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Pre-Mortem
codejack
Member Posts: 208
I am declaring this game officially terminal. A great franchise, with awesome potential, ruined by cheap hacks.
Note: I was prepared to defend this game against all comers just because it was named, "Mechwarrior;" indeed, I spent my time in the trenches telling people to adapt to wildly and arbitrarily changing game mechanic, to wait for improvements that never materialize, that things that were obviously subpar were "good enough," and only got mud in my eye for my trouble. Finally, the game became so overtly and ridiculously unbalanced that I couldn't keep it up anymore.
The Mechwarrior games have always pushed the envelop in terms of available computing power; upgrading to play the latest installment was a time-honored tradition, but this is ridiculous! A quad-core i5 should be consideredd the minimum CPU, and if you want anything but lowest detail and no AA, you'll need a video card with a direct power input. I have all that and still have to stick to medium and no AA if I want consistently >30 fps.
Network latency is a serious issue, as well. If you don't live next door to the servers, be prepared to see people shoot you before you see them, laugh at your shots because your computer isn't displaying them where they actually are and so you can't possibly hit them without guided weapons, which they just about took out of the game, and tell you to "L2P" while the devs tilt the game ever more in their favor. They claim the issue is with the network code, but it seems to change according to the time of day, so more likely it is server/bandwidth capacity related, as well. Still, some people apparently never get the lag. They kill everyone else and mock them.
Which brings us to ECM; long-time Battletech/Mechwarrior fans, as well as anyone with any familiarity with military/science-fiction terminology, will be familiar with it as the unit that makes it harder to detect enemies and counters friendly electronic warfaredevices, such as NARC beacons and BAP advanced sensors. MWO decided to go a step further and make ECM completely counter guided weapons, unless the enemy has ECM as well, but even then they have to be very close. The implementation was directly intended to counter guided short-range missiles on larger mechs, which are the only reliable way to kill small, fast mechs, so they only gave ECM to 4 mechs; 3 small, fast mechs, and 1 VERY large mech that doesn't carry enough missiles to matter. The result is that large mechs have to stay in groups so small mechs don't kill them.
This is the latest in a string of wildly changing game mechanics that don't make any sense when they are introduced, and make even less sense when they "fix" them, unless their sole intent is to force customers to completely change their mech every couple of weeks.
But the true core of every Mechwarrior game was the story; the piece of the fantastic realm of 1000 years in the future you get to stomp all over and blast things with a giant, walking death machine. What's the story in MWO? Capture the flag! Oh, wait, sorry, we are about to get Conquest! Still PvP, still static goals, still might as well be playing Netmech from the 1990s. Actually, that's not fair; Netmech was a much better balanced game. There are no plans for PvE of any sort.
Pointing any of this out to them is forbidden; negative threads in the forums are not allowed, and even attempts at civil discussion only yield more and more ridiculous lines of reasoning for why things are or are not balanced. At one point I had a moderator one step away from endorsing a subplot where some kind of plague had broken out and made everyone in the galaxy stupid, which is why they couldn't make a weapon that did X (even though we have been doing it since the 1950s, and these people are piloting fusion-powered walking tanks and faster-than-light spaceships).
If someone were to take the engine and graphics from MWO, and the weapons, systems, balance, and campaigns from any of Mechwarriors 2-4, I would shell out $100 for a copy. I might not kill, but I might seriously injure someone to get that game. MWO, as it is, is too expensive at free.
Comments
Just to put this in perspective, here is a new mech they are introducing tomorrow:
STK-5M; 2x LRM10, 2x SRM6, 4x Medium Laser 1x NARC, 1x L.laser, DHS......(5 Missile 5 Energy)
LRMs are currently useless against ECM, which anyone who can is using.
NARC is disabled by ECM, doesn't help SRMs, and have a very narrow window between its maximum range and LRMs minimum range. It is extremely difficult to use under the best circumstances, has extremely heavy ammunition, and in my testing, didn't actually do anything at all, even using guided missiles on non-ECM targets.
