19
Wednesday October 18th 2017 @ 2PM – 4PM PDT
Patch Number: 1.4.137
Standalone Client Patch Size: ~850 MB
Steam Client Patch Size: ~800 MB
Please note that due to compression differences the Steam patch size may be larger than the standalone client patch size.
Quick Links
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Greetings MechWarriors,
The Civil War: Escalation 'Mechs have arrived, and are now en-route to the MechBays of eligible MechWarriors!
This patch contains a large number of gameplay-related fixes, adjustments, and improvements, including a Quirk pass on 9 'Mechs, balance adjustments for Medium-class Lasers, a fix for MRM firing rates, the restoration of persistent, friendly UAV markers, a number of community-requested feature improvements, and more.
The Special Events system is receiving a few key improvements in this patch, including the ability to toggle visibility of Faction Play Objectives for which you are specifically eligible, along with a potential fix for the issue that prevented the Event Browser from populating for certain players. If you continue to encounter this issue after applying the patch, please contact Support services at technical@mwomercs.com.
Rounding out the patch we have the release of three new Halloween Cockpit Items, the delivery of three additional Warhorns for WC 2017 Tournament Supporter Pack owners, and an array of miscellaneous improvements and fixes.
In other news, our three 2017 MechWarrior Online World Championship Finalists have been decided! The forces of EmpyreaL, EON Synergy, and 228th Black Watch will meet on-site and in person at Mech_Con 2017 on December 9th in Vancouver, BC to determine who among them will be crowned the 2017 MechWarrior Online World Champions. If you can't make it in person be sure to tune into the Mech_Con 2017 livestream to catch all the action!
One final note for this patch: due to the final-hour changes to the Nightstar arm orientation and the partial rollback of previously planned Laser changes, the expected downtime for this patch will run from 2 to 4 PM Pacific, rather than our usual time of 10AM. Apologies for any inconvenience!
In the meantime, read on for all the details of the October patch and we'll see you on the battlefield!
- The MechWarrior Team
Osiris Release Dates
• MC Release Date: February 6th 2018
• C-Bill Release Date: March 6th 2018
Nightstar Release Dates
• MC Release Date: March 6th 2018
• C-Bill Release Date: April 3rd 2018
Arctic Wolf Release Dates
• MC Release Date: February 6th 2018
• C-Bill Release Date: March 6th 2018
Nova Cat Release Dates
• MC Release Date: March 6th 2018
• C-Bill Release Date: April 3rd 2018
You can check out the Quirk information for all these new Escalation 'Mechs as part of our Countdown post here.
These new 'Mechs also bring with them a total of 12 new Colours for purchase with MC in-game. Early Adopters of an Escalation 'Mech Pack receive their associated colours for free.
AC/5
• Velocity increased to 1300 (from 1150).
• Heat Scale penalties are now linked with UAC/5s.
• Added Heat Scale set to a minimum Heat Penalty of 6.
AC/10
• Velocity increased to 1100 (from 950).
LB 2-X
• Velocity increased to 2000 (from 1330).
Ultra AC/5
• Velocity increased to 1300 (from 1150).
• Heat Increased to 1.66 (from 1.5)
• Heat Scale penalties are now linked with AC/5s.
• Added Heat Scale set to a minimum Heat Penalty of 5.
Ultra AC/10
• Velocity increased to 1100 (from 950).
Clan Ultra AC/5
• Velocity increased to 1300 (from 1150).
• Heat increased to 1.66 (from 1.5).
Clan Ultra AC/10
• Velocity increased to 1100 (from 950).
Clan AC/5
• Velocity increased to 1300 (frmo 1150).
Clan AC/10
• Velocity increased to 1100 (from 950).
Clan LB 2-X
• Velocity increased to 2000 (from 1330).
Clan LB 5-X
• Heat Reduced to 1 (from 1.5).
