Neurohelmet and MechWarrior Online

"To 'unlock' a neurohelmet, the pilot transmitted a special, brief series of motions or entered some word or number command into the onboard computer. This code was secret and different for each individual pilot and his 'Mech, and prevented anyone else from simply climbing in and taking over the machine. Failure to transmit the proper sequence could result in damage to the helmet or the wearer." The Sword and the Dagger by Ardath Mayhar 1986.

Imagine no locks or keys needed on vehicles ....just moing into it an placing a helmet and with a certain number of commands or motions would allow you to drive ...the incorrect command or motion would get you nothing or possibly killed.

In MechWarrior Online, of course nothing feels close to this ...there may be a few people who say a prayer before dropping that the game wont crash or they are hoping to score a kill or a hit even. No risk involved at all.

The book gave me all new appreciation for the honor of piloting the mechs.

Third person view MWO?

Wow, PGI is actually now talking about how they could include a third person view.

This has been a hotly requested and denied request. Just about 50% of noobs, players of other mmos have either asked about it or stated this game will fail without one.

Old school players, beta players and everyone else has either stated they will quit or learned to play without it.

So what is PGI to do ..they have to appeal to the masses because they are a F2P game or languish in obscurity. They are talking about how to add it in without giving an advantage - something that everyone could turn on and off.

How about a 3rd person view after you die that is limited to what other mechs can see?
How about a remote cam you can release as a module limited to one shot per game?
How about third person view to take screenshots? Maybe even after a match like a replay mode?


What would you suggest? Remember it cannot give an advantage to your team.

Tactic Tip 105

4 man lance success is sticking together. The Assault mech calling the target and everyone else supporting him, keeping flies off his back, and focus firing. I call it orbiting. This has proven very very successful for us.

I am not sure why PGI decided to try 4 man lance + 4 man pug. I am guessing it is purely based on match making and giving noobs a chance at winning and less complete pug stomping.
We actually had a 4 man lance last night and when we dropped in we were informed to stay together they were a 4 man premade. So we ended up with 2 premade lances versus well they lost ....soundly.

I can say we lost a few matches due to lack of coordination with the pugs on several matches we pulled out some squeekers though and overall I had a fun time.

I will also say before this 4 man premade business I had fun just dropping in and winning or losing. I am finding without my team though I do not like playing as much. I can find better things to do with my time. What does that mean for the future of the game?

Open Beta begins 10-16 and what does it mean.

Wow  ... I mean we all knew it was happening at some point. Everthing I had read indicated that it was happening on Oct 16th; however, all the people I talked to in voice chat were like "No way, NO WAY will they open beta in the next month or even by the end of the year".

Timeline:
September 21st: PC Gamer cover announced with in game mech skin and bobblehead
October 3rd: NDA dropped and "Take Your Best Shot" contest announced
October 9th: CryEngine upgrade and new trial mech rotation and Open Beta announcement
October 16th: Rest economy and open beta begins and new skins and bobbleheads available.

They have a lot planned ...in fact, too much; in my opinion ...essentially with a F2P game going to open beta is the same as live (with the exception of the knowledge that everything can and probably will be reset again for go live). This is huge news; this will open the gates to noobs and lots of them.

The game on average has about 2500 players with open beta I expect that to triple (between 7 and 10k) at least, at first. Unless MWO fixes in game lounge or chat - pugs will be steamrolled until they hate the game. I remember when many games withheld the population numbers making it seem like they were bigger than they were or maybe to pretend to be smaller. I know while I was playing Warhammer Online there were many statements that if they open too many servers to meet demands then close or merge some it would be a sign of a dying game ...and it did seem to indicate that.

So what do you think? Do you think this is too soon? Do you think this is a huge mistake or one they had to do to grasp the momentum they have been working on?

BTW: Check out my video that I submitted for the contest. It is dubstep so if you hate that then just mute it. I would like more feedback.

Terms 101

Common Gaming Terms
Zerg = from Starcraft 2 - there was a technique (very effective) of sending in the smallest fastest swarm of creatures to destroy an opposing team. Zerg were the "alien" like species the zerglings were like face huggers. You would send in as many as you could and zerg the base. If you did not send enough or you waited to long the opposing side would win due to the fact that you had exhausted all your resources on creating the zerg.

Goon = basically it is an unholy alliance of:

1. new players
2. people with no skill
3. throwing together ridiculous builds at any cost to win
4. One of their mottos is "every ship counts" it has a feel good approach but the truth is you become the personal army of peopel that can ruin a game

Many member are from the somethingawful forums. I recommend you stay away and leave them alone.
Eve Wiki

Noob = someone new to a game or someone who does not take the time to learn to play
L2P = You are execpted to know what  your role is and not make an idiot of  yourself. Accept constructive critizism.
PUG = Pick up group, AKA a team of random players without direct communication.

