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Mw5 After 10 Hours Of Campaign Solo And Coop Instant Action


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#1 MischiefSC

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 08:26 AM

So I played the beta instant action as well and then a good dozen instant action coop drops since MW5 went live, plus enough missions to get my Merc rep up to 7. A good full day of stomping in shooty robbits.

I play with M&KB and have a good rig, I play with all graphics maxed and have no frame rate issues.

While the graphics can seem a bit washed out at times they're mostly beautiful. The desert environments especially seem incredible but stomping through forests starting trees on fire with lasers is good clean family fun.

Destructible environment is just straight up fun.

AI is solid for it's job. While I personally am going to enjoy mods that crank it up some notches I can see where it's a solid FPS challenge for the setting for most people.

Vehicles can be stomped on and give me a steady supply of things to seat.

Teammates are not worthless. It reminds me a lot of L4D2 - I don't expect them to carry but they do work. They now make smarter decisions and avoid flattening what we're defending -

Save that Bowser guy I hired. Gave him a Jenner and he blows stuff up and gets out of position more than the other two. At least he's a good shot. It's hard to find good help. The skill system gives me reason to keep shopping for good mercs.

The dropship is fun. I can ignore it and just flip through menus to get my Merc company going or I can walk around and do it by stations and look up at my stompy robbits.

The star map mechanics are engaging. Is it worth it to disengage, jump to a trade route system and repair/rearm and shop for new goodies or do I pay a battlefield premium and do it in the warzone.

The campaign branches and has enough to keep me trotting about and feel a bit of pull beyond just taking missions and getting paid.

The on map indictators for what missions to find where and where to find rare mechs and gear I like. It rewards exploration.

NPCs and voice acting are solid, all of my miscreant merc compatriots are either cockney or Australian and I expect to find cases of Fosters stacked in the corner. Teammates have a surprising number of things they say.

As with MWO and HBS I'm going to find the same recycled maps and mission types repetitive but modding will help and that's inevitably going to be an issue. Currently though I'm still very happy with the variety.

Stock mechs and bracket builds -

I love this. It's an additional layer of challenge and makes me think outside the box I've built after years of MWO and HBS. I am driven to always look for better mechs and ways to squeeze a little more out of what I do have.

BRACKET BUILDS ARE NOT BAD. That was a tough pill to swallow. It's the swarms of vehicles - having an LRM 5 or 10 to swiftly and heat/time efficiently swat vtols and light vehicles is useful and viable. Low armor levels means I don't need a 60 pt alpha just to put stuff down. Maps often have a mix of close and long range and the vehicle swarm means you'll always have a brawl. My best success so far has been burst fire AC10, some mediums and an LRM of some sort. Much later when you've got a lot of tonnage and can run Gauss and LL/PPCs and the like taking builds that can kill effectively at range and still brawl will, I'm sure, be best but until then taking a weapon to swat vtols at range is not bad.

Burst vs slug is more about range than anything. Slug is good for sniping, burst is more damage/heat efficient up close. It seems like burst has better projectile speed.

Weapon tier matters.

Sell gear a lot. Don't be a hoarder. Sell gear you won't use to buy gear you will. You'll lose weapons, have stuff stocked to repair it.

End of the day it's HBS Battletech with MW4 mech lab and MWO combat. If that's going to be fun for you I recommend it. If you want to wait and see what the modding scene puts together that's not a bad idea either but for me this is gonna be hundreds of hours of entertainment.

#2 Jackal Noble

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 09:40 AM

There’s a Bowser in the game? Gtfo, that’s gold.

#3 MischiefSC

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 09:49 AM

View PostJackal Noble, on 11 December 2019 - 09:40 AM, said:

There’s a Bowser in the game? Gtfo, that’s gold.


Yes. I may have to trade him out for a better performer.

#4 Jackal Noble

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 10:58 AM

View PostMischiefSC, on 11 December 2019 - 08:26 AM, said:

End of the day it's HBS Battletech with MW4 mech lab and MWO combat. If that's going to be fun for you I recommend it. If you want to wait and see what the modding scene puts together that's not a bad idea either but for me this is gonna be hundreds of hours of entertainment.


