Current builds Mediums - Hunchbacks

Hunchbacks

• HBK-4P Laser boat
• HBK-4G Founders with Dual AC/2

State of the Game (MechWarrior Online)

TL;DR: It is still beta.

Details:
Right now, we have no repair or rearm bills. Once you purchase a mech (either with C-bills you earned or by dropping real money in game) you can play that mech without any penalty. This leads to some reckless behavior by some pilots. It also leads to some severe frustration when playing with people outside of communication.
There is a side of people trying to play this game as if it were solo ...they are very interested in their stats (either win loss ratio or kill death ratio or both). There is another set of people interested in playing a team game with comms that is learning to play using strategy and techniques. Then there are those who just play the game for fun they love the IP and will play just to pilot a 80 ton mech.
Now you can be a member of any of these groups or all of them but there are 2 pieces of information that are vital.
With so many gaming choices out there - Are you coming back to play this game?
What would you pay to play if they were charging or would you find something else?

Replayability is huge it keeps you drawn in and talk to your friends about it. It makes you stay for "just one more" when you are thinking about shutting down. It makes you say the next time I/We will win or at least take out an enemy before I/we am/are done for the night.

ECM is a problem.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/ECM_Suite
The game shows one mech umbrella covering all the mechs in 180 meter of the ECM. It is overpowered and with little negative repercussions. Sensors can sometimes override this jamming, though by that point the enemy unit is already within visual range and can track the opposition with their own eyes.
What this has led to is a game of who has more ECM in many cases.
My Suggestions:

• A huge cost for ECM if destroyed (100,000 cbills) 
• A large amount of heat generated while in use 
• Forcing the ECM mech to remain stationary while active (reducing the range while moving would work)

Stalkers are HARD to kill!

Image ripped from http://themittani.com/news/mwo-december-18th-patch-news

Back in my day the trouble with games.

I was watching a movie recently
"Trouble with the Curve" - if you havent seen it - it is ok. A baseball movie from a scout perspective. A scout who uses his eyes vs all the new techniques offered by stats and computers.

This scout is portrayed by Clint Eastwood ....a favorite actor of mine from when I was a kid. However, in his old age I think he is nothing but a washed out, grumpy, old, man ...in every movie he is in ...it isnt getting better. He is an ass - so I am wondering if this is his real peronality sneaking into the movies or he is really a great actor. I guees I just don't like him any more. He growls and complains the whole movie.

 Gran Torino - I saw in the theater and I hated it ...you just cannot get grumpier than this --->

 Dirty Harry .....right on! Angry cop and he fit the bill.

Good the Bad and the Ugly. Greatest Spaghetti Western ever!

 

What does this have to do with gaming? you may ask. Well I have begun to hear a lot of people say things like "well in this game they do this" or "that game they fixed this issue with this solution" I even find myself doing it. The question is can PGI fix the issues with ideas learned from other games or come up with a solution of their own ...and implement it quick enough not to turn people away from them. OR PGI could just grumpier and old ....eventually they will be praised for something I just hope they arent recognized for growly grumpiness.

 

 

New announced hero mechs - Fang and Flame

This might be my first purchase of a hero mech. Looks really rad!

Tactic Tip #107

So the other day our team is in a huge heated battle in Caustic Valley. Caustic Valley is a horrible place and really not worth fighting for but that is for the policians to decide ...we fight.
We also are losing ...the enemy is down to 2 mechs both torn up really bad we are down to ONE.

We had all thought he was either disconnected or AFK because he wasn't moving. He was sittign as if he had just landed from the dropship. We announce over com ...he is afk or disconnected ...leg him and cap us.

When they shoot him suddenly he springs into action. Now thsi is just sick ...he destroys both of them and our team which had for all intents lost ...was victorious.

Was it a trick? Was he really afk? Did I inadvertently give false information?

I do not know if this guy was just waiting or was in another window however it reinforces 2 things:

1. Communications are vital.
2. Dis-information is valueable if not unreliable.

Quotable Wednesday version 8.0

Bryan: "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."  TAKEN 2008

Classy line ....overquoted some may say. I feel many times running into a match feels this way. You join a match for a battle ...they sneak to cap the base. You have 2 choices really. Run back and defend or race to cap them first.

The strategy is deciding at what point you have overcommitted to running to the enemy base. I got "yelled" at by someone (not sure if it was a pug on my team or a enemy mech). Telling me what kind of person I was for running to base instead of fighting it out with the enemy.

Tactic Tip #106

Stay in the bubble of the ECM (Electronic Counter Measure)

 

This simple device limited to certain mech's has become a hugely popular and integrated tactic. I believe it will be nerfed  fixed but we will see.

 

What has happened is more people are using The D-DC Atlas (which is devastating) 4 of them are extremely difficult to manage or using 2 Ravens with ECM and staying in range of them so effectively you cannot hit them with missiles or jamming you so you cannot see any of them on your map until it is too late.

