27 replies to this topic

[Navy Sixes]

Yesterday, at the beginning of a match, I announced to my team that I had just had my first 400+ dmg game. I know that's a number dwarfed by a lot of other players, and there are probably a lot of mechwarriors out there who crossed this threshold quickly and without much effort (it took me about a month of casual play) but it was something that made me pretty happy with myself. Anyway...

Another player on my team responded that it was only their 3rd match, and that they weren't sure they liked this game. While I'm getting better, I'm not good enough to carry on a conversation in chat once the battle is joined, so here's all the things I wanted to say...

Don't get frustrated and give up!

First off, it's free to play. You won't get the hero mechs, or the wicked custom paint-job ( ), and you'll have to slow-grind your xp/cbills like the rest of us paupers, but it won't cost you a dime to enjoy this game. Which is good, because you might have a hard time enjoying your first efforts...

The learning curve is kind of steep (some will call this understatement) and as of now there is no tutorial (PGI says it's coming) so you're going to have to learn the ropes by fighting beside and against MWO veterans. You are going to make a lot of silly mistakes and you will pay for them, both in getting crumpled fast by the enemy and also verbally via in-game chat by your frustrated teammates (trust me, there really aren't that many negative creeps playing MWO, but they come out in droves to pig-pile the new players, so it seems like it's everyone).

You might think that players coming in later with a tutorial will have it better than you, but the opposite is true. These first (oh so embarrassing) battles are your tutorial, and they're the best tutorial you'll ever get from an on-line game.

Right now, in open beta, MWO is nothing but match after match, and it can seem like a pointless robot-stomp, with you being the robot getting stomped more often than not. But you're learning. You're learning how to take down a big mech with a light one, and how to counter those tactics when you go heavy. You're learning how the maps 'flow,' which spots are good places to defend, and how to turn those "good places" into death-traps. You're learning how you want to fight, and which weapons and mechs will augment your style of play. Above all, in playing with and against seasoned mechwarriors, you are learning how real combat is going to play-out when MWO releases. This is going to help you more than any AI a tutorial can throw at you.

When Community Warfare finally releases, and all of these pretty flags finally mean something, your time learning the hard way will make you a much more valuable asset to your house or mercenary unit than those coming fresh out of a tutorial. Don't worry about your stats; PGI has stated that all of that is going to reset on release.

So please don't quit! Ignore the haters (and blow the hell out of them when they are on the other team) give an ear to the players that want you to get better and are willing to offer positive advice, read the forums (dig past all the griping and you really can find some useful tips) and 'spectate' after you die to watch what other players are doing right and wrong.

We need you to stay. You are the future of the game, a game we want around for a long time. Some may call you a 'noob,' but we were all noobs just like you. The good players don't forget that.

Once you've paid "the iron price" for your experience, it won't be long before you start coming across players making the same mistakes you used to (many, I suspect, will be fresh from the tutorial!). If they're on the other team, bon appetit! If they're on yours, don't forget how frustrating this game was for you at first and try to help them.

[Royalewithcheese]

Seconded. The game throws you in the deep end (or at least the middle of the pool) in some very questionable mechs, but everyone gets the hang of it

[Roosterfish]

MWO deffinately is based on a tie a bloody pork chop around the fat kids neck then throw him in a pen of starving wolves model of starting game play.

If you do pay the 'iron price' you will get better at it. When you have that first really good match it will hook you. Just remember no matter how good you are sometimes you will still get that off match like when you poke your head up over a hill and take 2 ERPPC's/Guass to the noodle.

[DegeneratePervert]

Well said, dude. This game is one of the most enjoyable PvP games I've ever played, next to CS:S, and I hope that new players don't get scared away too quickly.

[Dracol]

Very nice post OP. And those haters you speak of... they went through the same ordeal. Its a bloody shame they don't remeber and offer useful tips instead of negativity.

[NRP]

I logged in just to like the OP.

[Ertur]

Wait, what gets reset with release?

[Navy Sixes]

Roosterfish, on 11 August 2013 - 03:41 PM, said:

Just remember no matter how good you are sometimes you will still get that off match like when you poke your head up over a hill and take 2 ERPPC's/Guass to the noodle.

Yup. This morning, right after I wrote this. I'm all swagger because I had a few 400+ games, and then I dropped into three of the worst games I've ever played. I mean getting zuked right out of the gate, stuck in the scenery, under 100 dmg (one was the big goose egg) brand of worst.

