0
Some back story is probably needed: I joined the game officially back on February 2017. I was a very new player to the Battletech and Mechwarrior Online universe. So there I was picking all sorts of mechs, mainly based upon the looks or what felt was doing decently in quick play. On average I was doing 200-350 damage per game on heavy Clan mechs - Timber Wolf, Mad Dog, Kodiak at the time. Now I will never say that is a decent performance, especially for me being a tier 5 player then (And now oddly enough but hopefully I will give you the differences between now and then).
Around November of 2017, the 27th I believe, I had one of these curious little pop ups - Faction play invasion, catching my eye. Now this was the first time I decided to take an interest in this, discovering I had to build a drop deck of 4x mechs within an tonnage limit of 245 tonnes at the time if memory serves. So there I was a fresh unaware fish from Quick-Play dropping into the world of faction play. Cataphract, Catapult and 2x Hunchbacks at the ready. Boy was I in for a shock. No idea did I have about optimized builds,
My first game? A game mode I had never played: Siege Assault, with two gates in to break through to attack the generators. All seemed easy enough to understand. And I noticed on my log-in menu I was being paired with some players I had never seen or heard of before. BCMC and EVIL players (This will be relevant for later).
Here were a group of players, who were communicating consistently using the comms, who were offering advice when asked as I made it clear that I had no idea what I should be doing. A Mr Merciless and Johnathan Tanner, plus Hobbles at the time made it clear that I should for if this was my first game, try to work on staying with team members, add my fire to the targets called out and try to stay alive. Teaching me the basics for faction play siege - Never reinforcing a damaged wave, stay outside the gates and group up with team-mates. Never fight and die or sacrifice yourself for someone else, just so they can pad damage meters.
Torso-twisting was also taught to me, thank you Lovas for spending the time with me teaching me this!
All of this was excellent advice, and it all came about by myself doing the one thing I do not see new players or inexperienced players do in faction play -
COMMUNICATE.
One of the best aspects of any game, is communicating and working in a team-based situation. Even if you do not have a microphone, type something out. I can understand if members of other language bases do not feel comfortable or able to do so, but even just pinging the map gives your team mates and yourself a basis to work with you.
At the end of my first siege game? I still had 1 mech left, and commanded at the time a respectable (I thought) 1100 damage. It is then what happened that surprised me.
Because I was communicating with my colleagues - the team mates I was with. I was invited to join their Team-Speak or discord serves. And kept along for a following 6 games that night before I had to sleep. Each day there-after give or take, I would jump into the team-speak and as a unit-less individual be invited back to join them. Whether it was BCMC, EVIL, HHOD or other units that folks were associated with.
By asking questions, often with utter naivety to the members of these units, I was shown schematics and builds for different battle-mechs and omni-mechs. Learned a great deal about the lore and experienced tear-causing laughing conversations about all sorts of subjects.
And now? Months on, I was invited to join BCMC, which I eagerly accepted. I was able as well to bring my consistent damage per mech up to 500-1100 damage per mech in some cases. I do not fool myself that I am the best pilot, but what I have found is that listening and learning from more experienced players is a key to building your own success.
Speaking, communicating, typing and being a team player gets you places. I love every faction play game I drop with the unit I am in, due to the people that are there. The continued sharing of experience between team members of different units is a joy.
So if any newer players have questions or the like for faction play? Please feel free to ask below. I hope this has made for pleasant reading, and hopefully we will see you all on the battlefields.
As for my general thoughts about faction play? I love it. The team based competitive yet social nature of it may not be for everyone. But to make the best of it, always work as a team or in concert with other players. Never play as a solo-man army, as unfortunately you tend to get nuked by multiple enemy mechs.
Artanon - BCMC Thunderbolt Drop-Deck pilot, signing out.
Edited by Artanon, 11 May 2018 - 11:41 AM.
