11 replies to this topic

[Psychoviper]

As far as pilots go, I am not new to the franchise. I played 3,4 and mercs in two clans until the zone shutdown. I mostly used the direwolf with a long range setup 4 ER large and 3 c Gauss dubbed Iowa, 4 clbx 10 and 3clbx20 dubbed taco, or a timberwolf with 6 er large dubbed taco and usually averaged 3/1 KD ratio, best was 7/1. My first 25 games have resulted in a measly 3 kills, and a handle full of wins with trial mechs, and generally feeling bad that my team had me in it. Now that I have roughly enough for a decent mech, from the first 25, I haven't a clue which I'm more successful with or which role in MWO. In the earlier, I was a sniper and just either one hit killed, did one alpha and finished with the ER large or damaged them so badly at 799m that they didn't stand a chance once they got in range for my Lance. Are any of these setups still viable? This is a lot more in depth than 4 was for sure and I hate being the weak link.

[Phoenix 72]

Yeah, one shot kills are not really a thing in this game... You might want to read these threads, because I gave out all my usual advice for newish players there recently and I am a bit too lazy to retype everything right now.

https://mwomercs.com...adet-only-tier/

https://mwomercs.com...me-ya-got-here/

Other than that, welcome aboard. I hope you have fun.

***EDIT: Just some additonal info right now: Assault Mechs are not a good idea for beginners in this game, because your skill from previous MW games will not translate all that well. I checked your average match score, it is pretty low. You might want to stay with Medium and/or Heavy Mechs until you acclimate and manage to get an average match score - which is around 220 - at the very least.***

Edited by Darakor Stormwind, 10 February 2019 - 09:29 AM.

[Redshirt4Life]

Pick up a nice brawling medium and just follow the assaults around. Don't even peek out or expose yourself in any way. Not until something closes in. When the enemy does close in, and they will, tear them to shreds.

I did this starting off and it worked like a charm. Following assaults doesn't require knowledge of the maps so much, but as I play I am learning the maps. Now that I know them a bit better I'm moving into more map-dependent roles.

[Psychoviper]

Darakor Stormwind, on 10 February 2019 - 09:00 AM, said:

Yeah, one shot kills are not really a thing in this game... You might want to read these threads, because I gave out all my usual advice for newish players there recently and I am a bit too lazy to retype everything right now.

https://mwomercs.com...adet-only-tier/

https://mwomercs.com...me-ya-got-here/

Other than that, welcome aboard. I hope you have fun.

***EDIT: Just some additonal info right now: Assault Mechs are not a good idea for beginners in this game, because your skill from previous MW games will not translate all that well. I checked your average match score, it is pretty low. You might want to stay with Medium and/or Heavy Mechs until you acclimate and manage to get an average match score - which is around 220 - at the very least.***

I agree, I am trash at the moment. 3 of my drops were connection failures so when I reconnected, I died immediately. My best was using a hunch I shadowed a supernova and it seemed to work. Maybe I'll try a support role and tag team with the biggers, giving protection/assistance. Still gotta pick a mech I can work with. Maybe a bushy or a cauldron born, whatever that main name is.

[Phoenix 72]

Bushwacker is a good tanky IS Medium. It favours ballistic builds (with the X1 and X2) and can do quite well.

I myself am highly partial to the Crab. I tend to recommend it to any new player as an excellent boat to learn. You can get the 27B for more firepower, the 27SL for more mobility and the 27 for more utility. I own all of them.

If you checked out the other threads, you can find a build I recommend that is really tanky and quite nice to learn with. It's a Zombie build, which means you can lose half the Mech and still be operational. Watch the videos in those threads to find out how to play them, because you can be very aggressive with them.

And the best is that the Crab is fairly inexpensive to buy. With the money from those first 25 games, you should easily be able to buy and fully kit out a Crab and potentially get started on a Bushwacker as well.

***EDIT: I like this build for the Bushwacker X2, but there are plenty of other good builds out there:

https://mwo.smurfy-n...126db46471f0059

This build is cold as hell and allows you to shoot for ages.***

Edited by Darakor Stormwind, 10 February 2019 - 10:43 AM.

[Koniving]

Darakor Stormwind, on 10 February 2019 - 09:00 AM, said:

Yeah, one shot kills are not really a thing in this game...

Unless its a light.



