17 replies to this topic

[AlCapwnU2]

EDIT: A bit down into the comments, WhiteBear84 did a great job editing so check his post out. Many thanks to him.



GRAMMAR {Godwin's Law} BEGONE (and I apologize ahead of time if I curse at all in here, muhbad) Before anything else, it is a game, if you just want to have fun stomping around in giant mechs and shooting lasers out your eyeballs then 'effing eh, GL HF. If you would like to improve and aren't sure how to, then read on if you desire.

This turned out to be a lot longer than I originally intended so yea... this is more of a Ramble On essay for me to clarify thoughts and ideas. But my intention is to create guide to help YOU improve on your own. Straight up rough draft too, so sorry if i made a ****** guide. I hope this helps at least one of you, I believe it can if you want it to.

Ill try to keep this short and sweet the best i can (which i will fail horribly at since I have a terrible tendency to ramble XD ) so I won't bother mentioning anything too specific nor will I mention exceptions to things I say. This is just gonna be basic things I wish someone told me when I first started playing so that I could immediately build good habits. Some of it may seem obvious even to newer players, but I want to point out the most important things you should focus on every game in order to improve as a pilot. This is of course geared towards solo queue but also applies to group queue. Since I posted this in OutreachHPG, I'm assuming anyone reading this is already somewhat familiar with the game. I also added useful links down at the bottom for every MechWarrior to consider bookmarking in the case you haven't already. Knowledge=Power

I'm gonna tell you that I used to be pretty bad at this game, but I simply focus on improving all the time and now I feel like one of the stronger players in the game. You can improve too if you want to. I'm gonna ramble on about how I improve and you take what you want from it. FIRST TIP : try to never rage, never flame your teammates, never blame your teammates. Those are the most counterproductive things you can possibly do. Rage benefits no one and can put you on tilt, flaming teammates is purely cyber bullying and should not be tolerated by anyone. Simply provide constructive feedback if you wish or say nothing, just don't flame anyone, bite your tounge and take a break if needed. At the end of the day, you have no control over that person. The only thing you have control over is yourself, and you can always have done better. If you flame or even blame someone silently in your own mind, you are missing out on a learning experience and wasting energy. In fact, I literally always blame myself even if I am aware I did the best that match or if the game had a 0.01% success rate from the beginning. I blame myself for not doing better even if my team wins. So don't be a jerk and breed negativity. Instead, focus on improving yourself and the community. ok. That is literally the most important thing, you'd be surprised. Now that that is out of the way, we can continue.

I've played several games competitively and improving at them always requires you to apply the same concepts. Self-Analyze. Accept criticism. Research. Toxic-less behavior. Set small goals each match (victory isn't allowed to be a goal). Build proper habits. etc. etc. MWO is no different. So get into an easy going mindset focused on improving with your attention inward instead of outward. and dont stress mayne.

How to improve as a pilot in steps: 1. Focus on creating a strong foundation of fundamental mechanics 2. Become mechanically consistent 3. Familiarize yourself with the maps 4. Create strong map awareness during matches 5. Constantly think ahead to maneuver into dominant positions 6. Repeat step 5 until C-Bill shower overload

If you look through everything below you will understand what my steps mean. I want to clarify here that improvement comes in steps, you can't start a book on the last chapter, everything before it has to come together chapter by chapter, step by step. If you enjoy this game, there is no need to stress out over it so take it slow step by step and never forget to have fun playing. I will be a bit redundant at times because Idk what type of person you are and there are certain things vital to achieve growth as a player. I'm simply being thorough and I hope I don't leave out some key detail or some **** like that. If you are reading all of this, then damn, you really want to get better bro. That's whats up. (haters beware =P)

4 Fundamental Piloting Mechanics Spread dmg, Lock on, Aim, and Override. Requirements for firm foundation to build your MWO knowledge upon.

• SPREAD DMG. Twist that torso when you get shot. Shield with your arms. Even pumping or holding jump jets can help spread dmg. Glance at your mech's target info (lower left) each time you recieve dmg. You will live much longer. If you aren't shooting, you should be shielding. Think: Shoot twist shoot twist shoot twist
  
• Always LOCK ON to your target by pressing r AND read the target info in top right. When in doubt, just aim for Center Torso.
  
• AIM mostly straight. well duh, eh? My point here is to take your time. Don't rush. Try not to waste the heat your weapons produce. Heat is precious. Seriously, take enough time to be accurate and don't forget to use some of that time to read your target's info. Heat is precious ppl. Treat that Heat Meter like its your virgin wife on your honeymoon. lawl. but foreal keep an eye on that meter. Cant aim or twist if you overheat shutdown.
  
• OVERRIDE. Again, heat is precious. This is extremely useful and can take your piloting to the next level since most pilots never use it. Shutting down from overheating is a death sentence in most situations. Keep in mind override dmgs your HP so it isn't meant to be used constantly. When to use it? You have no cover and the mech shooting you is nearly dead or just before you know you are about to die in order to put out some extra dmg during your last moments. It can be a hard habit to build if you are already a veteran pilot (as I know from experience), in this case, I recommend you simply leave it on beginning to end every match so that you get punished more heavily every time you rise over your heat threshold unnecessarily while also have the ability to do so when it is necessary so you can experience how beneficial it can be. Bonus Tip : This, too, can help elevate your play to the next level. Use all 6 weapon groups. There are actually 7 if you include the Alpha Strike. Set up different combinations with them even if you only have 1 weapon type. This can increase your heat efficiency by a large margin. HEAT IS PRECIOUS. <=== I can never say this enough and if you want to maximize your DPS then think of all the possible ways you could usefully fire your weapons depending on range, hard point location, etc. You can learn to do this by increasing your groups by 1 until its habit then add 1 more until you can use all 6 situationally without distracting yourself. Most mechs will rarely use all 6 while very few mechs are unable to take advantage of 6. You WILL see your dmg grow if you take advantage of them properly.

Moving your legs is of course pretty important but I'm assuming you guys don't need advice for that. I'll mention that I really like the center torso to legs button so my legs face where I look at the touch of a button. Default is F key, I think.

