Multiplayer: How Multiplayer Oriented will Bannerlord be?

[assington]

Hey, so I've been playing Mount & Blade in all its versions for nearly a decade now, and I probably have well over 5 thousand hours across all of the titles (yes i'm a disgusting nerd). If there is one thing that I feel truly made this series great so far it would have to be the multiplayer combat and multiplayer combat oriented mods (mercenaries, crpg, PW, bear force etc). I genuinely feel that if a multiplayer Mount & Blade title had the playerbase to support it, it could really go places (along with a dev team that pays close attention to balance). The warband competitive scene just felt really lacking and tournaments left a lot to be desired (great work to everyone that organized them though). Duel tournaments in cRPG were highly competitive and although there were no real life currencies as rewards, the in-game loot you could win would actually be worth a pretty penny on markets when cRPG was at its prime (even when crpg was at its prime, only a few hundred people logged in each day. imagine what kind of competition could occur with tens of thousands+ of active players.)

I guess what I want to make this thread about (yea that was all useless above) is to ask if anyone else feels as though the bannerlord content we have seen so far is focusing on singleplayer hardcore rather than showing off the potential of multiplayer pvp (yea they showed us captain co-op but that is still pretty PvE). There were a lot of problems with warband multiplayer (animation breaking feints, archers shooting death arrows with pinpoint accuracy at a speed of 1 arrow per second) and I just hope that TW sees the potential of their game's highly skill based gameplay for multiplayer competition.

I'm not talking about cs:go level, with a massive skin market and million dollar tourneys, but definitely a ranking system (I am aware they have a matchmaking system), consistent updates to weapon/armor balance for multiplayer, reworking the entire economy system that warband multiplayer had, etc.

agree, disagree, laugh at me?

 

[Ebdanian Admiral]

Hopefully the new Community Manager is willing to acknowledge that North America exists, and listen to the community's desires for balance changes when the need arises. Otherwise the game will fizzle out just like warband did. It really should not be very hard to see improvements in these areas given how atrocious we did the first time around.

 

[lolbash]

I would prefer that this is a second priority after singleplayer

 

[assington]

Yea I have to admit the singleplayer looks fantastic and was fun as hell in Warband, I just can't help but think of the possibilities for multiplayer with such a unique combat system. Whenever I heard critics calling 'For Honor' an innovative and new and fantastic game which invented something completely new, I just couldn't help but laugh. Give Mount & Blade the spotlight it deserves!

 

[Byas]

As long as the focus is on improving netcode with good optimization, I'd like to see an increase from the 250 player limit to maybe a 400 player limit with more props on structures/siege gear. Give us the ability to make a big map with good level design.

The wrong way to focus multiplayer in my opinion is going the E-sports route and putting stat numbers on every player, (personally it's sorta pointless) but for mods like Mercenaries or cRPG, I can understand because it has some progression to it. 8v8 can be great for duel games but for mods like Persistent World there's a lot potential, can even probably dethrone Battle Royale games in terms of popularity.

I'd love to see a Stronghold (The Real Time Strategy Game) fused with Mount & Blade Warband's Persistent World with all Bannerlord's six factions and a commoners/Bandits/Mercenaries.

I'm going with Yes but I'm skeptical that there's no feinting in Bannerlord.
 

 

[Dest45]

Mount and Blade didn't invent directional combat. It goes back as far as the old Jedi Academy games and maybe even before that. There wasn’t exactly blocking but you could lock lightsabers and parry. Might go back even further. Mount and Blade definitely spawned all these directional combat clones though.

I think OKAM has the best system but thats all it had, devs abandoned that steaming pile of crap

 

[Firunien]

OKAM´s melee system is great for dueling, but i didnt like it in groupfighting. In Warband you can easily see which direction you have to block, in OKAM it was messy, i prefer a system to be a bit simpler so you can play it smoother. In general what most guys here are calling for is a task for mods, if they deliver a game with rock solid melee mechanics, netcode and a fleshed out single player this game will be paradise for modders. I do hope for a gamemode to test and further your skill in small groups like 8v8 or 5v5 without bots.(Esport can only develop on its own if there is enough interest to play it that way, TW shouldnt force it but a bit of support would be nice)
About consistent updates, it really depends if Taleworlds wanna go the route of a lot of modern games of just updating the game, or the classic "goodbye, we develop M&B 3 now".
For constant updates they need constant cashflow in the long run, so they would need to implement microtransactions in one form or another.

