177 replies to this topic

[Digital_Angel]

LikeUntoGod, on 13 June 2016 - 09:07 PM, said:

My friend, it looks like I'm moving to Merc Unit where I will need a drop of IS Mechs also.

Sooooooooooo


I LOVE these Mastery Bundles! The question is which ones? I just recently found out that IS Mechs have something called "Quirks"
And they are something else. So which ones...lol (I have a idea)

While not all of these would be my personal choice for my play style, overall I think most people would think any of these to be decent choices depending on what weight class you are looking at.

Light: Jenner or Firestarter
Medium: Blackjack or Griffin
Heavy: Jager or Thunderbolt
Assault: Stalker or Atlas

Edited by LadyDanams, 14 June 2016 - 07:29 AM.

[SkavenDC]

LadyDanams, on 14 June 2016 - 06:23 AM, said:

Light: Jenner or Firestarter
Medium: Blackjack or Griffin
Heavy: Jager or Thunderbolt
Assault: Stalker or Atlas

This, although I too agree that not all of those would be my choice either.

Jenners, Firestarters and Blackjacks are probably my favorite mechs in the game. I have the Sparky and will probably buy 2 more Griffin's with c-bills, but haven't really touched it yet. Thunderbolts are still solid mechs. Rest is not my play style. I'm not really an assault guy and Jager is meh to me.

Also, another thing to consider is the packages. Hard to go wrong with the Warhammer or the Marauder packages. Base pack is $20 and you still get 30 days premium time. The Foxes love both those with maybe a slight bias to the Marauder, but that depends on your playstyle.

3 Warhammers and the Jenner or Firestarter (I use a Firestarter myself) would give you a functional IS drop deck to start with while you add to your stable. That would be $37 (w/Firestarter) or $39 (w/Jenner).

Edited by SkavenDC, 14 June 2016 - 09:10 AM.

[Virlutris]

I'll agree with the obsevations in the forgoing comments.

This will depend a bit on the amount of money you want to spend, i tis also beocming apparent that I need to upgrade the OP to account for the recent premium release packs.

For the current state of balance, I'd say get at least one functional light, a solid heavy, and go from there.

Wall 'o text follows, summary at the end.

Jenner Bundle:
* Yes! The Oxide is a must-have anyway. Good for PUGs, Scouting, even Invasion.
*The F is a classic, and it still has a lot to teach about how to pilot a light the right way. It still yields some of my best matches in a light mech. It's also the Champ in the pack, so it'll level quickly with the XP bonus. Peek and poke mercilessly, always moving.
* 3rd Wheel Stock variant is a hybrid. It's not really great at anything, just grab some SRM and lasers, poke until someone's got open red components (like the F), then dive bomb them to finish (like the Oxide). Rinse, repeat.

Now we're in different territory. The Firestarter hero's not great right now. Firestarters are a must-have for IS pilots, but it's because ths S is still very good. You can pick them up with c-bills just as well, but having the S fully kitted out might be kinda nice. Your call.

Ravens are pokers (except the hero). 4X comes withe the bundle, Huginn is inferior to the Oxide (which brawls better), 2X is very good (but not in pack), and the 3L (the Champ) is kind of a niche mech. The ones most worth having (2X, 4X) are better purchased with c-bills.

Enough with lights. For Heavies, the TDRs are all steady performers, but not high-flyers. They'll all comfortably run standards without giving up much useability. The Mastery Bundle variants are all workable. Hero is tanky, Champ is pokey, 3rd Wheel is an MPL-spitting lol-machine.

Best heavy today though is the Warhammer, because the Black Widow is excellent, and the 6R and 6D are quite very good. These were a single-mech pre-order, so it's $35 US for 4 mechs including the Widow.

You want the Widdow. The amount of dakka is obscene. It's the primary reason to get the chassis. I spent hoarded event MC on the Widow myself, and c-billed the 6D and 6R.

The thing with most IS heavies that perform well, is they need an XL. This goes for Jagers, too, which are overlooked but competent mechs, and have a decent Mastery bundle too. The Whammy, Hopper and Knight all have absurd structure quirks and/or hitboxes. If you twist, you'll survive. Jagers get quirk help, but survive by playing the range game.

I'd recommend the Grasshopper or Black Knight, except that a la carte ordering them is a bad buy. C-bills or go home if you're getting them on their own.

