61 replies to this topic

[ZergBong]

ONX05, on March 10 2014 - 06:37 PM, said:

ZergBong, on March 10 2014 - 06:05 PM, said:

Hey im a old player and i came back with the steam launch. What happen to customization (attack/defense/speed), it was a big part of the game.. With light mech now i die in 2 shots...

And why mmr have been removed _ thx

I might be able to answer some of these, I apologize if I mischaracterize something, and I'm not sure how long you were gone for so excuse me if I talk about a bunch of things you already knew. But, the bottom line is, Hawken is still being developed. There has been a lot of experimentation with the gameplay and mechanics, and this is where we're currently at. Some features might stay, some might change.

For a while the customization was actually ramped up further with the tuning points system, but: 1, it created a balancing nightmare for the devs, who had to make sure a tuning point was equally valuable no matter where it was spent, and then ensure that all possible tuning builds were balanced across all mechs; 2, it allowed people to partially ignore the role of their actual choice of mech in favor of their choice in stat adjustments, and; 3, it shifted a large amount of strategic focus to fiddling around in the garage, finding optimal stats, instead of just playing the game and shooting folks. I mean, none of those are necessarily even bad, but, like you said, customization was a big part of the game, and it seems the devs decided they wanted a greater focus on actual mech combat.

As for light mechs dying fast, that's part of a separate but related tweak to mech base armour, which has been reduced across the board. This means that 1-on-1 duels end faster and there isn't as much time for fancy CQC footwork, but it also lends favor to strategic positioning and surprise attacks as important tactics instead of it all coming down to dueling skill. Plus, now A-classes don't have such a huge advantage over other classes, they present an actual trade-off. If you want old-style A-class gameplay, I suggest you take up a modern B-class.

And finally, MMR isn't totally gone, but it is effectively invisible, and the player sorting algorithms have gotten more complex. MMR was briefly replaced entirely by pilot rank (total XP gained), but that didn't work out too well. The way players are ranked and how teams are balanced isn't very transparent right now, there's still a lot of tweaking being done and a lot of controversy in the player base.

I hope that was helpful, I'd suggest you go to the forums if you have more questions like these in the future.
Oh, and, welcome back.

Thx for your great answer, and thx to hendman and WarlordZ too. I hope some kind of tuning can come back. I loved how u had to choose between attack, defence or speed tweaking, and yeah i saw that we cant dance too much now XD. but i loved dancing.

Thank guys!

[[HWK]HUGHES]

For those raising concerns about the reticle, I can appreciate the concern but I recommend waiting until we provide more information before coming to any conclusions about what the feature will or won't support. Anything beyond what's been mentioned would be speculation only and probably a bit premature. We'll share more information as we get closer to its release, promise!

[Gunmoku]

Beefsweat, on March 10 2014 - 07:46 PM, said:

Gunmoku, on March 10 2014 - 07:32 PM, said:

It could be not communicated that the stock reticule may (or may not) be getting updated as well.  We shall see come update day.  However, I do feel this is a bit of a slap in the face in regards to customization of a crucial chunk of the game.  A weapon is only as good as the guy aiming it.  And hiding a possibly important change to how that user aims behind a pay-wall is kind of a jerk move.  No offense, Hughes, but it's the truth.

According to what was thrown around during the show the ability to change color and contrast of the reticle(s) is coming as well but the degree of customization you can apply remains to be seen/discussed and it's a possibility that it may not be enough to get the default reticle to a working state for those who have problems with it. Personally I can't see that simply changing the color and contrast of the reticle would work as the reticle itself is extremely small/thin and very easily lost in average gameplay, but of course I can't speak for everyone and mine is a specialty case.

Honestly I find it a bit of a faux-pas if you can't address problems like visibility with things like this when designing a UI.  And Adhesive is committing one here by hiding a near-crucial option behind a monetary gate.  This should, and IMO must, change by the time the update is ready.  Is the current UI nice to look at_  Yes.  Does it have some problems in visibility of crucial elements during heavy combat_  Absolutely.  This needs to be something looked at ASAP because it could prove debilitating for a population of players, and you're just one vocal example of a possible many.

[ReEvolve]

PlagueDoctor, on March 10 2014 - 07:36 PM, said:

Question_ Can we get a list of bugs/issues you know about that you're working on_ It'd be nice to know what I should be complaining about.

I guess you'll have to wait until the devs release the patch notes.

[HWK]HUGHES, on March 10 2014 - 05:49 PM, said:

Patch notes are still being drafted and won't be posted for at least another week as we continue to make fixes.

[PlagueDoctor]

ReEvolve, on March 10 2014 - 08:15 PM, said:

I guess you'll have to wait until the devs release the patch notes.

I'm not asking to see what has been fixed, I'm asking to see what needs fixing that is being worked on, and possibly reasons why a solution hasnt been found. That way, if I find a bug, I know if the devs know about it already. I'd rather not yell at devs if they already know something is wrong.

Edited by PlagueDoctor, March 10 2014 - 08:52 PM.

[Taerkasten]

¿Any plans for reintegrate baazar for siege_, Missile eco, cough coug last eco its alot boring, even with the flaws of baazar because of its design with the actual TTK would be good the skirmirshes and battles around AA in siege

+1 for Baazar being added to siege again.

