26 replies to this topic

[bowlie]

Hey guys, I put this in the new players section because Its been so long since I played. I was never a fantastic player, but I could usually hold my own pretty well, especially if I used a good mech. Now with the introduction of clan mechs I feel completely out gunned, and the game just isn't fun any more. My trusty 2 ac2, 2 ac5 jager that used to net me 2/3 kills a game on average now gets blown to pieces within minutes of the game starting by clan lrm's or ripped appart by a pack of 6 x clan uac5 wielding little shits.

So, how can the casual player that cannot afford to shell out £20 for an op mech compete in this brave new world?

[SethAbercromby]

Most Clan 'Mechs ahave already been released for C-Bills ages ago, especially the ones currently considered OP by most. The Wave II 'Mechs are slowly being introduced to the non-paying market as well and the new Wave I variants (like DWF-S) will also be realeased for C-Bills within the next few months.

If you want to pay for something though, I reccomend Hero 'Mechs or Preorder Packages (Clan Wave I and II, Resistance and Urban Mech) as Hero 'Mechs and special Preorder Variants (TBR-Prime(I) for example) come with a 30% C-Bill boost, making the grind much more bearable.

[Reignfire]

Get a good standard engine mech. Orions are what i started with pretty good starter mech. Hunchback are also pretty cheap. Read up on the weapons and how they work on the forums.
Practice torso twisting so you can spread damage where you want it to go. Blackjacks imo are amazing and pretty cheap to run but very fragile. I would also say choose a chassis get 3 variants master it. Then get modules to fit that play style. Once you do that you have a solid start to be a bad ass.

[Tarogato]

Pick different mechs or different builds. The dakka Jager you have is still good at suppression, but it doesn't turn the tide of battles all on its own - it doesn't stand up like it used to. Try a 3x UAC5 build on the DD for now and see how that feels.

If you want to be a F2P player, but you also want to be 'çompetitive', look into Metamechs. It's best to have the most efficient machine on the field and metamechs are 'tried and true', 'proven in battle', and up to date.

Keep in mind you can now earn plenty of mechbays in CW if you earn a couple ranks in each faction. (though I would make sure you have some mechs that work well in CW before you step foot in CW and be prepared to change mechs around if somebody on your team makes a call before the match starts.) Pugging CW can be a pain, but make contact with some units in the faction you choose and hopefully they can help you along.

- said from experience, I've now got 24 mechbays and fairly decent stats, and I've yet to pay a penny in this game.

Edited by Tarogato, 07 February 2015 - 02:21 PM.

[Kiiyor]

Hmmm, the Clans did indeed shake things up, but with the Quirkening, I believe the gap is far closer now than when they first started slaughtering their way across the battlefield.

Which Jager are you running that setup on? AC5's and 2's have been nicely quirked on the S, and I still do very well with the loadout you mentioned. Maybe the 2's are the issue for you. Most Clan weapons require a fair amount of face time to be effective, with the DOT nature of most of their weapons. If you're running 2's, you're likely playing right into their hands.

I vastly prefer forgoing the 2's completely in favour of another 5. It's Gauss damage every 1.5 seconds or so, and it's far more peek-and-shoot friendly. I've altered my playstyle to be a little more cautious, and I find the Jager to be very competitive against the clans.

Dual Gauss is phenomenal also.

Maybe you just need some time fighting the Clans to understand their foibles. The mechs to watch out for are those in the Triumvirate of doom - the MadCat, DoomCrow and DireWolf. Be extra cautious around those, and look for opportunities to focus on them when other players are engaging them.

[Reignfire]

Also stick with the team stay to cover and stay away from the front line until you learn to pilot really well. Stick near the assaults or the guy with ecm and you will get lrm alot less. Carry ams.

[Rogue Jedi]

it has been mentioned before but it is important to play to a Mechs quirks if you want to be competitave,

for the Jagermech (like most IS Mechs) each model gets bonuses for specific weapons:
the A gets bonuses for LRM15 and AC2,
the DD gets UAC5
the S gets AC2 and AC5
the Firebrand gets PPC.

if you use the weapons which get the bonuses they make the Mech more effective, however the AC2 and AC5 are DPS weapons while the IS Mechs big advantage is in pinpoint high damage, so a JM6 with the smaller weapons are at the disadvantage of having to keep facing the enemy, and in the case of Clan Mechs they will usualy have a higher ranged DPS than IS Mechs.

if you want to keep using that JM6 I suggest be more careful about positioning and popping out, try to stay hull down (using the high mounted above cockpit arms of the JM6 keep the bulk of the Mech below terrain so the enemy have a much smaller target to shoot at). Switching the ACs for a pair of Gauss could also help, then you can pop out, fire, then get back in cover while the Gauss recharge.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

I did my first 7 months without any financial input.
Mastered 2 chassis types,Quickdraw and Hunchback,had the 4 stock + 2 mechbays from challenges later.
Quickdraws were quite a grind due to the expensive XL-engines,otherwise i had no complaints.
When i got some spare money i bought some MC and more mechbays and premium time.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

A build I liked was three AC/5 and a STD 250 on the Jager. And with the JM6-S quirks it should be better.

