Mechwarrior Online

[Lantyssa]

I'm going to repeat :  My Stalker, a fairly large and heft mech, was killed from half the map away on Tourmaline, in roughly 5 seconds.

So either there was a team of precision snipers both times, or some serious shit is going on.  It just wasn't much fun.

I only had it happen in one match, but my 'Phract got cored in a similar way when the only visible opponent was also in building at a range of 500m.  CT gone, lots of orange armor, and everything else yellow.  Damage spam showed an AC/20, AC/5, and ML or two.

I suppose it's theoretically possible another six 'mechs not on my radar shot me immediately after poking my head out at extreme range, but that was a bit silly.  My own AC/20 was still in flight when I blew up (and that was a snap shot.

[Ironwood]

I did, however, have a game the other day where a solo spider took out 5 of the other team.

That was really fun to watch.  And watch it I could, because I'd bitten the dust ages ago.

[Slayerik]

Spiders are...awesome!

[Pennilenko]

I got a buddy that tells me there is a rumor of a hack that adjusts the damage of projectile rounds. I got no proof other than witnessing this buddy be right most of the time for like the last twenty years.

[Falconeer]

I know I am getting spoiled, but I really, really want the DEAD screen to be improved with stuff showing exactly what kind of damage you got, how much, where, who did it and so on. Right now it's kind of useless, while if they did it right it would be quite awesome at reducing some frustration and eventually improve your game.

[Lantyssa]

I'd love that, too.

I got a buddy that tells me there is a rumor of a hack that adjusts the damage of projectile rounds. I got no proof other than witnessing this buddy be right most of the time for like the last twenty years.

It wouldn't surprise me, but it's not rampant yet if so.  All my other matches were reasonable, including surviving a few well past what I should have.  (How embarrassing is it to be taken out by a legged 5K Spider that went on to take out a catapult before finally being put down?)

[Hoax]

Yeah I'm not seeing a ton of 700+ damage games so if that's out there its not widespread at all.

[Falconeer]

Patch day. What are we gonna get?


EDIT: Also, no one reported about this, posted a few days ago.

MATCHMAKING PHASE 4


It's been two months since our last major update to matchmaking, where we introduced our first pass at Elo and saw a tremendous improvement in the quality of matches being kicked off. With the next patch we're bringing in a new round of changes, and we've got two big ones lined up: Weight Class Matching and Elo Rating Adjustment.


WEIGHT CLASS MATCHING

We're adding the ability for us, the developers, to adjust our weight matching tolerances on the fly. This is giving us a controlled way to tighten up the weight imbalance between teams that players are experiencing.

Fun fact: About 74% of games kicked off are within what we consider tolerable weight matching limits (the difference between a heavy vs. assault Mech on the opposing team). Of the remaining 26% of matches, about 7% are what we would call "horrendously bad" (i.e., they carry the weight difference of one or two full assault Mechs between teams).

When we tighten up the Weight Matching, we're going to drop our weight tolerance to 0 and see what happens. Teams will be almost equally built in terms of weight class, though they will draw from a wider skill range of players to compensate. We'll be keeping an eye on the system while doing this and will continue to tune it until we're happy with the match quality and wait times.


ELO RATING ADJUSTMENT

We discovered a bug that was causing player Elo values to become inflated. Players that would win a game against a weaker opponent were being rewarded as though they were the underdog in that match. This caused Elo values to increase by a lot when they should have increased by only a little, skewing the player Elo distribution so that it became top-heavy.

What we've done (beyond correcting the bug) is a complete re-simulation of Elo ratings for every player in the game. Using match history we've been logging since February 5th, we determined what every players Elo rating would have been if we were using the corrected algorithm. The difference we noticed is huge, and the new player Elo distributions look healthy. We're going to push these ratings to the servers when we patch on April 16th.

So, how will this affect things? Well, without going into the details of how Elo works, this significantly improves our ability to match similarly skilled players. The old algorithm had an unintended (although interesting) bias towards people who had played more games, whereas the new rating measures only how you're playing. The bottom line is that we can kick off more close matches.


ROLLOUT PLAN

So when will we get to see this stuff? You won't have to wait long; this goes live with the April 16th patch. Other fixes, such as better detection of disconnected players while matching are also going in at this time as well. However, we'll be staging the release of the Weight Matching tweaks to be sure the system is working correctly (and to give us time to collect a bit of data on the new operating conditions).

