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What Makes You Buy Mechs?


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#1 Nesutizale

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 12:32 AM

What makes you buy mechs?

Nostalgia, Meta, Look, the lore behind it, maybe the roll of the dice, your cat secretly buying every mech with Cat in its name?
Or is it like in the latest sale that you go with some Streamer you like.

While I know some of the names and watched some, I was definitly not drawn in by it and just straight went for the mechs and said...nope not my mechs.

That is what spawned the question for me, why would I buy mechs....and for me its looks and nostalgia first and playablility later.

So whats your deal?

#2 caravann

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 01:57 AM

Mostly for the look.

I don't think lore justify function because mechs in lore are 500 years outdated. Some are not even in production.
The Cicada is the worst mech made and is competing with a locust in lore. In fact lore does not count weight on mechs because they're guard defenses against invasions and only invasion fleets have to consider weight. This is why scorpion tanks are used as swarm tactics by being cheap to manufacture but in term of weight you wouldn't be able to transport all those tanks to new planets.

Mechs like the Awesome isn't used since function doesn't compensate lore. The 100ton mech were harder to manufacture that you could get 4 lighter assault for the production time of 3 heavier. With a cost of 6.5m c-bills in a production line the Awesome is 2m cheaper and means a 4 vs 3 assault mechs. The Awesome is 25% better by costing less.

Then we come to the case that drops don't cost anything and capacity on dropships isn't based on tonnage that won't matter what mech you pick from a category as it's going to be compared to the same class for the wrong reasons.

Classes of mechs in lore isn't cut in stone based on tonnage.

The corsair is considered a heavy mech in lore. But in the game because it weight more than 75ton it's considered an assault.
The reason is timeline and what role it had. The corsair had no specific model and was a mech made out of spare parts and the tonnage is poorly made quality. Because of its tonnage videogames and tabletop assume that it's able to carry an increase of capacity but most of the tonnage is infrastructure to prevent it to fall apart.

In lore you have : Archer, marauder, jagermech and highlander.
But in the game these aren't the most used mechs.
Instead we see mechs who should outright be outmatched.

My first mech was bushwacker and thunderbolt. I primary looked after mechs with many hardpoints.
If I can't put a weapon on the mech the lore won't matter. In my taste I think the clan mechs are by design the most ugliest things ever made. They're supposed to be part of the old world but they don't seem to fit with the new style. Stats ends up yes or no for if a mech is useful. Mechs who the developers want to be good, are good for this reason. You end up slam a wall that you must follow the meta, at lower tiers you see people experiment, a rifleman with heavy machineguns and flamers, a kitfox with atm3's, a flea with a rac2 or ppc, raven with ac/20, gauss rifle + rotary cannon, snub nose and LBX.

The conclusion to why buying a mech is what hardpoints I get and have I seen it working.
If the mech has all missile hardpoints , I later on regret it because with a single ballistic or energy I could make new combinations.
Not having at least one hardpoint of each kind locks you out of 2/3 of all content.

I spent 20 000 c-bills on a commando, just to find out what is the best build.

There's also the case that turrets aren't working because turrets allowed mechs to fire backwards that buying a mech with turrets is bad if there's a better option.

#3 Bud Crue

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 04:26 AM

When I first started playing it was 100% nostalgia. Then, aesthetics. Then, what ever was meta in FP. Now, its based exclusively on does it have high hard points and/or does it have lots of one kind of them.

#4 ThreeStooges

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 08:24 AM

Hard point type,placement and number. Now though I really don't since grinding out skills on unskilled mechs is so not fun so I just run my regular skilled mechs. Some mechs are outright trash to others.

If a mech variant is really different or has something the others don't I'll go for it. Take the panthers. All of them have the gorilla 90% weapon loss in the arm except the kk. So I got the kk as it is the only pnt to not lose all that fire power from having the arm/shoulder shot off.

I never buy a mech due to its quirks no matter how paper tiger it sounds. 40% velocity to ppcs. Meh if pgi wanted to make a real ppc dedicated mech they'd go 40% heat reduction so I can fire more per match with both erppcs without the high heat. Also pgi likes to stealth nerf quirks without putting it into patch notes. Fire starters use to have really high rof to compete with the pirs but then it got reduced to 25-20% mg rof.

