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u/BlackBricklyBear

To PGI: If this is it, please let us know.
▲ 0 r/Mechwarrior5

To PGI: If this is it, please let us know.

NOTE: Before you ask, yes, the topic title is indeed an intentional reference to the Huey Lewis and the News song "If This Is It."

Introduction

I know many of us are excited about the upcoming Chaos Reign DLC, but I still can't get the shadow of the repeated layoffs at PGI out of my mind. Accordingly, the prospects of more MechWarrior 5 DLC being developed, all while PGI is a shadow of its former self, seem rather grim to me.

There is also the matter of longstanding unresolved issues in MW5:M that the official patch notes for the Chaos Reign DLC do not explicitly address. I've compiled several of them in this older thread of mine, but the longer the unresolved issues go unpatched, especially with the layoffs in mind, the more I feel that they might not actually be resolved while PGI is still able to work on the MW5 games.

Hard Questions

So, my questions to PGI are thus:

  • Is Chaos Reign likely to be the last DLC made for the MW5 games? In other words, is this it?
  • Is there nothing us MechWarrior fans can do to help PGI? Some of us have been fans for a long time and would like to see more MW content developed by PGI for the foreseeable future.
  • Are the longstanding unresolved issues in MW5:M likely to be resolved in the foreseeable future? Or is that no longer possible with the repeated layoffs?

Unresolved Issues

Speaking of unresolved issues, the ones that have affected MW5:M the longest that I've seen are below:

You might be wondering, what is "cross-DLC integration"? It means that DLCs need to recognize when you have other DLCs purchased and take them into account. Right now, only the Solaris Showdown DLC does so with its Arena rewards, which will reward the player with a random assortment of items, including DLC-exclusive ones, depending on the DLCs the player has purchased.

This is not the case with other DLC-exclusive mechanics, however. The Bounty Hunter's rewards from the Rise of Rasalhague DLC don't take other DLCs into account, and neither do the Cantina Quests/Rewards from the Heroes of the Inner Sphere (HotIS) DLC. In other words, the Bounty Hunter's rewards will never contain DLC-exclusive items or 'Mechs, for instance, unlike the Solaris Showdown DLC's Arena rewards.

The Cantina Quests and the rewards for those quests deserve particular mention as well. As things are currently, all Cantina Quests only concern themselves with 'Mechs or items that can be found in the base game or the HotIS DLC, and will never have you seek out 'Mechs or items that are exclusive to other DLCs. Likewise, rewards for Cantina Quests will never give out items or 'Mechs that are exclusive to DLCs other than HotIS.

There is a lot of untapped potential here; having Cantina Quests and their rewards take into account the DLCs the player has purchased would definitely spice up Cantina Quests and make undertaking them more worthwhile. I'd love to be able to get melee weapons exclusive to the Call to Arms and Solaris Showdown DLCs as Cantina Quest rewards, for example, or hunt down Clan 'Mechs for a Cantina Quest.

Similarly, the Salvage Crates from the base game don't take into account which DLCs you've purchased, aside from HotIS. Could this issue at least be easier to resolve, by expanding the roster of eligible items that can be randomly found in Salvage Crates depending on the DLCs purchased by the player and the ingame calendar?

Conclusion/TL;DR

We've all had a lot of fun and a good run with the MW5 games, but if there is indeed something us MechWarrior fans can do to help turn things around at PGI, please let us know. Likewise, if this is truly it and the end of the line for the MW5 games, it would help to soften the blow if PGI could tell us that too instead of leaving us hanging with our hopes and neurohelmets.

Regardless of which is truly the case, the current and former PGI employees have my sincerest thanks and gratitude for the major achievements they've accomplished with this nice endeavour into AA gaming that the MW5 games represent. I only wish that there was time, money, and manpower to really polish them.

In other words, to misquote the aforementioned Huey Lewis and the News song, "If this is it, please let us know. If this is the end, just say so."

u/BlackBricklyBear — 1 day ago
▲ 20 r/Mechwarrior5

Mercs - Why do Pilot Traits that increase post-mission C-Bill payouts only do so some of the time?

I've noticed that Pilot Traits that are supposed to grant bonus C-Bills upon successfully completing a mission only work some of the time (i.e., the descriptions of Pilot Traits that are supposed to give you more money after winning at missions make you think they will work every time, but they don't actually do so), even when you are working for the specific faction these traits supposed to work with. The Pilot Traits in question are as follows:

  • (Great House Name) Noble - Gives bonus C-Bills when working for that specific Great House.
  • (Great House Name) Patriot - The same as the previous one, but this Pilot Trait also gives two extra Salvage Shares after winning a mission for that specific Great House.
  • Con Artist - Should work with any employer, but only works occasionally.

Is there a reason why these three types of Pilot Traits don't actually work all the time even when working with the Great House specified in these traits? Was this intentional on the part of PGI? Oddly enough, Pilot Traits that give extra Salvage Shares upon winning a mission are always active, like (Great House Name) Patriot and the Scrapper Pilot Trait, so I don't see why the "bonus C-Bills" Pilot Traits aren't always active as well.

Do the three aforementioned Pilot Traits only work some of the time because otherwise it would make earning C-Bills with a specific Great House too easy? If that's the case, PGI could make the amount of bonus C-Bills for those traits a random amount, from a pittance to a good-sized bonus. What does everyone here think?

EDIT: Okay, since some of you have requested to see screenshots of faction-related C-Bill bonuses not triggering at the end of a successful mission, here you go.

