88 replies to this topic

[Horse Pryde]

Played quite a bit this weekend and had a lot of fun. Played against Bacon2fouractual in a game so that was fun. I got the 4X zoom module and put it on my DireWolf along with the PPC (might be my favorite weapon) and have noticed my damage totals climbing.

I think I go as the team goes and maybe that has a lot to do with me or maybe not. I tend to get a lot of kills and do a lot of damage in games my team wins and then the next game we get over run and i do 100 damage and am dead in the first 3 minutes. Its wildly inconsistent.

As many have said I have started talking a lot more during QP games. Trying to be vocal and call out targets. Its tough because my relative newness does not stand out to a leadership role.

I am 107 matches in. I have 28 kills and 87 deaths. not great but I will take it.

[Digital_Angel]

Good to hear you are still having fun and improving. Be careful with that advanced zoom; it is easy to get tunnel vision using it and lose track of things to your sides.

[Horse Pryde]

LadyDanams, on 13 June 2016 - 07:54 AM, said:

Good to hear you are still having fun and improving. Be careful with that advanced zoom; it is easy to get tunnel vision using it and lose track of things to your sides.

I can see that being an issue. I hope to be able to turn it on, fire and turn it off. If not I will go back to the normal zoom. I just like to land good shoots from 700-800 yards on target a little better. I know I'm hitting but it would be better if I knew what I was hitting and I think this will help.

[Digital_Angel]

Horse Pryde, on 13 June 2016 - 08:05 AM, said:

I can see that being an issue. I hope to be able to turn it on, fire and turn it off. If not I will go back to the normal zoom. I just like to land good shoots from 700-800 yards on target a little better. I know I'm hitting but it would be better if I knew what I was hitting and I think this will help.

Yes, you can turn it on and off. With advanced zoom, you get an area in the center of your screen at 4x (or more when combined with targeting computers or command console) and the area around it at your 2x magnification.

I use advanced zoom on several of my mechs, and it can be very useful for ERLLs, ERPPC, AC2s, Gauss, even AC5s at times. It was just a word of warning to not lose awareness of what else is around you. heck even saw someone make that mistake on one of the Twitch streams of the world championship this weekend and got the side of his mech half blown off because of it.

[Horse Pryde]

Ok, I was given $120 as a gift card for this game as an early fathers day present. I already have the Kodiak set. What should I get? Id like to get at least 2 other versions of the DireWolf to get it to Master so I'm looking at the Daishi pack in clan 1, that gets me 3 variants of 4 different mech's. . I'd also consider the Atlas mastery pack and the Griffin Master pack. Just wondering what you guys recommend.

[Wedge Red Leader]

Where to start... the longer you can stay in a match the faster you will gain experience. And that will bring you more C-bills for mechs and modules. Being honest you have fallen into the trap almost every new person does, piloting assault mechs and using advanced zoom Yes, both have their place but not for a new person IMHO. I would focus on building mechs for engagements at about 400-600 meters, and forget you even have the advanced zoom module for about 3 months. Seriously. I didn't read all the posts, that said, you need a radar depravation module ASAP. That module alone will keep you alive twice as long. Next step, pilot a heavy or medium mech. Learning to be mobile and reading the battle are key to being a good pilot, and you really can't do either of those well in an assault mech
That leads me to your question, what mech next. Well, for a mastery pack, the Blackjacks. They are nice mechs and you will learn how to shoot and scoot. If you like them, get the 1X variant to complete the set. Another mech on the IS side is the Warhammer, I'd just buy the $20 pack. For clan mechs, hands down choice is the Wave 3 cauldron borne pack. All the mechs in that pack are good mechs, and will allow you to learn the game without endless grinding.

And for learning how to shoot, take your KDK-3 and put on dual gauss rifles and dual erppcs. Learning to shoot a gauss rifle is a nice skill to have.
I almost forgot, cut your loses on the Direwolf. If you get bored months from now, maybe buy two more for C-bills. For the moment, Kodiaks are the top clan assaults.

Edited by Wedge Red Leader, 13 June 2016 - 09:51 PM.

