24 replies to this topic

[VexDarkness]

I'd like to get the Hero Mech, "Raven". Is it any good? It's faster than my Locust, boasts more firepower, and has better armour. Plus I hear Hero Mechs have bonuses? I don't mind spending the cash, gotta support the devs.

Opinions?

[luxebo]

Hero Mechs have 30% C-bill bonus, Champions are the same as the regular variant except is pre-built and with 10% XP Bonus. The Huginn is pretty specialized, though you could try it out if you like the Raven chassis as a whole. However, remember that 3 variants are needed to master a chassis. It's very ammo dependent and take a good look at Kon's and the other's suggestions in the other thread you commented in.

[Dan Nashe]

If you have to ask, I'd say no. Huginn is a weak mech, you will likely regret it if you don't know exactly what you are getting into.

Always build on smurfys before you buy:
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

Heros are unique hard point layouts you can't get with c-bills, and a 30% c-bill boost to earnings in that mech, as well as a unique camo pattern they come with (that is only usable on that mech, cannot be replaced, but can have the colors changed).

Do not ever buy a hero mech on Thursday. They often announce hero mech sales on Friday, and you'll feel bad. Do not buy on Friday until after sales are announced. Also check the shop in-game for stealth sales that weren't well advertised. I believe smurfys now displays which mechs are for sale as well.

The top-tier hero mechs are:
Ember (Firestarter, Light)(4 ML, 4 MG, JumpJets!, 152 kph with speed tweak).
Firestarters are all good mechs.

Ilya (Cataphract) (3 UAC5s usually, although seeing more dual gauss).
Cataphract 3D is very competitive. So 2/3 builds good.

Dragonslayer (Victor) is also top-notch.

I do not know what the best hero medium is.
NOT the X5.
Yen lo Wang is fun, but a one trick pony, not very competitive.
I don't see many grid irons.
Best medium/the competitive Medium is the Shadowhawk, but it does not have any hero variants.

Some people enjoy and do well with the Misery and Heavy Metal. I'd consider those tier 2.
But you sound like a light fan.

I'd go Ember. It can Jump!
If you want a hero light. Easily the best hero light.

To be clear, the hero mechs are::
Tier 1 (Competitive mechs)
Ember (35 ton Firestarter)
Ilya Muromets (70 ton cataphract)(may be tier 2)
Dragonslayer (80 ton Victor)

Tier 2 (good/fun mechs)
Misery (85 ton stalker)
Heavy Metal (90 ton Highlander)
Oxide (35 ton jenner, cannot jump)
Firebrand (65 ton Jaeger)

Tier 3 (fun, okay for pugs)
Yen-lo-Wang (50 ton Centurian)
Grid Iron (50 ton Hunchback) (? not sure if it's as good as YLW, just guessing)
Jester (65 ton Catapault)(May be tier 2?)
Boars Head (100 ton atlas - may be tier 2?)
La Malinche (95 ton banshee, may be tier 2?)
Loup-de-Guerre (I think, 50 ton Trebuchet, not sure)
Protector (75 ton Orion)



Tier 4 (Bad)
X-5 (40 ton Cicada)
Death Knell (25 ton)
Fang (60 ton Dragon)
Pretty Baby (80 ton Awesome)
Flame (60 ton Dragon) (may be tier 3?)
Huginn (35 ton raven)

Don't get me wrong, some people like the mechs I've labelled tier 4 (bad), but you are far, far more likely to regret your purchase the further down my list you go, I believe.

Edited by DanNashe, 28 May 2014 - 07:23 PM.

[VexDarkness]

I mainly like the fact that it's very fast despite being a medium mech. It has almost twice the armor than my Locust. I'll do some more research tho. I love the game!!

Thanks for the reply!

DanNashe, on 28 May 2014 - 07:08 PM, said:

If you have to ask, I'd say no.
It's not a very good mech at all. The 3L is better.
It could probably be fun. But.

The top-tier hero mechs are:
Ember (Firestarter, Light)(4 ML, 4 MG, JumpJets!, 152 kph with speed tweak).
Firestarters are all good mechs.

Ilya (Cataphract) (3 UAC5s usually, although seeing more dual gauss).
Cataphract 3D is very competitive. So 2/3 builds good.

Dragonslayer (Victor) is also top-notch.

I do not know what the best hero medium is.
NOT the X5.
Yen lo Wang is fun, but a one trick pony, not very competitive.
I don't see many grid irons.
Best medium/the competitive Medium is the Shadowhawk, but it does not have any hero variants.

Some people enjoy and do well with the Misery and Heavy Metal. I'd consider those tier 2.
But you sound like a light fan.

I'd go Ember. It can Jump!
If you want a hero light. Easily the best hero light.

[VexDarkness]

luxebo, on 28 May 2014 - 06:50 PM, said:

Hero Mechs have 30% C-bill bonus, Champions are the same as the regular variant except is pre-built and with 10% XP Bonus. The Huginn is pretty specialized, though you could try it out if you like the Raven chassis as a whole. However, remember that 3 variants are needed to master a chassis. It's very ammo dependent and take a good look at Kon's and the other's suggestions in the other thread you commented in.

