164 replies to this topic

[Lily_from_animove]

Heyo Everyone.

 

After having tested the Game a few hours until the point I can buy a new mech, I want to give a short feedback by me testing the game. Because I think this is the point to which many players may test a game before making a decision to go further.

 

 

So my gaming test experience includes:

 

Playing the starter mech,

Playing the team deathmatch and those missile turret mode.

Playing with and vs random people.

 

But let me get through my "new player experience" step by step and lets mark some moments I gonna explain a bit later.

 

Well on the first evening I started with the tutorial of course. The tutorial itself was nice, not boring and gave you all the controls needed. And So I was there with my first mech piece of junk ¹, that one day will hopefully look awesome. I played deathmatch vs the AI, and a drone wave vs AI until wave 3, until I decided: "Ok I have seen enough to know whats coming." lets head to the PvP part.

 

So I played 3 or 5 matches with somewhat above average results. And it was around 2 am. Then I decided to have a look at all the customisation and stuff.

 

I had a look at the mechs and their possible loadout². A bit strange there are not even many weapons too choose from.

I had a look at the visual customisation_, well looks like my piece of junk will always look like junk. Seems to be part of the artstyle the game has ².

 

First day ended, I went to bed.

 

But my aftermath thoughts about that first evening in relation to the tiny supescripted numbers:

 

No 1. The game advertises itself as a mechgame.

 

Especially with the steam storepage:

 

 

"HAWKEN is a multiplayer first person shooter for PC that places you inside a mechanized war machine on the battlefield of a dystopian world called Illal. With strategic, fast-paced gameplay, HAWKEN features incredible alien landscapes, customizable and upgradable mechs, and dynamic experiences across"

 

�It's the type of experience that gets under your skin, making you want to come back for more.�
-IGN

�Perfectly balanced mech warfare�
-Polygon

�HAWKEN is everything I ever wanted in a mech shooter�
-Kotaku

 

 

So its a first person shooter: yes

places me in a mechazied war machine: yes

dystopian world: yes

startegic fast gameplay: probably, without having organised groupplay maps seem to offer quite a lot strategical access, its also quite fast paced.

 

 

Bu then those quotes???

Hawken did not get under my skin, and coming back for more? thats goign to be part 2 of day 1.

 

Balanced mech warfare.  Seemed to be balanced on the first day, mech warfare, well lest see.

 

Everything I wanted in a  mech shooter. OKAY, some people have rather low standards of, ohh wait kotaku, rofl.

 

The truth of what I think this game is:

 

It's a FPS arena shooter, but not a real mech game. While you have those mechs, and you have those "loadouts" I honestly have to say it feels like a mix of team fortress 2 and crime craft gang wars.

The mechfeeling was there in the tutorial as I should "walk" because the "mech" felt kinda slowly and and turnrate seemed to be limited, no 6000dpi superfast turns.

But right at the moment those strafe and directional bursts were explained and with the way how those Boosters works this stopped having any relation to being a "mechgame" At this moment it was an arena shooter with mech skins. And the game is not really advancing past this state. At least in the Assault I rarely moved without those boosters its more about boosting around, regen, boosting regen boosting. The feeling of a big mech and all its physical behaviors this would bring is literally non existent

 

THATS PROBLEMATIC.

I can hardly make people have interest in Mechwarrior online, because: "mech game" So they do not even try it. Hawken has the same stamp of advertising itself as a mechgame. So it advertses to a niche playerbase. But once they test this game, they will very quickly experience this is not a mechgame at all. Movement is not mechlike, nor is loadout and anything else. it will be hard to find and advertise for a proper playerbase. The mechfans will probably be disappointed, and the "eww a mechgame" crowd will not touch it, even if being a quite funny arena shooter which they would like.

 

No 2. What I should go for.

 

�It's the type of experience that gets under your skin, making you want to come back for more.�
-IGN

 

Wow, that guy, what is he talking about?

 

If one had played many other games already, he will probably not find hawken to be getting under the skin. It's not having something unique truly at all. And coming back for more? Dunno after the end of my first day including maybe 2 hours of PvP I went through looking at all customisation and loaouts that my assault will get.

There was nothing really interesting to get.

 

-Primaries can be changed, but offer a very limit amount of what i will get. And my default wepaon seems to be as fine as all the others.

