20 replies to this topic

[Gwbleach]

Hi, I'm fairly new to this game but played my shared of MMO. from simple shooter to so more complex one, RPG, tactical and so on.

i'M having a hard to to figure out how to play this game.
if I stay behind and shoot with either missile or long range weapon I score almost no points and get destroy by those light scout that just circle me to dead and if I go on the front I get destroyed in mere second.

I watch a couple of video and spectating and I saw that I'm playing not only against the trial mech but also the custom one.
Most of the trial mech have a limited range when it come to laser, which mean that any "trial" mech will get destroyed before he can get in range to fire them.

My personal opinion should be that the trial mech should get some sort of preferential matchmaking if there is any.
Because the atlas (for this week) is kinda of pointless, slow, no range with is laser and personnaly I find it really cheap to just stay behind and fire missiles which most of the time, dont hit due to hills or building. Even when you just snipe from far, most of the time the enemy see you and retaliate

So my question is more of a tactical one. How do you play this game? agressive? passive?

From a player who wants to perform in this game and not be just a meatshield.


as a side note : is it only me or the control are not intuitive? i had to rebind at least 10 keys and i have yet to find a comfortable postition. For example, the zoom should be on the mouse wheel not as a click. or the speed limiter on the numpad is just way to far to be use.

[Redshift2k5]

for your first 25 matches you actually do get "preferential matchmaking", but note that the matchmaker forms a team aggregate and then finds a match- It tally's your whole team's Elo and finds an average, then find an enemy team with a similar average. This means your whole team is made of players with a range of skill levels, and the enemy team is likewise composed of a variety of skilled players. It is not a system of 'all new players in a queue'.

New players tend to make the mistake of thinking snipers or lrm support is an 'easier' method of playing, and then they are sought out by enemy light mechs and destroyed. New players should instead take the mantra strength in numbers, and stick close to your team so you cannot be singled out by roving light mechs. If you stay in the back, you have no nearby allies to help you. Sticking to your team is a valuable piece of advice.

The current trial mechs are all actually very capable builds and are not handicapped by a lack of range- The medium lasers obviously are a short range weapon but the ballistic and missile weapons are very long range. I think if you remain closer to your allies you will have greater success than trying to remain in the rear.

Artemis LRMs receive additional benefits when fired with direct line of sight to the target, they are intended for direct confrontation and not for firing over hills/buildings. All in all the trial Atlas may not be the best choice for you, so I encourage experimenting with all four trial mechs.

[Lord Ikka]

You also might want to remove Throttle Decay in the options. Then you set your throttle with just the W/D keys, rather than use the numberpad.

[PlzDie]

It might also help to announce in team chat that you are new, most players will be glad to help you out and answer any questions you might have.

[Dan Nashe]

Aiming and shooting ae actually the easy part of this game. Maneuvering is tricky. I run mechs with 5 mls that goes 70 kph and rarely have range issues. Resist the urge to peak! Stand 100 meters behind the guy in front, not 300 meters.

Try to die fourth on your team. If you are one of the first two to die, it's you. If you're the last to die, you're probably also doing somethoing wrong. No matter how good you are, at some point or even often you will find your team massively out manuevered. It's rarely skill, usually luck. Without professional teams, it's more like paper rock scissors for strategy, and will only feel close at best one game in three even with evenly matched teams.

I went from a .2 kd in March to a 1.06 now and it's 30 percent aiming(aiming for and hitting specific torsos with the entire 1.0 second laser),, 20 percent knowing who to target, and 50 percent knowinng who when and how to engage while manuevering in response to the 23 people you can't control on the field, and that last bit is really hard to explain and measure, as it relies a lot on the part of ingrained experience and pattern recognition.

[Homeless Bill]

My advice to people that are learning: pick someone at the start of the match and be their wingman. If you're running a small, fast 'mech, pick another small, fast 'mech. If you're anything else, find one of the big dudes and fall into formation.

Not only does it alleviate a lot of the problems new people have with decision-making and situational awareness, it's great practice for focusing fire and helping team mates.

There's no paragraph someone's going to write here that makes it click - it's all about practice and failure. The wingman strategy is a great way to ease into the complexity one bit at a time.

[scJazz]

Homeless Bill, on 11 October 2013 - 02:30 PM, said:

My advice to people that are learning: pick someone at the start of the match and be their wingman. If you're running a small, fast 'mech, pick another small, fast 'mech. If you're anything else, find one of the big dudes and fall into formation.

Not only does it alleviate a lot of the problems new people have with decision-making and situational awareness, it's great practice for focusing fire and helping team mates.

There's no paragraph someone's going to write here that makes it click - it's all about practice and failure. The wingman strategy is a great way to ease into the complexity one bit at a time.

I <3 seeing Bill post in New Players

[Koniving]

Gwbleach, on 11 October 2013 - 08:20 AM, said:

Hi, I'm fairly new to this game but played my shared of MMO. from simple shooter to so more complex one, RPG, tactical and so on.