[Takashi Uchida]

Since you already have the Kodiaks, I might hold off on the Atlas for now. The Atlases have very few strengths over the Kodiaks. Mainly that the DDC has ECM, and the S can can do 4xSRM6+Artemis, with a single shot AC20 (less face time). You can set the Kodiaks up for sniping, brawling, rapid fire support, etc, so you have a good assault to learn many different skills on, which is great. I personally like the "feel" of the inner sphere Atlas weapons over the Kodiaks, but your mileage may vary.

The Griffins are decent medium mechs. They are missile oriented mechs, and are usually played as fast SRM strikers or light LRM support. All lack ballistic hardpoints, so missiles and energy only (the hero is all energy). The missile mounts are nice and high but the energy mounts are low and arm-mounted. I think they are okay.

The Daishi pack indeed will get a you a lot of mechs, with the benefit of 4 mechs with a cbill earning bonus. But, a lot of people find 2 of those chassis, the Summoner and the Kit Fox, to be mediocre or merely "okay." The Nova is a very interesting mech. It takes time to get accustomed to the hardpoint location and ghost heat management, but if played well it is a devastating ambusher. It is also quite oversized, and will benefit quite a bit from the size rescale. You get 60 days of premium time, which is super helpful for grinding XP and earning cbills for more equipment.

If you like the Dire Wolf enough and want one with a cbill bonus, consider the assault mech pack you can get through steam. It comes with the Dire Wolf-W with cbill bonus (of course, you can always use your preferred omnipods to suit your playstyle), and also one of the inner sphere King Crabs with a cbill bonus. In addition, you get some camo patterns/colors, 30 days premium time, 4000 MC and 6.5 million cbills. The pack is 60 bucks USD. Unfortunately, you only get one Dire Wolf and one King Crab.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Mastery Bundles are such a great deal! Of course, if you wanted to go back and buy the Wave I pack at the DireWhale level, that gets you a full FW drop deck and 60 days of Premium Time. 12 mechs, 4 with 30% CBill bonuses, all Clan omnimechs? Not bad, homie. Not bad at all. $120 is a little steep, but you do you.

PERSONALLY, since you're already working on the DWF otherwise, I might recommend finding (via trial mechs) a few other mechs that you like, and considering the Mastery Bundles for them. Griffin, as pointed out above, is a solid mech. Potentially the BEST medium brawler in the game.

Another possibility? Each of the 'Alpha Lance' heavies is available through the store still, and the basic packs should be $20 each. If $120 is in the budget, then you can have 12 heavy mechs, CLASSICs at that, for $80. Lots of good options in there. MAD-3R, WHM-6R, RFL-5D. And so on. Find one you like and buy the hero--Bounty Hunter 2 and Black Widow are both strong, and BW is among the top heavies in the game at the moment.

One other thing, though. The rescale is coming. I'd HIGHLY recommend holding off on any $$$ purchases until that goes live and we see what happens to size, hitboxes, and quirks, for any/all affected mechs. It COULD potentially REALLY change the game.

[Gibson Ibanez]

I am glad to see you improving so well and enjoying it.

If you want to group up, send me a message next time we are on together. I am also glad to hear you are using voip in game. It makes a HUGE difference. Remember also to target whatever it is you are firing at even if you get in a bad position and are surrounded . . . always target. It has helped pull my bacon out of the fire. If you have lrm support they will help you and make them happy lol.

A trick that I have used: When facing two or more mechs that are staying close to each other, target one and start firing at an untargeted one yourself. Target lock breaks because of auto target, target him again. I have walked away from that situation because teammates and lrms have shredded the other mech. Sometimes I get smoked but then both are hurt for teammates to finish instead of just the one.

Edited by Jack McKnight, 14 June 2016 - 03:14 AM.

