Information AMA w/Russ on Reddit

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Original reddit is here http://www.reddit.com/r/OutreachHPG/comments/2692f7/my_name_is_russ_bullock_president_of_piranha/

Posts with no questions
Russ_Bullock
I recently communicated this information in the next VLog that we just finished recording however I wanted to get this information out faster to the community.
Status of the Matchmaker: I have both good and bad news. The release of the 3/3/3/3 feature has been as frustrating for us as it has been for you. Many have speculated that the feature simply has been proven unviable and we should be looking for alternative ways to match our players. Here is where I can state the good news that it actuaully seems that we have proven the feature to be very viable and fun. In explanation: now that we have the Queue window we actually were able to prove that players are willing to adjust there behaviour and play more Light and Medium mechs so long as they know that the two sides are even which was always a critical component of the 3/3/3/3 feature. We actually saw the Queue's for the 4 weight classes even out very effectively. On top of that when matches were kicking off the matches were noticable by everyone involved to be very fun and and much more consistently competitive. Now the bad side unfortunately what we found was that the feature is unviable in the currently way the matchmaker has been written. Therefore it is going to be necessary to do a rewrite of the matchmaker code. Now I should mention that it was always going to be necessary to rewrite the matchmaker code to support the faction based matching necessary for CW which was basically upon us anyhow, but we had hoped in the meantime 3/3/3/3 would be active. So this has changed our plans and we have had to bump the MM rewrite up to top priority. Karl Berg is now assigned to start and complete this rewrite and we will start out by completing
just the existing design of 3/3/3/3 and get that active then complete it to support CW. So as to an ETA all I mentioned in the VLog is that I promise to give you an updated ETA in about 2 weeks time, but I am hopeful it will only be in the ~1month timeframe.
In summary: 3/3/3/3 seems very fun, competitive and viable. But it will need some rewrite of the MM to actually turn it on. I will get back to the community with an updated ETA in about two weeks time. Thanks everyong for your patience, can't wait to get this feature live.
Russ

Russ_Bullock
Okay it's now 6pm and the end of our chat. I am sorry I couldnt get to more of your questions. I hope this provided some insight and answers that you have been craving. I did want to get out a state of the union on the match maker but didnt really have the opportunity with the questions tonight. I will post that here shortly. Thanks.

Questions and Answers
Q:Fireye
How do you plan on incentivizing lights and (to a lesser extent) mediums? The scoring in the game is still very damage-centric, and while damage is important, there should be some incentive to complete map goals. It's a painful choice to have to decide between doing damage (and upping my rank/xp for the drop), and helping cap conquest points. IF we win by caps, I get
a piddly amount of XP, it's more efficient to go shoot stompy mechs.
A:Russ_Bullock
Well I do think the new Queue window is really helping to even out the classes. But you are correct even though the amount of people using each class may even out more, we do agree that we need to find time to go back and provide more role based incentives to scouts and support class mechs.

Q:VictorMorson
Here's another question for COMMUNITY WARFARE:
You have stated that soon, you will make private matches require MC on a PER USE basis with no subscription plan available. Will this include refunds for dropped players on launch, how much do you plan to charge, and will this be required in your vision of CW?
PS: Will you charge the same rate for 1v1 as, say, 8v8 or a private 12v12?
A:Russ_Bullock
I cant say for sure right now - so major caveat here this may yet rear its head again at some point as we develop. However it is my opinion and what I am pushing internally to continue to just use Premium accounts for the entry into features. It's there, we already have it and I think players in general wouldnt mind having a subscription mentality in general if they get the features they want.

