53 replies to this topic

[MacabreDerek]

I have to agree, going the STAC route should be the best 'bang for your buck'. The trade-off ofcourse being you're not sure what to do with those pieces of equipment you may have unintentionally gained.

After playing the starter guide version of Battleforce though, I have revised my thoughts on lighter mechs like the Spider. Still, there are lots of chassis that I dont feel particularly comfortable with.

Still, the big question is what do you do with them.

I am starting to think the best route is to just use them as intended, leave them alone so they are not eating up extra gear. The big reason I am coming to this conclusion is until you have 4-6 lances in your mech bay, selling them for additional scrap isn't going to get you anywhere. In fact I am pretty sure it'll be a case of one-step forward, two steps back (Bloodflame!). I am pretty sure I'll be running into other people playing their 'garbage lances' in that case, though I am kinda curious if such lances, built not from a focused plan or cohesion, but from random pulls, will become the norm for the average game. I mean, how many times can you pull your favouert mechs?

[Keffer]

Teranika, on 06 July 2012 - 10:03 AM, said:

Click the store button... look at the layout. Based on the current layout,, you will be able to buy individual chassis, skins, etc..

My guess is (and this is a guess).. STACs will be cheaper, since they only contain X% chance to get a chassis, buying the individual chassis will be possible, but cost more.

Teranika I dont follow you here, I see no mention of being able to buy specific chassis, the skins yes, but they are just cosmetic "paint jobs" in every other game I'v played. I dont think buying specific items will ever happen its more beneficial to the game for us to have to go through STAC's to get what we want. On the plus side this will also allow us to aquire large numbers of parts for our mechs and tactic cards to use in our fights even if I dont get that shiny new Awesome I wanted.

[Teranika]

Keffer, on 14 July 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

Teranika I dont follow you here, I see no mention of being able to buy specific chassis, the skins yes, but they are just cosmetic "paint jobs" in every other game I'v played. I dont think buying specific items will ever happen its more beneficial to the game for us to have to go through STAC's to get what we want. On the plus side this will also allow us to aquire large numbers of parts for our mechs and tactic cards to use in our fights even if I dont get that shiny new Awesome I wanted.

Right now the store 'index' (for lack of a better word) looks like this:



If you go to 'featured' now, you'll see STACs because, well, that's all that we've been told about so far, and they're not going to give all the goodies away before closed beta even starts.

But, STACs have their own section, that has an icon that looks like the same icon all the STACs have.. the icon for the Featured section, is a 'Mech.. so I'm extrapolating that to mean that we'll be able to buy 'Mechs in the featured section.



edit: Mods - If having the screenshot of the store 'contents' is a no-no, sorry..since everyone can access the store, I couldn't think of a reason why it would be something we couldn't take a screen shot of.

Edited by Teranika, 14 July 2012 - 10:28 PM.

[Oberon]

Yeah, that was the assumption when we saw the store for the first time. But now if you look at the featured section it looks more like it will be a store front. Nothing there supports our old assumptions about mechs.

There's a section for featured products, featured subscriptions, and new products. Regardless of the symbol they chose, it looks like it's just going to highlight products from other areas of the store and maybe offer specials.

[ElVampiro]

I hope the Devs give us reasons to use all Mechs we pull from our STACs. The worst thing that could happen to this game (IMHO) is that it devolves to a point where everyone is running nearly identical lances all the time. Good game design would dictate that you want to introduce rules that force variety and interest.

I believe it is comparable to the ideal of MTG meta game where people get stuck in the same decks all the time... so what happened? Sealed deck play so that you were forced to build a deck from a limited set of cards. That kept things interesting because you had to adapt to what you drew in a limited supply of cards.

[GrizzlyLocks]

Honestly, the setting for the lore in Battletech didn't really give you a choice in meks. You started with something small, and if you won battles you got money from selling captured enemy meks after paying your own repair costs. I feel this should still be represented, yet it can be bypassed by dropping $ on STAC purchases. That doesn't make it 'pay to win' it just means you have higher odds of playing meks you want to pilot. That's part of the Mechwarrior universe.

[Oberon]

GrizzlyLocks, on 16 July 2012 - 03:23 AM, said:

Honestly, the setting for the lore in Battletech didn't really give you a choice in meks. You started with something small, and if you won battles you got money from selling captured enemy meks after paying your own repair costs. I feel this should still be represented, yet it can by bypassed by dropping $ on STAC purchases. That doesn't make it 'pay to win' it just means you have higher odds of playing meks you want to pilot. That's part of the Mechwarrior universe.

