mechwarrior online

I've been playing since closed beta. It's a fun game which I probably sink down $100+ for dumb microtransactions. The in game sales are what get me to spend $$.

There is a wealth of information on the game with a friendly online community to get you started. I play pick up games on http://www.nogutsnogalaxy.net/ teamspeak so I don't get into a lance of pugs. Also, I check http://www.mechspecs.com/ for the latest trends in mech building.
 
OK, here is what is pissing me off;

This is a franchise I really love, so ok, some emotional investment for sure, full disclosure and all that.

What pisses me off is that I actually find the gameplay mechanics very enjoyable, but everything else is so painful.

click the icon
click UAC
click play
sit through 4 part splash that is not only unskipable...but disables the mouse while it is playing
enter password (thank gawd there is a remember me, 1 for the devs)
click login
wait...
wait again...
click social
click group
click create group
click create
click close "successfully created group" dialog...really?
click group options
click invite friends
manually enter friends username...a drop down of your friends is, I guess, master level coding beyond this dev team
click invite
click ready
click launch
wait...
...
...
still waiting...
...
...
get a match, black screen
wait...
...
get ping screen, wait another 60 secs
play for 120 secs, this part is awesome!!
game freezes
ctrl+alt+del
select MWO
click end task
click yes, really end task
goto 1
 
jojo69 said:
UI commentary
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This is one of the biggest things to me. They are looking at World of Tanks and League of Legends with big dollar signs in their eyes instead of really improving the game. I *love* Mechwarrior and Battletech. But I am going to say I am disappointed in how the game is progressing and how the company is putting out updates. It seems no one can make a good Mech game.

The archaic UI is one of the biggest sticking points to me and has been horrible since September '12 (when I first started playing).
 
timtheenchantor said:
The archaic UI is one of the biggest sticking points to me and has been horrible since September '12 (when I first started playing).
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I've been in since closed beta, and early on, and the UI hasn't appreciably changed since then. It's serviceable, but newb-antagonistic.
The rough thing is that the game itself is awesome. The mechs control great, look good, and despite the constant weapon rebalancing, the weapons are, and have been, pretty balanced. Shoot, even boating has finally been essentially taken away but for a fwe (arguably legitimate) exceptions (dual AC20s and loading up on LRM5s).
But instead of livening up the WHYs of the game, they're adding pitted cockpit glass. I mean, wtf? It;s like a dev discovered a cryengine toggle and decided it had to happen.

And they have yet to actually utilize all of the "no signal" screens in the cockpits:
mwo-cockpit.png


If the core gameplay wasn't so damn good, I wouldn't have spent so much money. I just wish CW would hit.
 
I dont think the core gameplay is all that great considering the limited weapon selection and the fucked up way they did hard points to try and get people to buy mechs.
 
darkstarcow said:
I dont think the core gameplay is all that great considering the limited weapon selection and the fucked up way they did hard points to try and get people to buy mechs.
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I'd disagree.
First, the weapon selection is perfect, imho, and based on lore date. The weapons as-is are representative of ALL the core weapons in the Battletech game as of pre3050 clan invasion. Even then, everything after 3050 is just the same set of weapons but with tweaks (different streak SRM sizes and ER ML/ER SL and expanded LB-X and Ultra ACs).

Second, I like the hard point restrictions. Without them, you couldn't have variants that meant anything, and your mech selection would be much less. That's what happened in Battletech after a while. The chassis you used became, essentially, meaningless, since a Hunchback and a centurion are the same weight, they could be outfitted with the same exact loadout. Same with a catapult and a jagermech... or any two chassis with the same tonnage (like a Catapult C2 and a Jagermech). The distinction becomes entirely cosmetic, and that's both boring and lame:

Having hardpoints enforces the "feel" of a mech, and allows you as an opponent to have a good idea of what you are up against when you see an enemy mech. i.e., if you see a Catapult K2, you know it's a direct fire-support mech, packing burst weapons like ACs or PPCs. If you see a Catapult C2, you know it's an indirect fire support mech with LRMs, or a close in SRM boat (movement behavior would tell you which) and can react accordingly.
 
