MechWarrior Online Developer Q&A #2 and Faction Icons

To complement a set of newly revealed faction icons, Piranha Games has cranked out a second developer Q&A that brings us more details on the MMO straight from lead designer Paul Inouye, producer Matt Newman, technical director Matt Craig, and creative director Bryan Ekman.

In the Dev Blog 1 it was mentioned “The Merc Corp must have a minimum amount of loyalty points with a faction before they are able to engage in planetary combat on behalf of that faction.” How will they gather that minimum amount of LP before being able to fight for that faction, if they are not allowed to fight for them? Amechwarrior

[PAUL] Every Merc Corp will start with a small amount of LP in each House. This would be considered the (neutral) amount of LP required for small contracts issued by the Houses. From that point on, any actions taken by the Merc Corp will result in LP gains with one House and LP losses with another. LP is exactly what it sounds like. loyalty to a House.

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Why is Loyalty decay needed in the first place, and what plans are there to safeguard the interests of a player who’s real life interferes with his ability to continuously gain Loyalty? jojobear

[PAUL] I’ll try to cover this in as much detail as I can since it’s a burning topic in the forums. Loyalty decay is something that we want to implement to reward players who are truly dedicated to the game. This is not a measure of passion or loyalty to the game but a mechanic to keep the top tiers of player ranking in a highly competitive state.

I’m going to take a step back and explain the 3 underlying systems that equate to player progression. These systems are Pilot Leveling, Mech Leveling and Faction Leveling.

Pilot Leveling Experience Points (XP) are rewarded for in-game actions and completion of objectives and winning matches. XP is a running accumulator that does not decay or take anything you’ve earned away. This is the same mechanic found in most games that have an XP leveling system. We’ve added a slight modification to this system in which you can train your pilot using the XP you’ve earned.

Mech Leveling You earn Mech XP (MXP) for some in-game actions and match wins. This information is stored on a per chassis basis. Similar to the Pilot Tree, BattleMechs have an efficiency tree. Mech XP is used to purchase these efficiencies.

Faction Leveling For certain in-game actions and fighting for a specific House, you will earn Loyalty Points (LP). LP does start to decay after a grace period of in-activity. Accumulating LP allows you to get a military rank within the House you’re being loyal to. The ranks in a House give you benefits and rewards that vary as you climb the military tree.

Now concerning Rank and Loyalty Point Decay.

Once you have achieved a rank, you keep that rank and all of its benefits. PERMANENTLY. Loyalty Decay starts to happen when you as the player have become in-active for a long period of time. Yes, there is a grace period during with Loyalty Decay will not happen. We fully understand that not all players will be able to play every day and we take this into account with this said grace period.

If you as the player are MIA for an extended period of time, it is understandable that you lose loyalty with the House you are representing. While you may lose loyalty, you do not lose your benefits and rewards. Let’s say for example that you’ve reached the rank of Captain and have 5,000 LP. If your extended leave causes decay to kick in, you will not lose the rank of Captain. Instead, what will happen is, your rank will change to Honorary Captain. Now let’s assume that you are away for so long that your LP has dropped to 3,000 LP. In order to remove the (Honorary) part of your rank, you’ll have to gain 2,000 LP. All the while, you will NOT lose access to the rewards and benefits of a regular Captain. As a Captain, you would have been entitled to X C-bills as a salary per day as long as you logged in. As an Honorary Captain, your salary will be reduced slightly but returns to full once you become an active Captain again.

One last point, Rank does NOT equal command during a match. You do not get to tell people what to do because you’re senior rank, you do not make important faction calls, etc. Rank is purely a reward system for consistent and successful gameplay.