I agree about limited choice. But I'm pretty sure Battletech still had rich kids (and aristocracy) who got to start out with some better mechs.

[Keffer]

hehe remember the "Kell Hounds"? Seems like Morgan and Patrick both drove Archer's didnt they? (Been a long time since I read those books)

great example of rich kids becoming great warrior's.

[Teranika]

Keffer, on 16 July 2012 - 02:32 PM, said:

hehe remember the "Kell Hounds"? Seems like Morgan and Patrick both drove Archer's didnt they? (Been a long time since I read those books)

great example of rich kids becoming great warrior's.

Morgan piloted an Archer, Patrick used a Thunderbolt.

[Teranika]

Oberon, on 15 July 2012 - 07:33 AM, said:

Yeah, that was the assumption when we saw the store for the first time. But now if you look at the featured section it looks more like it will be a store front. Nothing there supports our old assumptions about mechs.

There's a section for featured products, featured subscriptions, and new products. Regardless of the symbol they chose, it looks like it's just going to highlight products from other areas of the store and maybe offer specials.

I still think that's where individual 'Mechs will show up...my guess though, is that what's there (as far as 'Mechs are concerned).. will rotate (similar to what happens with Champions in LoL). So if you want a Grasshopper... but you wait, you might miss your chance till the next time it comes up in rotation.

Like the accursed Steam summer sale's flash sales...if you miss it, you might need to wait till it comes up again, or pay more to buy an off-rotation one?

[Durin]

GrizzlyLocks, on 16 July 2012 - 03:23 AM, said:

Honestly, the setting for the lore in Battletech didn't really give you a choice in meks. You started with something small, and if you won battles you got money from selling captured enemy meks after paying your own repair costs. I feel this should still be represented, yet it can by bypassed by dropping $ on STAC purchases. That doesn't make it 'pay to win' it just means you have higher odds of playing meks you want to pilot. That's part of the Mechwarrior universe.

With the lore, you are more or less right. "New" mechs most of the time were salvage from a won battle.

But you have to distinguish between game lore, and real world mechanics. The devs have to earn money to pay their bills. They earn money by selling Stacs, and most of the player want to have more and better mechs. So you can bet that mechs will be included in Stacs. Also no player wants to loose cards he eventually paid cash for, so the salvage - lore option won´t attract many players.

[Durin]

I never would "not use" a mech. All mechs have their advantages and disatvantages. Ok, some have more advantages than others, but those cheesy "I have nearly no weaknesses" mechs are no fun in the long run.

[GrizzlyLocks]

Durin, on 16 July 2012 - 03:59 PM, said:

With the lore, you are more or less right. "New" mechs most of the time were salvage from a won battle.

But you have to distinguish between game lore, and real world mechanics. The devs have to earn money to pay their bills. They earn money by selling Stacs, and most of the player want to have more and better mechs. So you can bet that mechs will be included in Stacs. Also no player wants to loose cards he eventually paid cash for, so the salvage - lore option won´t attract many players.

I've stated on these forums about the DEV's profiting, and their business model. I'm not opposed to f2p browser, nor to STAC buying. I was actually commenting in their favor. You seem to be trying to remind me that their is a difference of lore and reality. The reality is the DEV's don't want 'pay to win' and from what i've read on this forum, nobody want's 'pay to win'. I'm sure there is a way to make this not 'pay to win' and still represent the Mechwarrior universe appropriately. Perhaps this is too much of a challenge for some people's brain power, it isn't for me.

You're not gonna get a new shiny Mek from a past era. You're going to get a salvaged one. So the mek you get in a STAC is gonna have some scorch marks under several layers of paint. That's the lore, and i'm just saying it should be represented in the STAC purchase. Now the factory purchased meks from the current era can be shiny new. I'm just saying the lore should be represented. An Ultra rare card with an older 'higher tech' mech my be listed as an archeological jackpot dig.... while a common mek from the current year might be listed as nothing more than a new production model.

You read into my post way past it's intention.

[Durin]

GrizzlyLocks, on 18 July 2012 - 09:43 PM, said:

...
You read into my post way past it's intention.

If that is so then I´m sorry for this.

But my experience says me that the economic matters are much more important that the lore to the people who pay the bills for the development at the moment and want to get a bit prpfit from the money they invested.

But personally I agree and would like to see a cool system which mirrors the lore, makes fun and let the devs earn well deserved money. Let´s just hope such a thing will really happen here.