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I will say the sudden influx of new players is mildly entertaining one on one although pick up teams are suffering. I was with another lone wolf Spider last night in my Jenner(F), obviously another experienced guy and we tied up a Protector, Firebrand, and Quickdraw for near 7 minutes keeping them off the objective. The new guys couldnt hit us and for some reason wouldnt enter the OBJ area we had captured. We didnt kill the three but I ended up with 400+ points just harrassing them. Unfortunately the rest of our team failed us.

Lol when I played with some random pre-made lance of atlas d-dc's..... in red white and blue, yelling random 'murrica ancedotes....steamrolled some players.

Its amusing when the new players overheat right next to you and get mad when you shoot them in the head

Your avatar is strangely fitting for the situation.

It is isn't it?

This might be a silly question- but how do you go about adding decals? Or are they not implemented yet?

Decals are supposed to come with Community Warfare - so ... nope, only paintjobs so far.

It should be noted, however, that some of the camos come with "decals" pre-installed:

They really need to add some more stuff to this game quick, there is only so much mindless mech killing i can take with out some change.

For some reason this "launch" has left a sour taste in my mouth.

I would bet the 'launch' was a preset deadline for the game. it's only the launch as far as the paperwork goes.

Yeah, absolutely nothing new changed when "launch" happened. The only thing new I have bought is a capture module for my spider and Jenner(F)(I dont see the difference but it doesnt hurt). I am enjoying all the heavy and assault mechs out there piloted by apparent new players, Unless I run into the rare experienced player early on they are providing me with an easy 200-400 points a game. I am finding it humorous to have non-flagged players yelling at me to base cap in a non capping game. I hate frikkin base cappers in a straight forward combat mission.

On the plus side, they finally fixed the annoying bug with backspace not clearing the chat when you hold it instead of pressing once.

FINALLY.

Meanwhile, at least I'm enjoying my Dragon. I know it's possibly the worst Heavy one could take, but it's a Kurita design dammit!
And the LBX-10, ERLL, 2xSRM4 and Flamer tend to work really well when I'm not too careless.

Current goal: max out Elite Pilot Level on the Dragon until the Phoenix 'Mechs arrive. Then I'll switch to the Battlemaster and grind that one's proficiencies.

My favorite selection ->
- JR7-K Jenner "Azumi" (Master)
- CN9-AL Centurion "Akira" (Elite)
- DRG-1N Dragon "Ryoko" (2/3 Basic, currently grinding the DRG-5N to unlock Elite)
- BTL-1G Battlemaster ???

I have just finnished grinding a whole bunch of mechs to master, and am a bit stumped on what to do. I only have a jenner left to master so thats what i'll be doing I guess.

Heh, "Missiles Everywhere"...

 Lynata wrote:
On the plus side, they finally fixed the annoying bug with backspace not clearing the chat when you hold it instead of pressing once.

FINALLY.

Meanwhile, at least I'm enjoying my Dragon. I know it's possibly the worst Heavy one could take, but it's a Kurita design dammit!
And the LBX-10, ERLL, 2xSRM4 and Flamer tend to work really well when I'm not too careless.

Current goal: max out Elite Pilot Level on the Dragon until the Phoenix 'Mechs arrive. Then I'll switch to the Battlemaster and grind that one's proficiencies.

My favorite selection ->
- JR7-K Jenner "Azumi" (Master)
- CN9-AL Centurion "Akira" (Elite)
- DRG-1N Dragon "Ryoko" (2/3 Basic, currently grinding the DRG-5N to unlock Elite)
- BTL-1G Battlemaster ???

The Dragon is only sub-par in pug matches. In organized play, I'd argue the Dragon is exceptionally powerful with its combination of speed and fire power. If anything, the worst mechs in the game right now are the mediums. To lightly armed and armored to hold against heavies and too damn slow to catch lights.

The Dragon ... speed, yes, but firepower? What are people actually putting on it?

As for Mediums - my Centurion begs to differ! CN9s are ridiculously hard to put down. And it feels sooo rewarding to kill enemy 'Mechs when the only working components left on yours are the head, the CT and a single leg.

dementedwombat wrote:Heh, "Missiles Everywhere"...

Here's another one:



"Buccaneer" is the best paintjob so far.

 Lynata wrote:
The Dragon ... speed, yes, but firepower? What are people actually putting on it?

