Mechwarrior Online

[Falconeer]

Five Streaks + Beagle. That is, of course, unless there's two of them with a double ECM umbrella (Beagle only pierces one). But even in that case, usually their circling is so crazy that the second umbrella doesn't cover the first one 100% of the time and I still manage to let enough SSRM get through. I am not saying I win every time, but the KTO-18 is definitely an awesome spider-squashing/scout-hunting machine, and you can see that because they usually run away from me.

[Ironwood]

Fair enough.  Apart from my larger heavies, I find the Beagle to be generally not worth it.  It's probably a state of mind I ought to change.

[Falconeer]

I would go as far as saying that Streaks + BEP are at the moment the only real defense against Spiders.

[Der Helm]

Trying again. "Finalizing patch 1/12"

[Falconeer]

Just uninstall and reinstall from scratch. Less chances to stumble on a bug or a corrupted archive.

[Der Helm]

Looks like it just finished. Those guys really can't code for shit. 

[Der Helm]

Played a few minutes on the testing grounds (yay! for being able to select maps now) and found out that my 4LL Stalker does not work anymore. I think this "Ghost heat" is the problem ?

How to people build stalkers (3F, I think?) these days ?

[Falconeer]

Plenty of ways, but honestly I still love the 4LL version, you just can't alpha-strike with it (you can, just once in a while AS IT SHOULD BE). It is still very effective but you gotta time your 2LL+2LL. I group the 2 left ones on the left mouse button and the 2 right one on the right mouse button. Perfect for shooting around corners when "quickly" strafing in and out of cover. One hotter but even more efficient version is the one with 4 ER LL, not only you hit them farther away, but you hit them harder (due to less damage falloff).

Ghost heat is really stupid only because it is not explained anywhere in game, which is a major flaw (that should be fixed in UI 2.0). Other than that, it does a good job in limiting alpha strikes without actually forcing you to change a build.

[Falconeer]

Greetings, MechWarriors!

Hitting with more power than 1.21 gigawatts, here comes the Catalytic Converter Sale! We've started by taking one number (the price) and lowering it on all non-faction hanging items (50% off non-faction medallion hanging items!) Then it kicked into high gear, and: double GXP conversion (50 XP for 1 )! Then we went into overdrive, meaning that two of our most popular heroes - the Ilya Muromets and Firebrand - are 30% off the  price!

But hurry, this massive power conversion only lasts until September 17 (10am PDT)!

Cheers,
The MechWarrior Online Team

WHAT:

Non faction medallion hanging items, 50% off

50Cal Necklace, reg.  MC, now 250
Air Freshner, reg. 500 , now 250
Peace Necklace, reg 250 , now 125
Fuzzy Dice, reg 750 , now 375
Dog Tag, reg 250 , now 125
XP Conversion
Double GXP Conversion (Convert 50 XP for 1 )
Hero Mechs

Cataphract, Ilya Muromets
30% off, reg. 5250 , NOW 3675
JagerMech, Firebrand
30% off, reg. 4875 , NOW 3412

CATALYTIC CONVERTER SALE - SEPT. 13TH TO 17TH


Only reason I post this is the usual, but very convenient, 50% discount on GXP conversion. The only time when it is really a good idea to buy a few MCs and convert some XP to unlock modules.
Worth mentioning that the Ilya Muromets, arguably the best Hero (Premium) 'mech out there is on sale with 30% off.

[Shannow]

hrrm time to burn some more of that founder MC.

Seriously who the fuck spends money on vanity items. I just don't get it.

[satael]

So it seems there's a new challenge starting at 5pm UTC today (the name "operatiion 24" sounds like the kind of event that I have very little interest for in the middle of a working week) but other than that the launch seems to be pretty boring unless they actually have a surprise (content) ready to be patched in. 

[Falconeer]

Launch, and the patch, must be the most anticlimatic (read: empty) gaming thing ever, so yes I was thinking of a surprise too but considering that DX11 will hit the test server later this week, new map won't be ready until the end of the mongh, anything CW-related won't make an appearance until the announced party next week, and that UI 2.0 is six weeks away, I can't see what kind of surprise they could come up with.

