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Mwo Is Actually A Really Great Vehicle Combat F2P Game


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#1 Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 03:22 PM

So I went and decided to play World of Tanks again just to appreciate how much better MWO is. [Note: This is basically just me trashing WoT and congratulating MWO on not going down the same road]

I just want to say that every bad thing MWO does World of Tanks does 100 times worse if not more. Grinding, seal clubbing, new player experience, balance, pay to win, etc is all pretty bad in World of Tanks.

[For those unfamiliar with World of Tanks, the tiers are the tank tiers, not a matchmaker skill system. T1 tanks are the weakest and T10 tanks are the strongest]

Basically once a new player gets in they go through the T1 and T2 starting tanks pretty quickly, probably less than an hour of play and its alright outside of the few old players playing in maxed out early tier tanks. Once they get into T3, however, it becomes much worse. Due to the match making system putting players T3+ in a +-2 tier spread T3 will always be bottom tier in battles, often going up against T5 heavy tanks that their gun cannot penetrate from any angle and whose gun can kill them instantly, not to mention many cases of being superior in all aspects.

T3 to T4 is when the grind starts to kick in also. Ontop of the extremely bad matches you will constantly have due to being entirely outclassed in both experience and ordnance your experience gains will be very low and your match quality decreases drastically making the grind out of the T3 lights and mediums into the T5 heavies a slow, painful slog through the matches all while you're still learning how to play and how to deal with RNGesus.

Not only is there a tank grind and an equipment grind, there is also a crew grind. Crews train extremely slow, something like probably 1% every 10 matches or so and you start with crews at 50% training, unless you pay money to start them at 100%. Note that crew skill level directly influences things like your tank's accuracy and rate of fire and even visual range that you can spot enemies at. This often means that even once you do buy up a better tank you'll have many matches ahead using a very subpar vehicle compared to your opponents.


Basically I'm just saying that much of the complaints about MWO's grind or new player experience or seal clubbing or pay to win really fails to gain sympathy from someone who has gone through a bit of the World of Tanks experience.

I mean in this game new players can buy any mech in the game they want in 25 matches, instead of grinding through multiple tanks and hundreds of matches to get the one they want, and fully equip it except for modules and skills. The modules and skills provide 20% and under bonuses compared to the double+ bonuses from WoT from new player to old.

Seal clubbing really only exists in the occasional smurf player or in Faction Play, and the game gives a fair warning for people entering Faction Play rather than just dropping them off into the deep end every match.

In this game even the weakest weapon still always makes a mark on the enemy and light mechs can challenge heavies with high speeds and good piloting that has to potential to outweigh pure armor and firepower rather than all your direct hits dealing 0 damage.

In this game people can buy mechs directly for real money or get premium time to speed up the already minor (in comparison) grind, but the things they buy aren't outright superior to things that are free (exceptions being new mechs that come out that happen to be the new meta so free to play players have to wait but at least still get to buy it free later) but they don't get perks like premium matchmakers that put them in a more likely to win position than the seals they are to club, they can't just buy superior ammo (not as bad after WoT made it available for purchase for ingame money, its still expensive though and increases that grind a bit more just to compete with the massive imbalance in weights you fight)


Mechwarrior Online might not be up to the super high expectations people had for MW5 (before PGI had announced they'd make it now), and it does have some balance issues here and there, and its a free to play game so a grind of some sort is implied, but it handles itself very well, and in comparison to other free to play games on the market it seems to be far superior to the competition, even if lacking against games you have to pay for, you must remember this game was free and any money you spent was because you wanted to.

So congratulations PGI, thanks for making a great F2P open to the public and putting up with it so very long.

#2 El Bandito

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 05:51 PM

Just because there is something even worse out there, doesn't mean what we have here cannot be improved.
I always get my arse kicked by my wife whenever she complains about pollution around our home, and I point out that people in the slums suffer even worse.

MWO matchmaking, PSR system, cross faction balance, and depending on the skill tree new values even the grind will need improvements.

Edited by El Bandito, 29 March 2017 - 06:03 PM.


#3 MischiefSC

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 05:59 PM

I'm very critical of a lot of things here but I'll agree MWO does a lot of unique, special things in vehicle combat and team v team pvp.

