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MechWarrior Online - News and Information Thread
- Thread starter Orayn
- Start date
I will note it again for this new page, i can make changes tomorrow earliest, don't have time to patch or play today.
Yah, that's what i figure. Ideally i'd stick with the Liaos but that's just me, heck, the CapCon players are rare in general, no matter where (MWO or Battletech proper).
So, we'll be a merc corp, and perhaps dagger-stars occasionally, if we wanna be Clanners?
(I have to note i have only one Clan mech at the moment, though i can play with the Clan trials as well, i think, if i can build a dropdeck from them and a Timber Wolf...)
EDIT Besides, if we'd commit to the Clans... Clan Jade Falcon!
Yah, that's what i figure. Ideally i'd stick with the Liaos but that's just me, heck, the CapCon players are rare in general, no matter where (MWO or Battletech proper).
So, we'll be a merc corp, and perhaps dagger-stars occasionally, if we wanna be Clanners?
(I have to note i have only one Clan mech at the moment, though i can play with the Clan trials as well, i think, if i can build a dropdeck from them and a Timber Wolf...)
EDIT Besides, if we'd commit to the Clans... Clan Jade Falcon!
Giolon
Member
You log in, click the faction tab, choose a contract w/ a faction (7 days is the shortest) and boom you can participate! However, the primary restriction of CW is that you can only group with people in your Unit. Matches will still fill with other players, but you can't drop as a group with anyone in a different Unit, regardless of their faction.
My best luck w/ finding CW matches has been responding to the Attack and Defense notifications that pop up.
Thanks. The Unit in question is a random unit or is it something that I have to join irrespective of CW?
Giolon
Member
I'm not 100% sure I understand this question. Units are what MWO calls guilds or clans. You don't have to join one to participate, but you do have to be part of one to play CW in a group.
The only thing you have to do is choose contract/loyalty to house or clan. You don't have to join a unit, but you can only form premades with a joined unit. Otherwise you just play CW with random pug drops.'
Even with pug drops, you will run into premade units, and it'll be tough.
Even with pug drops, you will run into premade units, and it'll be tough.
It depends on ones definition of Pay 2 Win.
Currently, you can buy certain mechs for real money well before they will available for game-money. And some of these may well be better than anything currently.
On the other hand, optimizing and learning your chosen chassis may have far more effect.
On yet another hand, there is stuff, the modules, that can be obtained far faster by paying real money.
I'm leaning toward of it having P2W features... but fortunately not so many it is a problem for me.
As for the balance... the ghost heat is still BS. The Clan mechs are simply better in a given weight class often, and their tech is mostly simply superior for the weight advantage if not the mechanics (single shot AC5 is better than the same damage split across-multiple shells). The Timber Wolf was, the last i checked, a superb mech, obsoleting many others, across multiple weight classes.
It is rather playable though, there has been quite many rather positive tweaks since August.
Despite my somewhat bleak picture (i think it is bleak), i'd say the game is worth trying again. I'm just somewhat pissed off and bitter.
MWO is nowhere near P2W. The people who were crying about the Clans shut up as soon as they actually got to play them. They've been nerfed greatly over time anyway. The real money Hero mechs are often the worst variants of their given chassis. There are no "golden bullets" that you can buy or real money, no real money items/weapons/ammo at all actually.
If you buy the mech packs, you get early access, but they all come out for general cbills over time. That isn't P2W.
re balannce:
There are only 2 superb Clan mechs: The Timber Wolf and the Stormcrow. Both of which are now available for in game currency. The rest of the Clan mechs are just okay, if not below average. The TWolf is the only mech in the game that will make you feel it's flat out imbalanced, but it was designed from the lore to be the best mech in the 3050 Battletech universe.
Clan energy weapons weigh less, and shoot farther, but they are HOT and have longer durations. Clan burst-fire ballisics are simply outclassed by the single-shot IS autocannons. Inner Sphere missiles weigh more, but fire in more advantageous clumps vs the Clans streaming style of fire. Plus, the recently initiated 'Inner Sphere mech quirks' have shifted the game's balance greatly.
So pretty much, balance is always in flux, and is in a good place right now.
