26 replies to this topic

[Keonyn]

So yeah, back in the day the Mechwarrior series was one of my favorite game series out there; starting with MW2. When I heard MWO was coming out I was pretty excited to play, but sadly my excitement was a bit tempered by my old PC's struggles and constant freezing in anything that ran Cryengine. I recently built a new PC, but still held off cause I was trying to recruit some friends to play too so I wasn't going it alone. Eventually when I couldn't I decided to just jump in and start up, but unfortunately this has left me not only clueless, but pretty much alone in figuring it all out.

So I've finally started playing live games and honestly, I'm pretty freaking terrible. I've gotten assists and all, but I would say my contributions have been minimal. Trying to figure out the strategy but it seems like I'm just not grasping it. I find the game fun, but also incredibly frustrating in how the learning curve is so amazingly steep. Anyone have any suggestions for a newbie like myself in how I can help ease myself in to the game? I'm not expecting to be a death machine overnight, but I could certainly use some pointers.

Also, this community warfare thing seems a little confusing, and maybe a little pointless to me. I've played MMO's for a long time, and this isn't the first time I've seen warfare systems like this come in to play. In almost every other instance of this I've seen in the past what inevitably happens is people migrate towards the stronger groups and all you get is a stale warfare system in which every faction is largely irrelevant. So really, is there a point to the community warfare system or an element to it that promises to keep it fresh? As near as I can tell the slide towards a dominant group is already present and the system is still pretty new. What happens when one faction largely loses their territory? I have to say, if this system is just another one of these war systems that rewards the rich and makes them richer and encourages a zerg mindset then I'll happily sit out of that side of the game.

At any rate. Any help one can offer a sad newbie like myself would be greatly appreciated.

[luxebo]

I actually experienced the same exact thing: http://mwomercs.com/...need-some-help/

My computer had a stupid graphics card so I was stuck with not being able to game for a long time. But now I can.

Don't even attempt CW till you got a grasp of the game. How much damage are you doing averagely? You may or may not be doing as well as you think! Also how is your ping/graphics settings? Are you lagging a lot? When are you dying?

If trials/loadouts are an issue, click my sig, it has your solution and you can always bump the thread to ask me a question (or PM or on here too). Find a good mech to run right, and never give in! And use Smurfy too! http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab Best loadout creator and tool for anything MWO!

CW is a hardcore mode in which players battle for the fate of the Inner Sphere map. Without a grasp on basic knowledge of gameplay and at least a set of mechs you plan to master, it's nearly inevitable to do well. You probably should join a group though, as it doesn't matter how good/bad your group is you will succeed if people support your choices. The only limitation at the moment is Clan mechs for Clanners (aka blue interface, has word Clan by the name) and IS mechs for IS factions (aka yellow interface, great House or FRR like me).

I think the first thing in hand is to get your free premium time (click download, cancel download, scroll down), get a grasp on what mech you want to play as a starter (try each and every trial and with the guide below you should be able to at least get a feel on how to play each). Everyone here is willing to help BTW and this community is very friendly (esp Kon and Redshift!)

Hope I helped and good luck out there! Don't worry about CW just yet and play for the rewards via the two week event that is going on from now till next next Friday! You might get a couple mechbays tbh from luck!

[zaid]

Welcome to MWO online. Lot's of guides posted in these forums, watch em and learn. Also, join a unit and get on comms. Makes a world of difference. There are even some folks on teamspeak who are just there to help out new recruits.

Unlike most FPS games where you need to keep rushing, be it solo or with a squad, MWO is more defence first. Stick with your group. Don't push unless you out gun them, and twist in between shots to spread the damage.

Community Warfare rewards will be adjusted to encourage people to help struggling factions. It's meant to be a tough, competitive, environment. Feel free to try it, but expect to die fast until you get good.

Expect to play at least 50 games before you start to get a feel for your mech. Getting elite skills in 3 variants of the same chassis makes a big difference in how the mech performs.

[Arete]

I'd recommend staying out of CW for now if you're new. Give it a little while to settle while you learn to pilot :-)


Other than that, try to build some "simple" mechs to start with. I'd recommend using just one or maybe two weapon types in one or two weapon groups.

For example, build an Orion with just 4 large lasers, two in each arm. Left arm on weapon group 1, right on group 2.
Or shadow hawks with 1-2 ACs in the shoulder, and medium lasers in the arms.
Jenners are also quite easy, just put one kind of energy weapons in the arms and split between two weapon groups.