Ah nice. The Raven is ballistic right? I'm tired and can't remember. lol

[Phobic Wraith]

Howdy vex, thought I'd pop in and leave an opinion. I would hold off on the hero 'mechs for now. Many players jokingly refer to them as "pay to lose." Snide comments aside, there is some truth to that. Hero mechs are often interesting at best and terrible at worst. I certainly think that they can be worth it in the right hands, especially with the c-bill bonus. I would get the standard variant of your choice and if you fall in love (I mean that in the strongest sense), only then should you consider buying the hero of that chassis - if and only if it's on sale.

edit: grammar

Edited by Phobic Wraith, 28 May 2014 - 09:52 PM.

[JC Daxion]

the Huggin, is one i have thought about.. I love the idea of 4 machine guns with some missiles.. I have not played around with builds, but as cheep as the thing is, I will defiantly grab it in a sale down the road.

the thing with heroes, you have to ask, does the mech fit your personality. the only one i have is the Ilya, and it is a darn good mech, but so are all the other cataphracts...

the Yen-lo-wang, and the Flame, and X-5 are all on my list to get one day.. funny, how the guy listed almost all the ones i wan't as bad... guess that is just me lol


But yea, wait for Friday, to see what is on sale at least..

Edited by JC Daxion, 28 May 2014 - 07:46 PM.

[Aym]

That list is VERY specific to the current high-end meta. Flame is better than listed, Misery is better than listed, Oxide is worse than listed, and Yen Lo is arguably better than listed.

[Koniving]

The Huginn hero is one of two Ballistic Ravens.

Try the Raven 4X. It's very similar (but slower with a better jump height). If you like it, then you'll love the Huginn. If you don't, then you probably won't like the Huginn.

The "meta" mechs Dan listed are from guilds or groups that play 'competitively', as in everyone is forced to have identical playstyles or you're not any good. And if the mech can't fit said playstyle, well then it's no good either. (It's true there are mechs that are utter crap thanks to the way PGI did things, but that number is limited to the Trebuchet and the Locust; and anyone with half a brain can make them awesome with a little bit of effort.)

Different hero mechs (and different variants) were generally made with the idea of catering to certain playstyles.

An Oxide for example is a one button jumpless wonder of a Jenner; it'll ruin the day of virtually any light mech. Equipped right they'll ruin the day of any mech. But the lights can jump and escape it or go faster than it in some cases. And anything bigger can just laugh and blast it away if the pilot isn't good at knowing when it's time to move.

The Protector is basically a Dragon Slayer without the XL engine requirement. A Heavy Metal is the Dragon Slayer's big brother. A Misery and a Boar's Head cater to the same concept; 1 ballistic 1 missile and 5 or 6 energy hardpoints. The Dragon heroes Fang and Flame are hit and runners. The Firebrand (Jagermech hero) is basically a Rifleman without the legal issues. The Muromets (Cataphract hero) is a Cataphract 3D and 4X hybrid without the jumpjets. The new Trebuchet is essentially a Kintaro. The Kintaro hero merged two different Kintaros together with the added bonus of a second missile door on the chest leading to damage reduction when the doors are closed. (Kintaros with doors generally benefit from this).

The Pretty Baby merges the Awesome 8V and 9M's traits; unfortunately while this style of gameplay is great for us sim lovers, the game's balancing (pinpoint aim and low effort for heat management) doesn't really support the playstyle the Pretty Baby was hoping to entice.

But anyway... There's a sale every Friday. At 1 PM Eastern Standard Time or 10 AM PST, it'll be worth checking out what's on sale. Wait til then and let opinions pile up. (Can't go wrong with an Ember. I played the Huginn on the test server but I don't own it. I do have every hero except for the following: Jester, La Guarre, La Malinche, Oxide and Huginn.)

[Koniving]

Aym, on 28 May 2014 - 07:42 PM, said:

That list is VERY specific to the current high-end meta. Flame is better than listed, Misery is better than listed, Oxide is worse than listed, and Yen Lo is arguably better than listed.

Indeed. Misery is much better. Oxide's a bit too specialized but that might be why it got higher listed.

Then again looking at how the Dragon Slayer is listed as top tier.. I can't help but laugh. Because this is just how little a "meta" Dragon Slayer means to me.

[Koniving]

VexDarkness, on 28 May 2014 - 07:21 PM, said:

I mainly like the fact that it's very fast despite being a medium mech. It has almost twice the armor than my Locust. I'll do some more research tho. I love the game!!

Thanks for the reply!

Might add since I just caught it, the Huginn is a light mech (35 tons). Mediums start at 40 (and end at 55). Heavies 60 through 75. Assaults 80 to 100. Lights go as low as 20 tons. Then there's industrial and proto mechs too but those aren't in this game.

I still have to get an actual Huginn, but the 4X is pretty close. Here's what I've done with mine.

Spoiler

What happens when someone rains on my parade.