[Koniving]

If you have not used it to get MC, I recommend not doing so from a personal standpoint. At least not all of it. Maybe 50. Save the rest to use for the "pre-orders,", either ones already released or forthcoming like the Huntsman. It looks fun. Are there past Clan mechs or IS mechs that you have an interest in? Worth a peek. Mastery bundles can be a good deal but I personally avoided them in the past because 30% off a hero trumped 50% off a bundle of more stuff than I want. Of course hero sales are much less common than back then due to the steady roll of pre order mech packs coming out now.

Whatever you do don't buy premium time. Great, it helps. But the prorder (an early bird especially) and mastery bundles come with it. In 2014 I accidentally activated 480 days of premium time. I'm currently sitting on another 500 which I've used 2 months of by activating 30 at a time. I have never once bought premium time since starting in 2012.

Whatever you do, use cbills to get the other two dire wolves. Assault mechs for mc are much too expensive to consider. Especially when now 3 Kodiaks can be bought for 20 bucks when a single 100 ton assault mech comes out to about 30 dollars. I only use MC during rare sales and to get mechbays...and paint. I love me paint and patterns.

(Have you considered the IiC mechs? Clan versions of older Inner Sphere mechs. Good variety there and each 20 offers a special variant with chill bonuses.)
Edit: this Android likes to use the word preferred over the word preorder.

Edited by Koniving, 14 June 2016 - 05:32 AM.

[Rhavin]

If you just have to have the Direwolf then al a carte it for 55 bucks. Or buy the steam bundle which gets you another direwolf and a king crab and then cbill your final Direwolf. The Direwolf is really outclassed by the kodiak, but play what you want to play. I just think that spending 120 and getting summoner, kit foxes and novas when you seem to really prefer assaults is a waste of money. Take whatever money you have leftover and save it for preorders or an MC package to buy more mechbays and one shot camos. Spending mc on a non hero mech is a waste even if it's on sale.

[Horse Pryde]

Wedge Red Leader, on 13 June 2016 - 09:26 PM, said:

I almost forgot, cut your loses on the Direwolf. If you get bored months from now, maybe buy two more for C-bills. For the moment, Kodiaks are the top clan assaults.

I will never leave the Direwolf but I think I will hold off and get them with C-Bills later all though the Fruit strip Prime is very cool looking. I will make that call later on.

Sister RAbbi, on 13 June 2016 - 10:30 PM, said:

One other thing, though. The rescale is coming. I'd HIGHLY recommend holding off on any $$$ purchases until that goes live and we see what happens to size, hitboxes, and quirks, for any/all affected mechs. It COULD potentially REALLY change the game.

That is my plan, but I wanted to ask the question now and get feedback.

Rhavin, on 14 June 2016 - 05:03 AM, said:

I just think that spending 120 and getting summoner, kit foxes and novas when you seem to really prefer assaults is a waste of money. Take whatever money you have leftover and save it for preorders or an MC package to buy more mechbays and one shot camos. Spending mc on a non hero mech is a waste even if it's on sale.

I like the Summoner for nostalgia reasons but as Ive looked at the tier lists its a terrible mech so I will avoid it.

As of now I am looking at the DireWolf ala carte option and getting one of each other class of Mech's mastery bundle. So that I have a set in each size to work with. No matter what I will be waiting till after this next patch to iron out what I want. Hasnt stopped me from looking in the store repeatedly.

[Horse Pryde]

Jack McKnight, on 14 June 2016 - 02:57 AM, said:

I am glad to see you improving so well and enjoying it.

If you want to group up, send me a message next time we are on together. I am also glad to hear you are using voip in game. It makes a HUGE difference.

I will have to make sure to look for you next time I am on. I would gladly team up and pick your brain along the way. I think as of now my biggest problem is patients a lot of the time. If I take my time and move and don't chase I do much better.

[SteelBruiser]

Horse Pryde, on 09 June 2016 - 06:05 AM, said:

Not afraid to admit i jumped the gun and got the DireWolf and have not done exceptionally well with it. I dont think my kill ratio has changed much (It cant get much worse) but I have noticed I'm far to easy of a target, i need to work on my hiding and twisting. I do like that it has some good long range weapons and is great in short range with the machine guns and Lasers. I just think for now I will use the Kodiak more and keep playing the lighter trial mechs. I will always go back to the DireWolf for a fun quick game though but in order to develop like id like to I probably should avoid it for now.

