43 replies to this topic

[Conan Librarian]

AkiZeta, on 16 September 2013 - 02:35 PM, said:

trial mechs can't stand against the user's ones

You nailed the problem right away.


GG PGI

[Deathz Jester]

Well, welcome.


and I wish PGI would read these damn posts to see the effect they have on new players.

[HumanDuracell]

Hey there AkiZeta, and welcome to Mechwarrior Online. I hope you are enjoying the game and will do for a long time to come.

Yes, as has been mentioned before the Trial 'mechs, with the exception of the Champion 'mechs, (identifiable by a bracketed C at the end of their name) are normally inferior to the mechs purchased by players, as they are almost always upgraded with Double heats sinks, Endo-steel internal structure, XL Engines and so on. Against that kind of opponent, A trial mech will have a hard time going up against them. That being said they do have their uses, the prime one being the importance of learning about heat management. In addition they allow you to ascertain as to which weight class suits your play style and role in the field without having to shell out any of your hard earned/ ill-gotten C-bills. While you are learning you are also gaining experience in those mechs. So if you buy that particular variant you will have gotten a headstart to unlocking all the efficiencies. (Note: in order to unlock the Elite skills, you need to unlock all the basic skills on 3 variants of that mech type first.)

As for your tendancy to be something of a weapon magnet, all I can say is that it happens/ has happened to all of us. Mechwarrior has a very unforgiving learning curve in that regard and will severely punish those brash pilots who think they can go it alone.

With that in mind team-work is very important.
Stay with the main group, even if you think they are going the wrong way. It's much better to go the wrong with backup than it is to go the right way with no support whatsoever.
You have to think of the opposing team as a school of piranhas without the table-manners. They would like nothing more than for you to peel off from your main group so that they can all rip a piece out of you in order to take the credit for the kill.
Don't worry too much about not getting credit for a kill. The game works in such a way that you gain more C-bills with an assist than a Kill. However, a Kill will gain you more EXP than an assist.

While not much I hope all this is of use.

Edited by Edanomel, 17 September 2013 - 12:39 AM.

[VXJaeger]

Well, there's IS a problem when 10 and 10k matches players are in same pool. It's bad to both of them.

[AkiZeta]

Thank's everyone ..
I am impressed that the community is so active and helpful ( that shows that the game has the potential to evolve ) , my only concern right now after i read your posts is that the game doesn't support a voice chat and i must download a third party's program for that ... Uuuh i ll do it but i ll need help for sure , so i ll come up with questions ..

The most memorable moment i had was one time when our squad of four mechs were walking a valley and sudden , up on the slope appeared a full company of enemy mechs .. I terrified so much when i realized them , i knew we were just so easy targets in the open , i started to run and manuevre but that did n't save me , we smashed to ruins quick , even the Atlas that was with us !!
And another time when i made it on the top of a slop just to realize that a whole battalion of enemy mechs staring at me , i did n't know what hit me in the next second , it was one shot kill ...!!

[Mao of DC]

The lack of integrated voice communications sucks. Hell even the "integrated" voice comms program C3 is a 3rd party program. To top it off it is a very buggy program so buggy I hear as to be unusable. I was apprehensive about DLing a 3rd party program like TS at first. I am glad I got over my fear and followed a friends advice. It has made the game so much better that I highly recommend it now.

[Caswallon]

Integrating a voice com is on the "to do" list apparently.
They were (are???) going to use a client called C3 - you may see a link to enable it in the options screen. Don't bother with that the enable button is a dummy placeholder as well.

C3 works OK I use it myself but its not a grown up ap like teamspeak. Maybe one day but right now find whatever works for your group and

GLHF (Good Luck Have Fun)

[Koniving]

AkiZeta, on 16 September 2013 - 02:35 PM, said:

Hello fellow MechWarriors ..!

I was a big fun of mechs in the past and i used to play mechwarrior 4 series .. Some days ago i discovered a free compatible with modern pc's version of Mechwarrior 4 mercenaries ( i think the team that made it happen is Mektek ) and i was stunned .. I loved these series and the lore so much , i could play it again !!
After a while i wondered why we have n't a modern mechwarrior game and after a small research i found this one .. Ok my excitment grow bigger and without hesitation i downloaded .

After a lot game rounds ( above twenty i think , i have collected 9.200 something c - bills ) i found that this game is veeeery unforgiving in newcomers , in the classic games i have n't any problem to score kills e.t.c , here after so many playthroughs i made one single kill so far ( the only i can manage is some assists ) , i don't know if the trial mechs can't stand against the user's ones or i am lacking so much skill.. I always stuck behind other players and never go alone ..

I have a lot of money but i don't feel ready to invest right now as i am afraid i couldn't repair my mech if i am going to scrap it's round .
Also i wanted to ask why my button for join a faction is grayed ? How can i join a team ? ..and finally why the store button is grey out in my menu's up next to the faction button..?

I feel that i ll stick to this game cause hey it's a mechwarrior modern game .. I wanted though to be a dynamic campaign somehow , not to fight random matches but to be able to catch territories and to participate in a full scale war , that ll be awesome ..
That's my thoughts and thank you..

