{"id":962,"date":"2013-03-06T22:30:19","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T05:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/?p=962"},"modified":"2013-03-06T22:30:19","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T05:30:19","slug":"consumable-redesign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/?p=962","title":{"rendered":"Consumable Redesign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After the introduction of Consumables (Coolant Flush primarily) to MechWarrior Online via the March Developer Update, the MWO forums overheated (HA! See what I did there?!?!). Well, actually, they suffered from a Nuclear meltdown&#8230;and it wasn&#8217;t pretty.<\/p>\n<p>Amid various complaints about PGI being forced to add consumables for MC by IGP (Because, you know, it had to be the evil publisher that made the decision! ;) ), complaints about the announced consumable system being P2W (it was), rage quitting, etc.. there was some valid feedback.<\/p>\n<p>PGI listened to the Community. \u00c2\u00a0Tonight, Paul Inouye (Lead <del>Troll<\/del> Designer) posted an updated description of how Consumables will work..including some more information on the Artillery and Air Strike modules.<\/p>\n<p>The highlight? \u00c2\u00a0P2W is gone, even the appearance of it. \u00c2\u00a0Here&#8217;s the changes, and my thoughts:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Old Coolant flush functionality:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Coolant Flush will come in two forms; C-bill purchased and MC purchased. The following shows how the two versions are balanced:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>C-Bill Purchased Coolant Flush:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The amount of cooling provided by a coolant flush is determined by the number of Heat Sinks in your BattleMech. The following assumes a Mech with 10 Heat Sinks:\n<ul>\n<li>Small Coolant Flush will instantly reduce a BattleMech&#8217;s current heat by 15%.<\/li>\n<li>Medium Coolant Flush will instantly reduce a BattleMech&#8217;s current heat by 20%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Coolant Flush 1 and 2 are stackable.<\/li>\n<li>Each Coolant Flush will take up 1 module slot.<\/li>\n<li>The C-Bill Purchased Coolant Flush will allow a player to trigger a coolant flush twice during a match.<\/li>\n<li>Upon using a Coolant Flush, the player will have to re-purchase the used Coolant Flush module after the match if they wish to use it again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>MC Purchased Coolant Flush:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The amount of cooling provided by a coolant flush is determined by the number of Heat Sinks in your BattleMech. The following assumes a Mech with 10 Heat Sinks:\n<ul>\n<li>Large Coolant Flush will instantly reduce a BattleMech&#8217;s current heat by 35%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Large Coolant Flush is not stackable with any other Coolant Flush module including itself.<\/li>\n<li>Large Coolant Flush takes up 1 module slot.<\/li>\n<li>The MC Purchased Large Coolant Flush allows a player to trigger a coolant flush once during a match.<\/li>\n<li>Upon using a Large Coolant Flush, the player will have to re-purchase the used Large Coolant Flush module after the match if they wish to use it again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>C-Bill Coolant Flush and MC Coolant Flush are not stackable. That is, they are mutually exclusive meaning that you cannot equip the MC purchased coolant flush with either of the C-Bill coolant flushes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The P2W part, was that the MC version was noticeably better then the C-Bill version, partly because it only required 1 module slot, to get the full 35% where as the C-Bill version required 2 module slots. \u00c2\u00a0The assumption being that the tiers of the artillery strike\/Air strike modules would function the same way, so you could end up with:<\/p>\n<p>C-Bills:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slot 1 &#8211; Coolant Flush 1<\/li>\n<li>Slot 2 &#8211; Coolant Flush 2<\/li>\n<li>Slot 3 &#8211; Air Strike 1<\/li>\n<li>Slot 4 &#8211; Artillery Strike 1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MC:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slot 1 &#8211; Coolant Flush 3<\/li>\n<li>Slot 2 &#8211; Air Strike 3<\/li>\n<li>Slot 3 &#8211; Artillery Strike 3<\/li>\n<li>Slot 4 &#8211; Open for another module<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This breakdown gives a clear advantage to the MC player.. which makes it P2W.<\/p>\n<p>New Coolant Flush functionality (<a href=\"http:\/\/mwomercs.com\/forums\/topic\/103677-consumables-back-to-the-drawing-board\/\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a>).<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Coolant Flush v1.1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>C-Bill Purchased Coolant Flush<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CF-100 (Temporary name)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cools a Mech for 6 heat over 1 second.<\/li>\n<li>Cost: 10,000 C-Bills.<\/li>\n<li>Requires 1 module slot.