I wouldn't avoid it. You should run them in few matches after running your main mechs. You'll get better with and you'll be able to apply some of your new knowlwdge.

[SteelBruiser]

Horse Pryde, on 13 June 2016 - 08:05 AM, said:

I can see that being an issue. I hope to be able to turn it on, fire and turn it off. If not I will go back to the normal zoom. I just like to land good shoots from 700-800 yards on target a little better. I know I'm hitting but it would be better if I knew what I was hitting and I think this will help.

The advanced zoom is great but, as mentioned, it promotes serious tunnel vision. The worst issue is you can't see friendlies racing across your lane of fire until you're already burning them. When using the Adv Zoom I monitor my mini map closely to keep an eye on my team mates. If they even look close, I un-zoom, verify their status and return once they're clear. I'd rather wait for another chance at the target than take the chance at shorting my team a mech. Another ocasional issue while in Adv Zoom has to do with the doritos. Sometimes friendly and enemy doritos line up too closely and you can't tell which is closest. I no longer fire in these instances, I will move left or right until I get the doritos separated and I can be better assured of hitting just the red.

It's a great tool as long as you're aware of it's quirks.

Edited by SteelBruiser, 14 June 2016 - 10:39 AM.

[Rhavin]

From your name I can see why the summoner would be nostalgic for you, hopefully they will release some clan hero mechs in upcoming months and a Horse or Aidan Pryde summoner will be among them AND have some different hardpoint options on its pods than we have now. The summoners main issue is its lack of hardpoint variety. Currently the meta is about boating and other than missiles it just can't boat anything very well. It is also fast but one of its biggest advantages in lore was it's jumpjets and the distance they could carry it. MWO has nerfed jump jets pretty hard and the summoner has paid for it in popularity amongst players.

[Gibson Ibanez]

It would NOT take long to pick my brain about MWO. But I would be happy to drop with you. Everything I know I learned from these forums, Koniving's and others vids, and lessons at the school of hard knocks on the battlefield. We would be on even ground, you and me.

I love assault mechs (but my best match was 5 kills 920 damage in my BJ-1X) and you have inspired me to drop $35 and get my first clan mech, the Kodiak. I just bought a Rifleman 5D with cbills to build an IS cw deck. Why not work toward a clan deck?

[Horse Pryde]

Jack McKnight, on 14 June 2016 - 10:45 AM, said:

I love assault mechs (but my best match was 5 kills 920 damage in my BJ-1X) and you have inspired me to drop $35 and get my first clan mech, the Kodiak. I just bought a Rifleman 5D with cbills to build an IS cw deck. Why not work toward a clan deck?

I also love the big stompies. That's why I have been considering an Atlas mastery set. It might limit me in the game but I will become a great assault pilot and that counts for something.
as far as a drop deck I don't know. Part of it is that I cant stand the Clan light/Medium mechs. I think the clans are built to dominate with size and power. Most of the clan mechs are fugly to me.

Rhavin, on 14 June 2016 - 10:41 AM, said:

From your name I can see why the summoner would be nostalgic for you, hopefully they will release some clan hero mechs in upcoming months and a Horse or Aidan Pryde summoner will be among them AND have some different hard point options on its pods than we have now.

Haha Extra credit for you as in all my time on here nobody else has said they picked up the connection. I am sure others have but at least you pointed it out. That series of books is what drew me in to the Battletech universe nearly 20 years ago.

[Gibson Ibanez]

A buddy of mine gave me let me have a bunch of the novel epubs he had. I am still working on "Heir to the Dragon." I have not even made it to the clan invasion. Which series is your name taken from?

When I used the trials right of the academy, I did enjoy running the Shadow Cat. Have you given it a try?

Edited by Jack McKnight, 14 June 2016 - 12:06 PM.

[Horse Pryde]

The Jade Falcon trilogy. Well its actually a series of 6 books as the author added to it later on. Its the story of Aiden Pryde.