 

By staying with your team under the bubble of ECM you are effectively able to keep going as long as you stay with your teammates.

 

Here is how I see ECM

Your team EMC Jamming the enemy.

Your team has EMC Counteracting the Jam from the enemy.

 

It has become a game of who has more EMC or mechs with only ballistics and lasers.

 

Here is a new good fact I have found ...run only 4 man groups ...Yup you heard me run a 4 man group and you will launch more often and win more frequently.

Quotable Wednesday version 7.0

Mugatu: "I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”- - Zoolander

Seriously PGI adds 8 man groups back and ECM.

ECM makes me feel like a the whiners in the forums ...its so overpowered. It jams electronics or can obscure the enemy  from your view. It makes it very very hard to target the mechs from range.

A lot of losing. CRAZY PILLS!

AMD vs Intel

It is not every game I play that this even comes up. In fact, most gamers don't even know what they have ...will my computer be able to play it? Will it run on a mac? These are more common than "what processor are you using?"

I guess the thing with MWO is connection matter, memory matters, video card matters, CPU matters ...or does it?



Everyone knows by now that AMD is ATI now. Intel has its own video card division but most people when given the choice will choose a external video card ..In my case it has been Nvidia for years. I have never owned a ATI except for a home theater pc with an all-in-wonder card. I never was impressed with the graphics (probably due to the TV I was outputting to).
My opinion has been that AMD exist to keep Intel pricing down and to force them to remain competitive.  AMD has some really good technology but unless you are writing code to specifically take advantage of it there is no benefit. I still believe this to be true. The last computer I built (Jan 2012) I tried to build AMD but the Intel components were only 10$ higher - of course I went over my original build budget because I saw shinies and in reality I increased my own cost.
My wife needs a new pc and here is another opportunity for AMD.
I am looking at Sapphire's EDGE
http://techiser.com/sapphire-edge-vs8-mini-desktop-amd-trinity-cpu-153908.html

 

Tactic Tip 105

Orbit Orbit Orbit

It simply does not matter if you have 8 man premades (which I love and miss*) or 4 man lance. If you have one of the team in an assault calling targets and everyone else running around him protecting his back and watching the sides you may not win but I guarantee you a fun time.

* Supposedly the 8 man premades are coming back on Tuesday Nov 20th 2012.

Tom Cruise as a Commando

You be the judge!

Tom Cruise is starring in a movie called "Groundhog Day" "ALL YOU NEED IS KILL" where he relives dying over and over. I just thought it was kind humorous.

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?

So last night

I pugged 8 games and lost them all. Its frustrating to log in and want to play easily jump into a match and fail over and over. I am not pointing the blame at anything but here is what others were complaining about; overpowered LRMs, uncoordinated teams, failure to communicate.
I finally decided I had had enough when my wife said:
"I can tell you are in a pug because you are not talking and you look really unhappy."
I truly did not have fun last night and that my readers is a bad sign for MWO.
I can say this I looked awesome exploding over and over.

This isn't me but this is what it felt like all night.

Quotable Wednesday version 4.0

"You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get Medieval on your ass." - MARCELLUS WALLACE (Ving Rhames) in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Well hello patch day!

All I can say is WOW the forest city is beautiful ...polished in fact it looks ready for prime time. The only flaw I saw in the environment was snow in the cave. I am telling you last night after a pretty large patch this game is looking good.

I upgraded to Artemis IV for my missiles. This is an 1.2 million dollar upgrade that assures better accuracy of missles (by 35%) ...and I can honestly say I see the results. The missiles right now are very tightly packed and they look awesome streaking across the battlefield. Supposedly, Artemis requires line of sight to work and you must have one for each system (ie if I had lrm 5 and lrm 15 I would need 2 Artemis ...I run with 2xLRM 10s and once I made the purchase all of my missiles say LRM Ammo + Artemis IV and my arms both say LRM 10 + Artemis)

The heat issues still remains. In fact, I over-heated twice last night in 8 matches and the only solution was to power down and reignite. I have not bought into endosteel, double heat sinks or ferro-fiberous armor. I just dont have enough information or space at least as far as my catapult is concerned. I would love to hear from others what builds are working. It is hard to build a missile boat when you can't carry many missiles.

It was nice seeing a bunch of camo'd mechs and I know people are into customizing but it is getting a lot more attention than matchmaking, weapon balance, in game comm.

PGI are hiring new people so that is a good sign. The question is will it be fast enough. They have removed the in game tracker of people. I feel like that is a double edge sword ....are they hiding their numbers because in closed beta we saw a max of 3k people ..now that we are in open beta have the numbers not changed? I was hoping to see 10k but maybe it isnt hitting the numbers they were hoping ...can it survive as a game if they don't reach some marketing persons number?

Drawing for PC Gamer Skin and free Nvidia Bobblehead announcement.