If you want to improve mechanically those are the 4(5) mechanics you want to focus on honing each match, no matter what mech you play. See how low you can get your health% before dying. Eat a cookie when you kill a mech by overriding. You get the idea.

Before I go on to talking about how to become consistent lets talk a bit about Settings and key bindings. Make sure you really look through all the options and understand them. Experiment for yourself most importantly it may take a long time to get it all just right. This is what I advise but keep in mind most of these settings are preference. - First, turn arm lock off to allow for more responsive torso twisting. Suck it up and get used to aiming the arms and torso with it unlocked. (you can toggle or hold a key to turn it on for precise aiming when you need, I toggle shift.) - Second, I suggest putting smooth and acceleration to 0 under mouse settings. Now set the sensitivity as low as you can bear it. You don't want it so low that you can't twist enough to shield with your arm with one swift motion, yet not so high that you can't aim steady with arm lock off. - Throttle decay I prefer on - Pull the field of view back. I like 80. - I run all my graphics low because it makes it easier to see important things like mechs and it gives me a better FPS. - Adjust your key bindings. This just like mouse settings will take time to find the right settings and get used to it but its worth it. the default key bindings are pretty bad. -These are keys I recommend you change to something closer to the keyboard hand since I use these like mad crazy (ill only mention ones I remember moving idr all the defaults and i didnt mention a key then it is probably default: Override shutdown is E, I use 2 button mouse with wheel, so my weapon groups 3-6 are 1 2 3 4 respectively, Alpha Strike is Z, mouse wheel click toggles to zoom lvl 2 and scrolling it will move up and down one step, I use modules through the Activate module slot 1/2 commands which I binded to X and C.

That's all I changed so you find what set up you like where you can quickly use all the commands necessary. I will also add that I strongly advise against joysticks because I think they put you at a disadvantage, but I have met ppl who used one for there legs and I couldn't even tell. So whatever floats your boat.

Consistency is a catalyst for Growth.

Why should consistency be a goal? If you want to improve but aren't consistent, it's like taking one small step back for every step forward which will naturally slow down your progress. Inconsistency can even cause you to become a worse pilot by accidentally creating bad habits etc. You will be the one to define how strict the term consistent is here. Did you feel you played well? Are you satisfied with your play that match? The goal is to eliminate the games where you feel you just failed horribly or didn't even try etc. Simply aiming to be consistent as a first step will help you improve all by itself. The tips below each become a stronger tool for each additional tip you apply. So do your best to apply all of them. At first, focus on one at a time or whichever one you feel you are weak at. You can even create your own thing to work on if you find something you want to improve at. The point of this entire thing is that you do this at your own pace and play self consciously so you recognize your strengths and weaknesses. I'm not writing a bible, this is me pointing you in the right direction. When your reading these tips, keep in mind there are many styles of play but what I will mention are generally good techniques and sound tactics for public queue. I don't want to pull the creativity out of you so by all means experiment and do whatever you feel can help you learn. That is the key.

Tips for Consistent Piloting

pretip: Caps designate things to consider and think about through your matches to continue improving. Again, let me remind you that you should be analyzing your own play so you will know better than me were your attention should be in order to improve. Im simply laying out things that helped me and continue to do so.

• STAY WITH YOUR TEAM but try not to pile up. You don't want the entire team stuffed into one small area. You want the team to be far enough away from each other so that you aren't in each others way while also using multiple positions to fire at the enemy but not so far away to where you can't assist each other quickly. The idea is to minimize dmg from arty/air strikes while creating space for every mech to be actively engaged and map control by widening your area of threat. If your solo queue team does this, that is the dream team. Try to use space available to you and create space for your teammates by applying pressure. Be like water flow into the space that you fit into comfortably within range of your team. You don't even have to be in the same grid as your team, just as long as you don't allow yourself to be isolated away from team.
  
• FOCUS on doing better than last game, set a goal to improve on something each game. Don't forget to FOCUS on those 4 fundamentals until they become instinct and once they are instinct push your mechanics further. Don't write them off either, I am willing to say there isn't a single player that is at maximum capacity and unable to improve their mechanics slightly. If you feel that way then you are simply holding yourself back, imo. I refuse to believe there will ever be a time where I can't improve anymore.
  
• AWARENESS of the MAP. MAP. MAP. I try to look at my map a minimum of once every 2 secs. Enemies will sometimes appear on the map for a short moment. Your team may suddenly start shifting position and you could be left alone. etc. Constantly glance at map even if you feel you don't need to. AWARENESS is all about acquiring information on mechs. Simply look across map when you can to find the enemy team. and remember once every 2 seconds (Seismic sensor module can help you improve this habit and take advantage of it.)
  
• MANEUVERing and POSITIONing. You should always be looking for opportunities to find a better position. AWARENESS ties into this because positioning requires information of teammate and enemy locations. I want you to understand that maintaining a superior position is one of the hardest things to achieve consistently in this game. I'd make this one of your bigger goals. Take note of games where you felt you had really good movement and understand why it worked. Once you get good at maneuvering and positioning you will be enjoying the refreshing c-bill showers since you should be racking up dmg and all that good stuff.
  
• TESTING GROUNDS. This is more of a knowledge builder than it is a way to play consistently, but knowledge can help you to play more consistently. This is in the home menu in the game client and can seriously help you improve all by yourself. I recommend you grab a light and run around any map you aren't familiar with and even ones you are. I still am not as familiar with every nook and cranny of each map as I'd like to be. I often use TESTING GROUNDS simply to practice weapon groups of a mech and become familiar with the heat of all my weapon groups, you can also test the hitbox locations of the mechs that are on the map. It's a useful tool. The tutorial also has some neat challenges to help you hone some mechanics, don't be afraid to actually check them out just because they don't give an achievement.
  
• THINK AHEAD. You can not maintain superior positioning without thinking ahead. I feel like many players don't bother to plan there next move. Ideally, you want to have all the information you need so that you can move into that OH SO delicious superior position, but don't stop there. Once you know that spot, begin thinking about how you will react depending on the enemies reaction to your new position and have plans for how you think they will react all while your moving to the delicious superior position. Now, let me slow down here and tell you don't over complicate it, this is something that should start occurring naturally as you improve and shouldn't be forced. Think of it as a milestone of achievement when you start naturally and successfully going through motions like I described. You want to have such good habits and thought processes while playing so that you build a strong game sense. I like the term game sense, think of it as being able to trust your instincts so you won't make the mistake of overthinking what you should do.
  
