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[InnerSphereNews]

MechWarrior Online July Patch Warden Booster Pack Preview

Matt, Daeron, Mark, and Francois take a look at the Warden Pack Content and a temporary graphical change in Canyon Network.

Time Stamps

• Intro 00:00 - 01:00
• Warden Mech Skins and Bolt-ons 01:01 - 03:41
• Service Restart 03:42 - 03:59
• Break dancing Bolt-ons 04:00 - 05:27
• Canyon Network Temp Change 05:28 - 05:50
• Warden Pack Cockpit Items Preview 05:51 - 08:59
• Not revealing the Quirks 09:00 - 09:36
• The Batchall 09:37 - 09:52
• Creepy Clowns 09:53 - 10:43

QUIRKS! Many of you have reached out asking for us to preview the quirks, prior to the patch notes. We hear you, so here they are!

Timber Wolf TBR-BH(S)

Timber Wolf TBR-BH(S)

CHASSIS C-BILL BONUS +30%

TORSO YAW ANGLE +10

BASE ARMOR (CT) +5

BASE ARMOR (LT) +8

BASE ARMOR (RT) +5

Set of 8 Bonuses

PULSE LASER HEAT GEN. -7.5%

TARGET INFO GATHERING +30%

SENSOR RANGE +100

XP BONUS +2.5%

Dire Wolf DWF-C(S)

Dire Wolf DWF-C(S)

CHASSIS C-BILL BONUS +30%

JUMP JET BURN TIME +6%

BASE ARMOR (CT) +6

BASE ARMOR (LT) +10

BASE ARMOR (RT) +15

JUMP JET CAPACITY +3

Set of 8 Bonuses

VELOCITY +10%

TORSO YAW SPEED +10%

TURN RATE +10%

XP BONUS +2.5%

Preorder the Warden Pack here

https://mwomercs.com/warden

Warden Pack Delivery Date: July 20th

EARLY ADOPTER BONUSES EXPIRE:

AUG. 17TH 23:59:59 (PDT) (AUG. 18TH 6:59:59 UTC)

REMINDER!

There will be a Warden Pack Challenge Event once the pack is delivered.

DO NOT sell your Standard Variants until the event has concluded!

[Mark Nicholson]

So, given that I was involved in this pack end-to-end, I figured everyone here might enjoy a bit more of what went into it. But first, I found that old creepy clown banshee jack in the box we talked about in the vlog.



I had started experimenting with some ideas for this skin very early, I think at the time all that had been set was that it was going to be clan 'Mechs. We'd done skins related to Battletech:The Animated Series before, with the Mauler and Bushwacker heroes, but I wanted to try pushing it a bit more. I'd loved this show as a kid, and had been into battletech for a couple years already. The computer generated scenes had particularly attracted my attention, and it's stuff like this show and Reboot that had really gotten me interested in 3D modelling to begin with.



When looking for reference from the show, I also found the animated timberwolf's colors rather interesting, and I did some experimenting using those colors as well. Later, as planning on the pack started, I gave these test images to Alex Iglesias to start creating skin concept art from. As you can see, we went through several iterations, and eventually abandoned the brighter colors in favour of something that felt a lot more like the 3D outlines, as well as feeling like the enhanced imaging look in MechWarrior 2 (which is just black meshes with colored wireframes).



I can't recall the exact timing of when I'd gotten the idea to do Elemental bolt-ons for this pack, but they'd been in the back of my head for a while before. When the variants were chosen, it just seemed to fit. A pair of Clan Wolf chassis, both having Wolf in the name, and that's also the clan that develops Elementals in the first place. This is exactly where you should see them! So I got Alex to rough out some sketches, and we went from there.



Later, once I'd gotten going on them, I did some scale tests, to see how big they should be. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't overwhelm smaller chassis, nor feel too tiny on large ones despite only being used on these two special variants. So once I had a rough 3d model, I posed some up for review.



After that, modeling. Knowing I wouldn't have time for anything but the simplest posing rig, I knew they had to have a really big range of motion. Testing how far you could get without the geometry clipping on itself proved a bit difficult, given how chunky the armor is. I used some techniques I'd learned making gunpla, which really helped, like having 2 joints in the knee instead of only one.