 

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Q:Mu0nNeutrino
Can you say anything about plans for SRMs and brawling weapons in general, both in terms of hitreg fixes and overall weapon balance tweaks? I know that there is at least one more SRM hitreg fix coming (can you tell us when that might be released?), but many feel that without further changes brawling will still, as a whole, remain underpowered relative to sniping. If there are any plans for further brawling weapon buffs, could you give us some hints as to what they
might be? If there are not, could you share any of the reasoning as to why the devs feel that the current balance is preferable?
A:Russ_Bullock
This was a good and even expected first question, there will likely be others about weapon balance in general. So let me first start off by saying that MWO may very well be one of the hardest games in the world to balance. If you consider the Mechlab and then each of the different weapon types includes weight classes, its been tough. But as it pertains to SRM and hit detection. Just yesterday I was able to retask Neema our top hit detection expert onto the SRM's and hit detection in general. He started out exploring what has been called the Brian Buckton ( he found it ) discovery. Neema has started there and I did mention to him that he should "settle in". The thought here is to not limit the exploration to this one area of SRM code but to undertake a full audit of SRM and Hit detection in general. In fact we are already talking internally about having a Public test sometime quite soon to try some test criteria we are
thinking of. The goal here is for me to allow Neema to spend another significant amount of time in the Hit registration code in general and try to not only greatly increase SRM hit detection but see if we can't make a noticable improvement overall. I dont have any ETA's or promises yet but I want this to signify that we are actively interested in making improvements to SRM's hit detection and brawling gameplay as you mention.

Q:DeathlyEyes
Hey Russ, What ever happen to dropship mode? I feel that the game mode described early on (where you could ready several mechs and drop into battle after death in a fresh mech) would alleviate a lot of issues in game play. For example, instead of constricting matchmaker and forcing it to find players in similar sized mechs players can be constricted by the tonnage individually they can bring into match. This would also give medium and heavy mechs more of an advantage because if a tonnage limit of 200 tons is given for example, that player would be required to weigh the pros and cons of either taking only 2 really heavy assaults and a locust or taking a few heavies and mediums and filling out with 4 mechs. This would also alleviate some of the issues presented by the nature of the game. Focus fire leads often times to stomp fests. Once a few mechs are killed the chances of winning become astronomically skewed in
favor of the team up on kills. It also would significantly increase the time players are in match versus searching for a match. Finally it would generate you guys some revenue. Players wouldn't be able to just swap one set of modules or a few engines around on their mechs. They would be encouraged to keep properly stocked mechs so they will be more likely to use premium time to save for these items. The new game play would also give players a reason to buy content. Plus who wouldn't wanna hot drop into a battlefield guns blazing from space, how cool is that!
A:Russ_Bullock
I still really like the game mode idea. But it's only shot at implementation at the moment is with CW and in some epic battle aspect where you bring 4 mechs to the fight, essentially turning the battle into a 48v48 battle of attrition. At the moment it is not in production.

Q:Bongfu
How does PGI respond to the increasing numbers of Battletech/Mechwarrior fans who think that they were left out of the focus for PGI's vision of the game development?
A:Russ_Bullock
I think the majority of people felt they were left out during 2013 when we were dealing with our immense backlog and didnt have the ability to react to feedback as much as we or the community would have liked. This was frustrating for both parties, but I would like to believe that again going forward we can get on the same page much better. We can't please all factions of or "belief" systems however again I think we can look to the Private Match area to help give more options for your player defined "feel" for MW.

Q:sabujo
Hi Russ, thanks for the opportunity. My question is: What kind of modules are those included in the Clan packages? Even if you can't say exactly what they do, can you at least point us to a some direction? And will they be really exclusive (can't be bought after this opportunity)?
A:Russ_Bullock
The modules and warhorns will be revealed next week on the website. They will have "unique aspects" that will not be available for purchase after clan release.
These modules will not be P2W in any way.

Q:xMWHOx
What is the progress on CW?
A:Russ_Bullock
I dont need to go into all the past information again on blockers like UI 2.0 and other items. The great news is that now that we have UI 2.x, Launch Module and very soon a clan release. I can finally say that all of the engineering resources will be making the switch to CW straight away. Some may be switched over within 2 weeks, others just post June 17th clan release. Designs are in hand for the start of programming and we expect a quick progression to V1 of community warfare. I can at least state a fall 2014 release, thats as accurate as I can be at this time, but it's happening!

