146 replies to this topic

[RussianWolf]

Revis Volek, on 29 June 2016 - 12:30 PM, said:

One was....Im well aware. I mastered all my Urbies before most even got in them. I am a huge Church of Urbie advocate and rode Bishops coattails on that one until we got her here!

I leveled all three with the stock engines. It was painful, I started leveling them in June, I think, well before they instituted PSR so I was initiated at T5 to begin with because of the bad score I was getting in them. After I finished leveling them (took longer than any other mechs I've done (and I've done lots)) and started playing mechs that moved faster than 50kph again, I flew up in tiers comparatively. I even tracked the amount of time it took me to go from .66-.75 T5, through T4 and into T3. The only time I ever went down in Tier was while leveling those stock urbies.

[Orbit Rain]

Kinda feel like I'm starting to move to the dark side with this iteration of mechwarrior.

[Cizjut]

It's the eternal love/hate relationship.

I love the gameplay and aesthethics, but really can't sell it to my friends because lacks key implementable features. The hate comes from the frustration of having zero development past little things since forever.

Yes, the new mech sizes and rebalance feels good, but in six months or more it's the most remarkable advancement we've had. Phase 3 is god damn awful still, and there's no redeeming it until it gets a major redesign from the maps to queues and objectives.

And a thing that irks me the most is the no inverse kinematics on the mechs. I know it maybe look meaningless but big stompy mechs is the forefront of the game, and they certainly look goofy most of the time when you see them walking. Nevermind the lack of new weapon systems to do tactical options.

And also, 4 starting mech bays is too low for new players. Early on they get their hopes down of grinding. And grinding in CW for them is ridiculous, since CW is the worst feature of the game right now. And it should be THE feature. The meat. The endgame.

[PhoenixFire55]

Minimally Viable Product^TM.

[Thirdrail]

I just got back. Haven't played since a couple months after launch, so I think I'm slightly less bored of everything than many of you are. That said...

I like Quick Match, for what it is. I wish they'd introduce more varied game modes, like where is Capture the Flag, the star of Mechwarrior 4? I also wish people would learn to build real mechs and manage heat, as opposed to just voting for ice maps all the time. But I do have fun in QM! It's not the kind of thing I can sit and do for 8 hours straight (like a real video game hahaha), but I play a couple matches, go do something else for an hour or two, play another couple matches, leave again for a couple hours, wash, rinse, repeat...

Faction warfare is just awful. Every match I've played of faction, whether it's scouting or invasion, has been so insanely one sided. It's like a random pug team vs. a pro team every single time. Invasion is at least a little fun, even when you lose, since you get to play with four mechs. The scouting missions are just so stupid and awful. They should have bigger maps, multiple objectives, and you should actually be trying to scout someplace. Collecting the weird little intel orbs is basically just Pacman, redesigned for mechs. *facepalm*

It feels like PGI spends all their resources making new mechs, because that's where they make their money, but I'm not sure what the point of even buying more mechs is, really. The Warhammer was always my favorite mech in Battletech, back in the mid-80s when all this started. But do I really need to buy it here in MWO? I can build a dual PPC mech on almost any chassis I have now, and there's not a tremendous difference in most of them. I bought the Archer pack, and honestly, none of the Archer variants (except the Hero one with ECM) are anywhere near as good at being an Archer, in any way, as the 4xLRM15+Artemis Awesome I built two and half years ago. So, I'd be much happier to hear that PGI was working on a bunch of new maps and modes than more mechs. We already have more than enough toys, what we're lacking is a good playground to use them in.

What this game really needs is community support and modders, like you see for games like Fallout and Euro Truck. People who will move this game 100 yards in a variety of directions, so there's actually some depth of game play to be found. PGI needs to figure out how to make that a reality if they want this game to still exist in another two and a half years.

[JC Daxion]

My only thoughts are.... I am so sick of the non-stop complaining about how awful the game is in some peoples eyes.. Why on earth would you play something for fun, that has half the resentment as many of these posts.


But i guess that is par for the course these days.. If i Hate it, everyone should, and i should do nothing but complain till its gone so nobody can enjoy it..




I for one want the game to keep growing, even if it is slow for a long time.. I enjoy it.. Even despite listening to people complain about the game even in match.. I guess some people are not happy unless they are miserable and letting the world just know how much but if you are one of these, Please find something you enjoy and play that.. I beg you! You will be far happier in the end.