The materials for them came along rather quickly, as it's the exact same setup as the 'Mechs, and yes, the Elementals are colourable.



The exciting part, getting them all working together! I originally had a stretch goal of trying to put some idle animation on a few of them, something subtle, where they'd stay still for a while, then move a little bit. It was ambitious, and while I really liked the idea, I knew it was unlikely I'd have time to do that before the deadline. As I expected, there wasn't time, and so they remain static.



I hope you all enjoyed this, and I'll be watching this thread for a couple days, answering as many questions as I can, so please ask away.

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

What are the quirks. All I care about is the quirks.

Give me the quirks Mark.

[TheUltimateGhost]

omg these elementals are cute.

nice job PGI <3

[armyunit]

Wow, gotta say, I really like the little bit of flavor added to Canyon Network!

[C337Skymaster]

Got partway through the video, and had to stop to point out: "POINT"!!! These 'mechs have a POINT of Elementals bolted to them. Not a Star. That is all.

Oh, that's not all. The other thing (which has been said before) is noting the irony of putting elemental boltons on the Bounty Hunter, who was an Inner Sphere pilot who fought AGAINST the Clans, and just happened to salvage a Timber Wolf after he was shot out of his Marauder.

Edited by C337Skymaster, 15 July 2021 - 12:02 PM.

[Kodan Black]

I was happy with the purchase before seeing those elementals. But now ...

[nuttyrat]

Yeah I'm going to need like .... 600 of those war horns and standing cockpit items so i can outfit my mechs properly.

[shazui]

Must say I am appreciating the informality in the videos, nice to know not all things are always perfect.
Do think that the elementals are awesome.

[RJF Daniel]

Is each elemental a separate bolt-on?

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

The quirks, Mark.

Mark Nicholson, on 15 July 2021 - 11:33 AM, said:

So, given that I was involved in this pack end-to-end, I figured everyone here might enjoy a bit more of what went into it. But first, I found that old creepy clown banshee jack in the box we talked about in the vlog.

We better be getting that. I'd totally buy it, its kind of neat.

Edited by My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 15 July 2021 - 01:07 PM.

[Avalon91211]

Love the elementals! I hope we can buy them seperately as well, wouldn't mind putting one or 2 on some of my other mechs to have a little buddy come with me into battle. Also, I would like to toss out my support to make the water in Canyon Network a permanent addition to that map. I think it adds a nice touch to an already well designed map.

[Mark Nicholson]

RJF Daniel, on 15 July 2021 - 12:58 PM, said:

Is each elemental a separate bolt-on?

Not quite. I had to work in the confines of the bolt-on system, so the front left/right pair are a single bolt-on.

My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on 15 July 2021 - 01:07 PM, said:

The quirks, Mark.

We better be getting that. I'd totally buy it, its kind of neat.

I won't be posting Quirks here, but it's my suspicion they'll be up with the patch notes.

And there's already a much better Javelin-in-the-box, which was made from this thing. you should go check that out instead.

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

Mark Nicholson, on 15 July 2021 - 01:22 PM, said:

I won't be posting Quirks here, but it's my suspicion they'll be up with the patch notes.

Shame, I wanted to see the quirks before I committed to a purchase.

Quote

And there's already a much better Javelin-in-the-box, which was made from this thing. you should go check that out instead.

I like it because it looks so bad.

[Mark Nicholson]

My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on 15 July 2021 - 01:25 PM, said:

Shame, I wanted to see the quirks before I committed to a purchase.

well, they're up now.

[Kurt the Merc]

Thanks you guys this all looks awesome. Also great idea putting water in the canyons

Do the torso elementals fit with the double missle TBR-S torso pods, or is there clipping?
I love my quad srms

[Daneel Hazen]

This is the most righteous thing I have seen in a long time.

Activate enhanced imaging.

(Turkina pls!)

Edited by Daneel Hazen, 15 July 2021 - 02:00 PM.

[FupDup]

Are the C-Bill variants of the TBR and DWF going to get quirks similar to these? Because right now those quirks are better than the existing quirks on the chassis, even though the hardpoints are already decent on their own merits. This isn't like the Stryker pack where they had inferior hardpoints so they needed extra quirkage to be viable.