• be AGGRESSIVE. Even if you still don't feel confident yet. I know I've said to focus on consistency but being aggressive will help you learn your limits quickly and also teach you how not to get punished. Basically, be aggressive and then learn from your mistakes. You want to ride that edge of aggression and then when you are beat up pull back behind teammates and don't draw fire the best you can but remain active and involved. It is now your team mates turn to take hits. Get the idea? Keep in mind there are many ways to be aggressive. It all depends on your situation, so don't be shy with your aggression, let it out sometimes. Nearly all the best players in this game play like that, super aggressive trading and then passive punishing. These players understand their limits and what they are capable of. Learn from your aggression, remember the situations you feel you won trades and the ones you feel you lost trades.
  
• TIMING. so all the tips I talked about require timing. When to peek? when to push? how should I expose? When should I move to the rock over there? etc. etc. etc. Every move you make should be made at the right moment. Thinking ahead helps your timing. See my theme, all this stuff is interconnected so it's important you recognize that. It will most likely take a lot of matches and time for everything to fall into place, there is no rush.

hmmmm... You build that foundation of mechanics strong so that you can stack all this crap I'm rambling about on it. Without building good fundamentals, your foundation will be too weak to support all the knowledge you may have and you'll create a ceiling you can't quite bust through. Y'eard meh? =D

Once/if you feel all of these tips are no longer useful and now you don't know how to improve further, there is now one thing to help you improve and that is communication and teamwork. If all you want to play is solo queue, you should now be capable of trying to drop call the match. Drop calling is something you can learn more from than anything else at this point. If you rather not DC your solo game then simply use voip and communicate critical information to your team, everyone may not use it but someone certainly will be thankful for the information you shared. Voip isn't used enough imo. PGI made a great decision to add it so let's use it.

The only other thing I want to mention is to go join a unit if you haven't already. Don't wait either, go find a unit right for you no matter what your situation is. Teamwork OP. And never stop focusing on improving them mad skills. Yerp... I hope I've been clear and this is helpful to some of you. I am not claiming to be a MWO guru, I don't have all the perfect answers. This is all based off my experiences. I figure if this works for me it can work for you. I can still learn a lot myself... Newer players can use all the help they can get with this games awkwardly harsh learning curve. Ill add a few more things below that newer players will find useful to help them improve.

Random Light Tips: - Should rarely stop moving. - Try not to peek same place twice, Peek intelligently - Good idea to safely find main enemy body location and tell team aka Scouting. -During engagements flank and peck and be as annoying to big mechs as possible - Deal with other lights if given chance - Stay alive until end of game while remaining safely active. You very good at cleaning up and can turn a close game. - Recognize if team is following you and don't lead them into poor position - Think of yourself as a Quick Reaction Force for your team's "oh ****" moments, so try to remain close enough to help

Random Medium Tips: - Ideally, you are looking for free trades all day. - look for flanking angles. - try to avoid straying too far away from assaults and heavies - try to work with and assist lights if able, protect them, but also be able to respond to bigger mechs in need of help - you want to try to create space for everyone else, but safely.

Random tips for Heavy: - Pivot from your assaults location, try and focus their target because their armor is your armor too. dont let it go to waste - also try to be in range to protect your mediums if they are in trouble, but remember your assaults need you too - dont hesitate when given a moment to punish an opponents mistake - back bone of team. set the tempo and realize you tie the entire team together. - This combination of speed and power holds a lot of potential so play intelligently. - Be aggressive if possible early you can always pull back and use other heavies and assaults as shields when low.

Random Assault Tips: - you must think ahead and position wisely due to slow speed. awareness is key - Timing is also key. Use your armor effectively because your entire team needs to use it too. (ex. When to push or aggressively trade or cross open terrain to achieve superior position.) - it's usually a good idea to try to position so that you have team mates on both sides of you so you aren't easily flanked. - You have the most weapons and armor so act like it and make sure you punish every chance you get - Ideally try to get team into a position that you can take advantage of. smaller mechs can adapt more easily than you.

I advise newer players to first learn every weight class to some extent. This will help you to understand the mind and tendencies of your teammates as well as the enemies, providing more knowledge for you to make decisions with. You don't have to be amazing at each class, but at least be capable of playing it with some degree of success. Then, you can specialize on whatever you like if you wish to.

Rough Tips on Building an Efficient Mech: - Usually better to stick to weapons of similar ranges - Heat efficiency, Hotter sauce is not always best sauce - the last tip is not a challenge - Speed=Life don't be too slow - High Mounts always Best mounts - don't be afraid to disregard quirks, especially when lvling a mech. mechs play very different before they are elite so consider lvling with a build that makes lvling easier for you - but certainly consider quirks

This is one of the most important things so let me ramble to you about it. HEAT IS PRECIOUS. I just can't stress it enough. You can't become a top level player with out understanding how to maximize your use of heat. If you read all this go back and find when i mentioned heat and write that **** down (XD or dont) so you don't forget about it. If you want to play well you just have to make your heat use efficient so here is what affects it and I'll leave the heat thing alone. And let me state that I don't simply mean DPS and only use high DPS builds. There are builds that have terrible heat efficiency but can be extremely effective if played correctly. The USE of heat being efficient is what im talking about. I get upset when I waste my heat. Remember to take your time. Accuracy is more important than a big number, make 'em count. Things to consider to make sure you're using heat well. 1. The build, derp 2. Utilizing all 6 weapon groups 3. Understanding weapon ranges and their heat dmg ratio 4. Knowing when to keep heat low and when to ride 90% like a demon. 5. You should know how much heat each weapon group will produce to help prevent shutdown 6. Override Shutdown baby! I think that about covers heat, well enough at least, **** is important yo. One last thing that is more of a preference of mine is I don't like chain fire. I have 6 Weapon groups for a reason that are usually set up to cover my ass along with override. Chain fire can be useful, and I do use it when my mech doesn't have many options for weapon groups.