-secondary cna nt be changed at all.

-equip is by slots, so maybeI will upgrade that healorb or mg turret deployable with a bigger one later. But nothing here seems to be importantly achievable.

 

Mech visual customisation.

Wow, this was underwhelming, my piece of junk will just eb able to look like another piece of junk. Ok, the dystopian part of the game right? yeah maybe. but then, the camo's wow, they mostly cover only a small part of the mech. Actually, the only thing I found slightly interesting was probably another repair drone design.

 

THIS IS AGAIN PROBLEMATIC.

because this is (next to xp boosters and stuff) where the money will come from to sustain the game. Or the game would have to go a horrible p2w way, which it hopefully will not. But in a niche game doing even niche playstyle now offering some niche designs that I hardly can imagine to "excite" the masses.

So I was not sure at the end of this day: "what shall me make come back" I hardly saw anything on my mech I truly want, nor on the customisation. Long term motivation? I didn't even saw the short term motivation.

 

 

Is that also he state of hawken that went into troubles? Because if so, well, I can understand it. Those 2 points are major issues to make people interested in the game and stay motivated and on top of this want them to spend money.

 

-----

 

Then day 2 came, I wanted to play Life is feudal in my morning sleepiness. But for some reason the server I played on was offline. And For MWO, I was still too tired to not F* anything up.

So I just started hawken to play a maybe one or two games until I am totally awake. And WOW, I wrecked like hell. and went MVP nearly allt he freaking time, except maybe one or two matche sof maybe 10 or 12 I did. And of course hackusation started. Even on maps I have not seen before. Some matches even with nearly twice as much points as the second best player.

 

By gaming standards, I am a very good when it comes to tactics and strategies. Aiming however is maybe above average, especially when it comes to quick and accurate aiming.

But hawken, well ist a rather casual shooter, there are no different hitboxes, the assaults primary is hold and track adventure gun with the tiny "complexity" of bad initial accuracy after a sprint and sometimes "releasing" because of inaccurcy. The secondary is an AoE weapon so when one gets cover or cour aim is inaccurate, you just still hit or if you ralise you miss you manually detonate it close to the opponent. Especially when you get into the air first and aim to the ground. Guess my TF 2 experience playing the soldier came in very handy here to instantly knowing how to use that.

First I thought the assault may be somewhat OP. But then half of my teammates and opponents had assaults too.

So the question came up: does this game has some kind of Skill matchmaking? probably not. Otherwise me as a newbie in the game without map knowledge should not be able to wreck like this. I can not say much about mech balance at this point since I only played the assault, but it feels a bit too agile for that it is being a medium. I mean how is a light then even? Ad the time I spend in the air is so massive it maks other mechs hard to hit you. Or at leats many people played aginst had those issues.

Unique seems to be that crab like behaviors of some heavies, yet this gimps their mobility to a point where they are a bit helpless instead of taking a true advantage out of this. Or maybe my opponents just used that wrong?

 

Being a casual shooter is not bad at all, not every shooter needs to be supercompetitive all the time. Hawkens simple gameplay allows people to get into the game only after a handfull of matches. No giant and steep learning cliff in front of you constantly throwing boulders at you. And I guess organised teams vs organised teams are a entire different level of gameplay. But fo soloplayers, it seems a Matchmaking could help because constantly wrecking others is not really exciting, nor do I think is getting wrecked very entertaining for them. But okay, since teams get randomised every round this evens out balance a bit.

 

 

 

So all in all this games was not disappointng or bad. It has many nice things, maps are awesome in their looks and are fun to play on. It's a solid Arena shooter, and I have not seen any bugs. So It's done with decent quality. But this game is also not very special or exciting at all or really motivating for the long run. And it is definately not the mech shooter it advertises.

 

Things that would help:

 

Make more stuff for free, but put work behind this stuff to be unlocked. This is then something that will motivate people to work towards. Unfortunately the current unlockable pars for the mech via mech ranke are too boring and blank, you can not apply any color on them, which makes them more boring than the original parts they came with and instant dropped all motivation to level a mech sololy for these parts.

Something like: simple Camos's for those HC's, and more epic ones for MC's.

