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Hawken: One Pilot's Perspective

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#1
SquaredRoot

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About Me

 

I started playing back when mechs were slower and more deliberate, quite some time before the release of the technician, and last logged in well past the time when the devs went silent.  I was a beta tester for Ascension (Advanced Squadron), and a pretty good pilot, so I like to think I've been around the block.

 

The Goal

 

Hawken at its core is a brilliant game.  That being said like many FPS's it runs the risk of becoming two dimentional.  It's vital that the game maintains a depth of play that both attracts players and keeps them around and playing.  Solid gameplay goes a long way to achieve this, but it's also necessary to have clear goals, and a progression along the way.  The game needs to maintain a feeling of achievement and provide a unique and varied experience to the player.  It also needs to reward players for what they put in.  A highly skilled player should be able to put up stats that reflect that without degrading the experience for new or less skilled players.

 

New Player Experience

 

This is an area that is important towards the initial retention of new players.  I know it has been discussed at length of late, and our new overlords have seen fit to make the Assualt the new starter mech.  I think that's probably a good idea, but there is more that can be done.  One of the biggest things that can help with the new player experience is a bigger player base, as it will be easier to match players of like skill.  Obviously this isn't a feasible solution at present.  As such we'll need a temporary fix until the community becomes more self sufficient.  This could come in the form of increased XP for new pilots.  If nothing else it would strengthen the idea that they're accomplishing something rather than just leading their mech to the slaughter.  Increasing the rate at which they earn credits would also get them into garrage making changes, and may aid in holding their interest.  Doing this will probably fight against the profit margin of the Free to Play model, but it may be necessary to take a few losses for a larger player base and future gains.

 

Competative Play

 

Personally I found competative play to be a good thing for Hawken.  We don't want to foster competative play so much that the community becomes harsh and unwelcoming, but it certainly gives people something to strive for, and a reason to continue to play.  With the Ascention patch the previous developers removed K/D ratios from the end of match screen.  This may seem like a small thing, but I think it's a step in the wrong direction.  It was likely done to try to foster teamwork, as the decreased TTK has also decreased the extent to which teamwork is viable and needed in game.

 

Personally I think that competative play and teamwork shouldn't be at odds but rather encouraged in parrallel.  A ranking system that is more readily available in game than MMR's are currently and the presence of K/D ratios in the post match screen should help to elevate competative play.  Given the speed at which the game currently plays out increasing the need for teamwork is a more difficult matter.  Allowing for small guilds, teams, or clans may address this to an extent, and they can be added to the leader boards, but it's not enough to address the whole problem.  Rather than increasing TTK, reballancing the entire game, and losing the speed and freedom of the current revision, this can be addressed not by altering the mechs themselves, but the environtment we pilot them in.

 

I enjoy the current set of maps, but they were designed for an entirely different pace of play.  It's far too easy to be flanked and separated these days.  In fact, the battlefeild has become so fluid that it's difficult or impossible to define a front, and by the time you have defined it it's already moved.  This isn't entirely a bad thing, but it does create a degree of chaos that hinders co-operative play.

 

This doesn't mean we always need two teams stuck at either side of a choke point blasting at each other, and it doesn't mean mechs shouldn't be able to bob and weave in and out, over and under terrain.  What it may mean are maps that have longer gaps between connections in major pathways.  Those pathways can contain plenty of smaller pathways and terrain within them but this may lead to larger maps.  It may also mean map elements or mission objectives that require or encourage players to work in tandem.  Missle Assault and Seige are definately team oriented, but for the most part their goals can be achieved on an individual basis without co-ordination between members.

 

Just as an example doors that require activation from another player via a device such as a pressure plate or something similar to an energy deposit station would at least get players talking and collaborating with one another.  If we were to set up such doors however I'd suggest that they be made peripheral to the main objective, or at least that multiple avenues are available.  This would prevent teams from camping these areas to pray on distracted or defenceless mechs.

 

As an additional note, increasing the match time to its original length, or no longer allowing additional players to join once a match has started may help to promote teamwork and cut down on players leaving matches.

 

Loadouts and Customization

 

Throught the game's evolution we've seen a few different iterations of the loadout system, as well as various additions to each mech's available visual customization.  At one time leveling up your mech earned you skill points that you could distribute between 3 different skill trees.  There was one that focused on attack power, a second on durability, and a third that revolved around mobility.  During the Ascention update this was stripped down to a much more basic model, and then was eventually removed entirely.  At this time we also saw the internals and items systems rebuilt.

 

On the current system the options for editing your mech's play style are more diverse, and they offer mechanics that are truly game changing, but at the end of the day there's actually less to play with.  For the most part a Rocketeer is going to play like a Rocketeer despite whatever loadout decisions you decide to take.  This absence of further customization takes some life out of the game, and may make people less invested.  Customization and loadouts provide depth beyond gameplay, and variety to gameplay.  Prior to Ascention it was possible to make a class play entirely different than it was intended to.  I myself had a Rocketeer that was designed to play as an in-fighter.  It relied on the EOC repeater, dumb firing Hell Fire Missels, cover, and an increased dodge rate.  It didn't always put up great K/D ratios, but it delivered a lot of damage down court and picked up assists.  More importantly it was different, fun to play, and kept my opponents on their toes.

 

The game is pretty ballanced as it is right now, so I'm reluctant to encourage developers to mess with it further.  I also recognize that increasing a player's ability to customize their mech makes ballancing more difficult.  I'm just concerned about the loss in depth and variety of gameplay, and the loss of the illusion of progress.  (I'm also someone who likes to mess with their loadouts, and I know I'm not the only one out there, particularly those that remember the original Mech Warrior franchise.)  The previous system showed measurable results that you were accomplishing something along the way.  Achievements do this to a lesser extent, and are more visible in game, but I'm not sure that they're sufficient.

 

Communication

 

This doesn't appear to be a problem so far, but it's important that the dev team puts up a good front.  That means communicating and being open with the players, lack of sensorship, and keeping the website and supporting pages up to date and accurate.  This keeps the playerbase positive, and will potentially bring in new players.

 

All comments are welcome and appreciated.  Thanks!


Edited by SquaredRoot, 06 April 2015 - 11:20 AM.

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#2
Miscellaneous

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I think a daily login bonus should be a thing too - Like the one Warframe has.

 

So, when you log in (on one day) you get a randomly picked thing (let's say varying samll amonuts of HC). Then, when you have logged in for 3 days in a row, you get slightly larger amounts of randomly picked HC. And then for 7 days in a row, Larger amounts of HC (i.e: 2K - not too big, but big enoguh to make people want to keep coming back) or (very rarely - lets say 1/300 chance) a paint job.

 

Just a little thing that I think would make people want to come back to the game after picking it up for the first time :)


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#3
SquaredRoot

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I think a daily login bonus should be a thing too - Like the one Warframe has.

 

So, when you log in (on one day) you get a randomly picked thing (let's say varying samll amonuts of HC). Then, when you have logged in for 3 days in a row, you get slightly larger amounts of randomly picked HC. And then for 7 days in a row, Larger amounts of HC (i.e: 2K - not too big, but big enoguh to make people want to keep coming back) or (very rarely - lets say 1/300 chance) a paint job.

 

Just a little thing that I think would make people want to come back to the game after picking it up for the first time :)

 

Yeah I know what you're talking about, and I like it.  I'm not exactly sure how it'd fit into the business model, but hey that's above my pay grade.


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