26 replies to this topic

[Zanathan]

It's been sometime since I've injected money into this game (since shortly after the Phoenix pack) and I'm more then happy to pick up the new clan wave 2 pack but I'm a noob with those particular mechs and clan mechs in general. Simple question, are they worth it?

[Squally160]

Really hard to say until they are here tbh.

I bought it, but im fully invested into playing clans.

[Brody319]

They all look rather underwhelming to me.

[Scratx]

None of the Wave 2 mechs other than the Mad Dog have hit the game yet. The Mad Dog is a bonus mech if you also have the Masakari pack when buying the Man-o-War pack, so if you didn't buy it already, you're looking at spending 360 bucks to get it. Honestly not worth it just for the Mad Dog.

[Hatachi]

Give me back knockdown, so I can put that football helmet on the Gargoyle to work . I think it comes down to what you're looking for. I think the Hellbringer with ECM on a 65 ton chassis will be a good fun mech, and the Ice Ferret will add a really speedy choice to the clan arsenal. I don't think anything in the pack will have impact that the Timberwolf and Stormcrow have though, because of them being top weight of their class with Endosteel/Ferro.

[Mcgral18]

Loki will be good. Slightly less tonnage than the MadDog, questionable hitboxes (which we can't confirm) and the Magic Jesus Box.

Fenris, if it has additional omnipods, could be half decent. As it stands, iffy.

Meth Lynx won't be very good. It has the Magic Jesus Box and JJs, and 5.5 tons of pod space and 3 hardpoints at most if you take said MJB.

Gargoyle has 20 tons of pod space for a 80 tonner, albeit 16 hardwired DHS. It has only arm mounted weaponry, with either 1 or 2 CT E slots. Not much to work with.

Mad Dog seems to be decent. It and the Loki are the only ones I could consider to be good.

[Impyrium]

I've been more than tempted to go full pack, since I've never actually bought anything major from MWO before. I'm definitely looking forward to the Loki, since it's one of my favorite 'mechs.

Whether they'll be competitive is up in the air until they get released.

[Jin Ma]

hard to say

Edited by Jin Ma, 24 September 2014 - 06:03 PM.

[Kushko]

Loki/Hellbringer looks like it could be a contender for top tier mech (mostly because of ECM), the other 4 look kind of meh especially the light and assault ones both in the lightest category in their weight class and Gargoyle having 90% of its firepower (such as it is) in very low hanging arms.

I personally would suggest either getting only the Loki or waiting to see what the new IS pack is like before committing to such an expensive purchase-at least thats what im doing.

[Mystere]

Zanathan, on 24 September 2014 - 05:18 PM, said:

It's been sometime since I've injected money into this game (since shortly after the Phoenix pack) and I'm more then happy to pick up the new clan wave 2 pack but I'm a noob with those particular mechs and clan mechs in general. Simple question, are they worth it?

What is worth more to you, your money or your time?

Edited by Mystere, 24 September 2014 - 06:30 PM.

[Kassatsu]

Hellbringer may be good, being the only ECM-capable heavy mech with 3 energy hardpoints on the same side torso (better get used to shielding with your right torso now because that's the first place anyone is going to target on one).

The rest? Meh. DOA as far as I'm concerned. I've been wrong a few times, but really... Those hardpoints and tonnage for weapons is just sad. Gargoyle might be useable, but honestly the only builds I see it having are no better than the Battlemaster in my signature (and to be honest, it's a terrible mech for anything but solo drops... It's fun, but it's bad). Maybe 2x SRM6 and some lasers for a brawler build. We'll see, but I'm not expecting much.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Mcgral18, on 24 September 2014 - 05:33 PM, said:

Loki will be good. Slightly less tonnage than the MadDog, questionable hitboxes (which we can't confirm) and the Magic Jesus Box.

Fenris, if it has additional omnipods, could be half decent. As it stands, iffy.

Meth Lynx won't be very good. It has the Magic Jesus Box and JJs, and 5.5 tons of pod space and 3 hardpoints at most if you take said MJB.

Gargoyle has 20 tons of pod space for a 80 tonner, albeit 16 hardwired DHS. It has only arm mounted weaponry, with either 1 or 2 CT E slots. Not much to work with.

Mad Dog seems to be decent. It and the Loki are the only ones I could consider to be good.

Pretty spot on though I think both the Fenris and Koshi have at least a chance at being workable.

to begin with, totally agree with the Hellbringer. I think it will be good even if the hitboxes aren't great, mostly because of its hard point versatility and the fact it can mount ECM in the torso and without giving up half your weapons to do so. ECM is a huge advantage that should make up for weak hitboxes if they happen to exist so this one is a pretty safe bet.