These are websites that you may want to book mark I've spent lots of time using them. Many you may know of, but in case you don't here ya go, mate. If it isnt a link, sorry, just copy pastarino. btw, all these websites update regularly. tres bien.

http://metamechs.com/ -This is Gman129's of SJR creation so it reflects his wisdom and views. It's basically a giant library of optimized builds and guides. Great reference tool and source of information. Wish I had the idea first. lol mad props.

http://snafets.de/mwo/quirks.htm - Very neat Quirk list for every mech.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/ - If you don't know smurfy then... DAFUQ?!?! bookmark this 100% I have sunk a stupid amount of hours on smurfys... lets not talk about it.

https://drive.google...1FIdmJPTkk/edithttps://drive.google...UpBRGNIeVU/edit - Those last 2 are good to look through from time to time since they outline hit boxes of every chassis. Tamerlin does the community a great favor with it. Mad props.

JEEZ I hope reddit lets me post this big ass thing.. lol fffffffff dafuq is wrong with me. I started it and I just couldnt stop until I felt i was done. w/e. Teaching is the best way to learn in some ways so this really helped me organize and realize my thoughts. Cool beans.

tldr wont be a summary, rather more of most important tips. TL:DR This was an unintentional wall of text meant to give some guidance to players who want to improve. - don't be a jerk to ppl in game - Focus on self-improvement as a pilot in every possible way - Treat every match as a learning opportunity - build strong mechanics through good habits - Heat is precious - Game is dominated by efficiency. Knowledge = Power - maximize map awareness - Play intelligently by thinking ahead - Teamwork OP

phew.... maybe this guide sucks lol idk. im not even sure if its a guide. to anyone who actually took the time to read it, I hope it helped/helps. I guarantee approaching the game like this will help you improve. Don't judge me... dont be a hater either. Im way to lazy to edit it and tidy it up so... This is all based on my experience, views, and opinions of the game concerning how to improve while being able to still enjoy the game. I also believe this can help players aspiring to become a competitive player. I'll say again this is aimed at the game in a raw bones way, concerning public games only. If you disagree with anything I've said that is perfectly fine, and we are probably both right. Just plz dont flame me huehue. My ign is AlCapwnU2 and you can find me on twitch sometimes. I just really like this game and the community so here it is. woopeee

P.S. My final 2 cents worth is similar to the don't Rage and be a jerk thing. To me this is important. Be humble. Be modest. Don't let your ego inflate because you improved fast or you're already a strong pilot. An ego can hold you back just the same as blaming and flaming. Contain it. At the end of the day, we are all trash and should feel bad because we need to get better. ya feel me? Alrighty. If you are super new this might be like information overload, this guide didn't turn out as a short simple thingy like i kinda planned. Deal with it?... GL HF and GGs

OMG WALL OF TEXT WTFBBQSAUCE

Edited by AlCapwnU2, 24 October 2015 - 10:01 PM.

[Inflatable Fish]

AlCapwnU2, on 18 October 2015 - 08:08 PM, said:

- be AGGRESSIVE. Even if you still don't feel confident yet. I know I've said to focus on consistency but being aggressive will help you learn your limits quickly and also teach you how not to get punished. Basically, be aggressive and then learn from your mistakes. You want to ride that edge of aggression and then when you are beat up pull back behind teammates and don't draw fire the best you can but remain active and involved. It is now your team mates turn to take hits. Get the idea? Keep in mind there are many ways to be aggressive. It all depends on your situation, so don't be shy with your aggression, let it out sometimes. Nearly all the best players in this game play like that, super aggressive trading and then passive punishing. These players understand their limits and what they are capable of. Learn from your aggression, remember the situations you feel you won trades and the ones you feel you lost trades.

QF absloute T. you could've just said this and be done with the guide. passivity is a plague that needs to be beaten out of people's heads, and overcoming it leads to improvement in all other aspects mentioned in your writeup.

[AlCapwnU2]

Hey guys. I received some positive feedback on this. If you liked this but would like me to make a proper guide of this nature I am willing to do so upon request. So if you are a new player or simply someone who wants to see this happen, let me know. I'll go all out and take the time to do it right. I'd make it neat and stuff and cover more things depending on who asks me to do it. I won't bother if you don't ask. I am more than capable of doing so. yep...

[Skarlock]

Quote

FIRST TIP : try to never rage, never flame your teammates, never blame your teammates. Those are the most counterproductive things you can possibly do. Rage benefits no one and can put you on tilt, flaming teammates is purely cyber bullying and should not be tolerated by anyone. Simply provide constructive feedback if you wish or say nothing, just don't flame anyone, bite your tounge and take a break if needed. At the end of the day, you have no control over that person. The only thing you have control over is yourself, and you can always have done better. If you flame or even blame someone silently in your own mind, you are missing out on a learning experience and wasting energy.

This is probably the single most important thing for anyone to master. If you rage after losses or for any reason really, it becomes habit, and bad habits are hard to break. I know this issue is currently holding me back from getting better at the game, as well as on rare occasion ruining the enjoyment game for my teammates when I mouth off in chat or VOIP, though after making conscious effort to not do this, I have gotten somewhat better. It also makes people hyper sensitive if you're just trying to give advice, as they read sarcasm or a negative tone into your words or voice due to the fact that this community is just that toxic in talking with each other. It's gotten to the point where you can't even say "gg" and be taken seriously, people just automatically assume you're being an ass even if it's a close, hard fought game.

Ultimately, even though this is a competitive game, it's just a game. No need to be an ass to your team or the enemy team, even if you really want to win, or brood and fume silently as no one I can think of would find that enjoyable.

[F1oyd]

thumbs up AlCapwnU2 and thank you for your commitment!!!

To remain constructive and not beeing toxic hits the nail to the head. I really like what you write there!
Blaming others and neglecting the responsibility for your own actions is the surest way not to improve and to keep things like they are. Furthermore insulting or blaming others is not an adequate and/or mature way to regulate emotions And by the way it is really annoying for others
gl&hf

Edited by Floyd Foster, 19 October 2015 - 02:18 AM.

