Sprinting along in my Firestarter, hearing the sounds of trees toppling over and crushed under Ferro Fibrous armor-plated foot, it's easy to lull oneself into an easygoing sense of invulnerability. After all, when you're piloting a 35-ton war machine standing two stories tall and armed with enough lasers to make Dr. Evil himself shed tears of appreciation, the unassuming worlds of the Battletech universe seem to offer very little in the way of danger. Such feelings of invincibility in this world are an open invitation to swift death at the hands of your enemies, however. This is big-game hunting at its most extreme. All too quickly in Mechwarrior Online, the careless hunter becomes the fearful squirrel, falling prey to enemy Mechs weighing the equivalent of a Boeing 757 commercial jet. This is a MOBA fueled, in equal amounts, by strategy and twitch aiming skills, all topped off with a healthy dose of giant-robots-battling-it-out giddiness.
Piranha Games' Mechwarrior Online is not a new title (being released in late 2013 to lukewarm reviews), but as a player who dabbled with the game right after release only to pick it up once again over the past 3 months, it feels like a different title. At release, the title was knocked for its lack of a serviceable tutorial, an almost complete lack of social features, and no metagame (the title lacking even a leaderboard feature). The core combat was fun, and Mechs were all both classic (to those who had experience with the Battletech universe) and unique from one another. However, it didn't seem like a finished product.
Indeed, Mechwarrior Online would have enjoyed the more relaxed frame of the now-standard "Early Access" title phase instead of a 2013 official release. The core of the game was alluring: piloting giant robots with a team of folks in an attempt to destroy the enemy team's giant robots using all manner of ballistics, lasers, and missiles. However, it lacked the bells and whistles of games, such as League of Legends, that kept players engaged and coming back over and over. Moreover, the lack of any in-depth tutorial to explain the more advanced gameplay mechanics left some folks scratching their heads after their first few matches. Thankfully, Piranha has made serious headway towards correcting many of these issues.
The original tutorial is still present as it was at release, introducing players to the very basics of MWO. However, Piranha Games has added an optional "Mechwarrior Academy" to the game for those who wish to delve deeper before trying their hands at defeating human opponents. This expanded tutorial offers multiple Mechs (a few from each weight class) for the new player to hop into, providing them with a feel for how differently each class handles. From there, it’s an open-ended experience allowing pilots to switch Mechs at will and participate in the more in-depth explanations of game mechanics by running to corresponding waypoints on the Academy map. This tutorial explains, in much deeper context than the initial tutorial, things such as damage distribution, firing at moving targets, shielding, and armor rolling. It's all very optional which, in some ways, is a shame (things such as shielding and damage distribution are essential to success in MWO), but it is an extreme improvement over what Piranha offered new players at release.
An early iteration of Community Warfare, a long-planned but slowly developed feature that has been promised since release, is now available. To its detriment, the system is very bare bones. As it stands, players are able to sign contracts with (or pledge loyalty to) various factions from the Battletech universe and defend or claim planets in the names of those factions. Doing so provides players with Loyalty Points towards their chosen faction that come along with its own rewards in the form of faction-specific goodies, Mech bays, C-bills, etc. However, there is no goal beyond claiming planets for one’s faction, as its only real effect (currently) is to change the color on the star map to reflect which faction controls it. This limited CW release has also brought with it the ability to fight with player-created Units (MWO's equivalent of a clan or guild), improving upon the social tools it lacked at release. These function exactly as one would expect from other MOBAs that include such social tools, grouping players together with a Unit tag visible on the scoreboard during matches. Player Units can themselves make their mark on the star map by attaching their Unit banner to any planet they take working together. However, beyond bragging rights, there aren't a lot of benefits to claiming a planet for your Unit (yet).
It’s a shame Piranha hasn’t done more in the area of Community Warfare and player Units over the past few years, as they’re lucky enough to have a very fine community of players populating both the game and the official forums. The excellent built-in client VOIP (seriously, why doesn’t every MOBA have this??) is filled almost exclusively with helpful players willing to offer advice and share tactical information throughout the match. The forums are much the same; veterans offering to share their experiences with Mech builds, map and team tactics, or even Battletech lore no matter how old the topic or arrogant the complaint leveled by a new player.
Though not without a few, more abrasive personalities that are an inevitability in any community, it is impressively refreshing to see a community (especially one based around a competitive game) so warmly welcome and amicably respond to any and all issues a player might have with the game. There’s a distinct lack of blind “fanboy”-ism there that belies the passion held by the game’s core fanbase. They’re very much invested in their game without ignoring the fact that it can still benefit from changes and fresh ideas. Such a community, in this gamer’s experience, is rare.
However, Mech balance has undoubtedly improved since release. Piranha has taken a unique approach here, adding and/or altering Mech "quirks" to improve or diminish its specifications. For example, a certain Mech may receive a +10% Large Laser Range quirk, enabling it to increase its effective and optimal ranges when using Large Lasers. Additionally, some Mechs have received additional armor or weapon heat quirks to help it maintain an even playing field with newer Mechs. These quirks are listed in the information tooltip present when selecting Mechs in the game. This system not only allows Piranha to focus balance on the specific shortcomings of any given Mech, but also provides the player a clear picture as to what type of build works best with their Mech.
Weapons, including cannons, lasers, and missile launchers, provide a lot of tactical options when considering damage, range, cooldown, and heat generation. Multiply that by the very large amount of Mechs available (each with multiple "variants" geared towards certain weaponry/tactics) and Piranha has given folks a myriad of ways to play MWO. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a Mech he or she didn't genuinely enjoy piloting out on the field of battle. And while Mechs still suffer from the ebb and flow of the almighty Meta found in any MOBA, one can almost always find a niche to fill on a team with any build and Mech they wish to utilize (provided you aren't working completely against the Mech's quirks). Those who enjoy experimentation in builds will find a large playground in MWO's Mechlab (once they attain the C-bills to do so). In particular, it reminds me fondly of days spent customizing my mechs in the Armored Core series.
In addition to these balance improvements, Piranha has added new maps to the game. A few were created specifically for Community Warfare, while the most recent addition to the Quick Play queue is a larger map entitled Polar Highlands. Here, it’s easy to see Piranha has learned much from its time working with the game and has honed its map-crafting skills to heavily compliment the tactical features of MWO. The map is large and cover sparse, with trenches criss-crossing the snow-covered landscape being one of the few ways to move around undetected. The general consensus seems to be that the map harkens back to the glory days of Mechwarrior 4, and that's a good thing. Battles rarely play out the same way twice here (an issue plaguing a few of the older maps in the game), and tactical flanking and scouting become paramount to success. It shows Piranha gets what makes this a Battletech title and provides ample optimism for future map releases.
For all the disappointment surrounding the sluggish development of the Community Warfare metagame promised by Piranha, MWO stands as an excellently unique MOBA. Piranha has mastered the Quick Play queue, reducing the time spent waiting for a match to less than a minute on average. Additionally, matches rarely last longer than 10-12 minutes, meaning you won't be stuck stomping around in a losing match very long before you can get a fresh start with a new Mech and team. As fast-paced as its matching system is, matches themselves still maintain a very tactical, deliberate feel (specifically when piloting the larger, slower Mechs) that will satisfy those who find twitch shooters to be too brainless. Line of sight, target locking, focus firing, tanking; all of these things come into play in determining the victor of any given match. And despite all this tactical gameplay, you can still get in, play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the enemy team, and get out in 20 minutes or less. What's more, Piranha has recently released a sneak peek detailing the continued work on Community Warfare, planned map improvements (almost all of the original maps are slated for a pass at improvements), leaderboards, and more. I won't attempt to explain it all here, as Piranha does a great job of doing so in their sneak peek video:
All in all, it's an exciting time to jump into Piranha's Mechwarrior Online, whether for the first time or to revisit a title once written off to mediocrity. Piranha has shown it understands its game's boons and banes, is finally focusing its efforts on creating the Metagame it was missing at release, and expanding upon the tactical gameplay that is the hallmark of a good MOBA. Best of all, there's zero barriers to entry into this F2P title; jump into the first trial Mech that scratches your "Looks badass!" itch and give it a go!
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Vad Hitman, on 07 February 2016 - 11:58 PM, said:
дайте скрины что ли