<\/li>\n<li>Can only be used once during a match.<\/li>\n<li>If used, it must be repurchased for the next match if you want to use it again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>CF-110 (Temporary name)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cools a Mech for 9 heat over 1 second.<\/li>\n<li>Cost: 40,000 C-Bills.<\/li>\n<li>Requires 1 module slot.<\/li>\n<li>Can only be used once during a match.<\/li>\n<li>If used, it must be repurchased for the next match if you want to use it again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So, slight change in functionality, reasonable pricing. \u00c2\u00a0Here&#8217;s the MC version:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>CF-200 (Temporary name)<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<blockquote><p>Cools a Mech for 18 heat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<blockquote><p>Cost: 15 MC.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<blockquote><p>Requires 1 module slot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<blockquote><p>Can only be used once during a match.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<blockquote><p>If used, it must be repurchased for the next match if you want to use it again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, I know what you&#8217;re saying.. &#8220;Wait! the MC version is twice as good as the best C-Bill version! \u00c2\u00a0That&#8217;s Pay 2 Win still!&#8221; \u00c2\u00a0And, you&#8217;d be right.. except.. PGI has provided a way to upgrade the 110 Module!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the Pilot Tree, there will be a new enhancement node that the player can unlock for 15,000 GXP. If the player does so, they will upgrade\/convert the CF-110 module, to the CF-110U module that provides an additional 9 heat reduction to a total of 18 for the single CF-110U module. All CF-110 modules are upgraded to the CF-110U module, which is available to purchase for the same price (40,000 CB cost)..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This gives C-Bill only players the same capabilities as MC players, they just have to take a little longer to get there. \u00c2\u00a0 This falls inline with how PGI has always positioned MC Purchases which is a Pay for Convenience, not pay for power. \u00c2\u00a0There are limitations on what version of the modules can be equipped with each other.. and I&#8217;m going to steal Paul&#8217;s pretty graphic to show it off:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_963\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-963\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3.png\"><img data-attachment-id=\"963\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/?attachment_id=963\" data-orig-file=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3.png\" data-orig-size=\"640,480\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"cool3\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Look at the possibilities!&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3-300x225.png\" data-large-file=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3.png\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-963\" alt=\"Look at the possibilities!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3-400x300.png 400w, http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cool3.png 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-963\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Look at the possibilities!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The only possibility that isn&#8217;t on the chart, is the CF-110U all by itself for 18 cooling.<\/p>\n<p>Pay to Win crisis&#8230;. averted! \u00c2\u00a0All is right with the Inner Sphere again, so cancel those plans to have yourself shot into the Sun in protest!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now, on to the Artillery and Air Strike Modules!<\/p>\n<p>Base rules covering both of these support modules:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is a no fire period of 60 seconds at the start of the match. No player will be able to call for artillery or air support during this time.<\/li>\n<li>Each support call requires a certain amount of time for the effect to take place. This is determined by the length of flight time for the incoming barrage and the duration of the barrage itself.<\/li>\n<li>Between each call for support, there is a 4 second global cool down for a team. During this time, no one on a team that just called for support will be able to make another request (artillery or air). See \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cadence Timeline\u00e2\u20ac\u009d below for more information.<\/li>\n<li>Request for support are processed on a first come first serve basis. Team communication will be key to take advantage of these services to their full potential.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>C-Bill Artillery Strike:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cost: 40,000 CB<\/li>\n<li>Requires 1 module slot<\/li>\n<li>Can only be used once per match.<\/li>\n<li>If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.