Modred189 said:
I'd disagree.
First, the weapon selection is perfect, imho, and based on lore date. The weapons as-is are representative of ALL the core weapons in the Battletech game as of pre3050 clan invasion. Even then, everything after 3050 is just the same set of weapons but with tweaks (different streak SRM sizes and ER ML/ER SL and expanded LB-X and Ultra ACs).

Second, I like the hard point restrictions. Without them, you couldn't have variants that meant anything, and your mech selection would be much less. That's what happened in Battletech after a while. The chassis you used became, essentially, meaningless, since a Hunchback and a centurion are the same weight, they could be outfitted with the same exact loadout. Same with a catapult and a jagermech... or any two chassis with the same tonnage (like a Catapult C2 and a Jagermech). The distinction becomes entirely cosmetic, and that's both boring and lame:

Having hardpoints enforces the "feel" of a mech, and allows you as an opponent to have a good idea of what you are up against when you see an enemy mech. i.e., if you see a Catapult K2, you know it's a direct fire-support mech, packing burst weapons like ACs or PPCs. If you see a Catapult C2, you know it's an indirect fire support mech with LRMs, or a close in SRM boat (movement behavior would tell you which) and can react accordingly.
Click to expand...

You can change out weapons though, so a variant doesn't really mean diddly squat. Since the p2w mechs have the best/most hardpoints, it is obvious they only put in hardpoint limits to push people into paying for mechs.
 
darkstarcow said:
You can change out weapons though, so a variant doesn't really mean diddly squat. Since the p2w mechs have the best/most hardpoints, it is obvious they only put in hardpoint limits to push people into paying for mechs.
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Well, what did you expect? But some of the free mech aren't too shabby. Clan mech with Omni pods can mount any mechs, there are no hardpoint restrictions.
 
darkstarcow said:
You can change out weapons though, so a variant doesn't really mean diddly squat. Since the p2w mechs have the best/most hardpoints, it is obvious they only put in hardpoint limits to push people into paying for mechs.
Click to expand...

But that's not true. You can only swap out weapons per type. Thus, a standard Hunchback will always have an autocannon in it's right torso, never in an arm. Thus you KNOW what it's firing arcs will be. Same with a catapult. So when you run into a Kintaro, you KNOW it's not going to have a gauss or LBX, and can react accordingly. You know a centurion will never have a weapon in the left arm. etc etc.

The feel of the mech doesn't change much, even if the weapon systems will vary.

BEsides, what's wrong with them wanting people to pay for mechs? That's the business model. Free 2 Play games cnnot exist on the freebie members. They NEED people to pay. And paying for variants that are no better or worse than one another, just different, is a perfect way imho. That's a great anti P2W scenario.
 
Modred189 said:
But that's not true. You can only swap out weapons per type. Thus, a standard Hunchback will always have an autocannon in it's right torso, never in an arm. Thus you KNOW what it's firing arcs will be. Same with a catapult. So when you run into a Kintaro, you KNOW it's not going to have a gauss or LBX, and can react accordingly. You know a centurion will never have a weapon in the left arm. etc etc.

The feel of the mech doesn't change much, even if the weapon systems will vary.

BEsides, what's wrong with them wanting people to pay for mechs? That's the business model. Free 2 Play games cnnot exist on the freebie members. They NEED people to pay. And paying for variants that are no better or worse than one another, just different, is a perfect way imho. That's a great anti P2W scenario.
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Because it drives away a lot of people from wanting to play, I have been playing it on and off for about a week now and am going to uninstall.

The game is a fucking travesty, and its low player count reflects that.
 
darkstarcow said:
Because it drives away a lot of people from wanting to play, I have been playing it on and off for about a week now and am going to uninstall.

The game is a fucking travesty, and its low player count reflects that.
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So... you want a free game. That's impossible.
 
Modred189 said:
So... you want a free game. That's impossible.
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No, I want a mechwarrior game that isnt p2w, im glad you are in love with it, but in the end it is a train wreck of a game.

- limited maps
- no real variety in the maps
- limited # of viable mechs
- Developer cares more about releasing items that cost money then actually improving the game.
- Why the fuck is it called "Mech Warrior Online" considering its just multiplayer
- Developer has majorly over promised and under delivered.
- P2W mechs that chase players away who don't want to spend $20 for a mech and another $10 to outfit it the way they want.

