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In Development: Mastery Flags

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https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/development-mastery-flags

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As the final Update 0.34 feature, we’ve prepared a new way you can show of your skill on particular vehicles – the epic Mastery Flags!

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Red flag (click the image to open a larger version)

 

Right off the bat, no, these are not the same flags as the paid visual customization option. All you need to get these is skill – that’s the good news. The bad news is, you’re going to need a lot of it.

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Blue flag (click the image to open a larger version)

 

The core of the mechanic is very simple – if you perform very well in a match, your vehicle will become adorned with a special triangle-shaped Mastery Flag. This flag needs to be earned for each vehicle separately and what you need to do to get it is to earn two or more Epic Medals (also sometimes referred to as Special Medals) in a single match. There will be three stages of these flags available:

  • For earning two Epic Medals in a single match, you will receive a green flag with one star
  • For earning three Epic Medals in a single match, you will receive a blue flag with two stars
  • For earning four or more Epic Medals in a single match, you will receive a red flag with three stars

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Green flag (click the image to open a larger version)

 

But that’s not all. The flag will also appear on other places to make sure your teammates (and opponents) don’t miss it, such as:

  • In the Match Hero result window
  • Behind your vehicle’s name on your opponent’s death screen when you kill him
  • In your Dossier (vehicle statistics)

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Match hero window (click the image to open a larger version)

 

The following Epic Medals will count when it comes to earning your Mastery flags:

  • Steel Sword
  • Bronze Sword
  • Golden Sword
  • Iron Dragon
  • Steel Eagle
  • Scout's Crest
  • Order of Resistance
  • Iron Hawk
  • Order of Courage
  • Order of Valor
  • Order of the Captor

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Dossier window (click the image to open a larger version)

 

The following Epic Medals will, on the other hand, not count towards earning your Mastery flags:

  • Steel Wings (requiring nobody on your team to die)
  • Hero's Crest (requiring you to ram enemy vehicles)

Like we mentioned before, you do not need to have the Banner visual customization enabled to use these flags. They will simply appear on your vehicle as soon as the conditions are met. However, if your vehicle is already fitted with a flag, the Mastery Flags will appear below them.

Please note:

  • It will not be possible to obtain a Mastery Flag on Tier 1 to 3 vehicles
  • For now, this is a PvP feature (PvE-centric Epic Medals are currently not available)

I wonder if this will be the catalyst for stat-based headhunting in PvP. Unlike marks in WoT, these flags are very obvious and easy to spot in battle. Even without XVM it would be obvious whoever have flags are likely to be skilled/experienced to some degree, and anyone determined enough may target players with flags first over those without.

Then again I don't play PvP, so I have no idea if headhunting is even a thing yet.


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I'd say headhunting is a thing.  Maybe not by name at the start of the match, but you can tell when you piss somebody off in glops because they will chase you down again and again.  I've had a few tanks die to me, say something in all chat, then continue to chase me down and die again!

 

Overall, something I like the idea of - it's something that shows performance in tanks and doesn't cost anything.  I'm not seeing too many downsides to it - much like the marks of excelence in WoT.  

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In games where I've played PvP, something like this would need to be able to be disabled by the player.  PvP environments can get very toxic very quickly.  I would not have wanted this feature in Mechwarrior Online because I would have been hunted constantly and that's just not fun.  (At least not for me.)

I feel like decals would be a better solution, or better yet both so that the player has the option.  Those flags are going to be far too visible for my taste based on past PvP experience.

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I don't think this will noticeably change anything for good PVP players. It's way easier to look for clantags and individual names at the start of the battle than looking for those mini flags in the battle. In this case the player needs to be spotted first and at the same moment people would need to realize that there is a flag on this tank.

I don't think players will stop looking for clantags and individual names at the start of the battle and instead use those flags as indicator, which is by far more difficult and time/brain consuming to do. Given this it would only have minimal impact regarding this topic if at all.

This being said I'd still apprechiate a function to turn them off at least for the own vehicles of a player. I don't think flags look good on tanks but that's just me. (But should be implemented at one point according to SS, but not at launch of this feature)


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WoT solution with stars on the gun (so called "Marks of Excellence")  is more aesthetically acceptable and toned down. On another side the AW is a game just about every vehicle which moves and shoots, so you can attach these circus-style flags even to bicycle (well, provided that ATGM launcher mounted on it). I think we may expect even more flags of many shapes and colors in future, to reflect wider variety of achievements.

 

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1 hour ago, TeyKey1 said:

I don't think this will noticeably change anything for good PVP players. It's way easier to look for clantags and individual names at the start of the battle than looking for those mini flags in the battle. In this case the player needs to be spotted first and at the same moment people would need to realize that there is a flag on this tank.

I don't think players will stop looking for clantags and individual names at the start of the battle and instead use those flags as indicator, which is by far more difficult and time/brain consuming to do. Given this it would only have minimal impact regarding this topic if at all.

This being said I'd still apprechiate a function to turn them off at least for the own vehicles of a player. I don't think flags look good on tanks but that's just me. (But should be implemented at one point according to SS, but not at launch of this feature)

I don't think that people will stop looking for clantags/names either, but these flags will make it a lot easier to find the clantag/name that you've previously memorized in the heat of battle.  Noticing a flag at a glance is a lot easier than reading a name.  So much easier that you can do the former out of the corner of your vision without even having to look at the vehicle.

Vehicles with flags on them stand out.  You don't have to memorize and recognize which flag is which to know that anyone who has any of them is good in that vehicle.  The color coding will also make it pretty trivial to recognize the red (read: best) flags at any distance.  Unless you're red/green colorblind, in which case you'll just go off of the fact that there's a flag on the tank in the first place.

A decal that's identical to the flag would serve the same purpose and be more in-game appropriate.  It would also allow the player to decide whether or not they wanted to advertise their excellence.  I also like the sound of the WoT stars on the gun.

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The flag will make the player a target for some players. Because these flags are tied to performance. The flags is basically showing off. The flag will say to some "I am better that you", it will insult some players. Those players will then make it their mission to make the flag tank's life hell, even if that player is on the same team.

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4 hours ago, JintoLin said:

The flag will make the player a target for some players. Because these flags are tied to performance. The flags is basically showing off. The flag will say to some "I am better that you", it will insult some players. Those players will then make it their mission to make the flag tank's life hell, even if that player is on the same team.

I'd argue you could say the same for certain skins (Warmaster) or tanks in general.  I've been flamed/abused for owning a rare premium tank before.  Just because there are idiots out there, wont' stop me from enjoying playing that tank.  

 

Yes it's an Ego thing and some players (Flavio most likley) will love the idea of them to flex.  I'll enjoy it because it gives me something to aim for in battles, or be proud of achieving.  In same games I already get focused by the enemy so it won't really change anything for me per say and I don't see it being a major issue. 

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On 2/16/2021 at 7:57 AM, Haswell said:

I wonder if this will be the catalyst for stat-based headhunting in PvP. Unlike marks in WoT, these flags are very obvious and easy to spot in battle. Even without XVM it would be obvious whoever have flags are likely to be skilled/experienced to some degree, and anyone determined enough may target players with flags first over those without.

Then again I don't play PvP, so I have no idea if headhunting is even a thing yet.

I was going to say something similiar.  At least in WoT, the "Marks Of Excellence" are on the barrel, making them hard to see or spot unless you go out of your way to look for them on the other side.

On the other hand, if seems that getting these flags may be some what "easy-ish" to obtain.


 

"If you were not birthed with claws or fangs, store bought will do just fine."

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