#4 oldradagast

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 05:59 PM

It's funny. I also play World of Warships, and I consider that a superior game in nearly every way to MWO. Aside from the overall production quality and actual playtesting - complete with the company listening to feedback - the game play is superior, the combat vehicles can actually take a pounding vs. falling apart in a few seconds, and people actual sail around the map vs. hiding behind rocks all day. World of Tanks is probably very different in that regard - I've heard camping there is even worse than in MWO. Realistic, I suppose - tanks back then didn't zoom around open fields blasting each other while moving - but boring as heck, at least to me. That being said, MWO still is a fine mech combat simulator, but I saw WoWS does a better job making making ships in-game "feel like combat ships" than MWO does making mechs in-game "feel like combat mechs." Low TTK is a huge part of this.

As for the grind, it's a wash. At low tiers, you advance fast, while at high tiers, it takes forever. The key in Wargaming games is to understand that there's no real reason to grind to "the end" - tier 10. Find some ships, tanks, or whatever you like playing at a fun tier, max them out, and just play the game. In MWO, there are no tiers, but there's also no benefit to not fully grinding out any given mech.

As for seal clubbing... eh, it's much worse here, IMHO, than in World of Warships. A totally 1-sided game in WoWS is unusual enough that I'm surprised when it happens; in MWO, it's par for the course.

Too each their own, of course. No game is perfect, and World of Warships is not World of Tanks, but WoWS does more right than MWO, IMHO. This game is still fun, but it's held back by so many stupid, fixable little things. And instead of getting them fixed, we get other things broken and changes nobody needs or wants.

Edited by oldradagast, 29 March 2017 - 06:02 PM.


#5 Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 06:12 PM

View Postoldradagast, on 29 March 2017 - 05:59 PM, said:

It's funny. I also play World of Warships, and I consider that a superior game in nearly every way to MWO. Aside from the overall production quality and actual playtesting - complete with the company listening to feedback - the game play is superior, the combat vehicles can actually take a pounding vs. falling apart in a few seconds, and people actual sail around the map vs. hiding behind rocks all day. World of Tanks is probably very different in that regard - I've heard camping there is even worse than in MWO. Realistic, I suppose - tanks back then didn't zoom around open fields blasting each other while moving - but boring as heck, at least to me. That being said, MWO still is a fine mech combat simulator, but I saw WoWS does a better job making making ships in-game "feel like combat ships" than MWO does making mechs in-game "feel like combat mechs." Low TTK is a huge part of this.

As for the grind, it's a wash. At low tiers, you advance fast, while at high tiers, it takes forever. The key in Wargaming games is to understand that there's no real reason to grind to "the end" - tier 10. Find some ships, tanks, or whatever you like playing at a fun tier, max them out, and just play the game. In MWO, there are no tiers, but there's also no benefit to not fully grinding out any given mech.

As for seal clubbing... eh, it's much worse here, IMHO, than in World of Warships. A totally 1-sided game in WoWS is unusual enough that I'm surprised when it happens; in MWO, it's par for the course.

Too each their own, of course. No game is perfect, and World of Warships is not World of Tanks, but WoWS does more right than MWO, IMHO. This game is still fun, but it's held back by so many stupid, fixable little things. And instead of getting them fixed, we get other things broken and changes nobody needs or wants.


I've heard a lot of good from WoWS, quite a contrast to their original WoT. Its quite true that its a camp fest in which you hide your tank in a bush and wait for someone stupid enough to go out in the open only to pepper them to death while they can't see you because of the stealth mechanics of hiding in a bush making your multi ton combat vehicle invisible.

View PostEl Bandito, on 29 March 2017 - 05:51 PM, said:

Just because there is something even worse out there, doesn't mean what we have here cannot be improved.
I always get my arse kicked by my wife whenever she complains about pollution around our home, and I point out that people in the slums suffer even worse.

MWO matchmaking, PSR system, cross faction balance, and depending on the skill tree new values even the grind will need improvements.


I'm not saying it can't be improved, it definitely can. I'm just saying its a great game already, improving it would just make it greater. I don't really know of a free to play ground vehicle combat game that I enjoy more... of course my knowledge is limited however.

#6 Clanner Scum

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 06:27 PM

It's okay. But it could be alot better.