The main factor for MWO's future, is how great things have been since PGI left their publisher, a few months ago. Things have been night and day to the past, and are only getting better.
If you buy the mech packs, you get early access, but they all come out for general cbills over time. That isn't P2W.
re balannce:
There are only 2 superb Clan mechs: The Timber Wolf and the Stormcrow. Both of which are now available for in game currency. The rest of the Clan mechs are just okay, if not below average. The TWolf is the only mech in the game that will make you feel it's flat out imbalanced, but it was designed from the lore to be the best mech in the 3050 Battletech universe.
Clan energy weapons weigh less, and shoot farther, but they are HOT and have longer durations. Clan burst-fire ballisics are simply outclassed by the single-shot IS autocannons. Inner Sphere missiles weigh more, but fire in more advantageous clumps vs the Clans streaming style of fire. Plus, the recently initiated 'Inner Sphere mech quirks' have shifted the game's balance greatly.
So pretty much, balance is always in flux, and is in a good place right now.
The main factor for MWO's future, is how great things have been since PGI left their publisher, a few months ago. Things have been night and day to the past, and are only getting better.
How? Premium Time?
Giolon
Member
Not a single thing in MWO has been pay to win - ever. I say this as someone who loathes such things. You can pay for 2 types of things in MWO: 1) Things that allow you to acquire stuff faster or early, 2) Special Hero variant mechs with unique configurations that are rarely considered among the top variants for a chassis.
There was a lot of whinging from people who didn't want to pay real money for early access to the clan mechs that it was P2W, but that was no different than any other early purchase mech release. The Clan tech was a bit OP at first release, but what do you expect from the sudden introduction of a whole new style of weaponry? It was all adjusted and tweaked over the subsequent patches, and while it's still stronger than IS tech on paper, it's available to everyone and it's (arguably) harder to use effectively.
Direct XP -> GXP conversion costs real money.
Premium time, convert XP to GXP, buy C-bills directly... the modules are really expensive, both XP and C-bill-wise. IMO. I'm sitting at 900k after buying a Timber Wolf, that's nowhere near enough to equip my mechs with modules... i'm looking at a weeks grind, perhaps more, if i want to get modules without premium time or resorting to other shortcuts. Until i do equip my mechs with modules... well: Modules have no drawbacks really, so not having them means you're at disadvantage really (ignoring skill-factor).
The game is skill-intensive enough i won't call it directly pay to win but it most certainly is not a game of equals, or even pretend to be that, it is no arena shooter.
Heck, it isn't even a class-based game really, so there is no balance working on team-level really.
(The matchmaker still does not take ECM into account when making teams. 3xECM vs 0xECM... i have had such games, on both sides.)
EDIT In my opinion, simply buying advantage with real money is P2W. I have never take the term Pay 2 Win literally, ie you buy an unbeatable advantage with real money. Just even an edge, even a temporary one, is enough IMO. It may not be an issue if the game is fun enough and if skill matters enough, like it does here, but that does not stop me from thinking it a pay to win game.
And i most certainly don't oppose F2P games like so many GAFers do.
I think it's worth adding that the game is in such a weird place from a lore standpoint.
In lore, a mechwarrior generally does not own multiple mechs. Having one light mech in the field can mean triumpj over an enemy who has to rely on foot soldiers and armoured vehicles. Mechs are expensive as hell and have to be constantly repaired by a small army of astechs tending to every machine. Assault and heavy mechs are therefore often handed to seasoned mechwarriors or high ranking military leaders.
The original idea behind MWO was to keep it somewhat closer to the lore than previous mechwarrior games (while not sticking as close to the lore as some people - including me - would have liked) and creating some sort of in-game economy that makes sense for a free-to-play game.
So why does a mech-pack cost more than a complete and brand new AAA-release? Partly, PGI is a small team catering to a hardcore audience. That means they HAVE to milk this audience while the audience also allows PGI to milk them. They also like money - I should think.
However, purchasing a battlemech with ingame-currrency or real money has to mean much more than buying a new gun-attachment in Cod or a new car in any racing game. It needs to be a bigger in-game event. Making them too cheap would devalue the battlemech as a future-warmachine. At the same time the playerbase wants access to a large selection of mechs. I'm not saying PGI is doing terriffic job at striking this balance but I wouldn't know how to handle it myself.
