I never played MWO or was even really aware of its existence, but got linked this excellent article about the classic mistakes the studio made with the game. Worth a read.
Thanks for sharing that. Great article.
So they STILL have not implemented Community Warfare?!?!?
pg1
1964
Nope, but you can buy a gold clan mech for $500. It’s unfortunate how this game turned out.
OMG you can too!
Timberwolf sold out… But if you look over here people I have bridges for sale…
It sounds like the game entered in a decline economically speaking and they are doing everything they can to reverse that trend (coolant, 3rd person camera, super expensive mechs) and increase profits, but it’s only serving to put the community against them and therefore continue that trend. This is the point where they should admit defeat: most multiplayer games aren’t profitable enough to be developed for years and years, and MWO won’t be any more.
They are just doing what star citizen does , I don’t hear anything unfortunate about them tbh.
Wolff
1968
Am I reading this correctly that you have to pay for third person? Or is it just that purists don’t like having a third person option?
I should point out that the scope of the article is solely how the forum community of hardcore fans were slowly alienated. The article doesn’t address whether or not the game is successful, or how big the player base is outside the forum community, or why the developers made the decisions they did. For all we know from that article, these decisions led to a huge increase in the player base and more revenue for the Publisher. That would be a good topic for a follow up article.
Wolff: Third person was promised to not be in the game as a differentiator from previous Mechwarrior games, same with not having coolant flush. People who bought the $150 founder’s pack who liked these two design choices were not happy when they added these two features later anyway.
Third person is free, I say it’s more a choice, 3rd person is good for situational, while first for aiming.
Hugin
1971
In shocking news, some members of an MMO/Online game forum are deeply angry and bitter about certain aspects of the game. Yet ridiculously expensive Clan mechs sold like hotcakes anyway, go figure.
From the article, third-person mode offers advantages in situational awareness, and they promised it wouldn’t be added to the game. Then they reversed that decision and told players it was coming, but they would offer two separate queues, “hardcore” without 3rd person and normal with. Then they added 3rd person view without the two queues.
spiffy
1973
Another reason Oculus Rift should change things for the better… with peripheral viewing, there shouldn’t really be a reason to need 3rd person, and nobody in their right mind would trade the immersion of a full peripheral cockpit to seeing their toy robot/car/plane floating in front of them instead.
Aleck
1974
I bought the Founder’s Pack for this game, way back when. I love me some mech combat.
I haven’t played it since shortly after release. It comes so close to being good in a lot of ways, but it just failed to scratch the itch for me. Truly makes me sad. Hopefully someone else comes along and makes a much better game – and includes single player.
I’m still heavily addicted. I used to play world of tanks addictively and think to myself… if only these tanks were battlemechs. Well MWO granted that wish! Definitely the most interesting pvp sim/shooter I have played, blows the old mechwarrior games out of the water.
Lead designer is a bit of doofus when it comes to weapon balance though. From his own admission he doesn’t really play the game which to me should be grounds for firing.
I have a languishing founders pack that has not been touched in ages. I went to their initial community launch event. I have great memories of Battletech tabletop from my youth. Sadly, it has felt like every move they made with the game since the launch event has been with more of an eye on cannibalistic monetization than concern for the health of the game or the desires of a pretty niche fan base. Star Citizen is an intriguing comparison.
Third person has no place in MWO. Sure you can soft shoe it and claim “situational awareness”, but we all know 3rd person is about seeing around corners or over barriers.
MWO was an incredible boon to the adult child in me two years ago. Now, it makes me a bit sad to think about how the momentum was squandered.
Considering that the existence of Star Citizen is completely dependent on the selling of overpriced virtual goods, yes it’s an interesting comparison I suppose. However for either game, so long as you can play for free without losing any notable advantage, who cares what monetization model they pursue? Someone has to pay for the game ultimately.
Third person has no place in MWO. Sure you can soft shoe it and claim “situational awareness”, but we all know 3rd person is about seeing around corners or over barriers.
Is this where I point out all previous Mechwarrior titles had 3rd person? Or that 3rd person in MWO is effectively unplayable and nobody uses it anyway?
MWO was an incredible boon to the adult child in me two years ago. Now, it makes me a bit sad to think about how the momentum was squandered.
In what sense has the momentum been squandered?
HUMBY50
1978
Count me in as another person who bought both founders and phoenix packs and is still playing almost nightly (even had my mech dismantled by Soapyfrog once). I’d love them to go ahead with community warfare as originally sold to us but I’m enjoying the game enough that I’m not about to stop playing over it.
I guess I was in congruence with the expressions up thread, alluded forum riots, and the linked article. Clearly some are not. And that’s fine. It is great that PGI didn’t burn it all to the ground for everyone.
We can definitely agree that Harmony Gold just loves to piss in the pool though.
Year, its a decent game with good combat, not sure what could be made different
