32 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

Virarasa, on 20 July 2015 - 02:32 PM, said:

So i'm a returning player, lost my old account, coming back with a new one. I played before clans, and CW.

1. Is their pub stomps still? Alot? I see people complaining about their w/l being vastly in favour of the lost.

2. Hows the match time? Does it take a while to get a game?

3. Hows the future for this game looking? Is it still maps and mechs?

4. What's the gameplay like at the moment? Last i played it was jumping mechs with ppcs. Is their any favourite weapon/mech at the moment?

5. How's the cash earning experiance? Painful?

Welcome back to MWO.

1) As mentioned the queues have been split between group and solo. They still happen, but it is usually because one group has all mechs coordinating over in-game VOIP while the other does not, or a single player basically wipes out the entire enemy force....which does happen. I'm kinda good at that.

2) Standard matches? Pretty short. Group queue? Shorter than they used to be (compared to the old 12 man only queue).

Community Warfare? If you don't plan a fight ahead of time and call for defenders/attackers in the forum with a scheduled time, you'll probably face lengthy times outside of "Prime time" (within 2 hours of a cease fire). Longest wait I had was in excess of 30 minutes. Shortest wait was instantaneously. Fight against/with the Clans for much faster times -- but all the IS players and some of the Clan players will likely be brand-dirt-spanking-new and clueless.. Easiest way in CW is the way all the new players take...

3) Much better maps; there's destruction and the old maps are being remade. River City is now very impressive. Kind of like what they said they would make (back in 2011). Best yet.

Content beyond the mechs and maps is slow but coming along. Better than when IGP dictated things with their hands in PGI's pockets to take the money we give them. Not to say that things couldn't improve, because they can.

4) Jumping mechs? PPCs? Pfft -- that must be another game. Now it's either mass missiles, mass autocannons, or mass lasers. PPCs are kind of a relic of the times. That said you should watch out for Gauss Rifles.

5) Depends. General mass killing pay is down. There's a lot of pay for helping the team and playing as support elements. I highly recommend as a smaller mech -- hanging out with a bigger one... and as a bigger mech, surrounding yourself with smaller ones. Great cash buildup over time.

Virarasa, on 21 July 2015 - 01:58 AM, said:

Just started up, they REALLY have done some work on the frame rate. Looks good!

What's the difference between clan and IS mechs btw?

Clan technology when the weapons have equal weight (energy weapons except ER PPC) -- have higher heat, more potential spread (higher real player skill base required to get maximum benefit), longer exposure times in exchange for slightly more damage, higher range, and in a single case fewer slots.

When the weapons have lower weight (everything else), then some of the following is true: With the exception of missiles, the more spread it has compared to similar weapons of the same Clan tech tree, the less heat it has (i.e. the high damage LBX/AC opposed to the UAC of similar nature). If it has more spread and identical heat then it has fewer slots (lower damage LBX / AC opposed to the UAC of similar nature). In general ACs / UACs are burst fire (an MWO trait; as all ACs are burst/automatic with dozens to hundreds of bullets combining to get 2 to 20 damage in Battletech lore and front-loaded in the tabletop as a single hit or miss).

When it comes to missiles, they are generally identical (LRMs/Streaks) or weaker (SRMs) than their IS equivalents, but have ideal minimum ranges of 90 meters (LRMs) less than IS ones. Anything less than 90 meters (LRMs again) isn't even worth the thought.

Interestingly, a relic of tabletop (due to the bad nature of Streaks as a weapon that cannot fire without a 100% chance to hit), the Clan streaks have a longer range. Rather than balance this via changing the range (since Streaks in MWO are physics defying B.S. that have NOTHING in common with streaks in BattleTech), they have really long reload times compared to regular SRMs.

The Clan ER PPC does 15 damage instead of 10, however the split of that damage negates this quite a bit. The other drawbacks of ACs and ER PPCS for Clan technology is that it automatically removes the lower arm actuator regardless of what type -- restricting arm movement significantly!

In comparison, IS weapons are almost universally colder (except low ACs), but are more front-loaded and thus less spread-worthy. Less exposure required, encouraging cover-based tactics. Another thing is IS quirks are significantly stronger, allowing for huge emphasis on particular weapons that more than overcome Clan technological advantages. This also significantly reduces the actual amount of skill necessary to pilot an IS 'Mech.

On another plus side for Clan mechs... Clan XLs can withstand the loss of a side torso before destruction. This is because it only has 2 crit slots in the ST while an IS XL has 3. 3 slots destroyed = dead engine.

Kotzi, on 21 July 2015 - 02:08 AM, said:

Easy put. Clans more firepower, more heat, slow lights. No engineswap, no upgrades, armament/equipment depending on onmipods.

