13 replies to this topic

[Justin Kell]

I know this topic has been done before (I've read several of the posts). But I can't find it more recently than about 6 months ago and I know things have changed since then.

I'm a fairly new mech pilot (less than two months in) and I'm looking at buying two mastery bundles. I'd love your input as to which ones I should be considering.

I've really enjoyed playing the Trebuchet (my first mech) and the Arctic Cheetah. I've also played the stalker a little bit and reallty like that one as well.

I'm not very good at brawling (tend to die quickly ) but the stalker trial mech has given me my best scores to date..I'm not sure what other mechs might give me a better chance doing well and improving my game.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[InspectorG]

Here you go:

metamechs

[Metus regem]

The first choice I would go with, is the Hunchback mastery set, it gets you some good solid mechs, I also whole heatedly recommend the Centurion Mastery set... And if you want to have a ball, get the Locust set, the Pirate's Bane is rather fun to pilot.

[jss78]

One thing I'd bear in mind is that the whole Mastery Bundle concept is becoming a bit antiquated with the skill tree revamp in ... is it January or February?

That will remove the requirement to level up three different variants, and that requirement is kind of implicit in the three-mech Mastery Bundles.

So you'll be paying real $ for three Hunchbacks while soon you'll now only need one to get a fully mastered Hunchie. All the stuff in mastery bundles come at great discounts, so they're not a bad deal, but personally I think I'll be more often getting only that one variant I'm most interested in.

[Roughneck45]

Not sure on the lights really. I'm partial to the ember and jenner but mainly for their extra tonnage and firepower possibilities.

For mediums, I'd say the Griffin is the best, followed by the hunchback and blackjack. The treb isn't terrible, and the Loup can be a pretty deadly SRM4 brawler but there is little diversity among the variants. Griffins are similar but the Sparky is generally considered the strongest medium hero, its a great laser boat. Hunchbacks are classic and the variants give you options. Blackjacks are agile and have nice hardpoints.

For heavies, the Jager, Cataphract, and Catapult are all solid. The rest are pretty meh. Jagers are fragile but have high mounts so are great for sniping. Cataphracts can bring some solid firepower but they have boxy geometry and low mounted hardpoints. Catapults are a classic with variants that will let you bring diverse builds. Thunderbolts are good but their hero is underwhelming, Orions are great for mini atlas builds but that's about it, Quickdraws usually feel under-gunned, and as much as I love dragons they are not strong and not a good place to start for new players.

For assaults, Stalkers are good and the Misery is a great hero mech. Highlanders are okay and the heavy metal is too, I have a soft spot for highlanders so I enjoy them. Victors are in a sorry state right now, you can make them work, but it's rarely worth the effort. The Atlas is always solid but the Boars head is...different. It plays the least like an atlas out of the variants. Banshees can bring a ton of firepower but they feel like a walking box. The Awesome is not awesome, at all. Battlemasters are great but the hero mech is pretty bad.

[Koniving]

Edit: Each link leads to a video of the 'Mech in question in use.

I wish I could recommend the Dragon; the 'Mech most featured of your House Kurita. However this requires (to get the most out of it) a strong use of your Arm Reticle (Armlock off, use of Left CTRL to lock the torso and aim with just the arms).
(Dragon trial [Champion] in play. Custom Dragon 1. Custom Dragon 2.)
Barring this, however...

Jenners are also a strong House Kurita 'Mech. (Forgive me, I don't have recent footage of Jenners being played appropriately so I hope this guy's video helps).

The Trebuchet is a 'Mech that I like quite a bit. In lore, its teamwork brother-'Mech is the Centurion which is supposed to protect it.
5 tons heavier a similar mech of also Kurita acclaim is the Kintaro which really is a good 'Mech despite the bad rep it got at launch (due to a horrible hitbox error that has long since been fixed). Video is using a super wide field of view. Akin to Trebs and Dragons, Kintaro's maximum potential is achieved through use of the Arm Aiming, however unlike the Dragon there's a lot of potential without ever resorting to it.

There's also the Archer -- which does not have a bundle at the moment but the old pre order page still accepts payment and gives them out (you'd get 3 'Mechs for 20 bucks but nothing terribly special; also some premium time and the bays to put them in). This is like the grand daddy to the Treb at 70 tons.

Thunderbolts come to mind, these things tank in MWO like Dragons should (in BT). They work great with armlock on due to a large number of torso weapons and can be good to 'evolve'' to arm-use especially when equipped with lock on weaponry. (Another vid by another pilot.)

Finally...
Stalker advice for new players...
Gives cockpit layout, details on combat, how to change weapon groupings, etc during live combat.


If you liked the Stalkers, I recommend the Stalkers. The Misery is especially worth it. (After initial fight, skip to 6 minutes.) Of my 214 'Mechs currently owned, the Stalkers are among my top 5 favorite chassis in MWO at number 2. (In BT its standing is quite a bit lower but there's also a lot more competition and in terms of armor for stock 'Mechs, the Stalker barely has more than the Dragon; in fact few things compare to the glory of the Dragon in BT). Joke Stalker builds

Akin to Stalkers, Battlemasters are also really good (and have a lot easier time with turning than Stalkers do). Another Battlemaster vid. BMs are also in my top 5 favorite 'Mechs, in both BT and MWO.

Edited by Koniving, 23 December 2016 - 09:04 AM.

[Koniving]

Roughneck45, on 23 December 2016 - 08:12 AM, said:

For mediums, I'd say the Griffin is the best

The Griffin's okay. But despite the fact that this video is titled Heroic Griffin Gameplay and facing the superb odds while under constant, non-stop LRM rain and bunny hopping like a troll...