Please take a peek at these two threads that I recently put a lot of effort into for new players. There's this one, which should've been stickied.. and this one, which got stickied but isn't quite as helpful.

The first one will help you now. It tells you about throttle decay, about what it means to have it on versus to have it off. It tells about the heat situations and various other things about the weapons.
The second will help you for the rest of your time on MWO but especially when you're ready to get a mech of your own.

That said, when you go into a match it's okay to stand on someone's shoulders for a little support.


Really, as a medium to assault mech you should do exactly that and hang around another assault mech that you can keep up with. Attack what they attack, aim where they aim.

Truth be told, with a champion mech the only real disadvantage is you don't know what you have.

• The spider's main issue is that it's fast and hard to control. There's also the Spider Syndrome -- right now everyone in a heavier mech has a hatred toward spiders. So like the dog and the squirrel, expect to draw everyone's attention.
  
• The Centurion's issues are a combination of heat...and the game's currently bad missile detection. If you fire all the missiles at once you get maybe 6 of the 18 registering. Use backspace after selecting it (explained in one of the two links above) to set them to chain fire which is to fire them one launcher at a time.
  
• The Dragon's got 2 issues. One, the mechanics of the Gauss Rifle make it difficult to use without some practice. Instructions are there. The Gauss Rifle can go out to 3x its range before doing nothing. The LLs do zero damage at twice its listed range.
  
• The Atlas RS has a good combination of long range weaponry. Don't rush into a fight as is typical of an Atlas. Instead find an Atlas with pretty colors and stay near that Atlas. Let that guy rush into the fight. Stay behind and bombard his prey with your weapons and score big bucks. Only resort to the lasers as an emergency or to scare off lights. Also, do not attempt to Gauss a spider. It's a waste of perfectly good ammunition.

If you need any extra help, I'll have my MWO on for the next hour or two. You can use the social button on the bottom right to throw me an invite and I can send you one to a group where we can pair up.

Til then, I'm having fun with my first Quickdraw to be un-stocked and customized. But should we play together I'll pick up a champion rig too.

That said... I do have footage of when it first came out. It doesn't include the charge-up mechanic but I figure it's worth showing.

[StarGeezer]

Homeless Bill, on 11 October 2013 - 02:30 PM, said:

My advice to people that are learning: pick someone at the start of the match and be their wingman. If you're running a small, fast 'mech, pick another small, fast 'mech. If you're anything else, find one of the big dudes and fall into formation.

Not only does it alleviate a lot of the problems new people have with decision-making and situational awareness, it's great practice for focusing fire and helping team mates.

There's no paragraph someone's going to write here that makes it click - it's all about practice and failure. The wingman strategy is a great way to ease into the complexity one bit at a time.

This is good practice for PUGgers of any skill level. "Safety in numbers" really does apply in this game.

Early on, I discovered (through much trial and error...emphasis on the latter) that the survivability of my LRM boats was directly related to how close I stuck with the big guys. Not close enough to wind up the object of affection of the enemy, but close enough to allow those more suited to absorbing the damage to do their thing while I rained hell on the heads (and torsos and legs and...well, you get the idea) of the opposing forces.

This doesn't just apply to boats however. Every role can benefit from having someone looking out for you. Prefer sniping? Have someone with you to watch your six while you're zoomed out so no one sneaks an alpha up your nethers. Capping or harassing? Caps go faster, and two or more fast mechs dancing around a bigger, slower foe is a nightmare...for them.

I'd go so far as to say the role of a true "Lone Wolf" is largely mythical in this setting. Sure, a seasoned pro who knows the maps well can typically survive alone for a while on a scouting mission. But when the lead starts to fly, it's always best to bring a friend. Or eleven of them.

[Homeless Bill]

scJazz, on 11 October 2013 - 02:59 PM, said:

I <3 seeing Bill post in New Players

I've been doing a lot of Q&A for newbies on reddit, so I figured I'd stop in here and see if there was anything that needed to be added. I typically don't because there are already a slew of players I trust to guide the PUG puppies through the hard times.

StarGeezer, on 11 October 2013 - 03:15 PM, said:

This is good practice for PUGgers of any skill level.

"PUG Wingman" becomes "PUG Escort" eventually. It's actually a fun break when the tedious grind of the two current modes starts to get to you. And as you said, it's pretty much always useful because of how team-oriented the game is. There's just never a bad time to have a buddy.

For a challenge, pick the guy with your favorite name or the most abrasive paintjob, regardless of role, speed, or loadout and try to keep him alive. I've ended up making a couple beautiful stand-between-you-and-the-enemy plays to keep PUGs alive. Entertaining as hell.

[LauLiao]

This game is REALLY brutal on new players. Before you go back into a regular match, I recommend spending some time on all of the maps in the testing ground. Learning the maps is an extremely important component of being successful at this game.

And remember, your armor is your LAST defense. Your first one should be NOT GETTING HIT by a) judiciously using cover, b ) attacking an enemy when they can't attack you (outside their max range, inside their minimum, behind them, etc) or c) speed speed speed!