True of Omnimechs, not necessarily of Clans (Clans now have a series of Battlemechs being released; the II-C 'Mechs. IS will soon have Omnimechs being released which will also follow the stated rules of no engineswap, no upgrades and locked arms/equipment depending on pods).

Swagpanda89, on 21 July 2015 - 03:10 AM, said:

- MASC allows Clan mechs to have a faster movement for a short period of time. Atm it is on Executioners (assault mech) and on Shadow Cats.

Some IS mechs have / will have MASC in the very near future. There's already wind of a few IS variants for existing mechs that will soon make an appearance.

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Good luck Virarasa. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

[Neutron IX]

Had to comment here simply to say, whoa Koniving, that Steiner Blue is looking pretty good on ya mate!

Viva La Fed-Com!

[SolVali]

Thanks for the responses guys, a few more questions.

1. How is CW for a solo guy? From what i have read it's kinda painful. How long on average does it take to climb the ranks, if matches are a long waiting time? (or are they?)

2. Thinking of getting the clan pack for Mad cat, just for the 30% c-bill variant. Maybe the dire wolf later, good choice?

3. If i get an 'unlockable' 1500 MC colour (wolf/jade falcon, etc...) Can i put that on every mech i have? Are one shots just for that mech? If i change colour, will i have to buy it again? (But not with the 1500 MC one?)

Edited by Virarasa, 23 July 2015 - 05:27 PM.

[IraqiWalker]

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

Thanks for the responses guys, a few more questions.

1. How is CW for a solo guy? From what i have read it's kinda painful. How long on average does it take to climb the ranks, if matches are a long waiting time? (or are they?)

If you are a rambo. It's painful 100%. If you coordinate with the rest of the team, it's a good experience, hard, but not so painful.

If you go a step above and look up the TS server for the faction you're playing for, and get a group organized, it is downright fun, and enjoyable.

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

2. Thinking of getting the clan pack for Mad cat, just for the 30% c-bill variant. Maybe the dire wolf later, good choice?

Are you getting it A la Carte? If you are getting the timberwolf pack, you are getting every wave 1 mech up to the timberwolf.

Also, the Mad Cat (TBR) is a God-like mech. One of the most versatile, and solid performing mechs. As long as you run it with a decent build, and piloting.

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

3. If i get an 'unlockable' 1500 MC colour (wolf/jade falcon, etc...) Can i put that on every mech i have? Are one shots just for that mech? If i change colour, will i have to buy it again? (But not with the 1500 MC one?)

Colors are for every mech.

I think you're talking camo here. If you buy a camo pattern for a CHASSIS, it unlocks for that chassis (except if it's a one shot. One shots are only applied to the variant you have it on).

So here's a real life example:

I have the Hotrod pattern unlocked for my battlemasters (I didn't buy the one shot). Every single one of my battlemasters I own, or will own in the future, can use it at will.

On the other hand, my Commandos have no patterns unlocked. The 2D has the Phranken one shot unlocked. It's only on the 2D, and it goes away if I replace it with a different one, and will be lost.

So if you know what you want, and really like the camo for all variants of a chassis, you can buy the full price one. If you only want to camo one or two varaints. It's generally cheaper to do it with one shot camos.

I hope that answered your questions

Edited by IraqiWalker, 23 July 2015 - 08:51 PM.

[SolVali]

Great stuff, helped alot thanks, A few more if you're not too busy.


1. Do you need to have an IS mech in order to fight for IS sides? Clan for clan etc?

2. And have PPCs changed? I read something about their damage being split? Or are they still direct damage?

Edited by Virarasa, 23 July 2015 - 10:29 PM.

[IraqiWalker]

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 10:20 PM, said:

Great stuff, helped alot thanks, A few more if you're not too busy.

1. What's the drop limit for CW?

240 tons. Unless changed (when you go to drop on a planet, right above the line up of your 4 selected mechs, you will find the min and max limits listed.

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 10:20 PM, said:

2. Do you need to have an IS mech in order to fight for IS sides? Clan for clan etc?

Yes. You can't use IS mechs on the clan side, or vice versa.

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 10:20 PM, said:

3. And have PPCs changed? I read something about their damage being split? Or are they still direct damage?

PPCs never had their damage split. Clan ERPPCs had their damage split so that it's 10 PP FLD, and 2.5 on either adjacent sections of the one you hit (so if you land a shot at the CT of a mech, that's 10 damage to the CT, and 2.5 to each ST for a total of 15. If you hit an arm, it's 10 to the arm, and 2.5 to the ST next to it, and 2.5 damage just disappears into thin air.)

