MECHWARRIOR ONLINE: WANNA PLAY IT WITH ME?

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I've started playing Mechwarrior Online. It's hectic giant robot fights, and I sure as hell like that. I took notice of the strategic elements of the game and started liking it even more. For example, I can have a faster spotter tag a target with an infrared laser so that someone else can have their missiles track the target even if a lock would otherwise be impossible. Coordination between teammates to flank and overload a priority target's defenses is a necessary skill, and (except for scouts whose job is to survey the battlefield and get in and out of places quickly) getting separated from the rest of the team is a death sentence.

Now, I've been in PUGs, but it's obvious that this game is best played in premade groups that can coordinate their attacks, especially with voice chat. So I'm here trying to recruit fellow pilots for a team.

The post will be in a Q&A format from here on.

Q: Is this game complex?
A: Yes. Yes it is. You'll suck the first few times you play, so I sugest heading off to the testing grounds to get a good feel for the controls. The mechs don't control like a soldier in your average FPS, but like a tank on legs. W makes the mech walk forward, S makes it walk backwards, A and D are for turning, and the mouse moves the torso independently of the legs, so you can walk in a direction while looking at another entirely different direction. I sure ran into a lot of walls as I was learning how to play, and so will you. Protip: C centers the torso back to the direction the legs are facing, and F makes the legs turn to the direction you're looking at.
Then there's customization. You'll mess around with your mech down to the individual placement of heat sinks. Myself, I love this kind of customization, but it might not be your cup of tea.
My sugestion: Take a look at the manual. There's a bunch of tutorial videos here, and if you like old school booklet style game manuals, this PDF here is right up your alley.

Q: The game is free to play. Is it pay to win?
A: Not at all. There is paid stuff, but it's mostly for convenience. You can use real money to pay for mechs you could otherwise pay for with ingame currency, you can pay for ingame money and experience bonuses (a.k.a. premium time), and most paint colors are paid. There are some premium exclusive mechs, the Hero Mechs, but you're mostly paying for the unique skin and 30% cash bonus when playing them. They are far from dominating. In fact, you'll easily find people saying that the Yen-Lo-Wang, Fang or Misery are actually worse than the standard variants of their respective chassis.

Q: The game seems a bit barebones right now...
A: Yeah, it is. Remember that the game is still in open beta, though. When the official launch comes, Community Warfare will roll out, and factions will be fighting for control of planets, with players in the front lines, with bonuses for control of planets. Right now it has just ye olde matchmaking, but it can still be fun.

Q: The out of battle UI seems a bit clunky.
A: Yes. A new scratch built UI is in the works right now, set to replace the existing one soon.

Q: Those last two weren't questions.
A: No, they weren't. And neither is this one.

Q: I've started playing, and I'm racking up cash pretty fast. Is this to be expected?
A: That's the cadet bonus, and it'll last for your first 25 (I think) matches, with its impact being reduced a bit every subsequent match. It's supposed to give you enough money to buy your first mech and play around with it a bit soon after you start playing.

Q: I'm ready to buy my first mech. Do you recommend anything?
A: Did you try out all four trial mechs? There's one of each weight class, so you should use them to get a feel of how each of them handles. Then choose one of the one that suits you better.
If you already did that, I'd point you to the Hunchbacks. They're affordable, versatile, and with compact frames. There's a Hunchback variant for every role, but I'd recommend the 4SP, as it is symmetrical, without the huge and easily shot weapon mount on the right side that gives the mech its name, and with the weapon hardpoints evenly distibuted, so the loss of a part will not cripple you. Protip: The stock Hunchback's greatest weakness is its underwhelming speed, so your first upgrade to it should be a 260 engine.
Should you want something other than a Hunchback, you can't go wrong with a Centurion or Catapult, in my opinion.

Q: So, CD, what do you play?
A: My main mechs are:
A Catapult C1. A long range missile support unit with four mounted lasers for the inevitable close encounters. I'm considering switching two of my lasers for sniping weapons to pack even more of a long range punch, though.
A Hunchback 4P. My go to mech for short range engagements, it's capable of firing up to nine lasers simultaneously, packing a huge punch. Currently I'm packing small lasers in the hunch, but I'm considering switching to mediums once I get better at heat management. That way I get more range on my trump card, and it starts really doing some damage.

Q: What's your time zone, CD?
A: GMT, so I'm more partial to other EU team mates. Still, if you're from some distant time zone, I can try to arrange a workable time, especially on weekends.