This.
needs to be put on broadcast mode

#5 Novakaine

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 11:34 AM

I'm still grinnin.

#6 jss78

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 11:38 AM

There's one thing you don't directly touch upon. How's the story telling and lore immersion? Do you feel like you're really "in there"? Say compared to HBS BT's campaign (where I personally found the immersion pretty good).

I'm not surprised about the slightly bigger use for bracket builds. They always made more sense in an environment with lots of light threats. Now if we only had infantry, so we could really go to town with those MG's we have on BattleMasters, Warhammers etc.

#7 Mister Blastman

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 11:45 AM

All of what the OP mentions are givens. How about the quality of writing, storytelling, immersion and world building?

And for world building, existing BT lore doesn't count. There can be no crutches to lean on. How well does this game suck the player in to the experience?

What I worry the most is this game will grow repetitive, quickly, and become simply a contest of...

1) accept contract
2) complete and collect c-bills
3) buy more stuff


The story, the world and the characters are what interest me the most and keep me playing.




I have not found a computer game AI yet that is talented enough to keep me interested by itself, alone.

Edited by Mister Blastman, 11 December 2019 - 11:46 AM.


#8 lazorbeamz

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 11:49 AM

Bracket builds are sometimes too much to handle. Damn it the thunderbolt with srm, lrm, medlas, largelas, machineguns. That is 4 or 5 weapon groups.

#9 Jackal Noble

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 11:54 AM

View PostNovakaine, on 11 December 2019 - 11:34 AM, said:

I'm still grinnin.

I have to ask a Davion this - how do you like the lrms/missiles?

#10 Kaeb Odellas

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 12:18 PM

View Postjss78, on 11 December 2019 - 11:38 AM, said:

There's one thing you don't directly touch upon. How's the story telling and lore immersion? Do you feel like you're really "in there"? Say compared to HBS BT's campaign (where I personally found the immersion pretty good).

I'm not surprised about the slightly bigger use for bracket builds. They always made more sense in an environment with lots of light threats. Now if we only had infantry, so we could really go to town with those MG's we have on BattleMasters, Warhammers etc.


Haven't gotten very far in it yet (only a few missions past the tutorial campaign), but from what I've seen MW5's writing, storytelling, and voicework is nowhere near as good as BattleTech's.

There's a dream version of this game in my head where it's literally just an FPS version of the BattleTech campaign and it makes me sad that it doesn't exist.

#11 Funky Bacon

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 12:31 PM

I only have but one real complaint and that is the lack of heat effects. in MWO you know when you are running hot by the sizzling sound, red lights and blinking warning sign. But in MW5 there is.... nothing. Just Betty saying heat is critical at one point but no visual effects or anything like that which would indicate that you are about to cook yourself.

#12 jss78

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 12:35 PM

View PostKaeb Odellas, on 11 December 2019 - 12:18 PM, said:

Haven't gotten very far in it yet (only a few missions past the tutorial campaign), but from what I've seen MW5's writing, storytelling, and voicework is nowhere near as good as BattleTech's.

There's a dream version of this game in my head where it's literally just an FPS version of the BattleTech campaign and it makes me sad that it doesn't exist.


This is my impression also (just from watching streams), it's not exactly awful, but not at HBS level. I feel like PGI kind of outsourced the lore immersion stuff to Randall Bills who wrote the novella series.

View Postlazorbeamz, on 11 December 2019 - 11:49 AM, said:

Bracket builds are sometimes too much to handle. Damn it the thunderbolt with srm, lrm, medlas, largelas, machineguns. That is 4 or 5 weapon groups.


This is why evolution has provided you with five fingers Posted Image (I admit I dislike dealing with more than 3 too.)

Edited by jss78, 11 December 2019 - 12:35 PM.


#13 lazorbeamz

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 12:38 PM

Actually the tradeoff between burst and single shot is the same as with MWO UAC and AC.