[Ano]

This is great, and stuffed with enough info that I was able to keep my inner editor from twitching at the odd typo.

I love, love, LOVE that you started and finished with what I would ultra-summarise as 'be nice'. Don't rage, don't call out your team, don't gloat. Focus on what *you* did, or didn't.

Kudos.

[WANTED]

Lengthy but good write up. I need to relax more myself when playing and take more breaks. Already has helped today

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Good info, Al! Thanks for sharing it! I kinda subconsciously nodded in agreement the whole way through.

[n00dle]

Thank you so much! I printed it out, and will read it before I head to bed later.

[Bluttrunken]

Especially your tips for consistent piloting and the random chassis tips mark your post as excellent. Some decent formatting would help alot with readability but as it is it's a nice summary for every pilot.

Granted, some of the tips are easier said than done but nonetheless it's a great write-up.

[AlCapwnU2]

k05h3lk1n, on 19 October 2015 - 02:47 PM, said:

Especially your tips for consistent piloting and the random chassis tips mark your post as excellent. Some decent formatting would help alot with readability but as it is it's a nice summary for every pilot.

Granted, some of the tips are easier said than done but nonetheless it's a great write-up.

Thank you.

You made a good point that I didn't make very clear. Some of it is much harder said than done. Most of these tips are simply examples. I outlined how to approach the game to improve, and I tried to provide enough information for you to get the idea of how to make that happen no matter what level of play you are at right now. What I'm saying is, we can all improve at this game. You simply need to have the right mindset.

and I apologize for it being a hot mess. I didn't realize what I created until I was done so it could certainly be improved in multiple ways. Currently, I'm considering remaking this in a proper manner if I end up feeling enough people would like me to do so.

[Mike McSullivan]

Very nice writeup! respect!

p.s.: you had the § with "beeing nice to your own team", which is one of the most important parts when it comes to groupplay esp. in the soloqueue.
My own experience is, the worse the "athmosphere", the worse the result of the match. If someone starts b*tching about how bad pugs are today, even provocing the others with swearwords, i loose any interest in that match. its like a subliminal punch to the guts.

[Steel Mike Eels]

Really useful guide, thanks for posting.

I'm a returning player been back about a month and there's a lot here that I found very useful.

[Nerdboard]

Interesting read. And despite your warnings the formatting did not make my eyes bleed

[AlCapwnU2]

Kilgrave, on 22 October 2015 - 12:31 PM, said:

Really useful guide, thanks for posting.

I'm a returning player been back about a month and there's a lot here that I found very useful.

Nerdboard, on 22 October 2015 - 05:09 PM, said:

Interesting read. And despite your warnings the formatting did not make my eyes bleed

Thank you. It's always nice to find out someone found it useful.

[Ragnahawk]

I thought the content was way too thick to read through. Not brief enough, too much filler. Is there good information in there? Well yes, but you never really went into detail, like what keys that you find the most useful for example.

[White Bear 84]

I like this guide so if you don't mind ima gonna take it and edit it up for you so its a bit more readable (not so wall of texty). I'll post up the edited version, if you like can use.

Edit: Got up to the links n all that, n had to break..
Edit2: Made some small amendments (edit disclaimer, some paragraph rewording, added keep cool to the mechanics mostly, changes some verbose, while maintaining as much of your character as possible..).

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Disclaimer: This is a guide, do not pick at grammar, do not read if you are a noob. The guide is meant for player improvement and bettering yourself as a pilot in MWO. So pro’s and newbs alike, read on if you seek self-improvement!

This guide will cover basic tips and advice to lead players of any skill level on a journey of self improvement. Some facts may seem obvious, while others may be new – so don’t approach the guide with a know all attitude, be open minded and think about how you play MWO and how these tips can help you improve as a pilot.

NB: While focused towards the solo queue, the tips and advice here hold relevance in other game modes.

OP Bio: I'm gonna tell you that I used to be pretty bad at this game, but I simply focus on improving all the time and now I feel like one of the stronger players in the game. You can improve too if you want to. I'm gonna ramble on about how I improve and you take what you want from it.

TIPS AND ADVICE.

PART 1 – TRY TO NEVER RAGE.

Never flame your teammates, never blame your teammates. This is the most counterproductive thing you can do in any game. Rage benefits no one and can put you on tilt, flaming teammates is purely cyber bullying and should not be tolerated by anyone.

Simply provide constructive feedback if you wish or say nothing - just don't flame anyone. Bite your tongue and take a break if needed. At the end of the day, you have no control over that person. The only thing you have control over is yourself, and you can always have played better.

If you flame or even blame someone silently in your own mind, you are missing out on a learning experience and wasting energy. Nobody likes a jerk, so don’t breed negatively - instead, focus on improving yourself and the community.

NB: You would be surprised that is literally the most important thing, so now that that is out of the way, we can continue.

PART 2 – CONCEPTUALISING THE PROBLEM

As a player, I've played several games competitively and improving at them always requires you to apply the same concepts;

• Self-Analyze.
  
• Accept criticism.
  
• Research.
  
• Mature (non-toxic behavior).
  
• Setting small realistic goals each match (victory isn't allowed to be a goal).
  
• Building proper habits.

MWO is no different. So get into an easy going mindset focused on improving with your attention inward instead of outward. And of course, remember the first step – don’t rage, always try to remain calm.





GENERAL STEP BY STEP GUIDE:

1. Focus on creating a strong foundation of fundamental mechanics.
2. Become mechanically consistent.
3. Familiarize yourself with the maps.
4. Create strong map awareness during matches.
5. Constantly think ahead to maneuver into dominant positions.
6. Repeat step 5 until C-Bill shower overload.


FUNDAMENTAL MECHANICS:

1. SPREAD DAMAGE.
Twist that torso when you get shot. Shield with your arms. Even pumping or holding jump jets can help spread dmg. Glance at your mech's target info (lower left) each time you recieve dmg. You will live much longer. If you aren't shooting, you should be shielding. Think: Shoot twist shoot twist shoot twist

2. Always LOCK ON
Lock on to your target by pressing r AND read the target info in top right. When in doubt, just aim for Center Torso.

