entitlement kiddies will say what they will say. anyone trolling that website or any other for reviews on a game still in beta won't be missed, if they believe that tripe. and if you want to post an "honest" review of the game, post it ALL here. don't redirect me to your virus filled, unprotected pirate site. i don't even care if that site is legitimate and honest, normally. i have no intention of going to another site, from these forums, just to read a whiny rant from an entitlement kiddie. you aren't going to get everything handed to you on a silver platter in any game, without spending cash. if that's too much for you to handle, go lay zynga games on facebook. oops. if you want to get ahead in them, you'll pay a lot more than $20.

and btw, the trial mechs aren't a problem. i have no problem being effective in the trial catapult(which really isn't a catapult, other than chassis). the trial atlas sucks, but only in the way all atlases suck. it's slow and ponderous, which a 100 ton mech would naturally be. and the hunchback is a bit rough to play because of the proliferation of assault mech drivers. just the way it is. but if you make any real effort at all, you can be effective in any of them. you just can't play all 3 the exact same way. it's like expecting a pzIII to play like a tiger II, in WoT. makes no sense, since they aren't even remotely the same. similarity ends at tracked vehicle with a gun.

once again, you ignore the fact the Founders packs went on sale in June. the beta keys weren't offered until early July, and no mention of them was ever made to sell Founders, initially. when they began the build up to stress testing and performance tuning of the game, they began inviting more beta testers. they chose to invite Founders, to reward them for having paid money to support the final stages of initial development(i say initial because this game will continue to grow and evolve even after it is opened to everyone). then, at the end of July(after they got the production equipment in place and moved the game over to it), they invited the last Founders not yet in the beta, and added the system whereby new Founders got immediate(about an hour or so after purchase, actually) beta access. now, they are again inviting non-Founders, in small batches, to add to the beta pool.

so, do Founders get an advantage in the effort to get into the closed beta? sure. are they the only ones getting in? nope. are they getting any tangible game advantages, beyond getting into the beta early? not really. a c-bill boost is the only advantage they get, and that is only if they spend $60 to get the 1 Founders mech, or $120 to get all 4. they get 1 month of prem with the $30 pack, which you can buy, the day after the game goes open, if you so desire. honestly, if you don't like the fact they paid and were rewarded with CBT access, then why are you still here? it really isn't that big a deal. as Dragonlord said, this is a real beta test, not early access to a finished product. ****, there aren't even the full complement of starting mechs in the game, yet. unless they've fixed it since, joystick support has issues. i'm sure there are clipping issues with some maps, collision detection isn't 100%. i could name a dozen or more issues many games never fix, which could be present in the game now. the beta is meant to identify them, allow PGI to prioritize fixing them and get this game ready for release(OBT).

as to the original topic of P2W, as long as there are no special m-cash-only weapons and/or mechs, the game will be reasonably balanced between the haves and the have-nots. it won't be the guys paying running roughshod over the guys who don't pay. the only things i know of that paying players will get, which non-paying players won't, will be extra mech bays and custom skins and such. they may eventually have special events, tournaments, clan/guild wars(whatever they choose to call it) and such, which may cost money to enter and may return m-cash and such for competing well. that would be another way for paying players to have some limited access non-paying players might not get, but which wouldn't necessarily translate into any overly large advantage. which again keeps the field from being completely out of balance between the haves and the have-nots.

honestly, if the game gets to the point where there is "gold" ammo for ballistic and missile weapons, and "gold' versions of energy weapons, all of which either do more damage or defeat countermeasures better, then players will leave for another game, because they don't like P2W. this is the one area that WoT stepped wrong in. "gold" tanks and ammo. PGI indicates they prefer to add customization that is primarily cosmetic, rather than equipment advantages. this can sell. look at hats in TF2. they can do just fine without selling real, measurable advantages, in-game. ****, if they want something that will sell, they should offer painted pewter mech figures, where you can get a miniature of your favorite mech(with your custom skin painted on, if you have one). that's a tangible asset, which gives no in-game advantage, but plenty of people would love to have their Atlas, with the Steiner blue paint scheme, or whatever.

pay for perks is one thing. pay for advantages is another. i don't consider a 25% or even 50% c-bill rate increase that big a deal. you can't buy more mech bays with c-bills and you can't put extra weapons on your mech, just because you have the c-bills to buy those ERPPC. if they don't fit, they don't fit. never mind that, if you can buy them, so can i. in the end, a centurion is still just a centurion. you might sacrifice a weapon or two for making the armor in lighter areas heavier or putting on better armor, once it becomes, available, but it's still a cent and there's still a limit to what it can carry. no amount of cash is going to get around that.

founders keys may possibly be linked to your account, when they are sent out. random selections might be somehow linked as well. ones obtained through other channels(convention booths and other website offers, for example) likely aren't linked to anything, until you actually use them. and i'm sure you can't pass your key along to another person, after you've registered with it and played. so stealing someone else's likely gets you nothing. probably easier to put an electronic signal interceptor on a PGI employee and hope for a stray wireless relay of a new key.

you have to love the perseverance of the entitlement kiddies, continuing to complain that "i signed up and invited others and they got in, but i didn't" and that they feel cheated because of that. how do you feel cheated that a random draw picked someone other than you? it's a RANDOM DRAW! honestly, if you're whining this much and you aren't even in the game yet, i really don't want to see what garbage you're going to trot out there if you ever do play it. if you can't be patient and wait your turn(regardless of when it comes), then you should probably go play something else. there are going to be too many times when you'll have to wait your turn, in this game, as with most others of similar configuration, and i doubt anyone here will want to listen to(read) all the whining that will go with your lack of patience. the last MW game came out more than 10 years ago. if you played it, you've waited this long for a new MW game. another month or so, for OBT, should be a cake walk. if it's not, well, feel sorry for yourself, because none of the rest of us are feeling sorry for you.

anyone buying a founders pack IS going to be in beta right away. never mind people who attended gencon and got keys through a vendor there. add to that the IGN invites. you have no idea how they got their key, other than founders. plus, if a founder went to gencon or got an IGN key, they would have a spare they could easily give to a friend. so, assuming that people now in the beta got there by some nefarious deeds on the part of PGI is ridiculous. plenty of logical explanations. and he has no point. random is random. that means that he has the same chance as anyone else in the pool, should they draw names today. and tomorrow, he'd have the same chance as everyone in that pool, as of drawing time, then. it really is that simple. length of time spent waiting is given no weight in the selection process. if anything, computer specs would have an impact before anything else.