47 replies to this topic

[Swinebeast]

Good support from Vox. It's a known bug, he recommended to sell the Firebrand and it should fix the problem (he would add another), so good info there.

My firebrand can only level basic?
After that I have to buy one for each of the next levels? If I have the highest level on my 3rd Jäger (each precious one maxed in the class) do the previous two levels combine?
Maybe lashing out on a hero mech for my first one wasn't the best idea....lol

[Buckminster]

Nah, the Firebrand is an extremely solid mech, for starters and vets alike. It's easily one of my favorites.

As for experience, you can only unlock the 8 basic skills at first. You'll continue to gain experience, but you won't be able to spend it on any of the 4 elite skills until you've unlocked the 8 basic skills on 3 different variants of the chassis.

The elite skills are similar, in that you can't reach master until you've unlocked all 4 elite skills on three different mechs. The difference is that you need the elite skills on 3 different mechs in a weight class, and not 3 variants of a chassis. So as you unlock mechs, it becomes easier to finish the elite skills without having to grind through as many mechs.

[Koniving]

Swinebeast, on 02 April 2014 - 07:08 PM, said:

Maybe lashing out on a hero mech for my first one wasn't the best idea....lol

It will help you get the other mechs faster. Whenever you need money, hop on that and you're getting 30% more per match.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Swinebeast, on 02 April 2014 - 07:08 PM, said:

My firebrand can only level basic?

I tried to explain all that here.

Don't worry to much about the Firebrand or other Jagers - there are a lot of builds available to them

[Swinebeast]

Ok, cool, so I just have to level up say two other variants to max 1st level, this will unlock the next level of my firebrand, then do the same on the other two to gain access to elite skills.
So theoretically I can elite all three Jagers eventually.

[Koniving]

Swinebeast, on 02 April 2014 - 08:36 PM, said:

So theoretically I can elite all three Jagers eventually.

Exactly. Every mech has 3 or more variants + the hero mech, so there's a variety to choose from to reach that goal.

I just feel kind of sad that the mechs with the most variants are also the most shunned (Trebuchet and Awesome).

[IraqiWalker]

Swinebeast, on 02 April 2014 - 07:08 PM, said:

Maybe lashing out on a hero mech for my first one wasn't the best idea....lol

Don't sweat it. Also, the Fireband is easily one of the best hero mechs out there. Some of my friends swear by the thing. In fact you've got a few people here in this thread who do that too.

The grind seems daunting at first, but once you've mastered a couple of variants, it will become much easier. I have at least one chassis in each weight class mastered, or close to mastered, that way when I am eliting other mechs in that weight class, it's easier for me.

[Swinebeast]

Thanks guys, have played 12 matches, the AC2s weren't much chop so I threw in some Gauss cannons which helped, but without the advanced zoom (locked, not sure when it will be unlocked) were a bit cumbersome for a noob.
Decided to swap for AC20s with a single double heat sink and a couple of medium lasers, loosely following a build I saw on youtube.
Wasn't feeling that good about the keyboard mouse setup so I decided to use my sim gear and go the throttle, rudder, mouse option, quite immersive and comes more second nature to me from spending too much time in the virtual skies...lol
After a long losing streak I have started being a little bit more dangerous (the mech acceleration and deceleration buff helped a lot) and have clawed 6 kills back from my dying streak, getting close to 300 damage in my latest matches, should be even soon at least.

Pretty addictive stuff, has a realistic feel about the environments and combat pace, plus the customisation options are endless.
Am pretty stoked I fired it up.
Thanks guys, all the info has been invaluable to a noob, looking forward to getting back online ASAP and giving you guys a nice easy target for your LRMs...lol S!

Note: apologies for the long post, I only have limited noob post limits.

[AlmightyAeng]

Swinebeast, on 03 April 2014 - 02:33 AM, said:

Note: apologies for the long post, I only have limited noob post limits.

I see that you're adapting regardless...good...you'll need that here

Edited by Ghost Badger, 03 April 2014 - 07:23 AM.

[CMetz]

The advanced zoom is a module that you can unlock for (I believe) 1500 GXP. If you go to the skills tab and click on the left side where it says "pilot trees" that will list all the modules and how much GXP it requires to unlock them. The advanced zoom is a must have as far as I'm concerned. Other highly recommended ones: sensor range, target info gathering, target decay (if you're running streak srm2's or lrms)

Any other questions, feel free to ask. And if you need some people to drop with feel free to add me as a friend or stop by my unit's teamspeak server (22ndargylelancers.enjinvoice.com) on Sunday Night for an open house at 10pm Eastern.

[Macksheen]

Keep at it. For me (just a few months in) my own skills improved AND the mech skills improved.