The Fenris is weak on firepower and with the Clan energy weapons being roughly 30% hotter than IS equivalents it is going to be hard to get decent firepower at manageable heat levels. However it does run at over 140 kph with tweak and can mount over 300 armor. Also Clan ER ML have a very workable range to them that allow you to play a bit it a bit safer. Also it doesn't have a vulnerable XL so it has a chance to have good durability too. Honestly in alot of ways you can think of this mech as a Cicada with better armor and better fire arcs due to having actual arms with LA actuators. That being the case, If they keep the scaling down to the size of what a 45 ton mechs should be (which is small), rather than make it as big as a heavy, it might actually be pretty good.

The Koshi also might not be too bad, if it has good hitboxes. This mech should be tiny, the size of a Commando plus it will have great JJ mobility. It also doesn't have XL vulnerability so that should make it more durable. However just like the Fenris, it is likely going to run hot due to the crazy 6 heat on Clan medium lasers (Insane if you ask me). It will also have two roles depending on the build you chose. If you go ECM, it offers roughly the same firepower and hard points as a ECM Spider (which is a good IS light). If you ditch the ECM, then your competing against the Firestarter. The problem is while you should be significantly smaller than the Firestarter your going to have less armor and potentially less firepower due to heat. (though you will have a range advantage which will help offset this). Also on both variants and probably the most telling flaw is your going to be relatively slow at about 123 kph I think. Both the Spider and the Firestarter will be chugging at least 20-30 kph faster, while mounting more armor and likely running at least somewhat cooler. At the end of the day this one is probably has a 40/60 chance being decent. Hitboxes and scaling are definitely going to be the key for this mech and that is unfortunately something we won't know until the release in game.

As far as the Gargoyle, it is going to be good enough. The hard points do kind of suck which will limit customization but you can run up to 8 energy weapons on it and with 16 DHS stock in the engine, you should be able to keep them fairly cool. Also you could opt for 4 E in one arm, 2 E in the CT and 1 B and M in the other arm. Could it be better? yes but that is still a fair amount to work with even with only 20 tons to play with. Also considering it has a 400 XL it should be fairly agile for an Assault and 89 kph is definitely decent as far as speed. My take is that it generally won't be as good as a Timber Wolf but still very competitive. Also for CW you are going to need one of each class for your drop ship and the Gargoyle will make a good choice of Assault for anyone who can't stand slow, lumbering Assaults like the Dire Wolf.

As far as the Mad Dog, I have mixed feelings. I don't own one but I will say that so far I have been impressive with their durability. Its CT hit box is tiny and all it has to do is slightly wiggle its snout to spread dmg to the side torsos. Also it is very narrow to begin with and there isn't much to target when they are facing straight on. Honestly I am impressed with the mech from this aspect. The issue however, is the fact that it seems hard to put any sort of decent build on it without running into the mech being too hot. Best build I have seen so far is the 6 LRM5, 4 C-ER ML build or a 4 C-ER ML, 2 SRM6 build. Anything else seems to have it edging into heat issues. Again this is just from fiddling with it on Smufy's and my observations in game. Once I get to test it, I might change my mind.

In any case, I have been struggling on trying to decide if I should buy a pack or not. In the end I think I will end up with the Loki pack. I had already decided to Ala Carte a Loki when that option became available so I would have been investing $55 anyway. Then when I considered my premium sub has only a few days left and that pre-ordering now gives me 2 months of premium (one month starting Oct 1) I realized that would be worth another $25. Add them up and that is $80 right there so adding another $10 to get 6 additional mechs and bays, two of which have a 30% bonus plus all the swag becomes somewhat of a no brainer even if the Fenris and Koshi end up sucking.

[Jazzbandit1313]

I had the same topic/feeling going on, ended up splurging on the hellbringer package. just do it man. As for the 2nd package, and as a mostly medium pilot, the mech looks godly at 142 kph and great hardpoints layouts.

[Devilsfury]

Its probably going to be like the Phoenix package. You will get 4 diff mechs and only one is even worth while; the Shadowhawk. Yeah yeah, we know you can do decent or even good in the other mechs but you do not see the locust, thunderbolt or the battlemaster in ANY competitive play, EVER! I really, really hope that at least 2 of them are worthwhile. The gargoyle has me worried with the knuckle dragging, low slung arms. Great for NOT being able to shoot anything without exposing 3/4 of your mech. The Loki might be decent because of the ECM that the Clans will need badly. Fenris might be just meh...was at least fast for a medium. Koshi, dead on arrival! This is just my opinion of course.

[Zanathan]

Thanks for the informative posts so far. I'm now leaning towards the Loki package based on all the information here although I wasn't even aware there was a new IS package coming along. Is this in the coming months or most likely 2015?

