Mechwarrior Online

[Sir T]

Had a match yesterday with 4 clan mechs on one side and zero on the other (mine). Due entirely to my lack of skillz the match was a fairly close 12-1

[Sir T]

I would say that World of Tanks and the gold ammo there is/was more obvious but atleast they didn't try to hide the fact.

Gold ammo is only the most obvious PTW system in WOT. There's also pay to skip all the upgrading you have to do to get the tank up to the level were you stand a chance, and pay to have 100% crews rather than grind up the XP system where the mid point is actually 82%, and pay for premium time where you are not losing money on every match. But don't worry, if you don't pay they wont broadcast your shit stats to everyone else Oops they do.

But thats an argument for another thread :D

[Hoax]

In WoT there aren't pay only tanks that are 20-40% better than their in-game currency counterparts.

As Falc pointed out eventually clan mechs will be purchasable by everyone but that will leave us with a MM metagame where if you aren't using a clan mech you are fucking over your team because the MM'er is fucking awful.

Instead of using a combination of c-bill cost and tonnage to balance sides or anything even remotely clever they use weight classes and clan vs is (maybe) and elo (maybe). Which means if you aren't piloting a 55-ton medium or you try to use any heavy that isn't a MadCat you are letting your team down.

Which is of course, fucking stupid, so par for the course with PGI.

[Merusk]

In WoT there aren't pay only tanks that are 20-40% better than their in-game currency counterparts.

Indeed, in WoT the Pay-Only tanks are inferior to the grind tanks of their tier in specific ways, or nerfed after the initial buy to make them so.  They're just +credit machines or work well in the hands of someone who knows how to use them, like any other tank.

[Falconeer]

Gold ammo end any conversation about pay2win.

[Merusk]

Except gold ammo can be bought with standard currency, not just Gold.

Which is why it's SOOOOOO fun to use it against players nowadays. I've got all the tanks I want so my credits go straight to ammo and repairs. Buahaha.

[Sir T]

My point in Wot is that you pay to skip the grind of having an inferior tank, You can buy a tank and immediately pay to skip the upgrade phase where the tank is utter crud. And you can pay to bounce your crew to 100%. That means that you are paying for every tank you have to be immediately 40% to 60% better where as the free playing losers have to stick with being an IS mech for a long while

And you can use premium tanks to generate the XP that you pay to convert to free XP. After a while you can buy any tank you want at full upgrades. Its more subtle than just gold ammo. And of course while the losers are grinding away to get their tanks and crew up to clan standards their stats go to shit, which is why your stats are broadcast. You don't want to be refereed to as a tomato? Pay the fuck up, loser.

Gold ammo is just icing on the cake. But to get gold ammo you need credits, and wouldn't premium time get you more credits...

[Falconeer]

World of Tanks, although different, is just all around a better crafted and executed game than MWO by many orders of magnitude. Sadly, it is also more pay2win than MWO. I would have kept playing it much more if it weren't for gold ammo. I went through that shit in 2003, in Lineage 2. Soulshots? No thanks.

[Falconeer]

A new fan-made video that makes you even angrier at PGI.

[Sir T]

Yeah, I think we can all agree that WOT is better polished game.

And yeah that's a nicely made video.

Of course I took the opportunity to look at the mechcommander opening vid. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd2rpFW4zms

[Falconeer]

New post about what is coming in August.

Hello MechWarriors,

I would like to set the stage on what to expect for the month of August, especially with regards to the much anticipated feature of Community Warfare Module 1.

The first thing you will see in August is a commitment to getting back to weekend events, we are going to have multiple events in August and will try to make them increasingly faction oriented.

One of those events will be an IS vs Clan event that will help gather important balancing information. Stay tuned for news of our first event this very weekend.

Here is a timeline breakdown of August:

Aug 8th-12th: Faction-themed sale with an associated personal challenge event.

Aug 12th: Spider Hero – “Anansi” SDR-A for sale (MC); Summoner Mechs for sale (MC); Kit-Fox Mechs for sale (C-Bills); Rec Room Warhorn for sale (MC)

Aug 15th: Faction-themed sale and casual 12 vs 10 Clan balance test using the Private Match window and streamed over Twitch with rewards for participants. Please set aside time this weekend if you feel you have a strong opinion on the 12v10 balance question.

Aug 19th: Nova Camo Specs unlocked; Vindicator Hero for sale (MC): Hero mech version released Aug 19th with MC a week later and C-Bills the week after that as per the established pipeline.