Edited by LauLiao, 11 October 2013 - 03:33 PM.

[scJazz]

LauLiao, on 11 October 2013 - 03:31 PM, said:

This game is REALLY brutal sorta kinda hard on new players.

FIFU

Apparently, you never played EvE.

[Koniving]

Random: I hate you O.P. I'm running champion mechs... and that Dragon is NOT akin to my playstyles. It's leaving me bitter.

[LauLiao]

scJazz, on 11 October 2013 - 03:36 PM, said:

FIFU

Apparently, you never played EvE.

Nope. I like seeing sunlight once in a while.

[Gwbleach]

Thank you to all for your help and tips, it is nice to see a helpful community once in a while.

I did read a couple of guide and wander in the forum for information.

I'll do as you all say and stick to someone with full of colors .

[scJazz]

Homeless Bill, on 11 October 2013 - 03:27 PM, said:

I've been doing a lot of Q&A for newbies on reddit, so I figured I'd stop in here and see if there was anything that needed to be added. I typically don't because there are already a slew of players I trust to guide the PUG puppies through the hard times.

Aside from Koniving... you are my Fav!

In exactly what way does REDDIT manage to move this along? Seriously?

[Koniving]

Good question. I can't even figure out how to navigate it... and yet it helps new players? o.o;

[Liquid Leopard]

Koniving, on 11 October 2013 - 03:07 PM, said:

...when you go into a match it's okay to stand on someone's shoulders for a little support.

Apparently not! Or, maybe there are new rules since I first started.

A few nights ago I jumped my Victor on top of a Catapult. When I realized the Catapult was breaking, one component at a time, I tried to get off but was stuck.

After a few seconds, the whole Catapult was bOrKed and lying on the ground, I'd lost one leg, and the other had structural damage.

[Koniving]

Liquid Leopard, on 13 October 2013 - 07:57 AM, said:

Apparently not! Or, maybe there are new rules since I first started.

A few nights ago I jumped my Victor on top of a Catapult. When I realized the Catapult was breaking, one component at a time, I tried to get off but was stuck.

After a few seconds, the whole Catapult was bOrKed and lying on the ground, I'd lost one leg, and the other had structural damage.

Very unusual. But you're not supposed to stomp it into the ground. The rapid jittering actually does absolutely no damage unless you start panicking. Do not move, do not adjust, etc. as the rider.

(Massive adult language warning.)

But really, you shouldn't ride in combat period (punishable offense). Causes insane HSR issues.

(Minor/insignificant language issues.)

Edited by Koniving, 13 October 2013 - 08:13 AM.

[VIPER2207]

Gwbleach, on 11 October 2013 - 08:20 AM, said:

Hi, I'm fairly new to this game but played my shared of MMO. from simple shooter to so more complex one, RPG, tactical and so on.

i'M having a hard to to figure out how to play this game.

i think that's what most new players discover first in this game. this results for one part from the (nearly) non-existent tutorial about weapons, mech-modification and other stuff, for the other part from the difference to other modern games. Most players are used to games like CoD, Battlefield and whatever, where you will respawn after you die. Because of that, most players have an attitude to run straight to the battle and try to get the first kill, what is one of the worst tactic ever in MWO. In MWO, your death DOES matter, so be aware of your moves and their consequences. In 12-men-premade-games, there are some matches where nothing happens in the first 10 minutes of the game, and after 11 minutes the game is over with only one or two guys standing.
For learning the basics, i suggest searching for koniving here in the forum and youtube, he has some real good videos and explanations for the game (i didn't look, but i could bet he already posted in this thread).

Quote

I watch a couple of video and spectating and I saw that I'm playing not only against the trial mech but also the custom one.
Most of the trial mech have a limited range when it come to laser, which mean that any "trial" mech will get destroyed before he can get in range to fire them.

My personal opinion should be that the trial mech should get some sort of preferential matchmaking if there is any.
Because the atlas (for this week) is kinda of pointless, slow, no range with is laser and personnaly I find it really cheap to just stay behind and fire missiles which most of the time, dont hit due to hills or building. Even when you just snipe from far, most of the time the enemy see you and retaliate

So my question is more of a tactical one. How do you play this game? agressive? passive?

well, you can perform realy well with only close-range-weapons, you just have to use some tactics for getting in range. Stay in cover, wait for the enemy to be in the heat of the battle, then come out of your hiding spot and be the reaper.
As you can see in the following video, close-range-weapons can perform realy awesome (the mounted LB10X has an indicated optimal range of 540 meters, but trust me, 540 meters are far from optimal for this weapon, since it shoots like a shotgun). And before someone mentions something like "yeah dude, but you use a firebrand in this video, that's a hero-mech which can only be bought with real money, nice try trololol", you can build this or similar setup with different Jagermechs, Cataphracts and the Catapult K2 (and maybe some others).



You could meet me at our teamspeak-server this evening (I'm in Germany, Central European Time +1), and i and the others guys could give you a little introduction into MWO. Just send me a PM if you are interested.