Long ranged arms fit the dragon pretty well. A mix of AC5, LRM, and large laser might seem weak but especially with the new heat rules the Dragon can hurt at range and it's fast enough to use cover easily. I've also experimented with a flanking build but haven't played much since twelve v twelve came out. I suspect that running around with dual LBX-10's would be beyond suicidal now XD

As for Mediums - my Centurion begs to differ! CN9s are ridiculously hard to put down. And it feels sooo rewarding to kill enemy 'Mechs when the only working components left on yours are the head, the CT and a single leg.

That's just because of the glitch with damage transfer from destroyed sections (and yes I love abusing the Centurion for this very reason!). Unless they fixed that in my time away, but the devs hadn't really inspired me with their ability to fix bugs XD

Hmm, but a focus on long range only feels like a waste of the Dragon's single one advantage - its speed...
I've had good success using an ERLL to snipe away from afar, wait until the enemy is distracted, then charging with LBX-10 and SRMs. The only tricky thing is finding the right moment as getting in close is really dangerous with this ridiculously large CT!

The DRG-1N is best for this tactic, imo. It has two missile slots on the CT so you can equip 2 SRM4 instead of a single SRM6, and it retains an energy hardpoint on the left torso right next to the cockpit - perfect for laser-sniping from cover.

I'm currently running the DRG-5N which only has hardpoints in the arms, and it irritates me to no end how often my shots just go into some nearby hill because the arms are so low.

 Lynata wrote:
Hmm, but a focus on long range only feels like a waste of the Dragon's single one advantage - its speed...

I consider it complimentary. The Dragon can run from most fights, and flank easily, and if something peels off the enemy group to come chasing after you, even better. The Dragon is a skirmisher, but attacking your target head on isn't the only way to fight them. Only on a few maps can the dragon not find terrain to obstruct enemy fire, but most mechs in the game perform differently on the maps so I don't consider that a weakness outside of the randomness to it.

This is why I say the Dragon gets a bad rap from pug matches. Most matches become all out brawls (unless there's a lot of lights/Cicadas) and Dragon is a bad brawler. You can still flank but since everyone else on the team is just rushing in, they might all be dead before you've gotten into position, and then you're stuck with that huge center torso and the only target left. Even if they last awhile, a flanker can't stick around cause they'll get killed by anyone who wants a kill or by the back line. You have to hit and run, but then your allies might be dead by the time you come back. In my experience, flanking mechs underperform because of the habit of your team to rush to their deaths absent team work (I include the Hunchback in this).

My opinion on the matter anyway XD

I like the 5N Dragon especially the Champ version. I maxed it out so fast it wasnt funny. Gauss and two ER Large Lasers was a great combo and made an excellent sniper mech for shoot and scooting.

Big news in here:

Whats it say, I can watch videos at work.

Not going to lie, seeing this thread just reminded me that a couple days ago (or maybe yesterday....been busy lately) I got an email from the MWO people about a release event with a livestream that was happening at 2 PM that same day. The email got to me at 5 PM...

Not sure what happened with that one, but someone sure dropped the ball somewhere.

So uhhh whats it say? Clans came out in todays patch? Factional warfare starts today? The Annihilator is in game now?

Oh. It's a 25m presentation from the Launch Event Party detailing certain aspects of Community Warfare, though in the end they also showcase UI 2.0 a bit.

The Community Warfare infos are largely stuff one may have read before, albeit piecemeal in various statements or Dev Q&A answers. It's certainly cool to see how it's supposed to tie together.

Basically:

Mercenaries
- no affiliation, lone wolves
- gain Prestige via Contracts (faction-specific)
- Prestige unlocks new/better Contracts

Mercenary Units
- created and organised by players
- members can be given special tasks such as the Logistics Officer
- unit commanders set "taxes" for members
- units build and possess Assets (garrisons, JumpShips, DropShips, ...)
- units need to travel to their destination (may take days to arrive)
- relocation of garrison units makes "owned" planets vulnerable to enemy forces
- gain Prestige via Contracts (faction-specific)
- Prestige unlocks new/better Contracts

sidenote: Contracts include player-created "content" such as setting bounties for specific MechWarriors, or House leaders hiring mercs to take a planet for their faction

