I see a lot of clanner stock mechs in CW. Not all newbies are in the IS. I'll just throw out my theory as to how this happens.
Many players start CW as IS with the few mechs they have grinded to earn. They went IS mechs out of either personal preference (faction loyalty, favorite mechs, etc.) or because IS mechs are cheaper (until they figure out the hidden costs of IS mechs). They don't join units for possible reasons I won't post here. They get rolled time after time except for the few times they end up in a drop with a decently skilled and sized IS unit.
They get frustrated and thinking that clan mechs are so OP that it's 100% of the reason they keep getting rolled they switch over to the clans. Then they take those clan trial mechs and fight against the *horribly bad* IS pilots in their *clearly inferior* IS mechs. Still they don't join a unit. Then they get rolled just as bad against the IS as they did against the clans. They might even try to only fight IS vs IS or Clan vs Clan, but don't find any more success.
It's at this point they get very frustrated and do one of the following:
1) quit CW
2) quit MWO
3) realize CW doesn't shelter them under Elo so they improve their skills as they earn the C-Bills to improve their mechs
4) just want to fight back the clans as IS or conquer the IS as a clanner, so they keep playing and just enjoy blowing stuff up whether they win or lose. (possibly part of option #3, hard to tell what drives a player you've never seen before during a match)
or
5) realize that not every unit is full of hardcore players that require a commitment, with scheduled practices and politics and everything else that makes the player want to vomit. <--- Very skewed there because of my super casual philosophy. Insert your own reason why people are wary of joining a unit here if you want... full of derps that don't want to win, foul-mouthed teenage drunks, other?
Anyway, then they join a unit (comp or casual depending on the person), start having fun, get helpful advice when they want it (improving intentionally or coincidentally), make some friends, and begin to genuinely enjoy MWO as something more than a novelty.
I think my list goes from most likely to least likely. Not a lot of people choose option 5. Most every CW unit is happy when someone comes to them after going with option #5.
Even a lot of units don't want to fight in CW for various reasons. I know there are a lot of reasons why, some of which I wouldn't argue against. I'm still under the impression that a number of units chose option #1 after a few matches in CW where they were simply out of their league. But that's for another thread...
Wait, what were we talking about again? Oh right... I'll take one box of Thin Mints. Here's a nickel if you don't tell the nurses, I don't trust the nurses in this OLD folks home...
Edited by Divine Retribution, 24 February 2015 - 05:45 AM.