I was going to pay for a "premium" account before I realized it would still take me 30+ hours to save up for a mech and then another 10+ to be able to equip it the way I want. So the obvious answer is to just out right buy a mech and weapons with cash.

The game is a cash grab no ifs, ands, or buts, and I give it 6-12 months before it completely crashes and burns.

Edit: I have given the game about a dozen chances, at this point I can barely stomach a single round before I quite the game. The game pisses me off so much that I actually installed MW4 to get a mech warrior fix.
 
jojo69 said:
no, I would gladly pay for a well executed, modern MW multiplayer with a level playing field


certainly not paying for this
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Oh, I agree, I'd pay full price for a modern MW game, SP and MP etc.
But why don't you think it's a level playing field?
 
Modred189 said:
But why don't you think it's a level playing field?
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MC

pay to win hero mechs

I will go several matches toe to toe with everything on the map, then run into some fucker that melts me from full health to cinder in 8 seconds flat
 
In my own experience, I can't classify MWO as pay-to-win. There are obviously advantages to paying real money — you get certain things faster and other things you can't get otherwise — but those things don't give you wins. I've looked pretty seriously at most of the Hero 'Mechs, and there are none that are going to give me any significant advantage versus other 'Mechs. All you need a 'Mech chassis/layout suited to your playstyle (this isn't easy to put together, because it isn't supposed to be) and a tempered attitude in combat.

That's it. You're frustrated because you haven't put together a good machine for the way you're playing and/or the way you're playing isn't the way you should be playing (if what you want is to deal a lot of damage/round). You aren't doing 120 damage/round because everyone else is paying a lot of money: you're doing 120 damage/round because you haven't settled in to how you should be building and playing 'Mechs for what you're trying to do.
 
THIS^
Seriously? Hero mechs are your argument for pay to win? Hero mechs give you no advantage on the battlefield AT ALL. All they give you is a paint job and an XP/Cbill bonus. They don't have more/better weapons, and the heat scale effects them as much as anyone else. Some are straight up horrible too (The Catapult "Jester" is crap, and the Stalker hero, "Misery", is arguably the 2nd worst of the chassis).

The ONLY thing that MC can buy you that can give you ANY advantage in game is the modules, and you can use those even w/o MC.

If you're not doing well, someone beat you at the underlying rock-paper-scissor that can sometimes determine a matchup if you aren't careful, or because you havent found a loadout that suits your playstyle, or you don't know the weapons yet, not because their mech as a fancy paintjob.
 
MWO isn't pay-to-win. Yes some of the Hero Mechs (for $) are better, but not so much. the Blackjack with an AC20 in it, that's a free mech. the Atlas DDC, considered arguably the best mech in the game, it's free. The heavy metal is the best Highlander, but the 733C is almost the same. The Dual Gauss Jagger is a pretty good mech, or even the triple UAC5 Jagger. Free centurion is a zombie mech, and one of the best zombies around.

If you get killed fast, it's cause the other guy/team is better, or you're (or your team is) just that bad, no other ways around it.
 
I've had around 3000 matches and have never once felt that using or going against hero mechs was advantageous to myself or my opponent. Pilot skill and loadouts taking advantage of that skill and the mech's attributes are far, far more deadly than any particular mech. If that didn't hold true then it would be 12v12 Atlas showdown

At least in my experience, lol
 
Precisely. I once took down a 90% Stalker in a Spider (what's that, 85 v 25 tons?). Skill trumps mech any day.
(Knowing Stalkers keep any ammo in the torsos and focus firing on one side while keeping the cap point thing between us plus a big olé ammo explosion)
 
The biggest problem with this game is that it's just a derpy slugfest. There's little in the way of the core game mechanics to promote/enable tactics. The best mechs are big with very low mobility, and there's nothing stopping a whole team from picking the biggest, baddest mech in the game. There is no denying the simple advantage of having more & bigger guns. Modes with fixed amounts of mech types per team would go a long way to making the game fun.

