Upcoming Patch - Tuesday, May 19th @ 10AM – 1PM PDT

Patch Number:   1.3.395.0

Greetings MechWarriors,

Community feedback has been a big theme since our last patch. The results of the Calling All Founders poll are in, and the Founders have decided that Forest Colony will be the next map to receive a beautification and gameplay overhaul. Now it's up to the Phoenix pilots to fill their own Kill Counter in the Phoenix Rising event and make the call on whether to re-activate the Phoenix Program.

The first run of the new MechLab Public Test Server was online from May 7th to 13th, and the Public Test sub-forum was quickly filled with excellent feedback. We expect the Public Test Server to return soon with some further tweaks and additions so you can all take another crack at what we've got in store for the MechLab overhaul.

Lastly, we put out a call for Champion 'Mech re-build suggestions on May 6th, and after a week of player-provided builds we're in the process of compiling the most-liked suggestions for each chassis. A front-page poll to determine the top choices will go up soon!

A theme of communication continues on into this final patch of May: Faction Chat, Unit Chat, and Officer Chat will now be accessible from within Community Warfare lobbies, and VoIP audio quality is receiving a boost to further strengthen communication within your team.

Two new Inner Sphere Variants have been added to the Gift Store: the Cataphract CTF-0XP (with ECM) and the BattleMaster BLR-2C! These two Variants will be available only in the Gift Store until July 17th, at which time they will be released for purchase in-game with MC and C-Bills.

The Quirk pass for this patch is geared toward encouraging better loadout diversity for a few energy-focused 'Mechs that have been burning through the battlegrounds lately. You'll also notice some slight adjustments to the current SCR-B Right Arm OmniPod Quirks to help make that Variant a little more attractive.

Rounding out the patch we have some Clan 'Mech animation beautification passes; a geometry adjustment in the Emerald Taiga terrain to prevent O-Gen destruction from outside the gates; some additional map fixes; DirectX 11 optimization; and the fix of a long-standing Thermal Vision bug under DirectX 9.

Read on for details, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

Change Log

New 'Mechs

Cataphract CTF-0XP

• Gift Store price: $10
  
• Release date for purchase with MC and C-Bills: July 17th
  
• MC price (when available): 2,585 MC
  
• C-Bill price (when available): 6,458,479 C-Bills

• Tonnage: 70

• Engine: 280 Standard

• Top Speed: 64.8 kph

• Max Engine Rating: 340

• Torso Movement:

• 90 degrees to each side.

• 20 degrees up and down.

• Arm Movement:

• 20 degrees to each side.

• 30 degrees up and down.

• Armor: 384 (Standard)

• Internal Structure: Standard

• Weapons & Equipment:

• Head: Heat Sink

• Left Arm: Medium Laser

• Left Torso: Guardian ECM, Beagle Active Probe

• Center Torso: Engine

• Right Torso: AC/5, AC/5 Ammo x3

• Right Arm: PPC, Medium Laser

• Hardpoints:

• Left Arm: 2 Energy

• Left Torso: 1 ECM, 1 AMS

• Right Torso: 1 Ballistic

• Right Arm: 2 Energy

• Heat Sinks: 16 Single

• Jump Jets: 0 (0 Max)

• ECM Capable?: Yes

• Module Slots:

• Mech: 1

• Consumable: 2

• Weapon: 2

• Movement Archetype: Medium

• Quirks:

• Acceleration Rate (All Speeds) +12%

• Deceleration Rate (All Speeds) +12%

• Turn Rate (All Speeds) +12%

• Additional Armor (CT) +13

• Additional Armor (LT/RT) +9

• Additional Armor (LA/RA) +7

• Additional Armor (LL/RL) +9

• Additional Structure (CT) +7

• Additional Structure (LT/RT) +5

• Additional Structure (LA/RA) +3

• Additional Structure (LL/RL) +5

• Torso Turn Rate (Yaw) +12%

• Ballistic Range: +5%

• Ballistic Velocity: +5%

• Energy Range: +5%

• Laser Duration: -5%

BattleMaster BLR-2C

• Gift Store price: $14
  
• Release date for purchase with MC and C-Bills: July 17th
  
• MC price (when available): 3,720 MC
  
• C-Bill price (when available): 9,292,709 C-Bills
  

• Tonnage: 85

• Engine: 340 Standard

• Top Speed: 64.8 kph

• Max Engine Rating: 400

• Torso Movement:

• 80 degrees to each side.