Make some of the Mechparts be random drops, like items in TF 2, so playing the game will grant the purpose to hope for getting some parts dropped you want. That keeps people busy as well. it gives them a way better motivation to keep playing the game. This could massively help to give people a long term goal. You could make a premium upgrade for accoutns inceasing that drochance. So monetarisation of this feature without turning the game p2w would be posible here as well.

 

also MOST AMAZING YOU CAN DO:

When G1 has the license is RP now developing the game? If so, take the efffort to implement APB's symbol designer and car designer and make this apply for ingame symbols and the mechs and possibly the repair drones. When people can customise their mechs for free to a specific degree, this will hook them up a lot. If on top a premium system can be bought allowing more customisation as in APB, then you will give people a great and unique reason to customise their mech to a real unique design. And They will voluntary throw a lot money at you for being able to upgrade to a more allowed design complexity. That would be a massive improvement and a real non p2w motivation for people to spend money. On top those mechs will then be personalised to a degree which gives people an entire different level of attachement. Which then makes it harer for people to leave or drop the game. APB's character and car customisation is a reason why the medicore shooter it actually still survives amongst all the other TPS. G1 and RP should use that unique feature and exampnd it to their other games.

 

So Tiggs in case you have read this, that is something G1 and RP should always consider for new games they aquire. Surely on some gams this is some effort to implement. But its totally worth it. I wish Fallen earth would have this as well. Would give me a proper reason to play and stick with a MMO again.

 

And yes that entire section is bold, because I doubt that many publishers and devs do actually know what power true customisation has in terms of attracting players. And you as G1/Rp do already have this tool at your hands by its mechanic. it just needs to be implemented into the other game(s) GUI and engine.

 

 

The advertising of a mechgame while it isn't one, hmm dunno no real advice here, it will be a bit of an issue to make people interested in it. It's f2p non p2w but when I ask people to test it with me, that I usually play togther, Their interest is too damn low even for this. The game needs something way more appealing.

 

Greetings

 

Lily

 

 

[Estif]

 I read all.

[Dr_Freeze001]

Well, I do believe that most of the things you've mentioned do happen when you start leveling up. Free camo's, mech parts, emblems, weapons, competitive play, more challenging games, not being put with other brand-new pilots, ...

 

Also: define 'mech game'. Cause I think there might be some confusion otherwise.

Edited by Dr_Freeze001, 27 April 2015 - 05:16 AM.

[Hyginos]

This is an interesting read. It's nice to have an honest new player perspective.

 

I'd like to address a few points, the first being "It's not a mech game". It would, perhaps, be more accurate to call it  "mecha" game rather than a "mech" game, likening it more to the Japanese/Gundam genres in which mechanized bipeds are a bit more agile, but it is an interesting point as to what defines a game as being a "mech game". In this case I think Hawken suffers from standing in the shadow of battletech's use of the word "mech", as some gamers  have come to expect a certain walking-tank control layout that was used in the mechwarrior games.

 

Second, there is indeed a skill matchmaker built in. Its a rating system based on the Glicko system. You are likely in a low range as you have not played much yet.

 

It is rather funny that you find the assault to be hideous, as it recently replaced the Fred as the starter mech because the Fred was deemed to ugly. The fear was that new players would assume the Fred was underpowered due to it's appearance.

 

Calling a game "casual" with so little play time may be a bit presumptuous, considering footage from a recent tournament is available to you in the front page of this very forum, but I understand your point therein.

[Kopra]

�It's the type of experience that gets under your skin, making you want to come back for more.�
-IGN

�Perfectly balanced mech warfare�
-Polygon

�HAWKEN is everything I ever wanted in a mech shooter�
-Kotaku

 

 

 

Those quotes were from before Steam patch (which changed the game completely) and Ascension (which also changed the game completely)... in other words, those words were given for a completely different game. The game used to be more atmospheric and immersive for its fast pace.

[teeth_03]

Who ever pays attention to what Polygon and IGN ever say anyway?

[OmegaNull]

This is an interesting read. It's nice to have an honest new player perspective.

 

I'd like to address a few points, the first being "It's not a mech game". It would, perhaps, be more accurate to call it  "mecha" game rather than a "mech" game, likening it more to the Japanese/Gundam genres in which mechanized bipeds are a bit more agile, but it is an interesting point as to what defines a game as being a "mech game". In this case I think Hawken suffers from standing in the shadow of battletech's use of the word "mech", as some gamers  have come to expect a certain walking-tank control layout that was used in the mechwarrior games.

