112 replies to this topic

[Redshift2k5]

Nicholas Carlyle, on 02 April 2013 - 07:33 AM, said:

For a beta...this patch seems to be very small...if they have surprises I hope they aren't inflammatory.

The improved vision modes are a pretty big deal. A new mech chassis (a Hero mech only with the full chassis coming soon!) is also no small potatoes.

We should also expect chassis tweaks (Stalker please?), numerous bug fixes, and lots more. But, without the april Creative Director Update (due tomorrow) we simply have no confirmed preview of today's patch contents. My NEXT what to expect thread should look much more impressive, because I'll have more public info to base it on.

We may also see new consumables, new paint pattern, who knows what else

[Nicholas Carlyle]

Redshift2k5, on 02 April 2013 - 07:52 AM, said:

The improved vision modes are a pretty big deal. A new mech chassis (a Hero mech only with the full chassis coming soon!) is also no small potatoes.

We should also expect chassis tweaks (Stalker please?), numerous bug fixes, and lots more. But, without the april Creative Director Update (due tomorrow) we simply have no confirmed preview of today's patch contents. My NEXT what to expect thread should look much more impressive, because I'll have more public info to base it on.

We may also see new consumables, new paint pattern, who knows what else

I consider hero mechs to be small potatoes. I do appreciate the thermal/night vision updates. But these patches feel a lot more like release patches for WoW than beta patches for a relatively new game.

The fact that we have no public info on any of this bugs me I suppose. They are getting worse and worse at that. Your threads here are almost not worth making at this point.

[MN03]

I guess there is no patch today?

[SgtMagor]

MN03, on 02 April 2013 - 08:05 AM, said:

I guess there is no patch today?

its only 1207 est. shpuld make it about 9am pst

[Redshift2k5]

Nicholas Carlyle, on 02 April 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

I consider hero mechs to be small potatoes. I do appreciate the thermal/night vision updates. But these patches feel a lot more like release patches for WoW than beta patches for a relatively new game.

The fact that we have no public info on any of this bugs me I suppose. They are getting worse and worse at that. Your threads here are almost not worth making at this point.

A hero mech itself is fairly small, if they added a Hero Hunchback that would not be a big update. Just a skin and different hardpoints, no biggie.

The fact it is a new chassis is a much bigger update.

[Juicebox12]

Well, that tweet is super disappointing. If indeed like he said we get a hero variant before the rest of the variants i will probably never spend another cent on this game. Step in the wrong direction, like testing the waters for pay to win. Making something available to only people who shell out real money..... I mean yeah i buy hero's. But making someone buy it just to play a new mech 2 weeks early is edging on p2w and criminal.

And its not like i don't spend on this game, i have spent nearly 200 dollars so far. I will not support this type of behavior.

[Redshift2k5]

MN03, on 02 April 2013 - 08:05 AM, said:

I guess there is no patch today?

SgtMagor, on 02 April 2013 - 08:07 AM, said:

its only 1207 est. shpuld make it about 9am pst

Patch confirmed in about 45 minutes (on par for my 10am PST forecast) http://mwomercs.com/...52#entry2168652

Juicebox12, on 02 April 2013 - 08:18 AM, said:

Well, that tweet is super disappointing. If indeed like he said we get a hero variant before the rest of the variants i will probably never spend another cent on this game. Step in the wrong direction, like testing the waters for pay to win. Making something available to only people who shell out real money..... I mean yeah i buy hero's. But making someone buy it just to play a new mech 2 weeks early is edging on p2w and criminal.

And its not like i don't spend on this game, i have spent nearly 200 dollars so far. I will not support this type of behavior.

Getting the Hero Mech early is not even close to pay to win. It's strongly in line with "paying for convenience", if you'd like to buy one you get it sooner. C-bill highlanders are confirmed for the 16th.

for many players this is actually going to directly benefit them, since they won't have to buy 3 mechs, master them all, and then months later find out 'oh we're getting a hero of that chassis' and have to buy a 4th variant. A lot of people who buy a Hero mech wish they had known sooner there would be a Hero for that chassis and what is would be loaded with!