Here's the plan:
On Tuesday, April 16th, we'll patch as normal and will put in the adjusted Elo values.
On Thursday, April 18th (tentative date), we'll drop the weight matching tolerance to zero. This won't require a patch or an interruption of service.

We're excited to bring the next round of changes live and look forward to matching up with you. See you on the Battlefield!

EDIT TO ADD more Dev posting:

To clarify, it'll be similar to the forced Weight Class balancing that we used to have. We're not doing any tonnage based matching at this time.

[Llyse]

How many mech bays should one have? What is a reasonable spend of MC?

I haven't spent any MC yet and am at 7 bays (4 Founders and 2 HBKs and D-DC Atlas).

I eventually want to master everything but this is going to take me time.

What did you do Arthur? How many bays did you keep? How often did you have to spend C-Bills to re buy mastered chassis?

[Arthur_Parker]

I had legendary founders so had 20,000 mc or so, I wouldn't bothering mastering everything to be honest as doubt it's going to mean anything, I don't sell mechs ever and only buy them with cbills (except I bought one hero), so I have ~52 mech bays.

[Falconeer]

All the mech bays you need to have fun switching mechs and all trying something new. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that you WANT to have three of each 'mech you like at some point, as you are gimping yourself if you don't (to unlock the Elite efficiencies at least). So it's safe to say that you always want to have a number of mechbays that is a multiple of three. 12 or 15 should give you enough breathing room to master 4/5 'mech types, especially if you sell the unwanted variants once you have unlocked the efficiencies for that chassis.

[Lantyssa]

I haven't sold a 'mech yet, so I just keep buying more.  Bays are really the cheapest and most useful thing to spend MC on.

I will be selling two of my Spiders eventually, but leveling those guys up is a slow process.  (Seriously, their hardpoint designs are terrible.  And the ECM varient is the only one with decent hardpoints.  There's no reason to ever use the other two except to unlock skills for the 5D.)

[Ironwood]

Speaking as someone who sold mechs and buggered about during the beta (not realising when the finall reset was going to happen), I don't know why anyone would sell a mech ever.

Sure, some of them are no use at the moment, but the amount you get SCREWED out of when selling is enormous.  You may as well just give your Cbills to your slutty sister.

I use MC to purchase Mech Bays and bought myself a Marmoset, which I've never regretted.  Beyond that, no real cash has been spent.

That said, I have a mech without an engine and a Raven badly in need of an XL, so don't take my cash advice toooo seriously.

[Lantyssa]

Because I'll never need those models again and it'll free up two bays once they're mastered.  600 MC is much greater than the million c-bills I spent on each, most of which is in equipment I stripped off already.

Were they expensive 'mechs, yeah, I agree.  The 5V and 5K Spiders are dirt-cheap though.

[Ironwood]

You people have a different view of 'cheap' than I do.

I end up winning not a lot and my time is usually spent on other things.  It's such a shame.

[Lantyssa]

I'll never drive them again once mastered, so I really don't see any point to keeping them.  Any other 'mech I might take for a spin, but not those two.  Might as well get the 250k and the 'mech bay for them.

[Pennilenko]

I know I'm not that great of a player, but I'm getting real tired of getting center cored in a split second. It seems like I'm dead as soon as the first volley ever goes down, regardless of the armor distribution i am using. Are people just building for as much alpha as they can get heat be damned.

Either way split second fights are no fun.

[Shannow]

I know I'm not that great of a player, but I'm getting real tired of getting center cored in a split second. It seems like I'm dead as soon as the first volley ever goes down, regardless of the armor distribution i am using. Are people just building for as much alpha as they can get heat be damned.

Either way split second fights are no fun.

This. Personally I think its a bug or a cheat.

[Arthur_Parker]

It's sniper builds, 3 er ppc's and a gauss rifle should not be a good build, yet it clearly is at the minute.  I've never seen the game so boring.

[Merusk]

No, there's a bug with ballistics somewhere.  I had a catapharact jump me last night, chain-firing AC5s and he shredded my ERPPC-a-Pult before I could get a 3rd volley on him.   I was cored, not headshot.

[Pennilenko]

A bit earlier today I played 15 matches in a row, each match I was center cored with healthy armor everywhere else. I didn't get to fire a second volley in any match. I'm not calling hacks, I'm calling bad code. If I knew what the magic was I would not hesitate to be grinding with it right now, but I cant produce the effects with any build I have tried.

