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[InnerSphereNews]

ROADMAP UPDATE!

Welcome to the Roadmap update!

June

The June Patch notes will be here very soon but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of Rubellite Oasis's new capture points on Conquest. These changes improve the map balance for the opening season of Competitive Play leading to the World Championships at Mech_Con. The long-awaited Flea finally jumps into MWO and is sure to infest the servers. We have several mechs receiving 3060 Weapon retrofits and Bolton support. There are nice improvements to look forward to in Solaris, as well as a new long-awaited feature release for MWO...Build Profile Saving and Sharing! You can look forward to the full June Patch notes Next week with the Patch releasing June 19th.

New 'Mech:

• Flea
  

3060s Weapon Retrofits for 11 'Mech Chassis:

• Assassin
  
• Battlemaster
  
• Blackjack
  
• Catapult
  
• Centurion
  
• Cyclops
  
• Locust
  
• Hunchback
  
• Jagermech
  
• Raven
  
• Stalker
  

Bolt-on Retrofits for 31 'Mech Chassis:

• Annihilator
  
• Arctic Cheetah
  
• Arctic Wolf
  
• Black Lanner
  
• Blood Asp
  
• Cougar
  
• Ebon Jaguar
  
• Executioner
  
• Fafnir
  
• Gargoyle
  
• Hellbringer
  
• Hellspawn
  
• Highlander IIC
  
• Hunchback IIC
  
• Ice Ferret
  
• Jenner IIC
  
• King Crab
  
• KitFox
  
• Mad Cat MK II
  
• Mauler
  
• Mist Lynx
  
• Nightstar
  
• Nova Cat
  
• Osiris
  
• Orion IIC
  
• Piranha
  
• Shadow Cat
  
• Sun Spider
  
• Thanatos
  
• Uziel
  
• Wolfhound

Changes to Conquest Capture Points in Rubellite Oasis Map

BEFORE: (old)

AFTER: (new)

New Feature: Build Profile Saving and Sharing

• You will be able to save and load 'Mech loadouts and Skill Tree builds with ease with this new feature!
  
• You can export your favorite 'Mech loadout and Skill Tree builds to share with other fellow MechWarriors or even choose to import other MechWarriors' builds for your own use.
  
• Sharing build codes has been made much easier as well with a small update to the Floating Chat system.
  

Comp Play Queue Changes for Upcoming MWOWC 2018:

• Re-enabling access to Comp Play queue.
  
• Updating map selection in Comp Play: Canyon Network, Rubellite Oasis, Mining Collective, Caustic Valley, Grim Plexus.
  
• Updating Comp Play rules.
  
• Allowing Consumables to be used with Stock mode option in Private Lobby
  

Solaris Improvements:

• Adding Solaris events to the Special Events system.
  
• Adding ability to search pilot names in Solaris Leaderboards.
  

GDPR Compliance:

• Adding ability to accept Terms of Service from in-game pop-up.
  
• Adding "Withdraw Consent" functionality through website log-in.
  

General Balance Tuning:

There will be two major balance changes directly aimed at improving core pieces of equipment for the MWOWC 2018 season. However these changes will not be limited to competitive play:

• Heat Sinks:
  

Standard heat sinks will see a minor improvement to provide a bit more flexibility in stock play. Specifics to come with the June Patch Notes.

• Ammo:
  

Autocannon and Missile ammo will be increased to provide better overall potential damage-per-ton compared to the current game. And provide a bit more damage potential from ammo based weapons in the upcoming MWOWC comp queue. Specifics to come with the June Patch Notes.

July

July brings even More 3060 Weapon retrofits and Bolt-ons! Additional content will be released to all 2018 Tournament Pack Supporter owners and it is so good I can't even... Meanwhile, a brand new Season begins in the Solaris 7 games! You can look forward to some division changes and a reset of the Leaderboards. We'll also be seeing some improvements in the Solaris Season seeding process and Reward item changes in its Supply Caches. The new Build Profile Saving and Sharing feature from June's patch will be receiving additional improvements. Finally, the flaming Hellfire 'Mech releases during this summery month too.

New 'Mech:

• Hellfire
  

[Updated info on Weapon Retrofits] (Edited on June 27th)

With the retrofits released in June, we changed the weapon hardpoint textures on the Shadow Hawk to unpaintable gunmetal instead of matching them to the ‘Mech’s various camo pattern textures. We made this choice to keep consistency with all the other current and new ‘Mechs’ weapon textures being designed this way: as unpaintable gunmetal.

However, after reviewing community feedback on the June retrofits, we will be changing the Shadow Hawk’s weapon textures to look as close as possible to the camo painted weapon hardpoints it previously had.  

In order for the Texture Artists to repaint textures on each weapon for the Shadow Hawk and/or other possible retrofit adjustments from the feedback, the list of ‘Mech Weapon Retrofits in July and August will currently remain undetermined until Patch Notes are released.