I'm sure plenty of answers have come. This user interface is being thrown out -- and today we're supposed to see some sort of improvement given that the game launches "today." But, I have the feeling the new interface is still falling behind.

Factions, community warfare, etc., is supposed to give us that dynamic campaign. Although until new game modes are made, we won't see much difference other than a universal map and little balls that we can take over as mass groups at the end of the day.

The reason the system is so unforgiving to new players is how they did heat. Essentially, the more heatsinks you have the more you can alpha strike and NOT just how fast you cool.

For example: Your typical trial mech.
Heat threshold: 30 base + 10 standard heatsinks = 40 capacity. Hit 40 heat you shut down.
Heat dissipation: 40 - 30 base = 10 / 10 seconds = 1 heat cooled per second.

Your typical brand new player with his first mech has this: Double heatsinks, 10 of them.
Heat threshold: 30 base + 10(*2 for DHS) = 50 capacity. Hit 50 heat you shut down.
Heat dissipation: 50 - 30 = 20 / 10 seconds = 2 heat cooled per second.

So, he can do 10 more heat than you, and he cools twice as fast on top of that.

Now, anyone who has played for a while with their new mech will have this:
15 DHS:
Heat threshold: 30 base + 10(*2 for engine DHS) + 5(*1.4 for chassis-mounted additional DHS) = 57 capacity + Basic Unlocks Heat Containment: 10% more = 62.7 capacity. Hit 62.7 heat you shut down.
Heat dissipation: 62.7 - 30 = 20 / 10 seconds = 2 heat cooled per second.

As you may have deduced, any heatsinks beyond 10 from the engine are 1.4 heatsinks. Actually it's any heatsinks NOT included in the engine (so if you have less than a 250 engine you are at a disadvantage even with identical numbers of heatsinks. You are at one sometimes even with just one more heatsink than the guy with the 250 engine on top of your lack of speed). This causes some issues with balancing, and yes it makes for some serious problems for new players as well as make any stock mechs completely useless when in past games they are still quite viable.

This is further compounded by the bandaids, such as Ghost Heat: the Magnum Opus as some people are sarcastically calling Paul's "Heat Scale" which targets individual weapon systems and hurts them when boated and fired at the same time. The problem is this encourages the combination of two weapon systems that create an even more dangerous combination, and allows you to alpha strike them even more because you can't put as many at the same time. Though the goal is to make heat management matter more, it actually encourages the design of even more powerful and semi-heat-neutral builds.

Meanwhile.. In past games the heat system worked like this.

Spoiler

The first mechwarrior game for the PC: (1989) 27 heat threshold. Period. 10 standard heatsinks, 1 heat cooled per second. Period. 10 double heatsinks, 2 heat cooled per second. Period.
The 32 player mechwarrior simulation featured on the discovery channel (1992) for the PC: 30 heat threshold. Period. 10 standard heatsinks, 1 heat cooled per second. Period. 10 double heatsinks. 2 heat cooled per second. Period. (No mech customization.)
The original second mechwarrior game for the PC: 30 heat threshold. Period. 10 standard heatsinks, 1 heat cooled per second. Period. 2 heat cooled per second. Period.
The expansion packs for the second mechwarrior game for the PC and Titanium Edition: Changes it to 40 threshold. Heatsinks function the same.
The second mechwarrior game for the Playstation: 40 heat threshold (for the arcadey feel). 10 standard heatsinks, 1 heat cooled per second. Period. 2 heat cooled per second. Period.
The third mechwarrior game for the PC: 30 heat threshold. Period. 10 standard heatsinks, 1 heat cooled per second. Period. 2 heat cooled per second. Period.
The fourth mechwarrior game, considered by many to be the most poorly balanced MW game to have existed before MWO. 60 heat threshold. Period. 10 standard heatsinks, 1 heat cooled per second. Period. 2 heat cooled per second. Period.

Tabletop: Depending on the iteration of tabletop, there's different "summary heat" limits. But essentially the most common is, of course, "30." 10 standard heatsinks cool "10" (as a turn is 10 seconds long). 10 double heatsinks cool "20" as a turn is 10 seconds long. At the end of the turn, you take the heat you made, subtract the heat you cooled, and that's how much heat carries over into the next turn. If you hit 30 at the end of a turn you shut down.

Past mechwarriors. During the 10 seconds, you take the heat you made and subtract the heat you cool and if at any point you hit 30, you shut down. In most of these if you hit 150% or 45, you died as punishment.

MWO. During the 10 seconds, you take the heat you made, subtract the heat you cool, and if at any point you hit something between 40 and 90+, you might shut down for a second or two. If you hit 101%, you get a slap on the wrist. If you hit 150% you take nasty damage to the CT. If you hit 200% you die as punishment.

Unfortunately this means you can do this with 14 DHS.

And this build in this video, if the threshold was 30, would stop firing a full 13 seconds sooner due to overheating. Btw, in a single firing session up to overheating it does an excess of 280 damage without the slightest worry.

