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I adore the Thunderbolt! It is ugly in the best possible way. I will definitely be picking it up on release, though I won't be buying the package because I don't want the Shadowhawk or Locust.


Sadly, the packages definitely indicate that the marketers know that Assaults are still the most desirable mech, and lights don't really have a useful role yet. On the plus side, including mechbays with the package was a very classy move. I hope that is going to become a courtesy for Hero, Champion, and future premium mechs.

The slope patch may alter that dramatically, but for now, they seem to be admitting that role warfare is kaput. There is a much better post to this effect over on the MWO forums.

Gitzbitah wrote:
I adore the Thunderbolt! It is ugly in the best possible way. I will definitely be picking it up on release, though I won't be buying the package because I don't want the Shadowhawk or Locust.


Sadly, the packages definitely indicate that the marketers know that Assaults are still the most desirable mech, and lights don't really have a useful role yet. On the plus side, including mechbays with the package was a very classy move. I hope that is going to become a courtesy for Hero, Champion, and future premium mechs.

The slope patch may alter that dramatically, but for now, they seem to be admitting that role warfare is kaput. There is a much better post to this effect over on the MWO forums.

In some ways, the Project Phoenix packages are an even better deal than the Founders packages, especially considering they come with mechbays. I think I'll probably get one of the packages. I don't love all four of the mechs, but I do really like the Battlemaster and the Thunderbolt (like you said, ugly in the best possible way!) and I really want MWO to succeed.


Do you think that role warfare might come back into play once Community Warfare is released? It seems like the roles start to become more nebulous simply because most matches now pretty much boil down to team deathmatch, but if Community Warfare starts to offer some more objective based missions and such, different roles might be more viable.

I fell for the Phoenix Pack as well. Just had to have that Battlemaster, given that it's one of the 'Mechs I have been hoping for would be in the game. Its visual design, the battlefield role, as well as the historical background - this 'Mech has been piloted by Theodore Kurita as well as Katana Tormark, both characters I've grown fond of - make it one of the very, very few Assaults I could see myself piloting. The weapons loadout looks promising as well. I think I will switch the PPC for an ER-PPC, though, just for some more long range punch, and keep the Medium Lasers and SRM for the close range brawl.

Hordini wrote:Do you think that role warfare might come back into play once Community Warfare is released? It seems like the roles start to become more nebulous simply because most matches now pretty much boil down to team deathmatch, but if Community Warfare starts to offer some more objective based missions and such, different roles might be more viable.

Community Warfare doesn't really have to do anything with the battles themselves, I think. It's just a metagame with a map of the Inner Sphere, some strategic elements, and faction social stuff.

They did talk about more game modes in the future, however, as a feature separate from Community Warfare. Maybe some day we'll get something more interesting there. The next thing on the horizon on this regard seems to be "Dropship Mutator" where you pick 4 'Mechs to deploy in, and you spawn in the next one once your current 'Mech is destroyed. This would allow some more thinking as the outcome of a match won't be decided in a single encounter. Instead, tactics such as hit&run or tactical withdrawals become a (much more) valid strategy, and with this, proper recon and artillery support become more important as well.

Aside from the (imho still messed-up) Electronic Warfare and special match objectives, I think role warfare is promoted best by large maps where it takes minutes until you even get into weapons range. Also, the upcoming expansion of team sizes to 12v12 may support this as well, as splitting up into lances is rendered a much less risky option.

Also, the new UI 2.0 will supposedly allow you to see what kind of 'Mechs your team will bring and adjust your own selection, so you can actually coordinate and assign roles pre-deployment.

Exalt, Lynata! I also really hope that role-warfare comes back into play- and as they tighten up matchmaking, that may very well happen. But when you're pugging and you wind up across from 6 Atlai in a light... there just isn't much you can do. Add to that, the C-Bill rewards are not well developed. In my opinion, those should be differentiated by weight class. Lights should earn less for damage, and more for capturing, spotting and TAGing or Narcing their targets.

Gitzbitah wrote:In my opinion, those should be differentiated by weight class. Lights should earn less for damage, and more for capturing, spotting and TAGing or Narcing their targets.

This idea does have some merit ... though I think it's a bit tricky as one's role often does not depend on weight class alone, but the exact chassis and loadout you use. For example, my Jenner is a dedicated Skirmisher, and even in its Tech-ReadOut background it is presented as a fighter rather than a scout, with a favourite DCMS tactic being the use of a lance of Jenners in hit&run attacks to take down much heavier opponents. Just like not every Heavy is a brawler (-> Catapult), not every Light is a scout. Each chassis does lend itself more or less towards a specific role, though, so there is a limit to how much you can change a Mech's purpose with customisation.

