Mechwarrior Online: HOLY SMOKES BATMECH! LOTS OF STUFF! (Part 1)

Yes.  Mechwarrior Online rocked out with it robotic crotch ER Medium Laser out over the last two months.  I have so much to talk about it needs to be two posts!

(This one covers the actual patches, the next one will pretty much be tons of screenshots and commentary.)

 We start by remembering remembering the early something of November.  Ing. Quirks get another tweak pass and stuff is modified a bit.

 LRMs get a tiny debuff that doesn't stop people from spamming the things and AMS gets more ammo.  Nice.  Most lasers get a buff of some kind.  I approve.

A good suite of balance changes.  Still doesn't keep idiots from hiding in their backfield and just spamming LRMs as artillery.  Which is boring.

Here is an example of what Quirks do.  The freebie AH Centurion most of us suckers who spent money on the game got has these tweaks.  Quirks really make more mechs viable and encourage people to take more than just the "optimal" current mech of a size class with the same loadout.  It encourages variety which is good for the game.

Here is some of the GIVE US MONEY NOW PLEASE stuff these patches gave us.

 More Clan mechs to get.  Yay.  Sadly I can't use C Bills for the Loki to have a 60 ton Clan mech with ECM until March or so.  

 And now you can spend money on your friends!  THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.  (To PGI.  Money.)

Now the Mad Dog (Vulture), and King Crab can be purchased with real money as opposed to just being reward purchase things.  I have already declared I will use C Bills if not real life money on King Crabs provided I can paint mine like Rampage from Beast Wars.

( http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rampage_%28BW%29  http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/thumb/0/0f/BW_Rampage_toy.jpg/646px-BW_Rampage_toy.jpg )

Now more November Rain!

 A great new map (see next post for in match pictures) and a 25 ton Clan mech.  

 More fun but stupid cockpit items and some bug fixes.

 The aforementioned Hellbringer (Loki) is here for real money and some other minor bits.

Not too thrilled with Beagle Probe getting a nerf but eh.  Sometimes you still gotta take it.  It just loses the HAVE THIS appeal it did for Streak Boats.

December had a double content patch then some patches to the patch.

 New cosmetic goodies to waste cash on and some more quirk stuff and patches.

 Two new maps?  Community... Warfare?

IS THE SKY FALLING?  

CAN IT BE?

IT

HAS

BEGUN

(Mortal Kombat!  Doot doo dooot doo.... FIGHT!)

Join us next post (probably next week) for pictures and more info on the fun, lucrative, player bringing back,

Which is good because this game needed a shot in the arm.

Mechwarrior Online Update: Mehtober.

Yeah some minor but eh changes and free robot.

Let's see what we got in the patches this month yes?

 The preference option?  Well it lasted a couple days till outrage basically had them backtrack.  I can kind of see why they would just make it a preference to speed up the Matchmaker process but the people have spoken.

 New stuff for morons to spend real money on fake things.  Moving on.

 It is kind of sad Clan XL engines are only NOW getting damage penalties to heat but better late than never I suppose.   HUD Reward info is now moved around.  Its mostly a thing that makes the next patch more useful.

 Yay more money and GXP sinks!  The real way to make players grind!

 Thank you sweet Raptor Jesus for hiding Trial Mechs from my inventory!

 The big spender players got a free 100 ton Atlas.  I did not.  It seems to be an ok mech to build on.  Still not worth replacing the D-DC model with the ECM.  On the upside you get 30% more C Bills using this one.  Like the next one I did get:

 The Centurion is.. flawed but interesting.  It is a 50 ton mech that needs SERIOUS C Bills spent on it to make it viable as it is a 3025 tech machines.  One that is penalized by being an ammunition weapon only mech.  As a Medium class.  But like the Atlas, 30% C Bill bonus, and a fancy paint scheme.

 A MASSIVE change to XP and C Bill rewards in game.  Now more ways to make bank that will hopefully encourage play other than MASS UP AND KILL ANYONE DUMB ENOUGH TO STICK THEIR HEAD OUT.  A small step towards causing other play styles.

 I am VERY happy there are rewards for causing the most damage to a target as opposed to just for component destruction and kill.

 More tweaks to stuff.  

 Yes we have more stupid Clan mechs coming you can waste money on.  

 And Inner Sphere too!  The Panther, Enforcer (LEPUS CAN LIVE AGAIN), Grasshopper, and Zeus will be coming in.  Most of these are.. ok looking.  Not better nor worse than the 3025 Readout originals really.    Maybe a little better.  Maybe.

And a bonus Assault class, the mighty KING CRAB, 100 tons of cool looking.  Sadly I doubt it can be painted to look like Rampage from BEAST WARS.  Because then I would need one.

Let us finish this post with some screenshots in game as is my wont. (Click for bigger as always.)

 Just an absolutely lovely shot where I had found a really nifty perch to see a huge percentage of the map without Jump Jets.

An absolutely GORGEOUS Dire Wolf.

A lovely hero Jagermech.

The Mad Dog (Vulture) in Project Phoenix colors.

In the cockpit.  Oh god that monkey.  I CAN SEE FOREVER.

 Now your XP and C Bill gains for doing things are in the lower center of your HUD.  But in a smaller font to not get in your way but still give you info where you can see it.

Getting a whole bunch of money and XP due to breaking a robot. 

 The free Centurion with all the gear ripped out of it.  Notice how much money I currently have.

Now with my preferred colors and fully kitted out, accepting what gear I already had stocked up.  About 9 million C bills to turn my "free" robot into something I might enjoy running in.

 But was it worth getting a small C bill bonus each match I use it?  Eh.. not really?  If I didn't already have three of this chassis already Elite skill mastered I wouldn't even bother honestly.