But just when I was beginning to think today was not going to be my day, I had my first 500+ fight... in Terra Therma of all places (I take back all the crappy things I said about that map. ...OK, not really).

This really is an amazing game. I just worry that a lot of the newer players won't be as enamored of the Mechwarrior universe as the people already here, and won't have the kind of love for it that will help mitigate that steep learning curve. Let's face it: if you love Mechwarrior/Battletech, getting torn to pieces is still pretty cool, as long as you're strapped into tons and tons of stompy death when it happens.

[Koniving]

Ertur, on 11 August 2013 - 10:56 PM, said:

Wait, what gets reset with release?

Your kdr, stats. If at all. They've been saying they might not even reset anything.

[Sam Slade]

I guess you can only hope they get the chance to have that game where they take down an enemy, discover they are the last person standing and claim a win for their team.

Having been through the 'victory from the jaws of defeat' experience in quite a feew PvP games I can say without a doubt th MWO is the most exhilerating. Landing that last AC20 shell from a one legged, armless Hunchback to get three kills and the win... amazeballls.

[Ertur]

Koniving, on 11 August 2013 - 11:41 PM, said:

Your kdr, stats. If at all. They've been saying they might not even reset anything.

Just so long as they don't reset my mechbays or mech exp and unlocks. Just got master unlocked for Jenners.

[YueFei]

The damage numbers can be misleading. If I'm the one who does 1 point of damage into the severely damaged side-torso of an enemy Atlas that teammates already opened up, and thus destroy the shoulder, all equipment/weapons within, and remove the attached arm and all the goodies in the arm as well, I get credit for that and that one shot can easily count as having done 100+ damage.

Some matches I feel like I didn't really land that many shots on targets, but end up with 800+ damage, just because of this. Then there are other games where I feel like I really zorched a bunch of the enemies, got full burn time with my lasers and landed solid hits with missiles.... and end up with 350 damage. It can fluctuate wildly.

In the end the only thing that matters is, did I help my team win?

[Navy Sixes]

YueFei, on 11 August 2013 - 11:48 PM, said:

In the end the only thing that matters is, did I help my team win?

Agreed. I just mastered my first mech, the Catapult. I don't boat LRMs, but they are my primary weapon, and they have taught me so much about situational awareness and how to operate with a team. That said, I don't score a lot of kills/crits, but when I lay in a lot of damage I figure that's armor my teammates won't have to punch through when they get in close. In a dedicated support role, I want to help them get those kills/crits quickly and move on to the next victim target.

And hats off to ya, YueFei. When I get a 350 game I feel like I'm doing all right! Guess I've still got a lot to learn...

[AlmightyAeng]

The OP has got it down.

One of the things I particularly enjoy about the game is that you can look at it from two perspectives.

1) Did I help my team win?
2) Even though my team lost, how did *I* do?

The game rewards working in concert with your teammates, but it doesn't penalize you for having a bad match overall if you still end up tearing the nipples off everything by yourself.

Some of the most enjoyable games I've had have been losses, and even with the recent C-Bill changes I've still made 250,000+ on a loss.

Even if you don't win, getting a 'Nice fight *insert your 'mech here' from the other team always feels awesome.

[Koniving]

Ertur, on 11 August 2013 - 11:46 PM, said:

Just so long as they don't reset my mechbays or mech exp and unlocks. Just got master unlocked for Jenners.

There is that possibility, but if that happens they'll refund all the mech and general experience. The reason that possibility is there is they are going to redo the mech trees. Currently the trees offer a lot of abuse potential.

Heat containment for example, can bring your mech from 68 threshold to 81.6, allowing you to do another alpha strike in some cases. This is one of the things that allowed the 24 PPC stalker to be possible (fire 6, wait 4, fire 6, shutdown, power up, fire 6, shut down, power up, fire 6, shut down, wait a bit) before the penalties. Highest capacity I've found is 106.272 threshold after master unlocks. Can only carry a small laser once you have that, but the problem is it's possible.

The cool run is another abuse worthy one. Turns the overall effectiveness to a bit higher than intended once you have elites.

But, most of all, Twist Speed and Armspeed are reversed (arm speed enhances your twist speed. Twist speed enhances your arm movement speed), and Pinpoint doesn't actually work. Fun, eh?

Any time they've reset something that required you to earn stuff and buy or unlock it, they refund what you bought it with too. Thus, your MXP and GXP would get refunded if they do reset your skills. Then you just "click, unlock. Click, unlock. Click, unlock," all over again without the grind.


