23 replies to this topic

[BarracudaFastback]

Thought Id take a chance on MWO because I'm a real battletech fan I know cadets get good bonuses and it's a major event to help along but I have to say after 10 games I've died every game and I just can't justify continuing to play where newbs have ZERO chance of success as cadets get immediate focused due to lack of skills, etc Too bad as I thought it would be fun but turns out it isn't so I'm off to something better and MWO will be uninstalled asap Thanks to the team mates who tried to help I know I'll take heat from not toughing it out but life is too short to waste what little actual gaming time I have on a no win situation PGI needs to do more for any new player to at least give them a a slim chance to keep playing

[epikt]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.


Without any more context it's hard to tell you what went wrong and what could have been better.
A question though: you're talking about a "major event", did you play in the event queue or the quick play queue? Because there is no matchmaking in the event queue. In quick play you'll find yourself in a much safer environment, without the strongest players.
Also, MWO might take a little time in order to get the basics.

Anyway, on the end it's your call if you want to persevere or not.

[Void Angel]

You're not getting focused because you're a Cadet; you're getting focused because you're exposing yourself too much, and getting into the wrong positions. But if you're not willing to learn, there's not much to be done; we can set you up with tactics and builds, but MWO isn't quite like anything else, and it may take a while to learn.

That being said, new players do not have "no chance;" Not everyone picks up the game at the same rate, and the game can be counter-intuitive until you adapt to it. Still, I talk to players on the New Player forums and they don't report having "no chance" to succeed in matches. Give it a chance and you'll get better.

[Tesunie]

BarracudaFastback, on 24 August 2025 - 04:56 PM, said:

Thought Id take a chance on MWO because I'm a real battletech fan I know cadets get good bonuses and it's a major event to help along but I have to say after 10 games I've died every game and I just can't justify continuing to play where newbs have ZERO chance of success as cadets get immediate focused due to lack of skills, etc Too bad as I thought it would be fun but turns out it isn't so I'm off to something better and MWO will be uninstalled asap Thanks to the team mates who tried to help I know I'll take heat from not toughing it out but life is too short to waste what little actual gaming time I have on a no win situation PGI needs to do more for any new player to at least give them a a slim chance to keep playing

Okay, going to take this in some pieces.

I have to echo Epikt. Where you playing QP (Quick Play) or EP (Event Play)? Or are you talking about the current running Loot Bag event? The Loot Bags will give you some extra stuffs, which can help you get your account standing on it's own with actual custom mechs beyond the free trial mechs sooner.

You've played 10 matches. This game has a rather steep learning curve. It's not a bad game once you figure things out. A lot can go wrong while you are learning, from poor builds, unskilled mechs, placing the wrong skills on a mech, map learning, etc. Don't dismiss this game too soon... You could be denying yourself a lot of fun.

You say you've died in every match. This leads me to ask, what do you consider to be your goal in a match? Most matches I have been in, I die too. The game isn't about surviving till the end of the match, but to do what you can to get your team to win, and/or to do whatever you can to get your match score as high as you can. So, don't count that you are not surviving a match as a bad thing. You don't have to survive the match, just do what you can and enjoy the match.

I don't recall Cadets having a "kick me" sign on their back. I believe there is an emblem attached to their names while being a Cadet, but it isn't showing over your mech in the match, just the score board. I doubt people are finding who is a cadet and purposefully trying to hunt them down.

Before you uninstall the game (and FYI, it's actually against the ToS to make posts on the forums saying you are uninstalling the game, as it's usually seen as irrelevant posts, unless you are doing so for some actionable reason), I might encourage you to finish the 25 match Cadet phase. Get a mech of your own. Customize your ride. Ask for building advise. If you are still on free Trial mechs, and you don't own any mechs yet yourself, then you are not even experiencing the game, you are still on the demo for the game. Most of the Champion Trial mechs are hot trash, built upon metas from a time long past. Most of those builds where built from players who never considered how the mech would operate once tuning was done, or how the mechs perform without any skills on them (as trial mechs have no unlocked skills). Suggestions were made for better trial builds, but the community didn't consider that and instead chose flavor of the month meta builds. Is kind of sad, to be honest.

One thing I might add into the asking from you... As you are intending to leave. If you aren't planning of trying to stay longer, what suggestions would you give to PGI to help new player retention? What changes would you recommend to ease them into the game? Any mechanic or solutions you can provide?

I still feel you didn't even give the game a chance, but if you don't enjoy the game, then go find a game you will enjoy more. Plenty of games to choose from. Trust me on that, as I know that issue well...

[KursedVixen]

Tesunie, on 24 August 2025 - 06:19 PM, said:

Okay, going to take this in some pieces.

I have to echo Epikt. Where you playing QP (Quick Play) or EP (Event Play)? Or are you talking about the current running Loot Bag event? The Loot Bags will give you some extra stuffs, which can help you get your account standing on it's own with actual custom mechs beyond the free trial mechs sooner.

You've played 10 matches. This game has a rather steep learning curve. It's not a bad game once you figure things out. A lot can go wrong while you are learning, from poor builds, unskilled mechs, placing the wrong skills on a mech, map learning, etc. Don't dismiss this game too soon... You could be denying yourself a lot of fun.