AutoCannon Design Notes: We wanted to provide a bit of a Velocity boost to mid-level ACs to give them a bit more reliability in their usage for 'Mechs only able to carry a small amount of them, and level out a few values on a handful of LB X weapons. With the AC/5 family, we did not want to have this boost further bolster AC/5-boating Assault 'Mechs capable of fielding excessive amounts of AC/5s. We've added Heat penalties to the IS AC/5 now that there are a number of IS 'Mechs on the field also capable of carrying an excessive amount. Similar to the AC/10 and UAC/10 change last month, we have also decided to slightly raise the Heat on the UAC/5 weapons to keep standard and rotary AutoCannons more focused toward sustained DPS, whereas the UAC line will remain focused more toward burst DPS.
Rotary AC/2
• Slight alterations to the Jam Bar mechanic.
Rotary AC/5
• Component Health increased to 15 (from 10).
RAC Design Notes: We are increasing the Component Health of the RAC/5 to make its Critical Health more comparable to similarly-sized ACs. We have also made slight alterations to the way that the Jam Bar operates to remove an exploit that could only be achieved through the use of 3rd party macro systems. This slight adjustment the Jam Bar should still feel virtually identical to how it did prior; just without the ability to exploit its behavior through the use of a macro.
Artemis Upgrade
• The Spread Bonus received from the Artemis Upgrade has been reduced.
Artemis Spread Design Notes: Post Skill Tree, the performance gulf between Artemis and non-Artemis based Missile systems has crossed a line; we now feel we need to reign in the inherent power of the Artemis system. With Artemis missiles being able to stack both the Artemis bonus and the Skill Tree bonuses, Artemis systems were too capable of reliably placing a majority of their total volley damage on a single Component. We are therefore reducing the bonus by an overall small amount to give Artemis systems fully augmented by the Spread Nodes a new maximum spread more equal to the previous inherent bonuses prior to the release of the Skill Tree.
Missile Lock
• The maximum angle at which Missile Lock can be retained after the reticle has drifted from the locked opponent has been reduced. Weapon Lock will now be lost at 25 degrees, instead of the previous 45 degree value.
Missile Lock Design Notes: This global change to the Missile Lock threshold has been implemented as a result of a number of balance issues that stemmed from its previous behavior.
• For LRMs, we want to increase the amount of focus needed to maintained sustained fire with the weapon.
• For Streak SRMs, we want to increase the difficulty of maintaining a weapons lock at close range, making it a bit easier for lighter, more mobile 'Mechs to break the lock.
• For ATMs, we want to greatly diminish the ability for 'Mechs to work around the shallow weapon arc by being able to 'curve' missiles around environmental obstructions while still maintaining their lock at close ranges, with minimal threat of return fire.
ATM 3 and ATM 6
• Spread increased to 3.2 (from 3).
ATM 9 and ATM 12
• Spread increased to 3.7 (from 3.5).
Missile Design Notes: ATMs are considered to have the Artemis Upgrade pre-attached to the weapon, and should function as such, but with the exception that their base level Spread is not augmented by Artemis (as it considered rolled into their baseline stats). As a result, we have increased its baseline Spread to correspond with the changes to the Artemis Upgrade described earlier in this section.
The original Patch Notes outlined a more far-reaching pass across the Laser-line of Energy Weaponry. However, based on player feedback we are limiting this balance pass to the Medium-line of Lasers only. You can check out a dev post here outlining the reasons for this change.
Medium Laser
• Cooldown increased to 3.5 (from 3).
ER Medium Laser
• Cooldown increased to 4 (from 3.35).
Clan ER Medium Laser
• Cooldown increased to 4.5 (from 3.75).
Clan Heavy Medium Laser
• Cooldown increased to 5.5 (from 5).
Energy Design Notes: At its core, customizing a 'Mech Loadout needs to provide a significant amount of give and take when it comes to deciding upon heavier payloads, thicker armor, faster speeds, and specialized equipment. We feel that the previous tuning on the Medium Laser family of weapons strained this balance by having a line of weapon options that easily maximized potential DPS for minimal Tonnage investments compared to alternative systems. This allowed 'Mechs to easily increase Engine and Heat Sink capacity in order to supplement the heavy DPS offered by amassing single-ton weapons, or supplement heavier weapons with Medium Lasers to maximize potential DPS to a degree much more significant than 'Mechs which either did not have sufficient number of Energy Hardpoints (or did not contain Energy Hardpoints at all).