In lore, a mechwarrior generally does not own multiple mechs. Having one light mech in the field can mean triumpj over an enemy who has to rely on foot soldiers and armoured vehicles. Mechs are expensive as hell and have to be constantly repaired by a small army of astechs tending to every machine. Assault and heavy mechs are therefore often handed to seasoned mechwarriors or high ranking military leaders.
The original idea behind MWO was to keep it somewhat closer to the lore than previous mechwarrior games (while not sticking as close to the lore as some people - including me - would have liked) and creating some sort of in-game economy that makes sense for a free-to-play game.
So why does a mech-pack cost more than a complete and brand new AAA-release? Partly, PGI is a small team catering to a hardcore audience. That means they HAVE to milk this audience while the audience also allows PGI to milk them. They also like money - I should think.
However, purchasing a battlemech with ingame-currrency or real money has to mean much more than buying a new gun-attachment in Cod or a new car in any racing game. It needs to be a bigger in-game event. Making them too cheap would devalue the battlemech as a future-warmachine. At the same time the playerbase wants access to a large selection of mechs. I'm not saying PGI is doing terriffic job at striking this balance but I wouldn't know how to handle it myself.
Llike its been earlier stated, there were a lot of cries of p2w when clan mechs first showed up. Thankfully the first way have been completely released for cbills by now (I think) and so everyone can get them. IMHO (and I may get flack for this), the second wave of clan mechs (which are only available to people who bought them. They go for cbills starting january I think) are far less impressive or game changing than the first wave. So not being able to get those isnt a huge weakness. Though the Mad Dog is an amazing skirmisher and is really good on defense.
In addition, you have to consider the mode of play. We now have Community Warfare. This changes a lot by forcing players to have a weight limited drop deck. I have seen a ton of lights because people need them now to fill space and some have gained new roles because of it.
For instance, the Adder, often thought of as one of the worst first wave clan mechs, is often seen in in CW because it can pack a punch with dual ppcs while still being light.
Finally while most of my experience is with clan mechs, the IS still have some powerful (the ACs in particular are way better as mentioned above) and numerous (there are way more IS mech options available than clan) tools. Mechs like the new King Crab are terrifying in the amount of powerful ballistics they can bring to the table. Their lights are often significantly faster AND equipped with jump jets. A clan light rush in CW is much harder to pull off than an IS one because of that. And tho someone already mentioned it, the laser duration is much shorter and that is not to be underestimated when it is displayed on a mech like the hunchback.
Ahh nice. those guys are pretty good to drop with. My merc unit has a 2 week contract with clan wolf so we might run into each other.
Almost every battle has been epic for me. so much fun, so many dead robots.
Eh, what? Re-choose Liao or what?
I still haven't patched the game... ugh. Takes so frigging long and eats all my laptop's CPU and memory...Also been playing GTA V. I'll try to get it up and running today.
EDIT "bad news", a Skyrim mod got updated. In other words, i can finally complete the game's re-install... another time sink. Eh, i'll play some MWO first though, promise.
Yeah redo a Liao contract
I'm curious to know as to the wait times you guys are experiencing. I'm seeing lots of complaints on the mwo forums about wait times exceeding 30 minutes and such.
I'm wondering if its faction population related and or timezone related.
Anyone care to give a shoutout on their faction/time zone?
I'm Australian 10+gmt and a (temp) member of clan wolf.
Max. wait time so far: 10 minutes.
I'm wondering if its faction population related and or timezone related.
Anyone care to give a shoutout on their faction/time zone?
I'm Australian 10+gmt and a (temp) member of clan wolf.
Max. wait time so far: 10 minutes.
December 18th Update
Stocking Stuffer Event
INTRODUCING THE 64-BIT MWO CLIENT!
Good stuff coming. MWO is in a good place.
Stocking Stuffer Event
INTRODUCING THE 64-BIT MWO CLIENT!
Good stuff coming. MWO is in a good place.
Yeah there's a lot of stuff going on, especially with the Smoke Jaguars and Ghost Bears, or so I hear.