• 20 degrees up and down.

• Arm Movement:

• 30 degrees to each side.

• 30 degrees up and down.

• Armor: 464 (Standard)

• Internal Structure: Standard

• Weapons & Equipment:

• Head: Command Console

• Left Arm: AMS

• Left Torso: SRM 6, Medium Laser x2, SRM Ammo, AMS Ammo, Heat Sink

• Center Torso: Engine, Beagle Active Probe

• Right Torso: Medium Laser x2, Heat Sink

• Right Arm: ER PPC

• Hardpoints:

• Left Arm: 1 AMS

• Left Torso: 3 Energy, 2 Missile

• Right Torso: 2 Energy, 1 AMS

• Right Arm: 1 Energy

• Heat Sinks: 17 Single

• Jump Jets: 0 (0 Max)

• ECM Capable?: No

• Module Slots:

• Mech: 1

• Consumable: 2

• Weapon: 2

• Movement Archetype: Huge

• Quirks:

• Acceleration Rate (All Speeds) +16%

• Deceleration Rate (All Speeds) +16%

• Turn Rate (All Speeds) +16%

• Additional Armor (CT) +19

• Additional Armor (LT/RT) +13

• Additional Armor (LA/RA) +10

• Additional Armor (LL/RL) +13

• Additional Structure (CT) +10

• Additional Structure (LT/RT) +6

• Additional Structure (LA/RA) +5

• Additional Structure (LL/RL) +6

• Torso Turn Rate (Yaw) +16%

• Energy Range: +5%

• Laser Duration: -5%

• Missile Range: +5%

• Missile Velocity: +5%

• LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread: -5%

• SRM 2/4/6 Spread: -5%

Gameplay

• Added the ability to communicate in Faction Chat, Unit Chat, and Officer Chat from within the Community Warfare Lobby screen.

• Adjusted the TeamSpeak SDK VoIP codec to improve audio quality.

• Launching a Group Match within a Public Group will place you directly into the Public queue.

• Creation of Private Group matches has been moved to the Social window.

'Mech Fixes

• Dire Wolf animation tweaks

• fixed knee misalignment when running

• vertical translation/'bounce' has been reduced when running backwards

• Warhawk animation tweaks

• fixed knee misalignment when running

• vertical translation/'bounce' has been reduced when running or walking

• fixed torso wobble when going uphill or downhill

• fixed misaligned clavicles

• Adder animation tweaks

• added foot talon animation

Map Fixes

• Vitric Forge: The blue giant will now appear correctly under Thermal Vision.

• Emerald Taiga: Adjusted terrain in front of the side O-Gens so that they cannot be attacked from outside the gates.

• Viridian Bog and Grim Portico: Slight lighting normalization between different system specs.

• Grim Portico: Fixed an issue that caused dead 'Mechs to fall through the ice.

Other Fixes

• Various particle effects, such as smoke and fire, will no longer show up as green under Thermal Vision when running DirectX 9.

• Fixed an issue where coverage buffer occlusion culling was not functioning correctly under DirectX 11. As a result, players might see performance gains under DX11.

• The Targeting Reticle and Target Info Box will now appear on the correct depth plane when using Advanced Zoom in NVIDIA 3D Vision.

• Minor bug fix and adjustment made to the Mad Dog Raider Skin.

• Minor bug fix and adjustment made to the Stormcrow Crusader Skin.

• Fixed an issue with the Fractal Camo Pattern that unintentionally changed how weapons were shaded.

Quirk Changes

The following 'Mechs are receiving Quirk changes. Details on these Quirks can be found in this dedicated post.

• Firestarter

• FS9-A

• FS9-H

• FS8-S

• Raven

• RVN-2X

• Stalker

• STK-4N

• Stormcrow

• SCR-Prime OmniPods

• SCR-A OmniPods

• SCR-B OmniPods

• SCR-C OmniPods

• SCR-D OmniPods

• Timber Wolf

• TBR-Prime OmniPods

• TBR-A OmniPods

• TBR-C OmniPods

• TBR-D OmniPods

• TBR-S OmniPods

See you on the battlefield!

- The MechWarrior® Online™ Team