MECHWARRIOR ONLINE

July 2021 Patch Notes

Patch Date and Time - July 20th 2021 @ 10AM – 1PM PDT  

Version Number: 1.4.244.0

Size: 113MB

Please note that due to compression differences the Steam patch size may be larger than the standalone client patch size.

Patch Files (Direct Download) - http://patcher.mwomercs.com/patch/Production/frontend/FrontendPatch_390.zip

Greetings MechWarriors!

This month's patch includes some small changes and bug fixes to both of the recently updated maps, Canyon Network and Polar Highlands. It also includes another Weapons Adjustment Pass for Clans and the Inner Sphere, and an Equipment Adjustment Pass focusing on Jump Jet performance. Finally, this patch brings the follow-up to the Stryker Pack, and our second Booster Pack this year, the Warden Pack. Didn't pick it up yet? No sweat! You still have 30-days to check it out and still receive the EXCLUSIVE Early Adopter Rewards, including the awesome Elemental Bolt-ons (shown below).

Look for our third major map update with HPG Manifold, and more coming in August!

As with everything, these updates are subject to further balance changes in the future, especially as more variables are brought into the equation with future updates and changes.

So get out there and do the science, and get us your feedback for future iterations!

And now, we hope you enjoy the patch.

-The MechWarrior Online Team

WARDEN BOOSTER PACK

The Warden Pack is here! We hope you enjoy this pack, which pays homage to classics like MechWarrior 2 and the 90's BattleTech animated series. If you don't have it yet, be sure to check it out and remember you still have 30-days to purchase it and still receive the EXCLUSIVE Early Adopter Rewards, including these awesome Elemental Bolt-ons!

TIMBERWOLF TBR-BH(S)

DIRE WOLF DWF-C(S)

MAP UPDATES

POLAR HIGHLANDS REBORN

Polar Highlands has included some changes including road textures, building placement adjustments, and bug fixes including rocks that you could shoot through, and 'Mech sticking/glitching spots.

CANYON NETWORK REBORN

The reservoir has burst and Canyon Network has flooded! This is a temporary condition and is subject to change in an upcoming patch.

WEAPON PASS 3

INNER SPHERE WEAPONS

IS ER Small Laser:

• Heat decreased to 1.9 (from 2.2)

Compared to the standard Small laser, the increased range provided by the ER Small laser comes at the cost of slower cooldown and exactly double the heat output, which makes the ER Small laser a less appealing pick for short range focused builds. In this patch a decrease in heat is introduced which is aimed towards making the ER small laser a more attractive alternative to the regular small laser.

IS Large Laser:

• Heat decreased to 6.5 (from 6.7)
• Range increased to 480m (from 450m)
• Max Range increased to 960m (from 900m)

The changes for the large laser are geared towards making a viable alternative to the IS large pulse laser. Which due to its recent buffs has become one of the top laser performers for the Inner sphere laser arsenal. With this in mind, These changes will bring large lasers into better alignment as a viable alternative to the large pulse laser. By emphasizing its range and heat advantages over the large pulse lasers' higher DPS potential.

IS ER Large Laser:

• Heat decreased to 7.5 (from 8)
• Range increased to 740m (from 700)
• Max Range increased to 1480m (from 1400m)

After the recent meta shift to light gauss and ER PPC as the de facto long  range weapons on the inner sphere side. The following changes were made to the ER large laser. Players who use ER large lasers will have a comparable laser weapon to the strongest  current long range projectile weapons.

IS Light PPC:

• Damage increased to 5.5 (from 5)

While the light PPC changes made in April made them viable complimentary weapons for various ballistic focused configurations, The weapon on its own is observed to be lacking in damage output compared to other alternatives. In this patch, an increase in raw damage is introduced to further improve upon the effectiveness of LPPC focused mechs.

IS PPC:

• Introduced exponential damage fall off curve instead of min-range (similar to Clan LRMs)

Being heavily sandwiched between the Light and Heavy PPCs, the performance of the standard PPCs since April has been monitored in the past couple months. As a first step towards giving it a unique characteristic and meaningful trade-offs versus light and heavy versions, minimum range has been removed and is replaced by an exponential damage fall off. This Will give PPC focused builds more versatility.