Loyalists
- join a specific faction/House
- collect Loyalty Points
- can unlock ranks and transfers to more prestigious regiments
-- Ranks confer Influence
-- Regiments confer public affiliation, paintjobs and heraldry

Faction Units
- created and organised by developer
- canon names
- have their own faction and unit chat
- whenever possible, the game will have players of the same unit drop together
- player-organised Faction Units are currently in planning, but few details so far
- although neutral, Wolf's Dragoons were given as an example for a unit that players may earn the right to join (prerequisite: max prestige in all factions)

Faction Warfare
- every match takes place over a specific planet on the borders
- each victory adds +1% Control and deducts -1% Control from the enemy
- if all planets in a given border corridor "flip", the frontline shifts to threaten new worlds
- conquered border corridors confer special bonuses such as making 'Mech and weapon variants available
- lost factories mean the 'Mechs and equipment produced there can only be acquired on the Black Market

Implementation
- Phase I: Affiliation (joining factions, creating merc units)
- Phase II: Front Warfare (implementation of territory control meta)
- Phase III: Planetary Assault (JumpShip travel, garrisons, and other planetary assets)
- estimated time until Phase III: 6 months

Well thats a good start for something that should have been there at launch in the first place.

Faction/Community Warfare sounds cool in theory... will reserve further judgment until it starts rolling out.

I've jumped back in after a couple of months away. I've only ever been a PUG, but I'm having a great time. I've recently taken to playing the Raven as a team assist mech. Guardian/TAG and hanging with a group of assault/heavy mechs to keep them safe from lights/TAG for them/ECM coverage. So far, my damage has been minimal but experience has been pretty good. Tried messing with NARC, but it still seems inferior to TAG.

Hit me up anytime for some group play although I need to figure out how to do voice chat. In game name is DinkDude.

Thanks for the recap Lynata, I was playing mech while this was going on so I only caught some of it.

If they can pull this off half as good as it sounds on paper, Mech is about to get very interesting. I really hope they can stick to the 6 month time frame like was stated.

One last thing in a game I was playing last night someone was talking about a new map, I didnt see anything about it?

Well they are so far off on their time schedule as it is, I wouldnt bet on the 6 month time hack. If the April schedule would have been right we would be running around in Clan mechs right now and already had factional warfare.

New map? Huh, haven't heard anything about that. I'd expect them to work on one as there seems to be a permanent team for it, but as far as announcements go ... maybe there was a sneak-peek at the Launch Event?

And yeah, I'm not sure they can hold the 6 month timetable, or even include everything they announced there. I'm cautious, and from experience, the studio really isn't that reliable in terms of delivering.
That being said, I love those plans, and if even half of it makes it into the game (this is a much more realistic expectation) then this would already be great. Most trouble will probably be Phase III for them, but tbh Phases I and II are what I'm really looking forward to. Give me the DCMS and territory control!

/bump

Actually, there does seem to be a new map coming soon. "Island Metropolis". Looks kinda awesome:

 LordofHats wrote:

 Lynata wrote:
Hmm, but a focus on long range only feels like a waste of the Dragon's single one advantage - its speed...

I consider it complimentary. The Dragon can run from most fights, and flank easily, and if something peels off the enemy group to come chasing after you, even better. The Dragon is a skirmisher, but attacking your target head on isn't the only way to fight them. Only on a few maps can the dragon not find terrain to obstruct enemy fire, but most mechs in the game perform differently on the maps so I don't consider that a weakness outside of the randomness to it.

This is why I say the Dragon gets a bad rap from pug matches. Most matches become all out brawls (unless there's a lot of lights/Cicadas) and Dragon is a bad brawler. You can still flank but since everyone else on the team is just rushing in, they might all be dead before you've gotten into position, and then you're stuck with that huge center torso and the only target left. Even if they last awhile, a flanker can't stick around cause they'll get killed by anyone who wants a kill or by the back line. You have to hit and run, but then your allies might be dead by the time you come back. In my experience, flanking mechs underperform because of the habit of your team to rush to their deaths absent team work (I include the Hunchback in this).

My opinion on the matter anyway XD

I actually think that the Dragon, whilst a filthy Kuritan design, is really good at filling in specific role, that of a 'fast battleship' type mech, that is to say, anything it can't outfight, it can outrun, and anything that can catch it can be outfought.