[Gunmoku]

Taerkasten, on March 10 2014 - 09:12 PM, said:

¿Any plans for reintegrate baazar for siege_, Missile eco, cough coug last eco its alot boring, even with the flaws of baazar because of its design with the actual TTK would be good the skirmirshes and battles around AA in siege

+1 for Baazar being added to siege again.

Bazaar was horridly imbalanced for Siege and favored one team over the other.  Not as much for MA, but Siege was the worst offender.  Unless the map is totally remade, don't expect this to happen anytime soon.

[Gunmoku]

PlagueDoctor, on March 10 2014 - 08:51 PM, said:

ReEvolve, on March 10 2014 - 08:15 PM, said:

I guess you'll have to wait until the devs release the patch notes.

I'm not asking to see what has been fixed, I'm asking to see what needs fixing that is being worked on, and possibly reasons why a solution hasnt been found. That way, if I find a bug, I know if the devs know about it already. I'd rather not yell at devs if they already know something is wrong.

Sometimes redundancy is a welcome sight because testing for bugs inside a studio is a sort of "sterile" environment without much to go off of.  If external users outside of the testing pool repeatedly report the same bug over and over, despite internal testing either producing bad results (i.e the bug cannot be replicated in internal tests on repeated occasions), then they know it may have something to do with different hardware they do not have or a condition they could not replicate with internal tests.

UPDATE://

Straight from the horse's mouth on if/if not custom reticules will be paid for or not:

https://twitter.com/...264003691659264

Edited by Gunmoku, March 10 2014 - 10:40 PM.

[Sandcracka]

What is MMR_

[X_Mangoose_X]

hopefully soon optimize servers, after the beginning of the steam client ping mine and other players this most high

[and_zero]

DEVS PLEASE READ THIS

I posted it on the forums but I'm sure nobody saw it.  The massive patch size for minor changes is a huge issue for those with slower internet and data limits, and is frustrating in general for everyone else.  I understand the problem is due to unreal engine.

However, another game I play that uses unreal engine 3 has developed a method of updating their game that no longer requires an entire file to be re-downloaded and replaced if it is even slightly changed.  Reducing patch sizes vastly.

please, please look into this.  I cannot play as I cannot constantly download these 600mb updates that should be 25mb.

Thank you.

[Krellus]

looking forward to optional reticles, and cockpit customization! woot!

[LOLAS]

Hi everybody i realy want the new G2 light mechs and one more think it would be realy cool having maps special abilitis and stuff like bunker in there u gain less heat and cool down faster couse tere is winter. i hope u lke my idie butdont put it strait aay ask other players if theylike it

[Ker4u]

what about those clan support features_

Edited by Ker4u, March 11 2014 - 02:26 AM.

[FreeCredits]

and_zero, on March 11 2014 - 12:11 AM, said:

DEVS PLEASE READ THIS

I posted it on the forums but I'm sure nobody saw it.  The massive patch size for minor changes is a huge issue for those with slower internet and data limits, and is frustrating in general for everyone else.  I understand the problem is due to unreal engine.

However, another game I play that uses unreal engine 3 has developed a method of updating their game that no longer requires an entire file to be re-downloaded and replaced if it is even slightly changed.  Reducing patch sizes vastly.

please, please look into this.  I cannot play as I cannot constantly download these 600mb updates that should be 25mb.

Thank you.

This pls.

[xXHadronCutterXx]

MFW I read "HUD coloring":

[palad1ne]

ReEvolve, on March 10 2014 - 08:15 PM, said:

PlagueDoctor, on March 10 2014 - 07:36 PM, said:

Question_ Can we get a list of bugs/issues you know about that you're working on_ It'd be nice to know what I should be complaining about.

I guess you'll have to wait until the devs release the patch notes.

[HWK]HUGHES, on March 10 2014 - 05:49 PM, said:

Patch notes are still being drafted and won't be posted for at least another week as we continue to make fixes.

Normally the Patch Notes had to be released when the patch is online and not a week after.

[SandSpider]

Sandcracka, on March 10 2014 - 11:10 PM, said:

[font=play, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]What is MMR_[/font]

MMR stands for mech mastery, or something like that. It represents how skilful you are with a mech and is represented with a number. The higher the number, the better you are.

[DaFaDa]

I am a retired Mech Pilot from the "BattleTech - Mech-Warrior" series. It's been a while since I've been in the cockpit of one of these and I can say that it feels pretty good. I realize that this and the older games I am speaking of are two different things but I can honestly say that I like what you have done with things. It's kind of a cross of the original BattleTech and Unreal Tournament. As for your comments about designs: I'm sure there are copyright issues that are a nightmare, but as an "Old Veteran", it would be nice to see some of the old designs from the BattleTech era make an appearance. Also, I like the close tight maps but it would be nice to see some larger maps as well allowing for planning and range fighting. Finally, is it possible to make smaller and larger mechs feel different_ It's like driving a truck and driving a "Smart Car": With both you are driving but they definitely feel and act differently when behind the wheel. The truck kinda lumbers along where as the "Smart car" gets blown around a lot and is easily jostled around. (Sorry, can't seem to make paragraphs).  Overall, Nice work.

[DFTR]

@and_zero,

  perhaps if you told them the name of the game that has this feature it would help spur the discussion.  
We will not judge you for playing this toher game