[Koniving]

And forgot to add in Cool Run, adding 7.5% to cooling. Then Heat Containment 2 for when you elite your mech, totalling 20% to your threshold. Cool run 2, totalling 15% more to cooling.. And essentially it's not surprising when they say they are going to completely redo the pilot skill system.

[Raidyr]

AkiZeta, on 16 September 2013 - 02:35 PM, said:

i don't know if the trial mechs can't stand against the user's ones or i am lacking so much skill.. I always stuck behind other players and never go alone ..

No it's mostly just that trial mechs are poorly put together. This has been a problem ever since trial mechs were introduced. It's alleviated a bit by the cadet bonus (your first 25 games give you extra earnings) but it still doesn't change the fact that your first few matches of MWO are going to be in bad variants with worse loadouts running with half your maximum armor. This is still a critical flaw in the new game experience part of the game and is probably the biggest reason why player counts have stagnated.

As for "sticking with players and never going alone", congratulations, you have mastered the deep level of strategy and tactics that are key to this Thinking Man's Shooter.

[Mechteric]

Raidyr, on 17 September 2013 - 05:53 AM, said:

No it's mostly just that trial mechs are poorly put together. This has been a problem ever since trial mechs were introduced. It's alleviated a bit by the cadet bonus (your first 25 games give you extra earnings) but it still doesn't change the fact that your first few matches of MWO are going to be in bad variants with worse loadouts running with half your maximum armor. This is still a critical flaw in the new game experience part of the game and is probably the biggest reason why player counts have stagnated.

The trial mechs are nearly exact to the classic BattleTech tabletop variants. The problem is, as PGI has many times stated, you can't directly translate BattleTech tabletop to a real time format.

I really hope with UI2.0 they already have something planned to alleviate this (e.g. mech rentals!).

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 17 September 2013 - 06:04 AM.

[Raidyr]

CapperDeluxe, on 17 September 2013 - 06:03 AM, said:

The trial mechs are nearly exact to the classic BattleTech tabletop variants. The problem is, as PGI has many times stated, you can't directly translate BattleTech tabletop to a real time format.

I really hope with UI2.0 they already have something planned to alleviate this (e.g. mech rentals!).

To put it more succinctly, trial mechs are bad within the context of the game they are played in. And you are forced to use them for several dozen matches before reaching the point where you can customize your own.

Edited by Raidyr, 17 September 2013 - 06:21 AM.

[Sadistic Savior]

AkiZeta, on 16 September 2013 - 03:15 PM, said:

I live to see that .. It will be the best game ever ! Already in this state is very good , i wanted to see some interaction with the enviroment , in the old series you could explode everything , trees , buildings why not here ?! It's a modern game ...

Destructable objects is on the list of features coming. They actually already had mech collision damage in the game but took it out. Once they tweak it, that will be back too, and DFA will be possible again as well.

[Pirate2Ninja]

Welcome,

It's all been said so I'll summarize-

-Starting is hard, trial mechs don't give you much
-Stick with it!
-Working as a team gets you farther
-Use the forums, a lot
-get your friends to play / find a team and voice chat
-research, research research
-Don't sell anything except chassis
-Don't sell chassis until upgraded
-Don't let trolls get you down
-Stick with it!

GL&HF

[Tyrnea Smurf]

Always remember that during that first 25 match phase GLHF has entirely different meaning than later once you kit out your first mech.

During the trial cadet bonus phase GLHF means Go Lose Hard Fights...

Only once you level the playing field a bit on the technology side does GLHF mean Good Luck Have Fun

[AkiZeta]

I purchased yesterday my first mech ( a cataphract ) ! And i played with a vet teamate who helped me a lot how to build it , the experience of gameplay was totaly different .. The headphones and mic is must for this game , it was an amazing experience ..

I thank the whole community as i found so many poeple here that helped me out at my first steps !

[Mao of DC]

AkiZeta, on 18 September 2013 - 03:49 AM, said:

I purchased yesterday my first mech ( a cataphract ) ! And i played with a vet teamate who helped me a lot how to build it , the experience of gameplay was totaly different .. The headphones and mic is must for this game , it was an amazing experience ..

I thank the whole community as i found so many poeple here that helped me out at my first steps !

No Problem I enjoy helping out new players. I find it sad the number of people in this game that forget, WE WERE ALL NEW ONCE.

Edited by Mao of DC, 18 September 2013 - 01:22 PM.

[King Arthur IV]

join a group with TS.
taking that first step to join a corp is the hard part. it really isnt so bad, there are alot of nice and mature people out there.

comstar is the best channel!!

[Aym]

I feel the Marik Ts3 is the best place for fellows of the purple eagle!

[Mao of DC]

Aym, on 18 September 2013 - 01:58 PM, said:

I feel the Marik Ts3 is the best place for fellows of the purple eagle!

Yeah each of the Great Houses have a server. If you want to be a Lone Wolf or part of a Merc Corp the NA server is the most populated but , there are others. Just do a forum search for Team Speak servers and you should find a topic with a full listing.