And for the company's point of view, they know that this will build sales for those people who wish to pay for convenience and a little bit of temporary exclusivity.

If you want a regular Highlander, just wait for the next patch. No big deal.

Edited by Redshift2k5, 02 April 2013 - 08:24 AM.

[Juicebox12]

Well, im impatient and watching people run around for two weeks using a mech i can't unless is shell out over 30 dollars is absurd. Its not a convenience, its literally having something you can only get with money. Because no one but paying customers can have a highlander for two weeks. I see the slippery slope. Everything else they do i can support, even the consumables but this is just going a bit far in my opinion.

[Dulahan]

Gotta agree. An earlier patch time would probably benefit everyone. As it stands they land about the time the Europeans are getting home from work (at least in Britain) and, at least from my personal experience, MOST college students in the US are just finishing up the day's classes (At least the majority who tend to take morning classes).

That being said, since it probably requires them to be in the office, and they're Pacific TZ based. It's a bit harder to find the right sweet spot. Certainly, 5 Pacific, but that probably cuts into US Prime Time playing and would create even more outcry. And would require someone to stay late at work. Feasibly, 8am Pacific is probably the absolute earliest they can manage, and even that might be rough if it takes time to start the process going.


EDIT: As for the HM landing first... Eh. Just means I still get 2 weeks to save up for the non-hero. Sincre I spend my money on new Mechbay slots. And if my saving goes super well, maybe I can buy the fanciest variant at that. Or I'll be able to also get that 340XL engine to drop into my Cicadas.

Edited by Dulahan, 02 April 2013 - 08:33 AM.

[Redshift2k5]

You're allowed to see it as a 'slippery slope'. In my opinion, however, it's a smart move. Builds hype and profits. Doesn't hurt anybody.

The more money they make off Hero Mechs, the less they have to monetize other facets of the game.

[vrok]

Redshift2k5, on 02 April 2013 - 08:24 AM, said:

Getting the Hero Mech early is not even close to pay to win. It's strongly in line with "paying for convenience", if you'd like to buy one you get it sooner.

Wrong. Depending on how good Highlanders turn out, it could definitely be close. You simply cannot know. If they did the exact same thing with clan mechs/tech and changed nothing else when it comes to matchmaking for 2 weeks, would you still argue it isn't even close to P2W? How about if those 2 weeks turn into 2 months? It's literally buying in-game power for MC you can't get any way else.

Edited by vrok, 02 April 2013 - 08:37 AM.

[ElLocoMarko]

Egomane, on 02 April 2013 - 05:09 AM, said:

Just try it yourself.

Take a teammate (ask him before you try it) and run through his mech. You'll notice damage to both mechs (mostly on the legs).
Now use a jump capable mech and jump on the team mate. Don't slow your fall, drop like a stone. Again both mech will take damage.

There's your problem right there. Collision damage is only turned on for teammates, not enemies. So it would be really easy for them to enable it since we have all been testing it for months. But without flipping that switch the highlander does not have death from above (well, only against friendlies).

When I was an armless splat cat, I would jump up and down on enemy Atlai and do not one shred of damage. Went for a few rides though.

[Juicebox12]

vrok, on 02 April 2013 - 08:36 AM, said:

Wrong. Depending on how good Highlanders turn out, it could definitely be close. You simply cannot know. If they did the exact same thing with clan mechs/tech and changed nothing else when it comes to matchmaking for 2 weeks, would you still argue it isn't even close to P2W? How about if those 2 weeks turn into 2 months? It's literally buying in-game power for MC you can't get any way else.

Exactly. I see everything as a test.... See how far they can go.

[SgtMagor]

Juicebox12, on 02 April 2013 - 08:29 AM, said:

Well, im impatient and watching people run around for two weeks using a mech i can't unless is shell out over 30 dollars is absurd. Its not a convenience, its literally having something you can only get with money. Because no one but paying customers can have a highlander for two weeks. I see the slippery slope. Everything else they do i can support, even the consumables but this is just going a bit far in my opinion.

moot point! you can pilot it for free as stated many times! only have to wait a couple of weeks

[Ewigan]

patch notes are up!

