57 replies to this topic

[Mad Porthos]

Yes. Yes you can. I got into this game that way.

Back in closed beta, I got to try some mechs out that I liked. When open beta hit, I decided I'd be a light mech pilot. At the time, I had the 4 starting mech bays. The only light mechs were the 3 grandpas, commando, jenner and raven. I mastered all three without spending a dime on the game.

First I went through the commandos, bought one, then another, then a third, the third being the 2d. At the time, the guardian ecm module was in game, but did not work. It was a place holder. My favorite was the 3a with 2 missile, 2 energy. I was good in it. I kept it and the 2d, but sold the 1b. You see, I had to own 3 "variants" of the same chassis to get mastery, but with only 4 mech bays, it was going to get to be hard to master all the lights... I needed to sell those I was done with and didn't like so I had room for the new one.

I got the Jenner K, played it through and then the D, but to get a third mech I'd have to sell one of my precious commandos and I was still really liking the 3a and 2d commandos. I ended up giving up the 2d, so I could get the Jenner F. Played through the Jenners all, getting elite and master in each eventually, before selling the Jenner K and picking up the mech of the month, heck the mech of the year... the Raven 3L. It was really wrecking face. Ecm had popped into play and it was horridly OP, shutting down any missile and streak mech that used to just WRECK my other lights, before ECM.

The main problem was that players had very little situational awareness. Unless a target was bracketed in big red lines, players had real trouble figuring if they should fire at it. Further, not seeing your ALLIED mechs bracketed in green or blue (it was a sort of teal green back then), meant even less likelyhood of firing because you would be afraid you were friendly firing on your own teamates. Worse yet, your ALLIES would disappear off the mini map completely if they were in enemy ECM. So to have that advantage, in order to slaughter those fools who wandered far from thier team alone, was a given. We did exploit the Raven 3L to hell and highwater. But without 3 ravens, I couldn't really master it. Had to dump other mechs. Bye bye commando 3a I can buy you again some other day.

So I took the Raven 4x at this point, I'd had fun with AC20 ravens in CB, decided it would be fun again and it was. Very much so. Hopping around, lurking along with a DDC or a friendly ECM light I would give alot of surprise ballistic prostate checks. That's the mech I called... Huginn. I knew I was getting another raven and I named it Muninn. Odin's Ravens, going with the theme of the 3L which I had simply called "Odin's" because it was GODLY. Dumping my Jenner D let me get my Muninn, the Raven 2x and I ran it simply with 3 Large Lasers, sometimes ER LL. It was a great little carrion picker. With those three mechs, with three variants mastered of each, I was king of the hill, master of all light mechs...

Uhm, until they released the spider.

By then I had finally decided to put money into the game, to buy mech bays, camo patterns and a few hero mechs I liked, including the Yeng Lo Wang, when they had it for the first Valentine's Day Sale. Getcher Cheap Wang here!

I don't regret spending a dime of my money on this game, and had plenty of fun before I ever spent a dime on it. I decided eventually that this was one of the prime games I was playing and it was keeping me entertained, doing something I liked with friends who also were entertained. If eventually the larger MMO or Community Warfare aspect was developed, I would be ecstatic, but having played video games for the better part of 30 years, I've seen plenty of cash wasted on games that I really didn't play much at all after dabbling in it and getting my feet wet. Rather than dumping that cash in game after lousy game for PC, Console or even dinky game systems like PSP or DS, I'd rather spend it in one I'll keep on enjoying. So I eventually did, and have.

From what I've seen before and after, that money was not necessary to the enjoyment or even to success. I paid money eventually for convenience. Not having to sell off mechs to make space for other mechs. Even that has become less money requisite as they have introduced additional ways to earn or win mechbays and even whole mechs at times. Another aspect of the game that has improved vastly is the trial mech setups. Trial mechs used to be mechs that were not customized at all. They had the worst weapons, poor heat, single heat sinks and lack of any useful upgrades.