If you're interested, say something. If you have any questions, ask away. If you tried playing but fail prety hard at it, hit me up and I can set up some matches together with voice chat to walk you through the ropes. I'm still a fairly newish player, but I've already passed that first wall of absolute fail, so I can help you get past it as well.
I played the previous MechWarriors religiously. I dropped in league matches in MW4, game released in 2000, as recently as 2010. Smurf played under alias with just about every major clan: HEL, -X-, Metalus Gravus, Ahriman Corps.

To date, I haven't yet played a game that required anywhere near as much coordination and decision making as MechWarrior4. So naturally I'd gravitate to the spiritual successor 12 years in the making, right? You bet, I was on it first week of November. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. Couple reasons.

A) I literally cannot enjoy a battletech game that doesn't let me fully customize. (I'd spend the first 10 minutes of a 30 minute match in the mechlab, every drop.) I'm not talking about the watered down mechlab they've got going on. I want the entire catalog of weaponry and equipment at my disposal, which isn't happening. I'm assuming this will be corrected on full release.

B) Also, I really can't understand why it's set up as no-respawn only for the beta. I haven't read up on what plans they have, but I'm assuming a respawn mode would be one of them. If that's the case, I don't get why they'd make noobs go at it in team no-respawn format. That must be frustrating as hell. Now I'm indifferent towards respawn/norespawn personally. I played pick up in respawn, and dropped in leagues mostly no respawn. Didn't make a difference, because I played the same pop and drop conservative style in respawn matches.

C) Where, oh, where is the range dynamic? This is the big one. If my ER PPC have a range of 800, I'm firing them at 795 and no closer. I'm covering all my teammates within max range of my guns, dependent on angles and cover. The obsession with sticking together for the sake of sticking together annoyed the crap out of me. The goal is to not take any damage while dealing damage. Any time you take any kind of damage to a torso was a failure on your part, especially in no respawn. If your group is caught under enemy fire all bunched up, your team is going to take damage. This is because you have nowhere to go, nowhere to maneuver. If your spacing is good and you encounter the enemy, you can drop into cover quickly (since all the cover around you won't be taken up), and expect cover fire from teammates on any moron who pursues too deep. You cover me, I cover you. When stand next to each other, we cover nobody.

Here's an example of old school MW teamplay. Say one of my boys is brawling up close with someone packing AC10's, and I'm some distance behind them with fast/instant traveling range. I need to count in my head the recycle time of the AC10's inbetween his shots. Since most brawlers fire as soon as their guns are back up(or else they lose DPS), I'll fire my shot just as his cooldown finishes to jar him and make him miss his next shot or at least make him miss the torso side he's aiming at.

Solid month in beta, I was pretty much fed up with the spacing. There was absolutely no chemistry by range. Everybody basically stands on top of each other and takes turns focus firing. It's the most primitive thing I've ever seen in a Mechwarrior game. Yet, somehow people are fawning over the teamplay and tactics. I jumped back on a couple months ago, still same primitive 'tactics.' Focus fire frees up the targeted man to concentrate on defense, while leaving every other enemy free to survey the field and alpha uncontested. It's beyond amateurish. Just because it takes more thinking than a FPS doesn't make it inventive or even intelligent.

My hope is that better maps, more weapons (long range preferably), and improving player tactics will fix all this. I tried reaching back into the depths of my childhood to remember if early stages of MW3 and MW4 had these problems, but they really weren't due to huge maps with mountain ranges prime for pop and drop and an widespread obsession with light gauss.

I waited 10+ years for this bad boy, so I'm obviously not gonna give up on it. I mean, the feel and controls are all good (brought back the old multiaxis joystick). But, I have to say that I'm severely disappointed in the teamplay. Or at least the mechanics that force poor teamplay. I'll wait for the full release and see how I feel then.

Edit: No, seriously. Sorry I just jacked this to vent. I will be playing when the real deal comes out, which I believe is this summer?
author=Sauce
Edit: No, seriously. Sorry I just jacked this to vent. I will be playing when the real deal comes out, which I believe is this summer?

No apologies needed. You make some good points.

author=Sauce
B) Also, I really can't understand why it's set up as no-respawn only for the beta. I haven't read up on what plans they have, but I'm assuming a respawn mode would be one of them. If that's the case, I don't get why they'd make noobs go at it in team no-respawn format. That must be frustrating as hell. Now I'm indifferent towards respawn/norespawn personally. I played pick up in respawn, and dropped in leagues mostly no respawn. Didn't make a difference, because I played the same pop and drop conservative style in respawn matches.