If I had to guess, I would say a new 'mech, or implementation of 'decals' which were announced for November... 2012.
But honestly, I am sadly not expecting anything today. To me the 'real' launch (meaning when I'll start bugging my friends about trying it and trying it again) will be the day they patch in UI 2.0.

EDIT: Additional ideas for a possible "surprise". Intro movie, and/or music added.

[Falconeer]

For chuckles, here's what I think "Operation 24" will be:

We have 21 'mechs as of now.
The Challenge is what will unlock the remaining three 'mechs that will bring the total to 24, and the community is supposed to "play together" in order to get there, like every player has to play 100 drop, and when they get there they have done their part, contributed to the effort, and earned the "24" medallion.

As soon as the magic secret number (with a public fake counter though, could be a million collective drops, or a bajillion, or be completely scheduled in advance, we will never know) is reached, they declare Operation 24 a huge success and hotpatch the new 'mechs in as a wonderful present to the community for their combined effort, along with the "24 medallion" as a thank you to all those who made sure the servers were packed and active for the launch days.

[Falconeer]

"Launch" day.

State of the Inner Sphere

It’s been just over two years since we entered pre-production on MechWarrior Online in summer of 2011. We unveiled our plans on Halloween 2011 and then spent another year in development before releasing our first open beta version on October 29th, 2012. Since then we have patched the game over 29 times, and have registered over 1.3 million players, and we continue to see amazing growth and engagement from our community!

Since Open Beta launched, we have added 100s of new features: including visual customization, ELO match making, 13 new `Mechs, 4 maps (soon to be 5), tutorials, testing grounds, new modules and consumables, improvements to the UI and HUD, additions to the end of round summary screens, new user stats, controls options, new team play options and coordination in the form of lance and company commands, the massive 12 v 12 feature, 3PV, new `Mech movement on slopes, `Mech qwirks, and much more. Not to mention tuning, bug fixes, and performance enhancements, which have significantly improved the quality of the game during our open beta phase.

With launch officially here, players can expect MechWarrior to continue to storm ahead with regular semi-monthly patches for the foreseeable future. We have a full slate of expansion features coming out during the next year, which include our new entire re-envisioned user interface, private matches, level and rank system, the ability for players to join and create custom mercenary units, new game modes, Clan technology, and the epic battle to control the Inner Sphere. All of this in addition to our regular monthly content updates and events. Expect us to continue delivering new maps throughout the next year, with some exciting new concepts like Island Metropolis out in October, and Moon Base due out in December.

We have captured the essence of what it means to be a MechWarrior pilot and we look forward to expanding the MWO universe with exciting new content for many years to come!

Operation 24

Celebrate Launch and the fielding of 24 `Mechs on the battlefield with Operation 24! Play any 24 games (win, lose or draw) between September 17th and October 1st (10am PDT) to receive a cool in-game “Operation 24” hanging cockpit item automatically.

Launch Event

On Thursday Sept 26th, Infinite Game Publishing and Piranha Games will host the official MechWarrior Online North American Launch Event and Tournament at The Mezzanine in San Francisco. Registrations to compete in the North American Launch Event Tournament are closed, but you can tune-in to watch the invitational tournament and festivities live at www.twitch.com/mechwarrior from 2 p.m. Details can be found at mwomercs.com/events.

 

[satael]

Well, the operation 24 didn't turn out to be a 24 hour event but I'm somehow even less impressed with what it turned out to be (play 24 games in 2 weeks to get a useless cockpit item that will probably look pretty stupid). A real quality event for launch... 

[satael]

And just when I thought it couldn't get any more depressing I happened to read UNIFORM CODE OF MECHWARRIOR JUSTICE (I had to doublecheck that it was actually posted by an IGP community manager and not some overzealous fan) 

[Falconeer]

III. Kerensky's Ordinance
The only insults that are permitted for MechWarriors to refer to one another are 'Dezgra' & 'Surat'.

What is sad is that, outside of the names of the 'mechs, so far this is the most "lore" MechWarrior Online has delivered yet. And it's not even in game.


EDIT: You know, the more I think about it, the more I feel that whoever will land on this game six to twelve months from now will be in for a lot of fun and potentially a great, epic game. It's those of us stuck with the persistent delays that get to rage (or simply lose interest, but it doesn't seem to be my case).

