14 replies to this topic

[Ymirok]

I haven't played this game yet but after reading up about how the in-game currency works and the myriad of pay2win rumors, I've finally decided to give this liability of a game a try.

I used to play Mechwarrior 3, 4 and some kinda spin-off on the Xbox called Mechassault. That was back in the day... I fondly remember weapons actually killing things.

How is it in Mechwarrior online? From the few videos I've watched, mechs seem to be near-immortal. Is the guy I'm watching just bad at the game or is it as I feared it would be? Is everything too durable? Are weapons too weak? Can you one-shot people? Are LRMs even worth it?

On a side note, where is the Mad Cat, Owens, Puma, Bushwacker and Strider?

Oh and are there PPCs in the game?

Edited by Ymirok, 13 September 2013 - 07:56 AM.

[Flyto]

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

I haven't played this game yet but after reading up about how the in-game currency works and the myriad of pay2win rumors, I've finally decided to give this liability of a game a try.

Seems a bit harsh to call it a liability when you *haven't* tried it!
It has its problems, but those problems apply to everybody - more than just about any other free-to-play game out there, I'm impressed with how well the developers have avoided "pay2win".

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

How is it in Mechwarrior online? From the few videos I've watched, mechs seem to be near-immortal. Is the guy I'm watching just bad at the game or is it as I feared it would be? Is everything too durable? Are weapons too weak? Can you one-shot people? Are LRMs even worth it?

In general, mechs are pretty durable. One-shots are possible, but with a few exceptions very very hard - you can't plan on getting a lot of headshots. As you're probably aware from earlier MW games, it is highly tactical and not, primarily, a "twitch" game. In fact, many of the complaints about game balance centre around mechs dying too fast to specific weapons. So if you want to run around one-shotting people it's probably not for you, but if you want to choose your position and whittle away your enemy's armour - hopefully without the same happening to you - come and try it :-)

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

On a side note, where is the Mad Cat, Owens, Puma, Bushwacker and Strider?

Oh and are there PPCs in the game?

New mechs are added every few weeks. Yes, there are PPCs.

[mailin]

You need to try the game before asking these kinds of questions, because after trying it, you'll be able to answer a lot of these questions for yourself.

[scJazz]

P2W is a myth.
Pay to make the grind easier is true. As it is in every F2P game.

You didn't link the video so it is hard to tell whether the guy playing sucks.

Right now Mechs are considered to be a little bit too easy to kill if anything. Can you one shot a mech? No not in the sense you are thinking of with the "Sniper Rifle... BOOM... Head Shot". Will mechs die to a single well placed Alpha Strike yeah... but generally your opponent has to do something stunningly stupid first. Like be in a light mech, overheat and shutdown.

I'm biased about LRMs. Yes they are totally worth it! But again you should get another opinion. They probably the easiest weapon to use badly and the hardest weapon to be excellent while using.

PPCs are of course in the game.

All of the Mechs you mention are Clan mechs or come later in the timeline. So no... we don't have any of those.

[Chaosdrive]

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I haven't played this game yet but after reading up about how the in-game currency works and the myriad of pay2win rumors, I've finally decided to give this liability of a game a try.

It's not pay to win, some people say that hero mech's are close (MC only variants with different hard point layouts than their standard variants, they also come with a 30% C-bill boost but at a pretty high cost), personally I don't see the issue with this, the majority of hero mech builds can be done just as well on standard variants.

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I used to play Mechwarrior 3, 4 and some kinda spin-off on the Xbox called Mechassault. That was back in the day... I fondly remember weapons actually killing things.

How is it in Mechwarrior online? From the few videos I've watched, mechs seem to be near-immortal. Is the guy I'm watching just bad at the game or is it as I feared it would be? Is everything too durable? Are weapons too weak? Can you one-shot people? Are LRMs even worth it?

Mech's in unskilled hands are paper, if you find yourself alone and with the enemy closing in you will either barely escape or, more than likely, die.
You could one shot somebody in the head or light/medium mech's with a high alpha, however doing so usually requires them to be shut down or you have a high pinpoint damage alpha.
The cockpit has 33 points of health and is usually pretty hard to hit, however with a 33 point or more pinpoint alpha you could one-shot a mech that way but doing it is far from the easiest thing to do.

Oh, and LRM's are useable, just be vary of ECM, tag is recommended, LRM's are only useful when boated.

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On a side note, where is the Mad Cat, Owens, Puma, Bushwacker and Strider?

Not in game, the Madcat is planned though.

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Oh and are there PPCs in the game?

I'll give you the full weapon list:

Edit: Added in per missile damage.

Ballistic:
AC/2
AC/5
AC/10
AC/20
UAC/5
LB 10-X AC
Gauss Rifle
Machine gun


Energy:
Small laser
Small pulse laser
Medium laser
Medium pulse laser
Large laser
ER large laser
Large pulse laser
PPC
ERPPC
Flamer

Missile:
SRM 2
SRM 4
SRM 6
LRM 5
LRM 10
LRM 15
LRM 20
Streak SRM 2

Note: SRM's and LRM's have access to the Artemis IV upgrade. SRM's do 2 damage per missile, LRM's do 1.1 damage per missile.