But the absolute #1 reason for this gigantic, fun-sapping problem is that if you are spotted by someone on the enemy team, all the sudden the ENTIRE enemy team gets your location highlighted on their screen. It takes away a LOT from the game.

If you just want to get in a mech and brawl it out, mashing buttons and stuff, zerging it up with your zerg versus their zerg, the game should suit that desire perfectly.

Modred189 said:
Precisely. I once took down a 90% Stalker in a Spider (what's that, 85 v 25 tons?). Skill trumps mech any day.
(Knowing Stalkers keep any ammo in the torsos and focus firing on one side while keeping the cap point thing between us plus a big olé ammo explosion)
Click to expand...

Skill trumps mech any day? That is completely untrue and if you believe that, then... well, what am I saying. You'e still playing MWO, 'nuff said.
 
WADR, your comments belie your lack of experience and/or skill.
Indirect spotting has always been part of the game. It's how the Mechwarrior and Battletech universe works. It's where lights get a lot of their scouting value: it's kind of their point.

Second, as has been mentioned, mech size means next to nothing. A skilled pilot will ALWAYS beat a better armed pilot 1v1. I would LOVE to go up against a team full of atlases. Well, not full. Besides, the matchmaking system will ~80% of the tome match approximate weight classes and values. Rarely is it ever too far off.

Finally, if you're mashing buttons, you're doing it wrong and there's no wonder you're getting wiped.

EDIT: You know what? Give me a team of Centurions, Catapults and Hunchbacks (and an ECM spider) any day over a team full of atlases. It will win far more often than it loses.
 
Modred189 said:
WADR, your comments belie your lack of experience and/or skill.
Indirect spotting has always been part of the game. It's how the Mechwarrior and Battletech universe works. It's where lights get a lot of their scouting value: it's kind of their point.

Second, as has been mentioned, mech size means next to nothing. A skilled pilot will ALWAYS beat a better armed pilot 1v1. I would LOVE to go up against a team full of atlases. Well, not full. Besides, the matchmaking system will ~80% of the tome match approximate weight classes and values. Rarely is it ever too far off.

Finally, if you're mashing buttons, you're doing it wrong and there's no wonder you're getting wiped.

EDIT: You know what? Give me a team of Centurions, Catapults and Hunchbacks (and an ECM spider) any day over a team full of atlases. It will win far more often than it loses.
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Honestly mordred, from your posts and your viewpoint of the game you come off as a very unskilled and noobish player. No offense, but I think that's all thats left playing MWO. When I played, my KDR and Tonnage ratios were very highly above average and I spent most of my time playing a Commando and was active in the limited "competitive" scene.

Assuming you're not just facehugging an LRM boat or other specialized derp mech, you're only going to kill someone in a david/goliath 1v1 scenario if there is a gigantic difference in skill, i.e. you are fighting someone really dumb and really new, so much that you might as well be fighting a bot.

And from what I've seen in my experience with MWO, the average player sets the bar VERY low. So yeah, it's possible for stuff like that to happen, but if you are fighting someone even remotely close to your level - then nope.

And I'm a longtime fan of BT and Mechwarrior, and the way spotting works in MWO is not at all like it has worked in the past. You could get something similar to the current system but that was in the form of specialized addon equipment, C3 computers and C3 slaves. MWO's targetting basically gives everyone C3 computers & slaves for nothing and it makes the game too shallow.

BTW I know all to well about arguing with a fanboy so, that's my opinion of the game. Regardless of how you feel, my opinion is shared by the vast majority of the people who have experienced the turd of MWO. You're welcome to keep arguing but at this point you're just going to be arguing with yourself.
 
Core rules in CBT (2nd edition, I think) included spotting rules for indirect LRM attacks.
Not sure how much more basic you can get.

Look, you don't have to like the game, and I'm not asking that you do. I'm just saying that your expectations are off. Indirect fire has been in BT from the beginning. Even LL had indirect fire in various forms.
And as several other posters have pointed out, if you think tonnage= win, you just don't know how to use the mechs.
 
Modred189 said:
Core rules in CBT (2nd edition, I think) included spotting rules for indirect LRM attacks.
Not sure how much more basic you can get.