<\/li>\n<li>There is an 8 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the first shell.<\/li>\n<li>6 shells are fired and land within 3 seconds of the first shell making impact.<\/li>\n<li>The 6 shells will drop randomly within 50 meters of the targeted location.<\/li>\n<li>When a player targets a location for artillery, a smoke canister appears at the location and continues to smoke for the duration of the barrage.<\/li>\n<li>Each explosive shell does 10 damage.<\/li>\n<li>Each explosive shell has a damage fall off of 10 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MC Artillery Strike:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cost: 15 MC<\/li>\n<li>Requires 1 module slot<\/li>\n<li>Can only be used once per match.<\/li>\n<li>If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.<\/li>\n<li>There is an 6.5 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the first shell.<\/li>\n<li>10 shells are fired and land within 3 seconds of the first shell making impact.<\/li>\n<li>The 10 shells will drop randomly within 50 meters of the targeted location.<\/li>\n<li>When a player targets a location for artillery, a smoke canister appears at the location and continues to smoke for the duration of the barrage.<\/li>\n<li>Each explosive shell does 10 damage.<\/li>\n<li>Each explosive shell has a damage fall off of 10 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Again..at initial glance, the MC one looks more powerful (more damage! less wait!).. but, as with the coolant modules, PGI has added an upgrade path for C-Bill only players.. for 15,000 GXP your C-Bill module gets upgraded to the same capabilities as the MC version!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Air Strikes!<\/p>\n<p>C-Bill Version:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cost: 40,000 CB<\/li>\n<li>Requires 1 module slot<\/li>\n<li>Can only be used once per match.<\/li>\n<li>If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.<\/li>\n<li>There is an 8 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the first bomb.<\/li>\n<li>6 bombs are dropped and land within 3 seconds of the first bomb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impact.<\/li>\n<li>The 6 bombs will drop randomly within a 200&#215;25 meter strip.<\/li>\n<li>When a player targets a location for artillery, a smoke canister appears at the location and continues to smoke for the duration of the barrage.<\/li>\n<li>The direction of the bombardment is dictated by the direction the calling Mech was facing when the call was made.<\/li>\n<li>Each explosive bomb does 10 damage.<\/li>\n<li>Each explosive bomb has a damage fall off of 10 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MC Version:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cost: 15 MC<\/li>\n<li>Requires 1 module slot<\/li>\n<li>Can only be used once per match.<\/li>\n<li>If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.<\/li>\n<li>There is a 6.5 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the first bomb.<\/li>\n<li>10 bombs are fired and land within 3 seconds of the first bomb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impact.<\/li>\n<li>The 10 bombs will drop randomly within a 200&#215;25 meter strip.<\/li>\n<li>When a player targets a location for an air strike, a smoke canister appears at the location and continues to smoke for the duration of the bombardment.<\/li>\n<li>Each bomb does 10 damage.<\/li>\n<li>Each bomb has a damage fall off of 10 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>and 15,000 GXP gets your C-Bill Air Strike upgraded to be equal to the MC version.. so, no Pay to Win here either (anymore!)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are some aspects of the Air Strike\/Artillery Strike system that I think could use a bit of clarification:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does using them require LOS to the target map grid?<\/li>\n<li>If a strike is called down in the middle of a brawl, will Friendly &#8216;Mechs be damaged (I&#8217;m assuming this is a yes, since Friendly Fire is already in the game)?<\/li>\n<li>How visible is the smoke from the canister? \u00c2\u00a0i.e will it be hard to miss, so folks have enough time to vacate the area?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And, overall, I&#8217;m still curious what has changed within PGI, that they went from a &#8216;nope, it&#8217;d be unbalanced and remove a tactical element from the game&#8217; to &#8220;Here&#8217;s your coolant flush&#8221;, though, I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;ll get an answer to that one..<\/p>\n<p>What are your thoughts on the revised consumable system?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the introduction of Consumables (Coolant Flush primarily) to MechWarrior Online via the March Developer Update, the MWO forums overheated (HA! See what I did there?!?!). Well, actually, they suffered <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/?p=962\" class=\"more-link\">[&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[21],"tags":[29],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BPLE-fw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bigdamnheroes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}