Patch notes are up!

Quote

Open Beta Update #14

Upcoming Patch - Tuesday April 2nd @ 10AM – 1PM PDT

Patch Number: 1.2.209

Change Log

UPDATE

Greetings MechWarriors

Yesterday was April Fool's day but these patch notes are no joke!

First is our Hero BattleMech Heavy Metal! Yes this 'Mech is pink and does really play music when you get a kill! This is the first time we have released the Hero Mech before the base variants (coming April 16th). Don't let the color stop you from buying it, though, we will eventually add changing Hero 'Mech colors.

Next we have added air-strike and artillery consumables. I think Conquest mode just got more interesting! Here is a pro tip: Use them for when a light is capping your base on Alpine and save yourself a walk back to your spawn!

New Thermal and Night Vision modes are in! They look amazing and are balanced for game play! No more BlueWarrior for you!

We also have cool new digital camo patterns for your 'Mech and more 'Mech Statues for your cockpit! Keep reading for other fixes and tweaks!

See you on the battlefield!

Matt Newman

Important Known Issue

During testing we ran into a crash issue that only occurred using Nvidia 311.xx drivers, drivers before 311 tested fine as did drivers after 311. The 311 drivers have since been removed from the Nvidia website. If you are using 311.xx drivers YOU MUST UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS failure to do so will likely result in a low frequency (3 out of 10 games from our tests) crash when playing the game.

Content

New Hero Mech

“Heavy Metal” HGN-HM

Highlander HGN-HM

- Tonnage: 90
- Engine: 275 XL Top Speed: 49.5 kph
- Max Engine Rating: 330
- Torso Movement:
- 90 degrees to each side
- 20 degrees up and down
- Arm Movement:
- 20 degrees to each side
- 30 degrees up and down
- Armor: 544 (Standard)
- Weapons & Equipment:
- Left Arm: 3 Medium Lasers
- Left Torso: LRM 20, SRM 6
- Right Arm: Gauss Rifle
- Internal Structure: Standard
- Hardpoints:
- Left Arm: 3 Energy
- Left Torso: 2 Missile, 1 AMS
- Right Arm: 2 Ballistic
- Heat Sinks: 13 Double
- Jump Jets: 5 (5 Max)
- ECM Capable?: No
- Module Slots: 2
- 30% C-Bill Bonus
- Plays a music clip from its head-mounted external speakers after an enemy kill

Trial BattleMechs:

- Raven RVN-4X
- Centurion CN9-A
- Dragon DRG-5N(C)
- Awesome AWS-8Q

BattleMech Cockpit Items:

- Jenner Statue
- Cataphract Statue
- Centurion Statue

BattleMech Skin:

- Digital Skin

New Consumable Modules:

- Each team has a separate global cooldown timer governing their use of artillery and air strikes
- No one can activate an artillery or air strike while their team's cooldown timer is counting down
- At the start of the match, each team's cooldown timer counts down 60 seconds
- When a player activates an artillery or air strike, his team's cooldown timer starts to count down for 10 seconds

- Artillery Strike
- Calls in a barrage of long range artillery.
- Press [Home] to target the area under your crosshairs with an artillery strike.
- After a 5 second delay, 6 shells drop into a 50 m radius around the targeted area. Each shell does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Artillery Strike, Improved Artillery Strike, or Priority Artillery Strike module.
- Upgradable to Improved Artillery Strike.

- Priority Artillery Strike
- Calls in a barrage of long range artillery.
- Press [Home] to target the area under your crosshairs with an artillery strike.
- After a 4 second delay, 10 shells drop into a 50 m radius around the targeted area. Each shell does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Artillery Strike, Improved Artillery Strike, or Priority Artillery Strike module.