#7 Unquietemu

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 06:30 PM

Yeah I have more fun here than any other vehicular shooter.

#8 Johnny Z

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 06:32 PM

Yep its a great game with an extremely limited scope.

Way better than the competition. But also tougher to get good at, trolled more heavily, and without a good , fun engaging, tutorial.

The entire trial mech thing and 3 mech lvling could not be worse. 2 player teams in group queue, also could not be worse.

Losing players left and right over these issues. Also lack of player character creation and the over crowded mechbay/lab or what ever that mess that should be a first person mechbay is called.

In all honesty it seems they are carefully managing mediocrity though.

Edited by Johnny Z, 29 March 2017 - 06:38 PM.


#9 Anjian

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 06:33 PM

Do remember that not all will share that opinion. In the "democracy" of the marketplace, WoT has well over a million players coming online everyday, the active user base is in the tens of millions. It ranks with League of Legends and DoTA 2 as the most played massive online games. Player base size, MWO is an ant compared to an elephant. The owner of Wargaming has a net worth of a billionaire, and WoT can afford to put two ads in Superbowl. The company made nearly $600 million in 2015.

How did WoT grew to be so large?

There was one point, early in its past, that this was a simple and fun game.

That's it. That's what it takes to a game to be seriously successful. Ask Angry Birds, Candy Crush and Clash of Clans.

What's killing it?

Middle Age Crisis.

Over the years it piled on tons and tons and tons of content. When the real tanks are done, its time for the prototype tanks. When that is used up, its the paper tanks. When that is used up, look to the tanks of minor tanks, and their paper tanks.

As content grew, so did the inevitable power creep. Power creep and content addition tends to come in hand.

They wanted to add artillery vehicles --- more content --- so they added an artillery mechanic.

Except that proved to be a cancer mechanic.

Which leads to the second lesson of the day, which World of Warships has learned quickly.

Balancing Cancer Mechanics does not change that the Cancer Mechanic is still a Cancer Mechanic. No matter if its already "balanced", no matter even if its nerfed to underpoweredness. Cancer Mechanic is still Cancer Mechanic.

Now they plan a massive overhaul of artillery, literally rewriting the way it operates.

World of Warships had realized the stealth fire is a cancer mechanic --- and is currently doing an overhaul that practically removes it in the game. They must have realized that carriers as well, are cancer mechanics but could not put the dog back to its cage.

The one thing about MWO is that it too is suffering from a middle age crisis. Too much content additions, too much quirks to go with them. Which is why a lot of things are being changed from the game engine to the skill trees, even as new content has to be added for the revenue stream. PGI knows the game has aged and needs an overhaul.

But what it didn't enjoy was having a very successful early years to create a large reservoir of player base to carry it through tough times, and a bank of cash that can overhaul middle age issues quickly. So these changes are being done incrementally and piece by piece.

A game with middle age issues is like injecting botox and doing plastic surgery to an aging celebrity in an attempt to keep them relevant. All the time while new talent is rising.


As for World of Warships, I say they are incredibly well managed, though they have made some visionary mistakes here and there.

War Thunder --- thanks to developer arrogance --- at some point has lost momentum. With content additions, it too faces power creep and middle age issues but overall given the performance in the past year, they have a very stable player and revenue base, and they continue to evolve the game, and with that, along with an advanced game engine, they manage to keep, look and sound young for a rather well developed game.

The irony about WoT is that its mobile version --- World of Tanks Blitz --- carefully avoided cancer mechanics and managed to keep it fun and simple, like early day WoT. That contributed to the great success of WoTB which has well over 10 million installs on Google Play, not counting the Apple App Store and Blitz, with over 1.1 million five star ratings.

Edited by Anjian, 29 March 2017 - 06:36 PM.


#10 Davegt27

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 07:15 PM

Never heard of cancer mechanic

Edited by Davegt27, 05 April 2017 - 10:07 AM.


#11 Templar Dane

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 08:19 PM

Invasion was pretty much the only mode that I played. I rarely played quickplay unless there was a ceasefire or I was just testing a build.

With CW/FP 4.1 all but removing the 'siege' mode from the game, I find myself extremely bored. I played maybe a dozen FP matches over the weekend and didn't see 'siege' at all, but was told it still happens.