Edited by FupDup, 15 July 2021 - 02:06 PM.

[D V Devnull]

Mark Nicholson, on 15 July 2021 - 11:33 AM, said:

But first, I found that old creepy clown banshee jack in the box we talked about in the vlog.

An interesting object... and very distinctly different from the Javelin-in-the-Box too. Maybe it happens that I'm crazy, or perhaps I wonder who all would want this in their cockpits... but I think you and the others should make a final version of this Clown-Banshee-in-the-Box item for release. If nothing else, it would make a great reward for an Event Challenge whenever the ol' April Fools' Day stuff comes around. Can you imagine someone pairing it with the Fools' WarHorn in their own personal cockpit setups?


Also, please pass along to Francois (or as Matt told me to call him, Frank) that I think he may have an absolute hit in adding all that extra water zoning to the Canyon Network terrain for increased interesting gameplay. I will very much look forward to this upcoming change to the map, and the overall visual effect which it may have upon battles.

This does come with one question worth asking, which someone else decided to mention to me. With all that added water on the terrain, is there also the ability to get increased cooling from standing in it? Or are those Mechs which equip Single Heat Sinks (or for the Clans, their version of the Double Heat Sink systems) in the legs completely out of luck on getting extra cooling on the lower terrain? Or was that whole "cooling bonus for legs with Heat Sinks in water" thing never a part of MWO during all these years?


And not to forget, between seeing this preview of the Warden Pack items, the Quirks (Likely defined as Set-Of-Eight in nature, right?) that are being shown as possible for release, those special cockpit items (in particular, that WarHorn which looks like Night Vision Goggles being hard-mounted), and the Clan Elemental Bolt-Ons, those Mechs are going to be something to enjoy too. I will also look forward to seeing all of it emerge on the battlefields. Hey, even this emoji fits right now...

FupDup, on 15 July 2021 - 02:05 PM, said:

Are the C-Bill variants of the TBR and DWF going to get quirks similar to these? Because right now those quirks are better than the existing quirks on the chassis, even though the hardpoints are already decent on their own merits. This isn't like the Stryker pack where they had inferior hardpoints so they needed extra quirkage to be viable.

Hello there... I would personally like to ask you to not overreact so much as of yet about those Quirks which have been listed for the Warden Pack's Mechs which are incoming. Why? Because it's more than likely that most (as in, all the ones between "Chassis [C-Bills] Bonus" and "Base Armor" Bonuses in particular) of those Quirks have a deadlock of requiring the Set-Of-Eight being completely undisrupted. Otherwise, if those aren't so "Set-Of-Eight deadlocked" as I happen to think they are, you might have something going on there... at which point, then please start panicking unless The Cauldron is swinging through with some kind of Crazy Quirk Pass that I am unaware of.


~D. V. "thinks that Mark Nicholson should implement the Clown-Banshee-in-the-Box....... and some other thoughts" Devnull

[FupDup]

D V Devnull, on 15 July 2021 - 02:30 PM, said:

Hello there... I would personally like to ask you to not overreact so much as of yet about those Quirks which have been listed for the Warden Pack's Mechs which are incoming. Why? Because it's more than likely that most (as in, all the ones between "Chassis [C-Bills] Bonus" and "Base Armor" Bonuses in particular) of those Quirks have a deadlock of requiring the Set-Of-Eight being completely undisrupted. Otherwise, if those aren't so "Set-Of-Eight deadlocked" as I happen to think they are, you might have something going on there... at which point, then please start panicking unless The Cauldron is swinging through with some kind of Crazy Quirk Pass that I am unaware of.

My point isn't that they're OMG OP, because they objectively are not at all; My point is that it feels like the preexisting variants have been neglected for a long time.

Also I'm looking more at the armor quirks which are not locked to set-of-8 and which both chassis sorely needed across all variants (perhaps excluding DWF-UV). The TBR's set of 8 isn't any sacrifice because the hardpoints are good, but the DWF does at least sacrifice ballistics for it.

Edited by FupDup, 15 July 2021 - 02:38 PM.