Mechwarrior Online Open Beta Begins Next Week

[Andy Chalk]

Mechwarrior Online Open Beta Begins Next Week

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The Next Big Thing in giant fighting robots is just about ready to drop.

The chance to hop behind the controls of a Jenner, an Atlas or a Catapult is almost here, as Piranha Games has announced that the Mechwarrior Online open beta will begin on October 16. While there's still work to be done, the studio said that closed beta players "have done all they can," and that future development will be better served by opening the doors to a wider audience.

Among the new features planned for the near future are the addition of Camo Spec to the Mech Lab, which will allow players to customize the base skin and up to three colors on their mechs, new decorative cockpit items and both pre-made and user-generated decals. The Cataphract mech, a new map, the new "Conquest" game mode and features like Artemis, Active Probe and ECM will also be added throughout late October and November.

The end of the closed beta means that the Mechwarrior Online Founders Program is also winding down. The Founders Program, which allows enthusiasts to kick in their money early in exchange for various bonuses like special forum tags, in-game currency and access to unique mechs, wraps up at midnight on October 14.

Set in the Battletech universe in the year 3049, Mechwarrior Online is a free-to-play multiplayer reimagining of the great Mechwarrior games of old, currently scheduled to launch later this year. To find out more, hit up mwomercs.com [http://mwomercs.com].


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[el_kabong]

This was one of the first non-educational games I played on my computer at my grandparent's house (no less). Nostalgia alone has me excited for this to get released.

 

[fix-the-spade]

The old fusion reactor is already winding up as we speak! With any luck the Clans will be rolling in come 3050...

 

[tmande2nd]

Sweet.

I do love me some mech warrior.

 

[FaustianBargain]

As both a beta tester and avid fan of this game I feel that I should make a statement:

If you are interested in the game, by all means download it and play it to your hearts content on the 16th. But there are issues, which I will not list because it would be a disservice to what will be a great game, and you should keep in mind that the game will still technically be in BETA (and an early one at that) which means things are in active development and subject to change. So if you come out of that first 24 hours less than pleased don't leave the game forever, come back to it in a week or a month and you'll most likely be shocked by the progress made.

Now don't confuse the above for doomsaying, the game is fantastic! If stomping around in giant robot death machines sounds interesting to you, then you should play MechWarrior Online. Every play style is rewarding (both in enjoyment and the in-game currency) and there is customization galore. So consider MWO recommended, with the caveat that it is still in BETA.

 

[Shinsei-J]

I wish I could play this but I have horrible internet.
O well back to be a loner soloist.

 

[ASnogarD]

To add to the above statement...

The game is not yet complete, a lot of the planned content is still not in the game and its basically just the combat and mechlab in the game at the moment, with barebones economy system and some issues to be ironed out.

There is no tutorial or hand holding at this stage, so read the forums and check for guides.
As a none founder you will need to earn your first mech, so be prepared to fight a number of matches in the trial mechs before you can buy a mech... its not as bad as it sounds or feels initially but be ready for it.

The good parts is that the combat is pretty solid, the weapons are generally meaty and effective (some need addressing), the graphics are great and the audio is top notch.
It is best appreciated with a group of friends, or join the TS 3 server (details are with all the new player guides) and find a spot in a group about to drop.
Game is a lot of fun but you cant just jump in and start fragging, it aint CoD ... these are big metal monsters, even lights are about 25 tonnes and the Atlas is a hefty 100 tonnes... they dont duck and dive but they pack a lot more firepower than a little assault rifle or even nastiest sniper rifle.

In short, its fun but repetitive and you aint getting a free ride but give it a chance and I am sure you will love it.

 

[DugMachine]

I thought you mixed the title with Hawken for a bit. I've never been into Mechs or Mech games though so I'll just stick with hawken for now

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Having played both this game in beta and Hawken in alpha I have to say that I can't say anything.

OT: I'm so glad that their are two mech games that are coming out.

 

[5ilver]

Can't wait. Been a huge fan of Mw4 my whole childhood.