Q:WoL-MintFrogThis is related to the above question
How are players supposed to trust you when you say some elements of CW is coming shortly after the June 17th clan release when you said similar things just before the game launch last September? How do we know this isn't another fib to push a few more clan pack sales?
Edit: After reading it again, you're not even promising that. Simply stating that you're going to begin allocating resources in June. I apologize for attributing a level of focus and competence that is actually lacking.
A:Russ_Bullock
Yes full focus switching in June but delivery of V1 in the Fall of 2014. Yes Fall goes right to Dec 21st 2014. I do not have an ETA and have no desire to miss one ever again. That is the best information I have at this time.

Q:DrunkCanuck69
When can I finally use the Phoenix Project Medallions that I still haven't claimed yet?
A:Russ_Bullock
Community Warfare - Fall 2014

 

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Q:LPirate
clans are released in a month, yet we have 0 details as to how exactly they will work, and we dont even know what variants we are getting for each chassis. is there anything specific you can tell us about clans to shed some light?
A:Russ_Bullock
I actually feel the command chair area has released almost everything as to how they will work and function, please have a look there again. However I do have the Variant list at this point which I can share.
• Adder:
o Prime
o A
o D
• Dire Wolf:
o Prime
o A
o B
• Kit Fox:
o Prime
o D
o S
• Nova:
o Prime
o B
o S
• Stormcrow:
o Prime
o C
o D
• Summoner:
o Prime
o B
o D
• Timber Wolf:
o Prime
o C
o S
• Warhawk:
o Prime
o A
o B
The actual load outs will be shared on the web site very soon but Im sure you can look these up on Sarna and basically understand what your getting.

Q:CharlesJT1977
Russ,
Easy Question. What is the status of new maps? Screenshots? Thanks.
A:Russ_Bullock
Okay this is big one. Much to my dismay as much as yours they have been on hold. Short answer and you probably all figured this out, the art resources were needed to get all the clan mech content completed. However I am making it my personal mission to make sure resources get reallocated onto map development by early June.
Niko - remind me to update the community in early June if this actually happened or not.

Q:Suicidal_Baby
John_Branon asks:
Any news about international servers?
A:Russ_Bullock
As you have seen we have the web site in German and French and I can say we are currently very close to having the actual game client in German and French also. Once this is complete our next step would be for International servers. Best I have for now. Another big thanks to all our international players for sticking with us and waiting this out.

Q:PoliteVictorMorson
In March of 2013, splash damage was removed and SRMs got their damage reduced from 2.5 to 1.5. Since then (even after the damage was bumped up to 2.0 in summer of 2013), they have been viewed by most players as a garbage weapon. They see no action in competitive play, and even in PUG games, they lose nearly every time against an autocannon/laser brawler due to SRMs' short range and propensity to spread damage. While I understand that fixing hit registration is the key to viable SRMs, why have they been abandoned for a full year when a number of easy stat changes (decrease heat, increase speed, decrease spread, increase rate-of-fire) could fill the gap?
A:Russ_Bullock
They certainly have not been abandoned and even in the past few months we have implemented multiple bug fixes and improvements, but as I stated in similar question we have just begun what I hope will be a full audit of the SRM and hit detection code.

Q:Peter2000_HHoD
Can you comment on the Hill Climb Mechaninc/Slope Mechanic?
This was introduced almost a year ago, and was heralded as a buff to brawlers since it nerfed ridge-humping Stalkers popular at the time. However, since then it has proven to be extremely problematic for brawlers, as it makes movement across maps much slower, and in more predictable locations, while jump sniping teams barely feel the effect at all. Also, there are persistent problems with all sorts of 'Mechs getting stuck on ankle-high obstacles as a result.
Are there any plans to look at changing the hill climb mechanic, maybe changing the numbers a bit, to make climbing possible in more places and not quite as slow?
A:Russ_Bullock
Yes I agree we need to revisit hill climbing effects in general. Many of the maps were first developed before any hill climbing changes to the mechs. We need an audit of both the code mechanics and some of the level geometry. Niko and QA have a thread open in our general discussion forum for this subject.