[zudukai]

Hello and Welcome to MWO, for the first little while you will only be able to post a few posts, our suggestion is to edit the same post semi-often, until you have completed 25 games.

what are your favorite mechs? currently there are 2 of every mech class for both Clan and IS IIRC, maybe we can steer you in a good direction for your preferences

remember to try the game in first person as it gives you a mini-map you can use to learn the maps quicker and respond to map grid callouts quicker, to do this, you simply press f4 in game, OR in the settings hit the check box.

doing this will also give you the ability to unlock your arms, speeding up your torso twisting and aim abilities by allowing your arms to turn ahead of your torso (read=faster than) you can toggle this with (key?) OR press left shift to temporally unlock your arms, you can also go into your settings to change it's default.

Edited by zudukai, 22 December 2014 - 01:47 AM.

[zudukai]

also, take a look through here: https://mwomercs.com...raining-grounds

you may find some things useful or at least for reference

Edited by zudukai, 22 December 2014 - 01:51 AM.

[mad kat]

Learning this game is like running up a greased slope at times and it can be rather unforgiving. BUT it can also be very rewarding when you nail a certain aspect of it like taking down a huge mech in a little basic skilled mech. Can also be rather addictive and playing with mech builds is easily half the fun of the game trying out new mech load-outs and play styles the variety is huge but the payback can be quite narrow.

The game boils down to a few key points.

• Pick a role that suits you whether it be running around like a lunatic in a light mech, dishing out the pain from a distance or getting stuck in and hitting people in the face with a brawl.
  
• Be patient, this is certainly not a game for charging off and ramboing it as that will almost certainly end badly. believe it or not mechs can be surprisingly fragile.
  
• Safety in numbers. Seems silly but its very much the case the more team mates you have around you the lower chance the enemy are to shoot you (not always the case depending on which mech your in mind)
  
• Which brings me on to my next point, weight classes of mechs give the biggest idea of what you like to do on the battlefield. Use the champion mechs available to you to find out what kind of mech suits you, just remember everyone's different and different mechs suit different people
  
• light mechs 20-35 tons, are best for scouting running ahead finding out where the enemy are and what they're doing then relaying that info to your team mates but then returning to the group when things turn nasty and help keep other enemy light mechs away from your heavy hitters. Also never stop in a light mech if you can help it, speed is life.
  
• Medium mechs 40-55 tons are the jack of all trades. They can be built for any purpose or role but rarely excel at any of them but do well at pretty much anything and are consequently the best mechs to start with. They also have the greatest variation on load-outs speed and armour.
  
• Heavy mechs 60-75 tons tend to be your more mobile fire support platforms capable of bringing a decent arsenal and enough armour to sustain quite a few hits.
  
• Assualt class 80-100 tons are your 'fatties' the heavy hitters of the battlefield they bring sometimes a formidable amount of fire power and armour to the battlefield and give as good as they get usually. Best suited to bulking up the front lines and being the lynch pin of a frontal assault but be aware they are slow and sluggish.
  
• Team work is vital stick with what your team is doing, stick with them when your new and shoot what they are shooting.
  
• Watch your heat it is the single biggest limiting factor in how much damage a mech can inflict so try not to overheat, if you do you'll be a sitting duck.
  
• Always be aware of where the nearest cover is, getting caught in the open is a death sentence for a mech which especially applies to long range missiles.
  
• Bring the anti missile system with you at first it's a worthy addition to any mech (except lights mostly) until you get used to how the game works then you'll find you can do away with it.
  
• Upgrade your mech. Nearly all mechs bought new will demand upgrades to improve performance things like endo-steel internal structure to increase payload capacity in terms of weight, double heat sinks (not actually double efficient though) to drastically improve heat efficiency of a mech and Xl engines that drastically save weight for a given speed or allow you to go faster (higher rating) for the same engine tonnage but at the expense of survivability. There are more upgrades available too but are less significant.

Skills as you work through the game you will earn xp (Mech xp and general xp). Use that mech xp for a specific mech to improve its performance. At first the mechs will be a little dowdy but when you have spent time with them and unlocked first the basic skill set then elite skill set they will come alive, be more responsive, efficient, faster, cooler and most importantly dangerous.

Avoid community warfare for the time being while it can be very rewarding the level of time demanded from it and patience may grate a little plus you may find yourself up against experienced organized teams making up the whole enemy can make for some rather fast games in a not a good way.

