Multiplayer...

[Vanu Kaos]

I doubt I will ever touch MP. Over 300 hours invested in BattleTech but not once have I been tempted to play MP. My gaming buddy won't touch BT because of a lack of Co-op mode in skirmish and I really don't have the patience for the trolls that just either tantrum, ragequit or abuse people in any game system. MP in BT just now seems to be limping along and maybe if more people played it then it would get more investment and become better but until it becomes better more people will avoid it.

 

[McNought]

I AM interested in multiplayer. I made 3-4 attempts over 2 days without getting even one game going, and then gave up.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

@Zakhodit, it surprises me not at all to read the comments in your thread above. For reasons I'll touch upon below, the Kickstarted potential of BATTLETECH Competitive Multiplayer remains unrealized. It is then of little surprise that there are so few supporters of it to lend their manner of comment to your thread.


But first let me be clear, I bought BATTLETECH exclusively for the multiplayer. The Solo-Campaign to me, was just a nice add-on.

While it was not the BATTLETECH Centerpiece for me, I've never begrudged my fellow BATTLETECH gamers their Single Player Experience.

I have just been more interested in BATTLETECH Competitive Multiplayer, than in Single Player.

So much so that I've organized the current 91-player BATTLETECH Challonge Torunament.

As such I've done as much as I could since BATTLETECH Kickstarter Update 47, to make the most of those BATTLETECH Multiplayer Elements remaining to us. Cancelled under Update 47 are the BATTLETECH Competitive Elements of a near-Peer Matchmaker, HBS-run "Prize" Tournaments, HBS-run Leagues and Leaderboards. And while it is gone for now, some shade of the BATTLETECH Solaris VII Multiplayer Experience may yet be revisited by HBS.

For me the loss of the near-Peer Matchmaker is rivaled only by the now-lost opportunity for BATTLETECH Competitive Multiplayer to have been at it's Kickstarted Level of Quality for those first crucial weeks and months of BATTLETECH's Launch, when so many tens of thousands of gamers were delving deep into BATTLETECH.

Now gone are many tens of thousands of BATTLETECH gamers who only knew that HBS placed so little importance and value into BATTLETECH's Compettive Elements that they cancelled them... stillborn and aborted IMO.




You know, there is a truth to:

There is also a truth to, "If you don't build it, they'll never come."

IMO, HBS has left the greater bulk of BATTLETECH Competitive Multiplayer unbuilt ~ the cancelled near-Peer Matchmaker, the HBS "Prize" Torunaments, HBS-run Leagues and Leaderboards, the BATTLETECH Solaris VII experience.


But it remains my hope that PARADOX will revisit BATTLETECH Competitve Multiplayer at some point in the future. Our BATTLETECH Community's Tournaments and Discoord success, may yet serve to illuminate the as-yet-unrealized potential of BATTLETECH Competitve Multiplayer.

I remain optimistic.

And while these are indeed difficult times for our BATTLETECH Competiitve Multiplayer Commuity...

...BATTLETECH Multiplayer is not yet dead. :bow:

 

[UberMunchkin]

I remain optimistic. :bow:

I really hope you get the kind of multiplayer experience you are looking for but I wouldn't hold your breath, it looks like the majority of players (including myself) are in this for the single player game; if that turns out to be broadly true across the user-base then I fear that you'll not get the game you want.

Hopefully HBS will find a way to deliver both a continuing exceptional single player experience and build on the multiplayer features that interest players like yourself.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

I really hope you get the kind of multiplayer experience you are looking for but I wouldn't hold your breath, it looks like the majority of players (including myself) are in this for the single player game; if that turns out to be broadly true across the user-base then I fear that you'll not get the game you want.

Hopefully HBS will find a way to deliver both a continuing exceptional single player experience and build on the multiplayer features that interest players like yourself.

From your keyboard to Jordan's eyes. :bow:

 

[valhain]

Put another one into the I was never interested in the MP side of the game to begin with. Bit like single battles and scenarios in Total War games, it's simlpy not a patch on the campaign itself. In fact, even the actual battles in the campaign came a distant second to the story and role-playing side of it all.

