Posted 12 August 2013 - 01:27 PM

: Some users on this forum are suggesting giving more elaborate quirks to each mech (or variant), rather than just tweaking it's movement ranges. Have you considered adding any quirks similar to these?:

-Because it is a canonical energy boat, AWS-8Q gets a slight boost to it's heat draining capacity of ~ +5%.

-Because it is a dedicated support missile platform, the CPTL-A1 could receive a lock-on time reduction bonus of ~10%.

-The Raven-3L could have reduced sensor range ability due to the interference of ECM with the rest of the mech's systems.

-Spiders with faster JJ recharge and/or reduced falling damage.

-Jagermechs getting a 5% reduction to the cooldown time on ballistic weapons.

These are just a few examples of the many ideas thrown out by the community. Are more specialized tweaks like these something that is coming to MWO?

This is something that I would definitely like to see. The current quirks are all movement related because, when we decided to first implement quirks, those were the variables that could easily be tuned. Since then, we’ve been working on so many other features and improvements that we haven’t had time to properly go back and readdress the quirks system. Unfortunately, there’s no timetable for this at the moment, though it probably won’t appear until after launch.

What does PGI consider to be the top three problems with the game right now? We all have our own opinions, but I am curious what PGI considers to be the biggest problems the game has currently.

Hit Detection – It is imperative that this improves for launch. Not only does it affect how the game plays right now but it also creates issues with weapon balancing.

New User Experience – An upcoming tutorial is about to hit our testing builds and we will be pushing this out as soon as possible.

Game Balance – There are still a number of Mechs and weapons that need to be looked at prior to launch.

: When do you plan to allow your players to create groups of sizes other than 2 to 4 and 12?

See Paul’s answer to StalaggtIKE’s question below

What will happen to Command Console component and Advanced Zoom module on the launch date, will they stay as they are right now?

Command Console does nothing other than taking place and weight when mounted.

Advanced Zoom does not work as expected:

* current zoom level returns to 1x and shows blurry image where almost nothing can be seen, and after being turned off zoom level remains 1x (does not return to previous level).

* mechs are indistinguishable, triangles that show friend or foe are constantly moving back and forth to match zoom levels of 1x and 4x.

The exact nature of how the Command Console will work keeps changing and evolving. It’s possible but unlikely that it will be updated before launch. Hopefully we can get it in not too long after, but it’s currently not scheduled.

Regarding Advanced Zoom, that has admittedly gotten left by the wayside. It’s still too expensive to properly render a picture in picture zoom like that, but we probably should take another look at that module, and find some ways to make it more viable.

Are there any plans to increase internal health to capture that stubborn resilience we're told mechs have, to capture the feel of wrangling a giant war machine as various weapons and support systems shut down over time, to diminish the impact of the high-alpha long-range dominance over short range builds, to reduce the odds of a lucky snap-shot or bad maneuver insta-killing lighter mechs, and ultimately to increase time to kill so we feel we're playing a mech sim where strategy and maneuvers (plus a commander's quick decision-making) matter more?

We currently have the ability to do this on a global scale (i.e. all Mechs are affected by the same multiplier.) However, it wouldn’t be pertinent to set this number yet as we are still waiting on HSR improvements. Depending on the amount of time HSR fixes will require, we MAY bump IS health by a small percentage to hold us over until the majority of HSR issues are dealt with. We are going to be looking at this on 2 levels. We need to make sure we don’t end up with a bunch of Mechs running around with no weapons/ammo and we need to make sure we don’t make the armor destruction time shorter than the IS destruction time.

Right now the Awesome is arguably the worst assault mech chassis in the game (it posted the worst scores on the Assault vs the world tournament) and they are a compative rarity in game. It takes a dedicated pilot to drive one, and while some people can shine in them, the same people will probably do better in other, more powerful mechs.

Various improvements have been discussed on the forums, ranging from altering the hitboxes to make them less vulnerable to CT coring (ie, make the arm hitboxes bigger, STs lower and more inwards and the CT thinner - zombie awesome anyone?) to chassis bonuses to energy weapons/cooling to a complete redisign of the model.

Are we likely to see any love for the Awesome to make it a more viable choice, and if so, what type of love might we expect?