Mediums:

Blackjacks are good, but the best ones are the 1X (not in bundle) and 3 (3rd Wheel stock variant). 1 is fun, but not best for CW. Arrow (hero) is okay with LPL, but 3 does that better. You're as well off getting them with c-bills, because the 1X doesn't come in the Bundle. Blackjacks fit very well in most decks and the good ones are ones you definitely want for your drop deck, they're worth getting either way.

Assaults:
Maulers for dakka (great dakka)
Battlemasters or Stalkers for laser-poking (there's debate on which is better, meh)
Banshees for dakka or lasers
Atlas for trolly brawl pushes
For Mastery Bundles, the Stalker Bundle is best value. Misery is good with that ballistic, 5M does missiles beautifully, and 3F is a solid, versatile baseline Stalker. The top variants are 4N and 3H, but there's not a huge separation there (in my opinion). You could easily c-bill them.

Consider the Resistance 2 Pack though. All 4 mechs are capable. The Wolfhound's right behind the Firestarter, the Mauler and Knight I've mentioned, and the Crab is plenty good.

TL;DR

Have fun, whatever you decide

I'd say Jenner Bundle, Warhammer Pack (with hero add-on) for a quick start. You can get the TDR Bundle instead, but the Whammy really is better overall. WHM-BW, -6D, -6R, and Oxide makes a great deck with a solid scout-mode mech (the Oxide).

Other stuff you can c-bill, but you want to prioritize Blackjacks next. FS9-S is next best IS light after Oxide, RVN-4X, -2X for light pokers. Wolfhound can do anything with lasers next best.

If you must haz assault mech nao, the Stalker bundle is actually a good Mastery Bundle all around.

Consider the Resistance 2 Pack if you want to get a good fast start with the IS in all weight classes. 2 Maulers and 2 Wolfhounds, or 2 Knights a Crab and a Wolfhound, or one of each (250t) are all perfecty good decks.

Edited by Virlutris, 14 June 2016 - 10:41 AM.

[Virlutris]

LikeUntoGod, on 13 June 2016 - 09:07 PM, said:

My friend, it looks like I'm moving to Merc Unit where I will need a drop of IS Mechs also.

Sooooooooooo


I LOVE these Mastery Bundles! The question is which ones? I just recently found out that IS Mechs have something called "Quirks"
And they are something else. So which ones...lol (I have a idea)

Given the rescaling, hold the phone on that Jenner Bundle. With no idea how they'll play at their new-and-improved economy size, they can wait.

TDRs should be better at their new smaller size, at least until their weapon quirks adjust at some point.

Blackjack shouldn't change much with rescale.

Warhammers ... probably are coming back to the pack a little, but likely still very good.

Resistance 2 should still be good, though there's no telling how the Wolfhound will play now that it's almost the size of a pre-rescaled Blackjack (speed ... helps?).

Edit: I noticed that LadyDanams mentioned Griffins. (+1)

Sparky, GRF-2N are plenty capable. I like my 2N for scouting.

You may (probably) want to pick up the 3M for c-bills at some point of you go Griffin. It brawls like a boss.

1S ... is a thing that you can do. I guess you could turn it into a Ghetto WVR-6K with a laser arm, or the default-ish 2SRM+4laser build.

(sidetracking momentarily) Mine's been a LRM+ML skirmishing troll since I've owned it. I'm not even a little sorry for LRM-ing in it, becuase I simply wouldn't use it for anything at any tume otherwise. At least now it sees use for nostalgia (3rd mech I owned) and/or on "LRM night" when folks are goofing off.

/sidetrack

Griffins (especially 2N, 3M) are great for scouting (SRMs, meet legs) and capable for brawly FP maps like Taiga or maybe even parts of other maps if the fighting's in close to the buildings.

2 TDR (9SE, Top Dog), 2 GRF (Sparky +1) would fit a 240t deck, and right now you can do 3 TDR, 1 GRF at 250t.

Options, and all that.

TL;DR: Beware the re-scaled 35-tonners, until we see how they play.

Edited by Virlutris, 21 June 2016 - 06:46 AM.

[Keltan]

Which of the mechs with bundles are good stock, and which need a bunch of c-bill upgrades to make decent?

I've heard all light mechs, most mediums will need an XL engine to really perform well.

Do warhammers need an XL engine? Can I take the one out of the Black Widow and put it in the other variants?

[Digital_Angel]

The mastery packs all contain 1 Hero, 1 Champion, and 1 normal everyday variant of the mech. The Champion and Hero will pretty much be pre-upgraded. The 3rd won't be.