One note, you can unlock elites on a chassis as long as you have three of that chassis through basic. You actually don't have to take the 2nd or 3rd chassis to elite. You don't actually even have to keep the 2nd and 3rd if you don't like them - though I strongly recommend you keep all the Jagers - they are tons of fun and it's fun to run different configs ... it may be useful though once you move on to some chassis you find you really don't like.

[IraqiWalker]

Swinebeast, on 03 April 2014 - 02:33 AM, said:

without the advanced zoom (locked, not sure when it will be unlocked).

Go to Skills---->Pilot---->Vision

You will find it there. You need to have 5000GXP to unlock it.

The way modules work is that first you have to unlock them with GXP. Then you go to the mechlab and purchase them for C-Bills. Advanced Zoom costs 2Mil C-Bills, so it was the first module for about 75% of the population. At least it was pre-launch XD.

Modules work the same way as weapons and equipment do. You can install them in a mech, and then remove them from it and plop them in another one, thus saving you the need to purchase more than one (it's a luxury that helps you NOT spend 10 minutes in the mechlab removing and installing modules between launches). One way to keep track of which mech has which module is to go to the Inventory screen. Then select mechs, click through all the mechs you have, it will show you which modules are installed in each one. If the module isn't listed on any mech, then it's been removed from the mech that housed it and is in your garage.

[Buckminster]

Swinebeast, on 03 April 2014 - 02:33 AM, said:

Wasn't feeling that good about the keyboard mouse setup so I decided to use my sim gear and go the throttle, rudder, mouse option, quite immersive and comes more second nature to me from spending too much time in the virtual skies...lol.

This was a huge thing for me. I wanted a mech sim, not an FPS, and in my mind that means joystick. I originally tried going just joystick, but it didn't have the fine control you need for ballistics and lasers. I eventually grabbed a Naga Hex, and use the joystick offhand for movement. I can honestly say that without it, I would have probably stopped playing by now.

[Swinebeast]

Good info, I didn't even know there were pilot skills...lol
Yeah it's a game that benefits (immersion wise) from some sim peripherals, will check out using the off hand joystick next time I log on, also checked out the Naga Hex, recently I bought a Mamba 4g, awesome mouse, as good as my old corded steel series even with wireless, If I didn't need wireless for my sim pit I would grab one, the button config on the Naga would be perfect.

Well my cadet bonus has ended and I copped a hiding finishing it up too, my damage is not too bad but definitely need to work on understanding how to deliver critical damage and stop trying to brawl with my AC40 build so much, hard to hang back packing so much heat.
One observation is now the cadet bonus is over C-bills are seriously scarce, I now appreciate the c-bill expense of some of these builds...lol

Edited by Swinebeast, 04 April 2014 - 04:24 AM.

[IraqiWalker]

Swinebeast, on 04 April 2014 - 04:12 AM, said:

Good info, I didn't even know there were pilot skills...lol
Yeah it's a game that benefits (immersion wise) from some sim peripherals, will check out using the off hand joystick next time I log on, also checked out the Naga Hex, recently I bought a Mamba 4g, awesome mouse, as good as my old corded steel series even with wireless, If I didn't need wireless for my sim pit I would grab one, the button config on the Naga would be perfect.

Well my cadet bonus has ended and I copped a hiding finishing it up too, my damage is not too bad but definitely need to work on understanding how to deliver critical damage and stop trying to brawl with my AC40 build so much, hard to hang back packing so much heat.
One observation is now the cadet bonus is over C-bills are seriously scarce, I now appreciate the c-bill expense of some of these builds...lol

Yeah, losing the C-bill boost was a big hit for me, since no one told me I HAD a cadet bonus. It seems daunting to get 18.5 mil (what you need to fully outfit a Close Range Combat Atlas when making 100K (give or take 50K depending on win or loss) per match; but I easilly make that within a 4 or so days just by dropping with friends and goofing around. (keep in mind I'm almost always in a light, when I'm in my BLR-1S or my Ember I can make more than that).

[Swinebeast]

What does the premium time include? Might grab some, I like the grind, it makes achievements worthwhile (tho looks like a grind either way) but hard to find the play time needed.
I play some expensive subscription and DLC games, and have spent $100s, all worth the cost in my opinion for the service and manpower used, a laser mapped race track, an extensively researched and hand crafted aircraft for example.

An observation, not so much a gripe (I don't mind spending a dollar on entertainment as stated) but does anyone feel the financial model is pretty....um...aggressive?.....lol.....also genius gearing, but pretty blatant for this style of game?
Just seems a little odd. Not complaining, trolling or being passive aggressive at all....lol...and I will spend up (bought a FB off the bat) happily to what I think it's worth, but does anyone else get the feeling that there is a bit of a cash grab here?
Usually it makes me a little nervous about dev priorities, is the game going to reasonably improve vs profit earned? Is the intention true or will stay true to core customer expectations? Is this a cut and run strategy? Will I be able to play this four years down the track?
By the way great game, just makes me want to scratch my head a little with the contrast.