GLHF = good luck have fun (seems to be common phrase posted before the mechs are released) I also believe it may indicate you are up against a premade that has been having fun killing pugs.


MechWarrior Specific
LRM = Long range missles
SRM = Short range missles
CAP = Standing in the opposing teams base to win instead of killing
Legging = Taking out the leg of another mech to disable them.
BennyHilling = is chasing a scout like it is the last target on the planet ...typically out into the open or into a trap.

Battletech 101: Inner Sphere and the Houses

I can't even imagine jumping into a game with super rich lore and history and being expected to stay because of that content. It is just too much to ask for a casual player.

WoW is kind of an exception because so much of it became mainstream ...but still new people jumping in are doing so to play with friends or family ...I highly doubt they care about the lore or background story.

I am thinking about starting a Tuesday blog discussing components which hopefully will be interesting enough to draw more people in and show the reasons to play besides "blowing up some bitches".

Years ago; to get anyone off my back when I was on my way to my office to start gaming I would tell my family "Well, I guess I am off to save the world (or universe)" they would laugh because they knew I was off to gaming ....but the side note here is I was playing a game which is persistent with people from all over the world ----I don't know about you but that is just damn cool to me.

Now I do not know a lot about Battletech or MechWarrior ...I played Mechwarrior 2 and fell in love with piloting a huge mech and I said I am not interested in playing any new games unless someone does a battlemech type game. Fast forward 5 years later and here we go.

MWO timeline: We are currently in 3049 during Mechwarrior Online. Basically Humans have moved beyond the solar system; achieved FTL (faster than light) and splintered into feudal territories which each believes to be theirs.

What is the Star League?
The brainchild of Ian Cameron, the Star League was a self-policing interstellar council formed from the Terran Hegemony, the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, and the Territorial States of the Periphery. Each of the States of the Star League was required to provide soldiers and war materiel for the mutual protection of the Star League Defense Force, but otherwise was allowed to maintain its own standing army, and even conduct (rare) small-scale wars. Though not completely stable, the relative peace, prosperity, and advanced technology of the Star League have led many to consider the Star League as the zenith of human civilization.

What is Inner Sphere?
The Inner Sphere is a region of interstellar space surrounding Terra to a radius of roughly 450 - 550 light-years, generally demarcated by the outer borders of the "Great Houses." Within this region of about 2 million stars, there are approximately 2000 inhabited planets. Beyond the Inner Sphere is the Periphery.

What is Terra?
Terra is Earth.

What are Houses?
The sundering of the Star League, followed by centuries of Succession Wars, brought about five large nations known as the Successor States (called so because they were controlled by bloodlines). These are feudal realms, modeled after stereotypical cultural templates. They collectively comprise the Inner Sphere. Numerous other factions came and went over the course of the perpetual conflicts. The most notable and long-standing BT factions are:
 House Davion, House Liao, House Marik, House Steiner and House Kurita

What is Lostech?
It is Lost Technology - technological advances and knowledge that existed during the Star League era, but which were lost in the Succession Wars that followed

Do you get spam in your mail?

So yesterday, I see a tweet from Russ Bullock (President - Piranha Games Inc. - Developing MechWarrior Online ) that indicates that if you are not in the closed beta by now you are doing it all wrong.

"If your not in Closed Beta for #MechWarrior Online yet, why not? Is your Closed Beta profile at 100%.Make it so letting in huge numberss now"

Now maybe you did get in but it was marked as spam by your email reader so go check that first.

This leads me to a funny story (well atleast my friends think so) that we laugh about to this day.

When I say "we"; I mean "we" had this thing going about 3 years ago where a group of us from work played games together about once a week. We went through some games, if we liked it we kept playing but mostly each game lasted about 3 months. RL would get in the way or we would just get frustrated with trying to get together ...whatever, we burned out; collectively as a group.

We were playing Warhammer Online ...now its a great game, fun pvp, interesting classes, pretty easy to stay together. But it requires a lot of running back and forth if you want to stay in combat you must fight in one location and either sit and wait for combat or run to the next destination and pry it away from the other side. There is not much fun in waiting so you run.

We had just help turn the tide in a gruesome battle and were running to the next hotspot. Six of us ...on the way to the next location we stopped at a village to repair armor, bio break, grabbing a drink and whatnot.

Well you know how is it ...in a group ...one person is a bonehead. Todays bonehead was XXXXXXX (name changed to protect the innocent). It was an epic fail but everyone is getting ready to go we are all lined up to run to the next area. Except bonehead is not moving we are watching his icon on the minimap and he is just completely stopped. "Let's go," says our commander. Everyone says they are ready except bonehead. "Hey" he says "you get spam in your mail?!?" It makes me laugh everytime I hear someone say spam now ...it was aggravating then and it is funny as hell now (to us anyway).

Every once in a while while we are together you will hear someone say "hey, you get spam in you mail" for no reason at all. It is funny.