You say you've died in every match. This leads me to ask, what do you consider to be your goal in a match? Most matches I have been in, I die too. The game isn't about surviving till the end of the match, but to do what you can to get your team to win, and/or to do whatever you can to get your match score as high as you can. So, don't count that you are not surviving a match as a bad thing. You don't have to survive the match, just do what you can and enjoy the match.

I don't recall Cadets having a "kick me" sign on their back. I believe there is an emblem attached to their names while being a Cadet, but it isn't showing over your mech in the match, just the score board. I doubt people are finding who is a cadet and purposefully trying to hunt them down.

Before you uninstall the game (and FYI, it's actually against the ToS to make posts on the forums saying you are uninstalling the game, as it's usually seen as irrelevant posts, unless you are doing so for some actionable reason), I might encourage you to finish the 25 match Cadet phase. Get a mech of your own. Customize your ride. Ask for building advise. If you are still on free Trial mechs, and you don't own any mechs yet yourself, then you are not even experiencing the game, you are still on the demo for the game. Most of the Champion Trial mechs are hot trash, built upon metas from a time long past. Most of those builds where built from players who never considered how the mech would operate once tuning was done, or how the mechs perform without any skills on them (as trial mechs have no unlocked skills). Suggestions were made for better trial builds, but the community didn't consider that and instead chose flavor of the month meta builds. Is kind of sad, to be honest.

One thing I might add into the asking from you... As you are intending to leave. If you aren't planning of trying to stay longer, what suggestions would you give to PGI to help new player retention? What changes would you recommend to ease them into the game? Any mechanic or solutions you can provide?

I still feel you didn't even give the game a chance, but if you don't enjoy the game, then go find a game you will enjoy more. Plenty of games to choose from. Trust me on that, as I know that issue well...

i would like to point out you do get a cadet title that shows below your name when someone targets you also trial mechs have a specific camo pattern that kinda does make them stand out...

though i recall typically i only see that cadet title once or twice as typically those cadets are deep within their team, but experiences can vary.

Edited by KursedVixen, 24 August 2025 - 09:19 PM.

[Driftwoood]

lol... kind of a silly take... your description could be that for any game that's not brand new, with an established played base...

10 games isn't really enough, sorry... not only are your mech's going to be crappy at that point, but if you play poorly on top of that, of course you'll get stomped... this game has some complexity to it, as well as strategy and tactics; you're certainly going to need more than 10 games to get into the groove... perhaps 200+...

Their is a tier system in place, but that doesn't mean everyone will be at your skill level, the player base for this game just isn't that big, sorry...

[YouKnowNothing]

Driftwoood, on 25 August 2025 - 12:24 AM, said:

lol... kind of a silly take... your description could be that for any game that's not brand new, with an established played base...

I'd like to see them playing Escape From Tarkov if this is how they feel about MWO

[Tesunie]

KursedVixen, on 24 August 2025 - 09:18 PM, said:

i would like to point out you do get a cadet title that shows below your name when someone targets you also trial mechs have a specific camo pattern that kinda does make them stand out...

though i recall typically i only see that cadet title once or twice as typically those cadets are deep within their team, but experiences can vary.

I stand corrected. I guess they do come with a small kick me sign floating over their heads. Been a long time (read as, never on this account and my alts are old), so I thought it was just a small mark on the score board.

Still, I don't see many people actively looking to hunt cadets specifically when they are in a match...

[KursedVixen]

in the past before with old trial mechs with built in skill trees new players did have a harder time but not they should have a much easier time with trial mechs that are not default builds but instead competative builds used by players and now have a built in skill tree. I think Op is just very unlucky or perhaps using the wrong mech.

Edited by KursedVixen, 25 August 2025 - 08:41 AM.

[Tesunie]

KursedVixen, on 25 August 2025 - 08:40 AM, said:

in the past before with old trial mechs with built in skill trees new players did have a harder time but not they should have a much easier time with trial mechs that are not default builds but instead competative builds used by players and now have a built in skill tree. I think Op is just very unlucky or perhaps using the wrong mech.

Trial mechs, unless something has seriously changed when I wasn't looking, come unskilled. They always have.

It is true that they no longer have to deal with stock mech configurations (which are not objectively bad in a generalist combat sense, but is bad in a video game where bracket builds under perform any specialized build within it's specialty), but most of the new trial builds are... they did not age well shall we say. They aren't a complete waste, but most of them are built around old metas that have shifted and changed. They were built and supported by people who used those builds at that time on filly skilled mechs, without realizing how the mechs often performed without skills or in the hands of someone new to the game.

For example, my own Adder submission. The one that won out was the 5 ERML build, because CERMLs at that time were tuned to be very powerful. On a fully skilled mech (at that time), this was a build that could poke out, shoot, hide and repeat several times before overheating. On an unskilled version, standing still (as most new players don't grasp moving and shooting at the same time in many cases), and shooting volley after volley, was a heat trap that shut down very quickly.

