Mechwarrior Online

[Nefaro]

Seeing as they're still inviting testers, I signed up too.   

Could've sworn I had signed up before, but evidentally not.   So many games..  :o

[MetalDog]

I want to try out a new catapult build his week. I'm going to take off the LRMs and replace them with SRMs. With 4 medium lasers I should get a nice short to medium range punch.

So you are able to configure your mechs?  That's AWEsome!!!  The old MechWarrior players guide had rules that allowed for mech design from the ground up.  How much design capability do you have in MWO?

[Kushan]

I want to try out a new catapult build his week. I'm going to take off the LRMs and replace them with SRMs. With 4 medium lasers I should get a nice short to medium range punch.

So you are able to configure your mechs?  That's AWEsome!!!  The old MechWarrior players guide had rules that allowed for mech design from the ground up.  How much design capability do you have in MWO?

Yea you can. Not as much as I'd like. Every mech has a certain number of hard points for certain weapon types. Using my catapult as an example, the one I have has 2 missile pods for arms, and 4 hard points for laser. I can put any missile in those pods. What I can't do is change the hard point type. For instance there is a catapult that has lasers on the arms. I can't take those arms replace the missile pods on my first catapult. My first catapult is my founders catapult, so given the current set up, it will always rely on missiles as it primary weapon.

The other primary things you can customize are ammo, armor, engines, heat sinks, etc. It's a balancing game between weapon ammo, protection, and heat generation. Right now there doesn't seem to be an optimized build for everything like there is in most mmo's. I haven't looked into it too much.

[MetalDog]

Excellent!  Thanks for the info.

[Nefaro]

That's pretty cool.  I had hoped it would have as much customization as the old MW games, and sounds like it does.

[DennisS]

I stopped playing mechwarrior online, and deleted the game off of my hard drive.

Yes, I was under a non-disclosure agreement. I feel that I am no longer bound by that, as I am certain to never re-install this product again.

Let me first say that this will likely be a commercial success, and I wish them well, and that many players will find that this game is PERFECT for them. This may even be the majority of players.

....but....LRB boats are dominant. LRM is long range missiles. Missiles that have a 100% chance to hit, after being launched, with over a 1000m range.

You just cannot win with any other type of mech. It just isn't possible. 3-4 of these big bastards, all trained on you, and you are stun-locked/battered to death.

If they have someone that can see you, all LRM boats can launch on you.

As a light, medium OR heavy non-lrm boat, what do you do? You die. Simple..then you save your money to get an LRM boat.

LRM boats are so OP that I quit the game...and I am absolutely sure that this will be fixed, or the game will die. It will have to.

So..there we sit. Sue me for breaking the NDA, I don't give a shit. The game is broke.

[Kushan]

You are right, mass LRM missiles are incredibly unbalancing. I think part of it has to do with the match making system. They've admitted that its still very much a WIP. They needed something to match people for an event, and they threw something together. I can't be certain but they may have done at least one balance pass on the match making system. I'm seeing far less of the mass groups of missile boats then I was seeing a month ago. Every mech has a hardpoint for an AMS (anti missile system).

Every game has unbalances like that, especially when its still a beta. As long as they get fixed before the game goes gold, then I'm going to stick with it.

[Nefaro]

I'd expect that they get nerfed before open beta.. or release. 

That does say far too OP.  And missiles all hit?!  This isn't very Mechwarrior-like.  I can see how people wouldn't like to be screwed by the dice-rolls but those massive missile-packs were never meant to all successfully hit every single time. 

The target-sharing sounds kinda lame, too.  LRMs are supposed to be a sniper-style weapon, right?  Not cruise missiles.  :P

[republic]

Anyone else in the beta having problems since the last patch?

[LongBlade]

The NDA has been lifted http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/56176-take-your-best-shot/. I can finally talk about my time in the beta. I'll take some screenshots and do a small write up sometime this weekend. If anyone has any questions go ahead and ask and I'll answer then best I can.

Awesome!

[Nefaro]

Awww Yeah. 

Here I come, to die in a conflagration.

Open Beta is running as fast as it's mechanical legs can go!  I hope the d/l speed is better than WT.  :-\


Didn't they mention that they wouldn't wipe MWO after Open Beta?  Or did I just misunderstand some post on their forum?

[Nefaro]

I don't understand.

Where are the "Mech Trees" and how do I unlock mechs past the four "Trial" ones listed? 

Do you not advance by playing, like other free-to-plays?  The Mech Lab interface isn't informative about advancement and I get the impression that we have to purchase mechs for money, up front, in order to advance our Mechwarrior.  That wouldn't exactly be free-to-play, though, would it?

EDIT:  Oh.. I think I see what's going on.   The 'Buy' buttons give the option of either in-game credits OR cash money for buying each one.  So we can grind into new, bigger, mechs. 

I'm still disappointed about not having all the fancy mechwarrior skill XP and stuff while grinding credits with the so-called "Trial" mechs.  So it sucks starting off even more than most free-tops since you're not really levelling until you grind through the credits to afford your first REAL mech.  :-\

[Kushan]

I don't understand.

Where are the "Mech Trees" and how do I unlock mechs past the four "Trial" ones listed? 

Do you not advance by playing, like other free-to-plays?  The Mech Lab interface isn't informative about advancement and I get the impression that we have to purchase mechs for money, up front, in order to advance our Mechwarrior.  That wouldn't exactly be free-to-play, though, would it?

EDIT:  Oh.. I think I see what's going on.   The 'Buy' buttons give the option of either in-game credits OR cash money for buying each one.  So we can grind into new, bigger, mechs. 

I'm still disappointed about not having all the fancy mechwarrior skill XP and stuff while grinding credits with the so-called "Trial" mechs.  So it sucks starting off even more than most free-tops since you're not really levelling until you grind through the credits to afford your first REAL mech.  :-\

You are correct, you unlock new mechs by buying them. The in game money seems a little expensive, but IMO doesn't really take that long to grind, as long as you don't get your mech too shot up.

There are skill tree. If you look under the pilot tab, you can unlock new skills on a per mech basis. It should be next to the Mech Lab tab. Most of them are things like quicker turning speed, quicker acceleration, shorting stopping distance, etc. Only thing that really sucks is that its on a per mech basis. So if you have two different versions of a cataphract they do not share the same tree. Even though they are the same basic chassis, they are treated different as far as skills are concerned.

[Tpek]

There's an open beta?
How come I only see Closed Beta?
And why did gaming news sites say the game is actually supposed to be released today (or this week).

[Nefaro]

You are correct, you unlock new mechs by buying them. The in game money seems a little expensive, but IMO doesn't really take that long to grind, as long as you don't get your mech too shot up.

There are skill tree. If you look under the pilot tab, you can unlock new skills on a per mech basis. It should be next to the Mech Lab tab. Most of them are things like quicker turning speed, quicker acceleration, shorting stopping distance, etc. Only thing that really sucks is that its on a per mech basis. So if you have two different versions of a cataphract they do not share the same tree. Even though they are the same basic chassis, they are treated different as far as skills are concerned.

I saw the skill tree and pilot training stuff, but can't use it until grinding out the 25% C-bill gains on trial mechs to buy a real one.  At least the Trial Mech grind doesn't look to be too long, but it's still grinding to get to the 'meat' of the game. 

I'm more understanding now that I see how things work, though.  There's not much explanation on how progression works, in the menus, and the levelling is different than other games so it took me a little digging to find out what's going on. 

Do you (or anyone else) have recommendations as to whether I should keep grinding the 25% c-bill awards for a medium mech or will I progress faster with even a Light mech compared to the Trial ones?   In other words, can the repair bills for Light mechs cripple your income so much that you're regularly making only 25% profit per match?