While we are not looking to tune the overall damage output of these weapons at this time, we are looking to bring down the overall DPS that can be provided by the various Medium Lasers.
This months 'Mech balance pass includes a handful of mobility improvements for Light and Assault 'Mechs.
The original Patch Notes included Quirk changes for the GHR-5P and GHR-H 'Mechs. However, these changes were made as part of the previous, more comprehensive balance pass originally planned for Laser weaponry. With the rollback of those changes the two Grasshopper variants are no longer receiving a Quirk adjustment in this patch. You can check out our dev post regarding the Energy changes here.
Raven
• All Raven variants have received an increase to baseline mobility.
• All Raven variants have received Sensor-based Quirks.
Raven Design Notes: With a select number of other 'Mechs already receiving Sensor-based perks, when the Raven came up for tuning we felt it only fair that it too should receive similar treatment. Given their history in the lore as a scout/electronic warfare specialist chassis, we have provided all Raven variants with Sensor enhancements, similar to other specialist 'Mechs such as the Cyclops and Javelin 11-B. We have also provided the Raven with a bit more natural mobility to help it in combat engagements.
Jenner
• All Jenner variants have received an increase to baseline mobility.
• JR7-K has received both a Missile Cooldown -15% and some Sensor-based enhancements.
Jenner Design Notes: As a 'Mech that is primarily focused toward speed and mobility, we felt that the Jenner could benefit from a baseline mobility boost, with the JR7-K getting a bit more attention due to its lower Hardpoint count.
Jenner IIC
• All Jenner IIC variants have received an increase to baseline mobility.
Jenner IIC Design Notes: Like the IS JR7 line, we felt that the Jenner IIC could also use a bit of a baseline mobility boost.
Atlas
• All Atlas variants have received an increase to their baseline mobility.
Atlas Design Notes: Prior to the Engine Desync, the overall performance of 100-ton 'Mechs towered over many smaller chassis within the Assault class by a fairly wide margin. It was because of this that during the Engine Desync process we set the Dire Wolf as the baseline for the 100-ton 'Mechs, to bring them into alignment and give lighter chassis more room to breath when it came to Assault-level mobility; this provided more opportunities for nuance between Assault 'Mechs at the lower end of the weight spectrum compared to those at the top. Overall this has been relatively successful, with the performance of 100-ton 'Mechs brought into better alignment with their lighter counterparts. After months of observation however, we feel that the way the mobility scales from 100 to 90-ton 'Mechs is a bit too extreme; as a result we are granting nearly all 100-ton 'Mechs a slight bump in their baseline mobility.
King Crab
• All King Crab variants have received an increase to their baseline mobility.
King Crab Design Notes: See Atlas Design Notes.
Dire Wolf
• All Dire Wolf variants have received an increase to their baseline mobility.
Dire Wolf Design Notes: See Atlas Design Notes.
Kodiak
• The KDK-1, KDK-2, KDK-4, KDK-5, and KDK-SB variants have received an increase to their baseline mobility.
Kodiak Design Notes: See Atlas Design Notes.
Annihilator
• All Annihilator variants have received an increase to their baseline mobility.
• All Annihilator variants have received a reduction to their Bonus Armor Quirks.
Annihilator Design Notes: Like other 100-ton 'Mechs, the Annihilator has received a mobility boost. However, this comes at the expense of some of the baseline Armor Quirks the chassis previously possessed. Given the nature of the Annihilator's geometry and speed we want it to be fairly compensated for those two natural drawbacks, but felt that the previous Armor enhancements on top of the natural weapon platform Loadouts of the 'Mech sidelined the Atlas in its primary tank role too much. We still want the Annihilator to be fairly compensated for its geometry and speed, but not at the expense of sidelining the Atlas.