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Psychoviper, on 10 February 2019 - 08:51 AM, said:

My first 25 games have resulted in a measly 3 kills,

To note: Many past game players, especially when the game first started, actually went a few weeks without a successful solo kill. Mechs usually had to gang up on a single target before someone dropped dead.

They do die a lot faster now, but in general MW4's balancing issues are...not as bad here with PGI's version of them. They still leave a lot to be desired for a Battletech title and compared to MW3... but at least its not the kind of rapid kills of MW2 and MW4.

Going one versus one, a fight is going to last a while. You should try to engage enemies as a group whenever possible. While I'd hardly think MWO lives up to its original subtitle of "a thinking person's shooter," it is most certainly a team oriented shooter and the team that works together better is the one that usually wins.

The closest to a universal one hit kill shot you're going to get is a headshot, but even then it is sometimes actually 2 or even 3 shots, it really just depends on how much the enemy skimped out on the head armor (many people walk around with 2 head armor, but that's still 17+ points of damage that they can take and if they have structure bonuses, sometimes that amount is well over 20, meanwhile someone with a fully armored head might tank around 40+ damage. This combined with how tiny heads are...and basically it isn't worth doing as you have to get your shot to converge on a tiny thing often about 4 to 8 pixels in size on a 1080p screen, when the target is prone to either hobble or wobble when it moves.

Sniping (more like sharp shooting) is still viable, of course. But you're better off either neutering the target (significantly reduce its available firepower), crippling the target (break legs) or going for the backshot.

[Psychoviper]

Well, for game 24 and 25 I bought a bushy, setup with what seemed to work with the hunch. Alas, my damage and kills went up. Went from a horrible less than 200 at time damage to 350+ and actually started racking up kills. Maybe it was the available mechs and loadouts that hindered my performance, but I am certain now that I am doing well, I'll fall on horrible luck for the next few games as a means of karma. Got a crab too, haven't used it yet.

[Gen Lee]

One thing I found that helped me a LOT before I even started playing this game was watching Youtube videos of other people playing, especially Molten Metal (Baradul). He doesn't always just play, he also explains things, and he's fun to watch. Other than that, I read a lot on these forums to pick up any info and clear up any confusion about stuff.

My first bought mech was a Hellbringer, and I customized it for the meta. I then bought myself a Marauder 3R. Those two mechs are very solid. Look into them, watch some videos. You'll pick up the game much quicker, and enjoy it a lot more.

[Phoenix 72]

OP, the Bushwacker is one of the most powerful medium mechs. Also, as I said in one of those threads I linked to, Trial Mechs are often not quite optimised and you will not gain skill points on them, which is why you should move away from them as fast as you can. What Wacker did you buy? And which build are you using on it? We may be able to help optimise it a bit more...

Gen Lee, I absolutely agree on watching Baradul. Informative and entertaining. I watch his "Daily Dose of Mechwarrior Online" every day. There are some streamers out that are better pilots (Beef and Ash come to mid), but Baradul does play weird builds for fun and tries out non-meta mechs "because I have not played one in forever". Although, you might not want to go buy stuff based on what he does well with. I did for some Mechs, and he is a better pilot than I am and I did not get a number of those builds to work for me.

[Psychoviper]

Darakor Stormwind, on 10 February 2019 - 10:00 PM, said:

OP, the Bushwacker is one of the most powerful medium mechs. Also, as I said in one of those threads I linked to, Trial Mechs are often not quite optimised and you will not gain skill points on them, which is why you should move away from them as fast as you can. What Wacker did you buy? And which build are you using on it? We may be able to help optimise it a bit more...

Gen Lee, I absolutely agree on watching Baradul. Informative and entertaining. I watch his "Daily Dose of Mechwarrior Online" every day. There are some streamers out that are better pilots (Beef and Ash come to mid), but Baradul does play weird builds for fun and tries out non-meta mechs "because I have not played one in forever". Although, you might not want to go buy stuff based on what he does well with. I did for some Mechs, and he is a better pilot than I am and I did not get a number of those builds to work for me.

BSW X1. Went with a simple lbx10 and 2 ssrm 6, bap, ams. Idk I I'm going to keep the ssrm due to the time needed for lock, but the lock time, but the tracking ssrm has saved my life once.

[Phoenix 72]

If it works for you, that's what counts.

The X1 is also a nice chassis for Triple RAC2s. If you are ever growing bored of your current build, try it out one of those days.

Either way, enjoy the game. Glad to hear you are happy with the Bushwacker.