Is Now a Good Time to Play MechWarrior Online?
- Thread starter Slycne
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I remember having a lot of fun with MechWarrior 2 as well; it's the only game I've ever played where I felt justified in buying a peripheral (in this case a joystick). That said, I could barely get through it then, and I really doubt that having the mid-90's AI replaced with hyper-invested mechnerds will be the big break I need to do well. Just peeking at the forums mentioned in the article make my eyes cross.
Unrelated note: I think the formatting on the front page for this article is off; it just says, "Online?"
Unrelated note: I think the formatting on the front page for this article is off; it just says, "Online?"
You don't need a joystick for MMWO, its setup up for keyboard and mouse. There are tiers that pilots are put into for solo drop and new pilots are put into tier 5. The best pilots from tier 5 will be facing are from tier 3, so they will be people to learn from but you won't be facing the guys that have playing for 2 years and will kill you in two alpha strikes. There are trial mechs of all classes available, though not great but give you an opportunity to understand the basics. Avoid assaults as a beginner, heavy mechs the most forgiving combination of firepower and mobility. Dont play mechs mostly armed with lrms, everyone will hate you.Thunderous Cacophony said:
Nice timing with this article, I've been playing this for three days now and oh man I've already clocked about 19 hours of playtime it's so freakin' fun.
At first I thought it had a really high barrier to entry, but the tutorial and the fact that there's 16(!) mechs out of the box (which sadly aren't all decent, but Trial Raven is best Raven) to play with really, really help. And with the funds you gather in your first 25 matches you can kit out two mechs that are easily on meta-level.
So if anything, I feel like I don't have to invest as heavily in this as I do in, say, World of Warships. The grind feels a lot less, though it is there after those first 25 matches, but it helps that there's no real progression system. They just make all the mechs available from you from the get-go, it's great. And the 16 mechs you already have give you ample opportunity to find a play style that suits you. Yeah, to get to the top-end stuff, especially with the skills, you need to grind a lot. But to have a fun, varied gaming experience? Hardly.
God this game has me so wired. Just this evening I had this fucking brilliant moment of where me in the Trial Raven and this other light mech were playing hide and seek with and running circles around this Catapult with very scary short-range missiles. And just when In The Hall of the Mountain King [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI] was hitting its crescendo we took it down without taking damage. I was wooping so loud.
Damn this game has great moments. Yeah I'm going to dive back into that Raven again now. So good you guys.
At first I thought it had a really high barrier to entry, but the tutorial and the fact that there's 16(!) mechs out of the box (which sadly aren't all decent, but Trial Raven is best Raven) to play with really, really help. And with the funds you gather in your first 25 matches you can kit out two mechs that are easily on meta-level.
So if anything, I feel like I don't have to invest as heavily in this as I do in, say, World of Warships. The grind feels a lot less, though it is there after those first 25 matches, but it helps that there's no real progression system. They just make all the mechs available from you from the get-go, it's great. And the 16 mechs you already have give you ample opportunity to find a play style that suits you. Yeah, to get to the top-end stuff, especially with the skills, you need to grind a lot. But to have a fun, varied gaming experience? Hardly.
God this game has me so wired. Just this evening I had this fucking brilliant moment of where me in the Trial Raven and this other light mech were playing hide and seek with and running circles around this Catapult with very scary short-range missiles. And just when In The Hall of the Mountain King [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI] was hitting its crescendo we took it down without taking damage. I was wooping so loud.
Damn this game has great moments. Yeah I'm going to dive back into that Raven again now. So good you guys.
TLDNR *yet* (tis late at night).
But I already have started 4 days ago and I LOVE it!!!!
Tried to get back into MW4, but MWO is much better
But I already have started 4 days ago and I LOVE it!!!!
Tried to get back into MW4, but MWO is much better
A trial mech Raven was trying to circle strafe me yesterday and ran into wall and discovered the firepower of my 6 UAC 5 Direwolf. It melted in one Alpha strike, I couldn't help laughing as the percentage health dropped as the shells arrived.Cowabungaa said:
Oh God yes Ravens are squishy as hell (though at least not so squishy as Commandos), that's where half the fun comes from, knowing that it only takes one decent strike to turn you into a pile of slag. It's high octane, high risk madness alright. Exactly how I like it, it turns out.albino boo said:
Though I'm having a lot of fun with my plodding 3 AC/5 chain firing Cataphract and my Crab, which is nothing but various pulse lasers and a metric fuckton of double heatsinks, as well (both based on but not according to the meta). That's two fully fleshed out mechs and another one that's halfway through being built with only a little over the first 25 matches. I'm not even bothered by the grind right now, I've got plenty of variation to play with.
Y'know come to think of it that Raven you killed might've been me. I can't remember the map, but I believe it was a hot one. But I can remember getting stuck one time and getting melted pretty much instantly. I was/am still learning to drive that thing (because sweet jeebus it's fast), circle strafing is quite hard and I only really managed it well today with that Catapult. What I usually do is scout ahead, report on enemy movement, then once combat starts zip about in straight lines between cover a lot, run in large flanking circles. It becomes sort of Whack-A-Mole-ish in that way. It's the absolute best, I'm having a hoot.
I gave it a shot again after a good year or two of not giving a fuck.
Annnnnd I can't play.