Look, you don't have to like the game, and I'm not asking that you do. I'm just saying that your expectations are off. Indirect fire has been in BT from the beginning. Even LL had indirect fire in various forms.
And as several other posters have pointed out, if you think tonnage= win, you just don't know how to use the mechs.
Click to expand...

I think you legitimately don't understand what I said or you are desperately grasping for some kind of counter argument in your rabid fanboyism. LRM indirect fire was for an advanced rulebook that only the diehard super BT poopsockers used, only worked for LRMs, and on top of that made any indirect fire attempts with LRMs much more innacurate.

Even if the rules did equate to MWO's system, you would be comparing obscure table top game rules that to a real time video game where if the whole team is across the map and out of position but Joe Derp who is just randomly running around accidentally runs into an enemy flank, then all the sudden the hidden enemy positions pop up on everyone's screens and minimap and the surprise is gone? This poops on any chance of the game being anything more than the slugfest it is now.

Anyway, I'm done. Your thinking is so damn fallacious that it's literally driving me away from posting in this thread anymore. You can keep defending the turd of a game all by yourself.
 
FordFanboy said:
But the absolute #1 reason for this gigantic, fun-sapping problem is that if you are spotted by someone on the enemy team, all the sudden the ENTIRE enemy team gets your location highlighted on their screen. It takes away a LOT from the game.
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ummmm, ever heard of this awesome new tech...RADIO?

duh, welcome to modern battlefield reality...fucks sakes
 
Mech you buy don't give advantage?

6 laser atlas is much better than 4 laser atlas. With a good config, this mean that you can shoot 6 lasers like 20 times without overheating. For a skilled player like me, this mean a total carnage.

So yes, buy mech are better. I saw some other better too.
 
Mak54291 said:
Mech you buy don't give advantage?

6 laser atlas is much better than 4 laser atlas. With a good config, this mean that you can shoot 6 lasers like 20 times without overheating. For a skilled player like me, this mean a total carnage.

So yes, buy mech are better. I saw some other better too.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? Your Atlas is still a bullet magnet and slow as shit. Any decent amount of AC/PPC/Gauss/LRM/ER/Large Laser fire will still wreck you as you try to close distance, same as it would against any other mech. So those 6 medium pulse lasers you're trying to say instantly make the Boar's Head Atlas rock solid evidence that Hero mechs are better are just taking up space since they can't hit shit beyond a few hundred meters.

Every mech has to make compromises, some fewer than others, yes, but there's no mech in this game that doesn't have an exploitable weakness.
 
Business6 said:
Are you trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? Your Atlas is still a bullet magnet and slow as shit. Any decent amount of AC/PPC/Gauss/LRM/ER/Large Laser fire will still wreck you as you try to close distance, same as it would against any other mech. So those 6 medium pulse lasers you're trying to say instantly make the Boar's Head Atlas rock solid evidence that Hero mechs are better are just taking up space since they can't hit shit beyond a few hundred meters.

Every mech has to make compromises, some fewer than others, yes, but there's no mech in this game that doesn't have an exploitable weakness.
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Why don't they offer a 6 energy atlas for exp money?

What can you argue about this?

And what about the other mech that I've seen that was better. I had a trial hero mech that was much faster than anything I've seen and no build could be made as good as this one.
 
Mak54291 said:
Why don't they offer a 6 energy atlas for exp money?

What can you argue about this?

And what about the other mech that I've seen that was better. I had a trial hero mech that was much faster than anything I've seen and no build could be made as good as this one.
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BEcause the Atlas hero also gives cbill and xp bonuses. THAT is what you're paying for. Plus, good luck not overheating with those 6mpls, with ghost heat and all, youre' going to fry. Oh, and what about all the other hardpoints you're MISSING compared to, say, the DDC, which has ECM, ballistic AND missile points PLUS some lasers?

And that last bit? You're lying. There is NO difference in speed limitation between standard and hero mechs. Sarah's Jenner can be made out of a standard Jenner, speed-wise. Same with Heavy Metal etc. (Note, 5kph is not noticeable in game at all)
 
Mak54291 said:
Why don't they offer a 6 energy atlas for exp money?

What can you argue about this?
Click to expand...