If I want to play some MP and rage about noobs I load World of Warships (no, I don't. Rage about noobs I mean. I do play WoWs though)

 

[Airwind]

Mp can really only work if it is persists towards a goal. e.g. tournament, war.

Also some reward.

 

[rho]

I bought the game for its single player. I played a lot of single player. But then I was at least curious enough about the multiplayer to think I'd give it a try. I opened the lobby, there weren't any games available, I couldn't be bothered trying to set up my own game, I closed the lobby, and I haven't gone back in since. In short, I could have been someone who plays in MP, but I am not.

For this sort of game, there will always be some hardcore MP fans. These are the people who are going to find a way to play MP no matter what, running tournaments, creating Discord channels, etc. There will also be the people who are only ever going to touch SP no matter what, the ones who just have zero interest in MP under any circumstances. Then there is the middle ground between these two groups. The people who have some level of interest in MP but aren't completely devoted to it.

Bad MP systems -- by which I mean things like lack of matchmaking, difficulty getting a game, unreliable servers, etc. -- make a lot of people from the middle ground look like the people who are only interested in SP. For all intents and purposes, I look like a SP only player. I have no MP achievements, I have never played a MP match. Looking at demographics, it would be reasonable to assume I am just not interested in MP. So the devs then look at all their various statistics, see people who have never played MP and conclude that that isn't a worthwhile investment of their time, and it stagnates even further.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I think many (including myself) were more interested in the Single Player Campaign aspect than the Multiplayer. I know that I have played VERY little in the way of multiplayer and that was even during the beta. As it stands now, I don't have any immediate plans to play multiplayer, although I suppose I would occasionally if someone I knew wanted to play.

In a way, the multiplayer numbers don't really surprise me. This game isn't really designed for a sustainable multiplayer presence. It isn't the multiplayer games-as-services model like Overwatch, Destiny 2, or heck even MWO, that is designed to keep people playing and engaged in the multiplayer experience. The multiplayer in BattleTech is more like a skirmish that friends might play against each other with for a bit of fun.

Since there are people who still want to play BattleTech multiplayer, maybe this is a good time to try and organize a league or at the very least, a coordinated game night. That will at least help get people on the servers for a given time and allow people to find matches. The forum here would be a good way to try and help coordinate such a thing (a long with the reddit page and discord).

 

[Iron Heel]

I bought BATTLETECH for the SP game with the ability to Mod the game in mind.
There are a few people who I do plan on playing MP with, but ATM we all are so moded up with the SP campaign we couldn't even if we wanted too.
So there's that, and the MP cheese.
Don't get me wrong, i like cheese too, but the cheese that MP BT seems to bring out is too much for my tastes.
Leagues, ladders, rules, standards for tonnage & loadouts etc. , that's the MP experience I'd probably be more apt to join into.
Also, IMO, HBS is still in the bug fix and QoL improvements patch mode, so some time is needed to let them iron out and optimize the experience to a point where they're not having to patch so often.

 

[Cirran]

I am a long time table top player. My gaming sessions are not PvP. As the GM, I always let my players build the universe they play in. I do set up a frame work and lay down a nice foundation for them to build on but they do all the work of building the specifics of the universe they play in. Now you may be asking why do you bring this up Cirran? Well I think you are using multiplayer where PvP should be used. To me multiplayer would be Co-Op, the pitting of multiple players against the universe. PvP is more of a MWO thing and look how much of a missed opportunity that turned out to be. PvP has a LOT of baggage that I hope that HBS decides to not get involved in. I think that Co-Op would be a blast, there are so many different kinds of canon missions that could be Co-Op.

Cirran

 

[Doc_Holliday]

The campaign is the single reason I haven't been in MP (that and the fact that it's summertime, not stay in the house and play video games because the weather sucks time), as I haven't completed the campaign yet. MP will be there eventually.

 

[Dezimus]

Battletech originally designed to two people fight against each other on table. How did it happen that it turned into a single player game? We waited twenty (thirty) years for THIS?
Well, just fix what is now and forget it.