[Falconeer]

Official Launch Trailer... is fan made if I am not mistaken. Meaning, PGI picked up one of those guys who was making videos that put theirs to shame, asked him to rework one of his most succesful creations, and made it official. Good for that talented guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea3spOtjLmI

[Shannow]

Good call on that Ilya Muromets sale. Actually had a +500 damage match with 6 assists last night (godamn my team was a bunch of vultures). Don't think I've ever broken 500 dam before (I play so little I still suck hard). Switched out ac10 for lbx, kinda liking it.

Favourite moment of the night however was AC20ing a Jenner running past my Victor and watching his pristine leg fall off. Suck it.

Still way to much CT coring going on, I've started to strip my mechs of armor to put more shit in because armor on anywhere outside of the CT is almost useless. Still think there is aimbotting happening.

[satael]

WELCOME TO LAUNCH, MECHWARRIORS! -thread over at the official forums is over 50 pages (1000 posts) in less than a day...and most of the posts aren't very positive.

fake edit: I still personally enjoy the game more or less but the general feeling on the forums and in the in game -chat isn't very happy lately

[Shannow]

I went and read some yesterday just to see how bad it was. Oh boy is it bad. Not even many fanbois trying to defend PGI.

[Typhon]

My favorite so far;

Congratulations on removing the Beta image from your website.

[Falconeer]

Even discounting them everything on the assumption that the good stuff "is coming", it's hard not to feel angry and pissed as they didn't even give the community a bone on "launch day" for the patience and constant support, financial too, over the past 13 months. Considering they don't have anything ready I don't know what they could have done, but to release the most underwhelming patch to date pretty much felt like a slap in the face. A better event could have been helpful. The NOTHING they produced yesterday put even the diehard fanboi in a bad mood. It is really hard to figure out how they can be so bad at understanding their community-of-customers. I mean, they were in for a beating yesterday no matter what, but a even a simple but real challenge event instead of the bullshit Operation 24 would helped a tiny bit. Or a fucking buff to pulse lasers, dammit.

[Flood]

Well I finally gave in and downloaded to give it a go.  Like some other posters I was initially really excited about the game as a former MWMercs player but the posts here made me a bit hesitant.  All that said now of all times is probably the worst time to jump in mid-stream, but I can't help it I'm bored with my current game library.

Anyway can I get some input on my mech progression / build?  I re-discovered how not good I am at circle strafing, so I ruled out brawling initially.  I hate lumbering around too.  If I continue to play I'll probably spring for a hero mech to ease the CBill grind and get an Ilya Muromets to have a decent heavy in my inventory. 

But I do like scouting and recon, and I actually enjoy being "support" to the heavy hitters, so I ran around in the trial Jenner until I could afford a new mech, and I went with a Raven 3L.  I know it might not be the optimum choice across the board but I figured I'd get a good base chassis for what role I'm trying to play (assists, recon, counter measures) and I thought it came with a decent engine and modules to swap around later.  The speed is...sufficient, but not great.  The lack of jump jets is a little annoying but not a deal breaker, yet anyway.  Mainly I get legged or side shotted and go boom.

I have about 10-ish games left under my Cadet exp. bonus I think, and a couple million CBills in the bank.  What should I be looking at as far as mech loadout and purchases?  It came with FF armor which I read is a waste compared to Endo, for example.  Any input appreciated.

 


         

[Falconeer]

There is NEVER a good reason to put on FF before Endo, unless you reeeeeally need a little weight boost and can't afford the more expensive endosteel yet, so while they are replicating canon 'mechs default loadouts it is really annoying to buy a variant that requires you to spend some money to fix it right off the box. Especially considering that you pay money even to just remove FF. That said, double heatsinks is a mandatory upgrade, and that's pretty much all I can tell you about the Raven, one of the few chassis I've never piloted.

Where to go next? Hard to say. Based on what you write, seems to me you want to stay away from very slow 'mechs, which pretty much rules out Assaults, and from short range brawling ones, which tend to deliver you a pretty brutal in your first few weeks in the game as you will be hit from all sides constantly and it'll feel like your screen is constantly exploding along with your head.

