7 replies to this topic

[Syanis]

Couple of questions about Mastery Packs

1. Are there clan mastery packs out there as all I see is IS ones so far and was hoping something to boost my faction drops as well (going to Clan side but atm a deserter waiting to switch as picked and played 2 games but realized how it works and I like Clan mechs better).

2. Suggestions on what Mastery Packs (preferably clan assuming there are and I missed seeing them) are more worth it? Not looking for anything light or assault and I tend to like half decent speed or better along with I always seem to end up on the frontlines. Would be nice having a Hero as well to rack up cbills a bit quicker.

Thanks

[Zoeff]

Clan Mastery packs are coming, they've been delayed because there were zero clan champion mechs for a long time while mastery packs always uses a champion mech for one of the 3 you get.


Which mastery pack is best? Hrm, that's a tough one. Honestly it's more personal preference, but I can tell you which ones to avoid just because the mechs are sub-par and I would never recommend: Locust, Awesome, Commando, Dragon, Kintaro, Orion, Quickdraw, Shadowhawk, Trebuchet, Victor, Vindicator, Wolverine.

Considering you prefer clan, it might be best to buy them separately and avoid the bundles all together.

[Horse Pryde]

Zoeff, on 07 July 2016 - 02:51 AM, said:

I would never recommend: Locust, Awesome, Commando, Dragon, Kintaro, Orion, Quickdraw, Shadowhawk, Trebuchet, Victor, Vindicator, Wolverine.

Haha, so like 75% of them. Sorry but that made me laugh.

[Digital_Angel]

And yet other people would recommend some of those same mechs.

A Locust in the right hands can be deadly, but it is a very specialist weapon in many ways. Also seen a decent number of Shadowhawks around since the Scouting mode was introduced, especially since they shrunk a little in the resize.

Many of the other mechs on that list also got better with the recent change in how the mechs were sized by tonnage as well, as several of them became slightly smaller targets that were oversized compared to other mechs of similar weight before.

[Koniving]

What I find funny is that the list of mechs to avoid due to being subpar includes two mechs that have held meta positions for nearly two years each.

One being the Shadowhawk, which is like a torso-twist limited jumping 55 ton version of the Hunchback which got the nerf bat about 3 to 4 times. I personally hated the Shadowhawk because some arrogant players would preach that it was the only mech worth owning for years and how if you owned anything else you weren't "competitive", and it came with maybe 4 builds that were being passed around like holy scriptures and if you weren't using them with those specific builds, you weren't a good player. Made me sick because once you figured out the Shadowhawk's flaws those four builds were worthless, yet time and time again they'd top the tournaments with their cheese.

The other being the Victor, which is basically an 80 ton Centurion with jumpjets and great brawling capabilities). So awesome was the Victor that it had to be beaten down with the nerf bat more than 5 times in various different ways, was left that way for a year, and then unnerfed about half a year after quirks were a thing, then finally got a couple of minor buffs. Heck even nerfed it was great (as long as torso twisting wasn't your thing), but now it just works damn good.

Wolverines, while ever having been meta, have always been under estimated due to having a high concentration of right-side weapons and lack of left-side weapons (interestingly many are comparable to or better than Griffins yet Griffins failed to make this list). Before the rescale, Shadowhawks (which were meta dominant for two years) were the tallest 55 tonner and Wolverines were the smallest, even now Wolverines still are smaller though not as drastically.

Kintaro's on this list because no love for the Kintaro -- it got a bad rap on the week of its release due to being a walking CT and even with the fix most people wouldn't even look twice at it, despite how before quirks it was the tankiest of all 55 tonners so long as you had some CT missiles equipped (+10% damage reduction for one missile door, +20% damage reduction if you had 2 missile doors filled). Looking at the quirks they're freaking sweet. Downfall is the hero has the lowest engine cap but honestly since the Kintaro is a laser/missile boat, you really should be pumping those tons into launchers and guns. Just keep the big launchers in the torso and small ones on the arms. (Much better than Griffin or Shadowhawk).

The Orion does not deserve to be on the list. The hero is literally a 75 ton Atlas D minus 1 energy hardpoint. All of the Orions are effectively faster 75 ton Atlases and are reasonably though not perfectly tanky often carrying the same exact guns with admittedly less ammo.

Dragons just require knowing how to take advantage of their greatest trait -- the use of arm-aiming. But admittedly the selection doesn't do them justice since there's two Dragon heroes (Double Dragon!) and the champion build is an awful use of the mech's mind boggling quirks.

Edited by Koniving, 07 July 2016 - 07:03 AM.

[Syanis]

Thanks all, some good things to read.

[Karmen Baric]

As for Clan Mastery packs they are not at available this time, though you can get something similar.

Get a Standard pack & Hero for $35. Thats essentially a Clan Mastery pack. Good value for Clan heavy / assaults compared to mastery bundle pricing, considering Clan mechs would be more costly than IS mechs of their size.

https://mwomercs.com/night-gyr
https://mwomercs.com/huntsman
https://mwomercs.com/linebacker
https://mwomercs.com/viper
https://mwomercs.com/kodiak

[Boulangerie]

Some more info on the Mastery Packs.

• They are a pretty good value, everything is basically 50% off the MC price.
  
• Some contain cockpit items, which you might not normally buy. This slightly impacts the MC "value" although isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me.
  
• They come with premium time, which is a great boost to Cbills and XP as well. By the time you're done leveling the mechs you got in the pack, you'll probably have enough to start another mech.
  
• They come with mechbays for the mechs included.
  
• The champion (C) mech included is a kitted out variant of a cbill purchaseable mech. They share the same skill tree as well, but receive a boost to XP received (variant specific as well as General XP). This will probably be the fastest one leveled, but isn't always the strongest variant. Advantage here being that you don't have to spring for upgrades and equipment for this mech as well.

In general, if you really like the clan mechs more, you could wait for them to come up with some clan mastery packs, or pick a pack to use in quick play to get cbills to buy your clan mechs with (my personal suggestion).

In terms of which to recommend, I suggest (in this order):

• Stalker. Great all around assault. Run with a STD engine, not XL. Rolls damage really well, and the Misery is the only Stalker with a Ballistic hardpoint.
  
• Catapult. Recently shrunk to hobbit size. The Jester is an energy boat and has high mounts for great peeking.
  
• Blackjack. King of the IS mediums. Good speed, high hardpoints, some have JJs. Arrow seems fun as well. Doesn't include the 1X, considered one of the best variants.
  
• Atlas. Best brawling assault around. Lots of quirks at the moment, although they are always subject to change. Never buy solely on quirks! Also doesn't include the S variant, which is probably the best one (although D-DC is close). This one is also pricey.
  
• Griffin. Great Medium as well, although this doesn't include one of the best variants (3M).
  
• Jenner. The oxide was the best IS light for quite a while. I think it's still very great, despite the resize. You could go with the Locust here if you want to experience the tiny beast. Either way, you probably won't be making a ton of cbills with these mechs though as they are lights
  
• Centurion. My favorite mech. Great to learn "sword and board" style on. The Yen Lo Wang has been outclassed a bit by the AH variant, but the AH doesn't have any energy points, so your mileage may vary. Was my first Hero and I still love it. Both can mount an AC20 in the arm due to a special removal of one of the normal hard locked arm gyros. Doesn't include the AL version which is great with 3x LL or LPL. Also has the D variant, which is ridiculously fun to run with an LBX10 or AC10 due to the very high generic ballistic cooldown.

Good luck, and feel free to ask for advice on any builds before/after you decide!