In MechWarrior Online, people talk about the difficult past and how the future will make everything better. The beginning is a tutorial system.
Two Years Full of Problems
The Free2Play game MechWarrior Online has rarely shone in a good light. Many critics have torn it apart: There were numerous complaints and often the game seemed to go silent, which discouraged even the hardest fans of the series. In an extensive interview with mmorpg.com, the president of Piranha Games, Russ Bullock, recently talked about the problems that they had with the game over the last two years – but he also has high hopes for the future.
If the First Impression Fails
In the conversation, it was first about why MechWarrior Online was perceived so negatively by many. The first impression of the game was poor and only those who really spent a lot of time with the game could gradually get used to it and have fun with it. Bullock emphasizes, above all, that the game has significantly evolved since then. “You could see the trailers over the last two years. And now it is really, at least I think so, a completely different product with depth and many great features.”
Speed is Everything
A while ago, the development of MechWarrior Online was still under the auspices of Infinite Games – and they apparently had a much different vision for the development of the game than is now the case. Russ emphasizes how great it is now to “have a meeting in the middle of the week and already implement initial things by the end of the week. (…) We need this speed nowadays. It’s 2015, game development has changed massively. (…) You have to involve your players and be able to respond quickly to feedback.”
Furthermore, it is said: “We communicated too little with the players. We will do better in the future.”
The Future – Tutorials and Beginner Help
In the near future, they want to release the next big update of the game, as the friendliness for newcomers has so far been the massive problem of the title. It had such a steep learning curve that many players lost all fun after just a few minutes. Along with an extensive tutorial, there will also be the Mech Academy, where players can go through various training programs for many hours.