 

Second, there is indeed a skill matchmaker built in. Its a rating system based on the Glicko system. You are likely in a low range as you have not played much yet.

 

It is rather funny that you find the assault to be hideous, as it recently replaced the Fred as the starter mech because the Fred was deemed to ugly. The fear was that new players would assume the Fred was underpowered due to it's appearance.

 

Calling a game "casual" with so little play time may be a bit presumptuous, considering footage from a recent tournament is available to you in the front page of this very forum, but I understand your point therein.

Agreed. However, I do like the fact he/she/pod is being honest. :) 

 

OP, give the game a chance. It gets a lot more fun as you raise in skill level. There is a reason why many of us stuck with this game through thick and thin (going on 2 years for me). 

[ReEvolve]

Hey, thank you for taking the time to post that extensive feedback!
 

It's a FPS arena shooter, but not a real mech game.

Well, there are different definitions of what "a real mech game" actually is but I agree that Hawken currently feels like a fast paced arena shooter with mech skins. Personally I don't have a problem with that since I'm not a fan of "mech games" but I'm a fan of shooters.
 

THATS PROBLEMATIC.
I can hardly make people have interest in Mechwarrior online, because: "mech game" So they do not even try it. Hawken has the same stamp of advertising itself as a mechgame. So it advertses to a niche playerbase. But once they test this game, they will very quickly experience this is not a mechgame at all. Movement is not mechlike, nor is loadout and anything else. it will be hard to find and advertise for a proper playerbase. The mechfans will probably be disappointed, and the "eww a mechgame" crowd will not touch it, even if being a quite funny arena shooter which they would like.

I agree. It's a problem that Reloaded should address by changing the way the game is presented to the public (like emphasising the arena/arcade shooter like mechanics over the mech visuals).
 

Wow, that guy, what is he talking about?

Well, those are kinda like the quotes on the backs of game cases. Always exaggerating and useless. It feels like you are trying to read too much into those.
 

First I thought the assault may be somewhat OP. But then half of my teammates and opponents had assaults too.

The Assault is one of the strongest/most balanced mechs in the game and it can be a bit OP in the right hands.
 

So the question came up: does this game has some kind of Skill matchmaking? probably not. Otherwise me as a newbie in the game without map knowledge should not be able to wreck like this.

As others already mentioned: there is a matchmaking system and every player has a matchmaking rating (MMR). New players start with a MMR of 1250. That's quite low. THe starting value is most likely that low to decrease the chance that newbies get into contact with more skilled players. If you meet people within the same MMR range who've been playing this game for a longer while then those are most likely less skilled players. In that case I'm not surprised that you were able to wreck them.
 

Being a casual shooter is not bad at all, not every shooter needs to be supercompetitive all the time. Hawkens simple gameplay allows people to get into the game only after a handfull of matches. No giant and steep learning cliff in front of you constantly throwing boulders at you.

Hm, that's pretty subjective since there are also people who reported that the learning curve is too steep. Good to hear that not everyone feels that way.
 

also MOST AMAZING YOU CAN DO:
When G1 has the license is RP now developing the game? If so, take the efffort to implement APB's symbol designer and car designer and make this apply for ingame symbols and the mechs and possibly the repair drones.
<snip>
Surely on some gams this is some effort to implement.

This will definitely take a lot of effort. While I'd also like to see it in Hawken I doubt that we will see anything close to APB's editors any time soon (if ever).

Edited by ReEvolve, 27 April 2015 - 06:09 AM.

[Broham78]

"PROBLEMATIC"

 

Nice blog post OP

[Lily_from_animove]

Also: define 'mech game'. Cause I think there might be some confusion otherwise.

 

 

This is an interesting read. It's nice to have an honest new player perspective.

 

I'd like to address a few points, the first being "It's not a mech game". It would, perhaps, be more accurate to call it  "mecha" game rather than a "mech" game, likening it more to the Japanese/Gundam genres in which mechanized bipeds are a bit more agile, but it is an interesting point as to what defines a game as being a "mech game". In this case I think Hawken suffers from standing in the shadow of battletech's use of the word "mech", as some gamers  have come to expect a certain walking-tank control layout that was used in the mechwarrior games.

