63 replies to this topic

[DieselCat]

Sounds like a worldwide corp conspiracy if you ask me...Hail Hydra !

[KejiGoto]

Sounds like a worldwide corp conspiracy if you ask me...Hail Hydra !

My guess is Reloaded is partially owned by GamersFirst or something like. It's pretty clear they've got their fingers in this.

[Flifang]

When a free to play game's model for income has failed since it was conceived I don't see a more efficient way to try again without making simple changes like redistributing things to create more content. With how pressed they must have been with getting the game to console, this might've been one of the only feasible changes they could accomplish along side the year long port. These changes we're seeing on the console version probably won't all be on PC. The new UI is better suited to a game that's almost 100% focused on jumping into a match and playing. The mech tree will give players a more focused route of progression and keep them playing for longer, and the G2s will give even more chance to branch off and continue playing. This game has always desperately needed something to keep the half-suals playing like actual forced progression with some more incentive in direct upgrades. There is a possibility that too much customization would take away from how much players are actually doing the fun part of hawken, and as far as progression goes in the PC right now it's the only thing left after buying the mechs. That, and there are just a few item and internal setups that do far better than the rest the majority of the time. There's not a huge amount of incentive to play around with those things once you've found a good setup unless you're doing it out of complete boredom at which point most players would have already dipped out. Most players won't be interested in getting way better at this game. Plain and simple. That's what I think reloaded is assuming with this. The gameplay has always been pretty barebones-dry once you learn siege and missile assault. It's the same fuzzy bunny. Point and shoot. Take this point, gather EU. Forcing mechs into specialized roles like they are will make players work to find what they like to play, and give players a clearer choice now for what your team needs than the game currently does. Then, giving players a clear upgrade from their current mech allows for one more thing to work toward before they decide that they're bored and stop playing. Once that G2 is theirs, they might just want to pimp it out. Make the mech that they bothered to play enough to buy another better one instead of buying the next mech their main mech.

 

I trust them. tiggs has always been responsive and kind when I converse with her on the streams. She hunted for almost two hours at one point to get a definitive answer for me on a question, letting me know in chat that she was still looking and didn't forget about me every 15 minutes or so. I may not agree with every choice they have made in respect to balance and customization when I put the PC playerbase in my head as it currently is: BUT when I take into consideration that the player base is hopefully going to be sizable to reduce the number of G2 users or vets in low level matches, and that the console version of the game HAS to be somewhat different to be successful because of the different demands a console player might have with a big gaming rig, or a console gamer that can unhook their console and carry it to a friends' house and play it there. Or that playing with a controller is significantly different than playing with a mouse and keyboard. And quite honestly, based on some of the things like the keyboard key vote switch message on XBox and other things in the UI it's quite obvious it's going to get a touch up.

 

I trust them

[KejiGoto]

-snip-

This is all fine and dandy until you realize the longer the game is on the market the harder it is for new players to jump in. Why? Because of vertical progression. Who is gonna stick around when the mechs they have access to are outclassed in every way by those piloting G2's? 

Hawken already struggles with the his perception on the PC version and there isn't vertical progression or anything like that here. In fact no one mech is definitively better than the others outside of personal preference and experience. Yet the console version steers right into this aspect and makes it a core part of the game.

Hawken struggles with player retention and this setup is only gonna make that worse as people start to realize the G1's are garbage compared to the G2's and once they realize how the vertical progression works (in a F2P game, this is always important to remember) do you really think many are gonna stick around to grind through and catch up? Or are they gonna load the game up, realize they don't stand a chance, and quit like we've always seen new players do when it comes to Hawken and getting beat?

 

Now there's no defending the new setup when these issues arise. Before you could always explain the difference in experience and how we're using the same mech with the internals not making that big of a difference in the grand scheme. Now G2's are objectively better in every way having access to better items and internals as well as their base weapons being buffed over the G1 mechs too. 