Skill Tree
• Firepower: Bonus received from Velocity Nodes has been increased to 3% per-Node (from 2%).
Velocity Node Design Notes: After observing the pick-rate of the Velocity-based Skills we feel that their previously provided bonus was a bit low for the amount of Nodes required to maximize the Skill. As a result we are providing each Velocity Node with a 50% boost to its previous value, making the Velocity Nodes a more attractive option for investment with projectile-based Weaponry.
General
• Cool Shot: Fixed an issue where using the second Cool Shot before the first would cause the whole gauge to deplete and refill, rather than just one segment of it.
• Faction Play: Fixed an issue where allowing the death screen to time out on its own would prevent the the Drop Deck select screen from appearing, dropping you automatically in the next cycle with the next 'Mech in your list.
• Keybinds: The 'Show HUD' keymap toggle has been moved to F7.
• MRMs: MRM Rate of Fire is no longer limited by client framerate.
• Scoreboard: Restored a previously-reverted fix for 'Mechs with Throttle Decay active being forced to brake when accessing the Scoreboard.
• Stealth Armor: Sensor Sweeps, Sensor Towers, and Turrets no longer detect 'Mechs with Active Stealth Armor.
• Streak SRMs: Fixed an issue where Streaks would target destroyed Components.
• Target HUD: Hero 'Mechs now report their proper chassis name and ID in the Target HUD element, rather than the Hero name.
• Target Info HUD: The chassis name has been added to the Target Info HUD asset.
• Testing Grounds: Testing Grounds now supports the use of Freecam. This can be toggled with F5.
• UAV: Persistent markers for Friendly UAVs have been restored
• UI: Fixed an issue where reconnected players could still appear as 'No Name'.
• VoIP: A speaker icon now appears in the 'Mech info area when an allied 'Mech is speaking.
• A toggle is now available to filter Objectives by eligibility. This will enable you to only view Objectives for which you are currently eligible, according to your current Faction allegiance or Career.
• The Current Owner of each Planet is now listed in the Conflict Planets section for Faction Play Special Conflicts.
• Planet Types - such as District Capital or Region Capital - are now listed in the Conflict Planets section for Faction Play Special Conflicts.
• Fixed an issue where the initial redemption attempt for an Objective Reward could fail.
• Potential fix for an issue where the Event Browser would not be populated with information. If you continue to encounter this issue, please contact Support services at technical@mwomercs.com.
Arctic Wolf Walk (Arctic Wolf Early Adopter Standing Item): 750 MC
Nova Cat Walk (Nova Cat Early Adopter Standing Item): 750 MC
Osiris Walk (Osiris Early Adopter Standing Item): 750 MC
Nightstar Walk (Nightstar Early Adopter Standing Item): 750 MC
Skull (Standing Cockpit Item): 750 MC
Chandelier (Hanging Cockpit Item): 750 MC
Gravestone (Warhorn Cockpit Item): 750 MC
WC 2017 Blue (Warhorn Cockpit Item): Not Purchasable
Audio
Audio
WC 2017 Red (Warhorn Cockpit Item): Not Purchasable
WC 2017 Green (Warhorn Cockpit Item): Not Purchasable
Audio
Audio
The WC 2017 Warhorns are not purchasable in-game, and can only be attained by purchasing the 2017 Tournament Supporter Pack.
Eligible Civil War Escalation owners also receive their associated XP/C-Bill boosting Cockpit Items in this patch; these items are not outlined here as they are the same as the items released in the July Patch.
Arctic Wolf Standard Pack (and Collector Pack)
"The Howler"
Arctic Wolf Collector Pack
"The Wolf"
Nova Cat Standard Pack (and Collector Pack)
"The Clan Cat"
Nova Cat Collector Pack
"The Paw"
Osiris Standard Pack (and Collector Pack)
"The Pharoah"
Osiris Collector Pack
"The Sekhmet"
Nightstar Standard Pack (and Collector Pack)
"The Moon"
Nightstar Collector Pack
"The Star"
These Titles and Badges are only available through their associated Packs. Collector Packs include the Titles and Badges from both the associated Standard and Collector Pack.