 

Second, there is indeed a skill matchmaker built in. Its a rating system based on the Glicko system. You are likely in a low range as you have not played much yet.

 

It is rather funny that you find the assault to be hideous, as it recently replaced the Fred as the starter mech because the Fred was deemed to ugly. The fear was that new players would assume the Fred was underpowered due to it's appearance.

 

Calling a game "casual" with so little play time may be a bit presumptuous, considering footage from a recent tournament is available to you in the front page of this very forum, but I understand your point therein.

 

Well the issue is not the term mech or mecha or who defined it as what. It's also ot about that Torsotwist thingy, which is basically a different way to implement strafing.

 

It's more the issue of how the behavior feels in relation to the game scale.

 

If your mech would be human sized, and has this human behavior, that would be quite a working feeling.

But we have mechs that are quite big. On that scale under athmospheric conditions you just have physics changing what you can do to what degree. Instant turns and instant boost? Inertness, Air resistance? That all is part of a realistic simulation to adjust behavior that implies these conditions. And if this is simulated strange it affects immersion. I know many japanese mecha genres go over the top here but well, japanese and their weird anime genres of superhuans xD - what to say abou that.

And by this in Hawken, inertness would like to have a talk with your inner organs and how you should consult medical care after a match as they happen. Further more many guns and materials would probaly break or get bend under these conditions by the pure forces these maneuvers cause on them. Especially some weapons barrels would not survive this. My mech turns slowly as you expect it form a mech, but my boosters (on the back) can make me instant 180's -  WOAHHH weird and unrealistic, which totally kills the "big robot immersion". A bullet can damage me or an rocket explosion a few m next to me. But when I drop from 50m in this tonnage heavy mech, hardly anything breaks (low damage) while I should be apile of scrap metal. All these rather small things add to each other giving the game an arcadish shooter like feeling over anything else, and far away from a "big mech game" in my opinion.

 

Otherwise I would like to know, what is it that define people as a "mech game"? simply just having to control an entitiy that looks like a mech while surroundings are small? That can't be it all to statisfy people with a "mech game". Or can it really be?

 

And if the gundam thingy is what hawken tries to adress, well then in our western Countries the game is going to be a niche product, and all the issues of the low population this brings, because that japanese mechagenre is not quite exciting people here, given they even get interested at all for mech games.

 

 

 

 

With casual, I meant more like: "How hard is it to get into the game and used to all its features" Which is in Hawken quite simple. No special and complicated own mechanics seem to exist. Or at least nothing thats hard to understand. You don't need like 100+ hours until you understand and use the core features. 

 

If there is some matchmaking, well I need to try the game again a few times and see how the opponents may change and gonna give me a harder time, because I am really not that good. But then, I can join a server of a friend, so all I would need to abuse MM to get easy matches would require a low skilled friend? So if the game ever gets popular and attracts trolls and this kind of people, this is leading to quite some problems of their own. Like rerolls stomping newbies if any new account is judged as low MM rank. But I hope the game can keep itself free from this kind of players.

 

Those quotes were from before Steam patch (which changed the game completely) and Ascension (which also changed the game completely)... in other words, those words were given for a completely different game. The game used to be more atmospheric and immersive for its fast pace.

 

They should then pobably be removed, because this is what the game still gets advertised with. I anyways do nto understand this entire part in steam, becaue no magazine would give bad reviews, because good reviews = appering as quote on steam --> getting clicks by people --> never make bad statements.

Even if I do not understand why, because most of these magazines make horrible inaccurate reviews.

[StubbornPuppet]

I didn't realize Johann Sebastian was hungry. :P

[Silverfire]

As you increase in skill and spend more time, more complex mechanics, or rather techniques perhaps, do exist. At lower skill levels, a lot of players don't understand how to move properly, thus the impression that the system isn't complex.

[Kopra]

The game is supposed to be a mixture of the western Mechwarrior (slow bulky type) and eastern Mecha (Gundam, ZoE, etc.) and if we are talking about arena shooters, it's definitely going more into the eastern direction because arena shooters are often characterized by their speed. In Hawken the higher speeds are justified because of an Unobtainium called Cavorite, which is an antigravitational mineral.