Mechs can also have crappy wtf quirks too. most common is mg rof...on heavies and assults too. Or a quirk for a single hard point instead of the more obvious better hard points. The jenners have missile quirks for 1-2m in the ct. wtf. Give them laser duration or some thing. No one except me is going to lrm boat a jenner.

#5 FupDup

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 08:56 AM

The two general requirements:

1. Be good or at least not bad.

2. Fit my preferences (i.e. I will probably never buy a tiny light or slow assault no matter how meta they are).

#6 Lajur Kas

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 11:39 AM

View Postcaravann, on 08 May 2022 - 01:57 AM, said:

In fact lore does not count weight on mechs because they're guard defenses against invasions and only invasion fleets have to consider weight.


Are you referring to a specific rule set?

View Postcaravann, on 08 May 2022 - 01:57 AM, said:


Classes of mechs in lore isn't cut in stone based on tonnage.

Role may not be determined by it, but Class is absolutely determined by tonnage.

View Postcaravann, on 08 May 2022 - 01:57 AM, said:

The corsair is considered a heavy mech in lore.


Unless a ruling has come from on high, the Corsair is not a canonical mech and it's lore is unique to MWO where it is an Assault class.

View Postcaravann, on 08 May 2022 - 01:57 AM, said:

Mechs who the developers want to be good, are good...


Agreed...see scaling, hit boxes, and machine gun spam.

#7 Lajur Kas

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 11:44 AM

View PostBud Crue, on 08 May 2022 - 04:26 AM, said:

When I first started playing it was 100% nostalgia. Then, aesthetics. Then, what ever was meta in FP. Now, its based exclusively on does it have high hard points and/or does it have lots of one kind of them.


Pretty much with Bud Crue on this...however I don't typically play the MWO mechs...so a smidge of nostalgia is left.

#8 MrMadguy

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 11:44 AM

Just two factors:
1) How they look
2) How interesting their builds are

That's why I don't have Mediums and Lights. They're 1) mostly ugly, except may be 1-2 Mediums 2) have limited tonnage = limited builds.

#9 Meep Meep

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 12:08 PM

Meta only. The only thing I care about is gameplay.

#10 LordNothing

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 12:17 PM

if they dont bring a source of novelty they may as well not exist. that usually means unique quirks or hardpoints, something that is increasingly hard to do given the number of mechs in the game. im kind of interested in the crusader hero, but really dont want to have to buy the full pack to get it. its cheaper just to wait for it to come up in mc rotation and buy it then.

i also dont always have the available funds. the mechpacks arent really worth it outside of the early adopters period. pgi has done a good job of extending that to a significantly wider window. there have been packs i wanted and skipped entirely because i didnt have the funds that month and early adopters expired before i got them. also having regular impulse buy deals, like stand alone hero mechs, means there is always something to buy when i run a surplus.

Edited by LordNothing, 08 May 2022 - 12:25 PM.


#11 Akamia Terizen

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Posted 08 May 2022 - 03:41 PM

Sometimes it's nostalgia (Most Clan ’Mechs), sometimes it's because it's an SLDF Royal ’Mech (HGN-732b, PXH-1b, BL-6b-KNT, etc.), sometimes it's because I can build an SLDF Royal ’Mech out of it (MAD-3R, AS7-D), sometimes it's because I can build a canon custom out of it (ON1-P), and sometimes it's because it already is a canon custom out-of-box (TBR-BH, MAD-BH2).

Only very recently did I care about buying something because it was meta, and even then, it's not something I plan to run in Quick Play often; my lore/SLDF/nostalgia, and thus decisively non-meta, ’Mechs are my joyriders. I need something with teeth for running competitive play with my unit.

Edited by Akamia Terizen, 09 May 2022 - 02:50 PM.


#12 Horseman

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Posted 09 May 2022 - 03:34 AM

Most of the time I'm buying mechs because I was looking for a platform to run a particular loadout on and this particular chassis seems like the right platform. Nostalgia is a close second though, and one of the main motivators for buying mech packs.

Edited by Horseman, 09 May 2022 - 07:12 AM.