The game just disconnects whenever I try to enter a match. Loads maps for the tutorial and training just fine, but boots me (while still landing my mech) in multiplayer.
Tried everything I can think of, from driver updates to port forwarding and firewall nonsense. No dice.
And they're STILL horrible at customer service/engaging their community.
Ah well. Back to Warframe.
Annnnnd I can't play.
The game just disconnects whenever I try to enter a match. Loads maps for the tutorial and training just fine, but boots me (while still landing my mech) in multiplayer.
Tried everything I can think of, from driver updates to port forwarding and firewall nonsense. No dice.
And they're STILL horrible at customer service/engaging their community.
Ah well. Back to Warframe.
Free playing sucked back then and from the sounds of it- that hasn't changed a whole lot.
My big issue was the master skills, which needed you to own and play all three variants of a mech and level it up. If you don't plan on buying mech bays, be prepared to sell the variants you don't want at a deficit. I believe I only pulled this off for the Jenner, can't remember if I did the Victor or not.
Engines are also prohibitively expensive if you wanna run XL engines, which a lot of mechs are better off running.
Of course I haven't played a long time and maybe now it's worth playing through new modes and maps to earn those C-Bills.
The game is also pretty unfriendly to new players. The grind needed to get a halfway decent machine and also the long time players are the sort to be on teamspeak and drop in 4s. Given the difference between the average pub and the experienced player, not to mention the game's emphasis more on attrition and tactics over individual piloting and twitch shooting...
I couldn't get my friends into the game which more or less signed the death sentence for me.
I am feeling a little curious about the clan mechs, though sad that AFAIK, mix tech isn't a thing. So maybe I might take my good old Jenner out of the closet. XL300, ERPPC and 3xMLas. And JJs of course. Does run somewhat hot but it can comfortably engage at all ranges. And it's always satisfying to brawl with another light who thinks the PPC is a liability and then they get cored by it.
I also got a brawly Victor, SRMs, AC20 and MLas I believe. Though I also configured it with UAC/5s, LLas and LRMs once.
And a Battlemaster LRM boat for those laggy days.
Being unable to outfit the mechs I grinded so much for with new clan tech is disappointing....
My big issue was the master skills, which needed you to own and play all three variants of a mech and level it up. If you don't plan on buying mech bays, be prepared to sell the variants you don't want at a deficit. I believe I only pulled this off for the Jenner, can't remember if I did the Victor or not.
Engines are also prohibitively expensive if you wanna run XL engines, which a lot of mechs are better off running.
Of course I haven't played a long time and maybe now it's worth playing through new modes and maps to earn those C-Bills.
The game is also pretty unfriendly to new players. The grind needed to get a halfway decent machine and also the long time players are the sort to be on teamspeak and drop in 4s. Given the difference between the average pub and the experienced player, not to mention the game's emphasis more on attrition and tactics over individual piloting and twitch shooting...
I couldn't get my friends into the game which more or less signed the death sentence for me.
I am feeling a little curious about the clan mechs, though sad that AFAIK, mix tech isn't a thing. So maybe I might take my good old Jenner out of the closet. XL300, ERPPC and 3xMLas. And JJs of course. Does run somewhat hot but it can comfortably engage at all ranges. And it's always satisfying to brawl with another light who thinks the PPC is a liability and then they get cored by it.
I also got a brawly Victor, SRMs, AC20 and MLas I believe. Though I also configured it with UAC/5s, LLas and LRMs once.
And a Battlemaster LRM boat for those laggy days.
Being unable to outfit the mechs I grinded so much for with new clan tech is disappointing....
Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance is one of my favorite games of all time. I love the idea of a gorilla war in the battletech 'verse. It was so fun struggling to take down a single enemy Bushwhacker while it hightails it back to its base to raise the alarm when the biggest weapon you had was a large laser.
I remember this one mission where you have to assault an base at night and there were a bunch of off-objective things to do. Like you could swoop around the perimeter of the base, find a mechwarrior barracks house next to two powered down Catapults and a Cougar I think and if you could destroy the barracks in a single shot the alarm wouldn't go off and the mechs would never activate as enemy support and you salvaged all three at mission's end!
You know what, I know what game I want to play this weekend! Where's my joystick?!
I remember this one mission where you have to assault an base at night and there were a bunch of off-objective things to do. Like you could swoop around the perimeter of the base, find a mechwarrior barracks house next to two powered down Catapults and a Cougar I think and if you could destroy the barracks in a single shot the alarm wouldn't go off and the mechs would never activate as enemy support and you salvaged all three at mission's end!
You know what, I know what game I want to play this weekend! Where's my joystick?!
The origins II mechs have mixed tech. The new mechs are the Jenner II, the Hunchback II, the Orin II and the Battlemaster II. You have the full customizability of the Inner sphere mechs and clan weapons and sensors. Let's be honest here, no one would use IS weapons if they had the choice, so only the broke and the inexperienced wouldn't be using clan tech. This would make new players lives even harder.Wings012 said:
Have fun not playing the meta in the low tiers but higher up you start having to play the meta to win. I swap between tier 2 and tier 3 largely because I get bored and throw out dakka mechs, which are fun to play. Then I end up losing more than I win and my conscience gets the better of me because my choices mean they lose. Then I dig out the ebj with 2 er PPCs and play peek a boo until I get bored again.Cowabungaa said: