15
Tuesday, August 18th @ 10AM - 1PM PDT / 5PM - 8PM UTC
Patch Number: 1.4.3.0
Patch size: ~1.7 GB
Greetings MechWarriors,
After receiving an overwhelming majority of votes in our Calling All Founder's event poll, we're excited to release Forest Colony as the latest MechWarrior Online map to undergo a complete beautification and gameplay overhaul. Beyond the addition of dynamic time of day, breakable trees, and DropShip spawn points, the new Forest Colony has undergone drastic changes to both its layout and its appearance. At over four times the size of the original Forest Colony, even the most experienced pilots will need to adapt their typical strategies for what is very much a functionally new map.
As a replacement for the original Elo-based rating and matching system, the new Pilot Skill Rating system releasing in this patch will provide more accurate and diverse skill ratings to better reflect your individual level of performance match-to-match. Whereas your original Elo scores were determined solely by your win/loss rate in a given weight class, the new PSR system is primarily influenced by your Match Score. In other words, any player action in the game that triggers a C-Bill or XP reward now applies to this new scoring system.
The introduction of a five-tier ranking system based on PSR values will further help to improve the matchmaking process, ensuring that pilots are more likely to fight against opponents of equal or similar skill levels.
A comprehensive write-up on this new Pilot Skill Rating system can be found further into these patch notes.
Additional improvements have been made in this patch to the new Select 'Mech screen, including filter persistence and some improvements to the 'Mech Stats and portrait hover-over information windows. Further improvements to the Select 'Mech screen are on the way, so keep an eye out for more changes in future updates!
Rounding out the patch we have a fix for engine and item sorting inside the 'MechLab Warehouse, multiple crash fixes (including a fix for ALT+Tab crashes under DirectX 9), a change to the dynamic time of day selection weighting system, Faction Pattern support for the UrbanMech, an improvement to client boot-up times for certain machine configurations, and more.
Read on for all the details, and we'll see you on the battlefield!
- The MechWarrior Team
Change Log
New Map (Standard Queue)
Forest Colony (new)
Following in the steps of River City, Forest Colony is the latest map to undergo a complete gameplay and beautification overhaul.
As part of the beautification pass, the new Forest Colony features dynamic time of day, breakable objects, and DropShip spawn points.
Beyond the addition of those features, Forest Colony has otherwise undergone drastic changes to its layout and appearance. Some of the landmarks and familiar sights from the original Forest Colony still exist, but with a four-fold increase in map size there are many new landmarks to discover and wide swaths of entirely new terrain to navigate.
Featuring 5300 breakable trees, numerous snaking paths and river channels, and large, distinctive rock formations, the new Forest Colony is a massive and diverse addition to the battlefields of the Inner Sphere.
Dynamic Time of Day
Time of Day on the new Forest Colony is divided into four quadrants:
- Dawn - 20% chance of selection
- Day - 50% chance of selection
- Dusk - 20% chance of selection
- Night - 10% chance of selection
For public matches, each quadrant condenses its 6-hour duration into 15 minutes (the maximum match time for Standard Queue matches).
For private matches, the 6-hour quadrant duration will be condensed over whichever match duration is set in the Lobby.
When accessed through Testing Grounds the new Forest Colony will currently cycle through all of the above cycles.
Breakable Objects
The new Forest Colony features an array of breakable, mostly natural objects:
- Small Trees - can be knocked over by 'Mech and projectile collisions
- Medium Trees - branches can be broken off by 'Mech and projectile collisions
- Antennae - can be knocked over by 'Mech and projectile collisions
These objects will not block or slow down 'Mechs or weapons fire.
Single-spawn DropShip drop zones (3 drop zones per team)
Players will now drop onto the new Forest Colony from one of three DropShip drop zones for their side. The DropShips will leave the battlefield once they have unloaded their 'Mechs.
Pilot Skill Rating - The Elo Replacement
The purpose of the new Pilot Skill Rating (PSR) system is to make your pilot skill values based more on individual performance, rather than the binary win or loss outcome of a match. This new PSR system will effectively remove the current Elo system from the game and the matchmaker.
The best way to explain how the PSR system works and why it is being implemented is to first explain the shortcomings of the Elo system in relation to its use for MechWarrior Online.
Elo was originally developed for measuring the relative skill levels of competitive chess players, but over time its use has expanded to an array of other competitive games from football to collectable card games. A players’ Elo score is derived from their win/loss rate, and is compared against their opponents' Elo score to determine which of the two scores should rise and which should fall after the match has reached a conclusion.
Therein lies the critical failure point when using the Elo scoring system for MWO.
MWO is not a 1v1 game. It is, currently, a 12v12 team-based game. Beyond your own performance, the outcome of a match is fundamentally reliant on the performance of your teammates. Their level of skill or experience would have a significant impact on determining whether your Elo would rise or fall after a match had concluded.
One of the impacts of this was that organized and effective teams could potentially carry a player to an Elo score well beyond what may befit their actual skill level. In this way and others, the Elo system caused all sorts of issues with the matchmaker in both solo and group queues, and would never accurately reflect how a player may perform on a personal basis.
To correct this problem, we have implemented a new scoring system based primarily on your individual performance within a match.
Any player action in the game that triggers a C-Bill or XP reward (such as kills, assists, or damage done) now applies to this scoring system. Skill rating in MWO is no longer determined solely by your win/loss rate. The Match Score displayed at the End of Round screen is now the primary metric that will determine a player’s skill rating.
We use the action triggers in a weighted formula that employs multipliers to place greater emphasis on certain actions over others. We have also added more action triggers to the tracking system to take into account other types of gameplay aside from just kills and damage done. Actions such as flanking an enemy, using a UAV to spot targets, or using TAG/NARC/BAP to mark targets, are now all part of this formula. These and other actions are weighted in such a way that promotes effective team play.