It would be cool if you as a pilot could select a "preferred role" somewhere, and would get different rewards for this - rather than essentially everyone behaving like a Jack-of-all-Trades on the battlefield. But at least rewards for capping, tagging, spotting, etc are already in the game. I'd agree that some of them could be tweaked a bit, though.

Does anybody even use NARC at all? At least they doubled the ammo for it now, but I still think it should not time out at all, instead just get destroyed when the component it is attached to gets hit for X damage.

 Lynata wrote:

Gitzbitah wrote:In my opinion, those should be differentiated by weight class. Lights should earn less for damage, and more for capturing, spotting and TAGing or Narcing their targets.

This idea does have some merit ... though I think it's a bit tricky as one's role often does not depend on weight class alone, but the exact chassis and loadout you use. For example, my Jenner is a dedicated Skirmisher, and even in its Tech-ReadOut background it is presented as a fighter rather than a scout, with a favourite DCMS tactic being the use of a lance of Jenners in hit&run attacks to take down much heavier opponents. Just like not every Heavy is a brawler (-> Catapult), not every Light is a scout. Each chassis does lend itself more or less towards a specific role, though, so there is a limit to how much you can change a Mech's purpose with customisation.

It would be cool if you as a pilot could select a "preferred role" somewhere, and would get different rewards for this - rather than essentially everyone behaving like a Jack-of-all-Trades on the battlefield. But at least rewards for capping, tagging, spotting, etc are already in the game. I'd agree that some of them could be tweaked a bit, though.

Does anybody even use NARC at all? At least they doubled the ammo for it now, but I still think it should not time out at all, instead just get destroyed when the component it is attached to gets hit for X damage.

That sounds like an awesome set of 'quirks' which would make the mechs far more distinctive than just a few extra degrees of torso twist. Give the fighters of each class their due, and reward the dedicated light-hunters, harassers, and others their due. Perhaps Dragons get a bonus to their Kill Assist, since they are supposed to be bouncing in and out of combat, while Hunchbacks gain more for Savior Kills than anything else. I absolutely agree that there are exceptions. For that matter, They could add these in as modules for your pilot skill tree to unlock. Spotter grants bonus exp and c-bills for spotting, Defender for attacking a mech that is attacking an ally, etc, etc

They've released the image of the Battlemaster on the Project Phoenix page today. It looks pretty awesome, as I expected it would.

Sugoooooiiii...

I really can't wait. Now I need to think about a fitting name for it!

Wow I'll have to make sure that I order the one with the Battlemaster as well.

looks kinda like a quarterback? I know nothing of American Football so if I have used the wrong term then I appologise.

I hope that the PPC meta has shifted before October, or we could be seeing 7 PPC builds out there. This thing is practically made for it.

I wouldn't be too worried about that, as I expect the new Heat Penalty System to be implemented way before October. And whilst I suspect that the Battlemaster won't have a problem alpha'ing with 6 Medium Lasers, its internal coolant system is designed to cope with only a single PPC, so anyone foolish enough to put 7 of them into their 'Mech will very likely trigger engine damage as outlined in the post above, and simply blow themselves up.

And the best thing, this gameplay mechanic is totally in line with the canon.

"When they start realizing that trying to make their custom PPC boat in 3039 carries with it the risk of costing millions of C-bills in ruined structure AND PPCs (to say nothing for the potential of then driving a glitchy, unbalanced, heat-spiking death trap they made for themselves), they might think twice about tinkering."
- the BT line developer on the subject of customisation



Oooh, also, did you read about the upcoming movement changes for traversing difficult terrain? This seems to be fairly interesting. Canyon Network in particular is a map that will be heavily affected by 'Mechs no longer being able to just change their altitude level on a whim.

[edit] Unless you use jump-jets, of course. Which might just become a tad more useful/important now.

I ended up going with the Overlord package. I couldn't resist getting in on the Phoenix mechs, and I really want MWO to succeed. And, to be honest, this is the first thing since the Founders packages and a couple of the hero mechs that I was actually interested in spending money on.

I picked up the "Heavy Metal" Highlander since I still have plenty of Founders MC left and I thought the reference to Rhonda Snord's mech was too good to resist. It's on sale until tomorrow too, which helped finalize my decision.

http://www.twitch.tv/piranhagames/b/426379176

Its funny watching the devs splutter at the terrible imbalance in the game right now.

