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Your history as a Mechwarrior player.


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#1 DuskAU

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 05:51 AM

Hey everybody.

Let me start first off by stating that I've never played a MW game online, and have only briefly played MW2 and MW4 - Maybe a few single player missions in each.

The thing is, I love the idea behind being in command of a huge walking death machine, or part of a small squad of players striding across the battlefield to destory a common enemy! I don't know why I didn't get into it earlier, I'm guessing it's because back then I had no internet access and I only knew about MW4 by the time anyone I knew had already passed it by. I only stumbled across this game by accident the other night.

I checked the forum history, because one of the first questions I wanted to ask was: "How do I find out more about the lore, about the clans and what-not".
Thankfully I found a thread on that, but what I also wanted to know was:

What got you started playing MW games online? Tell me about your first experiances online or moments that you will remember for years simply because they were new and cool to you at the time.

The first game I played online was Quake II, but I had a 4000 ping to USA servers (AUS player here) and at the time I was on a 26.6k modem. While nothing much happened, it opened my eyes to a whole new side of gaming.

I moved onto Starcraft from there, and I spent a huge amount of time playing it. I think mainly because the community side was so accessible and it was easy to make friends instead of just popping into a game with random people.

I have never played in a competitive team based environment before, and it looks like alot of you have more experiance in that regard so, what made you choose between the 'pub' games and the team based ones? I would love to hear the story of people and their beginnings in online MW play, how they rose up from the ashes so to speak.

Cheers, and hello to all!

#2 DEVASTATOR

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 06:18 AM

I dabbled a bit with the online play of MW2 but just with a friend. I never got involved in any of the organized multiplayer gaming. It wasn't until MW3 came out that I really got involved and that was primarily due to the MS gaming servers (The Zone) that were up and running making it really easy to play online. After playing regularly with the same people and getting along with them we entertained the idea of forming a "unit" and joining an online league . Thtn I got sucked into running a league and it all went downhill from there ;) Twelve years later I still haven't learned my lesson.

p.s. where are you in WA? My wife lived in Perth for 4 years and we visited there recently. Great place.

Edited by DEVASTATOR, 20 January 2012 - 06:32 AM.


#3 Pariah Devalis

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 06:20 AM

Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century was, I think, the second game I actually ever owned. The first being Descent. I got it because I saw this sweet box cover that was black, with a flame filled center wreathing an odd looking war machine. It looked cool, and I was young, and that was all it took to grab my attention. I remember having my dad order it from the Mac Mall magazine, then loading it up onto the "Power PC" Macintosh.

Instantly was hooked. Completely and absolutely.

I played MW2 Mercs and Ghost Bears Legacy a little bit on friends' computers, but never actually owned them. I got Mechwarrior 3 as a birthday present in Elementary School, where, for the first several hours, I thought I broke the game some how because my reticule wasn't centered on the screen. Man, was my face red when I learned there was free arm movement in the game! XD

Mechwarrior 3 was the first multiplayer I played on any Mechwarrior game. The Zone was like a second home to me.

When MW4: Vengeance came out, years later, I basically rushed out to get it as soon as I learned of its existence, and, when they came out, snagged the two mech paks, too. When MW4: Mercs came out, I went ahead and purchased that as well, but whatever good existed in Vengeance was lost in Mercs. Something was missing. Like creative level design and all semblance of balance. >_>

Somewhere between MW3 and MW4, I remember picking up Mech Commander Gold and Mech Commander 2. Those were fun games, too!

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 20 January 2012 - 06:21 AM.


