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First up, let's have a look at gameplay balance. As of November 2012, the long-range high-alpha metagame dominated by jump-sniping seen in other MechWarrior titles is a thing of the past, a distant memory we'll never have to worry about here.
What're the devs driving? Hunchbacks!
Expect some exciting, intense close-range fighting.
MW4 refugees rejoice: Jump-sniping is a thing of the past.
A variety of maps to encourage build diversity!
How do you capture the spirit of BattleTech? Russ Bullock and Bryan Ekman have you covered, MechWarrior. They understand that the transition from 30-year-old boardgame to modern combat sim requires finesse, not copying stats verbatim.
MechWarrior Online promises to have good depth, honestly.
Next, let's hear about exciting new gameplay modes. We've got deathmatch, what else can we look forward to? Some hot new game modes (expect these by the end of 2012), but that's not all. An exciting world-spanning Community Warfare, that's what! Look for it coming to you in February, 2013!
CS-style deathmatch is boring. Give us good news, Russ!
When can we expect these, anyway?
Wow! Community Warfare sounds great. When can we get a glimpse?
How about joining factions?
2013 is shaping up to be a year to remember for Mechwarriors!
MechWarrior is a complex beast, a combat simulator with a good array of controls to learn, and a lot of depth to its customization metagame plus an economy on top. Let's hear about the new user experience!
Off to a good start!
Trial Mechs aren't so bad; they're just being matched against experienced veterans, a new matchmaker will solve that by matching you against equally skilled pilots.
No worries about getting stomped by teams on voice comms.
How about integrated voice chat for the rest of us?
What about non-US players?
What other cool stuff is coming our way to get us in the MechWarrior mood? Get us excited, Piranha. We've been waiting ten years for this, blow us out of the water and make us feel like we're piloting huge war machines in an interstellar conflict!
Expansive pilot skills!
Carve out a place for your character!
Use experimental BattleTech equipment!
"Alien" invaders on the horizon!
MechWarrior Online is shaping up to be an incredible game that's managed to cast aside the gameplay baggage from MechWarrior 4, moves past that couple of more-recent games that shall not be named, and knows how to bring the BattleTech feeling to a modern mech sim without getting bogged down in decades-old rule-sets. I, for one, can't wait for the start of community warfare in early 2013 and know that a solid new player experience will continue to draw in players looking to make their mark on the ever-expanding conflict from inside the cockpit of a massive multi-story war machine.
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