Most lights and mediums can get a lot of use out of an XL, but not all. It depends a lot on what type of build you want to do with it as much as the hit boxes for that specific mech. Something meant to brawl up close is always a risk taking an XL, but very few Lights and Mediums can do that well anyway. Still even one of my Spiders (my 5V with all the hard points in the CT anyway) has a standard engine in it. It zombies wonderfully and most people go for my sides expecting me to have an XL and all i lose when they blow it off is a JJ or 2.

The Warhammer is pretty XL friendly unless you are going to make a build focused on up close brawling. As a mid to long range striker, it is pretty XL safe.

[TooDumbToQuit]

Since I do not know of another place to address this, I'm going to mention it here.

I'd like to add 3 TimberWolves and 3 ShadowCats.

For the ShadowCat I have to pay $60.00 funking dollars for 3 ShadowCats and 3 Artic Cheetahs and I already have 3 ACH's.

BUT I DO GET A WHOLE 7 DAYS OF PREMIUM TIME

To get the 3 Timberwolves I have to pay out $180.00 FUNKING dollars for 3 MORE Kit Foxes, 3 MORE Stormcrows, and 12 Mechs I do not want.

BUT I WILL GET 90 DAYS OF PREMIUM TIME.

BUT WAIT! I forgot about being able to buy them "A LA CARTE", which I think is Fench for "I'm ripping your *** off".

I'm saved! I can get one ShadowCat for only $55.00! And a 2nd one for only $50.00 more! With NOTHING ADDED.

Let;s see what $180.00 will buy me in IS Mechs. How about the following 7 Mastery bundles. Each with a "HERO" and 30 days premium time.

Awesome MB $37.00
Stalker MB $35.00
Jagermech MB $28.00
Catapult MB $28.00
Griffen MB $28.00
Jenner MB $19.00
Locust MB $13.00
(all together, they come with 7 months of premium time)

And here is a crazy thing, I only have to buy ONE bundle at a time......no really! If I want one, I do NOT have to buy another 3-4.

But LUG, you are forgetting all the money (C-Bills) needed for upgrades for the IS Mechs! OK, sure, almost all the Mastery Bundles come with at least one and often two Mechs with upgraded engines. BUT...uh.....YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE THEM OUT AND SWITCH THEM! I mean, that takes 20-30 seconds and does not help if you want to play all 3 of them at a time..................

But I can buy the Clan Mechs for C-bills, which I would do but I hate paying 900 MC for 3 freaking Mech bays that come included in the Mastery Bundles.

It is BULL SHITTE! I do not funking care if my 3 Timberwolves or Shadow Cats have a "Hero", I just want to be able to buy them at a decent price.

And please do not mention that if I buy enough MC right now, I can get Mech bays and a bunch of those, rip-off Supply Crates.

[TooDumbToQuit]

Digital_Angel, on 14 June 2016 - 06:23 AM, said:

While not all of these would be my personal choice for my play style, overall I think most people would think any of these to be decent choices depending on what weight class you are looking at. Light: Jenner or Firestarter Medium: Blackjack or Griffin Heavy: Jager or Thunderbolt Assault: Stalker or Atlas

I started with the Thunderbolts bundle with one reason being that they are cheap in a couple of ways and "tanky". And they are the base of a drop deck. Add a BJ or PHK to three Thunderbolts and I have 240 tons.

Then the Medium and Lights sales started.

I bought 3 BJ's with C-bills and MC and I like them a lot, I have two Griffins also and I'm afraid that they are LRM boats....I'm looking for something to use against Stormcrows in scouting. Not easy.....I have 4 PHK's. I'm strongly considering getting the Locust, Jenner, and Raven bundles for only $53.00 over time which will also give me 3 months of PT.

I also bought 3 Urbanmechs because how do you not? I had won a Crab and bought 2 more but I really disliked them so I sold all 3. Same with the Catapult I won. A lot of people say never sell Mechs. Pfffttttt.

I won two of these, the Crab and the Catapult. And I got the two Crabs for half off. I do not see the reasons for keeping 100's of Mechs. I can only play or use up to 4 at a time. My Kit Foxes, Stormcrows, Hellbringers and Vipers are all Omnimechs.

Basically, I keep the Hero's etc and the ones I like to play. And I hate so much buying mech bays for MC. Right now I have 37 Mechs and 39 Mech bays. I no longer "need" anything, it is more about wanting them, lol.