#4 Chilly

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 06:37 AM

Hello everyone,
My playing experience history with Mechwarrior began in 1995 when I saw an online trailer (dialup, up to 56 kbps, of course) for Mechwarrior 2. I was hooked. Bought the game (DOS) and dove right in. Couldn't get enough of it, and subsequently bought Ghost Bear's Legacy (still remember the day I looked at the newspaper ad and saw it listed at the local Best Buy, or whatever the current electro-toy fix store was at that time), and then Mercenaries. Played them all and loved every minute! I believe it was around 1998 that I was reading a copy of PC Gamer and saw an ad for Kali, noting that I could play Mechwarrior 2 online using Kali and NetMech. I got a Kali account and started playing. Eventually joined a unit that was originally named The Red Death Legion, later renamed to The Grey Death Legion. I played as Hellwood (my given first name is Elwood, so it seemed cool at the time, thought it would sound scary!! hahaha... ;) ). We played in a league that I believe was called TKR, or something similar, and had a great time! Our unit eventually merged with three others in the league to form The Four Horsemen. I continued to play in that league for a while, then when Mechwarrior 3 came out, I got out of the online play for a while. I played Mech 3 off and on, but got back into it pretty heavy when Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance came out. Got back into the online play, and after a while joined The Borg Collective as Chilly. Had a great time playing with those guys online, in both Vengeance and Mercs. Eventually, and slowly, got away from the online play as the game aged and there were less people online, as well as more things going on at home. Am really looking forward to this new game and all that it will offer!!

#5 BigMo5

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 06:39 AM

BattleTech Table Top(still to this day, My Oldest Daughter, and son both love it)

MW1(yes i'm that old) No online play, just single player.

MW 3050 SNES

MW2:single player

MW3/Pirates moon: Online, Yes the zone was a second home, lag shooting sucked(skinned a few mechs.)

Virtual World Entertainment: If you were lucky enough to have one of these close they were a blast.

MW4(MW4Online.com) Like many helped with the beta testing and was just sad to see the Med-laser get nerfed into complete uselessness right along with the thunderbolt. Also got all the expansions.(made maps, did some art)

Mech Assault: Got to play them all to find what works and what doesn't

#6 BARBARIAN

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 06:55 AM

yo fellow pilots I stared playing mw2 then mw3 online on the zone ...joined a unit ,mw4 then started a unit called Canadian Assault Network ,played hard with freinds and fellow mw gamers then joined a team again and finished up when the zone play died, but talked to a few old friends and were going to give it a go again as soon as wee can...see yall out there ;)

#7 Mason Grimm

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 07:34 AM

View PostBigMo5, on 20 January 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

BattleTech Table Top(still to this day, My Oldest Daughter, and son both love it)

MW1(yes i'm that old) No online play, just single player.


This.

Also, MW2, MW3, MW4 (all versions) and Mech Assault.

#8 Picardkuro

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 09:38 AM

Mech warrior 2 was my first PC game and the game that got me in to Mechs altogether. I played MW2/3/4 but on computers that....were subpar and i really didn't know about online gaming back then, but i got into Armored Core games and played almost every Mech game i could find. Now I know how to get my Mech Warrior fix even though I a Raven through and through ;-)

#9 Morashtak

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 09:55 AM

TT - early adopter and had (and still do) a dining room table that could seat 12 with all the leaves in. LRMs would not be instantly used. Still have some mini's and maps boxed up down in the basement. (Thinking about it, probably could host some games as we don't use half of what we have down there.)

MW2,MW3; Took some time off from the franchise as I had an Amiga.

Saw MW4 in a bargain bin some years ago and loaded it up on the old Dell. Nostalgia time.

When someone posted a "Hey! Look!" thread on one of the WoW boards was over here the next minute. Liking the enthusiasm shown so far.

#10 OU812

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 10:10 AM

MPBT on AOL........and most of the MW series up to MW4 black knight

#11 TheRulesLawyer

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 10:14 AM

I think the better question is
"Is there any mech game I haven't played?"

#12 Erich Rainmaker Manstein

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 01:40 PM

Heh . . . I'm real old school.

Started playing Battletech when it was just a board game in the 1980's. Ran demonstration games at GENCON for FASA back when BT was still under its wing.

#13 Zervziel

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 02:05 PM

Started on MW3. Enjoyed it alot. Got MW4 Vengeance when it came out. Got Black Knight when it came out. A couple years later and I got MW4 Mercs and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Before I got MW4 Mercs I managed to snag MechCommander 2. And just a few days ago I got MW2 Mercs, which I haven't touched yet due to work.