[Bradigus]

It's a mixed bag of some good things and a lot of bad things.

The recent hardpoint inflation on inner sphere heavy mechs and the upcoming Cyclops would have been understandable if they had followed their previous philosophy of trade-offs and not saturating those weapon-heavy platforms with mobility, agility and survivability quirks on top of weapon quirks. This is still apparent on the most of the Battlemaster and Banshee chassis, so why diverge from that philosophy and ruin whatever strides previously made towards NOT invalidating older chassis?

The same hardpoint and quirk inflation on recent mechs has also led to what many have quite accurately referred to as 'power creep.' The memory of fragile but powerful ebon jaguars and hellbringers is still fresh in my mind when I started nearly a year ago. Their weapon hardpoint counts from omnipod switching was, and as far as I know, still is the reason why they have not received any sort of attention while their capacity to perform has withered due to blanket reductions to tech and is being eclipsed by newer releases. Now, on the other hand, we've got Warhammers, Black Knights and Marauders that essentially do that same thing with comparable hardpoint counts but are capable of soaking up more damage to boot. Same deal with how the Kodiak 3 made those King Crabs and Dire Wolves pretty much irrelevant.

Which leads to my next point of contention, the continuously tacked on modification after modification to the clan technology base, at points referring to some advantage that's supposed to offset a new and all previous reductions or modifications. Once it was the advantage in firepower, then at another point it was mobility, then the fact that those mechs did not die the instant their XL engine blew up. As it is right now, I get the feeling the developers themselves don't know what sort of gameplay style clan mechs are supposed to enable, all the while expanding the inner sphere options to slowly creep on and overlap the clans former perceived advantages. Are they supposed to be mobile and agile? Are they supposed to be fragile firepower platforms? What are clans supposed to do differently from the inner sphere mechs?

Are they EVER going to address fundamental problems with older chassis, like locked equipment or lack of hardpoint variable pods on clan mechs? In the modern era of most mechs toting 6 to 9 weapons, those with only 4-5 and tonnage/ hardpoint starved can't keep up. Playing stuff like the Summoner feels like you're on a slow slide to irrelevancy. At this point their only option seems to be to give those chassis more hardpoints, or continue to tack on ever more ludicrous amounts of quirks simply to keep the playerbase from noticing that previous releases seem to be getting phased out.

Larger maps are cool, as more options for maneuvering is great, but the lack of terrain to do so without taking withering or downright crippling fire before you're halfway there is just downright infuriating. Lack of game modes, and the complete lack of depth to them is another real problem. The game could honestly benefit immensely by taking notes from other games to spice up their game modes. The commentary for the new assault makes it sound highly interesting, but I'd like to see conquest receive similar treatment.

CW/ FW is just an utter mess. The long hyped big patch was just a lot of fluff and very little content. Scouting missions are skirmish lite. Sometimes quite literally.

[iLLcapitan]

This threat is gold already, we should call it the salty throne.

Bishop... lol this guy keeps on praising MWO to Russ on Twitter then comes here to mimic the all-wise anti-hero with special needs.

[Dakkss]

I have played on and off ever since day 1, and I've been playing MechWarrior games ever since I was 5 years old, starting with 2.

The game used to be a lot tougher (see: more fun) back in closed beta. Punishing heat cap, slower mechs, maps that took 1 minute to flank on instead of 5 so more brawling, knockdowns so that mechs were punished for hugging each other. The only really problem with it was the ease of knockdowns and the HSR.

Then time passed and people kept whining about certain mechs, leading to the heat cap getting raised, DHS getting toyed with, weapon range/damage changes all the time, quirks, and so on. This got further exacerbated when the Clans came in. Then Faction Play finally came in and that's where everyone remembered "Hey, I can just play sniper mechs all the time just like MW4 and outperform every other build!"