Other:
AMS
Tag
Narc

Finally, here is what should be your Mechwarrior Online go-to http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/ it has everything you will ever need to know as well as it's own mechlab, no need to buy that mech just to find out it can't do what you want it to.

Edited by Chaosdrive, 13 September 2013 - 08:13 AM.

[Lictor]

Back in closed beta due the ability to place your shots with good accuracy wherever you could put your mouse, they doubled armor ratings (and ammo per ton amounts) to make the games last a little longer, because matches were lasting 1-2 minutes once engagement started. People still compalin that death occurs too quickly. Weapons still hurt, light mechs get one shotted all the time by hight Alpha builds, and if a assualt, heavy, or medium wanders out away from cover/ecm/ams cover LRMS will grind it into powder in seconds and they are caught in a crossfire of focused Large Laser and PPC fire which will tear mechs apart as well. LRMS are a valuable support weapon but if you try and run an LRM boat without appropriate support you will get chewed up by a pack of lights or mediums.

The game was a 1:1 timeline with 3050 and the mechs currently available in game are all mechs that were available to the innershphere at that date in the timeline, but the timeline is on hold currently while community warfare and the clans are finnished, Madcat and Puma are Clan mechs so are not in the game yet, Owens (3056) (Bushwhacker (3053) and Strider (3057) are all inner sphere mechs that have not been developed yet.

[IllCaesar]

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

From the few videos I've watched, mechs seem to be near-immortal. Is the guy I'm watching just bad at the game or is it as I feared it would be?

Depends on a lot of things, but most of all it depends on the pilot and the mechs involved. "Knowledge is half the battle". If you stuck a great pilot in a very crappy mech loadout and had them 1v1 a noob who is just not very good in a 100 ton Atlas that can't overheat and moves at 70 KPH, I'd still bet on the veteran pilot. Every little technique you accumulate over time makes increases your survivability. Obviously, its much easier to take down a mech with less armour, but ultimately I'd say that the biggest factor is the pilot. There are excellent pilots who can rack up over 600 damage in a light, and there are poor pilots who couldn't do that in an Assault mech if half of the enemy team stood still while fighting back.

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Is everything too durable? Are weapons too weak? Can you one-shot people? Are LRMs even worth it?

a) Doesn't seem so to me. The better you are as a pilot, the less durable enemies seem to be.

There's always a lot of whining about weapons, just like every other multiplayer game, but from my view, I don't really see any "weak" or "useless" weapons. Some are obsolete in most playstyles, such as the Small Pulse Laser, but I don't think I'd call any weapon weak or useless. Most of it depends on the weapon-platform, the mech the weapons are attached to, more than the weapons themselves. Some light mechs will do little damage but they just don't have much damage potential, its not their strength. Equipping an Atlas with long-range weaponry is stupid, just like equipping a light mech to be a brawler. Putting small lasers on a slow mech is a bad idea, and fitting two AC20s onto a Cicada is a waste of a mech, since it can't really do anything.

c) Yeah, but unless you headshot them or the enemy is in a light mech and you're using a high damage weapon like the AC20, its not gonna happen. Light mechs are the most vulnerable due to their low armour and the fact that most are equipped with XL engines (means that if either side torso is destroyed, the whole mech goes), but its not common, and if you were killed in one shot, you were probably doing something wrong.

d) Opinions vary. AMS seems to make any salvo of five missiles useless, you if you're going to use them, you're better in bulk. Sticking a LRM5 onto the sole rocket-pod your mech has probably isn't a very good use of it the hardpoint. Sticking 30+ LRMs and Artemis onto a missile-oriented chassis with a TAG laser - much better use of missiles.

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On a side note, where is the Mad Cat, Owens, Puma, Bushwacker and Strider?

If a Mech isn't here its because of at least one of the following:

a) They just don't exist or aren't present in the Inner Sphere yet (the year the game takes place in is 3050 of the Battletech universe)
Difficulties obtaining the license are preventing its introduction
c) Not enough demand for the mech to be introduced into the game

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Oh and are there PPCs in the game?

PPCs and ER PPCs.

Edited by MarsAtlas, 13 September 2013 - 08:27 AM.

[-Muta-]

Mine has been destroyed many times and I can still use it. It is ultra mega durable

[Redshift2k5]

Nobody likes to be one-shot. They are still quite possible but typically require you to get either a very lucky shot or a very skilled one. Headshots can lead to one shot kills, as well as striking rear armour, depending on your load out and your target. Most assault mechs could easily one-shot a light by hitting the rear side torso, but it's not practical.

One-shotting someone from the front is highly unlikely except against lights who are standing still.