To start players in such trial mechs was a travesty, because it was like a reverse handicap. Any player who had been playing a while, even if they hadn't gained any skill in the game somehow, AT LEAST was able to upgrade their mech, make it more heat friendly and fix some of the glaring weaknesses on thier OWNED mechs, but a new player HAD to be in a trial mech, so not only had to fight the fact that they didn't know the game or any controls, but also overcome the handicap of piloting the absolute worst / least optimized mechs in the game. Not good for convincing people that the game is one that they could get to like and enjoy. Loss after loss was about the only prospect for one in such a mech, until they either spent real money to buy a hero or normal mech that they could upgrade as they wished, or else gathered enough Cbills (in game currency) even from losing, that they could buy a mech that could be fixed up right.

Current trial mechs are a lot better, as they are the "community" versions, where certain much more effective/popular builds that were seen to be done by experienced players, were made into the starter mechs that people could use in their trial period and beyond.

Edited by Mad Porthos, 26 April 2014 - 08:36 AM.

[IraqiWalker]

Flaming oblivion, on 26 April 2014 - 07:51 AM, said:

(well the p2p do get better paint to make them easier targets)

All the more reason to pilot a Yen-lo with basic Green paint.

Target: Ooooh is that an AC5?
You: KABLAM!!! (AC 20 to their face)

Edited by IraqiWalker, 26 April 2014 - 08:04 AM.

[Shatterpoint]

Bulletsponge0, on 26 April 2014 - 07:51 AM, said:

Everyone says the Golden Boy is inferior to other Kintaro variants. Sure its not as fast, nor can it twist its torso as much...but I have a BLAST playing my GB, and do very very well in it too...that extra energy hardpoint really gives it the punch it needs when combined with 5 ssrms to go light hunting ..lol

It was actually a thinly veiled Pretty Baby QQfest, She keeps abusing me but that just means she likes me right?...right guys?

[Revorn]

You can play for absolut free and be competive, Or you can pay, if you like some Collors or fluffy Cocpitt Items, your Choice.

But to mention one Thing. Mechwarrior is a Slaugtherhouse where you will Die hundreds and hundreds of Times, even if you Buy Stuff. No Money at the world, will save you from this experience, we all made. Mechwarrior is Brutal and Hard. To everyone. Paying or not.

Edited by Revorn, 26 April 2014 - 08:45 AM.

[Revorn]

sneeking, on 26 April 2014 - 08:35 AM, said:

what ? I didn't buy any fluffy items...

No? No fluffy fuzzy Dies, No small bobblehead Urbie? How can you live without?

Edited by Revorn, 26 April 2014 - 08:46 AM.

[Koniving]

There's exactly 2 (will be 3) things you can't do without spending money . Though there are workarounds.

So, the 3 things you can't do without spending money.
1) Get more mechbays. A limit of 4 slots might be more than the average Battletech pilot in lore would ever have, but it never feels like enough.

Workaround: Thankfully there's the ever rare free mechbay thingy that just asks you to win 5 matches. (Usually when the game is data-mining a change in balance). However this is rare so I would not count on them just popping up when you feel you need them most.

2) Hero mech. Each chassis (a chassis is a body) has one to two "Hero" variants (think of variant as a model and year of a car). It has a combination of hardpoints from two other variants and is either slightly inferior, on par, or slightly superior with some flaw to the others. For the most part a hero's abilities are limited to exclusive hardpoint arrangements and possibly different engine caps or agility buffs/nerfs. Since all weapons are essentially the same and any hero build can be emulated with something else, there isn't a major need here. Though the 30% increase in cbill earnings is nice.

Workaround: Most hero mechs can be replicated with some different mech. For example the popular Muromets can be replicated by a Jagermech S or Jagermech D but has a little less tonnage, a little more speed, and a little less armor.
Workaround 2: Public test servers. Occasionally the PTS will 'donate' testing funds. Enjoy it! After all it won't go to your regular account.

3) Change rules in a private match. (Coming April 29th.) Having non-stock rules in a private match requires premium time. However premium time in small doses is very easy to just earn. Sometimes offers come up to encourage play or rewards are given to helpful members of the community. Challenges are known to give out free premium time too.

A workaround here is to have a friend that gets premium time; as only 1 person needs to have it (and that person needs to host it).