I played the old invasion mode because I liked the maps and the mode, and it felt the least like the standard team deathmatch all the other modes provide since 95% of those typically all end in wiping out the enemy team.

What this game needs is more interesting matches.

Bring back old invasion.
Solaris 1v1, 2v2, 4v4 etc with ingame leagues and a ladder. Smallish maps with destructible terrain would be wicked
Get some AI going with vehicles/aircraft for some combined arms matches
Player controlled vehicles at some point would be cool ala MW:LL

#12 Xetelian

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 08:39 PM

I tried WoT a few times but just couldn't get into it.

The grind seems insane so I thought about buying a tank but when I saw the prices I about died.

$94 marked down in a fake 17$ off sale to $80. For 1 tank. That isn't even the highest tier? VIII is high but not T10 high. I feel like I'd also be shooting myself in the foot if I didn't grind out a few tiers and learn the game instead of just jumping in with my shiny new $94 tank.


When I spend $40 on a collector's mechpack I get 30 days of premium and a bonus 30% cBill mech along with 3 other mechs (one duplicate). I wish it was 60 days of premium like with the Kodiak but MWO works hard at killing a good deal. I also get 9 cockpit items and if I pre order early enough I get another.



If I spend $90 on Clan wave 2 or 3 I get 9 mechs and 3 of them are 30% bonus mechs. I also got colors and premium time. $80 on Resistance is an even better deal with 12 mechs and 4 of them 30% bonus mechs.





World of Warships gave out a free ship ages ago and I tried that game and had some fun against the AI. Soon as I took my ship out to PVP I was dead very quickly, one time a guy sniped me from beyond my range with torpedoes that I didn't even realize were coming. I should have stuck it out against the AI until I was better but that gets really old really fast.


World of Planes I couldn't enjoy with KB/M and wouldn't play unless I had a flight stick.

I haven't tried Warthunder's tanks but I don't expect it to thrill me.



The thing that MWO does right is give a huge bonus to people starting a new account. I wish it held their hand a little longer to make sure they buy something they'll like. Selling a mech should give you 75% or all of your cBills back within the first 30 days of purchase or just in general so new players can rectify mistakes.

Edited by Xetelian, 29 March 2017 - 08:55 PM.


#13 MechaBattler

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 08:43 PM

I agree. I completely burnt out of World of Tanks because of the boring horrible grind. Even with premium time I wanted to rip my eyes out. I also tried World of Warships and found the gameplay boring. World of Warplanes got boring after about tier 4.

Where as MWO I've been playing since late Closed beta. I've taken breaks, but I always end up coming back. The game play in my opinion has more to offer than the above mentioned games.

#14 BLOOD WOLF

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 08:50 PM

View PostMechaBattler, on 29 March 2017 - 08:43 PM, said:

I agree. I completely burnt out of World of Tanks because of the boring horrible grind. Even with premium time I wanted to rip my eyes out. I also tried World of Warships and found the gameplay boring. World of Warplanes got boring after about tier 4.

Where as MWO I've been playing since late Closed beta. I've taken breaks, but I always end up coming back. The game play in my opinion has more to offer than the above mentioned games.

This game got me of my Total war High. That was a hard thing to do.

#15 Bishop Steiner

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 08:58 PM

View Postoldradagast, on 29 March 2017 - 05:59 PM, said:

It's funny. I also play World of Warships, and I consider that a superior game in nearly every way to MWO. Aside from the overall production quality and actual playtesting - complete with the company listening to feedback - the game play is superior, the combat vehicles can actually take a pounding vs. falling apart in a few seconds, and people actual sail around the map vs. hiding behind rocks all day. World of Tanks is probably very different in that regard - I've heard camping there is even worse than in MWO. Realistic, I suppose - tanks back then didn't zoom around open fields blasting each other while moving - but boring as heck, at least to me. That being said, MWO still is a fine mech combat simulator, but I saw WoWS does a better job making making ships in-game "feel like combat ships" than MWO does making mechs in-game "feel like combat mechs." Low TTK is a huge part of this.

As for the grind, it's a wash. At low tiers, you advance fast, while at high tiers, it takes forever. The key in Wargaming games is to understand that there's no real reason to grind to "the end" - tier 10. Find some ships, tanks, or whatever you like playing at a fun tier, max them out, and just play the game. In MWO, there are no tiers, but there's also no benefit to not fully grinding out any given mech.