I've not said everything but you have to bear with it. Be patient use cover as much as possible, dont be affraid to say your new in match and ask if there is someone you can tag along with and they may just help you out. Don't get disheartened if they don't help as their build and playstyle may not match. You will find a huge variety of players, mech builds and ranges in each battle so just stick with it and you'll be grinning when you get your kills in.

Edited by mad kat, 22 December 2014 - 02:26 AM.

[zudukai]

Keonyn, on 22 December 2014 - 12:36 AM, said:

So yeah, back in the day the Mechwarrior series was one of my favorite game series out there; starting with MW2.

*snip*
At any rate. Any help one can offer a sad newbie like myself would be greatly appreciated.

for reiteration.

OP, how familiar are you with Mechwarrior?

Edited by zudukai, 22 December 2014 - 01:55 AM.

[dragnier1]

The learning curve is steep thanks to this game being a full multiplayer game. You're dealing with people, that is to be expected.

Now where did all those pinned guides go?


Anyhow, try searching for spike brave MWO videos on youtube. He did quite a few videos with details on gameplay and various functionality in the game.

[Tahribator]

Mandatory video tutorials: https://www.youtube....-CgGGLb7-F_dXpC

[Lucky Noob]

Welcome to the best game

as so many already said so much usefull Stuff and Konvining for sure already luring around an corner i just Point you ion one Direction........... Look for an Friendly Assault or Heavy...... Drive around 100 Meters behind him..... Shoot at all what comes close to him ( Enemies ofc).....Shoot at all what he shoots......Have Fun.

Edited by Braddack, 22 December 2014 - 04:51 AM.

[Kiiyor]

HOWDY!

You're not alone in feeling you're struggling as a new starter. I remember celebrating like i'd won the lotto when I first broke 500 damage. I would also like to state that you will likely have a hard time improving if you drop in CW. It's amazingly unforgiving. Pugging is where you're at!

I would recommend starting off in some sort of support role. Pick a mech that can either field a handful of LRM launchers, or some form of long range direct fire. I would recommend packing AC5's - There are a few of mediums that can pack 2, and some heavies that can easily carry 3. They have great range, and their projectile speed means that they are less frustrating to use than fiddly weapons like PPC's. The trick is, you actually need to survive long enough to learn new things. If you place yourself near the middle of the group and play cautiously for the first half of the match, you have a far better chance of having a meaningful impact of battle.

Others may offer scads of advice, but you will likely learn at your own pace. Just drop, try new things, and profit.

NOW, having said that, i'll also say that the vast majority of battles are won and lost in the mechlab. Which mechs and builds are good? The easiest way to find out is to take note of mechs that annihilate you with particular efficiency. Another is to familiarize yourself with existing literature: there's a site called http://metamechs.com/ that is maintained by some of the better competitive players, and it ranks mechs and provides optimal builds. Check it out.

As far as mad scientisting, you should stay away from the game client, as it is far more clunky than the excellent mech builder at smurfy's. Tinker with builds there. If you click the battlemechs tab on that page, you can also scroll down to see the full quirk list for mechs - a recent balance change that has seen some huge changes to particular weapon systems for some mechs.

Hope this helps. Good hunting!

[Koniving]

Keonyn, on 22 December 2014 - 12:36 AM, said:

So yeah, back in the day the Mechwarrior series was one of my favorite game series out there; starting with MW2. When I heard MWO was coming out I was pretty excited to play, but sadly my excitement was a bit tempered by my old PC's struggles and constant freezing in anything that ran Cryengine. I recently built a new PC, but still held off cause I was trying to recruit some friends to play too so I wasn't going it alone. Eventually when I couldn't I decided to just jump in and start up, but unfortunately this has left me not only clueless, but pretty much alone in figuring it all out.

Picking up MW3 for the first time in years last week, I can tell you that the learning curve of older games was a bit harder. (Man that game really makes a mech feel like a mech... through clunky controls. Right click + mouse to twist. Can only fire a weapon group after selecting it with the F1-4 keys. Throttle set by number keys. Numberpad reserved for advanced torso controls and activating AMS/ECM/radar settings. Three radar screens. No full screen map. Separate keys for commands to each lancemate. Three separate enemy lock on keys + individual body part keys. Separate alpha strike button. Actuator damage causes mech performance hits. Getting knocked over by an AC/20 burst. Most MWO meta mechs worthless. No engine changing (period). No store (all items you have you must 'acquire' from your victories or borrow from your lancemates).

It's a long list. MWO's complexity pails in comparison.