3. AIM mostly straight.
Take your time and don’t rush – plan your shots and get them right. Try not to waste the heat your weapons produce. Heat is precious. Take enough time to be accurate and don't forget to use some of that time to read your target's info and target appropriately.

4. KEEP COOL.
Again: Heat is precious! Treat that Heat meter like it’s your virgin wife on your honeymoon. (lawl). Pilots often ignore the fact that their mech is a walking heat generator & that eventually you will overheat (unless you are running at a heat efficiency of 2/2, in which case well..). Overheating from being over-zealous and/or mismanaging heat can lead to you either killing yourself from override, or shutting down right in-front of a whole load of unfriendly fire.

5. OVERRIDE.
Heat is precious. This is extremely useful and can take your piloting to the next level since most pilots never use it. Shutting down from overheating is a death sentence in most situations. Keep in mind override damages your HP so it isn't meant to be used constantly.

When to use it? You have no cover and the mech shooting you is nearly dead or just before you know you are about to die in order to put out some extra damage during your last moments. It can be a hard habit to build if you are already a veteran pilot (as I know from experience), in this case, I recommend you simply leave it on beginning to end every match so that you get punished more heavily every time you rise over your heat threshold unnecessarily while also having the ability to do so when it is necessary so you can experience how beneficial it can be.

6. MOVIN YA LEGS!
Moving your legs is of course pretty important but I'm assuming you guys don't need advice for that. I'll mention that I really like the center torso to legs button so my legs face where I look at the touch of a button. Default is F key, I think.

Bonus Tip : Use all 6 weapon groups. There are actually 7 if you include the Alpha Strike. Set up different combinations with them even if you only have 1 weapon type. This can increase your heat efficiency by a large margin.

HEAT IS PRECIOUS. <=== I can never say this enough and if you want to maximize your DPS then think of all the possible ways you could usefully fire your weapons depending on range, hard point location, etc.

You can learn to do this by increasing your groups by 1 until its habit then add 1 more until you can use all 6 situationally without distracting yourself. Most mechs will rarely use all 6 while very few mechs are unable to take advantage of 6. You WILL see your dmg grow if you take advantage of weapon grouping properly.

TLDR: FUNDAMENTAL MECHANICS

If you want to improve mechanically these are the 6(7) mechanics you want to focus on honing each match, no matter what you play.

1. SPREAD DAMAGE.
2. Always LOCK ON
3. AIM mostly straight.
4. KEEP COOL.
5. OVERRIDE.
6. MOVIN YA LEGS!
(BONUS) USE YOUR WEAPON GROUPINGS!


SETTINGS AND KEY BINDINGS:

Before I go on to talking about how to become consistent let’s talk a bit about Settings and key bindings.
Make sure you really look through all the options and understand them. Most importantly, experiment for yourself - it may take a long time to get it all just right. This is what I advise but keep in mind most of these settings are preference.

ARM LOCK
Turn arm lock off to allow for more responsive torso twisting. Suck it up and get used to aiming the arms and torso with it unlocked. (you can toggle or hold a key to turn it on for precise aiming when you need, I toggle shift.)

SMOOTHING AND ACCELERATION
- Second, I suggest putting smooth and acceleration to 0 under mouse settings. Now set the sensitivity as low as you can bear it. You don't want it so low that you can't twist enough to shield with your arm with one swift motion, yet not so high that you can't aim steady with arm lock off.

THROTTLE DECAY
Throttle decay I prefer on (pls add detail)

FIELD OF VIEW
Pull the field of view back. I like 80. (pls add detail)

GRAPHIC SETTINGS
I run all my graphics low because it makes it easier to see important things like mechs and it gives me a better FPS.

KEY BINDINGS
Adjust your key bindings. This just like mouse settings will take time to find the right settings and get used to it but it’s worth it. The default key bindings are pretty bad.

These are keys I personally use and would recommend you change to something closer to the keyboard hand since I use these like mad crazy:

Override shutdown is E, I use 2 button mouse with wheel, so my weapon groups 3-6 are 1 2 3 4 respectively, Alpha Strike is Z, mouse wheel click toggles to zoom lvl 2 and scrolling it will move up and down one step, I use modules through the Activate module slot 1/2 commands which I binded to X and C.

That's all I changed so you find what set up you like where you can quickly use all the commands necessary. I will also add that I strongly advise against joysticks because I think they put you at a disadvantage, but I have met ppl who used one for there legs and I couldn't even tell. So whatever floats your boat…


CONSISTENCY IN GAME

“Consistency is a catalyst for Growth.”

Why should consistency be a goal? If you want to improve but aren't consistent, it's like taking one small step back for every step forward which will naturally slow down your progress. Inconsistency can even cause you to become a worse pilot by accidentally creating bad habits etc. You will be the one to define how strict the term consistent is here. Ask questions like;

Did you feel you played well?

Are you satisfied with your play that match?

The goal is to eliminate the games where you feel you just failed horribly or didn't even try. Simply aiming to be consistent as a first step will help you improve all by itself. The tips below each become a stronger tool for each additional tip you apply, so do your best to apply all of them.

At first, focus on one at a time or whichever one you feel you are weak at. You can even create your own thing to work on if you find something you want to improve at. The point of this entire thing is that you do this at your own pace and play self-consciously so you recognize your strengths and weaknesses.

NB: When your reading these tips, keep in mind there are many styles of play but what I will mention are generally good techniques and sound tactics for public queue. I don't want to pull the creativity out of you so by all means experiment and do whatever you feel can help you learn. That is the key.

Tips for Consistent Piloting:
Pretip: Bolded points (caps) designate things to consider and think about through your matches to continue improving.

Again, let me remind you that you should be analyzing your own play so you will know better than me were your attention should be in order to improve. Im simply laying out things that helped me and continue to do so.

STAY WITH YOUR TEAM but try not to pile up…

• You don't want the entire team stuffed into one small area.

You want the team to be far enough away from each other so that you aren't in each other’s way while also using multiple positions to fire at the enemy but not so far away to where you can't assist each other quickly.