Then at one point when my computer was completely borked, I had a immense urge to play something MechWarrior. Unfortunatly my computer was toast at the time so I had to improvise. I had no other choice at the time! In a fit of madness I bought and played MechInsult 2 Lone Wolf. Watched the "Making of the game" dvd that came with it and at the point showing the devs playing the game's multiplayer I heard the line 'I want their Atlas." It was at that point I realized what a horrible choice I made. It's still there in my living room. Watching. Waiting.

#14 gunghoblazes

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 02:25 PM

Started off with MW2 on my gramps comp way back in the day, couldnt of been more than 11. Then i went back and played MW 3050(Snes), an alright game but not what i expected after MW2. Then I played MW(SNes) and that was a little more in line with MW2 although still not quite as good. I played a lil MW3 not much though, passed up MW4 vengence and landed on MW4 mercs( loved this game at least until i got popwhopped 9 bajillion times in the mult.) I then found Mechwarrior Darkage, and sadly this is what really got me into Mechwarrior and Battletech. The books, the little manuals, it all drew me in. I have since then played some megamek with a couple friends and my brothers. I have also played Mechassualt( a nice little detour) and Mechassualt 2( a nice lil piece of **** farts, Spider mechs? Giagantic Terminator torso boss battles? cmon).

#15 WMC Gomez

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 02:54 PM

Lets see...

Battletech TT back in early 90's
Crescent Hawk
Crescent Hawk Revenge
MW2 and all the expansions
MW3 and all the expansions
MW4 and all the expansions
Virtual World - Old Tesla 2 pods, still have the mission pins somewhere....
Mech Assult
Mech Assult 2
and most important.... MPBT 3025!

#16 DuskAU

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 06:57 PM

View PostDEVASTATOR, on 20 January 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

Where are you in WA? My wife lived in Perth for 4 years and we visited there recently. Great place.


I lived in Perth for 5 years up until about 2 years ago. I'm around 4 hours north of there at the moment. I've been up and down the WA coastline and inland around WA, and I love the terrain - It's beautiful in it's own way.

Canada is a place very high up on my to visit list though! I have never seen snow and Canada just seems incredible.

-----

I think the first experiances a person gets in the online community go a long way towards giving them an enjoyable and long lasting impression with the game. I remember when I first logged onto Battle.net (Blizzards online game/community service) and didn't even know how to join a game. There were so many people that were willing to help and show me things, not only on the gameplay side but on how to navigate Battle.net properly, it made me feel welcome and I wanted to keep coming back and keep playing.

It's interesting to read all the replies. I'm getting excited about this game and will definately keep reading up on the lore and keep upto date with the news.

Cheers.

#17 Heresjohnno

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 07:32 PM

Played a demo version for MW3. had 10 rounds of instant action, with 3 playable mechs (Bushwacker, Madcat and Orion). then found ME2 for windows and fell in love.
to this day have played
Battletech
Mechwarrior 2
Mechwarrior 2: Ghost bears legacy
Mechwarrior 2: Mercs
Mechwarrior 3
Mechwarrior 4
Mechwarrior 4: Black knight
Mechwarrior 4: Mercs
Mechwarrior 2: 3050 (SNES edition)
Mechassault: Phantom war

Edited by Heresjohnno, 20 January 2012 - 07:33 PM.


#18 James McCraney

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 07:33 PM

Great question! I was curious about this as well, and was about to start a thread.

I was initiated with MW2 as well, glad to see so many others in the same boat. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, but I wasn't old enough to bother to read the objectives so I didn't make it very far haha. I actually forgot about it for a few years, until I bought a pack of games that happened to have MechCommander in it and things started looking real familiar. (On a side note this was a special deal for MechCommander, Civ 2, and Worms Armageddon for $20. Best money I've ever spent) Turns out my friend had picked up the same pack and we both started to get really into it. We gobbled up the books and played a lot of MW4 as well. Also got the MechAssaults but we don't need to talk about that. I just wish I had played more of the table top version, don't really have time to get into it now.

Edited by James McCraney, 20 January 2012 - 07:34 PM.


#19 Burned_Follower

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 07:56 PM

I remember discovering MW4 Vengeance for the first time. That was the coolest game i ever played to this day. After that i played all the MW4 Games.

