Mechwarrior Online

[Samprimary]

yeah we were being cruelly reintroduced to the lrmpocapyse, then falconeer was like !~i have an idea~! and we strapped our stalker AMS's on and he strapped the 3AMS/ECM arm to his clan mech and basically stood around us going

YOUUUU SHALL NOT PASSSSSSSS

Once I saw a full C-LRM 20 fly straight at us and just .. just vanish.

[Ironwood]

The Kit Fox is a wee bastard of a mech.

[Shannow]

Hahaha playing a completely stock, no upgrades Jenner F on Mount Doom last night.

Holy fuck was my heat management bad.... and it was awesome!

That's why I want a 3025 unmodded battle option. 

[satael]

I've been having the most fun since I reinstalled the game with a 170kph ERPPC Death Knell. 

[Ironwood]

You are everything that's wrong with the game.   

It's good to see that lights are finally where they should be.  Support, Support, Support.  I've seen so many lights that want to get in and brawl and then just fucking die.  I've also seen those ECM AMS lights that are protecting the group and doing the scouting, hitting the NARC and if you have those chaps, you're probably going to win.

LRM's are just a HUGE part of the game again and if you go outside, remember to take your AMS Brolly.  It's even worth slamming in another ton of Ammo frankly.

[Falconeer]

And just yesterday Russ Bullock said they are gonna "unfuck" Lights, cause apparently fall damage has hurt them more than any other class with the result that no one plays them anymore putting a lot of stress on the new matchmaker. The good news is that they are going to fiddle with the jumping damage a little more, since apparently it hasn't really hit meta-Victors at all.

Anyway, I agree with you. And the new most annoying thing are brawling Firestarter-Embers.

[Ironwood]

That surprises me;  I haven't noticed any slowdown of jumping wee bastards at all.

The Madcats and Summoners are also still mental jumpers too.

[Sir T]

Time to dust off my Raven Methinks!  

(edit) Ok had a couple of games before the secondgame  caused a "memory allocation error" half way through.   Now the jumping would not really effect me as I always left some fuel for my Jets for landing, buit I did notice that dropping 2 feet into a small hole in the landscape now did a fair amount of damage to my legs, sending them into orange after a couple of drops that I would have not even noticed before. I did have a lot of fun however. The spread in the matchmaker was 16% Lights and meds, and 33% Heavies and assaults. I have a feeling however that the reason that "no-one playes lights" is that there is no more of the stupid 6 man jenner zergs running around, and 3 man jenner swarms are vunerable to the Mediums that ARE around now. And that means that the "Jenner's ARE NOT OP!!" crowd are now playing something else.

[Ironwood]

I'm going to repeat, because I can :

The majority of people I've met playing Clan Mechs are fucking awful, awful pilots and shots.

[Sir T]

I know! I poped over a ridge with like 3 clanners and they all opened up on me and I think only 2 shots hit. Then I went to to toe with a Nova and won by simply running back and forward a few times behind the same ridge.

[Kail]

Stupid question, sorry if it's been answered but I didn't see it: is there some kind of "practice" mode or bot matches or even a way to make an empty lobby to test stuff in?  I did the tutorial, but I still have no idea WTF I'm doing, so not crazy about jumping in the deep end right off the bat.

[taolurker]

Testing Grounds button on the left side of Mech Store, Kail.

[Ironwood]

Bear in mind that the New UI will have the left side at the right side and the buttons will all be greyed out and will crash the client if you press them.

[Kail]

Awesome, thanks!

[Falconeer]

I can seriously say that no other game has hooked me like this in the past 10 years. I've been playing pretty much non-stop since August 2012, and 95% of the time alone. And just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I'm back to 5 hours a day and that horrible "just one more match" syndrome that kills my sleep time. Not sure if this is because of the recent changes or just because I am broken.

Anyway yes, it feels like all the negligible changes they've made over the past 6 months somehow made the game better. Better matchmaker, slightly less obscenely heavy teams, skirmish mode that takes away the base capture nonsense, Clan 'mechs that shake things up with different weapons sounds and shapes, a new UI that while terribly inefficient makes your 'mechs look pretty, new maps, improved hitboxes and hit registration, and lower alphas and dps (except for Clanners) across the board.

I loved PGI for bringing back MechWarrior, then I hated PGI for wasting all the goodness, now I am still pissed at PGI but daaaaamn I love the game. And Community Warfare, eventually, will happen too.

[Falconeer]

This is cool. A huge brawl between "stock" IS 'mechs (Marik Gunfighter Alliance) vs. "stock" Clan 'mechs (Clan Jade Falcon), with videos from both perspectives.

[Ironwood]

You know, about an hour after you posted that I was watching one of my teammates (I was long dead) destroying every fucking thing in sight with a 'normal' Hunchback.

Did Ac20's get a buff or something, because he was utterly able to rock out with his cock out.  It was scary to watch.

[Falconeer]

Not sure why, because whenever they target my right torso I am out of the game in minutes, but my Founder Hunchback 4G with AC20 and 3 ML is my most succesful 'mech with a K/D close of 2.67.