The Griffin's eh.... it's okay.

Without bunny hopping, you really have to use the arms to get the most out of the Griffin unless using just SRMs... and this new player isn't the brawling sort.

(For my opinion on the best; it's clearly the Wolverine pre and post quirks. Before the rescale it was the shortest 55 tonner, and after the rescale it is still pretty dang short and with perfectly balanced hitboxes. It could use some left arm equipment but there's enough weapons to stack on to make damn good use of what it has. Furthermore -- and this is my favorite non-MWO trait... it's got a vicious left punch and charge (running) attacks are always spectacular with the heavily armored Wolverine.)

(Second place is the Hunchback; and I say this as someone who owns Every Single Hunchback including the Founder.)

Edited by Koniving, 23 December 2016 - 09:16 AM.

[InspectorG]

Not a Mastery Pack but the Base Marauder pack + Hero is solid. Comes with 30days Premium time.

The Lazer and the Dakka Marauders are good. The Hero is very strong. The JJ marauder is the weakest of the 4 but i still strong. 4 mechs for $35 is decent.

[Roughneck45]

Koniving, on 23 December 2016 - 09:09 AM, said:

The Griffin's okay. But despite the fact that this video is titled Heroic Griffin Gameplay and facing the superb odds while under constant, non-stop LRM rain and bunny hopping like a troll...

The Griffin's eh.... it's okay.

Without bunny hopping, you really have to use the arms to get the most out of the Griffin unless using just SRMs... and this new player isn't the brawling sort.

From my perspective, it is unquestionably the best, but you are correct in your assessment. I run SRMs and enjoy arm actuators.

[Warspawn]

Mastery packs....your best bet is picking up the Marauder for heavy as InspectorG said. It is very, VERY survivable and flexible. I prefer the Shadow Hawk for my medium mastery, although I did get the Griff for its ECM variant. Plus its torso twist is amazing! You can actually fire behind you while in GDR mode (grinning, ducking, and running!) I prefer the Raven for a light (again...I'm an ECM junkie with that) over the Jenner, but I've had some tough fights in my Huggin vs. Oxide...the new MG changes are great for the Raven hero!

If I had it all over to do it again...sigh. Yes, the Hunchback is awesomesauce. I was addicted to the Grey Death Legion saga, so went with the Shadow Hawk. The SH is actually amazing if you take the time to master the chassis, but the Hunchie's easier. Marauder for heavy, but the Warhammer is definitely a contender there (as is the Thunderbolt if you're sold on lasers).

Let us know what you pick! If you want some training in any of them msg me or any of the Praetorian Legion here and we'll get you set up on TS3 and spar around a bit

Edited by Warspawn, 24 December 2016 - 07:40 AM.

[Jamico]

I am only a couple of weeks into this game, so I can't tell you what's the best mech and all that. But I can give you a new player's perspective. I bought the Orion pack, because all three mechs have balanced hard points. This has enabled me to try a variety of weapons to see which ones work for me, and which ones don't. I am so glad I didn't buy a missile based mech, because I can't make missiles work for me to save my life. Anyhow, I am finding the Orion to be a good learning mech. That free Centurion will also come in handy, I'm sure. (See the thread on 7 free days of premium time for more info on that.) As an added bonus, the Orion set also comes with a nice variety of weapons to try out, like the gauss and PPC. My plan is to use only these mechs and save most of my credits until my premium time runs out. By then, I'll have a better idea of what works for me, and I will have a stack of credits that I can spend a little more intelligently than I otherwise would have.

[Warspawn]

Heya Jamico! Also look closely at where the weapons are placed. High mounted weapons means you can support and survive as a new player

Edited by Warspawn, 24 December 2016 - 08:28 AM.

[JC Daxion]

For lower priced bundles...


Raven, Huggin is a fun hero, with machine gun buffs it got better Raven 3L is a great mech, and the 4X is a nice long range sniper with JJ's


Cicada, underrated mechs, with a nice hero, package comes with Great XL engines, so huge value here.

HBK, Nice hero, good package, but the engines kinda lower the value on this package for me

Shadow hawk.. great starter mechs, Solid hero, and also has 2 nice XL engines.

Centurion, nice engines again, fun hero.. Fastest IS AC20 mech.. great AC20 flanker! the others are kinda mediocre.. (cent AH not in package is fantastic!)

[Whiskey Dharma]

Warspawn, on 24 December 2016 - 07:38 AM, said:

Mastery packs....your best bet is picking up the Marauder for heavy as InspectorG said. It is very, VERY survivable and flexible. I prefer the Shadow Hawk for my medium mastery, although I did get the Griff for its ECM variant. Plus its torso twist is amazing! You can actually fire behind you while in GDR mode (grinning, ducking, and running!) I prefer the Raven for a light (again...I'm an ECM junkie with that) over the Jenner, but I've had some tough fights in my Huggin vs. Oxide...the new MG changes are great for the Raven hero!

If I had it all over to do it again...sigh. Yes, the Hunchback is awesomesauce. I was addicted to the Grey Death Legion saga, so went with the Shadow Hawk. The SH is actually amazing if you take the time to master the chassis, but the Hunchie's easier. Marauder for heavy, but the Warhammer is definitely a contender there (as is the Thunderbolt if you're sold on lasers).

Let us know what you pick! If you want some training in any of them msg me or any of the Praetorian Legion here and we'll get you set up on TS3 and spar around a bit

I agree on all of thie, I've spent a lot of time in the Shadow Hawk and the Marauder (although I was in the original MAD, not the MAD-IIC that InspectorG mentioned). The MAD-3R(s) and the Grey Death Shadow Hawk are my go-to mechs at the moment, and the Warhammer is also excellent.