 

Despite the cockpit being less immersive than it was in pre-Ascension, a lot of weapons sounding like toys and effects taken out (I guess this had to do with visual and auditory clarity, but then again there are good sounding weapons like Slug and Sabot), it still feels like a mech game (as in, being in an armed bipedal exoskeleton) to me.

 

Hawken is nice as a game as its core mechanics are simple to grasp but there's a great lack of documentation on advanced techniques and mechanics which makes the actual learning curve steeper. 

You can wreck lower tier lobbies easily by simply having previous experience on other shooters and simply aiming better than your opponents, but you will run into trouble against higher tier players and you can't rely on pure aim anymore, which is when you are playing the real Hawken.

[Elite_is_salty]

So many of you have no life o.O

 

3 much WOT 5 me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

jk

[Superkamikazee]

I can see where OP is coming from when he mentions the "mechiness" and arena shooter traits in Hawken. The game is def an arena shooter with some mech sprinklings, but its pitched as a mech shooter. The mech fans come in expecting slower more tanky gameplay, so they may be offput and quit the game due to it's heavy arena bias. Arena fps fans never even give it a shot because its pitched as a mech game.

Strange situation, super niche game lol.

[Badtings]

Hawken isn't for everyone. Thanks for stopping by. 

[ropefish]

eh, i like it for being what it is....the slow tanky feel isn't something im into....and on the whole realism thing, its not really a simulator. 

[Pastorius]

It's great to get feedback from new players as most have stated above. I can't agree on many of the points but I can see some of where your coming from I guess.
 
There are two things that don't sit well with me though. You see the fact is HAWKEN got right under my skin from the get go. That was two years ago and I'm still playing. I know many others that feel that way too. The other thing is this term 'Mech Game' and your definition of it. What you seem to be calling a mech game is more like a mech simulator. HAWKEN is not a mech simulator. HAWKEN is a fast paced, first person, arena shooter... well... mech game. 
 
As Badtings says, HAWKEN is not for everyone. It has a massive learning curve, the grind is tough and you don't see much in the way of tactical play until you play in the higher tiers.

 

HAWKEN is like Blue Cheese, Black Olives or Draught Guinness; You have to acquire the taste for it but when you do, it is just the best and you will crave it. 

Edited by Pastorius, 27 April 2015 - 10:36 AM.

[WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW]

I know several other people who dislike the arcade feel of HAWKEN and gave up on it very quickly because it brings few new things to the table in any genre of its potentially taggable genres. It also seems like Reloaded has a chance to fix the advertising for the game, because there is certainly a disjoint even within the existing community as to how "mech" or "arena shooter" HAWKEN really is, and what it should be(come).

 

For example, I like to say "I want to play an anime shooter" but since playing a few shooters with anime aesthetics with a wide variety of mechanics, I can now more accurately articulate myself by saying "I want to play CSGO or Halo or Call of Duty with anime models."

 

I think it would be a good move at this point for Reloaded to change the Steam page to say "HAWKEN is a shooter with both mech and arena shooter inspirations" or something to that effect.

[Zuurkern]

I read the whole post and after hours of letting it sink in, I have to reply on one of the aspects covered in the post because I fully agree on it. Basicly:

 

I agree that Hawken should be marketed as a Mech Arena Shooter. Possibly referencing Quake, Unreal Tournament or even Warsow and Xonotic.

That might draw more players from a HUGE pool of people interested in an FPS with great movement mechanics (I'm speaking from personal experience here too). Hawken is like that, and even better: you have to get used to using 2 weapons together, and the movement seems more realistic because it's the mechs and their thrusters that enable all the movement mechanics, not over-the-top super-athletic humans/aliens performing impossible feats of acrobacy (which has its own charm, I agree :) after all I am a huge UT fan). I'm convinced this is something that sets Hawken apart from other shooters. The mechs are part of the lore and feel, not the core game mechanics. So it should be marketed accordingly.

 

To Lily: Halfway into reading your post I knew you must be looking at Hawken from a certain perspective. I assumed you played MWO. Indeed, the level of customization and the "real", cumbersome mech feel is not something you find in Hawken. But in my opinion, this is a good thing. As long as the devs and publisher realize the immense potential this game has in terms of a First Person Shooter, it could still, after all these years, secure a strong position in the shooter market.

