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Two Month Learning Curve


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#1 Holdfast

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 07:55 AM

(Ignore the Founder's tag. I played during closed beta, and wanted to support the game, but got so frustrated that I stopped way back when. I started again two month ago, and this is what I've learned in since then.)

I think they're two things to think about when you start this game: (1) how to have fun, and (2) how to get better. Of course, most people have more fun when they win, but if you can't find a way to have fun even when you lose, the learning curve is going to destroy you.

So, first, how to have fun. Somewhat surprisingly for a giant mech fighting game, there are a number of flavors of how you can play. Hopefully, at least one of them can speak to you. Off the top of my head, you can:

get a small fast mech and use it to scout, harass, do long range damage, or forward spotting;
get a fast slightly bigger mech and hunt the small fast mechs, flank the enemy, or protect the big guys;
get a dedicated long range or support sniper;
get a "in your face" assault brawler;
get a glass cannon, and live on the edge;
get a lrm missile boat;
or anything in between.
(and I'm sure others I haven't thought of...)

Find something that you enjoy doing and that speaks to you even when everything goes bad. (I've discovered that at least right now mediums don't make me happy. I hate waiting for the assaults to move up so I'd charge in with my Hunchy, fire a few ac/20s, and burst into flame. Sixty three points of damage and done. While I was getting better, I wasn't getting good.)

On the other hand, I'm good enough at lrm'ing to have fun and feel competent. I'm also trying out scouting and long range sniping in lights. So far I suck at it, but I'm willing to keep trying.

Finally, I _can't_ emphasize enough how much more fun it is to drop with a lance than by yourself. Try a few different groups if you have to. Find people with the same priorities, be that winning or trying less than optimal setups or talking about bacon (a lot).

Second, how to get better. That entire bit about the learning curve? They're serious. What's amazing is how fast you can get punished for a stupid mistake. Chased the wrong squirrel? Dead. Overheated at the wrong time? So dead. Mono focused on one mech and decided to have a little one on one duel in the middle of the battle? Dead. Decided to try flanking by yourself? Usually dead. Left the Atlas by himself as you ran after a squirrel? He died, and then you died. Wandered through an open space and got spotted by a scout? Death by lrm or ac/5s. And so many others...

And that's not because the enemy fooled you, that's because you made a mistake. That doesn't count the number of times when the opposing force is actually clever and simply destroys you, like when a lance is organized enough to stay ecm'ed long enough to flank you.

There are two aspects to getting better: training and equipment.

Training is reading the guides, talking to people you drop with (again, encouraging that whole "drop with other people" concept), and watching people play after you've died. Seriously, when you die, find someone running the same type of mech, and see what they're doing. Chances are you can learn a lot. The problem with not doing these things is that you''ll find yourself repeating the same thing over and over again (in my case, charging with my Hunchy), hoping that getting better at aiming will make a difference. Hint: It doesn't. It's still a really bad idea to lead the charge and attempt to brawl against a fresh Highlander.

As far as equipment, the trial mechs are good enough. As in, "good enough to decide if you like that style of fighting", not "good enough to excel". Try the trials, and decide what you want to focus on first. You should get enough cash after your first 25 matches to buy and outfit a mech, which is critical because outfitting a mech is the first stage of improving your equipment. (There are a number of places for hints on optimizing your builds, both here and external sites like http://www.mechspecs.com/forum/). That makes a significant difference. The second stage is to learn skills for the mech, which you do by earning EXP by playing the mech. You spend the EXP on skills (see the skills tab at the top of the UI). (there's more info on skills, but that's enough to get you started.)

So, to sum up.

The first two months can be brutal. Focus more on having fun by finding a style you enjoy playing, and getting better at it by both self training and by improving your equipment.

(after two months, I finally have a mech with w/l and k/d ratios above 1.0. For now, at least.

#2 saagri

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 08:01 AM

Dropping in a group is advisable, you have backup and people watching out for you. You can also ask them for advice about mechs and tactics and they can also watch how you play and tell you what you are doing wrong.

#3 LauLiao

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 12:45 PM

Part of the problem for completely fresh players is how easy it is to go down VERY fast if you don't know what you're doing. I've seen some new players happily trundle off just to wander into the enemy death-ball and get cored within 3 seconds of engaging. I imagine it's quite hard to learn when you're dying after only getting one shot off. Maybe put new players together in matches with slightly nerfed weapon damage so they can at least live long enough to learn?

#4 Flagrant

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 02:19 PM

Two months of daily playing sounds about right.

#5 DONTOR

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 02:27 PM

View PostHoldfast, on 18 April 2014 - 07:55 AM, said:

. Find people with the same priorities, talking about bacon (a lot).

