Posted 26 November 2012 - 10:34 AM

I did most of these on Saturday and Sunday, so forgive me for the shorter answers in some cases. Anyway, here you go:Q: A lot of people complain about lack of notification of server downtime, will the devs be able to send out messages to players (that are in a match, and in the pre-launch window) to warn them about the server about to go down for hotfix and/or emergency maintenance in the foreseeable future? [Ryvucz]A: We're working on ways to do this. Currently it comes down to the wire a lot of the time. [Garth]Q: I want a ****** bobblehead and fuzzy dice.... when will i get that stuff? [Nuesse]A: Very soon![Garth]Q: Today - the Personal Computer have a different role - to that, what whe haved 10 years ago. We got a potent system - capable - handling up to 3 Monitors - including 4+ Cores. Is it planned - to use - a solution - to drag (for example) - the strategic Map on the second screen ? (while all Monitors are windowed ?) [Glowhollow]A: We have a lot of cool ideas for what we can do with dual-monitors, but we need full integration of that first[Garth]Q: Will camp spec allow us to select our own custom color pallets at some point? This would allow units to adopt unique color schemes. [Vila deVere]A: You'll be able to do custom paint jobs, yes. [Garth]Q: What kind of specs do your guys pc's use? especially the ones you use to test out new changes etc. I ask this because so many people have had huge problems with the performance of this game, and I'd just be interested in seeing why it doesnt seem to affect you guys I mean, I personally dont feel any significant hit to fps,but I'm just lucky.Thanks for these threads garth, they go along way to comfort the community! [TheAquired]A: First - thanks, and you're welcome! Second, I got our IT guy to comment here:We use a variety of different computers in the office. Some examples include:• Minimum spec test bed(s): five year old Core 2 Duo computers with an 8800GT or Radeon 4800 series cards• Several spare developer workstations: Core i7s (well Xeons technically) with either GTX 500 series or a range of cards from the AMD 5000 and 6000 series video cards• A special test bed built for us by Falcon Northwest using a high end processor (the exact one escapes me at the moment) and a GTX 690’• An in house custom built gaming computer with a Core i7 (not a Xeon this time) and dual Radeon 7970s in Crossfire• A Razer Blade gaming laptopThere are others as well that fit somewhere in between the others in that list but overall that should give you a decent look at what we test on. We are continually adding more diverse hardware to our test setupswith particular focus on any configurations that either appear to be having issues running MWO or that have the largest user base so we can continue to work to ensure the game runs well on a wide variety of hardware. [Garth/Mike]Q: with the new custom skins coming out will i have a chance to paint my Mech the way I want to pant it.....like Kell Hound colors [Sid Solis]A: Unit specific colours and skins will be coming online in the future, though for now you could make 'similar' paint schemes. [Garth]Q: Is tis game ever going to be for mac? There are a lot more mac users than there used to be and i think this game coming out for mac would improve the popularity of this game by a lot. [funnygooberman]A: There will not be an OSX port, no. [Garth]Q: Do You return again knock down mechs? In my opinion, it was more interesting that way before... [Saggot]A: It'll be back, yes[Garth]Q: Has there been any talks about possibly bringing in the other heat scale penalties? There has been some great suggestions going around on the forums like making the heat increment across the cooldown of the weapon (PPC produces 3.0 heat per second for 3s instead of 9.0 heat on firing) and having DHS increase the heat capacity by 2.0 instead of heat dissipation. [Zyllos]A: We've talked at great length about this - so we do read your threads, and we have 'threads' of our own. Currently it's a 'maybe later'. [Garth]Q: Modern-day missiles of similar size and function travel between 400-800 kph. Aerospace fighters at the present point in the timeline mount LRMs and fire them at each other with success, but oddly, in MWO a light mech can outrun them completely, and even a mech travelling at 80 kph can dodge some of them simply by moving away from incoming missiles. [Kaijin]A: BattleTech/MechWarrior do not follow 'real life' rules for many reasons, one of which is that Mechs don't actually make sense as a combat vehicle. Beyond that though, a lot of these choices are for balance, playability, etc. If this game worked like real life you'd be dying to artillery 10 kilometres away, and ships in orbit would just drop rocks on you, nuking entire areas. So basically, it'd be less fun[Garth]Q: Is there any chance in perhaps seeing different versions of the current autocannon's perhaps like 5 round burst ac 20 (4 damage per shell for example) AC 10 2 round burst (5 damage per shell) and etc?... [Ashnod]A: Currently no, though we think that might work well for the RAC weapons. [Garth]Q: Where is the King Crab? [gregsolidus]A: Being the best assault ever on a beach somewhere. [Garth]Q: You said there will be future events like the "Piranha Hunt", will these events take place at a time so non american players will have the possibility to join? Because the last event for example was at 3am - 5am in germany ... if you cant find a time that fits for all, do it at least on fridays! [Xenroth]A: We're looking into other times, yes. That said, I don't want to play from 3-5am anymore than you do[Garth]Q: Does the general negativity and unrealistic expectations on the forums dishearten you at all? Or does it make you try even harder to please these particular individuals? [The Dutchmun]A: It's hard not to have it affect one at all; generally it just makes people around the office less likely to read over the forums. I still do though, and for every negative/unrealistic expection filled post, there are dozens of PM's, emails, and threads that are the opposite. Also, we're dealing with long-time fans of a very old IP, so we expect people to be passionate. If I could have any one thing though, it would be the understanding that: A) we're barely a year into development, andthe poor guys are usually here till 10-11pm, so the 'you're just lazy' posts are unnecessary and flat out wrong. [Garth]Q: Are the Urbies still in the office, or did you take them home? [Prosperity Park]A: In the office still: They do daily battle on my desk. [Garth]Q: 60%...closer to 70% (if you count half the "I don't care votes"), voted in favor of prioritizing the Highlander ahead of other mechs...especially over the flea. Any chance this will happen? Seem like good marketing to get the most favored mechs in game ASAP. [Onyx Rain]A: Without being too specific, our priorities for release aren't the same as the order we released the concept art in. [Garth]Q: Will you/ are you looking into reconnect for players that disconnect/crash in a game.For example WOT, you can restart your cilent and log on.Then go straight to a loading screen to get back into the game you were dropped from. Sometimes you have already died, but other times It can be a rage saver[Beachy]A: We're working on a system for this, but it will likely be next year before it is in. [Garth]Q: I guess in short, I'm asking that with the new items being added, do you plan on upping the rewards or is that just the cost of using new the new items? [SteelJaws]A: We're constantly looking at the balance of these, and will tweak them over time. [Garth]Thanks for asking your questions, I'll see you all again soon I am sure.Cheers,The MechWarrior Online Team