Here’s an insider look of the Texture Artist’s work on Weapon Retrofits:

While old weapon hardpoints are removed, new weapon hardpoints take place where every piece must be textured, assigned a material, and then painted with every camo pattern that the ‘Mech supports with approximately over 25-30 patterns per ‘Mech,

‘Mech hardpoints consist of many different weapons where each is painted to match seamlessly to the ‘Mech’s surrounding camo pattern and materials.

For example in the image below, the Dragon ‘Mech’s weapon retrofitted hardpoints in the front center torso, side torso and arms, you can see the red pieces which represent the geometry that change depending on the equipped loadouts, while the white geometry represents the ‘Mech body.

Looking at the second image below of our CURRENT non-retrofitted Dragon Hero ‘Mech, the pattern would be significantly modified if the retrofitted version above each hardpoint piece of geometry was not re-painted exactly like the original with the pattern on the front. This is where some ‘Mechs can take significantly more time than others to replicate its’ original appearance and details with the number of red geometry pieces to re-paint.

More Bolt-on Retrofits to 'Mech Chassis

Bonus Item for 2018 Tournament Supporter Pack Owners

New Summer Themed Cockpit Item

New Solaris Season - July to October 2018

• Resetting Solaris Leaderboard and set new season end date.
  
• Updating Solaris 'Mech Division assignments.
  
• Revising item pools for Solaris Supply Caches.

Solaris Improvements:

• Improving Season seeding process.
  

Build Profile Saving and Sharing Improvements:

• Allowing players to try out imported 'Mech loadouts using Testing Grounds.
  
• Showing invoice for extra cost of using imported loadouts.
  

August

These are the current items targeted for August, but you can rest assured that this roadmap will receive a few updates as more items line up for the August release. Here is what we know so far. Another "Hot" 'Mech is coming in time to enjoy the remainder of the summer, Trial 'Mechs are getting an update, more 3060 weapon and Bolt-on retrofits, and a fresh item for 2018 Tournament Pack Supporters! We will keep you posted as we get more details in the coming months!

New 'Mech:

• Vulcan

Trial 'Mechs Update

3060s Weapon Retrofits

More Bolt-on Retrofits

Bonus Item for 2018 Tournament Supporter Pack owners

[Prototelis]

Wow, loadout imports sound really nice.

Wasn't expecting that with the way mechbays are monetized. Cool!

[PobbestGob]

Prototelis, on 07 June 2018 - 11:17 AM, said:

Wow, loadout imports sound really nice.

Wasn't expecting that with the way mechbays are monetized. Cool!

literally the same month I was gonna release my own version of this too lol. FeelsBadMan

[FallGuy0815]

Looks great! While you are at it, could you include an option to export your whole garage to some parsable format (XML/JSON/YAML whatever)? Would help deciding what mechs need to be bought next ;-)

[Will9761]

Saving Skill Tree Loadouts is a good start, all we need now is a drag-and-drop feature for the system and it will be set.

[Lt Blackthorn]

It bears stating that myself and a great many other players are deeply concerned about the upcoming weapon model updates for various chassis. This shouldn't be the case, but some of the recent remodels have either looked terrible (the Firestarter) or, more distressingly, the remodels nerfed a chassis, the Banshee, into the ground, when It was already barely viable. The lowering of the mounts on the Banshee rendered unusable all but one of the variants, the recently armor-quirked 3S

Seeing the Battlemaster on this list is extremely worrying, since the only things that makes that chassis viable are those high energy hardpoints on the shoulders. If they are altered poorly and/or lowered, they will completely ruin the chassis, which, by the way, is the only IS mech that can compete with clan erLL spam in certain FP maps.

We'd strongly advise PGI to take a closer look at their modelers' work on upcoming weapon updates to make sure that no more chassis are unduly affected in their gameplay because of somewhat trivial cosmetic updates.

Edited by Lt Blackthorn, 07 June 2018 - 01:06 PM.

[CtrlAltWheee]

Putting in a request for more sci-fi "serious" bolt-ons.

More like accents to alex's original art. The shoulder reactors on the atlas are a good example. The radar dish isn't bad.

I wish there was something like in Battletech how they have that alternate art shadowhawk--just an alteration to the cockpit shape. I love stuff like that. Or how we had the alternate art leg shapes on the original clan release. That interests me even more than the bolt-ons.

[Navid A1]

InnerSphereNews, on 07 June 2018 - 11:10 AM, said:

• Ammo:

Autocannon and Missile ammo will be increased to provide better overall potential damage-per-ton compared to the current game. And provide a bit more damage potential from ammo based weapons in the upcoming MWOWC comp queue. Specifics to come with the June Patch Notes.

This is much appreciated.

A step in the right direction both with identifying the problem and addressing it

[Arjohan]

RIP all those 'Mechs to be retrofit with 3060s stuff. Banshee high quality weapon layouts awaits them. A moment of silent please for those marked to death.







EDIT: haHAA

Edited by Arjohan, 07 June 2018 - 11:40 AM.

[MechaBattler]

If your weapon model updates are going to do what they did to the Banshee. You can keep em... >: (

We never even got a response of whether the balance overlords were aware of the hard points being nerfed,

Edited by MechaBattler, 07 June 2018 - 11:44 AM.

[BrunoSSace]

Looking forward to the weapon refit updates. I will voice my concerns as well. Please don't change the location of weapon locations at all if possible. A few of the mechs I love are on your list and it makes me slightly uneasy.
Bruno

Edited by BrunoSSace, 07 June 2018 - 12:06 PM.

[Jaspbo1]

Yo when you guys fixing my Founders Atlas' shiny sport stripe on it's head? It looks dumb.

[Nightbird]

Looks like June patch is Comp focused. Yay for the Flea.

[Tranderas]

I'll join my friends in expressing concern that you'll use the remodel as a nerf of certain chassis. Please don't move the hardpoints around. I won't be as eloquent as Blackthorn was, but then again I'm not a heretic as he is.

[D34DMetal]

Where's the blood asp geometry changes for June?

[Brain Cancer]

More ammo for missiles/ACs = being able to cut a ton (or two) out of your munitions load for something else, like cooler running with more heat sinks or maybe a slightly bigger launcher/gun.

Change to SHS won't be a big drop in the ocean, but it should be interesting for the rare assault SHS builds.

[Jay Leon Hart]

InnerSphereNews, on 07 June 2018 - 11:10 AM, said:

New Feature: Build Profile Saving and Sharing

• You will be able to save and load 'Mech loadouts and Skill Tree builds with ease with this new feature!
  
• You can export your favorite 'Mech loadout and Skill Tree builds to share with other fellow MechWarriors or even choose to import other MechWarriors' builds for your own use.
  
• 
  Sharing build codes has been made much easier as well with a small update to the Floating Chat system.

General Balance Tuning:
There will be two major balance changes directly aimed at improving core pieces of equipment for the MWOWC 2018 season. However these changes will not be limited to competitive play:

• Heat Sinks:

Standard heat sinks will see a minor improvement to provide a bit more flexibility in stock play. Specifics to come with the June Patch Notes.

• Ammo:

Autocannon and Missile ammo will be increased to provide better overall potential damage-per-ton compared to the current game. And provide a bit more damage potential from ammo based weapons in the upcoming MWOWC comp queue. Specifics to come with the June Patch Notes.

Build Profile Saving and Sharing Improvements:

• Allowing players to try out imported 'Mech loadouts using Testing Grounds.
  
• Showing invoice for extra cost of using imported loadouts.

</p>
Groovy

DeadMetal89, on 07 June 2018 - 01:34 PM, said:

Where's the blood asp geometry changes for June?

Hopefully scrapped

[Sereglach]

So . . . point of curiosity . . . with all of these balance changes coming specifically to help make the MWOWC more competitive, will we see Flamers getting fixed and turned into fixed, flat values, too? It immediately struck me as a potentially serious problem that'd need to be addressed. Otherwise you might have MWOWC "Flamergeddon 2.0".

After all, the current setup with unmanageable/uncontrollable exponential scaling, heat damage that might actually be effective vs. single heat sinks during pseudo-cooldown windows, plenty of mechs in the lineup (Firestarters, Blackjack 1X, Spider 5D, and Thunderbolt 5SS immediately come to mind) with Flamers, and "free fire windows" with zero ghost heat penalties vs. single heat sinks all could combine to likely cause a pretty serious balancing problem for this stock only MWOWC.

It'd be great to see flamers ditch the exponential scaling mechanics and go to the fixed flat values that they need. 1.0 DPS, 1.5 - 2.0 Heat DPS, and 1.0 HPS would be a great starting point. It'd also be quite manageable to balance for the MWOWC stock modes.

Edited by Sereglach, 07 June 2018 - 02:11 PM.

[Aldodrem]

Some exciting stuff here! always sucked to buy a new chassis only to have to strip it and redo it with the modernized versions of guns. also saving and loading of profiles testing builds out to find one that suits your style for that chassis won't be a PITA anymore.

One disappointment however is the lack of any graphical updates for the rest of the mech models for the 'new' gear. A few chassis models still don't show proper gear/animations since they still need their update pass (side torso rocket pods on a mauler for example).

Edited by Aldodrem, 07 June 2018 - 02:14 PM.

[Metachanic]

Keen to see the new round of 3060 tech updates, but I sincerely hope they do not affect the Battlemaster in the same way as the Banshee. The Battlemaster is the thin red line giving IS a chance at the long-range trading game versus clans in Faction Play, and if its mounts wind up lower, it'll be a very tough spot with no real replacements available.