Eh, they really don't. The one who does rant about PPC boating quickly gets told that the last matches they played didn't have any PPC boats at all. Just goes to show how even some of PGI's employees are susceptible to tunnel vision and hyperbole, exactly like the average gamer.
If they'd play as often as their opponents, they'd probably show a better performance instead of making "beginner's mistakes" in their tactics.

Still, t' was a fun video. I should probably hang out in 8-man-queue more often. In PUG, I've only met one of them in a single match so far.

Also, I think I recently had my best match ever. My team still lost, but I honestly didn't think I'd manage to take down three of the four remaining enemy 'Mechs on my own. It was quite the adrenaline rush!

/bump

with the latest patch, 12v12 Company Battle is in!



MOAR DAKKA

Anyone still playing this?

I like how Dakka Dakka has entered the general lexicon.

Funny how,, though the Spess Mehrines are GW's chosen poster child, the Orks are the ones who pop culture keep picking things up from.

Got overlord, loving 12v12 right now. I've decided to not go near the MWO forums anymore though, the amount of whining is absurd now.

12v12 is great, but I need to carve out another ton from my trusty Hunchback 4G for more AC20 rounds. 21 just isn't cutting it anymore.

It is much easier to sneak up behind formations and club them in the back of the torso now.

More targets to shoot at, less likely to be the one shot at

I'm still going strong. Loving the 2x xp per day. So useful for leveling. Its sad that they dropped the cbill gain to 90% of before though. Guess they want more people to consider the other currency.

They dropped the cbill gain to 90% because in 12v12 there is still the potential to earn more because you can get more kills, assists, components, saviour kills etc.

That does make sense. People are still mad on the forums though. Guess thry just need to stop hiding behind hills and shoot more.

Guess they should actually try and kill stuff. Or you know, try aiming, which no one seems to do.

I have been making more money then ever. I'm loving the 12 v 12.

Ran a few 12v12s this past week.... Fun but I need to get better at control. Also thinking of dumping my modded Hunchback. Taking way too many shoulder shots which seriously affects damage potential...... not to mention survivability.

If you see a Black Mech with yellow highlights, It's most likely me.

Sad to tell you, but two really big merc factions are black with gold. ARMD and The Templars.

Sadly, the hunchys hunch can attract way to much fire. Its a good idea to really lay the armor on the front instead of the back for that shoulder. 4 points on the back or something. \

I've seen them and my color scheme is different enough.

Yeah, and I went with the Las-boat. Run 6 MPL instead of the 8 ML it comes with. Still can be a heat monster.

Took my lance into 12v12 PUG last weekend, had a blast.

Contrary to my earlier beliefs, battles still turn out to be rather one-sided on average - but not because of numerical differences. I had hoped that, with 12v12, the first casualty to enemy fire or a disconnect would make less of an impact to the overall game as it represents a larger fraction of the unit than it was in 8v8. However, I now find that teamplay has become even more important. All too often, a PUG splits up into several directions at once because nobody knows where to go (also leading to disadvantages in tactical positioning due to hesitation), then gets ripped apart by an enemy force with superior organisation.

Things improved considerably once we had one of our pilots assume company command. Most pilots followed his orders without question, and although not all battles after taking this step were won, the results were generally much, much closer.

So far, I'm loving this update. As promised in the promotional video, there really is a lot "more dakka" going on - plus, company versus company just feels a bit more "canon". The only thing I'd wish for would be that individual lances become more important as semi-independent elements rather than just 1/3 of a horde, but I have a feeling this may only be possible in fully pre-grouped teams, where lance composition and pilot assignments can be pre-planned between Alpha, Beta and Charlie.

Now I'm waiting for October ... <3

I've actually been playing for a little while now and I've discovered how painfully annoying it is to drop solo. I run a Centurion built specifically around a support role so I try to stick with my lance, or an assault or two.

I assume that this game get's to be more fun with lance/company mates? Because as it stands, MWO is more like every other FPS game I've played, without the added bonus of being able to carry the team if you're good.

Don't have any friends that play and the guys I drop with are usually about as social as a wet-blanket and are prone to berating someone rather than offering assistance. Again, reminding me of every other FPS/Team based games I've ever played.

On a happier note, MWO has rekindled my love for the Battle Tech universe and it's associated video games. I'll keep plugging away at MWO, if only to see how the PvE elements turn out in the later releases. I did get a friend interested in playing, so while he's acclimating himself with the game system, I'll be eating laser blasts and missiles with my Centurion.

Also, if anyone drops with an under-strength lance, platoon, or company, let me know. I'm a decent pilot and I can follow orders.