nonetheless.  Obviously the real cost of the game will be in repairing your Mech, but that realization is only apparent after much deliberation inside forums.  And then good luck figuring out how evil they'll be with the repair costs.  For all we know $1 could last a week for repairs for your average skill level pilot.

[Lantyssa]

It was a serious inquiry not a snarky talking-down.    I don't know how much of the info about them is public.

I don't either.  And since I did buy the Founder's pack, I'm erring on the side of caution.

The models conform to actual designations, so they can be looked up for a stock configuration, but I simply can't go into any more detail than that.

[Lantyssa]

I didn't do Founders because they couldn't be arsed to come up with a solid revenue model before asking for my money; for an F2P game nonetheless.  Obviously the real cost of the game will be in repairing your Mech, but that realization is only apparent after much deliberation inside forums.  And then good luck figuring out how evil they'll be with the repair costs.  For all we know $1 could last a week for repairs for your average skill level pilot.

That's... interesting... speculation on your part.  I would wager there are several ways to encourage transactions.

[Merusk]

If they link repair costs to the Cash funds they'll kill the game.  Simple as that.  If I had to pay gold to repair my tank in WOT I simply wouldn't play the game.

They have other ways to inecntivize the RMT transactions they'll need to maintain and expand the game.

[Tmon]

The WoT model should work for them fairly well, charge gold for enhanced credit and xp gain, sell premium mechs that earn in game cash at a better rate, charge gold for special paint jobs and other cosmetic things and charge for more slots in the mech barn or whatever it's called.

[Kitsune]

The founder mechs are just stock versions of the Jenner, Hunchback, Catapult, and Atlas.  Exact same loadout as the wargame mechs.  So it's not like their stats are

[Shannow]

4 maps on open beta or live? Or is it the same thing? They must be hard up for cash if all they can manage is 4 maps.

[Merusk]

4 maps on open beta or live? Or is it the same thing? They must be hard up for cash if all they can manage is 4 maps.

Look at the maps in the gameplay vids.  They're handcrafting too much of them and putting way too much detail in to the terrain instead of realizing they're just backdrops.  Nobody's going to ooh and ahh over the generic building they're hiding behind to avoid those PPC shots.

The WOT maps are fairly easy to crank out as they seem more procedural and don't stick all these set pieces in the way.  It's probably also why the WOT maps can have destructible terrain and the MWO maps don't.. nary a single tree is ever felled by a walking mech or a hail of missiles.

The founder mechs are just stock versions of the Jenner, Hunchback, Catapult, and Atlas.  Exact same loadout as the wargame mechs.  So it's not like their stats are

Right then:  As far as founders mechs go then; I can see owning all of them via Legendary because the mechs are pretty flexible. Hunchback comes with an AC20 and med lasers but 3 ballistic hardpoints.  Easy enough to drop the monster cannon for some smaller variants.  While you're stuck with an initial loadout until you earn credits that's no different than WOT; the question is just how long it'll take grinding to get the parts for the loadout you want.  The credit boost is a bonus to me.

The Catapult would be the only one I'd be disappointed with since you're getting stock missiles vs energy weapons. But it's got 4 energy hardpoints so you can swap in some harder-hitting stuff instead of the missile launchers and just fill the ears with heatsinks I suppose.

[Ghambit]

I didn't do Founders because they couldn't be arsed to come up with a solid revenue model before asking for my money; for an F2P game nonetheless.  Obviously the real cost of the game will be in repairing your Mech, but that realization is only apparent after much deliberation inside forums.  And then good luck figuring out how evil they'll be with the repair costs.  For all we know $1 could last a week for repairs for your average skill level pilot.

That's... interesting... speculation on your part.  I would wager there are several ways to encourage transactions.

It's just logic, not speculation.  We know there's damage.  And we know it will likely cost c-bills to repair it.  C-bills are linked however indirectly to RMT, therefore damage can cost you money depending on how much and how well you play.  The rate at which non-premiums gain c-bills is also a factor.  Both of these mechanics are what will truly drive their revenue, not what color camo you decide to put on your Awesome.

They cant restrict hangar size dependent on RMT because if you've bought into various mechs and loadouts they cant just up and take those away because your hangar aint big enough.  So that theory is out.

4 maps on open beta or live? Or is it the same thing? They must be hard up for cash if all they can manage is 4 maps.

Look at the maps in the gameplay vids.  They're handcrafting too much of them and putting way too much detail in to the terrain instead of realizing they're just backdrops.  Nobody's going to ooh and ahh over the generic building they're hiding behind to avoid those PPC shots.

Have you ever played around with Cryengine3?  Those maps aren't hard to bake out of that toolset trust me.   If I had to guess they're just spending the majority of their time on other things.  Maybe testing too much internally?  Dunno.

[Ironwood]

 

[Ghambit]

 
Cmon 'wood.

[Pennilenko]

Seriously I expected way more respect for the NDA than is being displayed here.

[Ironwood]

Eh

[Rishathra]

As someone who is interested in MWO and who is not in the beta, I feel that I have not learned anything at all about this game from the last few posts.  The NDA is looking pretty solid from this angle.

[satael]

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-incredibly-detailed-beautifully-illustrated-insanely-intricate-birth-of 

[Ironwood]

Christ, that's impressive stuff.  These chaps take it seriously, eh ?

I remember when my battlemaster was a small block on top of a large block with 4 other blocks.