Q:GaussDragon
Are mechanics like ghost heat, jump jet shake and gauss delay going to stay in the game indefinitely, or are you guys open to alternative methods of balancing the game?
A:Russ_Bullock
I thought I answered this question but my answre seems to have disappeared.
We do like the limitations on pin point damage and our goal is to always extend life, allow players to remain longer in the world of being in a large mech that can actually take some damage and perhaps survive a bad encounter if they play their cards right, to us that represents what MechWarrior should feel like. However I think the Private match window will continue to allow us to add more and more options into that area so that as we have stated you the players can define how YOU think it should play and feel.
Oops Reddit noob
A:Russ_Bullock
One thing that sets MWO apart from past MechWarrior titles is we are actually trying to balance all the weapon types, if you have played MW4 or past products you know that is a true statement. When starting development on MWO one of the biggest concerns we heard from players was that MWO would also be completely unbalanced. So my main statement is that YES we do want to make every effort to have a balanced game that represents OUR interpretation of what MechWarrior/Battletech should feel like. However we are always constantly open to comments and suggestions. I think where we may be able to find more peace with our different factions is to provide more options in the premium private match window. As we have stated this is where YOU dictate how you think MW should feel and play.

Q:CeaseToHope
A year ago, Bryan Ekman that the endgame vision for MWO included "epics", and that it would be exciting and worth the effort but offered little other detail.
Can you tell me what ever happened to that?
A:Russ_Bullock
I dont know about epics but we have plans to expand upon the "gating" or "leveling" aspect of MWO so that people can truly feel special about an acheivement - similar to displaying that 'Epic" weapon in public.

Q:Redshift2k5
KING CRAB? While this would have been an overwhelming chassis a year ago, it is uniquely suited to meeting the Daishi head-on on the battlefield with similar range, armor, tonnage, speed, and loadout. Alex already did a fabulous sketch of the King Crab, and a souped-up clanbuster variant hero mech will sell
A:Russ_Bullock
Yes Alex has been pushing for this for a while. Next time were talking about Assault mechs I will be sure to bring up the subject.

Q:Jman5
Is there any plan for making consumables not count as used in private matches ala training ground? Currently there are no cbill rewards for those games so people are losing 40,000 - 120,000 cbills every match they play.
A:Russ_Bullock
Not yet, however I do think now that Private matches have been out for a while that we may again looko at whether the original 12 mans which are barely used but give rewards might be removed and the Free Private matches can take their place. In other words, adding the same rewards for the free private matches. No decisions or promises at this point.

 

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Q:-THATONE
What mistakes has PGI made in the past (in regards to development, communication, or anything else), what will PGI do to amend those mistakes, and what will PGI do to avoid those mistakes in the future?
A:Russ_Bullock
Well first - At this point were all feeling much better about our progress with the game and how our committments to the community are lining up. Now that we are into 2014 with many of the major roadblock features released we are seeing much quicker and more accurate feature releases. In the past the main mistake was made in not fully understanding just how much backlog was created in getting the initial closed beta and Open beta products into the players hands. Once we were in Open Beta it became clear that in order to deliver the features that players wanted there was an enormous amount of backlog that needed to be taken care of, and the continued pressure from many different communities within MWO on what was important to them. As to MWO I hope and we feel that at this point in 2014 although we still have features in our backlog we want to see developed that are important they are no longer completely dictating or hampering our ability to move forward with core features. As to the future I think with clear communication and expectations the community and PGI should never again see the kind of disconnect we saw in 2013.

Q:Mr_Jeffer
How financially viable and healthy is PGI and MWO?
Many on the forums believe that MWO is on the verge of shutting down and any money spent (Clan Pack) is going to be lost as the game shuts down. Given the lack of visibility of number of players (no lobbies, no view of how many are playing except the other 23 you are with in a launch), lack of communication from PGI on the forums, lack of progress towards goals (e.g. Community Warfare, UI 2.0), untested game breaking bugs introduced in patches and being left for days/weeks (Missile bugs, Matchmaker), and sales that appear to be cash grabs and or compensation/diversion from the patch bugs; confirmation bias shows this to be a game and company on the verge of shutting down. Convince me that the forums are wrong and PGI and MWO are healthy.
A:Russ_Bullock
Well this is nothing new, people have been predicting our demise since the initial announcement of MWO. I can also remind everyone that we recently received an extension on the license from MSFT that can take us through to the year 2020. I will also point to the fact that PGI is currently hiring and has grown as a studio by 25% in the past 6 months. We have been around for 14 years and I expect we will be around for many more years to come. I know I plan on making MechWarrior content for a long time yet. You may continue to show your confidence in PGI or the lack thereof with your heart and wallet.