 

[Mavaho]

I didn't buy the game for multiplayer, but a great multiplayer experience is probably one of the most direct ways to add long-term replayability to a game. The single-player experience here is too shallow at the moment. Pair that with a crippled multiplayer system, and this game does not have much longevity in its current state IMO.

 

[UberMunchkin]

Battletech originally designed to two people fight against each other on table. How did it happen that it turned into a single player game? We waited twenty (thirty) years for THIS?

I don't get how this is a surprise, all the marketing and material has been really clear about the single player campaign being the focus. The communication from the Kickstarter was equally clear about the direction the game was moving in.

If players who are super into the multiplayer experience want to promote the multiplayer aspects of the game that's a great idea, if you can convince enough people to play it like that then you would have a good case for HBS expanding and improving the Multiplayer, as it stands though (as shown in the first post of this thread) very few people play the multiplayer and in fact a lot of the people who don't play the multiplayer aren't really interested in it at all, we brought in for a strong single player campaign that we can play at our own pace without relying on anyone else.

 

[Varsi]

Think I need to visit that Discord at some point. Thanks for pointing out there is such.

Random disconnects (when joining game and especially during the match) do need to get fixed completely before I'll consider trying MP more. At the moment I'd play multiplayer only if someone challenges me (basically a friend who's bored).

Edit:
It really doesn't motivate to play multiplayer with random players when only games I've managed to play till the end have been with a friend I know.

 

[Gstrowes]

Sorry.
I was in this from the start for the single player.
I'm not interested in the multiplayer aspect of the game.
More campaigns via DLC (official or fan made) are the things I'm interested in.

 

[Justin Kase]

I've played a bit. Haven't won yet

That being said, MP doesn't interest me, unless it is Coop campaign - which I would hope would give us 2 lances against a variable opponent

 

[SpaceViking]

That being said, MP doesn't interest me, unless it is Coop campaign - which I would hope would give us 2 lances against a variable opponent

This is the only sort of multiplayer stuff I do with any game any more. Hang out with my buddies in some MP game while chatting on Discord? Sure! But most MP games are filled with griefers, whiners, cheaters, ... and life is too short to waste my time with them.

So the "problem" isn't BattleTech MP, it's the world of MP players.

 

[Mavaho]

If players who are super into the multiplayer experience want to promote the multiplayer aspects of the game that's a great idea, if you can convince enough people to play it like that then you would have a good case for HBS expanding and improving the Multiplayer, as it stands though (as shown in the first post of this thread) very few people play the multiplayer and in fact a lot of the people who don't play the multiplayer aren't really interested in it at all, we brought in for a strong single player campaign that we can play at our own pace without relying on anyone else.

This is a bad argument and you know it. If the multiplayer is garbage, players aren't going to support it purely in the hopes that it gets better one day. Telling people to do that is just dismissive of their complaints. If a multiplayer is good, people will play it. If it's not, they won't.

Frankly, even if you're not interested in the multiplayer, it's in your best interests that the multiplayer be good. It means more people will play the game for longer. Which means you'll get better content down the road for the single-player as well, since the developer will be more keen to invest in it. It's a rare game that any significant amount of people continue to play for a year or more, purely based on the single-player. That sort of long-term longevity usually comes through multiplayer.

And to be candid, the current state of the single-player experience is not nearly deep enough to warrant long-term commitment. Everyone saying "The single-player is awesome! I'll be playing it for years!" really can't say that from any position of authority - the game has been out for a little over a month. Yeah, it's fun right now -- until it's not anymore, and that moment will arrive suddenly and abruptly. I was absolutely enthralled for weeks, and then boredom smacked me in the face out of nowhere last week. I just suddenly realized the game has no depth right now. Most of you guys are going to get there soon too, if you're playing the game with any regularity.

I'm still logging in fairly often to play a mission or two, but it's not motivated by love for the game - it's motivated by my general love for Battletech/MechWarrior. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if this game "goes on my shelf" in another week or two, until a big content patch drops. I've already started reverting back to the games that I was playing before BT was released.