Second, how to get better. That entire bit about the learning curve? They're serious. What's amazing is how fast you can get punished for a stupid mistake. Chased the wrong squirrel? Dead. Overheated at the wrong time? So dead. Mono focused on one mech and decided to have a little one on one duel in the middle of the battle? Dead. Decided to try flanking by yourself? Usually dead. Left the Atlas by himself as you ran after a squirrel? He died, and then you died. Wandered through an open space and got spotted by a scout? Death by lrm or ac/5s. And so many others...

This is all so great, and true. Glad to see some people can adapt to how difficult this game is to learn, good on you! Well written aswell....BACON!

#6 Revorn

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 02:51 PM

To hold up good motiation and feelings, i try to take a look at what was good in the Game and my Performance.

Was i am able to hit someone, at Best no Teammate? Did i had an sitionational good Move, Maybe i escapued an ERPP-Shot or so. Or did my Mech stand in good Cover while i was able to shot back? Did i get in cover from LRMS? Maybe my Positioning was good.

Such small Things happens in Most games, dont let them go away only because you Die. Even as Top Elo Gamer you will Die many brutal Deaths. So Focus on the Things wich where good and you will have an Burst of Fun at playing.

Edited by Revorn, 18 April 2014 - 02:52 PM.


#7 Bulletsponge0

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 04:58 PM

I stumbled onto this place around the 4th of March, 2014....(brought back fond memories of my youth, so I eagerly downloaded and started playing)

THus, you can say I am a very new player. You can also say that I had a VERY rough time at the game for the first couple of weeks. The learning curve is more like a cliff than a curve. But you gotta climb it, and keep climbing. Hell, after my first 200 matches or so, I had a KDR of about 0.3 and a win/loss ratio of about 0.5. But I kept climbing and reading these forums. Found some great tips and hints, as well as stumbling on mech builds that I freakin love to play and am getting better and better at (use to be a good match was 0 kills, 4 kill assists and 130 damage....now I can say a good match is 3 kills, 5 assists and over 500 damage)

Now, I won't claim to be anything other than mediocre at best, but my KDR is starting to climb towards 1 (and should surpass 1 sometime soon)...but I just kept scratching, clawing and climbing up that learning cliff, and each day I have more fun than the last..and I haven't even hit that 2 month mark yet.

#8 Shatterpoint

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 05:37 PM

Get an LRM boat does not equal the trial one, that thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Just tried it out on my other account, it's a terrible experience..if that was my first impression of the game I'd wonder why I should bother playing if I'm using a mech that can't attack while being a huge killmekillmekillme beacon.
8/10 matches you're against a team with heavy ECM cover and your teams ECM will rarely be countering it.

Edited by Shatterpoint, 18 April 2014 - 05:37 PM.


#9 Noobatron x300

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Posted 18 April 2014 - 06:53 PM

yup new to the atlas dd-c and after 5 battles being left alone = guaranteed death for me and usually the team don't do it!. and yeah I almost quit 6 times grinding c-bills for the atlas on the trial boat.

Edited by Noobatron x300, 18 April 2014 - 06:55 PM.


#10 dragnier1

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Posted 19 April 2014 - 12:43 PM

Relax and don't get too worked up if you lose many games in a row, the old players have it rough from time to time too. Just today i had 1 win, 2 draws in 12...

#11 Koniving

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Posted 19 April 2014 - 12:47 PM

My favorite part is "Try to flank by yourself? Usually dead."

Damn right. >.> I tend to do better flanking by myself than with a group for some odd reason. ;)

Now if it says anything, I do videos pretty often, help out a lot of new players, and started with a lot of previous knowledge from past MW games that worked just fine here.

It took me 3 weeks to get my first kill. Another week to get more than one kill in a single match.

Even though in my first fight as a Jenner I had the cooldown advantage (single heatsinks in cold water against a rival stock Jenner that had no idea what he was doing), rammed him several times (yes ramming does work; it just worked a lot better with knockdowns), legged him and eventually got knocked down, broke my leg and before I could get up he was gone.
About a minute later I spotted two glowing eyes in the distance coming towards me. A bright flash and a puff of smoke. My arm is gone. I made my distress call. There's now 5 of them. Hunchbacks, catapults, an Atlas, and that legged Jenner hiding behind the Atlas's leg and peering around it at me. "Guys? There's 5 of them. They're coming closer. I'm at [gridsquare]." Another flash this time from the catapult. My other arm is gone. My missiles had already been depleted. I'm now defenseless. "...Guys? Help?"
No answer. The dead couldn't speak back then.
The mechs don't fire anymore as they come up and surround me.
"Welcome to MWO."
Intense death rattle.
I was hooked. Man I miss 'that' game.
CW needs to hurry up so we can get knockdowns back.

Edited by Koniving, 19 April 2014 - 12:56 PM.


#12 Alaskan Nobody

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Posted 19 April 2014 - 12:51 PM

View PostKoniving, on 19 April 2014 - 12:47 PM, said:

I tend to do better flanking by myself than with a group for some odd reason. :D

Exceptions to every rule.

Doesn't invalidate the rule - just means to keep an open mind. ;)





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