Q:zhujik
I miss one thing very much: The satisfying "Enemy Mech Destroyed" of older MW titles. Any chance we will hear more from bitching betty?
A:Russ_Bullock
Great suggestion, sound if you get the kill shot or just if the mech you have targeted dies? thanks.

Q:Kin3ticX
Do you have any telemetry which reveals underperforming ‘mechs/variants and do you plan to do any balance passes on these ‘mechs? Please elaborate on specific ‘mechs if possible.
On a similar note, what does PGI think about a perk system for less favored ‘mechs. For example, creating a heat-scale shift for the Awesome 8Q or 9M which would allow stock weapon alpha penalty free?
A:Russ_Bullock
I want to go back and tweak underpowered mechs or hero mechs but honestly I cant even think about that until we get the clan release past us. At that point we will have time to consider these items.

Q:Agent_0f_Change
Here are four burning questions I have:
Do you (PGI) ever intend to actually deliver on the "pillars of gameplay" CW, Role warfare, Information warfare, etc... fully?
Do you (Russ) truly believe that UI 2.0 is a user interface worthy of a high quality product and in keeping with the highest standards and good practices of the industry?
Why have 5-11 man groups not been re-implemented when all other MM fix attempts can be charitably called failures?
Do you (Russ) still feel that the dedicated BT fans, that funded your project int eh founders phase, populated your game in the closed beta phase, that recruited people for your open beta phase, and have provided pages upon pages upon pages of feedback and balancing ideas are "on an Island" and not your core audience? Bonus question: If BT fans are not your target audience, who is?
A:Russ_Bullock
Yes - CW the remaining pillar missing the other pillars needs more improvements.
Its a quality base but needs lots of refining and that work begins after clan release
MM - I am going to post a large update on the subject before I finish here tonight look for that please. I never did believe that they werent our core audience. I have had some fun with that island comment over the months but what I really was saying is that there are many factions of beliefs on how MW should play in the community and the faction that I was referring to at the time wasnt even the largest one, many and perhaps a larger group wanted the sort of balance that we were providing. My apologies again to anyone that feels slighted by that. Let's start
over, I want to hear from you the BT fan and I will listen carefully and weight it along with all the other players feedback.

 

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Q:turducken138
Hey, Russ thanks for spending the time to come talk to us, outreach like this is always appreciated. I've got a few questions:
Are hit registration problems (real or perceived) seen internally as a high priority (and being given appropriate development focus)? It seems that this should be addressed before significant effort is put into balance or weight-class roles elsewhere, as it's got a chance to turn everything upside-down The player base seems to feel that the current pinpoint / jump-snipe meta is stale. While sniping (and particularly jump-sniping) are valid tactics, it seems like they're the best tactic, with too much upside and not enough downside (eg: the tournament). Is the community wrong about this or are there plans to balance away from sniping and jump-sniping?
Will we ever have a brawl-pocalypse? If so, when (so I can put it in my calendar)?
Aside from the mech configuration experience, the updated UI has a lot of usability issues (too many clicks to do things, poor information availability, inconsistent use of space and focus of attention, etc). Are there plans to improve these, and if so what's your target for completing the first pass of fixes?
Why are you proceeding with 3-3-3-3 weight class balancing? What problem does this solve, and why can't it reasonably be solved by other means that don't involve longer average queue times and players having to make the choice between playing what they want or waiting longer?
Loyalty points - are they still a thing? When will we start accruing them?
A:Russ_Bullock
Great post but I can only touch on aspects of it because of time.
Yes I have posted on this a few times tonight - top priority atm since I just allocated Neema full time into researching this area of code again and looking for any improvements. I think Brawling is going to steeply increase with the new Queue screen evening out the mechs in matches and with the above mentioned hit detection work. UI 2.x after clan release is getting some dedicated feedback time, we have a huge feedback document just waiting for us - soon.