Through googling "MechWarrior" in search for more Mech Warrior games when i finished playing all MW4 games i discovered the word "Battletech". So basically through the MW4 games i discovered an old out of print book series called Battletech and i have been hooked on BT ever since. I never had the privilage of playing the TT version of Battletech. I'm still very interested in doing that but i know that it requires at least one more player and i've always been physically isolated from the BT/MW fan community.

One day i was slugging it out on a MW4: Mercs server and i was recruited by some gaming group called the Midnight Cobras. I wasn't sure who or what they were. At the time i never heard of the concept of "guilds" or units. I was a complete noob when it came to online gaming. I played with the Midnight Cobras with the call sign as "Burned_Follower" at the time. I was with these guys for only a month and from what i remember they were very well organized and very well cordinated. It was like i was a part of an actual military unit. I think i played a couple scheduled matches with them back when the Midnight Cobras were competing in the MWL. But unfortunately i was 18 at the time and just moved out on my own for the first time and my budget didn't allow for online gaming. I spent the next seven years(2005-until now) basically learning the hard way to get up on my feet and stay there and as a result i had a very unstable history of getting into MWL.com, occasionally competing in 1 vs 1 ladders then dissapearing for several months due to RL issues then going back again. I had a different call sign every time i went back to MWL. Finally when i got up on my feet a year or so ago i tried to look for the Midnight Cobras and i don't think they exist anymore. I wanted to go back to them even though i only played with them for a month. I just remember them being really cool folks to play with.

Now i'm just waiting patiently for MWO to come out an maby this time i can be a part of a unit as cool as the MNC. Playing an online game wiht friends is one thing, but when you are part of an organized unit with a strict chain of command and aggressive training(which how the MNC worked) it is just a whole other level of awesomeness. I really wish i knew what happened to the MNC. The only guy i even remember was somebody named Serpent 6 who kicked everybody's but in a Raven only weilding a keyboard and mouse, haha.

Edited by XxDRxDEATHxX, 20 January 2012 - 08:31 PM.


#20 DuskAU

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Posted 20 January 2012 - 09:13 PM

View PostXxDRxDEATHxX, on 20 January 2012 - 07:56 PM, said:

One day i was slugging it out on a MW4: Mercs server and i was recruited by some gaming group called the Midnight Cobras. I wasn't sure who or what they were. At the time i never heard of the concept of "guilds" or units. I was a complete noob when it came to online gaming. I played with the Midnight Cobras with the call sign as "Burned_Follower" at the time. I was with these guys for only a month and from what i remember they were very well organized and very well cordinated. It was like i was a part of an actual military unit....

The only guy i even remember was somebody named Serpent 6 who kicked everybody's but in a Raven only weilding a keyboard and mouse, haha.


Great post Dr.Death, reminds me of my first foray into clans on Starcraft haha.
When I first started playing online Starcraft I was a total beginner like yourself, I didn't even know how to join games until someone told me. My first few months were spent playing 'money maps' which at the time were original maps, but the resources in your base were basically infinate. It was great for a new guy like me, I could sit in my base and build up a huge army and not worry about things like scouting or expanding!

I ran into a person with a clan tag =(AP)= (for Absolute Power) in one such game, and his skill level was much higher than mine, and after the game I played with him abit more. He introduced me to proper league maps and while still just a novice I underwent trial to join the clan. It was on a map I didn't even know of, I had to play against another =(AP)= member, while the original player observed the match. I was completly crushed and didn't even mount a good defence, let alone an offensive move the whole game. I thought I would never be accepted.

To my suprise they accepted me, and I was placed into their lowest league. It was structured with about 4 'tiers' of players, the top tier would participate in clan wars with other clans, and the other tiers would play tournaments against eachother to determine their rankings within their tier. You could move up in tiers by winning tournaments. They even had in-house prizes for tournament winners like gaming mice and keyboards, cd drives etc.

I had the same problem as you though, and was unable to access the internet for awhile and lost touch with their members. Was a great intial experiance though, and since I'm a total beginner at MW games, hopefully I'll beable to learn as much within a great environment like Starcraft was.

Oh, and what do you mean just a mouse and keyboard? That's how everyone plays FPS?





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