What does the community think? Are my first impressions off the mark?

[ThatBum42]

Probably more efficient in both time and money in the long run to get a hero mech. Plus there's no "OMG time's running out I have to play constantly" as there is with premium time.

I'd wait a while for the large amount of content scheduled to come out soon, they might implement more use for premium time. Custom private matches are at least one confirmed use coming up.

Edited by ThatBum42, 05 April 2014 - 09:31 PM.

[Koniving]

He's got a hero mech already, he got that before the first mech.

Premium time gives you 50% cbill bonus and 50% experience bonus. It stacks with hero mech's 30% bonus to give you an 80% cbill bonus.

I agree the financial model seems aggressive. Some design decisions alienated long-time battletech fans when the game could no longer advertise itself as being as close to battletech as mechwarrior has ever been. Many of them could easily have kept this game running for years to come. Instead, PGI chose to embrace and cater to the frequent-casual semi-shooter free to play gamer with a World of Tanks style model. The sort of crowd who frequently complains about prices and never wants to buy anything unless it's on sale.

Joy. I think everything is purposely double-priced JC Penney style and then perpetually on sale so you always feel good about spending money on it.

For better or worse, MWO is going to run for a number of years. Very much I would personally like to completely redesign this game and its mechanics.

While nothing like this in gameplay, there is https://www.mwtactics.com/landing/ where a more competent development team under the same publisher is hard at work making a visual version of the tabletop game (to some extent). I'm not a fan of the art style but I have noticed that the mech designs are -- surprisingly -- true to original designs to a global extent. For example... not every country uses identical imagery for each mech. The Western Hunchback is not the European Hunchback is not the Asian Hunchback is not the Japanese Hunchback, and yet they all are the Hunchback. The art style there taking stuff from them all. It's eyebrow-quirking. But it's so foreign that I sometimes find it hard to wrap myself into it.

Anyway.. for MWO supposedly maps cost between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars according to some wild claims.
Each mech a small fortune. By the time we get down to it, evidently this game runs on nearly same costs that Infinite Ward and Treyarch Studios face every year with each Clone of Duty they spit out.

From experience, though perpetually late and frequently changing their minds, PGI always delivers... something. Eventually.

Here's what we're supposed to see by June. I think December is a bit more likely to be the date.

Edited by Koniving, 05 April 2014 - 10:13 PM.

[Swinebeast]

Thanks Knoving, nothing about it on the website I could find. Will grab some when I can reliably put some hours in.

Would be tough being passionate about the battletech universe and not seeing it realised, not me, but I know the feeling when something isn't historical in a "Sim" and nothing gets done, so close yet so far.
Saying that, I read up on battletech lore from time to time since I started playing MO it adds to the immersion, tho don't think I will get to play the boardgame.
So how diluted is the core of Mechwarrior online? What indicated direction is PGI taking? Do you feel it will get further diluted, or gameplay dumbed down?

Ok well if that's the cost of each map and mech I'm staggered, it's not like a team of engineers are flying to Brazil to laser map the formula one track, or implementing armour type angle deflection, range vs type of ordinance on the new mech model....lol....but fair enough, I wonder how other niche titles do? How about one time buys? Indies? Anyway it's like religion and politics, it will be always up for debate with no winners...lol...except maybe common sense?...lol....or is that the loser?

Will check out Planetary Assault, also another game mentioned here that was looking promising? Star something from memory, will go for a hunt.

Edit: grammar...probably still bad...lol

Edited by Swinebeast, 05 April 2014 - 10:48 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

The prices are a bit high, but remember that anything you buy is yours forever like hero mechs and paints (premium time obviously doesn't last forever). If the game is still around in 10 years, you will still own your Firebrand with a 30% cbill boost.

PGI is a small dev studio with about 50 employees. Some of the work they have done has been rewriting code from the ground up. I think it's evident from being around for over a year that they really don't realize how much work they have to do when they give a projection. Virtually nothing has been completed on time. I'd like to think that they really are working hard on this project, it's just a ton of work. I also think opening up the game to the public has hurt them a lot in development time. I mean, they'd have so much more completed if they didn't have to continuously update the live servers and respond to player feedback. In my opinion, the game never should have went into Open Beta without community warfare finished and tested a little in a Closed Beta. That was supposed to be the overarching gameplay mechanic. The only reason the game went Open Beta was because PGI needed more players and, I suspect, funds from those players. Launch was similar in that it would hopefully generate enough buzz to draw in more players and hopefully more funds. At least, I'm guessing they need money. Now I don't think (as some conspiracy theorists here have put forth) that PGI is simply taking in money with no intention of finishing the game. I just think they are really slow at it.