[Falconeer]

My general performances keep improving. It could be the matchmaking, it could be that I am actually getting better, but they keep going up (so say the statistics) and it's a pleasant feeling. I don't die any faster than I did 3 or 6 months ago even though that could be a consequence of my foolish playstyle. I have to chime in with everyone else though that core seems to attract hits more than it ever did. I barely ever lose an arm or a leg, it's always just center torso. And it's not cool cause it totally feels like my 'life" is just my CT hit points, other parts of the 'mech feel almost irrelevant now. I wonder among other things if the new default "locked arms" setting helped generic average players become much more precise and effective than they ever were.

If this is not a bug, I am not even sure how they could fix it.

[Ironwood]

Hit by a single Gauss round last night and died.

I'm sorry, either something is very, very wrong or fuckers are cheating.

[Shannow]

If this is not a bug, I am not even sure how they could fix it.

Its the humans as targeting computer problem. I'd randomize damage across torso's where possible (aka you arent shooting from one side) and if shot is low enough in hit box randomly some might go to leg.

[Zaljerem]

Something may very well be going on. I had an interesting Center Torso death last night where my damage log showed only a Medium Laser hit. Granted I had just been brawling it up face-to-face with another Atlas (who I felled, taking quite a bit of damage in the process), but you would think the log would show more than just the last shot on me.

[Ironwood]

Possibly just a death screen bug, but I'll be brutally honest - I shouted at the screen a LOT after that game.

Reactor Online, Sensors Online, Weapo - BOOM.  Dead.

[Arthur_Parker]

I'm done till they make it less boring.

[Ironwood]

In honesty, buffing missiles even a little would probably do it.  It's hard to snipe when death is raining down on you.

Even in this shitty LRM climate, I've seen teams with missile boats actually succeed against the snipers.

[Falconeer]

Honestly, I'd like to see a team of snipers facing a good balanced team with good scouts and maybe just one LRM boat keeping the snipers on their toes. Maybe this is the state of the PUG game.

Although on second thoughts, what bothers me is that some long range weapons can actually melt a LRM boat before this one can even get in the 1000m range.

[Ironwood]

At the moment, the snipers can melt you before you see them.

Seriously, if you pick a good position, know the map and have the extended zoom function, it's pretty much game over at the moment and I'm sure that's not how it's meant to be.

Add an organised team that call targets and you could walk out and get hit by 8 gauss.  ouch.

[HaemishM]

Add an organised team that call targets and you could walk out and get hit by 8 gauss.  ouch.

If there are literally 8 gauss on one team in one match, that's a clue that something is very wrong indeed. I've decided I'm not even going to bother playing until I hear from you guys that the client is more stable and that that the center torso thing is fixed. I die easily enough as it is without taking another death to bugs.

[Pennilenko]

What I really want is a damage log/text report I could fish around in the folder for after matches. I want to see what crit and for how much and I want to see who shot me. I want to know if Ironwood took my left arm with a laser, and if slay took my engine out with a gauss round and how much damage each of their weapons did to those areas.

If I had that data then I could continue to play and have fun in the knowledge that I just happen to suck and not some nefarious thing causing me to just think i suck so bad.

Edit: What bothers me about this wave of sniping tactics is that, sniping has been my play style since day one of the beta, and I only use ballistics, dual Gauss, quad ac/5s, triple Uac/5s, Dual AC/20s. I am really accurate with that stuff because its all I use and I don't get the alpha strike cores that others are getting.

[Slayerik]

Hmm, played last night and had fun. Rocked a 2 ER PPC Raven, fun little ship. Haven't had any mystery cores yet, but I will admit burst is very high right now. More and more 6 PPC stalkers, LL boats, dual gauss/ac20.

I really think the key should be extreme weapon falloff for ballistics. If you want an AC20 to pound someone, get your ass in range. You can hit at 540, but you will do 2 damage. On the flip side, plink away with your AC/2s at range. That's fair.

For energy weapons, call some kinda beam interference that only allows 30 damage on any location per second. This would, at the very least, make someone have to two salvo in their laser/PPC boats. Would also eliminate some of the alpha death via PPC, and require coordination to effectively primary and melt center torso.

[Goreschach]

All these problems would go away if they implemented ballistic trajectory and positional convergence.

[Ironwood]

Strange night last night.  One game was awesome as we handled a whole team of snipers without a single casualty.

In the other game, I bit it early and we got mauled.  While spectacting, I was in a Cicada, and two Ravens, all of which had nothing but PPC's

This is really, really, really silly now.