The Awesome is a Mech that we need to take a look at. Recently, we’ve started a new pass looking at improving the balance between the Mechs. (Look for improvements to Medium Mechs coming in the August 20

th

patch.) As we do this, we’ll be sure to take a look at the Awesome. This will involve, first of all, making sure that there’s nothing weird or buggy about the hit boxes, and then seeing what we can do to improve the Mech. Exactly what form those improvements come in will remain to be seen.

Why do you consider the 2xPPC+Gauss high-alpha build which nearly everyone has been using for the last three months a lesser balance problem than firing three Large Lasers or four SRM-4s at the same time?

The assumption that we think the 2PPC+Gauss is a lesser problem than any of the other high alpha builds, is incorrect. We have looked at what we can do with the build in question and have come up with a plan to de-sync the firing times of PPC and Gauss and keeping the Gauss as a primary long-range weapon. More information on this will be made available as soon as we get the feature ready to test.

Have you considered implementing a system of graduated heat penalties to the heat scale?

We currently have hard penalties when over 100%. This works well for what it is, but there is virtually no incentive to keep your heat low so long as you don't go past 100%, and even there if you aren't too far beyond it then it's not that bad.

Have you looked at adding soft penalties to the heat scale, below the 100% marker. For instance, have a % reduction in top speed, turn/twist/arm reflex rates, sensor range, and accuracy. This would scale up as your heat climbs, and would drop as your heat dissipates.

Implementing such a system would encourage better heat management, would make the recent heat-boost system for excessive similar weapons more meaningful, and would reduce the ability of high-heat-high-alpha builds to put repeated precision attacks into the same location with perfect accuracy.

The penalties would not need to be all that harsh to be impactful, either. You'd have all kinds of room to balance it, from the starting point (I tend to favor the 25% heat marker myself) to scaling rate, and more.

Further, any change like this adds skill to the game without making it prohibitive for new players. More involved heat management, so long as it is straightforward, predictable, and without any random death mechanics or other elements that would make it arbitrary, would give players who are skilled at heat management an edge, would encourage more balanced builds, and would reduce or in some cases eliminate the most egregious examples of one- or two-shot kills.

This is another thing that I would like to see make its way into the game. Unfortunately, there are some synchronization issues that would need to be sorted out first. This isn’t impossible, but it would be a significant undertaking. Hopefully we can find some time not too long after launch, but that’s going to depend on fitting in in and around all the work that has to be done on other aspects of the game.

Has any consideration been made for a "replay mode" ala 'BattleROM', where players can review the last battle with playback controls and a free-roaming camera (similar to what is offered in HALO 3 & 4)?

I feel such a tool would add a great amount of value to players and the community as a whole as it could be used to review tactics and satisfy the desire for players to 'see their 'mechs in action' without providing tactical advantages inherent in a 3PV gameplay mode, in addition to providing an opportunity to create machinima from the recorded footage.

A replay system is one of those features that has long been on our list of things to do. Unfortunately there are many challenges that we still need to address, such as the size of the replay file, building a system that can read in a replay and play back the file correctly, future integration with AI and scripted bots, and the ability to efficiently scrub the replay file. We currently have no time frame for when this feature will be released due to the amount of work involved, and our current commitments to essential launch and post-launch features that are considered higher priority.

Have you considered a time frame for which bases cannot be capped?

IE bases can't be capped until 7 minutes left.

By the time you’re reading this, 12v12 is live as are the new timing values for capturing a base. Base captures take a lot longer to happen and that will give defending teams more time to return to base. Conversely, if a team plans on winning by capture, they’re going to have to plan this quite a bit earlier on in the match. Since the process of capture is much longer, the fast cap is no longer an issue if you have people watching the base capture notification.

In one of the previous ATD, you stated that there are plans of accommodating 5+ player group drops. Is this still in the works and is this something we can expect to have available before launch?

Yes it is still in the works. What is required is our tonnage limit system to be implemented so we don’t have to do crazy stuff in the match making system to get groups assembled. The tonnage limit system will put Mech balance in the hands of the player and the match maker then only has to worry about Elo and team player counts. With this system in place, players will be able to launch in groups of 1-12 inclusively. I cannot give a time estimate on this yet. My GUESS would be shortly after launch.

What current maps Is the team working on? Are the "Cave" and "Moon Base" levels still in the works?