Aug 19th-26th: Community Warfare Module 1 release. I have indicated a range here because were working hard to get this out as soon as possible. There still remains a reasonable possibility this will come out with the Aug 19th patch but let’s just say it’s going to be close and we want to make sure it functions properly. Therefore, if it’s not quite ready for the Aug 19th patch, one option might be to add a patch later that week like Friday the 22nd, But were confident that worst case scenario will see CW Module 1 released no later than Aug 26th.

Aug 22nd-24th: Faction-themed sale and associated event.

Aug 26th: Vindicator Mechs for sale (MC); Dire Wolf Mechs for Sale (MC); Nova Mechs for sale (C-Bills); Lunch Truck Warhorn for sale (MC)

Aug 29th-31st: Faction-themed sale and an associated event.

Some of you have been wondering exactly what is in CW Module 1, let me redirect you to Paul’s post here which remain accurate: http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__3481510

As an added bonus: Here are some links to sneak-peeks of CW module!

-Russ

NOTE: All of these screens are still works-in-progress and the planetary data is based off of 3025 data. The 3025 data will be updated to 3049 prior to launching the feature.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, I think we can all agree that WOT is better polished game.

And yeah that's a nicely made video.

Of course I took the opportunity to look at the mechcommander opening vid. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd2rpFW4zms

I regularly drop with players who are every bit as good as Hardcase.

[Hoax]

10vs12 test finally.

There is no better evidence that p2w/founder/gold bullshit is cancer for game communities than the countless threads of clan buyers saying anything to convince themselves they didn't buy their wins:
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/167060-perfectly-done/

If you actually look at the data, and not just w/l you'll likely find clan players are better overall skillwise while IS players are not. IS player will still have those that are very skilled and can potentially beat clan teams, but since the IS has more players that are of lesser skill, the skilled IS players still end up losing.

I don't think that Clan mechs need to be nerfed; they are on par with the top tier of IS mechs, except that one of them needs buffs (Summoner). A lot of IS mechs need buffs, which is part of why people complain so much.

[Samprimary]

I am just amazed that 12v12 clan vs is matches were ever approved. Of course, I also have trouble believing that even with the inevitable results of that test that people will still believe "clan isn't overpowered!"

[Sir T]

Its very hard to convince someone of whats staring them in the face when their entire self worth is riding on not believing it. Or they are getting paid in wins.

[Kitsune]

The entire point of the clans is that they're overpowered.  From the very get-go in the 90s, they were intended to be overpowered.  The fact that they are in fact turning out to be overpowered is not something that should be surprising anyone, ever.

[Ironwood]

I have two Clan mechs.  You cannot convince me at all that they're not overpowered and pay to win bullshit.

The recent Clan v IS matches that I played in brought it into crystal clear sharp relief;  there wasn't any match where the IS was able to kill over half the Clan mechs.  Indeed, the games where we lost five Clanners were a testament to good play and teamwork by the IS.

What amuses me slightly though is that I got my ass back into my IS mechs and found them all excruciatingly sup-par, except for those that I actually enjoyed.  Playing most of them was painful, but doing 600 damage in my wee SRM Kintaro ?  Still a fucking joy.

[Falconeer]

Tweets from Russ Bullock, on this topic:

Let you guys in on a little sneak peak on my upcoming clan vs IS balancing pose. Clans won 90% of matches - 90%! - now hear me out.

Yes more vet players run clans but MM accounts for this, average diff in teams ELO went from just 40 to 90 in favour of the clan teams.

That is not very much, at most might account for a 60/40 win ratio. Yes a few other factor come into play but...

Clan vs IS right now? Not even close. More balance changes are absolute necessary. We will run the test this weekend.

But this does not mean we are leaning towards 12v10 but we need to do the research before we decide.

So let's keep the emotion down and gradually work through this together before CW battles start later this fall.

A more detailed post on this will come early next week at the latest, leading out to the 12v10 event.

[Hoax]

I don't follow why people are opposed to 10v12? Clan guys stay OP and can brag about winning against number advantage. Lore people are happy because clanners work in stars. What's the drawback that I'm not seeing?

If I piloted clan mechs I'd much rather play 10vs12 than deal with 50 rounds of nerfs to every weapon system and popular load out.

[Ironwood]

I'm still of the opinion 12v10 still ain't fair.

[Hoax]

12 vs 10 can be fair enough depending on what the match maker is going for, though they could take away more consumables from the clans for lore reasons to try to address the CW balance when people will be trying their hardest to win.

Lets say its 12 vs 10 and the match maker has been adjusted so that it considers mech tonnage not weight class (no more 75-ton only heavies or you are a scrub).