The Adder I had submitted wasn't to the current meta, but was dual UAC2s and some ERSL backups. Without skills, that mech could shoot the UAC2s for crazy amounts of time. Range was a non-issue. Leading (which was something people went on and on about not needing to do with lasers making them best for new players) was something that could quickly be corrected for as your first shots could be used as tracer rounds to home in on a moving target. No skills needed to improve this performance. It could stand still and unload massive amounts of lead down range, or be on the move as they developed their skills and could shoot and move just as easily.

"But new players need to learn to shoot and then twist crazy to spread incoming damage! The laser build teaches them that!" Or, it's going to punish them for it as they likely do not understand that concept yet. That isn't a be all end all strategy.

Etc on other points made at the time of the Champion voting.


As I said, most people didn't consider a lot of things with the Champion builds. They only went with the strongest flavor of the month, and full stopped there. We should have a lot more varied, and could have much better, Champion mechs. Instead, if you really look at it, it's a lot of ML spam, maybe with the occasional Gauss (from when that was meta), and missiles only if needed. At least, the Trial mechs I recall are mostly like that...

[epikt]

Tesunie, on 25 August 2025 - 09:13 AM, said:

Trial mechs, unless something has seriously changed when I wasn't looking, come unskilled. They always have.

Something has seriously changed.
It's been years trial mechs are customized (and well) and fully skilled.

[KursedVixen]

epikt, on 25 August 2025 - 10:27 AM, said:

Something has seriously changed.
It's been years trial mechs are customized (and well) and fully skilled.

yep Trial mechs not only come skilled with their own locked skill tree they no longer use default builds and instead use competative builds that are from the community.

[Tesunie]

epikt, on 25 August 2025 - 10:27 AM, said:

Something has seriously changed.
It's been years trial mechs are customized (and well) and fully skilled.

Well, news to me. Thanks for the update. No idea when that happened, as I've been attempting to keep up on the patch notes...

[KursedVixen]

Tesunie, on 25 August 2025 - 01:14 PM, said:

Well, news to me. Thanks for the update. No idea when that happened, as I've been attempting to keep up on the patch notes...

It changed along time ago along with the cadet bonus thing so it's been like that for awhile even though it wasn't like that originally.

[Therax]

Tesunie, on 25 August 2025 - 01:14 PM, said:

Well, news to me. Thanks for the update. No idea when that happened, as I've been attempting to keep up on the patch notes...

Trial mechs (T) with skill tree replicating quirks were added to the game in the September 2023 patch.

Link to those patch notes: https://mwomercs.com...19september2023

[Tesunie]

I have to laugh at how we turned a "I'm quitting" post into something actually productive.

[Void Angel]

Tesunie, on 25 August 2025 - 04:59 AM, said:

I stand corrected. I guess they do come with a small kick me sign floating over their heads. Been a long time (read as, never on this account and my alts are old), so I thought it was just a small mark on the score board.

Still, I don't see many people actively looking to hunt cadets specifically when they are in a match...

Eh, but how much do people actually care? I've seen 'CADET' tags in Tier 1, with groups, and I really don't know how well Tier 5s are willing - or able - to really single them out. It's more a sign to your team that you're new, and they should help you.

[fxd3]

I`ve been playing a little over a year and I am currently Tier 2. This game does have a horrible learning curve. When I was new I died constantly, i was also having insane fun. This was before I knew about tiers and really anything about the game. I started watching youtube videos of streamers and learned what they do. It`s surprisingly easy to improve your play.

[Therax]

fxd3, on 27 August 2025 - 03:11 AM, said:

When I was new I died constantly, i was also having insane fun. This was before I knew about tiers and really anything about the game. I started watching youtube videos of streamers and learned what they do. It`s surprisingly easy to improve your play.

Basically the same story as me, albeit I started playing this game roughly a billion years ago.

Total noob, had no idea I was actually terribad at the game. Found a builds database website and realised all of my mech build were really bad, fixed them; watched a streamer, realised I was doing everything in game wrong, changed how I was playing. Slowly got gud(ish).


As long as people are having fun playing the game they are not doing it wrong, but if they want to win more consistently (and for most people winning is more fun than losing), then investing time and effort to learn to play the game "correctly" will be necessary.

Edited by Therax, 27 August 2025 - 06:30 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

As for the OP, after dying straight for 10 games and he is really to through in the towel? He really must not have been a Battletech fan. On the current account he only played this month, a total of 49 games, avg 15-20 games with Lights/Meds/Heavies. If he played assaults it was under the 10 mark. And his best class was actually lights with 193 MS, and almost won 50% Win/Loss ratio, but died 12 out of 15 matches. He is looking at the wrong stats. It is not whether one lives/dies in a match, it is whether one hurt the other side more so than not.

He should have played when MWO started, and people had to pay to REPAIR their mechs hahahahahaha

PATCH NOTES - 1.4.283.0 - 19-SEPTEMBER-2023
https://mwomercs.com...19september2023

TRIAL 'MECHS
New (T)rial 'Mechs have a skill tree baked into the Quirks (not available for purchase)

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 27 August 2025 - 05:18 PM.