And so what you can do use one of the sides as a shield side, where you can place two MLs on the side with two AC/5.

[Vlad Striker]

No, it is not clan's weapon problem. Problem that you think you can outduelling assault mech Any Atlas can rip you apart as well as clan assault.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

Dakka mechs like that only work up to a certain point. Eventually, you'll find you need to be able to twist and shoot to be effective. The Jager is also a bit frail. Look into combinations like dual guass rifles or 2 x PPC + AC10.

A good resource is metamechs.com. There are lists of the best mechs for Clan, IS, competitive, pug, etc. This should give you an idea of which mechs are effective.

Also, note that the best clan mechs are currently available for cbills. Some may have upgrade parts that can't be accessed without spending money, but those upgrades are not so big that you can't compete without them. The difference between similarly equipped IS and Clan mechs is also not that big. IS mechs are just cheaper because they lack upgrades, XL engines, etc.

Edited by Rouken, 07 February 2015 - 03:23 PM.

[Koniving]

You've lost the psychological effect that Jagermechs with such a combination once had on players. Without that and the screen shake, they are very accurate and capable of taking you out.

Therefore, you need a way to intimidate them.

Rather than the tried and true, invent new ways to rip holes into things.

Here's one random idea.
The sound, the way it attacks, etc. is 'new'.. And 'new' makes people uncertain. It makes them hesitate.

[Davers]

Jaegermechs are a good start- a lot of their components are shared with standard popular builds. So if you don't mind engine/component swapping it's a good deal. Thunderbolts are good too, since the 2 most popular variants usually use standard engines, which is a big savings.

Clan mechs are more expensive upfront, but you don't have to upgrade anything, like heatsinks, engines, or endosteel.

[MavRCK]

There are lots of tournaments for mech bays, premium time, free mechs... PGI has really done a good job making this game free to play.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

MavRCK, on 07 February 2015 - 03:23 PM, said:

There are lots of tournaments for mech bays, premium time, free mechs... PGI has really done a good job making this game free to play.

Also, I would like to point out that the second factions reward for every faction is a mechbay. If you make the rounds you could pick up 10 for a pretty minimal time investment. The 6th reward also includes a mechbay, but that does take a bit more time to reach.

Edited by Rouken, 07 February 2015 - 03:31 PM.

[MavRCK]

Rouken, on 07 February 2015 - 03:26 PM, said:

Also, I would like to point out that the second factions reward for every faction is a mechbay. If you make the rounds you could pick up 10 for a pretty minimal time investment. The 6th reward also includes a mechbay, but that does take a bit more time to reach.

That's a good point and there's NGNGTV and Comstar and Mercenary Star Teamspeaks for finding teams so it's easy to find teams and faction drop... pretty easy now to get a bunch of free mechbays etc etc

[Scum of the Earth]

So far, I have spent $115 on the game having only played for over a month now. Of that money spent, $80 was for the Resistance pre order pack and another $20 was for the Urbanmech pre order pack.

I've spent $15 for 3k MCs. With the recent sales I have bought 5 paint colors, 3 mech bays, 1 camo pattern, 2 warhorns, 3 hanging and 3 standing cockpit items. With the MC event from a weekend ago, I still have over 1200 MC left. I have the flashy fluff now that makes my mech feel more like a home so I feel pretty happy with what I all have. Hopefully, another Mechbay sale will come up and I'll get a few more of those as well for my stables.

I guess what my point is, you can spend very little and still have a lot of bells and whistles to put on your mech. But, I wait for sales to pop up before I buy anything. I does make your money go a lot further. I only wish that I had bought my MCs back when there was a 20% bonus. Well... maybe next time...

[Icthelion]

I just started this game a little over a month ago, so all I have for comparison is what I can see from now. Until very recently I started as a Freeloader myself with Trebuchets and Hunchbacks. I eventually put money into the Rage pack and the Fenris pack, just because I enjoy what I am playing, and I would like to support the game.

What I have noticed is, Wow! Does premium time make a difference! I never used it until last week... and the amount of Cbills that are stacking up is pretty... ummm... wow!

[Araevin Teshurr]

Clan LRMs are currently OP, so just play like they are everywhere, keep your face stuck to a hill or building, pop in and out, just keep moving. IS mechs can easily take down clan mechs, but you must use weapons that take advantage of IS mechs quirks that are specific to that mech. Keep this site handy, build your mechs around the quirks.:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ult_innersphere

[Bluttrunken]

Well there's alot of good starter advice in this thread to have you covered but reading more closely into your OP it seems you're kinda fed up with clans? Well, the top tier mechs of the clans have been released for C-Bills already, meaning in particular the Timberwolf and the Stormcrow. The Hellbringer will be available for C-Bills soon enough, too. Even though those 3 mechs in particular are very versatile and powerful, I perform with my IS mechs as good as with my clan mechs(I got the Stormcrow and Hellbringer mastered but also Jager, Victor, Centurion amongst others).

I think the only expected investement into this game is buying mechbays depending on your need for new mechs. There's events now and then which will reward you with new bays but if that's enough depends mainly on you and how much mechs you'd like to have.