If you give the sides equal tonnage obviously the clans go back to smoking the shit out of the IS.

What if instead you say the avg mech weight is ~55 tons and you give the IS side ~660 and the Clans ~550? What if you give the Clans even less? You could easily find the "sweeter" spot.

If OTOH you insisted on this incredibly shit weight class system...

Take 1 assault and 1 heavy from the clans so MM is forcing:
3L, 3M, 3H and 3A vs 3L, 3M, 2H and 2A. That might be enough.

If it isn't you could tweak Clan composition to something more like:
3L, 3M, 3H and 1A

Or you could tweak IS composition because we all know that in IS v Clan its the fact that IS lights do nothing compared to clan lights to something else say:
2L, 2M, 4H and 4A

Point being in typical PGI fashion they don't ever talk about the match maker when the match maker is the entire problem and solution. Right now it is using a shit parameter (weight class) poorly to balance teams.

[Ironwood]

True.

Has anyone noticed the huge impact that the consumables modules has made ?  (Literally.  Large Craters.)

There's a lot more airstrikes and artillery barrages and it's rather awesome.

[Falconeer]

Do you like all that artillery? I don't. But anyway, they said they are going to limit the consumables slot to 1 strike per 'mech, no matter what.

[Ironwood]

Yes.  I like it.

[HaemishM]

If I remember my mech lore from the old days, 12v10 is still not enough. It should be more like 6-8 clan v 12 IS mechs.

Hell, the minute they said they were going to add the clans in, everyone who knew anything about Battletech immediately said that the clans will be overpowered BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS WERE. That was the whole fucking point of the clans - a bunch of organized soldiers with superior weaponry kicking the shit out of the Inner Sphere. That PGI is in anyway surprised by this is just a testament to their fuckstupidity.

[Lantyssa]

Especially since players don't have to follow any of the Clan social conventions.  Exploiting those were the only reasons the Inner Sphere managed to fight them to a stand-still, and it still took Comstar fanatics in better than Star League tech 'mechs to win Tukkyid.

By the time Clans gave up some of their less tactically effective ways the IS was advancing its research and using salvaged clan tech in anything they could throw it in.

About the only way they could balance it now would be to let IS 'mechs mount Clan weapons.  They'd still have disadvantages in heat sinks and engines, but they could at least make up some firepower.  I'd say add a salvage system, but that would be difficult to not let players game.

[Falconeer]

Anyway, I listened to the NGNG podcast and Bryan hinted at other nerf solutions in gthe future, like more negative quirks on specific Clan 'mechs, and some possible changes to some mechanics, like blowing off one of the side torsos where the Clan XL engines wings are located inflicting some penalties. He didn't commit to anything, but seems like they'll nerf the Clans even more and they prefer to go with more nerfs than to force 12v10. Nothing seems set in stone yet.

[Hoax]

Well more nerfs instead of 12vs10 would be the less fun and more stupid solution so I'm 100% positive that's what they will do.

[satael]

So they broguht down the servers for a patch and now it fails to find matches for me (tried mechs from light to assault) 

[Falconeer]

Steiner Challenge weekend. A free 'mechbay to everyone who kills 20 enemies while using a Lyran Commonwealth 'mech.

===================TRANSMISSION BEGINS============================

 

Friends, Lyrans, MechWarriors!

 

The Lyran Commonwealth is searching for fresh mercenaries to assist in peacekeeping operations along its borders.

 

To that end, a royal challenge has been issued: The Archon will provide an additional Mechbay for free to each pilot who successfully kills any 20 hostiles while piloting a Lyran Mech.

The challenge begins Friday 10AM PDT / 1PM  EDT / 5PM UTC and it ends on Midnight at Sunday 11:59PM PDT / Monday 2:59AM EDT / 6:59AM UTC

 

This challenge is open to all MechWarriors, including those already sworn to other Houses or none, so long as they pilot one the Mechs listed below while achieve their kills:

Awesome AWS-8Q

Awesome AWS-8R

Awesome AWS-8T

Awesome AWS-8V

Awesome AWS-9M

Battlemaster BLR-1G

Battlemaster BLR-1G(P)

Battlemaster BLR-1S

Battlemaster BLR-3M

Battlemaster BLR-3S

Banshee BNC-3E

Banshee BNC-3S

Cicada CDA-2A

Cicada CDA-2A(C)

Cicada CDA-2B

Cicada CDA-3C

Centurion CN9-A

Centurion CN9-A(C)

