OFFICIAL *Reasonable* suggestions for improving the MW5 experience

The base experience is "good enough" but with a little more effort, the game could be truly excellent. Below is a list of observations I've made on ways to improve the game with "minimal" effort.

For players in the campaign:

• If you want to avoid missions feeling too "samey" avoid farming random missions as much as possible. Not only will this provide a more interesting challenge, but the quest missions are generally a little more varied and interesting.
• Check "Intel" for rarity tables on available mechs. It is unclear at this time how Hero mechs spawn, but it is possible they appear completely random at markets.
• Your view of available contracts and markets is limited to a specific distance on the Star Map. These generally do not reset unless you travel outside that specific distance. You can use this to your advantage to collect rare equipment with maximum efficiency by completing all missions in a Conflict Zone (CZ) before returning to an Industrial Hub (IH).
• Unconfirmed, but it does appear that Industrial Hubs generally scale according to their surrounding CZs. If you want bigger mechs/better gear, fly towards higher level CZs.
• Since you can't see exactly what is available at a market until you travel there, it is recommended to wait until you have over 10 million in C-bills before entering an IH. That should be enough to buy almost anything on the first stop and will save you a lot of travel expenses in the long run.
• Eventually, modding tools will hopefully solve some of the more annoying issues.

For PGI's developers:
(three parts; in descending priority)

FIRST PRIORITY! - simpler changes that should be fixed at the earliest convenience

• Fix enemy spawns! Enemies (with the exception of pop-up turrets) at the very least should spawn outside effective range of most weapons (~800 meters or more). They should NEVER spawn right on top of you. (PGI says this is WIP)
• Allow coop players who join a client to see and and request upgrades in mechlab, but also purchase market items or hire new pilots. (PGI says this is WIP)
• Make the mechlab data tables more useful (esp. damage and heat gauges)! Need better stat info! These are super important since there is no way to easily test loadouts!
  • Change total raw damage output for mech to DPS (a much more accurate and useful figure).
  • Mech heat gauge in mechlab should show relative heat dissipation to heat generated.
  • Show mech's "useable tonnage" which can be affected by (currently) hidden upgrades such as Endo Steel, Ferro Fibrous, XL Engine, etc. on some mechs.
• Salvaged mechs should have viewable stats on salvage screen (ex. popup window); we need to know what we are picking!
• Allow to edit your unit logo when you change your name! You can change the name but not the logo? This makes no sense!
• Allow to edit the names of NPC pilots; like Xcom lets you change NPC names to your fiends' names. This is particularly great for coop where each player could be assigned a specific NPC they like. This should be an easy UI change to implement!
• NPC allies are pretty bad about friendly fire. One easy fix to make them more useful would be to disable their ability to inflict friendly fire on other NPC allies (same as how friendly AI cannot inflict FF on a player). Too many times we've seen one NPC lancemate blow the back armor off another lancemate. Very annoying when you have to pay the bills for that. Naturally, players should still have to watch their stray shots.
• Repairs should NOT reset when work order is cancelled, but rather be only partially completed based on time already spent! Game should automatically prioritize easiest to repair FIRST (ex. internals structure > armor > small components > big components). Game should allow for partially completed work orders, especially when some contracts are time-sensitive!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - lots of quality of life improvements, expanded gameplay options, and immersion improvements that may (or may not) require a little more work to implement, but still very important to address