IS Snub Nose PPC:

• Pinpoint damage increased to 8.5 (from 8)
• Splash damage percent decreased to 0.1765 (from 0.1875)
• Damage profile, including splash is now 1.5 + 8.5 + 1.5

Following the change the brought splash damage as an unique feature for the snub nose ppc and assessment of its performance, a slight boost has been applied to the upfront damage to improve upon the weapon’s role in close range brawls.

IS LBX5-AC:

• Weapon slot size reduced to 4 (from 5)

The LBX5-AC is one of the weapons that is rarely seen on the field due to its slot size, especially when compared to the more compact and pinpoint standard AC5. This change seeks to address one of the major disparities between LBX5-AC and standard AC5 in terms of slot cost. Coupled with boosted critical damage compared to AC5, LBX5 is expected to be considered more often. We will continue to monitor the performance of LBX5 and will do additional adjustments in future to further reward its usage.

IS Streak SRM 4:

• Cooldown decreased to 3.25 (from 3.5)

IS Streak SRM 6:

• Cooldown decreased to 4 (from 4.25)

The increase in cooldown which was done in April was to control the high dps of the weapon which rivaled SRMs. Since the change hurt mechs without any noticeable missile cooldown quirks more than it achieved more balanced DPS for heavily quirked mechs, in this patch the recycle time of IS Streak SRMs has been improved slightly. We will continue to monitor their performance in the coming months and make further adjustments if necessary.

CLAN WEAPONS

C-Heavy Small Laser:

• Cooldown decreased to 3.75 (from 4)

Considering the weapon’s short range, and the other alternatives in the same range bracket, Clan heavy small lasers have been observed to be an inferior pick. In this patch C-HSLs are tuned to have faster recycle times, while the differentiation with the rest of short range laser are maintained through high heat and duration for higher damage

C-Heavy Medium Laser:

• Cooldown decreased to 4.2 (from 5)
• Laser Duration decreased to 1.25 (from 1.3)

The clan heavy medium laser still remains a tangent weapon compared to the clan ER medium and clan medium pulse lasers. While the ER medium laser has less damage, more range and less heat. The clan medium pulse laser has faster recycle time , less range, and more damage. But the heavy medium is hindered by its high cooldown and duration. Making the damage output of the weapon very unappealing. In this patch we seek to make the heavy medium laser more attractive with the changes to cooldown and laser duration.

C-Heavy Large Laser:

• Heat decreased to 14.5 (from 16)
• Range increased to 480m (from 450)
• Max Range increased to 960m (from 900m)

It’s fair to say that the clan large pulse laser has become one of the strongest mid range weapons the clan side has to offer. With this in mind, the changes to the heavy large laser aim to create an alternative to the Clan large pulse laser. By lowering the heat and increasing the range of the weapon, along with  its already substantial damage output. This will make the heavy large laser a decent alternative to the clan large pulse laser.

C-ER Large Laser:

• Heat decreased to 9.5 (from 10)
• Laser Duration decreased to 1.25 (from 1.35)
• Range increased to 810m (from 770)
• Max Range increased to 1620m (from 1540m)

Compared to the current strong Clan long range weapons (like ER PPCs and AC2s), Clan ER Large lasers are having a tough time in terms of dps, required facetime, high heat as well as overall range. The changes listed above seek to create a laser alternative in the long range weapon bracket for the clan  side..

C-Streak SRM2:

• Damage per missile increased to 1.7 (from 1.5)
• Cooldown increased to 2.25 (from 2)
• Heat increased to 1.4 (from 1.3)

C-Streak SRM4:

• Damage per missile increased to 1.7 (from 1.5)
• Cooldown increased to 3.4 (from 3)
• Heat increased to 2.7 (from 2.4)

C-Streak SRM6:

• Damage per missile increased to 1.7 (from 1.5)
• Cooldown increased to 4.5 (from 4)
• Heat increased to 3.5 (from 3.1)

While the initial goal of reducing the effectiveness of Streaks versus lights was achieved in April, Observation showed that under the current SSRM tracking system, Streaks went from being a hard counter to light mechs to being generally ineffective which proved the change to be correct in direction but excessive in amount.  In this patch upfront damage of C-SSRMs is being slightly increased while cooldown and heat values are being adjusted to maintain current dps and dph characteristics.

