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Belorion
Look, maybe this will help, as I dropped about 12 times or so during the test yesterday in my IS mechs.
The clan mechs are cool, even if the Dire Wolf looks goofy with it's stride and has a CT hitbox the size of a barn. Not once did I notice a situation where I felt "ZOMG, I'm going to get my butt handed to me...it's a clan mech!", not once. Are they formidable? In the hands of a decent pilot...yes. Did people try out meta builds....yes, but I don't think they loved the clan meta as much as the IS meta due to the basic restrictions, it seems it will take some thinking and coordination to get to the level of abuse we see now.
For example, I walked up to a Dire Wolf in my Grid Iron, and took him apart with AC10 and 3 mlas(that barn sized CT helped) without taking critical damage from him. Timberwolves went down as easily when done right.
Overall, it felt odd(new sounds, colors, etc)...yet kind of fresh and a natural extension to the combat we have now. Which I think was the point. These mechs have to be here, and working bug free for CW when it comes...the PUG arena is where you do that.
As for restrictions on what you can play and when in CW, I suspect they will be few and hopefully well thought out as to where the mission takes place(behind House A lines you get less/more cash/xp/lp for doing X task). You will see mixed teams for just about everything in CW as custom IS tech can easily go toe to toe with stock clan mechs, and as someone said earlier...'salvage' is an acceptable reason why.
If I had to fault anything, it would be the choice of sounds for some of the warhorns. Honestly, hearing dubsteppy electronica crap after a kill made me cringe(don't correct me on the musical genre or style, I couldn't care less, it stinks). WTF thinks those sounds are appropriately dated to a thousand years from now?...before anyone mentions Ms. Snoord and her Elvis....at least that music is considered a classic, now and then.
Outside of that, wep sounds are cool, the modules didn't seem to give a measurable advantage, cockpits are really cool, models are cool, and I could spend all day watching clan LRMs travel to target.
One thing I did notice, as I had feared, the Warhawk Prime is nearly useless with the current IS meta of speed first. Close on him, take his arms off and walk away. It's all too easy.
If you fear not being able to use the mech in CW....I highly doubt that will be an issue, as the goal for any business is to appeal to the greater numbers, not the smallest, whiniest bunch.
I currently do not have a clan pack, so I cannot speak to armor reallocation questions other than what's already been stated, not many talked about it during the games I was in. The love for how the clan mechs altered combat a little was in the air however.
After yesterday, I'm now trying to fiddle enough cash away to get a pack before Tuesday. I was waiting as well, but I feel more comfortable with at least the value of certain packs after yesterday.
What would be a nice surprise...is that PGI had their sh*t together enough to maybe drop a new map along with the clan mechs to liven this up even more, but I doubt that dream will happen.
I hope some of this helps.
Edited by Henchman 24, 13 June 2014 - 07:27 AM.