So another month, another pile of tweaks, patches, and more ways to mooch money off of players to keep doing the same damn thing we have for a few years now.

Mechwarrior Online: A New Dawn as Transverse Farts

Well we have a LOT to cover over the last month plus so let us get to stepping, shall we?

(I want to play more Wasteland 2 dammit!)

 Hooray we can make units!  So now groups of people can have the MMORPG equivalent of Guilds with chats and the like.

While this is nice, this last August patch wasn't blowing one away.  It is a start though, right?

It is helpful as opposed to just a massive friend list and off game organization as we in the Word of Lowtax have had to follow.  And we even have COOL BROS who sometimes play with us!

 A couple new hero mechs in early September and some AMS/ECM toggle.  Plus public in match chat is turned off as a standard.  Because some of us are mean.  Or the rest of you are sick of those losers who think BACON is hilarious.

 A couple more Clan mechs are now available for something other than real life money.  And we have a bunch of different module types now.  Which can be useful but is really more of a money sink.  (Taking an Inner Sphere AC20 from 270 range to 297 for 3 million C Bills and around 3,000 GXP can be little else really.)

 The newest map is AMAZING.  The Mining Collective.  (In game shots will be below.)  Also the Mad Dog, aka THE VULTURE is now up in the game for people.

 The biggest and scariest mech in the game the Dire Wolf (Daishi) is now available for 20 MILLION C Bills.  You normally make around 70 thousand C Bills a match, and some consumables in match reduce this to like 20-30.  The only down side is like all Clan mechs and many things are locked in place and you cannot change some parts, mostly just weapons and heat sinks.

Oh yeah, and colors for names in game chat.  So you know who are opponents, lance, and team.  Wee.  And Clan LRMs are reduced a little bit in making you have a headache as half the enemy spams hundreds of missiles at the first sucker to stick their head out.

And more bug fixes.  

And now we get goodies for being long term or loyal players.  In spite of this game doing everything BUT endearing itself to fans.  Also it was a way to get people to play more to get goodies.

 As I only dropped 15 dollars due to guilt of getting free robot quasi fun (most of the fun was playing with the alcoholics and druggies that ARE the Word of Lowtax honestly), I won't be getting most of these.  I am totally jealous of people who get the King Crab though.  Not enough to spend money however.

See player retention has been a big problem given all the missed deadlines, failed promises, and ever sucking metagame.

So they really HAD to do something.

 But more PAY TO GET virtual robots are not really the way to do things but the player base seemingly has more money than sense of course.

 I am not happy about Free to Play (F2P) schemes as I posted here.

 We have also had two weekend challenges to encourage more play because lots of folks gave up or got sick of it all.  Sadly the Premium Time activates the second you complete that Tier which means in getting SIX days of Premium Time (Which roughly adds 40K extra C Bills a match for me.  I haven't liked the Clan Nova or the Battlemaster which were the last new mechs I tried and wasted gobs of C Bills on.  So no XP bonus help for me really.) I am really only getting 3-4 hours of playtime out of it.  You really should be allowed to activate the reward when you choose to or only having a lesser set of hours that are only in use when you are actively playing.

Again, it is more a way to get more people playing.  It is sort of like a Casino and getting people to stay and gamble and spend more money, and by being active getting other people to do the same.

 Look at all those C Bill sucking Weapon Modules!  

 Targeting Computers, Command Consoles, and Beagle Probes allow for improved zoom features and the like.  Why have 2x zoom when you can have 2.24 provided you have the space and weight for it?

 Just a picture of a gorgeous Dire Wolf.

 If you have the cash you can see and set up custom games for you and your friends.  Its kind of a pain in the ass really.

 My cupcake goodie! It even has lovely fire effect on the candle.  Pinkie Pie must have found it first as it has a bite taken out of it.

 Our new map is GREAT.  It looks lovely and has plenty of places to get into awesome close quarters duels while not punishing long range units.  Except unlike Alpine Peaks it actually helps "brawlers" like myself who like getting into near point blank range and fighting it out like a manly man of manly manliness.

 Oddly enough playing without the Word of Lowtax is when I have my best games.  I don't know if it is just because groups are composed of better players so we get more serious play comprised of people ok with being boring and dull provided it is game winning or that I am generally better than I think I am.  It is more or less the former I think because I am not so good at Mechwarrior Online.

 Six kills.  One Heavy Mech.  Fifteen shots a gun.  I felt like Al Bundy I did.  

 The color and environment on this map is just SO GOOD.

The full level map.

I am not exactly sure when the I toggle started showing player names and their locations but it sure is nice!

And Conquest mode points.

And the Drop Preparation info page.  

And one final shot of my new favorite map, showing a couple vehicles we sadly cannot damage or anything.

 A pair of Mad Dog beauty shots.  The Vulture looks excellent in this game.

 An in cockpit shot, showing some speakers that make sounds when you get a kill and a very creepy cockpit bobbler.

 Speaking of lovely paint jobs here is a boss hero Jagermech.  Appropriate for the Halloween season!

But this was what put a fire back into PGI.  Their new game, Transverse.  Well, this was 2-3 weeks ago, like a day or two after their site went live.

Shall we check on them today?

Well they dropped their goal to 500 thousand.  And still have a whopping 11 thousand dollars only.  They have basically failed.  Their audience both doesn't care about a new game, and are utterly soured at the failed promises of MWO.

So now they don't have a backup plan.  It is DO OR DIE time from MWO.  They claim to now have a set date of December 21st for major Community Warfare mechanics to go live.

Given their current history I won't say I am going to hold my breath.