Everything else you can do with your in-game earnings. For your first 25 matches you'll receive a huge cadets bonus thingy. After that you can easily afford to:

• Get and mostly trick out a Light;
  
• Get a Medium and fully deck it out,
  
• Snag a Heavy and partially deck it out,
  
• Or get an Assault and grind to improve on it.

The last part sucks, so a heavy to medium is a safer bet. Use said medium or heavy to help you earn the funds to get and customize an assault all you want. But consider them all; as one style of mech may suit you better than another and some were designed with different playstyles in mind.

Edited by Koniving, 26 April 2014 - 09:23 AM.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

theres a free day of premium time offer on the game download page that stacks with the cadet bonus.

[Koniving]

Since I'm here, there is something I'd like to say. The trial mechs are not indicative to the actual performance of the mech. The 4P Champion mech that recently became a trial was made before a balancing system to prevent it from doing 45 damage in a second, followed by another 45 damage 3 seconds later (and then shutting down). Now it's here to teach you about "Heat Scale" (aka ghost heat). Check the "!" warning before you run it by clicking on it.

Now, a Hunchback 4P is a pretty solid mech and here is some recent use of it with a stock engine and stock armor allotment (but shifted around), 6 medium lasers (the safe limit) and 2 PPCs. The video even shows part of me building it and painting it.

Here is the build.

Edit: Psst. I'm using a PS3 controller in that video. o.o

Edited by Koniving, 26 April 2014 - 11:52 AM.

[Lucky Noob]

we all know MWO is one thing its .... PAINT to win, we all know RED makes you 10 % cooler

[Koniving]

Strange. It seems Black is the most common color in many paint jobs. Though Red is pretty common too. So if red makes you cooler, what does black do?

[IraqiWalker]

Koniving, on 26 April 2014 - 10:47 AM, said:

Strange. It seems Black is the most common color in many paint jobs. Though Red is pretty common too. So if red makes you cooler, what does black do?

Well actually, Red makes you go faster, Black is dead 'ard and tuff.

[Revorn]

Koniving, on 26 April 2014 - 10:47 AM, said:

Strange. It seems Black is the most common color in many paint jobs. Though Red is pretty common too. So if red makes you cooler, what does black do?

To look like you where mean or enigmatic Dangerous.

Edited by Revorn, 26 April 2014 - 11:01 AM.

[Konril]

Seems like I'm late to this party. But I will say what I want anyway.

Most of what you are able to buy with real money (via MC) are C-bill and XP boosts, cosmetic paint, and additional mech bays. Practically everything that can give you an edge on your opponent is also available for C-bills and XP you earn by playing matches. There are some oddities. But nothing actually game-breaking.

15 MC can buy you a consumable to use on your owned mechs including Priority Artillery, and Priority Airstrikes. These are almost twice as effective as the C-bill versions, dropping 10 bombs on the target area instead of just 6 for the C-bill version, which would seem like quite the advantage. Catch 1: You can only have one each on your mech per match. So to "buy" a win this way would take a whole team buying them. Frankly if your team is that coordinated, your team could just as easily win without the consumables unless you're fighitng an equally coordinated opponent. (12 vs 12 competitive, perhaps?) Catch 2: There is a 5000 GXP (Global XP) unlock that will upgrade the C-bill version of a consumable to match the MC version. For example, the Advanced Artillery and Advanced Airstrike drop the same 10 bombs as the Priority version once bought with GXP. But cost the same 40000 C-bills as the basic artillery and airstrike modules. So with a bit of grind, you don't have to pay the real money.

The Champion versions of some mechs are upgraded versions of mechs you can buy for C-bills with a 10% XP bonus attached. You can buy the non-champion version of any of these mechs and upgrade them yourself to be identical to the champion version (without the XP bonus) if you want to.

Hero mechs do have unique hard point and mech quirks. However that doesn't always make them better than the non-hero versions. Or in most cases any worse. They're just a little different. However I can think of two that might seem like a paid edge if you don't look too carefully.