The winner of the PC Gamer skin and bobblehead. I tried to make this as fair as possible.

 

DIXBEE I will be sending you an email with the code! Actually I need an email address from you. If I do not hear from you in a couple of days I will pass the code to someone else.


I am very grateful to all of you reading my blog and will keep posting new things as I get them and hope to hold more contest.


This is free bobblehead and open to almost everyone. Log on to facebook and allow the app.
https://www.facebook.com/NVIDIAGeForce/app_163278447150177
You enter in your info and get a code. Then goto http://mwomercs.com/nvidia and enter the code

Quotable Wednesday version 3.0

“Maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs!” - Carter Burke - Aliens

Last night (Wednesday) was bad ...so bad I wanted to log out. A full group of guys (premade) and we were failed every drop. This guy is waiting for an open spot and chimes in to tell us all what we are doing wrong.

....Now I am not sayign he wasn't right ...mostly he was because he couldn't see what we awere doing but could tell we were failing so he made some suggestions. The problem is was though his approach.
He was an asshole.

We lost a few matches here and there but I would say 12 out of 16 drops were victories after he joined us. Calling out strats and (again) focus firing.

I didn't want to quit because we were losing or because he called out sound strats -- I wanted to quit because of his attitude.

I grew past it and ended up enjoying the night. He is still an asshole.

How to burn a bridge that is already on fire.

I just read a post on the ancient gaming noob about the EA employee that basically dragged out all the inside drama from Warhammer Online explaining how it pretty much was written off as a failure and how pretty much anything to do with that group was failure ...even bleeding off into SWTOR.

Gaming wise Warhammer online was very good, fun, fast paced. Its major flaw was twofold - no good endgame and no third realm. Pointed out among other things:  unrealistic goals, out of touch and lying management, a dramatically over optimistic public spokesperson, and bad marketing.

The most proud accomplishment in SWTOR was voice overs which I admit they were good ..movie quality even. I have never wanted a game to work more ...it kills me it failed. I believe had it been F2P to start with it may not be in its last days. But they spent soooo much money on production the IP is lost.

So here we are in MWO another tabletop, and a well known IP. F2P from the start selling a founders program that has made them over 5 million and the game isn't even in open beta. So far the glitches are worked on weekly. The advertising is not overly promising and they are listening to their testers.

They have great ambitions for things to come. Many, many people in the company are involved in the public.

So what do you guys thing ...are you so caught up in other games you do not know how much time you can invest in MWO or are you going all in?

I am enjoying MWO so much right now its hard to even concentrate on other games.

Tactic Tip 104

Leadership

The action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do.

So many games have been won by someone stepping up to take control ...even a hair-brained scheme different than the normal to turn around a potential loss.

We are down 6 to 8 in mechs
One pilot rallies us together ....go "C" line now to intercept ...everyone return to base to defend they are almost there! Jenner head to enemy base and help me out.
We stop firing on the mech that was heading in the Caldera and spin back towards base.
The leader is missing one arm and one leg of his mech but limping toward their base with one following him.
5 of us arrive back at our base just in time ..and we destroy them standing in our base.
We win as the mech chasing our leader has overheated and is destroyed by the jenner.

Leadership it is not for everyone but you should try it every once in a while ...most groups love to have someone else run the mission once in a while.

Quotable Wednesday Version 2.0

Funboy: "Look what you've done to my sheets."

Last night out of twelve games I lost one. I was running my streakcat and my team made me feel like a rockstar with great tactics.

Reminds me of Funboy's comment to the Crow after being shot with his own gun. He exclaims "Look what you've done to my sheets." The streaks firing down on unsuspecting enemies.

Its fun to beat the crap out of a team; especially a well known premade.

Power to the people?!?!

Unbelievable, PGI reacted after I am sure many meetings and turmoil internally.

They have decided to back off the open beta starting on the 16th. This is huge because "something" happened on Tuesdays patch ...something really, really, bad.

You would be playing along fine (if you did not craash on dropship deployment). The game would suddenly start "rubber banding" and the lag would pretty much end the game. The timer would never go down and you would no longer take damage.

Pilots and testers went to the forums, twitter, facebook, and private messages convinced the management that going open was a horrible move.

I sure would not have wanted to have my head on the chopping block for making the wrong decision. Most of us said it was a bad idea but accepted it. My biggest concern was going open beta and losing contact with a bunch of really good players.

I made a post on the forums ...half in sarcasm, but based in reality about what made so many people choose not to be on voice chat. Many people moaned about my choices (if I had room for 1000 answers it would not have been enough). The answers arent fair, reasonable; it must have been a ragepoll. Seriously a ragepoll? You have got to be trolling it was a serious question ...for people to responded that it was ragepoll or I must be immature ...well you are wrong.

It was legit and sincere; I really wanted to know if it was burn out; physically impossible; solo game play; or what is driving you to not be part of the voice community.