• Bug fix - mechs get rearranged in the hangar bays after loading a saved game.
• Bug fix - Battlemech consoles in the Leopard hangar stop working after the first mission is completed.
• Bug fix - fully repaired customized mechs placed in cold storage sometimes take armor damage
• Bug fix - synch up external view with cockpit footfall sounds.
• Bug Fix - Rep level not updating when overwriting existing save in save menu list.
• Bug fix - Applejack camo pattern on the Black Knight appears bugged (primary color does not work).
• Bug fix - Destroying both legs of a mech should never trigger an engine explosion.
• Bug fix - Left arm is bigger than right arm for most mech models (very noticeable on Warhammer).
• Allow UI sorting settings to persist between menus and saves; new players may want to sort by name, but most veterans will ALWAYS want to sort by tonnage. It is very annoying to have to keep changing this.
• Retain player control settings between patches (this annoyingly appears to reset after every patch)
• Allow a separate tab/toggle to sell mechs directly from cold storage.
• Allow a "buyback" window to return stuff you sold at a local market (important for correcting accidental selling of items). Should buy back for same price as sold.
• Allow a toggle to "favorite" equipment/mechs you don't ever want to sell.
• Add a quick-to-load "holo-simulator" mode that will let you quickly and easily test mech builds.
• Add an import/export feature for quickly replicating mech builds.
• Add more options for tweaking campaign difficulty and other campaign settings! Allow players more control over their campaign experience!
  • Add toggle option for mechs with destroyed CTs or engine explosions being non-reparable.
  • Allow a slider bar to determine the number of mechbays you have on the Leopard (default is 12, but allow as few as 4 or 6 for a more "realistic" experience)
  • Allow a slider bar to determine number of cold storage slots (default is 50, but you could have as few as zero for a more "realistic" experience).
  • Allow a slider bar for number of days to make limited repairs between consecutive missions (default is zero days, but could be as high as 14 days). This would work well alongside the more limited hangar slots option.
  • Add ironman mode that prevents "save scumming" and locks most difficulty settings.
• Make dropship extractions more interesting & intense:
  • Dropships should fully land and players should have to scramble back into mech bays before mission is complete (ex. MW2:Mercs Intro)
  • It's currently too easy to "cheat" dropship extractions with one person camping close to extract while others are fighting far away on the map; this gets abused A LOT on Warzone contacts. You should not be able to extract unless ALL players physically reach the EZ (or have already ejected).
• Dropship flight animation during missions looks very unrealistic (especially its acceleration speed when it flies off near the start of a mission). Make flight animation appear more realistic with slower acceleration/deceleration and a little "wobble" when hovering.
• Add a randomized "Career Mode" that removes the Story and player character Mason, but adds more multiplayer replayability.
  • Start at a faction location of your choosing with 4 faction-specific light mechs and four random pilots.
  • All pilots should start with low stats but be capable of maxing stats out at 10 to promote better long term coop play!
  • Allow host to "spectate" as a gamemaster with additional battlemap commands functionality; this would allow to free up a fourth slot for another player and not force the host to be in every mission drop.
  • Add "high score" timer that ends the campaign in 3049, but allow a newgame+ option that allows you to keep everything you've earned and rolls back the map and timeline to 3015.
  • Allow for as many additional GM tools as possible in this mode:
    • save editor
    • pilot editor
    • mission editor
    • in-game spawn control for GM/host
    • shop drop table editor
    • starmap editor
    • timeline editor
• More mission variety: (reasonable) escort duty, some missions types that reward speed over strength (ex. target intercept; good for light mechs), missions with alternative outcomes (simple yes/no choice during mission), randomized secondary objectives (ie. additional targets of opportunity for extra pay).
• Tropical, Underwater, Low Gravity, and Lunar biomes
• More environmental effects on mechs: extreme heat/cold temperatures, electrical interference from storms/lightning, slowed movement in mud/water, better heat dissipation when submerged in water, etc.
• NPC lancemates you can hire should not be the rank of Captain by default. Typically, captains command a company of mechs (12 to be specific). Lieutenants likewise command lances (4 mechs). This is well established in lore. Either remove the rank entirely to avoid this issue altogether, replace the rank title with a randomized first name, or give them a more appropriate rank by default (ex. Sergeant for veterans or Corporal for junior MWs). Their rank could also automatically upgrade as they increase in skill, but it should not exceed Lieutenant.

 

yep, its on the list

For less important stuff....

VERY NICE TO HAVE, BUT NOT REQUIRED - lower priority, but worth considering

• Customization limits in mechlab could use a little relaxing; especially with Lights and mechs with very few hardpoints.
  • Very minimal change; allow hardpoints some limited modularity based on size: 1 large slot = 2 medium slots -or- 3 small slots
  • Upgrade hardpoints to next size on some light mechs and mechs with few hardpoints while retaining default loadouts (ex. Griffin 2K is universally awful and needs more customization options; bigger hardpoints would help this).
  • More advanced change: Give the Leopard's mechlab upgrade options that will allow players to create a limited number and/or size of additional hardpoints to mechs (for a significant cost, of course).
• Rework Leopard hangar to only give players 6 hangar slots (4 active and 2 reserve; which is canon, btw) instead of the default 4 active and 8 reserve, but give players the option to enlist the service of an additional dropships that will expand the hangar slots total. Bonus points if the additional dropships show up in jumpship cutscenes.
• Add a "nemesis system" where hostile factions will send other mercenaries to hunt you down; even better if they move on the starmap similar to the player and force a combat mission if they move into the same system as the player. To balance this, players could be given vague notifications as to how close an adversary is (or even see them on the map if they are within a few jumps away).
• In terms of enemy mechs, quality over quantity is much more ideal. Generally speaking, Mech encounters should remain less than common. As mission difficulty increases, it would be preferable to keep the number of enemy mechs relatively low, while primarily increasing their pilot quality and (to a lesser extent) their tonnage. It should be exceedingly rare to encounter more than a company of mechs during a mission in 3015. Mechs are rare and prized assets; they should be treated as such. Spamming conventional forces is fine, though.
  
• "Offmap" support forces for both players and enemies: aerospace close air support, artillery strikes, etc (ex. you could hire a aerospace fighter pilot in MW2:Mercs). Units could be varied, but non-customizable. Leopards were known to be able to carry their own limited support. Bonus points if the hired crew's vehicle is shown parked at the Leopard's rear hangar door.
  • As an additional cost to making room for the support vehicles, it could cost you two mech hangar slots (reduce from 12 to 10 by default).
• More conventional force variety: mechanized infantry in open top light vehicles and infantry gun emplacements (the latter could work similar to popup turrets, but spawn anywhere or be hidden from radar). Give more reason to keep a flamer or machine gun equipped; these could deal extra damage when used against infantry!

 

updated list and moved "nonessential" to new post to make room for additions