The Ilya Murometmets is the only mech that has 3 ballistic hard points in 3 different locations. So, it is the only mech currently that can actually fit 3 AC 10 or Gauss Rifles at once. Catch 1: 45 tons of Gauss Rifle in a 70 ton mech doesn't leave enough room for nice features like a good engine or much armor. So while it does work, it doesn't work well. The AC/10 version is a little more practical. However the pure C-bill CTF-4X does the job better with 4 AC/5s.

Two of the light heroes, the Ember and the Huginn do worry me a bit. Both these designs feature 4 ballistic hard points with either 4 energy hard points or 2 missile hard points. The combination of full standard weaponry with lots of no-heat machine guns gives these mechs more close in DPS than most heavy or assault mechs, let alone other light mechs. The SDR-5K is the closest C-bill version to these in the light category, and even then the single energy hard point is hard to work with. Catch 1: No ECM capability. Most light pilots are more interested in the ECM than the DPS, so people still have reason to pilot C-bill lights. Catch 2: Machine Gun DPS is way too literal damage per second. You actually have to stand there and point the things at a component for several seconds to get significant damage done. So they tend to be impaired in hit & run style battles lights are known for. But it doesn't change the fact that these two mechs are much more dangerous to heavier opponents than any other light mech.

PGI has started to give out some free mechbays in their occasional challenges. But otherwise the only way to get more mechbays is with MC. It takes training in at least 3 mechs to master one, so a pure free player is forced to specialize in one or two mechs to truly stay competitive. Actually, it is possible to have 4 completely different master mechs. But it gets expensive. You would be forced to sell mechs to buy different variants to train in only to sell the variant and buy the first mech back in order to train elite once the basics are done.

Overall, I'm actually pretty happy about how little money MWO actually needs. Occasonally I see a team "buy" a victory with repeated artillery and air strikes. But it's impossible to determine whether they bought it with C-bills or real money. Otherwise the game is mostly very fair to the freebie players.

[Wildstreak]

Yes you can but you have to accept certain limitations.
- Once you fill your 4 free MechBays, you have a choice to make. Either sell off Mechs if you want to try others or create alt accounts and constantly go through the Cadet period each time.
- You can buy Basic paint with CBills, this will be the only paint you ever have.
- you will have nothing but Default camo.

If you want to spend as little as possible then do this:
- put aside money for MWO.
- when a sale comes up that gives bonus MC, by MC then so you get the most for your purchase. I think these are 2x or 3x a year.
- spend only on needed items, mainly MechBays. You really need no more than that and they go on sale during the year as well, there was one recently.

[Graystone1]

Just here to agree with all that has been said.
Absolutely not nessisary to spend money on this game to compete. That said, some of the hero mechs are considered to be very strong. In addition you will find your allotment of mechbays to be very limiting and will feel encouraged to spend just a little money on mechbays (the #1 thing you ought to spend money on in mwo).
Take heart, should you decide to sell one of your mechs for a fraction of the cost, you will still retain all your efficencies earned.

[XX Sulla XX]

The main thing will be how well you learn to pilot the mechs. That trumps everything else. And if you are a good pilot you will earn well and be able to afford any mech.

[IraqiWalker]

Konril, on 26 April 2014 - 11:11 AM, said:

Two of the light heroes, the Ember and the Huginn do worry me a bit. Both these designs feature 4 ballistic hard points with either 4 energy hard points or 2 missile hard points. The combination of full standard weaponry with lots of no-heat machine guns gives these mechs more close in DPS than most heavy or assault mechs, let alone other light mechs. The SDR-5K is the closest C-bill version to these in the light category, and even then the single energy hard point is hard to work with.

You're forgetting the FS9-H and the LCT-1V the 1V has 4MGs and 1 Energy point, while the H has 2MGs and 6 energy hardpoints.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

PhoenixStorm, on 26 April 2014 - 03:51 AM, said:

Just started game, was wondering if I could play competatively without ever spending real money on the game?

Simple answer is yes

[Bulletsponge0]

Cookiemonter669, on 26 April 2014 - 02:21 PM, said:

Simple answer is yes

Don't you mean "Hell yes!"?

[luxebo]

Gorantir, on 26 April 2014 - 09:27 AM, said:

theres a free day of premium time offer on the game download page that stacks with the cadet bonus.

Well, two hours not a whole free day, so gotta make those matches count well.