- Air Strike
- Calls in a fighter air strike on a targeted zone.
- Press [End] to target the area under your crosshairs with an air strike.
- After a 5 second delay, 6 bombs drop along a 100 m strip, starting at the targeted area and moving away from your location when you activated the strike. Each bomb does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Air Strike, Improved Air Strike, or Priority Air Strike module.
- Upgradable to Improved Air Strike

- Priority Air Strike
- Calls in a fighter air strike on a targeted zone.
- Press [End] to target the area under your crosshairs with an air strike.
- After a 4 second delay, 10 bombs drop along a 100 m strip, starting at the targeted area and moving away from your location when you activated the strike. Each bomb does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Air Strike, Improved Air Strike, or Priority Air Strike module.

New Support Modules:

- Air Strike Accuracy
- Decreases the radius of the targeted area by 20%.

- Artillery Accuracy
- Decreases the length of the bombardment zone by 20%.

New Consumable Module Upgrades:

- Improved Artillery Strike
- Upgrades the Artillery Strike module.
- Increases artillery shell count by 4, and decreases flight time by 1 second.
- Does not need to be equipped to a BattleMech.

- Improved Air Strike
- Upgrades the Air Strike module.
- Increases air strike bomb count by 4, and decreases flight time by 1 second.
- Does not need to be equipped to a BattleMech.

Notable Enviornment Changes:

- Changed HDR eye adpatation numbers to reduce amount of HDR blooming, and speed the recovery rate.
- Tweaked lighting in all levels to minimize lighting differences due to HDR eyeadaptation changes.
- Extended LOD distances in River City on many large buildings.
- Reduced strength of parallax occlusion mapping on some snow terrain textures to help reduce "crawling" terrain textures.

Gameplay

- New Night and Thermal vision modes
- Thermal vision is now "white hot" and is restricted to normal view distances. i.e. Players can no longer use thermal to view long distances.
- Night Vision is now monochrome green and shows greater detail in the surroundings.
- Players will notice that Night Vision is more useful for navigation and Thermal Vision is more useful for seeking out Mechs.
- More tuning will be done but these vision modes are on target for final implementation.

Bug Fixes

- Artemis Line-of-sight check is now more accurate
- EMP will now turn off ECM in Counter Mode
- Mech damage glow now fades away after they die

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

The MechWarrior® Online™ Team

[Nicholas Carlyle]

Wow, that was...underwhelming.

[Shumabot]

Quote

Next we have added air-strike and artillery consumables. I think Conquest mode just got more interesting! Here is a pro tip: Use them for when a light is capping your base on Alpine and save yourself a walk back to your spawn!

Pro Tip: The artillery can't cover the whole thing, just walk for 5 seconds and be safe in the knowledge that this isn't making conquest on alpine any less awful.

Quote

- Reduced strength of parallax occlusion mapping on some snow terrain textures to help reduce "crawling" terrain textures.

This on the other hand at least makes alpine less hideous.

Edited by Shumabot, 02 April 2013 - 09:52 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

heh...well, still doubt I will get it, but the music clip after a kill thing is kinda cool, actually, in a totally non-pro-gamer sort of way.

[Henree]

erm............the lrms?

Edited by Henri Schoots, 02 April 2013 - 10:08 AM.

[Gregore]

ElLocoMarko, on 02 April 2013 - 08:37 AM, said:

There's your problem right there. Collision damage is only turned on for teammates, not enemies. So it would be really easy for them to enable it since we have all been testing it for months. But without flipping that switch the highlander does not have death from above (well, only against friendlies).

When I was an armless splat cat, I would jump up and down on enemy Atlai and do not one shred of damage. Went for a few rides though.

This is so wrong. Get some facts first.
I have died at least twice due to collision and killed an enemy from a collision in the last few weeks.
You take damage, they toned it down a little as lights were destroying their legs just by running across a little bumpy ground.
Next time put on 5 JJ's go all the way up and then drop on the atlas. I am sure your legs and and his mech will take damage. The same as falling.