"Get out of the way," said blatantly to an enemy while going out of my way to ignore him only to get legged. "Oh you just (beeped) up." Lines up one shot, kills him. "You deserved that!"

Leaping AC/20 kill shot!


Raven is another word for parrot. (adult humor warning).

Edited by Koniving, 28 May 2014 - 08:22 PM.

[Aym]

Koniving, on 28 May 2014 - 08:03 PM, said:

Indeed. Misery is much better. Oxide's a bit too specialized but that might be why it got higher listed.

Then again looking at how the Dragon Slayer is listed as top tier.. I can't help but laugh. Because this is just how little a "meta" Dragon Slayer means to me.

To be fair that was a 9K you wasted, and not a good one, he pop tarted right where he'd just taken 50 or so points to the chest a moment before...

[Koniving]

Aym, on 28 May 2014 - 08:48 PM, said:

To be fair that was a 9K you wasted, and not a good one, he pop tarted right where he'd just taken 50 or so points to the chest a moment before...

Common player intelligence when it comes to poptarts. You'd think relocating would be common sense. You really would.
The only people I have seen do it... don't jump to shoot at all. It's an attention getter that says "Shoot me!"

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

I must say when I first played the hero raven (Huginn) I was underwhelmed. I ran with a streak/machine gun setup (I don't recommend it).

I'm now going with an SRM4/Machine gun setup and my games are happily between 200-500 damage pugging. I have been playing for awhile so your mileage will vary. As it stands I wouldn't recommend buying any hero mechs unless they're on sale. In the mean time cut your teeth on the 3l and another raven chassis until the Huginn comes around again on sale (50% off was just too hard not to miss).

[Malcolm Vordermark]

I'm not a fan of the Huginn. Without energy hard points it is pretty much stuck with machine guns and missiles. Which is kinda underwhelming. Any builds that take an extremely large ballistic can be done just as well on the RVN-4X.

If you want a hero mech I would start elsewhere.

[VexDarkness]

Thank you very much to all for the helpful replies! I'll definitely do some more research.

Can anyone tell me the primary difference between energy and ballistic (as far as damage, range, etc.)? I know ballistic is supposed to produce less heat, but is that worth it?

Thanks, I really appreciate everyone's friendlyness (is that a word? lol)!

[Barkem Squirrel]

Is it fun, yes.

Is it the best mech, no.

You could do dual ac 2's

two LRM 20's

the srms with MG's. or some LRM 5's with MG's, soften them up at range then swoop in at the end.

[VexDarkness]

You'll need to dumb this down for me. I don't know what any of that is. lol As for the Raven, I just like how it looks, and it reminds me of my Locust but with much better stats.... hehehe

[JonahGrimm]

Ballistic weapons:
- Take up lots of space for their damage.
- Require ammunition (in whole-ton lots).
- Tend to be heavy. (AC/2 is 6T, without ammo!)
- Have high rates of fire.
- Require leading the target (except the MG!)
- Do conistant pinpoint damage. (all of their damage is applied to the point the shell hits).
- Create a vulnerability - if their ammo is shot, it can explode, usually taking your mech with it.

The MG is an exception to some of this - machine guns are fantastic crit-seeking weapons, and are very light for their effect. (0.5 tons, you can ususually run two on 1T ammo.)

Energy weapons:
- Are smaller, usually requiring less tonnage and crit space (compare the PPC to the AC/10).
- Are hot!
- Do not require ammo.
- Lasers require you to stay on target - they do their damage over the duration of the "stream".
- Are 'hitscan', (except the PPC), hitting where your reticules are aimed.
- Generally have a lower rate of fire (thus less 'DPS', for what that matters).


For a point of comparison, the Medium Laser is the baseline weapon for all guns. 1T, 5DMG, 5Heat.

[Koniving]

VexDarkness, on 29 May 2014 - 09:11 AM, said:

Thank you very much to all for the helpful replies! I'll definitely do some more research.

Can anyone tell me the primary difference between energy and ballistic (as far as damage, range, etc.)? I know ballistic is supposed to produce less heat, but is that worth it?

Thanks, I really appreciate everyone's friendliness (is that a word? lol)!

It's a word with an I instead of a Y.

Begin on this page and scroll down at your leisure for weapon stats.

What isn't specifically covered or obvious on the page though is this:
Energy weapons (lasers) are damage over time weapons in MWO.
Pulse lasers have more umph in less time for more heat but are still beam over time.
PPCs are ballistic energy weapons in this game.
Ballistics are front-loaded instant damage with a heavy shake on the target. They also run cool, but are heavier than sin.
Missiles are pretty much just missiles.

Right now, ballistics of 5 and above are 3x their stated range, that will be reduced to 2x like most other weapons.

Energy and ballistic will go 2x beyond their stated numbers (at reduced damage; at exactly double range they will do 0 damage).

Missiles die within 1 meter beyond their stated range. (The more of these you fire at once, the more they spread; at least for LRMs. Hard to say for SRMs).

Edited by Koniving, 29 May 2014 - 09:42 AM.