Posted 23 February 2015 - 06:54 PM

When we started with MWO, players were initially saddled with Trial 'Mechs.



Trials that had a C-bill PENALTY to play with, at that. And stock. And terrible, in MWO terms.

MWO changed that, obviously. Still, the rate of gain with the Paulconomy was so bad that getting your first Mech was torment. Thus, the Cadet Bonus was added, giving a pilot enough money for a decent customizable chassis after 25 games. This was good- people no longer bogged down early and got to playing.



Now, we have a new game in our game- Community Warfare, that takes -four- 'Mechs to function properly. Trials still leave a pilot in bad shape vs. the norm - I have an obscene number of Stalker, Dragon, etc. etc. trial kills at this point from CW, thanks to the eager newbies who come in and find out that honestly, they can't make a deck without far more than they get. New players that want to get into CW are in the same state that pre-Cadet Bonus players were with the original, now solo/group queue. (It's even worse in the Clan queue, due to more expensive 'Mechs in general- which is kinda funny considering they're supposedly 1:1 with IS ones). For lack of enough "horses", they're getting hosed and ending up even more so as fodder than their inexperience should result in. This drives them OUT of CW. That is counterproductive in the extreme.



The Cadet system should be extended further, into the CW realm.



That is, in addition to the Cadet bonus that the public solo/group queue has, playing in CW games for the first time should -also- generate a Cadet bonus. Just like the bonus declines in normal play, only doing so every two games rather than every single one- resulting in a total bonus equal to double the public Cadet bonus, delivered over 50 games rather than 25- if implemented now for the 12v12 only CW mode we have now.



If put in when 4v4 Scouting mode is added, it should be 25 games for 4v4 as per normal Cadet bonuses, AND 25 games for 12v12 at the same rate. Either way, the net result (with loyalty point rewards thrown in) should be enough for a new player to generate at least a modestly effective drop deck, rather than being an easy target. And if it's 25-25-25, it'll mean that a player can start in public (earning a 'Mech), move to small-scale CW (earning another and likely from normal money a third, allowing at least potentially mastering a chassis), then go to 12v12, reasonably earning their fourth Mech and having a fully functional 12v12 drop deck and the experience to participate at least with basic piloting skills. By that point, loyalty point rewards will at least also unlock another Mechbay as well, meaning they'll have room for a full custom-built deck at that point as well. If after all that they don't like CW? Well, they gave it a good try and I wish them well with the rewards of trying in the public queue.



But for goodness' sake, since we've expanded the requirements to play in MWO, let's also improve the process of getting up to a minimum level of gear competency and encourage players to get into more of the game. It'd certainly go a ways towards improving the CW population levels as well.