DHS stands for "Double Heat Sinks," which weigh the same as normal heat sinks, are 3 times as large, and dissipate 1.4 times as much heat.
PGI consistently claims that their loadouts on mechs are "good," yet no one ever buys one and leaves it that way...
I'm with you man...Old school fan here. I used to play mechwarrior on my 386 PC when I was a kid. I also regulared North Pier in Chicago just to goto Battletech Center all the time, actually, if you missed out on that from back in the day......check these youtube videos out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJA5C_Po4U
and this is of the training video we watched in the "briefing room" before heading to our cockpits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHSmuBxqlG4
Screw MWO, we need modernized battletech centers!!!!
needless to say I am a devoted fan and totally agree with you.
If this one fails there will be no other one for a very long time.
The game runs on the Cryengine 3 and runs well on any computer with a quadcore and a mainstream videocard down to the old ATI 4850 with decent fps at lower resolutions and settings.
Though it still needs and gets optimization.
ECM is indeed not balanced but its only out for ~2 weeks now.
The beauty of the game IS (aside of the impressive background) that you can customize your Mech to a good degree into very different directions and usually you play as much in the Mechlab as on the Battlefield.
With all the models and variants you will allways have stock variants that be stronger or weaker and do or not do fit your playstyle.
But the power is given to you to make the best Mech you can imagine for yourself out of all the weapons and models and variants that be available.
Lag is there, its worse the faster the Mech can go, making Light Mechs very hard to destroy as long they keep speed up but it wont happen that you get shot from invisible enemys.
You only need to lead your shots at fast mechs one, two or more meters ahead of it.
When you get shot from invisible enemys you got sniped from the far bcs you exposed yourself.
Here is a nice 20 minute combat Video from a Guy playing a PPC long range Catapult Mech made with the early december build.
The only difference is that ECM is now late december made a little weaker, the "Stalker" Assault Mech made it into the game and the new "Conquest" game mode which is a battle about ressource points which usually is decided by team annihilation but changes the flow of the battle.
Also the "Repair and Ream" expenses have gone from the game and any money is netto income.
New Players get a huge money buff for the first 25 games making it easy to buy your first own Mech quite early.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1XBgIUH_FU
MWO is the best thing you can become, help make it better or dream of another MW game coming for the rest of your life.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
Well, I have to throw in with my tuppence worth: fighting against a lance of light mechs all displaying high ping (seems to be deliberate, just google limiting your bandwidth to spoof the game) and ecm is not fun - it's impossible to lag lead your aimpoint reliably and they can swarm and of your assault/heavy guys with ease.
It's also a growing trend for teams of 4 voice comms guys to do this, which tends to piss off new players and even old players that refuse to game the system in this way. 2 of my regular 4 man team are already on extended breaks over this issue.
I have seen this, and I am seeing it in other games to, like Planetside 2. Any game where the game is client side detection there will be an easy way to exploit/cheat the system. So I just dont deal with them much. When I see them I call them out on it, then I play as normal. If they win it doesnt matter anymore because the devs have removed repair costs, and if I win it still doesnt matter because its not like I am actually getting anything.
So much crap, so little quality.
I run the game on a dual core, and I havent been banned on my second account for being negative. I regularly point out all the bugs, exploits and faults in the game and talk very negatively about the game on the MWO forums.
My main account was banned because I was trolling, I am not mad about it, I did it intentionally, I knew I would get banned.
Being a regular troll I often make 4 or 5 accounts when I first sign up for a forum just to keep myself from having perma-ban issues, all those accounts are under different IP addies.
But as far as MW2-4, those were HORRIBLE games, they were just an example of how bad the franchise had got. All I had hoped for was an updated Multi-player Battletech : 3025, but instead I got a bad Mechwarrior game with developers who looked at the cover of the TT game book and didnt go any further. So I am glad I have only invested 10bucks into the game, and of that I still have 5 in MC sitting on my account that I wouldnt mind getting refunded, because I dont see me spending them ever.
So much crap, so little quality.