The idea is to minimize damage from arty/air strikes while creating space for every mech to be actively engaged and map control by widening your area of threat. If your solo queue team does this, that is the dream team. Try to use space available to you and create space for your teammates by applying pressure. Be like water flow into the space that you fit into comfortably within range of your team.
You don't even have to be in the same grid as your team, just as long as you don't allow yourself to be isolated away from team.

FOCUS on doing better than last game, set a goal to improve on something each game. Don't forget to FOCUS on those 4 fundamentals until they become instinct and once they are instinct push your mechanics further. Don't write them off either, I am willing to say there isn't a single player that is at maximum capacity and unable to improve their mechanics slightly. If you feel that way then you are simply holding yourself back, imo. I refuse to believe there will ever be a time where I can't improve anymore.

AWARENESS of the MAP. MAP. MAP. I try to look at my map a minimum of once every 2 secs. Enemies will sometimes appear on the map for a short moment. Your team may suddenly start shifting position and you could be left alone. etc. Constantly glance at map even if you feel you don't need to.

AWARENESS is all about acquiring information on mechs. Simply look across map when you can to find the enemy team and remember once every 2 seconds – just like driving a car

Tip: Seismic sensor module can help you improve this habit and take advantage of it so you greatly improve your situational awareness.

MANEUVERING and POSITIONING.
You should always be looking for opportunities to find a better position.

AWARENESS ties into this because positioning requires information of teammate and enemy locations. I want you to understand that maintaining a superior position is one of the hardest things to achieve consistently in this game. I'd make this one of your bigger goals.

Take note of games where you felt you had really good movement and understand why it worked. Once you get good at maneuvering and positioning you will be enjoying the refreshing c-bill showers since you should be racking up dmg and all that good stuff.

TESTING GROUNDS. This is more of a knowledge builder than it is a way to play consistently, but knowledge can help you to play more consistently.

This is in the home menu in the game client and can seriously help you improve all by yourself. I recommend you grab a light and run around any map you aren't familiar with and even ones you are. I still am not as familiar with every nook and cranny of each map as I'd like to be.

I often use TESTING GROUNDS simply to practice weapon groups of a mech and become familiar with the heat of all my weapon groups, you can also test the hitbox locations of the mechs that are on the map. It's a useful tool. The tutorial also has some neat challenges to help you hone some mechanics, don't be afraid to actually check them out just because they don't give an achievement.

THINK AHEAD. You cannot maintain superior positioning without thinking ahead. I feel like many players don't bother to plan their next move. Ideally, you want to have all the information you need so that you can move into that OH SO delicious superior position, but don't stop there. Once you know that spot, begin thinking about how you will react depending on the enemies reaction to your new position and have plans for how you think they will react all while your moving to the delicious superior position.

Now, let me slow down here and tell you don't over complicate it, this is something that should start occurring naturally as you improve and shouldn't be forced. Think of it as a milestone of achievement when you start naturally and successfully going through motions like I described. You want to have such good habits and thought processes while playing so that you build a strong game sense. I like the term game sense, think of it as being able to trust your instincts so you won't make the mistake of overthinking what you should do.

BE AGGRESSIVE. Even if you still don't feel confident yet. I know I've said to focus on consistency but being aggressive will help you learn your limits quickly and also teach you how not to get punished.

Basically, be aggressive and then learn from your mistakes. You want to ride that edge of aggression and then when you are beat up pull back behind teammates and don't draw fire the best you can but remain active and involved. It is now your team mates turn to take hits. Get the idea?

Keep in mind there are many ways to be aggressive. It all depends on your situation, so don't be shy with your aggression, let it out sometimes. Nearly all the best players in this game play like that, super aggressive trading and then passive punishing. These players understand their limits and what they are capable of. Learn from your aggression, remember the situations you feel you won trades and the ones you feel you lost trades.

TIMING. So all the tips I talked about require timing. When to peek? When to push? How should I expose? When should I move to the rock over there? etc. etc. etc. Every move you make should be made at the right moment.

Thinking ahead helps your timing. See my theme, all this stuff is interconnected so it's important you recognize that. It will most likely take a lot of matches and time for everything to fall into place, there is no rush.


TLDR: Tips for Consistent piloting.Basically in a nutshell - without building good fundamentals, your foundation will be too weak to support all the knowledge you may have and you'll create a ceiling you can't quite bust through.

• Work with your team
  
• Be Aggressive
  
• Be Situationally aware
  
• Pay attention to your timing
  
• Think ahead!
  
• Keep re-positioning and moving

THE NEXT STEP – COMMUNICATIONS AND TEAMWORK.


Once/if you feel all of these tips are no longer useful and now you don't know how to improve further, there is now one thing to help you improve and that is communication and teamwork.

If all you want to play is solo queue, you should now be capable of trying to drop call the match. Drop calling is something you can learn more from than anything else at this point. If you rather not DC your solo game then simply use voip and communicate critical information to your team, everyone may not use it but someone certainly will be thankful for the information you shared. Voip isn't used enough imo. PGI made a great decision to add it so let's use it.

The only other thing I want to mention is to go join a unit if you haven't already. Don't wait either, go find a unit right for you no matter what your situation is. Teamwork OP. And never stop focusing on improving them mad skills. Yerp... I hope I've been clear and this is helpful to some of you. I am not claiming to be a MWO guru, I don't have all the perfect answers. This is all based off my experiences. I figure if this works for me it can work for you. I can still learn a lot myself... …and to be honest, newer players can use all the help they can get with this games awkwardly harsh learning curve.


SOME MORE TIPS FOR NEWER PLAYERS.
Let’s take a look at some general tips that will benefit newer players and help them improve their game.

Random Light Tips:
- Should rarely stop moving.
- Try not to peek same place twice, Peek intelligently
- Good idea to safely find main enemy body location and tell team aka scouting.
-During engagements flank and peck and be as annoying to big mechs as possible
- Deal with other lights if given chance
- Stay alive until end of game while remaining safely active. You very good at cleaning up and can turn a close game.
- Recognize if team is following you and don't lead them into poor position
- Think of yourself as a Quick Reaction Force for your team's "oh ****" moments, so try to remain close enough to help

Random Medium Tips:
- Ideally, you are looking for free trades all day.
- look for flanking angles.
- try to avoid straying too far away from assaults and heavies
- try to work with and assist lights if able, protect them, but also be able to respond to bigger mechs in need of help
- you want to try to create space for everyone else, but safely.