Essentially, the weighting system and new action triggers allow for a player who may excel in a scouting or support role to be just as well-rated as a player who excels at securing kills and dealing heavy damage.
How does this new system work in terms or raising or lowering skill ratings?
First off, the win/loss condition plays a much smaller role compared to the current Elo system.
With the new PSR system:
- If a players' team wins, and the player did well during the match (achieving a high Match Score), the player will rise in skill rating.
- If a players' team wins, but the player did not perform well (achieving a low Match Score), the player will not move in terms of skill rating.
- If a players' team loses, but the player does exceptionally well (achieving a very high Match Score), the player will go up slightly in skill rating.
- If a players' team loses, but the player performed well (achieving a high Match Score), the player will not move in skill rating.
- If the players' team loses, and the player performed poorly (achieving a low Match Score), they will drop in skill rating.
PSR and Skill Tiers
With the new PSR system in place we are now able to put players into Skill Tiers.
There are 5 Skill Tiers in which a pilot can be ranked: Tier 1 being comprised of the best-rated players in the game, and Tier 5 being comprised of pilots who are in dire need of additional training. That being said, we now have much more control over who plays against whom, without the presence of the ‘release valves’ that were in place under the original system.
The original Elo system for MWO employed these release valves to allow the matchmaker to relax restrictions in an effort to start games faster. This could result in top-tier players being matched with newer or lower-skilled players. With the release of PSR, that system is now gone.
A Tier 1 player will never play against a Tier 4 or Tier 5 player.
New players are automatically seeded into the mid-to-high range of Tier 4.
All current players will be seeded into whichever Skill Tier best aligns with the historical data already present in their account. The historical data pool used for generating your Tier placement goes back until January 2015.
The weighted formula and action triggers will not be released publicly. However, we are currently debating the merits of making all players’ respective Skill Tier levels publicly accessible. Part of this potential public Skill Tier listing is the possibility for opting-in or opting-out of listing your Skill Tier publicly. Tina will likely be putting up a poll to gather feedback about which option the community feels would be the best choice for handling public Skill Tiers.
'Mech Fixes and Changes
Camo Patterns
- UrbanMech now has support for Faction Patterns
- The Rasalhague pattern for the Panther, Grasshopper, UrbanMech, Zeus and Enforcer has been adjusted to reflect the Rasalhague King Crab's appearance. Where the primary color was very glossy before, it will now appear matte
Gameplay Fixes and Changes
- A weight system has been added to the Dynamic Time of Day selection ratio (currently only implemented for River City and Forest Colony)
- 50% chance of getting Day
- 20% chance of getting Dusk
- 20% chance of getting Dawn
- 10% chance of getting Night
Select 'Mech Menu Fixes and Changes
- Selected filters will now persist when returning from a match, the Testing Grounds, and between client sessions
- The number of portraits displayed per row in resolutions above 1280x720 have been reduced by 1 to allow for better views of the selected 'Mech model
- 'Mech Stats window now displays your equipped Cockpit Items and Engine
- XL Engines will display as "XL ###" / Standard Engines will display as "###"
- A STD indicator will be added to Standard Engines in the next patch
- The number of equipped Heat Sinks will be added in the next patch
- 'Mech portrait hover-over window now displays your equipped Modules, Cockpit Items, and Engine
- XL Engines will display as "XL ###" / Standard Engines will display as "###"
- A STD indicator will be added to Standard Engines in the next patch
- The number of equipped Heat Sinks will be added in the next patch
- Known Issue: the hover-over window will not appear if you have Disabled Tool Tips in your Settings > Game menu
- New Select 'Mech screen is now available in the Private Lobby interface
Other Fixes and Changes
- Fixed the sorting issues inside the MechLab Warehouse
- Ammo, Equipment, Engines, and Modules will now be sorted correctly and in ascending order
- Possible fix for an issue where the Community Warfare map was not rendering correctly
- Fixed several crashes players may have experienced in the front end
- Fixed several crashes players may have experienced during a match
- Fixed an issue where ALT + Tabbing or recreating the render device could crash the game in DirectX9
- Fixed an issue where certain machine configurations were experiencing longer client boot-up times
- Fixed an issue where Private Lobby creators may have been unable to launch the match if they had switched themselves from being a spectator to a player
- Fixed an issue where the ping value bars were missing from the Group Launch button
- Fixed an issue where certain characters in the save path resulted in the inability to save screenshots or 'Mech portraits
'Mechs Available for Purchase In-Game
Ebon Jaguar
- EBJ-Prime - 4930 MC
- EBJ-A - 5260 MC
- EBJ-B - 5330 MC
- EBJ-C - 4970 MC
- C-Bill availability release date: September 15th
- ENF-4P
- 1,635 MC
- 4,080,698 C-Bills
- GHR-5P
- 2,620 MC
- 6,542,003 C-Bills
- PNT-10P
- 1,710 MC
- 4,264,458 C-Bills
- ZEU-5S
- 2,985 MC
- 7,461,534 C-Bills
Known Issues in this patch
- Players using the original Team Speak 3 Overlay will experience crashes when attempting to use the overlay. Unfortunately, the original TS Overlay plugin is no longer supported by TeamSpeak. Players are advised to un-install the plugin and switch to the Overwolf overlay that is bundled with every TS install.
- The 'Mech portrait hover-over window will not appear if you have Disabled Tool Tips in your Settings > Game menu
- Standard Engines do not display the 'STD' indicator inside the 'Mech Stats and the hover-over window 'quick-info' sections
- 'Mech portraits may appear blurry if the client was running below 1080p resolution when the portrait was saved
- Forest Colony: Shadows may flicker at a distance
- Forest Colony: Static DropShips are visible in all game modes in this map