[Rogue Jedi]

IraqiWalker, on 23 July 2015 - 08:50 PM, said:

I think you're talking camo here. If you buy a camo pattern for a CHASSIS, it unlocks for that chassis (except if it's a one shot. One shots are only applied to the variant you have it on).

So here's a real life example:

I have the Hotrod pattern unlocked for my battlemasters (I didn't buy the one shot). Every single one of my battlemasters I own, or will own in the future, can use it at will.

On the other hand, my Commandos have no patterns unlocked. The 2D has the Phranken one shot unlocked. It's only on the 2D, and it goes away if I replace it with a different one, and will be lost.

So if you know what you want, and really like the camo for all variants of a chassis, you can buy the full price one. If you only want to camo one or two varaints. It's generally cheaper to do it with one shot camos.

something Iraqiwalker forgot to mention is that "special" variants including Hero Mechs, and the special Mechs from a preorder pack with the suffix (F), (P), (S), (I), ® and (L) but not including Champion (C) variants, have locked cammo, it cannot be changed, although there is talk of allowing it to be changed at some point in the future.

Basically if when you first receive the Mech it has the standard green colour scheme you can change the cammo, if it came with some other pattern then you cannot change it for now but can change the colours and may be able to change the pattern in the future.

[Leone]

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

1. How is CW for a solo guy? From what i have read it's kinda painful. How long on average does it take to climb the ranks, if matches are a long waiting time? (or are they?)

Ranks take awhile after you get the first six or so. You can pick up rank 2 on a work day if your evenings aren't too busy (and I work four tens, and lost most of those matches.) As for how it is, I'll be the first to admit, I learned alotta about this game via the school of hard knocks, going up against a solid CW unit regularly. Not everyone can enjoy that, but that's also not every match. I specifically chose to drop on those planets.

As for wait times, they can take some time, or they can be quick, dependent on your active time period. Also, the recent event seems to've killed CW for now.

Virarasa, on 23 July 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

2. Thinking of getting the clan pack for Mad cat, just for the 30% c-bill variant. Maybe the dire wolf later, good choice?

I think the Madcat is a solid mech choice. I'm not as happy with it as I am my blackhawks, but I still bring one inna CW half the time. I don't have a Daishi yet, but far as I can tell, they are the best firing platforms out there, even if I had to leave the mobile descriptor out. To be honest though, I think I'll like em. I constantly try down gearing my IS mechs to those speeds to fill out more weaponry anyways.

~Leone.

[Koniving]

Rip Snorgan, on 21 July 2015 - 01:02 PM, said:

Had to comment here simply to say, whoa Koniving, that Steiner Blue is looking pretty good on ya mate!

Viva La Fed-Com!

It's temporary; and it feels weird. Steiner just happens to have one of the largest collections of players, and Liao...Liao isn't getting many games in so it's really hard to get a group of 2 or 3 into CW for Liao to expand the territories. (Fighting against the Clans isn't fun as that almost requires me to play with other solo players / new players and the lack of coordination.)

(To be clear: Clanners are easy to kill in CW. For the most part I take out a leg and watch them suicide; do it 4 times to each player, automatic win. Problem is getting any OTHER random Pick-Up Gamer to do the same thing, or to push, or to wait for others before pushing, or to....yeah. It makes me a sad panda.)

[TigerTamer]

Problem is you can't play with friends. You queue up with one other player and every game is against premades of 5-10 players. You play alone or not at all.
It was way better back in the day I'm afraid.

[IraqiWalker]

TigerTamer, on 26 July 2015 - 07:30 PM, said:

Problem is you can't play with friends. You queue up with one other player and every game is against premades of 5-10 players. You play alone or not at all.
It was way better back in the day I'm afraid.

It used to be that 2 mans were allowed in the solo, and premade queues. Then whining from soloists got them pushed into the group queue only.

On the other hand, if they enemy has a 5-10 man. Odds are, you have on on your team as well.

With VOIP in the game, it's a helluva lot easier to queue up with even one friend, and have a decent match.

[TigerTamer]

IraqiWalker, on 28 July 2015 - 03:47 PM, said:

It used to be that 2 mans were allowed in the solo, and premade queues. Then whining from soloists got them pushed into the group queue only.

On the other hand, if they enemy has a 5-10 man. Odds are, you have on on your team as well.

With VOIP in the game, it's a helluva lot easier to queue up with even one friend, and have a decent match.

Yeah well it's harsh on new players. I don't remember winning a single game where I've queued up with a friend. I had 6 friends that I started playing with, not one of them still plays as new players just can't win unless they play alone.
This system can't be good for the game.

[JC Daxion]

Yup Pub stomps still exist.. though the tend to go along with beer and drunken disorderly conduct.. and eventually turn into the ever so popular "Pub Crawl"