177 replies to this topic

[Virlutris]

Mastery Bundles are on sale, for 20% off the bundle price.

PSA: That works out to 60% off the list price for its constituent parts. Not a bad deal, if you were planning on getting a pack anyway.

PSA2: Think carefully before buying the CTF or AWS bundle. Due to pricing with their Champion variants, the prices are noticeably inflated relative to their peers. Similar issue for the Raven bundle, though not as acute.

Best values: LCT, probably BJ but mediums are all a mixed bag, TDR, STK.
*Locusts are in a good place overall, but the pricing of the pack in terms of value for USD is really oddly advantageous. LCT wins the numbers game.
*TDRs are cost-efficient starter heavies in terms of upgrade and loadout costs, depite the DHS tax on the hero, and all can run standard engines. Look at Catapults for a mix of playstyles and loadouts.
*All Stalkers can still do plenty of work, regardless of variant.
*Most of the medium packs have some flaw or another. The Hunchie's probably the runner-up to the Blackjack, despite the ultimate-glass-cannon-or-bust hero, though the Cents are reasonably mid-range or better performers after upgrades. Other (edit: medium) packs get dragged down by bad or mediocre variants, or by being mediocre chassis in general.

Edited by Virlutris, 28 November 2016 - 11:54 AM.

[Virlutris]

Update: Added the Roughneck to "The Champion We Need," listing.

I think it's okay for PGI to add a mech to the lore. They went out and made a big thing, regardless of criticism. This game is actually no small feat, even considering how much more folks want from it.

Consider that many of the hero variants were always intended to be cannon, according to Randall Bills. Granted, Sarna says they're apocryphal. I figure the PGI-designed stuff will land in a resource book at some point, or somebody will publish an errata that explicitly states PGI's stuff is canon.

That means PGI's already been adding variants. Adding a whole chassis? I don't have a problem with that.

They even went out of their way to plug it into a low-cost retrofit kind of place in the mech-design lore. There's certainly a place for that somewhere, even if the lion's share of attention in lore development was justifiably on 'mechs that were intentionally military from concept phase.

There is an oft-voiced opinion that "they should do all of the other things before they do their own thing." I disagree, respectfully. This is reflects a completionist value that I share, but I don't hold it nearly as strongly as other folks do.

Do I want to see all the things? Sure. Do I think that it's binary, and that all of the popular lore (within reason) needs to be in first before any new designs are introduced whatsoever? Respectfully, no.

One PGI chassis per year wouldn't be too much for me. That's an 11-to-1 ratio of lore-to-new chassis. PGI enriches the lore a bit more in the process and in my judgment, we are getting a negligible slowing of lore mech production.

I want to see more of the lore mechs make it in, without. I like a little something new too, I think it's worthwhile, and once a year feels good to me in terms of quantity and frequency.

If I had free cash, I'd probably whale out for it. As it is, I'm probably going to hold out my Christmas gift cash for the light-mech-to-be-named-later.

Happy 'Mechin' folks

Edit: spelling, grammar, linkage

Edited by Virlutris, 10 December 2016 - 10:40 AM.

[Digital_Angel]

With the new skill tree coming in Feb. and no longer requiring the 3 variants of a chassis, has anyone heard if mastery packs will continue to be a thing or not?

While a little late for the Roughneck, it also means that if PGI wants to add a new mech to lore, they are not required to build 3 different non-Hero variants. Personally i thought the Roughneck (based on the lore that PGI gave for it) could have handled being only the hero and not the other variants, although I do understand that they probably don't want to go through all the work for designing a mech over a single variant.

Edited by Digital_Angel, 14 December 2016 - 06:58 AM.

[Virlutris]

Digital_Angel, on 14 December 2016 - 06:55 AM, said:

With the new skill tree coming in Feb. and no longer requiring the 3 variants of a chassis, has anyone heard if mastery packs will continue to be a thing or not?

While a little late for the Roughneck, it also means that if PGI wants to add a new mech to lore, they are not required to build 3 different non-Hero variants. Personally i thought the Roughneck (based on the lore that PGI gave for it) could have handled being only the hero and not the other variants, although I do understand that they probably don't want to go through all the work for designing a mech over a single variant.

Good point. I haven't heard anything. Speculation follows:

I'm willing to bet they'll still do them, albeit rebranded a bit, as a "Jump Start," or"Head Start," or "Chassis Mastery" Pack or some such. "Become the master of the _________ chassis by picking up these three variants, with mechbays and premium time," etc.

As long as they're still doing heroes and champions, this is an established "easy mode" monetization move. If you like the selection of variants and the extra goodies better in the Chassis Mastery Pack than the Gift Store once-upon-a-pre-order pack, then it's a win-win. You're happier, and they make a sale.

I'd expect them to continue. "Giving player's options," and all that.

[Virlutris]

New Champions are incoming, the build forums are now up.