Because it's a shit Atlas. The DDC and RS are significantly better and as Modred said (aside from cbills/xp bonus) you're going to overheat from 6 medium pulse lasers very quickly---if you even get to use them due to their awful range.

You're trying to saying that JUST because it has 6 energy hardpoints means it is better when that is very far from the case. For an Atlas it works just fine having 2-4 energy hardpoints because it doesn't take away the missile hardpoints. And there's absolutely no way you're running the stock XL400 engine that comes with the Boar's Head and managing to do well. The first thing people shoot at on an Atlas is the side torso which removes all survivability an Atlas would otherwise have.

And if you actually looked at the rest of the Atlas variants you'd see that 6 energy hard points was logical. Very few assault mechs have 2 or more ballistic hardpoints (for obvious balance reasons) and the D-DC variant already has the missile boat covered. It made perfect sense for them to do a 6 energy Atlas, regardless of it being offered for C-bills or exclusively for MC.

Mak54291 said:
And what about the other mech that I've seen that was better. I had a trial hero mech that was much faster than anything I've seen and no build could be made as good as this one.
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I'm not entirely sure you play this game and even know what you're talking about.
 
Business6 said:
I'm not entirely sure you play this game and even know what you're talking about.
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Hey, I played over 60 hours. I do an average of 700 of damage. Sometimes more. Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
 
Mak54291 said:
Hey, I played over 60 hours. I do an average of 700 of damage. Sometimes more. Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
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I find 700 damage VERY hard to believe. Unless you're on a team full of nonfiring meatshields AMD you're dual rolling AC20, with no armor and an insane amount of ammo.
 
Mak54291 said:
Hey, I played over 60 hours. I do an average of 700 of damage. Sometimes more. Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
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lol

So...you do an average of 700dmg across different mechs or just the Atlas that you bought? Because it would make sense that you talk gibberish about game balance/pay2win when all you pilot is an Atlas. Play a Dragon for a while or a Blackjack. Goddamn incredible the amount of skill you need to actually be GOOD in a Dragon and the Blackjack is probably the most fun mech in the game, to me at least.
 
The game is not pay to win. The hero mechs are not better, actually whenever I see mechs get ranked the overall best mechs for each weight class are cbill mechs or cbill/mc mechs.

Jenner-F (but all the variants are good)
Shadowhawks
Catapult 3D, Ilya (hero mech
Highlanders, cbill or mc versions

And yes size does matter. A lighter mech can beat a bigger mech but in a 1v1 fresh mech vs fresh mech with ~skilled pilots the bigger mech will usually have the advantage. Some exceptions of course like a light getting in the face of a missle boat or a light vs some medium builds but something like a 5ml lolcust isn't going to fair to well against a 2LL, AC20 Victor. Of course lights have speed though so they have other options like hit and run or capping or run in packs and try to gang up on lone mechs.
 
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dario03 said:
The game is not pay to win. The hero mechs are not better, actually whenever I see mechs get ranked the overall best mechs for each weight class are cbill mechs or cbill/mc mechs.

Jenner-F (but all the variants are good)
Shadowhawks
Catapult 3D, Ilya (hero mech
Highlanders, cbill or mc versions

And yes size does matter. A lighter mech can beat a bigger mech but in a 1v1 fresh mech vs fresh mech with ~skilled pilots the bigger mech will usually have the advantage. Some exceptions of course like a light getting in the face of a missle boat or a light vs some medium builds but something like a 5ml lolcust isn't going to fair to well against a 2LL, AC20 Victor. Of course lights have speed though so they have other options like hit and run or capping or run in packs and try to gang up on lone mechs.
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Exactly. While a skilled light pilot CAN take out assaults AMD heavies, they only will if they have to. That's not their job, AMD a good light pilot doesn't put themselves in that position.

Bottom line: the truly free, trial mechs are just as good as the hero mechs, and you can be 100% competitive with them. That is the antithesis of paw to win.

And for reference, I was playing yesterday, and over 4 wins, I averaged 146,563 cbills per match (less if I died, more if I survived to the end. I was in one of the non hero Shadowhawks with 2 ERLL, 3LRM5, 3MG.
 
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