Both ppcs and er ppcs are in game, and are excellent weapons. Fire them in pairs to avoid heat penalties.

Clan mechs have not yet been introduced and the devs are keeping very tight-lipped about them.

[Caswallon]

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

I used to play Mechwarrior 3, 4 and some kinda spin-off on the Xbox called Mechassault. That was back in the day... I fondly remember weapons actually killing things.

Oh dear of dear oh dear... I fear you are going to be very frustrated sir. Based on that pedigree I doubt your first actual game will exceed 5 minutes and you will have done blindingly well to exceed 100 damage yourself. Feel free to prove me wrong - I genuinely hope you do! MWO has only a passing resemblance to the games you mention. Even the online versions of them where you were pitted against other players and not AI. Screw up here and the game gives you very small leeway to recover.

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

How is it in Mechwarrior online? From the few videos I've watched, mechs seem to be near-immortal.

Put two players (or teams) of roughly equal skill against each other and games can go on for quite a while. Many videos show exactly that. There are some good examples of "Roflestomps" out there as well, keep looking or better yet spectate when somebody finally puts you down in a match you can learn much form that.

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

Is the guy I'm watching just bad at the game or is it as I feared it would be? Is everything too durable? Are weapons too weak? Can you one-shot people? Are LRMs even worth it?

He is neither good or bad, if he is against a roughly equal opponent. Folks rarely post embarrassing vids of themselves so he was probably excited to have stayed alive and done so well against that opposition. But without seeing the video this is just conjecture. As for your other questions:


No, No, No, Yes, Yes if used right.
Good luck and post again when you have some direct experience I'd like to see how you feel after say you have burned through your Cadet time.

GLHF

[Ymirok]

Thanks for all the kind answers, I'm willing to give it a try! If it's not pay to win, it's worth it in my book. And it doesn't seem like there's ever gonna be another Mechwarrior game...

Best regards,

William

[scJazz]

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 08:59 AM, said:

Thanks for all the kind answers, I'm willing to give it a try! If it's not pay to win, it's worth it in my book. And it doesn't seem like there's ever gonna be another Mechwarrior game...

Best regards,

William

Your welcome!

BTW as you can tell from the quickness and detail of the replies you got we are very supportive of New Players. So... ask

[Pastor Priest]

First, in my personal opinions, the game has its issues, but is still loads of fun. P2W is not an issue. Real money can cut done on the grind, gets more mechbays, and buys unique variants, but theys stuff in no way replaces skill.

As others have said, a good pilot can take down a loan mech with a bad pilot in seconds. This has been curbed some by PGI's attempts to reduce high damage alphas, but they are not impenetrable juggernauts.

I'd recommend reading up on the various tips and guides, utilizing the training grounds, and most importantly, getting on Teamspeak and finding people to play with. Coordinated team work, and people willing to show you the ropes in real time, go a long way in this game.

[Sadistic Savior]

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

I haven't played this game yet but after reading up about how the in-game currency works and the myriad of pay2win rumors, I've finally decided to give this liability of a game a try.

I used to play Mechwarrior 3, 4 and some kinda spin-off on the Xbox called Mechassault.

This is not that. This is closer to the table top board game. Those were closer to arcade games.

This game has arcade aspects, but is closer to a simulation than an arcade shooter.

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How is it in Mechwarrior online? From the few videos I've watched, mechs seem to be near-immortal.

As with the table top game, mechs are intended to weather several waves of attacks. You will rarely if ever one-shot a mech, There are several layers of hit points (armor, items, internal structure), and the only way to kill a mech is to plow through all three in the head or CT (or right/left torso as well if they have XL engines). Or to destroy both legs. This usually takes several waves of weapons, even if you target the exact same spot.

This is the game as it was intended. The previous Mech games are arcade versions of the table top game. MWO is far closer to the original than those were.

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On a side note, where is the Mad Cat, Owens, Puma, Bushwacker and Strider?

This is an MMO and will be following a campaign. At this point of the timeline, Inner sphere pilots do not have access to those mechs. Right now we are at the very beginning of the Clan invasion, so you will not see Clan mechs for a while...maybe not even this year at all.

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Oh and are there PPCs in the game?

Yes. Regular and ER versions. Regular ones have a shorter range as well as a minimum range. ER versions generate a lot more heat though.

[Sadistic Savior]

Ymirok, on 13 September 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

I haven't played this game yet but after reading up about how the in-game currency works and the myriad of pay2win rumors,

There is no P2W. You cannot pay for any weapons in this game that you cannot also get playing free. All paying will get you is not having to grind.

There is no mech hierarchy in this game. The most expensive mech is not an "I win" button. That is why Pay to win is not relevant. You can buy any mech with cash, but all the mechs have their own strengths and weaknesses, so buying one will not get you any in-game advantage.

Some paid mechs will get you bonuses to loyalty points or CBills. But they will not get you better weapons/armor/whatever than free players can get. The only difference is that the free players will need to grind for them.