 

EDIT: Ok after having this post dumped out of my brain I had a look at previous posts and it looks like a lot of people would sort of agree with what I just said.

 

2nd EDIT: Also Lily, thanks for this thorough feedback report. It's good to see the well written perspective of a new player.

3rd EDIT: (excuuuuuse me): If you have good aim and map awareness, you will REK when you first start out. I've seen it happen with a few friends who started playing recently. You'll quickly rise in MMR and then hit a wall. That's were you'll suddenly start to recognize a lot of names from the forums and irc. From that point: welcome to real Hawken :) it will change your view on the game a LOT.

Edited by Zuurkern, 27 April 2015 - 12:35 PM.

[teeth_03]

What exactly constitutes an "Arena Shooter"? Map size? The pace of the action?

[RhyKoSin]

I'm a newer player too. This game is awesome and addicting. Playing a higher mmr match will make you instantly take back your casual comment. The game is only casual at lower skill levels. As you get higher in mmr, people get far more team-oriented and will work together for objectives instinctively. Customization is lacking a bit but will be expanded. The lack of weapon choices is to set in the possibility of roles for mechs as well as to maintain a balance. It wouldn't really be fair if you could use something like a flak cannon and a healing torch would it? I think you need to dive deeper into the gameplay to understand what you're missing out on.

[KilleR_OrigiNs]

Redacted.

Edited by KilleR_OrigiNs, 30 April 2015 - 09:36 PM.

[Kopra]

What exactly constitutes an "Arena Shooter"? Map size? The pace of the action?

It can mean anything these days.   

If it isn't your typical military shooter, it's likely to be called an "arena shooter" with emphasis on (possibly unrealistic but) interesting mechanics, fast paced action focused on movement and fewer players (=smaller maps) in a match.

[PepeKenobi]

All I'm going to say for now is that I droooooled so much when I discovered the HAWKEN game. And I still do. It's in beta too.

 

And now comes to mind what my uncle told me once sometime ago. IIRC, he said to me something like this::: "This game needs an accurate and well  put effort at improving its immersion factor by integrating most of the feedback in between your mech and you as pilot in the 3D cockpit; that as much as possible".

 

And I agree on that what he told me. The overall experience in the game would me much much much more appealing, not only to me but to every new player trying out this game for the first time.

 

Just my 2 cents for now.

[ticklemyiguana]

So a simple lore point to bring up that no one seems to have brought here. The OP is noting the fact that traditional physics do not seem to apply to the axes (mechs) and while his observation is valid, his conclusion is, from the point of lore, incorrect. Unfortunately, the previous developers did not see fit to round out the Hawken experience with any real form of lore inside the game. Instead it must be found primarily in the graphic novel(s) they produced.

Now, while things like the 180 and the dodge would very easily crush a human inside without appropriate momentum damping devices (springs n fuzzy bunny), the mechs themselves are infused with fictional materials known as cavorite and nanocavorite. cavorite is actually one of the major reasons Sentium (one of Hawken's multi planetary corporations, or MPCs) came to Illal (the planet that the game takes place on) in the first place.

Cavorite is a substance that has anti-mass effects, and as such, factors like gravity and inertia are relaxed, allowing for a much faster array of movements when infused with a mech. Prior to the discovery of cavorite, mechs were too heavy to hover, let alone fly as they do now.

Edited by ticklemyiguana, 27 April 2015 - 01:21 PM.

[KilleR_OrigiNs]

Redacted.

Edited by KilleR_OrigiNs, 01 May 2015 - 10:00 AM.

[ticklemyiguana]

I mentioned this. But from the perspective of the new player, it is never mentioned, thus rendering his comment correct.

Sorry, I didn't see the explanation there. It certainly is not mentioned in the game, which is unfortunate, but I'm certainly not going to argue over what makes a comment on a fictitious piece of work correct or incorrect.

Edited by ticklemyiguana, 29 April 2015 - 09:21 AM.

[OdinTheWise]

as i didnt feel like reading all these giant walls of text at this moment. i will have to say this: either you like it or you dont. no one said that anyone had to play this game

[IareDave]

I stopped reading after you claimed Hawken to be a casual shooter. The skill gap from low to high tier is as clear as night & day, more so than most FPSs I have played(due to high ttk).