Centurion CN9-AL

Centurion CN9-D

Commando COM-2D

Commando COM-3A

Cataphract CTF-3D

Cataphract CTF-3D(C)

Firestarter FS9-H

Firestarter FS9-S

Firestarter FS9-S(C)

Griffin GRF-1N

Griffin GRF-1N(P)

Griffin GRF-1S

Griffin GRF-3M

Hunchback HBK-4G

Hunchback HBK-4G(F)

Hunchback HBK-4H

Hunchback HBK-4J

Hunchback HBK-4P

Hunchback HBK-4PC3

Hunchback HBK-4SP

Highlander HGN-732

JagerMech JM6-S

Jenner JR7-D

Jenner JR7-D(F)

Jenner JR7-D(S)

Kintaro KTO-18

Kintaro KTO-18(C)

Locust LCT-1E

Locust LCT-1V

Locust LCT-1V(P)

Locust LCT-3S

Orion ON1-K

Orion ON1-K(C)

Quickdraw QKD-4G

Quickdraw QKD-4H

Shadowhawk SHD-2H

Shadowhawk SHD-2H(C)

Shadowhawk SHD-2H(P)

Stalker STK-3F

Stalker STK-3F(C)

Stalker STK-3H

Stalker STK-4N

Stalker STK-5M

Stalker STK-5S

Trebuchet TBT-5N

Trebuchet TBT-7M

Thunderbolt TDR-5S

Thunderbolt TDR-5S(P)

Thunderbolt TDR-5SS

Thunderbolt TDR-9S

Victor VTR-9B

Victor VTR-9K

Victor VTR-9S

Victor VTR-9S(C)

Wolverine WVR-6R

Wolverine WVR-6R(P)

 

Please be advised, all non-Phoenix/Founders variants listed above are also on sale with a 35% discount, courtesy of the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces. This is in addition to a 50% discount on all House Steiner cockpit items and 4 related paint colours. Both sales shall last for the duration of this challenge.

 

On behalf of the Archon, The Noble House of Steiner and the citizens of the Lyran Commonwealth thank you for your assistance.



====================END OF TRANSMISSION===========================

[Hoax]

I average just under a kill per match in my STK-5M lrm boat but that was before everyone will be going purely for kills. I really would have preferred they tie it to victories, its really mean to light pilots and people who play the game as a team game instead of just loading big alpha assaults.

[Falconeer]

With the 5M I enjoy a brawler build that I wouldn't dare to call competitive but that is pretty fun if you are part of charge with many other 'mechs. Especially now that the PPC has been nerfed so you'll get smashed from a distance much less. It's:

5x SRM6
4x ML
1x LL

Updated:

3x SRM+a
4x ML
1x LL

Engine: STD 300
Speed: 62.8 (with Speed Tweak)
Heat MGMT: 1.29
Alpha Strike: 67.7

The alpha is around 93 (!) damage but of course you get a huge ghost heat spike when you shoot the 5 SRM together, so it's better to "alpha" with only 3 SRM and keep the other two to double tap in case you miss. You are slow as hell (I get to 60 with this build) but you are tough as nail and you punch really hard from close range. Don't take this as a real advice, just something to try and have fun with if you are tired of long range missiling.

You can also remove 2 of the SRM6 and change them with 2x SSRM2 and a Beagle Probe for when stupid Lights get too close and try to exploit your slowness. Your alpha goes down but you won't have to worry about Ghost Heat anymore and you will still hit very hard while also having some counter for the little pests.

EDIT: I just had a couple more matches with it and decided to remove 2 SRM6 and put Artemis on the remianing 3. That gave me more focused damage, and allowed me to put in an additional Heat Sink AND boost the engine up to almost 63 Kph. As I said, it's pretty fun when you are up close, as it retains a 68 not-too-shabby alpha strike. Just racked up 6 kills in two matches with this build.

[Hoax]

I got 22 kills in 27 games to get the mechbay. Which is quite a better ratio than I usually have when everyone is piloting clan bullshit.

The 15% off Steiner mechs applies to c-bills which was nice. Picked up the costly 7M Treb at a discount even though I don't follow why it is a "Steiner" mech.

Most importantly I learned that the Orion is complete dogballs shit, bad weapon positions and huge hitboxes.

[Fordel]

Most importantly I learned that the Orion is complete dogballs shit, bad weapon positions and huge hitboxes.

That's been true since Mechwarrior 2 

[Ironwood]

I fucking hate my Orion.  Arms are too low down to hit fucking anything.  Seriously, if there's even a small rock in the way you can forget it.

Shit mech.


My love affair with my Kintaro continues.