I've been playing off and on for a few years, I'll try to be as helpful as possible.

Hey! I was a big fan of MW2, and while my interest significantly waned after MW3 and MW4, I'm still kind of interested in MWO. How is the gameplay in your opinion, and is the game viable/enjoyable even without putting in real money? I'm all for putting in money in a free-to-play game if it enhances an already-enjoyable experience, but not if it's a prerequisite for an enjoyable experience. I've been listening to the QL in the background on and off while working so I didn't catch everything, but some of the pay stuff sounded pretty egregious...

edit: also, this game has been out for years??? What the hell? What rock was I living under?????

I think it launched in 2013 or so, but only came to Steam a few months ago.

They aren't kidding with with the f2p prices being outrageous. You need to be smart about your purchases. Honestly the only real paywall is Mechbays. Without these you'd be forced to sell off old mechs to buy old mechs which is bad idea. The other stuff exist to remove grind, premium time increases your earnings, mech packs get you a ton of a variants and some other goodies for a price.

It is defiantly not MW2. Its more akin to MW4 in its mech customization, as in mechs have slots that can only build by certain types of weapons. Its a balancing tool but it does tend to rub purist the wrong way. The gameplay rewards your customization and your effort but it can be really unforgiving. Its a small pool of veteran players and you are going to get thrown into the deep end. Game play is solid, some mechs are really just big tanks while others feel like jet fighters darting around the battlefield. Weapons sound good and feel good when you land hits. What brings me back to this title over other similar games, world of tanks for instance, is there's no tier system for the mechs. You don't grind up to a tier 10 mech. Every mech has a chance in being in every match. Doesn't mean every mech is equal, the balance is the best its been but still some mechs are better then others.

The steam launch is their biggest PR push by a wide margin.

@goebel: thanks for the rundown. Not completely sold on it, but hey it's free so I'll have to give it a go sometime.

@mrmin123: I don't subscribe to the idea that if its free you have no reason to not try it. Time is money and all that. But I suggest if you're interested this title can be rewarding.

@goebel: I guess that's what I mean. I have a bit of interest, and it doesn't sound like a complete trainwreck, so worth checking out since it's free. Thanks!

I actually bought a founder's account way back in 2012 but I haven't touched it since 2013 after seeing the quicklook and the changes I'm gonna go back and have a look see.

Yep, If any duders want someone to drop with or need help or things explained, feel free to ask over here too. I've played wayyyyyyy to much of this game, and while im taking a break as of late, this might get me right back in.

Happy hunting folks!

I played a few quick matches last night and actually enjoyed my time with it! Tried a few trial mechs (Hunchback, Shadow Cat... not knowing how the Gauss Cannon worked was fun, Timber Wolf) but I fell in love with the Timber Wolf. That said, it looked like it would take a fair number of games for me to grind up enough c-bills to buy the mech outright, and that's with the initial injection of money you get from easy achievements and such. Is that supposed to be the case? I can see myself playing to the point where I can get my first mech, but getting a second mech or variant seems daunting at ~100k c-bills a match...

@mrmin123: of course you love the tbr, that thing is a powerhouse. Considered the best mech in the game for the tonnage. To your concern that 16 million per variant is too much you are entirely right. A couple of things will mitigate this price however. Free premium time is one, head over to mwomercs.com/rewards. That should net you 7 days free. Second as your skill improves so do your earnings, you can expect to make 300k on decent matches. Third, stick to the website. This weekend has event where you can earn 750k as well as a free mech that you can sell for bigger gains.

Now if you think there's a cheaper chassis you are partially right. The truth is the clan mechs have all there price upfront while IS mechs nickel and dime you with upgrades. The end result is still over 10 million per variant.

@goebel: Cool, thanks for the heads up! Hope I can get some games in over the weekend!

I popped in after the QL and haven't stopped since. I'm looking at the weekend event, and the "25" point reward says "25 points = Cicada CDA-2A [C] Champion 'Mech, including 'Mech Bay!"

Am I correct in thinking that that's a permanent +1 bay? Because currently that looks like the biggest reward on the slate.

(Also, the URL above should be /rewards, not /reward.)

@goebel: Quick question, I haven't played since the very early days and they have introduced the clans since then. How is that balance handled? Particularly the weapons. Is everyone basically forced to upgrade to better clan gear or have they been somehow toned down from their OP status from their lore and p&p roots?

@moonshadow101:Yeah, you get the mech with its own mech bay. I believe you can sell the mech, grabbing a decent chunk of change as well as free mech bay. Mech bays are a common event reward. They'll do grab bag events where you can pull one or two.

Oh thanks for the catch, i updated the url.