I always played MechWarrior for a simulator-ish experience. I don't get that with MWO. I fondly remember the days of MechWarrior 2, 3 and 4, utilizing almost every single key on the keyboard because it did something. MWO is missing dozens and dozens of features that MAKE MechWarrior games what they are, such as:
- Stackpoling
- Knockdowns & Falling over on bad terrain
- Weapon Recoil
- Weapon Impact Force
- Radar modes
- Mech Crouching
- Heat penalties to movement, HUD and/or accuracy
- Tough to grasp aiming mechanics (I loved MW3's free cursor + torso movement)
- A meaningful Lance quick-communication system (the new MWO one is useless, and doesn't even have any voice)
- Heaps of other stuff I've missed.
- Destructible environment
- LONG FIGHTS WITH LONG TTK

On the other side, MWO has also missed the opportunity to make some real changes to the MechWarrior mould as well. I'm talking about Convergence. The separate Torso-Arm reticles were a good idea, but not good enough on their own. Battletech has always painfully described how average most mech pilots were with their aim. It should follow that aiming in MechWarrior would also require quite a degree of skill. How?
- Have Torso weapons fire straight forward at all times.
- Have Arm weapons fire straight forward, unless you have locked onto a target
- Have the reticle bob up and down with the mech's movement (like you see in 3PV in MWO)

Of course, any mention of this and you get some dumb response about "B-BUT MODERN BATTLE TANKS CAN FIRE AN ACCURATE SHOT WHILE SOARING MID-AIR AT 100KPH." As far as I'm concerned, people that defend pinpoint convergence so much are likely dedicated laser sniper pilots themselves and don't care about how OP they are, and/or really don't care that the game they are playing carries the Battletech name on it. Battletech is not real life. Battletech states mechs are incredibly difficult to pilot/aim well. Go play something else if you don't give a crap about the franchise this game is set in. I am of the opinion PGI also doesn't actually care that this game revolves around Battletech based on their idea of what MWO should be.

I played MechWarrior for a fun, challenging mech combat simulator with a cool backstory and vehicle design. Not for an arcadey, easy, online-only unbalanced deathmatch.

I really only play this (only when events come around now) because it's the only current MechWarrior title around. Sometimes I still watch the trailer for MechWarrior 5 and shed a tear about what could have been, and what we got instead. The only thing that would remotely make me enjoy this game again are any of the listed changes above, and the introduction of some new weapons like RAC, MRMs, and the like.

At least NGNG showed me Animattronic. He did some great MW-inspired music and since then I have bought everything he's produced. I enjoy his music more than this game to be quite honest.

Edited by Dakkss, 30 June 2016 - 10:44 AM.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Dakkss, on 30 June 2016 - 10:40 AM, said:

As far as I'm concerned, people that defend pinpoint convergence so much are likely dedicated laser sniper pilots themselves and don't care about how OP they are

If you think long range laser boats are OP, then you are way behind the meta.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 June 2016 - 10:44 AM.

[Dakkss]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 June 2016 - 10:43 AM, said:

If you think long range laser boats are OP, then you are way behind the meta.

You are welcome to that opinion. I am more than positive I'm not the only person that thinks LPL and LL boats are choice loadouts right now, largely due to map design.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Dakkss, on 30 June 2016 - 10:53 AM, said:

You are welcome to that opinion. I am more than positive I'm not the only person that thinks LPL and LL boats are choice loadouts right now, largely due to map design.

You and all the others that think that would be wrong, because the best players aren't using LPL/LL boats exclusively. Dakka/Gauss/ERPPCs are just as strong if not stronger than LPL/LL boats given most maps.

You want a good example, take Tourmaline which used to be ERLL heaven, and now is all about the dakka.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 June 2016 - 10:58 AM.

[Dakkss]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 June 2016 - 10:57 AM, said:

You and all the others that think that would be wrong, because the best players aren't using LPL/LL boats exclusively. Dakka/Gauss/ERPPCs are just as strong if not stronger than LPL/LL boats given most maps.

You want a good example, take Tourmaline which used to be ERLL heaven, and now is all about the dakka.

Yes, ballistics and PPCs are becoming slightly more popular. Still, as you've admitted, all the top players are using long range sniper boat mechs, thanks to the maps favouring these mechs greatly.

However the only Dakka builds I see are the KDK-3s. I still see dozens more Awesomes, Black Knights, Warhammers, BlackJacks, Banshees, Battlemasters, Hellbringers, Madcats, Stormcrows, and Warhawks boating LPL/LL every single game.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 June 2016 - 10:57 AM, said:

You and all the others that think that would be wrong, because the best players aren't using LPL/LL boats exclusively. Dakka/Gauss/ERPPCs are just as strong if not stronger than LPL/LL boats given most maps.

You want a good example, take Tourmaline which used to be ERLL heaven, and now is all about the dakka.