Some quick tips: To deal with Clan mechs more effectively, on the following mechs aim for the legs instead (and when you get better, the cockpits)... Timber Wolf (Mad Cat), Dire Wolf (Daishi), Stormcrow (Ryoken), Warhawk (Masakari). This is due to heavily exploitable huge front ends, tiny rear end hitboxes.

On the following mechs, aim for the CT: Hellbringer (Loki), Summoner (Thor). (Large, easy to hit CTs from virtually any angle).

Any other Clan mechs take them out however you please. Laugh as you do so as their hitboxes are not exploitable.

Most IS mechs, well you'll figure them out. For Firestarters their backs or their legs are weak points.

Lasers -- hold on target. If you're familiar with advanced Battletech, think of Direct Blow and Glancing Blow systems.
A glancing blow is when you just touch the enemy with part of your laser. It won't do much. A direct blow is when you hit the enemy hard and dig that laser beam into their soul!
Obviously a direct blow will have far more effect.

MGs/Flamers, if you ever use them, lie. Do not trust the flame or the machine gun particle effect. Point directly at the enemy as if they are lasers and drill them into the enemy's very existence.

Quote

Also, this community warfare thing seems a little confusing, and maybe a little pointless to me. I've played MMO's for a long time, and this isn't the first time I've seen warfare systems like this come in to play. In almost every other instance of this I've seen in the past what inevitably happens is people migrate towards the stronger groups and all you get is a stale warfare system in which every faction is largely irrelevant. So really, is there a point to the community warfare system or an element to it that promises to keep it fresh? As near as I can tell the slide towards a dominant group is already present and the system is still pretty new. What happens when one faction largely loses their territory? I have to say, if this system is just another one of these war systems that rewards the rich and makes them richer and encourages a zerg mindset then I'll happily sit out of that side of the game.

At any rate. Any help one can offer a sad newbie like myself would be greatly appreciated.

CW is a work in progress. If I were designing it, it would be very different but to do it the way I would have liked would alienate a lot of what people have now... I think a proper Community Warfare project should have been the focus from the start, with faction-specific access to mechs, faction-specific advantages and traits... (Examples: ECM was a largely Capellan advantage. DHS? Only the Mariks had widespread access to those, but then again every single one of their designs used XL engines and because of this, their mech supply was also very limited; most of their actual combat forces are not mechs but tanks. Davions would be very ballistic focused. Kurita mainly laser and sword focused. The list goes on.) Something not possible in how MWO was designed.

In the current implementation of CW, there is no advantage or disadvantage in choosing a specific faction, and many flocked to the biggest factions because more players. An exponentially growing problem. Not so many people would flock to Steiner, if say, their access to XL engines was limited, a large lack of DHS, and a particularly large focus on close range weaponry. Which is all generally true for them. Then again they might still flock to it, because of the brawling preference that goes right down to Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots punching each other out.

That said, you can get a sort of MWO-friendly design idea for CW in "What 3/3/3/3 cost us" in my signature. Though it'd be a very different experience.

And for a quality sample of Community Warfare (from finding a match to duking it out), I uploaded this last night.

In addition to the nearly 500,000 cbills and 700+ LP I earned in the match, I received an additional 200,000 between a 50,000 rank increase and a 150,000 mission contract, as well as an additional 100 LP when I returned to the menu screen for the remainder of my rewards.

[Redshift2k5]

You've got tons of great advice already, so I'll stick with "Welcome aboard!" until you have some further questions

We were all new once, and MWO is not quite like any other game on the market. Keep at it

Edited by Redshift2k5, 22 December 2014 - 06:34 AM.

[Inveramsay]

In addition to all the excellent advice above I'd suggest buying a cheapish medium mech like a hunchback or shadow hawk as your first mech. Reason being is that the cbill grind when starting out is hard, very hard. It will take forever to earn enough to buy lots of shiny new mechs.

With the starting bonus you should be able to kit out two medium mechs provided you put standard and not XL engines in them. It is certainly worth exploring the other weight classes through the trial mechs but medium is the weight class I'd suggest for anyone new due to the price and general playability of them. Lights and assaults are hardest to play well but when you do the rewards will be there.

A common mistake people make is to not realise the range limitations and they fire at anything that moves despite not actually making any damage. When you start you see the range of the weapons in the hud on the bottom right corner of the screen. Worth noting is that LRMs have a minimum range of 180m and PPCs (but not ERPPCs) do less damage below 90m so using one point blank is a waste of heat.