I've read on their plans, and they are to implement a dropship mode where you fight in "waves" and when your mech gets shot down you choose to respawn in one of your remaining ready mechs. I can't really see what's taking them so long. If they can spawn the first wave, it's not hard to spawn the next ones. Let's hope is doesn't take long to come.

author=Sauce
The obsession with sticking together for the sake of sticking together annoyed the crap out of me. The goal is to not take any damage while dealing damage. Any time you take any kind of damage to a torso was a failure on your part, especially in no respawn. If your group is caught under enemy fire all bunched up, your team is going to take damage. This is because you have nowhere to go, nowhere to maneuver.

I get ya, dude. I'm fairly new, but still most players I see seem to be either Rambo wannabes who recklessly charge in and get propmplty anihilated or people who interpret "stick close to the Atlas" as "glue yourself to the Atlas' backside". It's pretty hard to maneuver when you have a 100 ton behemoth in your way, as I have learned by experience and stopped doing. I escort my occasional Assault, and I use my not abysmal speed to zigzag around its path and explore some of the side paths instead of always being close enough to it to hit it with a spoon. If I see I have a good path to new cover, I'll even go in ahead of it. I've found that when someone engages the Assault, I'm commonly in a flanking position or in a position where I can easily move to one right as the shooting starts.

author=Sauce
Here's an example of old school MW teamplay. Say one of my boys is brawling up close with someone packing AC10's, and I'm some distance behind them with fast/instant traveling range. I need to count in my head the recycle time of the AC10's inbetween his shots. Since most brawlers fire as soon as their guns are back up(or else they lose DPS), I'll fire my shot just as his cooldown finishes to jar him and make him miss his next shot or at least make him miss the torso side he's aiming at.

That is awesome. It really is. Timing your shots to disrupt your enemy's aim is brilliant.

author=Sauce
Focus fire frees up the targeted man to concentrate on defense, while leaving every other enemy free to survey the field and alpha uncontested. It's beyond amateurish.

A lot of material states that focus fire on a damaged mech to take it out quickly is a good idea, which it is. But people see that as "focus fire all the time regardless of circumstances". With how durable mechs are, I can see why focus firing in the beginning of a firefight is a bad idea, and why you should be focusing on diversion instead of only raw damage.

But yeah, there's two explanations to this ridiculous player behavior. Either the maps are badly designed and encourage this behavior, which I wouldn't know because I understand piss all about shooter map design, or as there is a great number of players new to the series they just don't understand what they're doing. If it's the latter, hopefully they'll get matched up with teams who know what they're doing and laugh as they all bunch up for the slaughter. Then they'll either ragequit or step up their game.
I played the shit out of Mechwarrior 2, and even a bit of Mechwarrior 3! I loved being a bad ass with a big mech and 6 AC10s blasting through my enemies!

My only experience with multiplayer though was either 1-on-1 vs battles, or 2 person Co-op. I am not very good with tactics, or intuitively know what to do with squadmates, because I tend to avoid those kinds of games (and find them annoying). I am more of a lone-wolf kind of player. Not sure if I would fit in with Mechwarrior Online! I can barely play teambased strategy in LoL. (When I read about all this hardcore meta strategy talk in any team based game, whether it be competitive games like LoL, or MMOs, or even the teamwork stuff Sauce just posted, my eyes tend to gloss over.) I just have a hard time thinking about the time investment and commitment it would take for me to learn that and shirk away back in to my single player PvE games.

If I was 10 years younger, unemployed, unmarried and kid-free, I'd be all over this! Alas, I am not any of those things.
@Kentona - Nothing wrong with playing games at your pace. One thing you'll never have to deal with, when playing solo, is incompetent teammates. That's always a plus.

author=CyberDagger
I get ya, dude. I'm fairly new, but still most players I see seem to be either Rambo wannabes who recklessly charge in and get propmplty anihilated or people who interpret "stick close to the Atlas" as "glue yourself to the Atlas' backside". It's pretty hard to maneuver when you have a 100 ton behemoth in your way, as I have learned by experience and stopped doing. I escort my occasional Assault, and I use my not abysmal speed to zigzag around its path and explore some of the side paths instead of always being close enough to it to hit it with a spoon. If I see I have a good path to new cover, I'll even go in ahead of it. I've found that when someone engages the Assault, I'm commonly in a flanking position or in a position where I can easily move to one right as the shooting starts.


No-respawn Mechwarrior plays a lot like regulation paintball. You can't see them right away, but you know they're there. Since you don't know where they are, it's more important to hold down angles than to explore and pursue(which is more like FPS). Know what spot you want to get to on the map before the mission starts and get there fast.