While I personally love using LPL, the mechs I fear most in the battlefield are dual guass and/or dual ppc mechs (like the kdk-3, but even a heavy running just dual gauss is scary), followed by IS ac5 type mechs like the mauler (which are also scary).

[Selous]

I love it; great game for me to hop in, play a few matches, and leave. With a full time job, kids, etc., I don't have the time for other games. Perfect game for me.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

Dakkss, on 30 June 2016 - 11:14 AM, said:

Yes, ballistics and PPCs are becoming slightly more popular. Still, as you've admitted, all the top players are using long range sniper boat mechs, thanks to the maps favouring these mechs greatly.

However the only Dakka builds I see are the KDK-3s. I still see dozens more Awesomes, Black Knights, Warhammers, BlackJacks, Banshees, Battlemasters, Hellbringers, Madcats, Stormcrows, and Warhawks boating LPL/LL every single game.

I am fairly sure Quicksilver Kalasa knows a great deal about what the top players are using.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Dakkss, on 30 June 2016 - 11:14 AM, said:

Yes, ballistics and PPCs are becoming slightly more popular. Still, as you've admitted, all the top players are using long range sniper boat mechs, thanks to the maps favouring these mechs greatly.

However the only Dakka builds I see are the KDK-3s. I still see dozens more Awesomes, Black Knights, Warhammers, BlackJacks, Banshees, Battlemasters, Hellbringers, Madcats, Stormcrows, and Warhawks boating LPL/LL every single game.

Hold on, let me clear something up.

• First, they are used, but that doesn't mean they are OP, that just means they are viable, there is a big difference.
  
• Second, you have no idea what you are talking about because most maps do not favor ERLL boats.
  
• Third, the things you think are meta are funny, so I'll give you a quick rundown of the mechs you just listed.

Awesomes - Not meta, not in the least, so don't even bother listing it.
Black Knights - These have fallen out of favor with the option to run Warhammers now, BKs are also rarely used for long range, they are generally used at mid range to support a brawl push.
Warhammers - These are dakka, or PPCs and Gauss/dakka. Those two builds are stronger than the laser vomit Warhammers.
Blackjacks - Not really used that much these days, they are borderline meta, but they typically run mid range laser vomit because the HBK-IIC-A is better at long range still.
Banshees - Already started to fall out of favor because of the Battlemaster 2C being slightly better, the rescale and nerf to the Wubshee only made solidified that.
Hellbringers - Solid but outclassed, as it has been since the rebalance (December 2015).
Timber Wolf - 2 ERPPC/Gauss has been the meta build on this since the rebalance.
Stormcrow - No one uses lasers on this unless they want to run subpar mechs, really the only use the Stormcrow has these days is Streaks and cSPL boating.
Warhawks - These have never been meta and still aren't.

Just because you see mechs being used doesn't mean that is what is best, don't conflate the two, often what is meta takes a bit to trickle down into the lower tiers, granted skill floors also play into things (lasers do have a lower skill floor).

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 June 2016 - 11:32 AM.

[Duymon]

I think four years (legendary founder) is enough to qualify for bittervet status.

If there's anything PGI has been successful at it's been milking adult battletech fanboys for money for four years straight.

Just about every promise they made to us in Closed Beta and even at the so-called launch-party was pure nothingness.

Unit Dropships for 200 Mil? repair and rearm? Gaining Loyalty points in order to join elite units within the factions? Getting discounts and/or exclusive access to certain mech chassis since they're manufactured within your borders?

Also, when you have somebody who runs builds like This balancing the game you gotta wonder lol

I will keep watching MWO and playing once in a while but the hard-core days are long past.

[Dakkss]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 June 2016 - 11:26 AM, said:

Elitist rambling

I wasn't aware both of our experiences of MWO were exactly identical, thanks for clearing that up.

I play solo Quick Play at Tier 2 (not that Tiers really do much). As far as I know I'm not always running into the elite of the elite. What I'm seeing is what I've said here, and that is that most games consist of teams just crammed with nothing but long range and not much else.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Dakkss, on 30 June 2016 - 11:59 AM, said:

What I'm seeing is what I've said here

As I said which you clearly ignored, just because you see it more than other things, doesn't make it OP especially given how skill floors play into usage. What you see the most in QP will typically be suited towards the median/average range engagements because the extremes (short/brawl and extreme range) typically require coordination which you will rarely see in a solo queue game. To sum up, QP will never see the variety that coordinated environments will.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 June 2016 - 12:06 PM.