As for doing lots of damage and getting kills, it usually boils down to being alive at the end of the match. You don't survive by rushing in guns blazing. Even an atlas will be picked apart in seconds if the whole enemy team is there. Stay alive and do some damage, before you know it has added up to a lot.

[Redshift2k5]

A Thunderbolt SS is not much more expensive than a Hunchback or Shadowhawk, and can run the excellent 7x Medium Pulse laser build with a cheap Standard engine.

[Keonyn]

Wow, a ton of great advice here. I certainly appreciate everyone taking the time to provide some assistance.

Quote

Don't even attempt CW till you got a grasp of the game. How much damage are you doing averagely? You may or may not be doing as well as you think! Also how is your ping/graphics settings? Are you lagging a lot? When are you dying?

If trials/loadouts are an issue, click my sig, it has your solution and you can always bump the thread to ask me a question (or PM or on here too). Find a good mech to run right, and never give in! And use Smurfy too! http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab Best loadout creator and tool for anything MWO!

My damage has been pretty low, usually between 100-200, even less than 100 in a couple of my more awful games. Ping and graphics are fine, I've set a few things at medium and high and can retain a high fps. As for when I'm dying, sadly it's usually early. I try to stick with my teammates but it seems like we start firing on an enemy and next thing I know I have 2 or 3 enemy mechs in my vicinity and my allies are nowhere in sight.

Thanks for the link to that site as well, I will definitely give that a look.

Quote

what are your favorite mechs? currently there are 2 of every mech class for both Clan and IS IIRC, maybe we can steer you in a good direction for your preferences

remember to try the game in first person as it gives you a mini-map you can use to learn the maps quicker and respond to map grid callouts quicker, to do this, you simply press f4 in game, OR in the settings hit the check box.

doing this will also give you the ability to unlock your arms, speeding up your torso twisting and aim abilities by allowing your arms to turn ahead of your torso (read=faster than) you can toggle this with (key?) OR press left shift to temporally unlock your arms, you can also go into your settings to change it's default.

My favorite was the MW2 era Nova, I pretty much played through the entire game in that mech alone. I have played the MWO Nova some and it's similar, but in a PvP environment it's so easy for the enemy to take advantage of the cooldown periods.

I have been playing in first-person as well as I just prefer the cockpit aesthetics and did change the settings to default to that view. Good to see the game provides valid reasons to use the mode as I play other games, like War Thunder, where using the cockpit is a handicap. I was wondering what the advantage to unlocking the arms was though, I'll have to adjust my settings for that; definitely good info.

Quote

Learning this game is like running up a greased slope at times and it can be rather unforgiving. BUT it can also be very rewarding when you nail a certain aspect of it like taking down a huge mech in a little basic skilled mech. Can also be rather addictive and playing with mech builds is easily half the fun of the game trying out new mech load-outs and play styles the variety is huge but the payback can be quite narrow.

Heh, I love that analogy. I'm used to challenges though; I play War Thunder which is dominated by mouse pilots who have a huge advantage, but I stick with the joystick because that's the kind of gameplay I enjoy. It's frustrating since it's a handicap, but it's also more rewarding when you do well. I have every intention of sticking to the game and improving, I'm stubborn like that, but not so stubborn I can't ask for help, lol.

Quote

for reiteration.

OP, how familiar are you with Mechwarrior?

Well, I played the hell out of MW2 and MW2:Mercs, played some MW3 and quite a bit of MW4, though none of those as much as I played good 'ol MW2. Obviously though those games are a bit old at this point and after I finished MW4 that was probably the last time I played MW or any sort of similar game and that was a long time ago. At this point I would say I'm pretty much back to unfamiliar territory just because it's been so long since I played those games.

Quote

The learning curve is steep thanks to this game being a full multiplayer game. You're dealing with people, that is to be expected.

Yeah, the lack of a training mode with AI opponents seems like a big omission. I mean, you get the training grounds and that's a good place to learn the maps a bit, but your targets are just static unpiloted mechs. Doesn't do much to help one train for actual combat. They might find new players won't get frustrated so much if there's something between non-moving mechs that don't fire back and live players that are likely far better than you.

Quote

as so many already said so much usefull Stuff and Konvining for sure already luring around an corner i just Point you ion one Direction........... Look for an Friendly Assault or Heavy...... Drive around 100 Meters behind him..... Shoot at all what comes close to him ( Enemies ofc).....Shoot at all what he shoots......Have Fun.