To give you proof, I went on a "Scorched Earth" mission setting House Marik against House Kurita. I brought along these two pilots, one of which has the "House Marik Noble" Pilot Trait and the other of which has the "Free Worlds League Patriot" Pilot Trait.

https://preview.redd.it/h6qqjopy2y1h1.jpg?width=1140&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=510063da904dd53e20181958c50031c9baa0d445

I finished the mission, and below is the end-of-mission payout screen.

https://preview.redd.it/cotge1q13y1h1.jpg?width=2101&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc1249c4ec0c2599594a49a1c69659a08c9be4f3

To prove that I was indeed taking both the two aforementioned pilots on this mission, below is the post-mission score screen showing their presence during the mission.

https://preview.redd.it/lc9hrus33y1h1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e28feddabd44a820cd0d8784344d3f2d6bf318d2

And to top things off, below is a screenshot of an end-of-mission payout screen from another mission where both the aforementioned pilots' House-Marik-related C-Bill bonuses triggered.

https://preview.redd.it/on1oah353y1h1.jpg?width=2101&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f86a6fd6b9a64979d21b9bf88b4a9b019bf9169c

Can anyone tell me why these faction-related C-Bill bonuses only trigger occasionally, even when used with the right faction? Or why the "Con Artist" Pilot Trait leads you to believe that you can get a C-Bill bonus with any faction employing you, only for that to only trigger occasionally as well?

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u/BlackBricklyBear — 6 days ago
▲ 240 r/visualnovels

Happy 49th Birthday to Imai Asami, the JP voice for Makise Kurise from STEINS;GATE and many other VN heroines!

u/BlackBricklyBear — 8 days ago
▲ 85 r/visualnovels

Happy 49th Birthday to Takahashi Chiaki, the seiyuu for Hayase Mitsuki from KimiNozo and many other VN heroines!

u/BlackBricklyBear — 15 days ago
▲ 57 r/Mechwarrior5

Believe it or not, there are in fact non-'Mech combat vehicles in the MW5 games that are canonically powered by fusion engines. Two examples that have appeared or will appear in the MW5 games are the Manticore tank and the upcoming Schrek PPC carrier. What if those fusion-engine-equipped tanks had a chance of exploding like a cored 'Mech can? It'd fit the background lore better in my view.

While this might be a minor detail in the grand scheme of things, I think it would be interesting to see, as well as provide a strong incentive to avoid stepping on those tanks with your 'Mech, because it might just deal extra damage to you!

reddit.com
u/BlackBricklyBear — 17 days ago
▲ 13 r/Mechwarrior5

As things are right now, the 'Mech variants that were introduced by the Solaris Showdown DLC only ever appear as enemies in Arena missions. This effectively means that you can't fight or salvage them outside of Arena missions, not to mention how certain weapons introduced by that same DLC, such as Binary Lasers, Assault Greatswords, and Heavy/Light Rifles of both kinds cannot be salvaged outside of those missions.

So, to give players of MW5:M more chances to salvage those 'Mech variants and the Solaris Showdown DLC-exclusive weaponry, here's what I propose: allow the 'Mech variants introduced by that DLC to appear outside of Arena missions. This should be fairly simple--just assign appropriate spawn rates for each of those Solaris Showdown DLC-exclusive 'Mech variants to the appropriate Inner Sphere factions. Most of those 'Mech variants should end up in the spawn lists of the Independents, or the Outlaws, or the Periphery Realms (and subsidiaries) factions, minus a few that could conceivably show up in other factions' spawn lists. Here are some examples in that vein:

  • Corsair-XT1: FrankenMechs/Corsairs are weapons crafted out of desperation or out of necessity, so I would suggest making them available to the Independents, the Outlaws, and the Periphery Realms.
  • Crusader-SA2: As the Crusader 'Mech is found across many factions, I would suggest that this variant be "Rare" or "Very Rare" across most Inner Sphere factions.
  • Highlander-VEST: Should be "Rare" or "Very Rare" for the Independents, Outlaws, and Periphery Realms.
  • Hunchback-VEST: Same as the Crusader-SA2.
  • Loaderking (any variant): Should be "Common" at least among Independents, Outlaws, and Periphery Realms, and "Rare" or "Very Rare" among other Inner Sphere factions. It's a weaponized IndustrialMech, for Blake's sake, so the base chassis should be widely available for those who can't afford/manufacture other 'Mechs or whose circumstances dictate they need more war materiel now.
  • Orion-XM1: Same as the Crusader-SA2.
  • Urbanmech-SA1: Could be "Rare" or "Very Rare" among most Inner Sphere factions.
  • Zeus-SA3: Could show up in the House Steiner and Federated Commonwealth spawn lists, as well as in the spawn lists of the Independents and Outlaws.

By the way, PGI really should have made Heavy 'Mech variants that mount Heavy Hammers by default and introduced them with the Solaris Showdown DLC. Because no 'Mech variants mount them by default, you cannot salvage Heavy Hammers nor fight 'Mechs using them, effectively restricting you to buying them from Markets (where they are very rare) or getting them as Arena awards. Aside from the Heavy Hammer's game balancing issues, it should have been mounted on at least some Heavy 'Mechs by default.

By the way, why isn't there a 'Mech with an "SA4" designation? We have 'Mech variants that have designations from SA1 to SA5, but no trace of an SA4 designation is to be found anywhere in MW5:M.

What does everyone here think?

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u/BlackBricklyBear — 18 days ago