I'm trying to make Merc 3 level so I can get the 3rd empty Mech I need but I do not think my hands can take it. While they are on sale, I want to buy one Jenner, Locust, and Raven so I can learn them and gain XP for their pilot trees. I will be buying the exact same ones in their Mastery Bundles. So then I will sell these which I bought on sale and the XP will transfer over.

[Digital_Angel]

LikeUntoGod, on 30 July 2016 - 11:54 AM, said:

BUT WAIT! I forgot about being able to buy them "A LA CARTE", which I think is Fench for "I'm ripping your *** off". I'm saved! I can get one ShadowCat for only $55.00! And a 2nd one for only $50.00 more! With NOTHING ADDED.

Mastery packs only get done for mechs once they have a Champion and a Hero. Most of the Clan mechs recently got Champion builds, and PGI is working on (voting currently up for several) Champion builds for several more mechs, both IS and Clan.

Once they get around to getting Heroes for the Clan mechs, which they have started to do on the newer ones, Clans should start getting Mastery Packs. The Viper was PGI's test bed for a Omnimech Hero. If they don't find major problems from it, I imagine the older Omnimechs will get Heroes within the next year.

A la Carte is basically ALWAYS a bad deal on the older packages. Still if you buy the Shadow Cat A La Carte, you get 3 variants for $55, not $55 for 1 mech. I believe you still get the C-Bill bonus on the Prime as well, but not 100% on that. The older packs were only ever (even close to) worth it A La Carte if all you wanted was the heavy and/or assult. For the Light or the Medium in any of the older packs (IS or Clan) it was a better deal, especially with all the other goodies that come with, to just buy the pack. This is part of why PGI swapped out to the newer format for mech packs.

Also, once mechs have been available for C-Bills for a while, they really should drop the cost of the older packs. Still asking the full cost from when the mechs were pre-order after this much time is INSANE!!

Edited by Digital_Angel, 31 July 2016 - 06:17 PM.

[TooDumbToQuit]

I just like to rant from time to time......

[Rerednaw]

As a Founder I have already sunk my share... 😀 so I'm leaning towards the MC versions as I still have MC from launch. Only came back recently but the Hunchback (IS or Clan ) seem to fit my style of play. Also like the Warhammer but until I get to use more trials...and until it transitions $ -> MC gotta wait. My new job pays 1/3 what my old did, so my geek habits have to give way to pesky RL things like mortgage and food

Awesome /Marauders are on my buy list because of TT memories, no idea how well they hold up in mwo.

[Spangle]

Marauders where my dirst purchase cause of old memories

[Digital_Angel]

Spangle, on 29 August 2016 - 12:50 AM, said:

Marauders where my dirst purchase cause of old memories

Great mechs. With STD engines they are very tanky. Just remember that Marauders you only need to twist a little bit to each side to spread damage, not do a full 90 degree rotation.

3R is fun for either PPCs or triple AC2s with some lasers or triple AC5s if you want no backup weapons. BH2 is great with AC20 and a bunch of medium lasers. 5M and 5D aren't bad either.

[Virlutris]

Digital_Angel, on 29 August 2016 - 05:23 AM, said:

Great mechs. With STD engines they are very tanky. Just remember that Marauders you only need to twist a little bit to each side to spread damage, not do a full 90 degree rotation.

3R is fun for either PPCs or triple AC2s with some lasers or triple AC5s if you want no backup weapons. BH2 is great with AC20 and a bunch of medium lasers. 5M and 5D aren't bad either.

I've seen Juju Shinobi run a 2LPL+AC20 right-sided assym Marauder too, in one of his YouTube videos. I forget which variant, but it looked way fun.

XL Marauders are way risky. Gauss-toting Marauders with XLs? Dat ST screams to be stripped of armor and have the Gauss critted. O.o

Standards make for a nice steady ride, for sure.

Rerednaw: sadly, the Awesome doesn't live up to it's tabletop rep. You can still build it for some fun though. It's easy to hit, but it can certainly be built for some punch.

Thread Houskeeping:

OP will get some updates this weekend to reflect latest mech additions, including new chassis and Champions.

[Virlutris]

Update:

Shuffled the "What the Remaining Chassis Need ..." lists, to reflect 1) the latest pre-order mech packs, and 2) the latest chassis selected for Champion voting.