Random tips for Heavy:
- Pivot from your assaults location, try and focus their target because their armor is your armor too. don’t let it go to waste
- also try to be in range to protect your mediums if they are in trouble, but remember your assaults need you too
- don’t hesitate when given a moment to punish an opponent’s mistake
- back bone of team. set the tempo and realize you tie the entire team together.
- This combination of speed and power holds a lot of potential so play intelligently.
- Be aggressive if possible early you can always pull back and use other heavies and assaults as shields when low.

Random Assault Tips:
- you must think ahead and position wisely due to slow speed. Awareness is key
- Timing is also key. Use your armor effectively because your entire team needs to use it too. (ex. When to push or aggressively trade or cross open terrain to achieve superior position.)
- it's usually a good idea to try to position so that you have team mates on both sides of you so you aren't easily flanked.
- You have the most weapons and armor so act like it and make sure you punish every chance you get
- Ideally try to get team into a position that you can take advantage of. Smaller mechs can adapt more easily than you.

I advise newer players to first learn every weight class to some extent. This will help you to understand the mind and tendencies of your teammates as well as the enemies, providing more knowledge for you to make decisions with.
You don't have to be amazing at each class, but at least be capable of playing it with some degree of success. Then, you can specialize on whatever you like if you wish to.

Rough Tips on Building an Efficient Mech:
- Usually better to stick to weapons of similar ranges
- Heat efficiency, Hotter sauce is not always best sauce
- the last tip is not a challenge
- Speed=Life don't be too slow
- High Mounts always Best mounts
- don't be afraid to disregard quirks, especially when lvling a mech. mechs play very different before they are elite so consider lvling with a build that makes lvling easier for you
- but certainly consider quirks

This is one of the most important things so let me ramble to you about it. HEAT IS PRECIOUS. I just can't stress it enough.

You can't become a top level player without understanding how to maximize your use of heat. If you read all this go back and find when i mentioned heat and write that **** down (XD or dont) so you don't forget about it. If you want to play well you just have to make your heat use efficient so here is what affects it and I'll leave the heat thing alone.

Let me state that I don't simply mean DPS and only use high DPS builds. There are builds that have terrible heat efficiency but can be extremely effective if played correctly. The USE of heat being efficient is what im talking about. I get upset when I waste my heat. Remember to take your time. Accuracy is more important than a big number, make 'em count. Things to consider to make sure you're using heat well.

1. The build
2. Utilizing all 6 weapon groups
3. Understanding weapon ranges and their heat dmg ratio
4. Knowing when to keep heat low and when to ride 90% like a demon.
5. You should know how much heat each weapon group will produce to help prevent shutdown
6. Override Shutdown baby!

I think that about covers heat, well enough at least, **** is important yo.

One last thing that is more of a preference of mine is that I don't like chain fire. I have 6 Weapon groups for a reason that are usually set up to cover my ass along with override. Chain fire can be useful, and I do use it when my mech doesn't have many options for weapon groups.


ONLINE RESOURCES:
These are websites that you may want to book mark I've spent lots of time using them. Many you may know of, but in case you don't here ya go, mate. If it isn’t a link, sorry, just copy pastarino. btw, all these websites update regularly. tres bien.

http://metamechs.com/
-This is Gman129's of SJR creation so it reflects his wisdom and views. It's basically a giant library of optimized builds and guides. Great reference tool and source of information. Wish I had the idea first. lol mad props.

http://snafets.de/mwo/quirks.htm
- Very neat Quirk list for every mech.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/
- If you don't know smurfy then... DAFUQ?!?! bookmark this 100% I have sunk a stupid amount of hours on smurfys... lets not talk about it.

https://drive.google...1FIdmJPTkk/edit
https://drive.google...UpBRGNIeVU/edit
- Those last 2 are good to look through from time to time since they outline hit boxes of every chassis. Tamerlin does the community a great favor with it. Mad props.



JEEZ I hope reddit lets me post this big ass thing.. lol fffffffff dafuq is wrong with me. I started it and I just couldnt stop until I felt i was done. w/e. Teaching is the best way to learn in some ways so this really helped me organize and realize my thoughts. Cool beans.

tldr wont be a summary, rather more of most important tips.
TL:DR
This was an unintentional wall of text meant to give some guidance to players who want to improve.
- don't be a jerk to ppl in game
- Focus on self-improvement as a pilot in every possible way
- Treat every match as a learning opportunity
- build strong mechanics through good habits
- Heat is precious
- Game is dominated by efficiency. Knowledge = Power
- maximize map awareness
- Play intelligently by thinking ahead
- Teamwork OP

phew.... maybe this guide sucks lol idk. im not even sure if its a guide. to anyone who actually took the time to read it, I hope it helped/helps. I guarantee approaching the game like this will help you improve. Don't judge me... dont be a hater either. Im way to lazy to edit it and tidy it up so... This is all based on my experience, views, and opinions of the game concerning how to improve while being able to still enjoy the game. I also believe this can help players aspiring to become a competitive player. I'll say again this is aimed at the game in a raw bones way, concerning public games only. If you disagree with anything I've said that is perfectly fine, and we are probably both right. Just plz dont flame me huehue
.
My ign is AlCapwnU2 and you can find me on twitch sometimes. I just really like this game and the community so here it is. woopeee

P.S.
My final 2 cents worth is similar to the don't Rage and be a jerk thing. To me this is important. Be humble. Be modest. Don't let your ego inflate because you improved fast or you're already a strong pilot. An ego can hold you back just the same as blaming and flaming. Contain it. At the end of the day, we are all trash and should feel bad because we need to get better. ya feel me? Alrighty. If you are super new this might be like information overload, this guide didn't turn out as a short simple thingy like i kinda planned. Deal with it?...
GL HF and GGs

Shoutout to my unit 228IBR and all my friends in Aces Wild.

OMG WALL OF TEXT WTFBBQSAUCE

Edited by White Bear 84, 22 October 2015 - 10:12 PM.

[AlCapwnU2]

Very nice!