CW about to become like EVE Online lol.
No, it's not.
Thing is, in EVE, big space empires don't want to lose their stuff (cause once it's gone, it's gone) and ally with other corps/alliances. In MWO, even if you lose a match, you're getting something, even if its some a measly 40 - 60k credits. I don't see the heavy TS/Vent inflitration and extensive use of alts being that prevalent in MWO. Battles are over so quickly that I think it would just be a waste of time to invest hours/weeks into creating another personality and joining an opposing mech company. Then again, this is vidya.
Sure, meta exists in both EVE and MWO, but in EVE, the meta is a whole 'nother level. Levels upon levels of meta.
CW is still in heavy beta. I think that PGI will give players incentive to keep things fluid over time.
It is like that Halloween event, right?
Perhaps i might manage to play a bit tomorrow... (i ain't home for a week afterwards)
It's the same, except that you can only get 25 gifts per game mode, for a total of 100.
Okay, question for everyone.
CW has been out now for almost three weeks. What is everyone's thoughts? What do you play?
Personally I am loving it. Found a great unit and am having a blast.
I run 4 Mad Dogs
Originally I ran 3 streak dogs and 1 lrm 5 dog.
As things are changing, I feel like I need a bit more oomph on my dogs so I now run.
1 streak4 dog
1 streak6 dog
1 lrm5 dog
1 splat4 dog
CW has been out now for almost three weeks. What is everyone's thoughts? What do you play?
Personally I am loving it. Found a great unit and am having a blast.
I run 4 Mad Dogs
Originally I ran 3 streak dogs and 1 lrm 5 dog.
As things are changing, I feel like I need a bit more oomph on my dogs so I now run.
1 streak4 dog
1 streak6 dog
1 lrm5 dog
1 splat4 dog
Clan drop decks are ridiculously strong, it's almost not fair.
I run:
3x ERLL Shad-2k
5x MPL Cicada-2B
AC20 YLW
6x ML 3x LRM10 Battlemaster
Shit just doesn't compare.
Thats not really an IS dropdeck that i'd like to take apart from the battlemaster, a good mech to start a match particularly if you are on defense. That peekaboo from them ml's and the lrms for suppression.
My alt's IS dropdeck :
HBK 4G w/ AC20 2ml
QKD 5k w/ 2 ppc 4ml (1st drop)
TDR 9S w/2 erppc 3ml (2nd drop)
TDR 9SE w/ 3 Lpl 2 mpl
I do pretty well with this. The first 2 i drop with have the range to bash gates or do well in defence, the other 2 are there to hulk smash shit.
Giolon
Member
Well, it's getting a pre-order program to see if there is enough actual interest in it or if the people clamoring for it are just a vocal minority of jokers.
isn't it a win-win for him? It doesn't get enough support, they don't implement it and don't have to use resources for it. It gets support, they get more money.
I wouldn't call that a counter-troll...
(I have to note i don't know any specifics about the Urbie. I just read about it on the forums as i randomly decided to check them today. I never watch any Town Halls, heck, i almost don't watch any videos about any game. Give me a wall of text and i can read it, but even a short video is too much for me.)
Wait, what, they're adding the Mad Dog C and... uh, Dire Wolf S?
BudokaiMR2
Member
Well damn I had dropped this despite being a founder because of the fact they had not delivered what I wanted (CW especially) but I randomly popped in here and am surprised to see the good news!
Is it less ambitious than what they planned originally? Is there anywhere that breaks down the mechanics well?
I am probably gonna jump in and at least use up my leftover PGI bux.
Is it less ambitious than what they planned originally? Is there anywhere that breaks down the mechanics well?
I am probably gonna jump in and at least use up my leftover PGI bux.
https://mwomercs.com/urbanmech
LOL
Read the concept art. Awesome.
Oh, and the King Crab and Mad Dog are now for C-bills.
LOL
Read the concept art. Awesome.
Oh, and the King Crab and Mad Dog are now for C-bills.
And how much do they need? Did they give any numbers?
I reckon they're going to get enough orders to implement the mech. Just a feeling... oh, well, gonna be nice hunting Urbies.