*C-SSRM performance will be monitored after this change, and further tweaks will be done accordingly.

EQUIPMENT ADJUSTEMENT

JUMP JETS

This patch includes important changes to Jump Jets following a new look at them and the performance disparity that exists between different classes of jump jets and mechs that can equip each of them.

The considered issues can be divided into three different categories, each affecting a certain group of 'Mechs:

• Jump jets with similar tonnage cost have considerably different performance. This issue exists when transitioning between Class V to Class IV jump jets, where at the same tonnage cost, Class IV  gets exactly double jump performance. This has been one of the main reasons behind 40 and 45 ton medium mech dominance in the field when compared to the closely slotted 35 ton light 'Mechs.
• Since the amount of jump height gained by Jump Jets is inversely related to the mech tonnage, 'Mechs at the heavier end of a spectrum that use jump jets with similar tonnage cost get diminishing return for the investment they are making into jump jets. This is more evident when comparing 80-85 ton assault mechs with 60 ton heavy 'Mechs that use different classes of jump jets with similar tonnage cost and jump performance.
• The final issue is when the tonnage cost of Jump Jets is doubled moving from one class to the next one without any meaningful change towards their performance leading to large performance disparity. This is particularly noticeable when transitioning from Class II jump jets to Class I, which is the main reason behind low performance jump jets despite the tonnage investment in heavier assault 'Mechs.

In order to address the above mentioned issues, upward thrust has been used to address the disparity between Class V and Class IV jump jets, while Jump jet burn duration has been used to address and improve the disparity between Jump jet class III, II and I in terms of maximum achievable jump height.

The applied changes to jump jets are summarized as follows:

Class V

• Jump jet burn duration = 3.75 s
• Jump jet initial thrust = 120 (from 110)
• Jump jet upward thrust = 70 (from 37)

Class IV

• Jump jet burn duration = 3.75 s
• Jump jet initial thrust = 150 (from 120)
• Jump jet upward thrust = 75

Class III

• Jump jet burn duration = 4.3 s (from 3.75 s)
• Jump jet initial thrust = 200
• Jump jet upward thrust = 75
• Jump jet recharge rate = 0.64 (from 0.5547)

Class II

• Jump jet burn duration = 4.4 s (from 3.75 s)
• Jump jet initial thrust = 200
• Jump jet upward thrust = 75
• Jump jet recharge rate = 0.64 (from 0.54)

Class I

• Jump jet burn duration = 4.9 s (from 3.75 s)
• Jump jet initial thrust = 220
• Jump jet upward thrust = 80 (from 75)
• Jump jet recharge rate = 0.71 (from 0.54)

MISC

DECALS

Two new C-Bill themed Decals have been added for your Bounty Hunter role-playing pleasure, or any other time you need to show the universe your Mercenary ways!

KNOWN ISSUES

• DIRE WOLF PRIME ECM Hardpoint now in CT and it should not be.
• DIRE WOLF-C NARC weapon model not showing up and doesn't fire/consume ammo.

Patch Files (Direct Download)

To make the patching process easier for players with limited download caps, we'll be providing direct download links for the patch file(s) that comprise this patch. This will allow you to download the patch file(s) elsewhere, for manual injection into the MWO patcher through a Patch Cache folder.

Aside from allowing you to download the patch file(s) elsewhere, on another connection, there are no additional benefits to performing the patch this way; the patching process itself will be the same.

This direct patch download process will only work for players running the standalone client. It does not apply to players running MWO through Steam.

Patch File(s): - http://patcher.mwomercs.com/patch/Production/frontend/FrontendPatch_390.zip

• Download the above file(s)
• For sake of ease, we recommend creating a dedicated folder for the patch file(s), such as 'MWO Patch Cache'
• You do not need to unzip or unpack the patch file(s)
• Launch the MWO Portal
• Select the three horizontal lines in the top left of the Portal Window
• Choose the 'Specify Patch File Cache' option
• In the field that appears, paste or enter the location in which you saved the patch file(s) and hit OK
• For example, C:\Users\<username>\Documents\MWO Patch Cache
• Click the blue Patch button
• The launcher will now check the Patch Cache folder you defined. If it locates the required patch files, it will unpack and use those files to apply the patch.
• Once the patch is complete, launch the game