 

[assington]

As long as the focus is on improving netcode with good optimization, I'd like to see an increase from the 250 player limit to maybe a 400 player limit with more props on structures/siege gear. Give us the ability to make a big map with good level design.

The wrong way to focus multiplayer in my opinion is going the E-sports route and putting stat numbers on every player, (personally it's sorta pointless) but for mods like Mercenaries or cRPG, I can understand because it has some progression to it. 8v8 can be great for duel games but for mods like Persistent World there's a lot potential, can even probably dethrone Battle Royale games in terms of popularity.

I'd love to see a Stronghold (The Real Time Strategy Game) fused with Mount & Blade Warband's Persistent World with all Bannerlord's six factions and a commoners/Bandits/Mercenaries.

I'm going with Yes but I'm skeptical that there's no feinting in Bannerlord.

the main reason I look forward to a ranking system is so new players can be matched up against other new players/less practiced players rather than be thrown right in the pit with the veterans. one of the main reasons cRPG died off is because new players just could not stand a chance against all of the vets who could kill them with their fists. I don't necessarily mean player stats when I say 'ranking system' but having a stat-tracker is the first step to making people more competitive. my only fear is that it would devolve into asshattery and memes after a while.

OKAM´s melee system is great for dueling, but i didnt like it in groupfighting. In Warband you can easily see which direction you have to block, in OKAM it was messy, i prefer a system to be a bit simpler so you can play it smoother. In general what most guys here are calling for is a task for mods, if they deliver a game with rock solid melee mechanics, netcode and a fleshed out single player this game will be paradise for modders. I do hope for a gamemode to test and further your skill in small groups like 8v8 or 5v5 without bots.(Esport can only develop on its own if there is enough interest to play it that way, TW shouldnt force it but a bit of support would be nice)
About consistent updates, it really depends if Taleworlds wanna go the route of a lot of modern games of just updating the game, or the classic "goodbye, we develop M&B 3 now".
For constant updates they need constant cashflow in the long run, so they would need to implement microtransactions in one form or another.

that's why I find the warband style of blocking more fluid than OKAM. OKAM was fun as hell for 1v1's, but even then it lacked proper collision detection (IMO), and yea groupfights sucked. Also I wouldn't mind buying/unlocking new heraldry to put on a heraldic piece of armor/shield or even a weapon skin (damascus steel patterns? lool)

 

[RhodokSargant99]

I t;hink one of the thinks about multiplier is NO LOOT BOXES. Look at the spestacals of Bottlefront! Multiplier should be focused on three things -- fun, fun, fun 

 

[Gibby Jr]

Dunno if you watched Battle of Bucharest but at several points throughout the event it was said on stream that they'd like to do something again on Bannerlord. We've already heard there will be matchmaking too, so just wait and hope I guess. It has a lot of potential and I just hope TW put in the effort to bring it to fruition.

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

With matchmaking and a replay system confirmed, plus vague allusions to more competitive events and support, I think we'll see something yes. The main priorities should be improving the game mode and giving experienced players a chance to beta test so they can implement balance quickly.

 

[assington]

Dunno if you watched Battle of Bucharest but at several points throughout the event it was said on stream that they'd like to do something again on Bannerlord. We've already heard there will be matchmaking too, so just wait and hope I guess. It has a lot of potential and I just hope TW put in the effort to bring it to fruition.

Yea, I had no idea that happened, I stopped searching for events like that years ago haha. Thanks for linking that, it definitely gives me a lot of hope seeing the community manager commentating it and all.