Interesting(-ish?) Notes:

The IS chassis selected for Champion (C) variants (and therefore to serve as trial mechs) added up to 235 tons, which PGI has stated is their default selection for a trial dropdeck in FP. That's 35+50+70+80=235. Not risking much to guess these will make the new trial deck, but who knows?

ClanTech selections, on the other hand, ended up checking in at 250 tons, the max tonnage currently available.

[speculation] I think the new default ClanTech deck will end up with a mix of new and old trials to meet the standard 235, something like JR7-IIC, SHC, EBJ, HGN-IIC. The other ones would then be available for easy substitution. [/speculation]

Wonder what this month's new pre-order pack will be. Purportedly IS. Charger/Hatamoto Chi?

Edit: I'm gonna call the Imp. I'm feeling the super-Urbie assault as a dark horse pick for next IS pack.

Edited by Virlutris, 01 September 2016 - 09:08 AM.

[Virlutris]

http://mwomercs.com/...-bundles-20-off

Until September 6th, Mastery Bundles are 20% off.

This, like, never happens, because they're already 50% off to start.

20% off of the "regular" bundle price works out to 60% off of what the MC cost would otherwise be.

Example:
Regular Prices:
* FS9-E, MC 2,625
* FS9-H, MC 1,055 (C-bill 2,629,342)
* FS9-S(C), MC 1,620
* Statue, MC 750
* 30 Days Premium Time, MC 2,500
* 3 Mech Bays, MC 900
Subtotal -- 8,700
Pack -- MC 4,350
20%off -- MC 3480
Savings -- MC 5220

Note: 60% of 8700 is 5220. This effectively means that Mastery Bundles are currently 60% instead of 50% off. Not bad.

Good time to pick up that Mastery Bundle, if you'd already had your eye on one.

Edited by Virlutris, 02 September 2016 - 08:15 PM.

[Rerednaw]

Oiy...just logged in and saw the mastery sale. Hurm...dang it...now I want to buy 2..but which ones? Okay the IS Hunchie is in...but not sure what else...maybe a heavy...decisions decisions...

[Virlutris]

Rerednaw, on 02 September 2016 - 09:06 PM, said:

Oiy...just logged in and saw the mastery sale. Hurm...dang it...now I want to buy 2..but which ones? Okay the IS Hunchie is in...but not sure what else...maybe a heavy...decisions decisions...

Thunderbolt is a pretty good value, as IS heavies go. They don't really require XL engines, so they're cheaper to outfit and they provide a nice return on investment. Top Dog is super tanky, 9SE's a nice poker, and 5SS is a fun laser brawler.

Jagers are kinda nice, though I'd probably pick them up for c-bills. I'd pick up the Quickdraws for c-bills too.

Catapults would actually be a decent pickup. They shrunk in the rescale pass recently. You can SRM-troll with the A1, Laserboat with the Hero, and the K2 got its mounts updated, and it's worth rolling out with some sniper-y goodness.

If you don't have Griffins yet, and you like to go SRM-bombing, it's totally worth it. Shadowhawks for some dakka

[Virlutris]

Updated OP last night.

The new ClanTech heroes meant a shuffle in the "What the Remaining Chassis Need ..." lists, and setting up the pricing speculation for the newest additions to the "Chassis that Could ..." list.

SCR, TBR, WHK, and DWF got their Mastery Pack pricing speculation. KFC, ADR, NVA, SMN are now awaiting champions.

For all eight, no Mastery Pack will be doable until MC release for these heroes, which is 16 May 2017. At least we can play with numbers until then

[Virlutris]

Updated for Supernova the day it was announced and neglected to mention it, same for several of the recent announcements. I've been adding them as they hit the gift store.

I added the Assassin today. If anyone's missing under the appropriate spoiler, please feel free to provide me a spot-check.

They announced sales on select mastery packs for the holiday weekend later this month, TBA. The Awesome and Cataphract packs need one because the pricing weirdness with their champion variants leads to inflated pricing for the Mastery Pack as a whole.

I'm going to wildly speculate that the Dragon Pack will go on sale, with the Commies, Awesome, and Vindies, to name a few. None are popular, the COM-TDK is the best hero of that batch.

The only truly terribad hero missing is the Anansi, and there's a reasonable chance the Spider pack goes on sale too. If They do two sets per class, I'll add the Highlanders, Orions, and Kintaros to the Spiders. /speculation

Happy 'Mechin' folks