Mechs still fit into specific roles on the battlefield and pretty much any game can be boiled down to basic points like that too. The PC version feels stale because we haven't seen a content update in two years and have been dealing with the same tiny player base during that time as well. So course fights go the same and all that because you're constantly playing against the same people or far less skilled pilots.

Also having a choice of three primaries isn't offering too much confusion or detracts from the roles the mechs play. Their abilities are what truly define their roles and the weapons accent that. For example Infiltrator has always been an ambush mech but depending on your weapon will change up how you ambush someone. If you're using AR then most likely you're going to be providing mid range support and making use of the Infiltrator's speed to ensure it can keep that range. Heat Cannon allows for more aggressive ambushes that rely on pressure and forcing the enemy out of areas thanks to splash. And EOC-R is more about setting traps, area denial, and that beautiful alpha strike. The Infiltrator is still filling the same role, it still gets melted if it dive bombs a team, and all that.

Oh and nothing says fun like having only one way to play a mech. Now mechs like Brawler rely on nothing but orb lording but the G2 version takes orb lording to a whole new level thanks to its internals. 

I fail to see how any of this creates a better environment for new Hawken players and I don't really trust Reloaded on where things are heading because of the reasons I outlined above and the fact that CapnJosh has also acknowledged these issues too. 

[crockrocket]

If you run pingplotter you'll also see that for some locations you go through gamers first servers.

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Example connection to frankfurt (from dermax's lag guide)

 

Edited by crockrocket, 11 July 2016 - 12:27 PM.

[DieselCat]

If you run pingplotter you'll also see that for some locations you go through gamers first servers.

 

Very interesting 

[MechFighter5e3bf9]

and dont forget where reloaded found us, barrels with shoulderstraps without even a forum

[ATX22]

and dont forget where reloaded found us, barrels with shoulderstraps without even a forum

 

More like they found ADH/meteor with barrels and shoulder-straps.  We're just the people rubbernecking while this slow train wreck continues to take place.

[MechFighter5e3bf9]

hey you commited to the game  thats the risk we took

[ATX22]

hey you commited to the game  thats the risk we took

 

Committed?  Risk?  Me?

 

For the most part, I got enjoyment out of the game for the time I have already committed to / wasted playing Hawken.  It's gone and done, and I already got my compensation (enjoyment playing Hawken) out of the time I already spent playing it.

 

Committing my time and no money into playing a F2P game as a gamer versus all that ADH/meteor employees lost when they went belly up are two very different things.  Had Hawken shut down, I wouldn't be out looking for another job or worrying where my next meal / mortgage money / funds for other expenses were going to come from.  I'd find out that everything closed down, taken a moment of silence, and then fired up one of the other games I play or frankly done something else that's more important than gaming.

 

Seriously, you're over dramatizing this. 

[crockrocket]

Committed?  Risk?  Me?

 

For the most part, I got enjoyment out of the game for the time I have already committed to / wasted playing Hawken.  It's gone and done, and I already got my compensation (enjoyment playing Hawken) out of the time I already spent playing it.

 

Committing my time and no money into playing a F2P game as a gamer versus all that ADH/meteor employees lost when they went belly up are two very different things.  Had Hawken shut down, I wouldn't be out looking for another job or worrying where my next meal / mortgage money / funds for other expenses were going to come from.  I'd find out that everything closed down, taken a moment of silence, and then fired up one of the other games I play or frankly done something else that's more important than gaming.

 

Seriously, you're over dramatizing this. 

 

I agree, I don't feel sorry about any playtime or time otherwise committed to hawken. Nor do I feel sorry about any money that I've spent. I got what I played for, I got what I paid for.  We're owed nothing.

[Ukabix]

Yeah, i got to admit that trust is something that player -> developer relation should not be biased on.

I need to go with the fun factor curve that this product releases upon usage in a relation to time units invested in aforementioned product exploatation 

 

Trust would have been an issue, if you had been a RLD stockholder.

The future looks grim for Hawken and let's enjoy it when it is still available.

[PsychedelicGrass]

I've spent like
I dunno $200 at least but that's over a period of two and a half years, I definitely feel I got my money's worth.