@Mystere: Well I don't mind accumulating the mechs over time (I'm a pretty patient player) so it's not time or money thats important here rather having a way to support PGI. I could just drop another $40 or so here and there but at least this way I get some cool mechs ahead of time while I'm at it.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Devilsfury, on 24 September 2014 - 07:43 PM, said:

Its probably going to be like the Phoenix package. You will get 4 diff mechs and only one is even worth while; the Shadowhawk. Yeah yeah, we know you can do decent or even good in the other mechs but you do not see the locust, thunderbolt or the battlemaster in ANY competitive play, EVER! I really, really hope that at least 2 of them are worthwhile. The gargoyle has me worried with the knuckle dragging, low slung arms. Great for NOT being able to shoot anything without exposing 3/4 of your mech. The Loki might be decent because of the ECM that the Clans will need badly. Fenris might be just meh...was at least fast for a medium. Koshi, dead on arrival! This is just my opinion of course.

Honestly you might be right about the Koshi. I just read that they are going to go ahead with the nerf on Clan XL engines. Honestly up until I read a post from Russ saying it was happening, I had thought it was just noise on the forums much like everything else. In any case, for the Koshi, the XL lacking vulnerability was kind of key as it is going to have to compete with the 30 ton Spider and the 35 ton Firestarter both of which will be much faster, more heavily armored and likely cooler running. The lack of XL vulnerability actually somewhat made up for these deficiencies but I guess that is now out the window.

Actually the XL nerf is going to hurt alot of Clan mechs especially since they can't opt out of using an XL to avoid the vulnerability. Nova it going to become DOA as it loses a ST every fight and usually early.

Why do I have the feeling Clans are going to be nerfed so badly they aren't even going to be fun to play?

[Felbombling]

Viktor Drake, on 24 September 2014 - 07:53 PM, said:

Why do I have the feeling Clans are going to be nerfed so badly they aren't even going to be fun to play?

Because they're on the brink of being nerfed so badly that they won't be fun to play.

I do agree with the XL engine nerf, if it means doing what they should have done in the first place before they started swinging the Clan nerf bat around. Side torso destruction means excess heat bleeding into Mech interior, I hope.

[Diablobo]

If you haven't played the Clan mechs yet, you absolutely have to try them. If you are the least bit bored or tired of the same old gameplay, one drop in the Clan mechs will make you feel like you're playing a different game. When the Clans launched and I got to play them, I felt like I was playing a whole different game. It makes the game fun again, and it's not necessarily more powerful, it's just different- in a good way.

[Greenjulius]

Jazzbandit1313, on 24 September 2014 - 07:03 PM, said:

I had the same topic/feeling going on, ended up splurging on the hellbringer package. just do it man. As for the 2nd package, and as a mostly medium pilot, the mech looks godly at 142 kph and great hardpoints layouts.

I went with the Gargoyle package because I would have felt bad leaving the big guy out. Plus, it's a well armored, fast assault mech that I can see easily turning into a great LPL/ERLL boat. It can also be a good zombie with two MPL in the D model's center torso. And it can run with the Timbers/Summoners!

And its package qualified me for the new Atlas and King Crab...

The Hellbringer can accept a wide range of weapons and has ECM. It's solid. The perfect companion to Timbers.

The Ice Ferret should be a really good striker. After speed tweak this thing will become deadly and hard to catch. If hitboxes are good it could be a real survivor. It already has good armor and speed.

The Mist Lynx is going to be very questionable. 25 tons is really too light, and its hardpoints are really restricted. It's also not really that fast for a light. ECM will save it from being just another Locust or Commando, but it's not going to be taken seriously unless it has good hitboxes.

Edited by Greenjulius, 24 September 2014 - 09:10 PM.

[Greenjulius]

Viktor Drake, on 24 September 2014 - 07:53 PM, said:

Honestly you might be right about the Koshi. I just read that they are going to go ahead with the nerf on Clan XL engines. Honestly up until I read a post from Russ saying it was happening, I had thought it was just noise on the forums much like everything else. In any case, for the Koshi, the XL lacking vulnerability was kind of key as it is going to have to compete with the 30 ton Spider and the 35 ton Firestarter both of which will be much faster, more heavily armored and likely cooler running. The lack of XL vulnerability actually somewhat made up for these deficiencies but I guess that is now out the window.

Actually the XL nerf is going to hurt alot of Clan mechs especially since they can't opt out of using an XL to avoid the vulnerability. Nova it going to become DOA as it loses a ST every fight and usually early.

Why do I have the feeling Clans are going to be nerfed so badly they aren't even going to be fun to play?

Russ and no dev has actually stated what the nerf will be. I don't think it's instant destruction like IS XL's.