So, what you are probably looking for is a 'mech that can hit from an optimal distance of 400 - 800m, while not being too slow on its legs. Your choice of weapons should be Large Lasers/ER Large Lasers, PPC/ERPPC in the energy department, or AC5/UAC5, AC10, Gauss in ballistic, and of course LRMs if you want to go full support. Now, what to build with that?

Kintaros (55t) are quite good at the role if you ask me due to their very good speed and mobility, best armour available on a Medium, and lots of missile ports for long range missile support or short range streak-based light-hunting (which supports your Assaults when they are being swarmed by Spiders and Jenners), on top of the standard amount of energy hardpoints. Popular Kintaro builds are conceived around 2ER Large Lasers (to be efficient from all distances) and a few missiles of your choice, or lots of LRM5s for what is the the FOTM most obnoxious build around (literally a rain of missiles that will make people ragequit while seriously messing with their aim).
Despite their armour Kintaros don't have great survivability because the arms don't protect the torso nearly enough, but if you don't fight as a first liner and apply some caution they can be effective and most importantly fun.

Centurions (50T) are much harder to kill for some reason, and equally agile, but they really shine in the frontline due to their innate tanking abilities. You might want to check them but it seems like they are not what you are looking for.

The Catapult K2 (65t) is another good choice. Catapults have the problem of being very easy to disarm ('ears' being big) but the K2 is a little less vulnerable to that due to the interesting ballistic hardpoints in the side torsos. The Catapult is possibly the most agile of all the Heavy 'mechs so far, and jump jets only make it better. There's plenty of valid builds for the K2, and all the other Catapults can be used for support one way or another thanks to the natural predisposition to missiles. Worth mentioning that another weakness of the Catapult is the relatively large cockpit, meaning you would sustain the occasional headshot you would never get in any other chassis.

Jagermechs (65t) and Cataphracts (70t) are certainly good 'mechs too and the Ilya Muromets, as Ironwood can testify, is a deadly one. They both tend to be quite slow (except for the Firebrand, hero Jagermech, which can be fitted to go as fast as 93 kph), so there's some lumbering, but there's plenty of medium-to-long range ways they can be fitted to make them lethal, mostly ballistic based but not just. The Jagermech's high arms position makes it pretty good at shooting over hills for long distance peeking, while Cataphract's lower arms present a problem when it comes to that (lots of shots hitting the ground even when you think you have a clear line of sight). As heavies, they tend to be either very slow but sturdy (standard engine), or a little less slow but very fragile (XL engine), so try some of the trials (they are very good this month) to get a feel of what a Heavy is like before investing real money in a Hero 'mech you might hate when compared to the Raven's playstyle.

A final word for the Victor (80t). The Victor is a lumber, but it is extremely durable, can pack a serious punch, and most importantly can jump which makes it less of a sitting duck and more of a motherfucking charging monster.

Hope it helps, and hope someone else will give you their opinion based about some chassis I might have neglected because I don't drive them.

[Ironwood]

A Raven requires a couple of things :

An XL Engine of the highest you can jam in.
Double Heat Sinks for Fun and Profit.
Endo Steel Skeleton because it's fucking Endo Steel.
An ECM for 'Oh God, Please Don't Kill Me' radar stealth.
I never take Beagle, but I think my thinkin is way outdated on this one.
Streaks are usually the way to go with some pew pew lasers.  It's frustrating to have an SRM6 and miss because, let's face it, you're going full pelt and shouldn't ever slow down.

That said, since the HSR went in, the chances are you'll take an AC20 to your legs and get uber fucked unless you're on a good team that are actively helping.

Enjoy.

[Kageru]

I quite enjoyed the Raven 3L, got it mastered and geared, but trying to play a tactical role in PUG's is ultimately fairly futile.

Though trying to enjoy the hunchback was even harder, mediums are were just fodder at the time. Maybe the heat changes have made them more survivable. Might download it again and find out one day.

[Falconeer]

Sadly, in a PUG every match has its own story. Sometimes you pick up your worst experimental 'mech and end up with 800 damage and 4 kills, and sometimes you drop your favourite, most efficient one only to be cored in the first two minutes and your team ends up losing 12 to 1. There's so much randomness in PUGging that frustration is always round the corner, and I am not sure that is something that can be fixed or will ever be fixed. Matchmaking is in a decent place right now (supposedly) but cannot keep track of group composition, people doing stupid things, and simply the luck involved in the firs few engagements that often determine the outcome.