I'll still cry though if/when the game dies, what else am I gonna do that's just as fun when I'm smoking :c

[SHORTNAMEGAME]

Yes, yes they do well the new servers are the best.

[DieselCat]

I agree, I don't feel sorry about any playtime or time otherwise committed to hawken. Nor do I feel sorry about any money that I've spent. I got what I played for, I got what I paid for.  We're owed nothing.

 

Except maybe a bit of honesty....

[ATX22]

Except maybe a bit of honesty....

 

Careful, you run the risk of angering the mods with such talk. 

[Shade__]

Careful, you run the risk of angering the mods with such talk. 

Careful the mods don't like to be talked about... crap...

[MechFighter5e3bf9]

they got to be honest first formost with their shareholders though right, telling us that no new content for next 2 years would be nice but it would mean  the owners get maaad ( speaking before the sale of hawken)

Edited by MechFighter5e3bf9, 12 September 2016 - 03:25 AM.

[Hyginos]

they got to be honest first formost with their shareholders though right, telling us that no new content for next 2 years would be nice but it would mean  the owners get maaad ( speaking before the sale of hawken)

 

From what I can tell both 505 Games and Reloaded Games are privately owned companies, but 505 seems to be owned by Digital Bros, which is in fact publicly traded: they go for 8.50 EUR a share right now according to Google.

 

To me this means that there are a lot of pressures on Hawken that we don't really see, and from people who probably don't know fuzzy bunny all about the game or even gaming except insofar as it affects their bank account.

[EM1O]

you'all talk too much.

 

NO.

[ATX22]

you'all talk too much.

 

NO.

 

We'll there's what, maybe 15 or so of us that are still mildly active here?  It takes a little more work per person to keep this place looking less empty/dead than it is. 

[War_MachineXL]

I trusted them at first. Mechs staying on the psn shops longer then advertised with mechs showing wrong weapons. The founders pack was supposed to only last for launch week and is still up after 2 months and still no released Charger. The new 36M has no G2 version so that's weird. They have also failed certification on the much needed console patch 3 times so now they're 2 months behind on that as well.

I'm 100% positive they have no idea what they're doing. I don't trust them and never will.

[Aelita]

I trust them to never fail to amaze us.

 

and so are you , sistah. <3 <3 <3

 

i should read the forums more often.

Edited by Aelita, 19 September 2016 - 05:50 PM.

[Leghorn10314]

Sincerely, I kind of trusted somewhat RLD (btw OP you could edit the title now that you know APB was a game and not RLD)

But I just got censored. I created a normal thread about how RLD would react to some reddit post about ps4 release and how people are already arguing if it's p2w or not and I really just had been censored for this? While other actually throw insults at RLD while I don't and I was censored? Sincerely... I'm somewhat under a shock here... I definitely now have developed even more thrust issues with RLD.

How am I supposed to react after this? So I can go on and say all sorts of bad words but I can't actually speak about real stuff that is going on? That is a major censorship going there. Lobbying almost. I'm shocked. really.
 

Well, my experience was when the newer devs arrived and then nothing ever changed I posted on Steam about it and got trolled by one of the so-called moderators until I was banned for life for  - and I quote - "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" : this was an "obvious troll" attempt they said and banned me. Forever. Big loss, ten less readers...

Anyway, this game is doomed. No in-game balance, no separation of MMR as originally set, so no restrictions on talent/cheat levels, so therefor no fair games that I can find. I have picture after screenshot of wildly imbalanced games, of the same players scoring hundreds of more points than others, of scoring too many points per kill, videos of mechs with no dodge cooldowns, shooting through walls, taking no damage in the middle of a multi-mech firefight, moving at supersonic speeds,  etc. etc.

The PC version is toast. Best 1st person combat/movement system stuck in a thoroughly broken algorithm. Tragic and still fixable, but the PC version is just as unfinished as it was when the first dev team dropped their last chicken bone on the floor and closed the door. Remember they had just tweaked a boatload of parameters, expecting to RESET most; never happened. Still broken.