Q:Alt0
Hi Russ, A little while ago in April Karl Berg mentioned that Track IR and head tracking had moved forward. I know you want to talk about Matchmaking and Clans and stuff but is there any word on how its going? Are we likely to see it integrated into the game this year?
A:Russ_Bullock
Yes it is done and I think it may even be in the June 3rd patch.

Q:Adiuvo
Are there any plans to implement 'tiers' of players such as what many MOBAs do? Ie, bronze, silver, gold, etc.? Even if this is based purely on Elo scores it would be a nice 'metagaming' component of the game. Overarching game systems such as leaderboards really help keep a population interested as they aim to 'rank up' compared to their peers.
A:Russ_Bullock
We really want to get serious on building out every aspect of MWO that will make it a better e-sport both for our future tournaments and yours. This will fall into a list of features that will be worked on with any spare resouces that are not involved in CW directly.

Q:Veranova
The "Buckton fix" for SRM's seems to have disappeared in to the ether... Where are you with getting that implemented?
A:Russ_Bullock
Please refer to my answer on this subject in another response. I have Neema on this issue right now, and exploring every possibility for SRM's and Hit detection in general.

Q:Mwonoober
Have you been watching the tournament matches? What are you thoughts?
A:Russ_Bullock
Its a good start. It brought to light a ton of web, client and spectate features we want to implement. We can only promise that each subsequent tournament will be better than the last.

 

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Q:repete
Do you have any thoughts/plans on trying to win back some/any/all of the community who have become embittered/disenfranchised over time (for whatever reasons) with MWO/PGI?
A:Russ_Bullock
Guys: When we started down this path it had been around 10 years since the last MW game was developed and believe me when I tell you, nobody was going to make one. PGI stepped up with our own money and livelihoods to take on the daunting task or working with a difficult IP with a clouded history to revive the brand, where no other companies were willing to go. It has not been easy and we have not done a perfect job. But were continuing forward and if we take a step back we can realize were playing pretty darn fun MechWarrior game in 2014 with some advancements we have never seen in a MechWarrior game before AND the best is yet to come! We have the license rights for many years to come and we plan to continue to make it better with each passing patch. That is our plan right there to win back anyone who feels disenfranchised, to keep moving forward in making the game better.

Q:Moriquendi86
Hi Russ, first of all I'd like to thank you for this AMA. I will be grateful if you could answer this two questions.
Q1: Have you considered having public test server event for all players with clan mechs? I believe a lot of us would like to try them out before buying.
Q2: Have you considered doing regional servers in similar fashion as DOTA 2 or War Thunder where service, profile and all persistent layers are global and players choose which regional server they want to search for the games?
A:Russ_Bullock
Q1: I would love to but I think were not going to have the time, its going to come in hot and arrive just like the canon story of the invasion - very suddenly! Q2:Yes we have and in fact were hoping to do things very much like you suggest.

Q:finsterdexter
What are the current plans for implementing C3/VoIP?
A:Russ_Bullock
Yes although likely not C3. We are working on a VOIP solution atm. Meaning, integrated into the game.

Q:GMan129
What is the first stage of Community Warfare going to look like? Will it just be a points system for each faction like we saw in the last faction tournament, or will it be more interactive than that?
A:Russ_Bullock
More interactive then that. You will see a map of the inner sphere or at least the contested part. Clans are invading, choose a side and make every match count towards the invasion or it's defence.

Q:9erRed
Hello Mr. Bullock, Can you say anything about any additional weapons we may see being brought into MWO? I'm specifically interested in the Arrow IV system, as Clan weapons will 'outreach' most IS systems, we will need something with greater strike distance. Thanks for any info. 9erRed
Q:Russ_Bullock
I dont mind admitting we dont look that far foward. The balancing is a difficult job and once the Clans are released and we feel everything is in harmony then we can start to look ahead. Although again not before were perfectly happy with SRM's, hit detection for all existing weapons.

Q:andrew470t
What is your vision for the future of Battletech?
A:Russ_Bullock
continues expansion of MWO evolving into PvE or even single player content. My dream.

 

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And that is everything from the AMA.