8 new Decals are featured in this patch, all from the Civil War Escalation 'Mech Packs. While the Decal release in this patch is again quite light, additional Decal sets inspired by community requests will be released in future patches!
• Lyran Guards
• Lightning
• Phoenix
• Wolf Eye
• Cobra
• Medical Instruments
• Blood Kit
• Arctic Wolf Head
Aside from the Osiris, Nightstar, Arctic Wolf, and Nova Cat, no additional 'Mechs are receiving support for New Tech Visuals in this patch.
• Caustic Valley (C4): Fixed an issue where 'Mechs would float slightly above the ground when standing in a specific spot.
• Caustic Valley (C4): Fixed a piece of floating geometry.
• End of Round Screen: Fixed an issue where the microphone icon would not always light up when a player was speaking.
• ESC Menu: Fixed an issue where the hover element over the No Cap: Stealth icon would not cover the whole icon.
• Faction Play (Leaderboards): Fixed an issue with overlapping scroll buttons at smaller resolutions.
• Forest Colony (J11): Fixed some floating environmental geometry.
• HUD: Improved resolution of the No Cap: Stealth icon.
• Inventory: Fixed an issue where the names of certain pieces of Equipment would not fit in the available space.
• MechLab: Fixed an issue where the 'Mech Stats Component tooltip element could remain on the screen.
• MechLab: Fixed an issue where leaving the Skill Tree without saving changes could cause the Cart tab to remain on screen.
• MechLab: Fixed an issue where the C-Bill price listed in the Armor Upgrade tooltip could appear to differ from the actual price once it has been equipped.
• Private Match (Lobby): Fixed an issue where the 'Mech Select button would appear active in the Lobby for players marked as Specators.
• Private Match (Lobby): Fixed some input awkwardness with the Tonnage Rule buttons.
• Private Match (Lobby): The Lobby Settings will no longer reset if the Lobby Leader leaves.
• Settings (Audio): Fixed an issue where setting the Master or Dialogue Volume sliders to 0 wouldn't disable the associated checkboxes.
• Spectator Mode: Fixed an issue where the lock-on reticle could remain on screen after the spectated 'Mech is destroyed.
• Spectator Mode: Fixed an issue where the Intel/Data Point capture bar would not appear when spectating a 'Mech engaged in the capture.
• Spectator Mode: Fixed an issue where the Eject HUD icon element could appear when spectating a player in a Quick Play match.
• Tutorial: Fixed an issue where completing the Field Manual task could cause the F1 and ESC tutorial prompts to remain on screen.
• Viridian Bog: Fixed an issue where the bog creature would sometimes appear with a 'Replace Me' debug texture.
Patch Files (Direct Download)
To make the patching process easier for players with limited download caps, we'll be providing direct download links for the patch file(s) that comprise this patch. This will allow you to download the patch file(s) elsewhere, for manual injection into the MWO patcher through a Patch Cache folder.
Aside from allowing you to download the patch file(s) elsewhere, on another connection, there are no additional benefits to performing the patch this way; the patching process itself will be the same.
This direct patch download process will only work for players running the standalone client. It does not apply to players running MWO through Steam.
Patch Files (all files are required):
How to use these patch files
• Download the above file(s)
• For sake of ease we recommend creating a dedicated folder for the patch file(s), such as 'MWO Patch Cache'
• You do not need to unzip or unpack the patch file(s)
• Launch the MWO Portal
• Select the three horizontal lines in the top left of the Portal Window
• Choose the 'Specify Patch File Cache' option
• In the field that appears, paste or enter the location in which you saved the patch file(s) and hit OK
• For example, C:\Users\<username>\Documents\MWO Patch Cache
• Click the blue Patch button
• The launcher will now check the Patch Cache folder you defined. If it locates the required patch files, it will unpack and use those files to apply the patch.
• Once the patch is complete, launch the game