#13 Zeddicuus

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Posted 09 May 2022 - 06:23 AM

I don't know much of the lore, not by a long shot. So, for me, part is nostalgia. I remember playing Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries as a wee little Zedd, and mechs like the MadCat & Orion were some of my favourite. When I got Mechwarrior 3, the MadCat was my main mech of choice. So it's pretty obvious given what I just typed the first Mech I got my mitts on was the MadCat this go around. As for any others, its been mostly functional. I wanted a medium mech that could carry some big guns, a fast engine and jumpjets for ambush tactics so I went with the VGL. Figured I should get a hold of a light, and the Arctic cheetah has access to omnipods so that's pretty sweet.

I guess the only one I went with for looks was an assault mech that I tossed 2x RAC 5 on so I could go BRRRRTT!! and look like a bad *** doing it.

#14 Marquis De Lafayette

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Posted 09 May 2022 - 11:18 AM

The fantasy that the particular mech I am buying (equipped with the right load out) will be OP for a certain role. On occasion the fantasy is close to reality, but most of the time it’s an unfulfilled dream.

#15 An6ryMan69

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Posted 09 May 2022 - 11:46 AM

Looking cool is nice, something different or quirky is nice, lore means nothing, and meta is something I accidentally stepped in and now have to scrape off my shoe.

I'm still chasing the dream of finding that "perfect" mech for me.

I've got some "feast and famine" mechs, some "never the worst choice" mechs, and a very small number of "pretty darn good almost all the time" mechs, but still looking for "perfect" mech.

Edited by An6ryMan69, 09 May 2022 - 11:47 AM.


#16 TheCaptainJZ

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Posted 09 May 2022 - 11:51 AM

The earlier mech packs went up to 4 mechs (or more) for an increasing amount of money. Since I couldn't justify spending $100 on digital goods to get assault mechs, that limited me to the lights and mediums of those packs (Locust and Shadowhawk, Kitfox and Nova, Panther and Enforcer, Jenner IIC and Hunchback IIC) even though bigger isn't necessarily better in this game. I'm glad they went away with that model. I only ever feel comfortable spending up to $40-50 at a time and only up to twice that a year, if that, on a single game like this.
As for appeal, Hero mechs with custom patterns and cbill bonus were a major driving force early on. Nostalgia, or having played those mechs in a previous game were also factors, but now I have so many mechs, and am not a real competitive player, I buy things only if it piques my interest in some way. The Warden pack for instance with the ECM Timberwolf, and the camo and elemental bolt-ons are pretty cool.

Edited by TheCaptainJZ, 09 May 2022 - 11:52 AM.


#17 KaptinOrk

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Posted 09 May 2022 - 01:59 PM

I have a few 'mechs that I simply enjoy and I'll make a point to use them in MWO, MW5, HBSBT and TT (in the future). It mostly has to do with lore and history in the franchise, things like meta effectiveness or hardpoint locations never cross my mind.

I also like 'mechs that have a certain unquantifiable character to them, some kind of je ne sai qua. The IS Hunchback and the Blackjack both have that character for me, I can't explain it.

Edit: I know that I'll never be an ultra-high tier player if I don't pick good 'mechs and play good builds, but I don't want that. My goal is to have fun and positively contribute to the team, as long as I pull my own weight, then I'm good.

Edited by KaptinOrk, 09 May 2022 - 02:03 PM.


#18 MrTBSC

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Posted 10 May 2022 - 02:29 AM

Buying with real money? nothing ...
with the current state the game should offer a Starterpack 4 IS + 4 Clanmechs that fit the general meta for 25 to 30 bucks...

... i just don´t have any incentive to invest money into the game ... i do have an incentive to invest time though ...

#19 ScrapIron Prime

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Posted 10 May 2022 - 05:23 AM

I'll buy a mech pack because I've always loved that mech, having played Battletech since 1985. For mechs I haven't always loved (like the Dervish, for example), I'll wait until it comes out for cBills. That gives me time to see what the meta players can do with it and whether I want to jump on board or just make do with a similar loadout on a different mech I already own.

So yeah, I dove on the Crusader the day it came available because I love the Crusader. I eventually bought the Charger pack because I kinda like it. Still haven't bought the Rifleman IIc, never really loved that mech and I can do much the same thing with Hellbringers or Ebon Jags I already own.

#20 1Exitar1

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Posted 10 May 2022 - 07:01 PM

In a word: want. If I want it bad enough, I will buy it. Usually it is from seeing one do well in a match or in a video. I will wait for a sale though. I am not made of money. Posted Image





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