As for seal clubbing... eh, it's much worse here, IMHO, than in World of Warships. A totally 1-sided game in WoWS is unusual enough that I'm surprised when it happens; in MWO, it's par for the course.

Too each their own, of course. No game is perfect, and World of Warships is not World of Tanks, but WoWS does more right than MWO, IMHO. This game is still fun, but it's held back by so many stupid, fixable little things. And instead of getting them fixed, we get other things broken and changes nobody needs or wants.

Intersting.

MWO
WoT
WoWS

are the three games I play the most, with MWO being far more than the other 2 combined and I think you and the OP both have good points.

I'm going to note... I LOVE the basic mechanics of WoT. The penetration, accuracy, damage, etc, is all IMO; very well done, in and of itself.

But the Tiering and MM does really ruin a lot of that. I was recently playing WoT with CK16 and made the same comment the OP did...it was just frustrating as heck to find myself matched up with Tier 5 tanks that I literally could not cause ANY damage too, no matter what. CK was even bouncing Premium Ammo (one of the features I HATE about WoT) of the back of this particular tank.

Simply put..could you imagine being in an MWO tournament... and the last 2 mechs standing were a Light and an Assault were facing off for the WC..... and the Light Mech simply could not damage the Assault mech, no matter what.

What kind of crapstorm would brew?

That said, while I play Low to Low Mid Tier on WoWS, I find it to be a very different experience overall, and in fact, if it wasn't for the lore aspect of MWO, I might actually play WoWS a lot more than MWO.

But after playing these, or any number of other F2P games.. I just want to laugh myself to tears anytime someones whines about the grind or MM here.

That said...if one removed the horrible tiering/MM system of WoT...I would love to see a MW title put together using a version of MoT or WoWS style combat mechanics.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 29 March 2017 - 09:03 PM.


#16 BLOOD WOLF

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 09:00 PM

View PostBishop Steiner, on 29 March 2017 - 08:58 PM, said:



Couldn't really play WOT, I stick to men of war assult squad 2(you play or heard of it?). When it comes to gameplay mechanics, plus I am a sucker for strategy.

Edited by BLOOD WOLF, 29 March 2017 - 09:01 PM.


#17 Bishop Steiner

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 09:06 PM

View PostBLOOD WOLF, on 29 March 2017 - 09:00 PM, said:

Couldn't really play WOT, I stick to men of war assult squad 2(you play or heard of it?). When it comes to gameplay mechanics, plus I am a sucker for strategy.

never heard of it tbh. I don't play near as many games as I used to, more kind of get into one or two games and fixate. Back in the day, had all the Fallouts, Unreals, MW, MC titles, Delta Force, Rainbow Six, Hidden and Dangerous and dozens of minor games. All the SW titles, etc.

Now? I had Pirates of the Burning Sea, the SW game, and several others... over the last couple of years, and have removed all of them from my hard drive. I think I have the above listed 3, and maybe MC2 left on my computer.

#18 Anjian

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 09:07 PM

View PostDavegt27, on 29 March 2017 - 07:15 PM, said:

Never herd of cancer mechanic



Cancer mechanic is something that when if it and when it hits you, you basically want to rage quit or throw your gaming notebook to the wall.

#19 BLOOD WOLF

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 09:11 PM

View PostBishop Steiner, on 29 March 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

never heard of it tbh. I don't play near as many games as I used to, more kind of get into one or two games and fixate. Back in the day, had all the Fallouts, Unreals, MW, MC titles, Delta Force, Rainbow Six, Hidden and Dangerous and dozens of minor games. All the SW titles, etc.

Now? I had Pirates of the Burning Sea, the SW game, and several others... over the last couple of years, and have removed all of them from my hard drive. I think I have the above listed 3, and maybe MC2 left on my computer.

how you get MC2 to work? Windows 7 or 10?

#20 Bishop Steiner

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Posted 29 March 2017 - 09:13 PM

View PostBLOOD WOLF, on 29 March 2017 - 09:11 PM, said:

how you get MC2 to work? Windows 7 or 10?

10. Just downloaded teh one from microsoft... seems to work.... mostly on this dumb thing





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