The game is on life support. The devs do not communicate properly. The mods are total joke, and as I’ve said before the community is outright hostel. Any sujjestions that is made is met with rage posting. They still argue this game is "open beta" however if you look at the game list here MMORPG.com it is listed as final. The elitist fanboys bash anyone. The netcode is a mess. There is no in game VoIP yet (but no telling when this will happen). No destructible environments (this means you can walk and shoot thru trees). It’s just a mess. They do announce a mech about every month but that’s just an announcement. The announced mech will not be ready until about 9 months down the road. Out of the 19 mechs they have announced only 13 are ready to play. They could not secure the iconic mechs from harmony gold like the Warhammer, the Rifleman, the Battlemaster, the Wolverine ect... Basically the iconic mechs that draw people and attention to the game in the 1st place will not be ingame ever!! They did redesign the 19 mechs they announced, but they are still the ugliest machines I have ever seen.
MWO has the best looking Mechs in the history of the game!
Also the game is developed following the MVP model:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product
It starts with nothing but the bare bones and grows the flesh over the time.
The MWO community is growing and their forums have ~425.000 members.
You find matches in a matter of seconds with different people each time.
Its alive and well - and bursts of activity on Patchdays!
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
No.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
Are you crazy?
Pgi has taken and only picked the most god awful machines in the list of mechs. The latest release is the spider. Even most of your fanboi colleagues say its crap. It looks bad and it’s a useless mech. This mech is not needed. The ravens are the only light mechs that are usable because of the misbalance and ecm.There are a few good looking iconic mechs they could have used but chose not to. Also their redesigns..wow ...not good. Better than the original sketches but not by much.
Where does it say on their site this is a MVP model?
There is a reason why not many companies do this. It’s bad publicity. New players will not and do not care if it’s a work in progress. Open beta means to them playable with MINOR glitches to be patched. Now issues like only 3 maps to play on. Premade groups stomping on new inexperienced players. Netcode issues. Will not sit right with them and will leave quickly! That is how consumers think.
This is why this game is sinking. This game already has bad word of mouth because of the elitist’s fanbois like you.
pgi can do no wrong in your eyes, pugs suck, its beta, it’s only a team game, learn to play...chomp ba chomp ba chewy chewy chomp!
As I stated before people, stay away. Heavy Gear game will be coming soon. Hawken is polished and ready to go in their open beta. So if you are waiting or wanting to play a good fps mech game, look elsewhere.
This is crazy, are you guys paid for making anti propaganda?
You take something good in the game and try to make it look bad.
The broad consensus in the playerbase is that each and every single Mech looks outstanding for example including the Spider!
I cant take your posting anymore serious.
kkthxbye
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
To be fair, those of us who really like the MW franchise aren't looking at it as a FPS; that's why Hawken doesn't measure up. It's supposed to be more of a sim, not a fast-paced shooter.
Too bad it fails by those standards, too.
Dude, you're one of like a dozen people on the Internet who thinks that. They just post over and over on the official forums.
As for the Spider, if it didnt' have ECM, no one would play it.
MWO has ~430.000 registered forum users.
Even if only 5% of them frequently visit the forums you would read much about it when they would not like the Mech design.
The Mech desgin is one of the most outstanding parts of MWO as you can read in every of the 18 or 19 official and many of unofficial threads about the announced Mechs.
People complain that the Centurion is a tad to big and the Stalker is a tad to small but NOBODY complains about the look but a very few people that like Hawken more than MWO and try to convince people to believe them.
I dont know why they not use the Hawken forum to promote it - there is one at this site!
The balancing of the game is still ongoing and at times some Mechs be more popular by minmaxers as others but despite this the game is fantastic to play and it is up to you as player to decide if you go for the latest FOTM Mech or fun and fun builds can and do beat minmaxers when your team plays it good.
MWO is the chance to get a really good PvP game where you can aim for bodyparts that contain different equipment and disable this specific parts of your opponent and cripple him.
In this game you can tailor your Mech around your very individual playstyle.
Its no reswpan so each life is valuable and you have to make a risk vs reward calcculation and better judgement is rewarded instead of faster spwaning, spawncamping, reckless playing.