[Simond]

Yeah, lots of the original BTech art was, to be frank, terrible.

[Ironwood]

Have I mentioned HOW MUCH I want to drive a Trebuchet after seeing the new look ?  Only once per page, I think, but it really bears repeating.

[Ghambit]

Seriously I expected way more respect for the NDA than is being displayed here.

Did something get moderated that I missed?  Nothing but mwomercs available info. being debated presently.

[Sheepherder]

They cant restrict hangar size dependent on RMT because if you've bought into various mechs and loadouts they cant just up and take those away because your hangar aint big enough.  So that theory is out.

[Amaron]

I am curious about their payment model though.  They've stated it won't be pay2win but the WoT model is probably significantly less profitable without the pay2win parts.  Having less mechs also means less reason to be premium for XP (assuming they even require you to unlock mechs with xp).

Either way you can probably use the credits to continue to buy monthly premium like WoT.

[Merusk]

Even WOT isn't pay-to-win.  The Pre

Seriously I expected way more respect for the NDA than is being displayed here.

Did something get moderated that I missed?  Nothing but mwomercs available info. being debated presently.

miums are pumped on some level but are still mortal and all have their own weaknesses or hold-backs. 

Nope. No idea what he was talking about.

Thanks for posting that, Sheepherder.   Plus, Ghambit, they never take anything away from you. It's your choice: sell a mech/tank because you want a new one and have no more space or buy a garage slot.  Your call, not theirs.

I am curious about their payment model though.  They've stated it won't be pay2win but the WoT model is probably significantly less profitable without the pay2win parts.  Having less mechs also means less reason to be premium for XP (assuming they even require you to unlock mechs with xp).

Either way you can probably use the credits to continue to buy monthly premium like WoT.

What Pay-to-win parts of WOT? The Premium tanks?  They're not killing machines, they pop like any other tank and have flaws of their own to make up for whatever piece was pumped. They've gotten much better about balancing them over the last 6 months or so.

[Ghambit]

They cant restrict hangar size dependent on RMT because if you've bought into various mechs and loadouts they cant just up and take those away because your hangar aint big enough.  So that theory is out.

So that hangar is a one-time purchase and never goes away?  I can see that working certainly.  Some microtrans games of course charge extra (on a weekly basis) for big "warehouses" and so forth and in the end if you mismanage your inventory and dont pay for the space you lose your stuff.  They could possibly do that with MWO but they'd have keep your mech history intact I suppose so once you bought back in you'd have access to the same inventory you had beforehand.  Probably tough to code, but definitely more profitable than the one-time purchase.

[Amaron]

They could possibly do that with MWO but they'd have keep your mech history intact I suppose so once you bought back in you'd have access to the same inventory you had beforehand.  Probably tough to code, but definitely more profitable than the one-time purchase.

It wouldn't be tough to do at all.  Just code it to lock X mechs.  I can't see why they wouldn't follow the WoT model though.  The only games that really do it the other way were subscription games first.   

[Sheepherder]

Not tough at all.  It's either a linked list or an array pointing to a data class which represents a vehicle, including your customizations.  Either way, basic OO principles.

EDIT: Yes, (in WoT) buy a slot, it's yours, forever.  Wargaming are actually the cool sort of geeks.

[Tmon]

Not tough at all.  It's either a linked list or an array pointing to a data class which represents a vehicle, including your customizations.  Either way, basic OO principles.

EDIT: Yes, (in WoT) buy a slot, it's yours, forever.  Wargaming are actually the cool sort of geeks.

  I think since WoT went live I've bought something like 3 extra slots directly with the rest (currently 30ish) coming from various giveaways and tree splits.  I'm guessing that a fairly large chunk of cash comes from people converting the xp earned by elite tanks to 'free' xp in order to rush into higher tier or new tanks.  If MWO has enough depth they should be able to tap the same sort of mechanic.

[Triforcer]

I know nothing about Mechwarrior in any of its incarnations.  The videos make this look like TF2 with robots, except everyone moves at heavy or soldier speed and the time to kill is like 15 seconds of solid point-blank blasting.  I am probably missing the strategic depth somehow.

[UnSub]

I don't get it either, since this really looks like another lobby-based online shooter, just with mechs.

But: mechs.

[Ghambit]

I know nothing about Mechwarrior in any of its incarnations.  The videos make this look like TF2 with robots, except everyone moves at heavy or soldier speed and the time to kill is like 15 seconds of solid point-blank blasting.  I am probably missing the strategic depth somehow.

You are.
The beauty of this type of gameplay is that it's slow enough to actually be tactical w/o being frenetic.   This imparts meaningful choice both in-game and before-game that you wouldn't see in a pure twitch.

[MahrinSkel]

Yeah, you don't move very fast and you don't shoot very often, so you really have to think ahead.  Not that you don't have to be fast and accurate as well, just that there's a more measured form of situational awareness you have to cultivate, you can't blow your way out of a mistake with twitch skills.

--Dave

[Falconeer]

Also, as opposed for example to the mentioned Team Fortress or any other "lobby based shooter" the fundamental characteristic of any Battletech/Mechwarrior game is that you have multiple weapons to shoot with that cover different roles based on distance and/or other factors, and (here lies the meaningful layer of depth) you can't shoot them at will due to overheating. So you are forced to make choices, both in the building of your mech and in the actual realtime fighting.

So yeah, those videos are only meant to tease people with exploding mechs, but there's much much more than that. Even more so with the announced Community Warfare.