I might have to give this a whirl. I've been sticking with friendlies but it seems I keep managing to get myself isolated while trying to line up a shot. Perhaps I should just take a more wingman approach and be more concious of my allies.

Quote

NOW, having said that, i'll also say that the vast majority of battles are won and lost in the mechlab. Which mechs and builds are good? The easiest way to find out is to take note of mechs that annihilate you with particular efficiency. Another is to familiarize yourself with existing literature: there's a site called http://metamechs.com/ that is maintained by some of the better competitive players, and it ranks mechs and provides optimal builds. Check it out.

Another good link, thanks. Here I thought the mechlab was just a cool place to do some tweaking, but I'm starting to get the impression that it can be a truly substantial factor in how well you perform on the field since you're not the only person in this thread to say as much. I mean obviously pilot skill will be paramout on the battlefield, but it's certainly interesting to note that the mechlab isn't just a beauty parlour for mechs.

Quote

In addition to all the excellent advice above I'd suggest buying a cheapish medium mech like a hunchback or shadow hawk as your first mech. Reason being is that the cbill grind when starting out is hard, very hard. It will take forever to earn enough to buy lots of shiny new mechs.

I'll definitely do that. As with most "free-to-play" games, I put a bit of cash in to it to help start up once I knew I was serious about giving it a go. So I have some MC's to put in to mechs as well.

Thanks for all the good help, links and videos. A lot to absorb but it most certainly will help. Nice to see an MMO with a community that actually offered help instead of scorn/ridicule. Good to know I'm not the only person who struggled early, just hope that time and effort can help turn the tide. Thanks again to everyone here.

[Jody Von Jedi]

Keonyn, on 22 December 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

As with most "free-to-play" games, I put a bit of cash in to it to help start up once I knew I was serious about giving it a go. So I have some MC's to put in to mechs as well.

Keonyn,

Welcome to MW:O. I highly recommend you not spend any of that MC or your cadet C-Bills until you settle on your preferred play style. Buy whatever mech class you're good at 1st to make C-Bills with once you have 3 variants of a single chassis elited, buy what you "like" to pilot.

I'm a medium mech specialist, but I like to pilot other classes of mechs. When I need to grind out C-bills, I go to my brawler mediums.

Jody

[KuroNyra]

I think people forget something very important first.


WELCOME!
Now, like the others said, stay away from CW at the moment, try to find if you can and if you have the time for it a Unit.
Use the trials mech in order to get used to the game and find what kind of mech you prefer.

Do not worry, the learning cuve is very difficult at first but once you have done it... It feels very good.

Edited by KuroNyra, 22 December 2014 - 10:22 AM.

[luxebo]

Keonyn, on 22 December 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

Wow, a ton of great advice here. I certainly appreciate everyone taking the time to provide some assistance.

My damage has been pretty low, usually between 100-200, even less than 100 in a couple of my more awful games. Ping and graphics are fine, I've set a few things at medium and high and can retain a high fps. As for when I'm dying, sadly it's usually early. I try to stick with my teammates but it seems like we start firing on an enemy and next thing I know I have 2 or 3 enemy mechs in my vicinity and my allies are nowhere in sight.

Thanks for the link to that site as well, I will definitely give that a look.

My favorite was the MW2 era Nova, I pretty much played through the entire game in that mech alone. I have played the MWO Nova some and it's similar, but in a PvP environment it's so easy for the enemy to take advantage of the cooldown periods.

I have been playing in first-person as well as I just prefer the cockpit aesthetics and did change the settings to default to that view. Good to see the game provides valid reasons to use the mode as I play other games, like War Thunder, where using the cockpit is a handicap. I was wondering what the advantage to unlocking the arms was though, I'll have to adjust my settings for that; definitely good info.

1st Person mode is practically a mandatory thing. At first I wanted 3pv but then it turned out to be quite gimped. The only thing I use 3pv is for corner peaking but in CW there is no access to 3pv. You also might want to turn off arm lock and throttle decay as that is something you might be more used to via MW2-4.

Smurfy is truly important, and metamechs is something of use too. I would say if you like the Nova, play it! I've seen it used extensively along with Stormcrow, Summoner, Hellbringer, and Timber Wolf in order to try to win. I've seen a handful of Clan lights and Clan assaults but it seems that the brunt of the Clans use meds and heavies. Maybe use the Nova as your first mech but I will admit it is quite tough to use due to it's heat. Try some other builds, and remember Clan mechs can trade their omnipods for others to create different builds.

Good luck!