Hope that alleviates some concerns.

[Victor Morson]

I hope they move to the tutorial > free 'mech system they've talked about before launch. That's what was supposed to happen way back in the closed beta, and everyone universally showed concern that the trial 'mech system would just drive people off.

It has. Badly. Trial 'mechs are horribly handicapped. It's less likely to make people buy a 'mech as it is to have them get frustrated.

That said, OP, I concur: The game becomes infinitely better once you own a 'mech. You can start upgrading it and it will perform several times better than a trial 'mech with even a sub-par load out.

I also recommend you join a unit! The game is way, way more fun with an organized team.

[YueFei]

Tycho von Gagern, on 12 August 2013 - 12:49 AM, said:

Agreed. I just mastered my first mech, the Catapult. I don't boat LRMs, but they are my primary weapon, and they have taught me so much about situational awareness and how to operate with a team. That said, I don't score a lot of kills/crits, but when I lay in a lot of damage I figure that's armor my teammates won't have to punch through when they get in close. In a dedicated support role, I want to help them get those kills/crits quickly and move on to the next victim target.

And hats off to ya, YueFei. When I get a 350 game I feel like I'm doing all right! Guess I've still got a lot to learn...

LRMs are fun! Especially if you drive aggressively instead of just waiting for a teammate to gain locks. Sometimes I drive an Awesome-8R with LRMs, and I also don't get a lot of damage/kills, but when I pilot it aggressively I also feel I make an impact by threatening to land a devastating salvo. I've been working with buddies where I basically go on a suicide mission going around the flank from about 400 meters from the enemy from an angle where the enemy can't immediately find cover. I also have no cover, so I basically get shot to pieces, but if I can launch even 3 salvos or so, it's significant damage with Artemis+TAG stacking together. Meanwhile I jiggle the throttle and weave left and right to try to spread the damage I take, then my teammates swing around the corner for close combat. Since I've just absorbed fire from a bunch of enemies, they should be running a bit hotter, giving an advantage to my buddies going in for a brawl. If my buddies get into brawl in the enemy's face, I usually survive, and can continue lobbing missiles over my teammate's heads. But even on the occasions where I've died, the team usually wins.


And my hat's off to you for having the tenacity to keep at it. I've introduced a bunch of people to this game who quit after about 3 or 4 games. You're gonna get one of those 800+ damage games one day soon and it's gonna feel amazing.

[Victor Morson]

Awesome LRM boats are pretty bad, because the Awesome is a kind of awful Chassis for one.. second, assaults make bad missile boats. they're too slow and easily overrun.

If you're going to run missiles, cry a Cent 9D with 2x LRM15 or something of that ilk. You'll be moving around 100, have TAG, and you'll be able to keep the exact range you want. It's way, way more useful.

[Joseph Mallan]

Koniving, on 12 August 2013 - 06:48 AM, said:

There is that possibility, but if that happens they'll refund all the mech and general experience. The reason that possibility is there is they are going to redo the mech trees. Currently the trees offer a lot of abuse potential.

Heat containment for example, can bring your mech from 68 threshold to 81.6, allowing you to do another alpha strike in some cases. This is one of the things that allowed the 24 PPC stalker to be possible (fire 6, wait 4, fire 6, shutdown, power up, fire 6, shut down, power up, fire 6, shut down, wait a bit) before the penalties. Highest capacity I've found is 106.272 threshold after master unlocks. Can only carry a small laser once you have that, but the problem is it's possible.

The cool run is another abuse worthy one. Turns the overall effectiveness to a bit higher than intended once you have elites.

But, most of all, Twist Speed and Armspeed are reversed (arm speed enhances your twist speed. Twist speed enhances your arm movement speed), and Pinpoint doesn't actually work. Fun, eh?

Any time they've reset something that required you to earn stuff and buy or unlock it, they refund what you bought it with too. Thus, your MXP and GXP would get refunded if they do reset your skills. Then you just "click, unlock. Click, unlock. Click, unlock," all over again without the grind.


Hope that alleviates some concerns.

Man if they do, I will be filthy rich with MC!

[Koniving]

Joseph Mallan, on 12 August 2013 - 09:14 PM, said:

Man if they do, I will be filthy rich with MC!

I'm thinking they'd return it in GXP, if you mean you spent MC to get GXP to purchase mech experience.