The learning curve is somewhat challenging but bcs of that it is far more rewarding to master the game.
Many complaints simply have the root in the fact that the game has so much freaking high potential and this scares some people...
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
Yes, I am scared that the game will be too good; incidentally, do you live in Colorado or Washington? I'm just curious if whatever you are smoking is legal where you are.
This game is a blight on the good name of the Mechwarrior franchise, and the sooner it dies, the sooner someone else gets a chance to make a decent game.
I am not the one on drugs at this site.
I am a big critic of the game at their forums.
Though i feel the game is a diamond - still somewhat rough, not fully polished yet, but nonetheless a diamond.
If you dont like this one there is Hawken (FPS in a Mech-Skin), there is Perpetuum (EVE with RC Robots on landtiles), probably some others that fit more your taste, better spend your time searching for them.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
IMO this game has problems ever since they DID NOT introduced faction wars and territory control as their first game mode.
Mechwarrior has always been traditionally about fighting for factions (or being a merc) and yet nothing of that sort was implemented besides deathmatch (Conquest mode as they call it).
I was testing for beta and when I saw that they are going to release without faction mode, I pretty much gave up on the game.
CW (CW = Community Warfare - war between the factions) is their next big milestone.
They will very probably make a big announcement when it goes live into OB.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
I’ve never played Hawkin. But I can tell you that the new people that will try out MWO will jump ship quickly! Even tho it is faster paced (and I really don’t want to play that kind of mechawarrior game, and I never said a slow pace was a bad thing), Hawken is more polished and ready to pick up and go!
You are the one who is slinging around propaganda with endless posts and keeping your name in lights! Do you think yourself as that self-important?
As for the designs, look at MechWarrior Tactics...their designs on a lot of the same mechs including the spider are vastly better looking. Its al about perception and marketing and MWO is a fail at this. Again Hostile community as you have helped me prove my point, broken netcode, and game mechanics that you can’t explain away. All this will turn new customers away! Yes I hope this game does fail because of these 3 main issues. So someone else that has the money, proper staff, equipment and mods to clean up the forums and in game issues. So it can be done the right way, not the pgi way.
I understand where you are coming from Code. But as a casual gamer, all they are going to see is walking around with big guns shooting stuff. As a casual gamer i dont see that much of a difference, i think its splitting hairs (respectfully) on that idea.
And the reality proves you wrong.
MW:Tactics rides on a far lower public awareness - the design of the Mechs is received as almost childish.
Hawken is a fast food game: Eat it up and flush it down.
XFire shows an increasing trend of MWO players.
The Forum grows, the playerbase grows.
Accept that MWO is a game for grown up people with a mature taste that can distinguish fantastic design in military style from a "Cathode Ray Tube" on legs.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
LOL you just do not get it. Just because more people are making new accounts does not mean they stay around.
This is a fine example of how the community reacts to posts...this is what you new people will be exposed to.
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/93049-solo-players-fodder-for-paying-customers/
see i can post propaganda as well! and this is more typical of the abuse that happens over there!
As for the designs....those awful things speak for themselvs...horrid and verry amateurish.
Free to play = content updates for the cash shop. Buy to play = content updates for the cash shop.
Subscription = Actual content updates!
Hawken is a much better game. More polished, better pacing, doesn't require a supercomputer to run, and a much better dev team which is actually DOING something with their IP & listens to the players, etc. Your statement shows the kind of elitism I ran into in MWO's horrid community, and I'm glad I got my founder's pack refunded.
MWO may have been designed for 'grown up people', but the community is a bunch of children.
I should also add that the mechs in MWO feel more like tanks gliding over the ground than giant, stompy robots. Hawken gives a much better feeling of being in control of a giant walking dynamo of destruction, which is funny because the mechs are much smaller. Go figure.
Hawken is garbage. Just like the robots in that game. They look like welded together garbage.
Free to play = content updates for the cash shop. Buy to play = content updates for the cash shop.
Subscription = Actual content updates!