OP will be updated in mere moment Editing the OP appears to be borqed somehow. The changes won't take. It'll update when it's feeling more cooperative.

Go forth and mechlab like a bawssss!

Edit: OP updated, had to close Chrome and start fresh. Also noticed that I need to refresh the links for the ClanTech Wave 1 hero mechs. I first posted them with a gift store link before they'd patched in. 'Bout time I got around to updating that

Edit MK II: I also updated the Steam Performance Packs to the new MK II editions that arrived 23 November 2016.

Edited by Virlutris, 13 January 2017 - 09:49 PM.

[Coalfire]

I have had an account here since inception, but have never really played. I still have questions about mech packs and premium time, If I buy a mech pack say with 60 days and don't go into the game maps, because I want to mess with the mech bays and and test run my mechs in the academy does my premium game time run out?

[Brizna]

Premium time is real time, once activated it will tick non stop regardless of you being in the game or not.

That said, premium time from mech packs comes banked. You can activate it in chunks of 30 days from the website.

Edited by Brizna, 14 January 2017 - 12:19 PM.

[Roughneck45]

Coalfire, on 14 January 2017 - 11:57 AM, said:

I have had an account here since inception, but have never really played. I still have questions about mech packs and premium time, If I buy a mech pack say with 60 days and don't go into the game maps, because I want to mess with the mech bays and and test run my mechs in the academy does my premium game time run out?

Premium time you get from purchasing mech packs is banked. If you press activate in game it will turn on all of your banked premium time. If you go to your profile on this website you can activate banked premium time in 30 day chunks.

To my knowledge, all other sources of premium time are activated the moment you purchase them.

Edited by Roughneck45, 14 January 2017 - 12:26 PM.

[Coalfire]

Thank you, Brizna and Roughneck, that helps, in the store some say they are banked while others have no indication.
When I use to play non-online versions, mechwarrior 3 and others, I use to like the lights (spider, commando and such), I would like to set up an assortment of mechs, lights to assaults in my bays. I was a little concerned about the amount of time that was included, I wouldn't have wanted to buy several packs and have all the time start at once.

In the store I have only seen mechs by type or faction not really by size or and assortment pack. If I am missing seeing these then the old eyes deceive me, if not I would love to see a few assortment packs. I have always been a merc in the other games and try not to align with any faction. If any of the factions needed me they could hire me for a price, lol ... even the clan, if they wanted an innersphere freebirth to deal with some discrete matters. Kind of hope this game allows some of the same.

[Koniving]

Any premium time that comes in a package from the site is banked. I assume it is the same for Steam.

I have never bought a bundle from inside the game, so I can't tell you if it comes banked or not.

Premium time bought in game is instantly activated.

Any premium time acquired from the site, short of "redeem" codes", is banked. Redeem codes for premium time are instantly activated unless otherwise stated to be banked.

My personal advice is to never buy premium time directly...
I never have bought premium time, though I have bought several pre-order 'packages'... and I've wound up once accidentally activating 480 days of banked premium time, and I'm sitting on another 290 days despite activating 30 days about once every other month.

[Virlutris]

Updated OP to add Javelin under "The Champion We Need ..." listing.

With only a brief glance at the engine caps and hardpoints, it looks like it's generally a straight-up upgrade to the Spider in terms of how it may play in MWO.

I still have an irrational fondness for the Spider (5V <3) don't get me wrong. I'm certainly going to be picking up this new chassis at some point.

I was honestly expecting the Valkyrie, though. Maybe we'll get an Unseen Light combo pack under the new system instead

[Virlutris]

I'm considering a Gift Store Pack listing of some sort for some time this year.

I'll probably stick it under its own spoiler and run with numbers from a couple sources.

Gonna chew on the idea for a bit.

[jayacidburn]

HELLO GUYS...!
I don't know if I'm at the right place for this kind of question... that's the better place I found.
I'm new from MWO and I want to know what I have to do to chat with others Faction IS to team mate
By the way I'm looking for a IS clan to start with strategy and make friend in same way

GOT a mic for teamspeak..... works great...!
My Mech is Rifleman....
and I'm ok with English but I'm french... I see a sector in IS with french Peps don't know how to find it......

Thanks ...!
-Jay

[Bud Crue]

jayacidburn, on 20 January 2017 - 11:46 AM, said:

HELLO GUYS...!
I don't know if I'm at the right place for this kind of question... that's the better place I found.
I'm new from MWO and I want to know what I have to do to chat with others Faction IS to team mate
By the way I'm looking for a IS clan to start with strategy and make friend in same way

GOT a mic for teamspeak..... works great...!
My Mech is Rifleman....
and I'm ok with English but I'm french... I see a sector in IS with french Peps don't know how to find it......

Thanks ...!
-Jay

You are definitely in the wrong place.

https://mwomercs.com...s-inner-sphere/

Scroll down and go to the Davion thread if you just want to look for your fellow Davions' units.