 

[2clueless]

Going to repeat, if you plan to try out the game, go into it with the knowledge that there are still systems and features yet to be implemented, bugs to be fixed, weapons to be tweaked, etc.

I personally am having a blast. Literally, on occasion. I love how piloting the mechs feel. I love seeing the different variants and builds people are coming out with. The audio, as mentioned, is fantastic. I love tinkering in the mech bay to get the use out of every single ton. What is in the game, so far, is solid. Quite excited to see what rolls out in the future.

 

[Saulkar]

The BETA handles great but besides the other issues put forth by those above me I must add that the current matchmaker is broken, completely. A pre-made team will always steam-role a pug team but at the same time creating a pre-made in-game is difficult and clunky.

Lastly the community is full of elitist dicks. They are not the majority but they are loud and avoiding them is absolutely impossible.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

I was lucky enough to get into the closed beta. It's. Well. If you've been playing since the beginning, as most of those interested have been, you may notice it is a bit more like...Call of Duty. Just. In the map design, really.
And Piranha Games' design philosophy is... amateur at best. I love playing in third person in MW 4: Mercenaries. But they claim they don't want third person in MWO because it doesn't 'Make sense from a gameplay perspective'. So they choose to sacrifice immersion for realism half the time. :/
It's not pay-to-win, though--it is just as balanced as any MW title, thankfully.

 

[Kaymish]

yeah ive been playing beta and its no where ready for open beta now do not take that as me poo poo ing the game its great fun for like an hour a day and out fitting your mechs is interesting but most of what makes an MMO is just not there and will not be there for a long time even given the blistering fast pace updates are coming out there are also some critical bugs that have not been hinted at being fixed since i started beta
anyway i encrouge you to give this a go its a beta of a 1/4 finished game so make sure you remember that before you totally say naah
also dont be like the guy on you tube who poopooed the game before he even figured out how to play

EDIT:

The BETA handles great but besides the other issues put forth by those above me I must add that the current matchmaker is broken, completely. A pre-made team will always steam-role a pug team but at the same time creating a pre-made in-game is difficult and clunky.

not necessarily ive played a couple of games against premades and opened them up you know the team that just fires off LRM's all day well i managed to get up into them with my awesome and a another guy with an Atlas D and we slaughtered them and all the time the dead guy is screaming "what no short range weapons?? bahahah fools" and a few other matches where once you kill a few people they all start to fall apart and their CC goes to poo but other wise you are right premades do roflestomp pug's most of the time

 

[NvrPhazed]

I was lucky enough to get into the closed beta. It's. Well. If you've been playing since the beginning, as most of those interested have been, you may notice it is a bit more like...Call of Duty. Just. In the map design, really.
And Piranha Games' design philosophy is... amateur at best. I love playing in third person in MW 4: Mercenaries. But they claim they don't want third person in MWO because it doesn't 'Make sense from a gameplay perspective'. So they choose to sacrifice immersion for realism half the time. :/
It's not pay-to-win, though--it is just as balanced as any MW title, thankfully.

3rd person was never put in because people use it to spot people who cant see them.

edited for misinformation

 

[Nurb]

Can't wait. Been a huge fan of Mw4 my whole childhood.

You might be disappointed.

 

[Quesa]

Yeah (to the earlier comments about opening the beta too early), it's got plenty of promise but a long way to go. They've got a ton of features to add until they're World of Tanks In Space (With Giant Robots)*, and knowing what they're missing it's odd they're opening it up this early. A larger closed beta pool would make sense (they just sent me my invite on the 25th, and I registered my pilot name the in the first day or two).

I haaaaaaaate hatehatehate haaaate tutorials, and I usually give games that don't have tutorials credit, but with a game this raw, even an old school mechhead like me is a little lost; or at least, not as gravy as I should be dropping into BattleTech Game #1x. The fact that you can't access settings (ANY settings) in game (especially key bindings) is baffling. Once you get the weapon mapping keys down (arrows and right ctrl) that's half the battle.. now to let you change groupings in the lab..

* Incidentally, if you wanna know where they're going with this, go download World of Tanks. Those are most of the features that will be added. There'll just be something other than gauss rifles and Arrow IV batteries.