 

[Ragratt]

I'm mostly interested in Single player, sadly Mount and Blade has always been piss poor in that department.  With mods its tolerable. M+B has always been strongest as a battle simulator not as an RPG. For that reason, I have higher expectations for the multiplayer experience.

The biggest issue with MP is that the best players are god-like due to the difficulty of mastering the combat system.  If there are enough users, this could partly be remedied with a ranked matchmaking system.  The biggest issue with SP is everything other than combat.  Only remedy for that is more development time or relying once again on the mod community to make it enjoyable.

If this game is to have mainstream success TaleWorlds needs to step up their game 1000%.  I expect MP experience to be really good, for SP I'll have to wait and see.

 

[578]

MP is and should be important. There are thousands of players that play after all these years and it is crucial to the success. Competitive should be a focus, because the game deserves it. Other games like Chivalry, OKAM, Mordhau all fail because they try to make over complicated melee systems with more than 4 directions and parrying instead of blocking. All of these games have been unsuccessful because the input can be changed, so you can bind certain directional attacks to buttons giving you a massive advantage over directional slashing. Warband has a bigger community than Chivalry that its players claim it to be 'the' competitive medieval game, which is bull****, because its dead. Warband pioneered the easy to learn/hard to master medieval combat platform of directional slashing and they should never add more directions. That simplicity on the system allows duels, small scale battles and big battles to play great without causing confusion. Mordhau will also fail because the 'main' game mode is a 32v32 that will be added soon, while the game itself is overloaded with mechanics that are laughable like dragging, morphing and more crap. For a duel game it's good, but for its main focus it will fail short. Warband still is the king when it comes to casual online play and tournaments alike.

 

[Marc999]

It likely will be largely multiplayer focused just like Warband.  Although on a much larger scale.  Hopefully the single player mode is a little more fleshed out this time.

 

[Lord Brutus]

No matter how much people like to believe that multiplayer is the bee's knees in Warband, there have always been more folks playing single player.  Even right this moment the number of guests in the Guildhall is 7, guests in the Warlord's Den is 27.

 

[Revverie]

No matter how much people like to believe that multiplayer is the bee's knees in Warband, there have always been more folks playing single player.  Even right this moment the number of guests in the Guildhall is 7, guests in the Warlord's Den is 27.

Hello there, I play singleplayer, despite the fact this game wants to support SP and MP  gamers, I still feel the need to be an ******* and burst into multiplayer threads with unrelated and unwanted comments.

 

[Dethikus]

Surprised at the amount of ppl saying Warband was multi focused/oriented. I always got the epic singleplayer campaign vibe from the game and lore and even TW itself.

As for the question and poll, it seems multiplayer is fleshed out enough imo. I'm a singleplayer guy and hope they focus and tailor the game that way. I already have read about how the competitive edge has been taken away compared to Warband with feints and all so this gives me hope they're looking out for us quiet singleplayer guys

Hello there, I play singleplayer, despite the fact this game wants to support SP and MP  gamers, I still feel the need to be an **** and burst into multiplayer threads with unrelated and unwanted comments.

Wow thats harsh and dramatic. Didn't I see you calling ppl 12 yr olds just the other day? 
His comment is relevant to the topic and opinions were asked for in the OP. You're the loud minority that makes multi people look bad.

 

[lolbash]

No matter how much people like to believe that multiplayer is the bee's knees in Warband, there have always been more folks playing single player.  Even right this moment the number of guests in the Guildhall is 7, guests in the Warlord's Den is 27.

Hello there, I play singleplayer, despite the fact this game wants to support SP and MP  gamers, I still feel the need to be an **** and burst into multiplayer threads with unrelated and unwanted comments.

Except Brutus is right. At the time of this writing there are 9 guests reading about tournaments and 23 reading about singleplayer. This clearly is telling what the community wanta, and your overreaction is clearly showing that Brutus is not entirely wrong at all.

 

[578]

It does not matter. I play multiplayer most of the time but not competitively and I only visit the bannerlord forum. I do not bother with tournaments. Forum readers mean nothing.