This is to say that, if you ask me, Mediums are fine now: mobility buffs have been useful and nice, and many variants are really good at hitting hard while keeping very mobile. But still, see above, sometimes they just explode in a millisecond, and that usually makes you want to ragequit and go on the forums to rant about matches with seven Assaults per side. Which is still a problem until they patch in weight limitations.

[Shannow]

When I've had enough of the PUGs I get on the official TS server and sit in the job wanted channel until I get picked up by a group. Easiest way to find a lance outside of joining an actual squad.

[Flood]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have some CBills saved up but not enough to go too crazy.  So for the immediate future a bigger XL engine is out, although I'd really like one (it comes with an 210XL, which is 97.2 top speed) as it impairs my getaway ability and to mitigate the lack of JJ's.  What I have done so far is upgrade to endo-steel and left the FF armor on and armored up as much as I could / weight allowed, especially my legs and side torso.  I spent my mech XP on the base level efficiencies and have them all except 10% more torso twist.

Config-wise I did some reading and made some changes based on my experiences in game. 

- I love the idea of NARC and being able to drop what is an essence a homing beacon on people, but in reality moving at only 97.2 km/h makes it hard to really "drive by" people without getting maimed, and it relies on other pilots in the PUG to a) be paying attention and b) have some sort of missile loadout, which is kind of random.  So for now NARC is removed.

- ECM stays obviously.  It helps me stay alive and is one of the only real "support" abilities that I bring to the big dudes.

- BAP stayed.  I'm a freakin scout / spotter.  Plus I'm compulsive about seeing as much of the battlefield as possible.  Hoping to eventually get the sensor upgrades and seismic etc.

- TAG stayed in.  It's easy to use on the fly, recycles quickly.  Oddly enough I find that it's not that useful as a missile enhancing module (see reasons above) but rather as a quick counter-ECM measure to help as a spotter against sneaky heavies and shitfuck end-running lights.

- Per Ironwood I removed the SRM6 and put in 2 SSRM2's, with ammo on the side in CASE (it came with the mech and why not for 1 ton I guess).  I'm hoping this will help with the damn lights, which seem to take an inordinate interest in me when they figure out I'm the one lighting them up on the battlegrid for heavies and generally counter-jamming enemy ECM.

As for the pew pew situation, I don't have enough experience to decide what's best, or what I like.  Stock is two ML's.  I'm considering trying a LL, to stand off a bit more and snipe (I really suck with Gauss and PPC's so far), or some form of medium pulse setup, but I have a feeling I'm going to need to upgrade to DHS's for that to effective and I'm loathe to spend the last of my now non-Cadet bonus CBills.  They're coming in slow with no bonus and as a low damage support mech    I feel like I should just save up for another mech instead of going to crazy on this light.  Heat hasn't been a major concern to me (yet) as there's not alot of situations where I'm really laying on the trigger   

Anyway, overall I'm having fun.  The game has some warts, but since I'm still in the not-having-spent-any-RL-cash group on this it's a pretty fun distraction.  PUG's are well...PUG's, so I lower my expectations there.  My pilot name is floodcore, if anyone wants to run around with a slightly newbish Raven wingman look me up.



 
     

   

[Ironwood]

CASE is a fucking waste of time.  More armor, more lasers, more missiles.

In a Raven, you ain't gonna overheat for an ammo explosion and with an XL, you can't really put the ammo anywhere it won't just fucking cripple you anyway.

CASE is a waste of time and I still don't think it works the way Lant thinks it does.

[Merusk]

You're not going to bait her in to posting, she's in the middle of nowhere Texass on a river.

[Ironwood]

Not that that's what I was doing, but eh ?  She on some kind of no tech trip ?

[Merusk]

Oh I figured you were.  No she bought/ took over her parents 2nd house and it has a spectacular setting on a river near the Gulf.  I figured that's the reason for the steady drop off in posting, since we're all such lovely people.

[Ironwood]