[KilleR_OrigiNs]

Redacted.

Edited by KilleR_OrigiNs, 30 April 2015 - 09:36 PM.

[IareDave]

It is important to remember that your goal in selling a game is to hook as many players as quickly as possible. To ask them to, instead, play it longer to appreciate it fully is useless in sales.

Every comment made so far indeed asks the original poster to try the game longer. Save for those who don't like to read, of course. This should be an indicator to others that the community is indeed not interested in making the game better, but more interested in indoctrinating players into the game that already exists.

Rather than ask them to play longer, take each idea wholly, and find ways to fix them. They have taken time from their life to not only try HAWKEN, but to actually tell you how they perceived it to be. It is an insult to disagree with their perceptions, and to attempt to sway them with a friendly demeanor.

We aren't here to sell the game. The majority of OPs post is complaining about how he or she thinks a mech game should be which is hardly any room for productive conversation.

[KilleR_OrigiNs]

Redacted. 

Edited by KilleR_OrigiNs, 30 April 2015 - 09:37 PM.

[LaurenEmily]

I think you should just keep an open mind when trying out new games and try to not expect them to be like the ones you've enjoyed before. As long as i know the term 'mech-game' is very broad and not really standardized to anything. You can see a ton of completely different types of games all labeled as a 'mech game' and none of them is more correct with their implementation than the others regardless of what they feel like because it's a very vague term.

 

I can also see the two sides to the hawken's way of implementing things, while it is fun to be super fast and feel weightless while dashing around, it would also be cool to actually feel like you're in a huge walking battletank that doesn't die in seconds, especially with the c-class mechs. The sense of scale seems somewhat lost in Hawken too which is a shame.

[Nightfirebolt]

I agree that Hawken felt more like a true mech game before the Ascension updates, before #increasethespeeds, and before Steam. But it's still a great game, regardless.

 

I'd support the devs if they wanted to regress the game back to its original state, but I don't think a lot of people would like that at this point.

[bacon_avenger]

I'd support the devs if they wanted to regress the game back to its original state, but I don't think a lot of people would like that at this point.

I would.

 

Early beta had it's flaws and problems, but I had more fun playing it then than I do now.

[IareDave]

No, but you can easily create a lack-of-want to play it.

The majority of the original post, as you said so yourself, was ignored if you felt it was complaining.

If by 'you' you are referring to active players & forum posters then you are deeply mistaken. The game is what it is and you either like it or you don't. 

 

      "Every comment made so far indeed asks the original poster to try the game longer. Save for those who don't like to read, of course." 

 

Ignored? You assume far too much. Since you clearly took a jab at me on your previous post I decided to read OPs post and I already posted how I felt about it. 

[Nov8tr]

[EM1O]

firstly, as posted, all the advertising and grand commenting is for a Hawken that no longer exists, and if you go to those websites your reaction might be "Eeeeww!".

come visit Ultra Violent Wednesday (EU, 1900GMT) and/or War Wednesday (NA, 2100EDT) on TeamSpeak ts5.gameservers.com:9152 where you can match up with a manually balanced team and play with some of the best pilots around. with both events you could party and play for almost 8 solid hours! Woohoo!

and learn while having fun!

[AngryOgre]

If by 'you' you are referring to active players & forum posters then you are deeply mistaken. The game is what it is and you either like it or you don't. 
 
      "Every comment made so far indeed asks the original poster to try the game longer. Save for those who don't like to read, of course." [/size]
 
Ignored? You assume far too much. Since you clearly took a jab at me on your previous post I decided to read OPs post and I already posted how I felt about it.

The game is still in beta and is subject to change. Things that can spur that change is the perceptions of new players coming into the game like the OP. The OP stating that they were expecting X and the game really didn't feel like X it felt like Y, then that shows there might be a problem with marketing or how the game plays in it's current state, whichever Reloaded feels is more true. "The game is what it is and you either like it or you don't" isn't really a good stance when the game is in beta and subject to change.

I think the OP's comments are good insight, a fresh view on a game the lot of us have played (in some cases) to death. Forest through the tress, yadayadayada, etcetcetc

#Notintendedtobeajab