Burst deal better dps when you hit all the shots but AC will be better at attacking nimble targets with single shots because you can land 100% damage with 1 hit.

in other words burst needs tracking and will spread damage but will give better DPS value.

Also i have found that SRM weapons are DEADLY.

Edited by lazorbeamz, 11 December 2019 - 12:39 PM.


#14 MischiefSC

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 12:48 PM

The immersion is up and down. I love the dropship and like the voice acting and such but I can't really just go talk to people. The jumps and orbit stuff and the settings for missions and in mission voice work is all good and immersive but it lacks the HBS sense of going and chatting with people.... Though that didn't add much for me tbh.

It feels very Battletech, though the characterization feels lacking.

LRMs are too big. Locking is pretty slow. However they perform well otherwise.

I'd love some Outer Worlds caliber story and characters but that'd be a stretch.

#15 MischiefSC

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 12:52 PM

View Postlazorbeamz, on 11 December 2019 - 12:38 PM, said:

Actually the tradeoff between burst and single shot is the same as with MWO UAC and AC.

Burst deal better dps when you hit all the shots but AC will be better at attacking nimble targets with single shots because you can land 100% damage with 1 hit.

in other words burst needs tracking and will spread damage but will give better DPS value.

Also i have found that SRM weapons are DEADLY.


At brawl range I can consistently put a whole burst on a leg and if I'm slightly off still get like 80% damage on. Having had my AC blown off my Cent like 5 or 6 times now I've switched back and forth. For me anyway I'm finding that the burst is better damage and heat management but at range projectile spread shows. Up close though I'm putting it all on target.

Because enemies are not 60 pt alphas on cycle shoot-twist-shoot isn't nearly as useful.

SRMs are indeed STRONK. Kentaro is some serious business, as is the Catapult BB in instant action.

#16 lazorbeamz

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 01:12 PM

I used 2xsrm6 on the early game missile javlin. it has really low armor values as a compensation for insane splat and dps damage. SRM launchers are haet effective but you still overheat just because they have such a short cooldown.

Edited by lazorbeamz, 11 December 2019 - 01:15 PM.


#17 Alfred VonGunn

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 01:14 PM

View PostFunky Bacon, on 11 December 2019 - 12:31 PM, said:

I only have but one real complaint and that is the lack of heat effects. in MWO you know when you are running hot by the sizzling sound, red lights and blinking warning sign. But in MW5 there is.... nothing. Just Betty saying heat is critical at one point but no visual effects or anything like that which would indicate that you are about to cook yourself.


HUh? I have had big Red Letters appear in my screen warning me it is getting bad followed by the oh crap Emergency Shutdown:)

#18 Xaat Xuun

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 01:41 PM

I've been picky with who I hire, I look at their skills, and see if I have a mech for them.
had one that was only 1/1 heat management, I had dismiss them as soon as I could find the replacement
still a ways to go to having a manageable mech choice heck only have 5 mechs to choose from, for now.
I have had one pilot die on me.

I have been spending more C-Bills then I should

just been doing contracts, haven't stepped back on the Campaign trail, really want to build my crew up first, at least that's the approach I was thinking of taking,
rank 6 now
half tempted to go to a higher difficulty area, just to find me a couple other pilots to hire, that will have a higher max skill number, then who I have now, and start building their skills, not sure I can do that yet tho. have not yet found what determines pilots availability, if it's my rep, or just being in a higher difficulty area

well break is over, time to get back to earning c-bills

#19 Jackal Noble

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 08:48 PM

I've been leaning on this mofo for a good minute.
Posted Image

Edited by Jackal Noble, 11 December 2019 - 08:48 PM.


#20 Kubernetes

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 09:49 PM

I'm having fun. It can be challenging at times just because of everything they throw at you, especially if your other pilot gets hurt and you've got to run solo. Bracket builds and multiple weapons systems makes sense because there are so many low-hp targets to shoot at. And yes, having a single LRM launcher makes a big difference. I like running around shooting one thing with my AC, another target with lasers, while shooting LRMs at airborne targets. You really feel like a multi-tasking one-man army.

I hate burst-fire though. Ugh. I want all the punch in one shot.





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