The main difference is that since you can't one shot kill anyone, getting "the jump" on someone isn't that big a deal. It's better to make sure the encounter happens with a tactical advantage by positioning. Relocating under cover is key. Especially radar off.

author=CyberDagger
That is awesome. It really is. Timing your shots to disrupt your enemy's aim is brilliant.


This applies to 1v1 tactics as well. Quick veer off your path and rotate the torso to throw off the aim at the moment of recycle. Even if you get only one alpha to miss it's mark and hit a pristine body part, you'll have gained a significant advantage.

Other thing you can do is bait them to shoot a different torso. If he's racking up damage on say your left torso side and has a bead on it (which he should), hide that torso until he gives up and shoots at the other side. In close quarters, that means turn your right shoulder to perpendicular to him. Don't even turn to shoot him until he wastes his guns on the clean torso. At range, use cover that's slanted where you pop out on your right side, but doesn't give an angle to your left. The convergence point of the weapons can help you shoot around corners or above hills. When he can't see your left side, he can't hit it. He'll either give up on you, or give up on that torso. If that means you only fire your right arm weapons, fine. He's not doing any kind of meaningful damage when he fires at a fully armored body part.

author=CyberDagger
A lot of material states that focus fire on a damaged mech to take it out quickly is a good idea, which it is. But people see that as "focus fire all the time regardless of circumstances". With how durable mechs are, I can see why focus firing in the beginning of a firefight is a bad idea, and why you should be focusing on diversion instead of only raw damage.


Finishing off a beat up mech is always option number one if he's ripe to be picked off. If you need to pursue him and overextend yourself to do it, then leave him for later.

author=CyberDagger
But yeah, there's two explanations to this ridiculous player behavior. Either the maps are badly designed and encourage this behavior, which I wouldn't know because I understand piss all about shooter map design, or as there is a great number of players new to the series they just don't understand what they're doing. If it's the latter, hopefully they'll get matched up with teams who know what they're doing and laugh as they all bunch up for the slaughter. Then they'll either ragequit or step up their game.


I think the sticking together thing has more to do with the no-respawn mode. The fear that you're going to be caught all alone and be a total waste for the whole match. Respawn mode encourages experimentation. Each life, a different tactical approach. Then when you play no-respawn, you know the map and all the angles you want to use for your one life.

The maps aren't great, but there's still room to move and set up intelligently. I certainly hope the problem is the new players, since that'll correct itself over time.
author=Sauce
No-respawn Mechwarrior plays a lot like regulation paintball. You can't see them right away, but you know they're there. Since you don't know where they are, it's more important to hold down angles than to explore and pursue(which is more like FPS). Know what spot you want to get to on the map before the mission starts and get there fast.

Hmm, that makes sense. Now I just need to learn how to identify those advantageous spots on the map. What I am getting the hang of it that relocating under cover stuff. Piloting a Cicada will do that to you. With it, I've learned how to pop out from behind a building or hill, unleash the lasers, and disappear behing another building or hill before the Atlas pilot can see what's behing him. I also use cover to be visible to where I guess my enemies are for as little as possible when scouting.

author=Sauce
This applies to 1v1 tactics as well. Quick veer off your path and rotate the torso to throw off the aim at the moment of recycle. Even if you get only one alpha to miss it's mark and hit a pristine body part, you'll have gained a significant advantage.

Other thing you can do is bait them to shoot a different torso. If he's racking up damage on say your left torso side and has a bead on it (which he should), hide that torso until he gives up and shoots at the other side. In close quarters, that means turn your right shoulder to perpendicular to him. Don't even turn to shoot him until he wastes his guns on the clean torso. At range, use cover that's slanted where you pop out on your right side, but doesn't give an angle to your left. The convergence point of the weapons can help you shoot around corners or above hills. When he can't see your left side, he can't hit it. He'll either give up on you, or give up on that torso. If that means you only fire your right arm weapons, fine. He's not doing any kind of meaningful damage when he fires at a fully armored body part.

The mech I play the most is a Swayback, so I had to learn to do that. If someone takes out my right torso, I lose two thirds of my firepower. And man, does that hunch stick out! If I'm not careful about which parts of my mech I expose, it becomes a shot magnet.
Dudesoft
always a dudesoft, never a soft dude.
6309
Sounds fun. Hopefully my pc runs it. I'll try to dl it tonight.
I was hoping someone one here had personal experience with one of these android consoles or gaming tablets.





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kaleem
I was hoping someone one here had personal experience with one of these android consoles or gaming tablets.





___________
kaleem
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