Good luck, and welcome.

[Virlutris]

jayacidburn, on 20 January 2017 - 11:46 AM, said:

HELLO GUYS...!
I don't know if I'm at the right place for this kind of question... that's the better place I found.
I'm new from MWO and I want to know what I have to do to chat with others Faction IS to team mate
By the way I'm looking for a IS clan to start with strategy and make friend in same way

GOT a mic for teamspeak..... works great...!
My Mech is Rifleman....
and I'm ok with English but I'm french... I see a sector in IS with french Peps don't know how to find it......

Thanks ...!
-Jay

Bud Crue, on 20 January 2017 - 12:44 PM, said:

You are definitely in the wrong place.

https://mwomercs.com...s-inner-sphere/

Scroll down and go to the Davion thread if you just want to look for your fellow Davions' units.

Good luck, and welcome.

I'd also check in the French-language subforum to see if they've got a listing of French-speaking TS3/Mumble/Discord servers.

Welcome, and good luck!

[TooDumbToQuit]

Roughneck45, on 14 January 2017 - 12:26 PM, said:

Premium time you get from purchasing mech packs is banked. If you press activate in game it will turn on all of your banked premium time. If you go to your profile on this website you can activate banked premium time in 30 day chunks.

To my knowledge, all other sources of premium time are activated the moment you purchase them.

It seems like PT in Mastery Bundles is no longer banked. It is a shame since this is one of the main reasons I bought them. I'm glad I noticed right before I bought another IS Light mainly for a month of PT and 3 Mechbays.

• 30 DAYS PREMIUM TIME (ACTIVATED ON PURCHASE / REDEMPTION)

[Virlutris]

LikeUntoGod, on 08 March 2017 - 12:02 PM, said:

It seems like PT in Mastery Bundles is no longer banked. It is a shame since this is one of the main reasons I bought them. I'm glad I noticed right before I bought another IS Light mainly for a month of PT and 3 Mechbays.

• 30 DAYS PREMIUM TIME (ACTIVATED ON PURCHASE / REDEMPTION)

When PT is purchased through the client (The "store" tab, that is) this is pretty much automatic. So far as I'm aware that's been the case for a while.

The stuff that gets banked is stuff that's purchased in a pre-order style pack through the online gift store.

Then again, I'll admit to not following this mechanic carefully in the last year or so, and I'll also admit to not purchasing PT (edit: or anything else) recently or activating the banked time I've already got.

Where'd you see the message?

Edited by Virlutris, 09 March 2017 - 12:13 PM.

[Jables McBarty]

LikeUntoGod, on 08 March 2017 - 12:02 PM, said:

It seems like PT in Mastery Bundles is no longer banked. It is a shame since this is one of the main reasons I bought them. I'm glad I noticed right before I bought another IS Light mainly for a month of PT and 3 Mechbays.

• 30 DAYS PREMIUM TIME (ACTIVATED ON PURCHASE / REDEMPTION)

Virlutris, on 09 March 2017 - 12:11 PM, said:

When PT is purchased through the client (The "store" tab, that is) this is pretty much automatic. So far as I'm aware that's been the case for a while.

The stuff that gets banked is stuff that's purchased in a pre-order style pack through the online gift store.

Then again, I'll admit to not following this mechanic carefully in the last year or so, and I'll also admit to not purchasing PT (edit: or anything else) recently or activating the banked time I've already got.

Where'd you see the message?

It's been that way at least since I started playing Dec 2015.

I found out my Steam Heavy Pack had the "activated on log-in" PT only when I logged in on Dec 18, two days before I started my 2-week vacation to Michigan. Ever since I've scrutinized what type of PT, and Mastery Bundles were never Banked.

[TooDumbToQuit]

Mine is, I have like 11 months or so banked.

It used to say "Banked" for most deals. I noticed the change.

Once when I had a wrist operation, I had them freeze it until I want to start it at a month of a time.

And I freaking hate Steam.

Edited by LikeUntoGod, 13 March 2017 - 07:44 PM.

[Virlutris]

LikeUntoGod, on 13 March 2017 - 07:41 PM, said:

Mine is, I have like 11 months or so banked.

It used to say &quot;Banked&quot; for most deals. I noticed the change.

Once when I had a wrist operation, I had them freeze it until I want to start it at a month of a time.

And I freaking hate Steam.

Interesting. Thanks.

I've come around a little on Steam. I don't turn my nose up at it like I used to, but I also don't consider it the greatest thing since sliced bread. I find it more convenient than the solo launcher for now, given that I have a couple other Steam games I play. Summarized: meh.


Thread housekeeping note:
Updates are due for the Resistance heroes. possibly this week, if I can pull myself away from goofing around on my alt. [Edit, adding] Or if I goof around during the day, but edits on these forums, from a smartphone, are ... fussy.

Edited by Virlutris, 13 March 2017 - 10:25 PM.