Russ Bullock - President
Bryan Ekman - Creative Director
Q: Will certain mechs be house specific and not available across the board, or is it a free for all in that sense
A: Mechs will not be limited to a house, however, we plan to adjust the C-Bill cost based on your allegiance. [BRYAN]
Q: Can legs be blown off? Is their limping with significant hip/leg damage?
A: Legs cannot be blown off. However you can do critical damage. The leg becomes useless and the mech limps. [BRYAN]
Q: Will the rank system have a “skill” level to pit us against similarly skilled players?
A: At launch match making will be very simple to maximize play time. As we evolve the game, matchmaking will be tuned. [BRYAN]
Q: Any chance of the quick-zoom reticule from MW3 coming back? Loved that feature!
A: Yes, but it will be slightly different in execution. [BRYAN]
Q: Since its F2P and can be updated on the fly. Do you actually plan to have an Open Beta, or release at minimal working condition?
A: Yes, we plan to have an open beta. [BRYAN]
Q: What happens to the damage overflow if you shoot someone in a destroyed (but still attached) leg?
A: Currently we are not allowing damage overflow as a form of balance. [BRYAN]
Q: How much environmental destruction do you plan for the MWO project ?
A: What you see in videos is close to final. We plan on adding in tree destruction and small prop destruction. [BRYAN]
Q: The quadrupeds, and so-called “unsee” will be part of the game at some point?
A: Quads are not planned for launch. We may review them post launch. They pose some technical challenges. [BRYAN]
Q: Will tonnage limits be added to matches, or is it strictly Role being filled as needed in a match?
A: Matchmaking will be limit at launch to basic pairings and evolve to class, tonnage, and a form of BV. [BRYAN]
Q: Mech skins? Or ability to color your mech to taste?
A: Both. Skins and cameo specs/patterns are supported. [BRYAN]
Q: How will the player’s initial ‘mech(s) be selected?
A: Players will get 1 free mech to start. They can chose from 4 1 in each class – light, med, heavy, assault. [BRYAN]A: You will be able to choose from a selection based on the role you want to play. [RUSS]
Q: How many mechs are we going to be able to have in our stable at launch and atm how many can we unlock or buy after launch?
A: Great question. There shouldn’t be a limit to how many a person can own. Right at launch including variants? Dozens. [RUSS]
Q: Will you have (bad wot example) premium mech’s?
A: I think there are some really neat ideas like notable named hero mechs. [RUSS]
Q: How can I guarantee my lance will be able to play together? eg the random matchmaking in other games is annoying
A: You can group together similar to a console party and then launch into a match as a group. [RUSS]
Q: Is there plans to show, graphically in-game, each different weapon as it is put into your load out?
A: We do a fair bit of this now and we will be able to add more and more as the game goes along. [RUSS]
Q: Will internal components be destroyable, can I take out an enemy weapon system in the torso with destroying the location
A: Yes absolutely that is your greatest tactic in dealing with enemies. Facing a Hunchback you know where to shoot. [RUSS]
Q: How many developers PGI is currently busy on the MWO?
A: Around 40 + IGP and other support staff. [RUSS]
Q: In regards to group sizes, is that the upper limit of mechs in a match? Would there be matches with more than 12?
A: yes 12v12 is 24 mechs. Limit at least for launch who knows where the future takes us. [RUSS]
Q: How will the game deal with headhunting (Aiming at the head for an easy kill)?
A: In short we are and will deal with it just like the problem of legging. We won’t stick our head in the sand and ignore. [RUSS]
Q: what makes a slow medium (say, the Hunchback) more enticing than a fast heavy / assault (like the Cyclops)?
A: Good question but tough to answer in a tweet. The hunchback will probably cost half as much and is still a mean mech. [RUSS]
General responses
We do not currently have plans to release an SDK or Editor to the public. [BRYAN]
We do support multiple monitors and joysticks. We have not officially announced how many or which ones. [BRYAN]
As to min specs, we don’t have all the info yet but we will quickly discover that info in the next couple of weeks. [RUSS]
As to VOIP – we know our players will use it and they have their favorite, but we are exploring an official option atm. [RUSS]
As to group sizes- well our game breaks down into lances and 3 lances is a company. So your groups can be up to 12. [RUSS]
Yes we are working very hard to ensure MWO has servers in every major region. Things look very promising, talks underway. [RUSS]
As to all the questions about Beta! Ready? Stay tuned for that info soon ( as in next week ). [RUSS]
Special thanks to Pixel Hunt for cataloguing these afterward, as well as asking questions during! We had a great time, and hope to do another tweetchat as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who participated, and to those poring over the answers!