EDIT: The Hunchback and in the same fashion the AC20-based Blackjack are all about keeping a low profile until it's time to come out while the big guys are beating each other and wreck havoc with the cannon. These Mediums are particularly effective in finishing an XL-equipped 'mech since 20 damage are often enough to destroy what's left of an exposed side torso, and that's also why they are having a harder time versus the Clans and their fake-XL engines.

[Sir T]

Yeah, if its true that engine crits don't have any effect on the game and 3 engine crits wont kill you like in Table Top, then there is literally no downside to C-XLs.

[Samprimary]

I loved PGI for bringing back MechWarrior, then I hated PGI for wasting all the goodness, now I am still pissed at PGI but daaaaamn I love the game. And Community Warfare, eventually, will happen too.

I just pretend the game has only been out for a quarter as long.

[Falconeer]

Clan XL engines have no drawbacks whatsoever, except for the fact that you can't change them so you are stuck with whatever speed your 'mech was built for.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, if its true that engine crits don't have any effect on the game and 3 engine crits wont kill you like in Table Top, then there is literally no downside to C-XLs.

Sorry, what ?

EDIT : Oh Right.  Hmmm.  Was it that way in TT as well for Clans ?  I didn't think so.

Second EDIT :  The Clans only have 2 crits in the shoulders tho.  Maybe that's why ?  You have to actually either get 2 shoulders or get to the core ?

[Falconeer]

Yes, you need to destroy both side torsos to stop a Clan 'mech, which is two times harder than killing an XL-equipped IS 'mech. The only thing close to a drawback is that Clan 'mechs usually have wider Center Torsos than IS 'mechs.

[Ironwood]

In my opinion, the two heaviest Clan mechs are pretty much a liability.  They can be hit from anywhere, it usually hits the CT and lights just walk right over them.

Watching a locust take out a Dire Wolf this weekend was a joy to see.  The lumbering shitbox couldn't touch him at all.

[Falconeer]

That's true, but you haven't known destruction until you have seen a Dire Wolf with 2 Gauss Rifles and 2 C-ER PPC. No matter how slow it goes, when it gets there stuff just melts and pops. It's depressing. It's just too much frontloaded pinpoint damage (50) in the same spot and from any range, over and over.

[Falconeer]

So, I had this Wolverine 7K and I didn't know what to do with it. So I slapped a 300 XL in the engine, 2 LL on its right arm and 2 SRM6+Artemis on its left torso. After 8 matches I had a pathetic score of 2 kills and 7 deaths. What the hell?! I was tempted to file it under "unrecoverable garbage" but since I really wanted to master all the mediums, I decided to not give up. In an effort to gain some close range punch and forget about long distance poking, I traded the 2 LL for 3 ML, but added an additional SRM6 and some AMS because it helps. And the score went off the roof. Over the next 6 games I scored 17 kills and 3 deaths. Now granted, the sample is very limited, but it's utterly satisfying when you feel that a couple of sensible changes unlocked the full potential of a 'mech transforming it from garbage to pubbie star.

You also get an unsolicited picture because the guy deserves some celebrating.

[Maven]

Nice render.

[Ironwood]

You're surprised that a Mech called 'Wolverine' made a good short range brawler ?

 

[angry.bob]

Hmmm, so is there a special thing with buying a clan mech? They weren't anyplace I could see to buy them other for real money, but matches were full of them.

Also, the 90 days of premium time that I never activated have dissppeared. Fuckers.

[Falconeer]

Clan 'mechs are/were preorder only for a while, now they will be released two a months over the next four months, for real money first, then game money. You can check the release schedule here.

About the "banked" Premium Time, it doesn't show until you press "activate". Even if it says you have zero days, try pressing that button and a pop up asking you if you want to activate your xx days xx hours banked Premium Time should show up.

[eldaec]

I find I play mediums almost exclusively. If I get around to patching this and starting it up again, which clan mech, if any, do I want?

[Ironwood]

I've had a play about with the Clan Mechs on Smurfy and as far as I can see they're quite dissapointingly limited in terms of loadout.

I'll still buy a timber wolf when it's out though.  I also really, really like what people are doing with the Kit Fox.  He's a wee shit.

[Falconeer]

I've played extesnively with the Nova but haven't tried a single round with the Stormcrow yet. I find the Nova very enjoyable with all those lasers, but you have to keep in mind that you'll be facing the enemy a lot due to the longer laser duration of the Clan weapons unless you go the PPC way, which is totally fine. Few 'mechs feel more "pew pew" than the one that goes around with 12 ER MLs, 6 in each arm.

[Ironwood]

Also, it can jump.  I've seen one or two good Nova Pilots and they usually just lop arms off other mechs then jump away like fleas.

[Falconeer]

Looks like they introduced an interesting matchmaking feature with yesterday's patch. Basically, since the group queue puts together groups of twos with group of nine regardless, the larger your group the bigger will be your "ELO handicap", meaning, if you are grouped say with 7 other friends, and there are only groups with less people in the other team, the matchmaker will compensate by picking smaller groups with a higher average ELO than your group. In short, the advantage of having more people in voice chat would tentatively be compensated by having to face better players with less communication.

EDIT: About the Nova, yes I love that it jumps too. But I have to say, yesterday's patch hit jumpers pretty hard. Personally I am happy, I hate bunny hopping in all games, but it'll just be a matter of adjusting over the next few days. I think it's a welcome change.