@tennmuerti: OH man clan balance is a can of worms, I will try to be as succinct as possible. There is no mix tech, you can't buy clan er lasers for your hunchback and you cant put an IS AC/20 on your stormcrow. Clan weapons act in different ways as a way to balance, changes include LRMs firing in succession instead of one clump, Lasers burn longer and ACs firing burst instead of one single shell. Because of this clan weapons tend to spread the damage around. Clan mechs can't change their engine, upgrades or the location of some crit items. They can change their omni-pod. For example on a TBR-Prime you have 2 energy hard points in the right arm, you can change that to a C variant and have a ballistic mount instead. To keep the balance they gave IS mechs 'quirks' per variant that help them do them in specific ways. The hunchback 4G's RT or its hump has extra armor and extra structure, it's AC/20 rounds have a higher velocity and fire faster then say an AC/20 on a Highlander or Shadowhawk.

The result of this that balance is the best we've had ever. There are still over-performers and under-performers but the band is narrower.

Edit: So yes, a Hunchback-4G with 3 machine guns and 3 medium pulses is an abomination unto god. Nothing against Austin, it is a pretty classic newbie move. The current best mech build repository would be over at metamechs.com

@goebel: Shit I am legit impressed at the way they handled the balance of Clan gear from how you describe it. This is definitely gonna tip me over to giving it another shot. Thank you.

Does this game have any sort of guild/clan system for grouping up with duders or is it all friends list based? I'd be interested in trying this game again if there was a group of people I could just in games with who weren't all randoms.

Is there by any chance a GB MWO clan? Might to fun to play with others who are relatively new and don't mind me occasionally blocking a choke point with my Atlas.

Just want to pop in real fast again to say I've been having a goddamn blast with this game. Still rocking the TBR and actually surviving until the end of the matches now, with a few kills/kill most damage dealt to boot! Finished the Like a Champion challenges earlier so I'm going to give the Cicada a try later but it'll be hard letting the TBR go. I definitely want to try the lights eventually tho. They look like they're having so much fun darting all around the map and running circles around the assaults.

@merxworx01: @gloobus: I don't think giant bomb has one yet but yes you can create a unit. It's a million c bills and your get a Lil unit tag by your name in game. If you want to add me my name is Goebel on there too. I'm not a good person to group with because I'll pull you into higher tier games. When you hit tier 3 though it shouldn't be a problem.

@mrmin123: I'm happy you're having a good time. The game is a blast. The champion cicada is a fun mech but much less forgiving then your timberwolf so don't get upset with it. The trial raven and artic cheetah are great examples of the spectrum light chassises can offer if you want to give them a go.

So i have been playing for the last couple of days and have really been enjoying it so far. Quick question though what would be a good starting heavy to use. I have been using mostly the HBK and mediums since i started but i feel like im lacking fire power and wanted to try out some heavies. any advice would be welcomed.

@seehinky: For the inner sphere I suggest the Jagermech or the Thunderbolt. Jagermech's can boat tons of ballistics but can be configured to poke at range with gauss rifles, use dual ac/20s to demolish at close range or triple Ultra Ac/5s for whats called a "chainsaw" build. Thunderbolts are just plain powerful. One variant boats fast firing medium pulse lasers and just ruins with high recycle pin-point damage. Others are good with ER PPCs or large pulse lasers.

Clan wise I am a little shakier, I am a filthy free-birth inner sphere die-hard. Timberwolves are great, have a diversity of builds and be expected to always perform well. Hellbringer would be my other recommendation, its one of small pool of heavies able to equip ECM. That gives it an advantage in whatever role you find yourself in.

@goebel: Thanks for the advice i ended up picking up a blackjack and im loving it. I will definitely look into your suggestions when i have enough to start working on heavies.

@seehinky: Quirks have made a lot of mechs viable so maybe a quick list of mechs to stay away from. Commando, myst lynx, ice ferret, vindicator, kintaro, dragon, summoner, awesome and gargoyle. They are the most difficult chassis to perform with for varying reasons. So as a newer player don't waste your c bills.

! last question.. Is it worth setting up and getting used to using a H.O.T.A.S with this game? or is sticking with mouse and keyboard probably better?

@seehinky i think keyboard and mouse is better, you get more precise controls when you use your arms if you have weapons on those hardpoints:

@seehinky: david's right. Game has been made to require the accuracy a mouse gives you. Some people have fun using a throttle/stick in their off hand while still using the mouse to aim.

I hadn't played since early 2013, but I've been back in pretty heavily since Austin mentioned the steam release. Still working my way towards a good quartet of mechs for a deep dive into faction stuff, but if anyone else is a Ghost Bear loyalist and wants a fancy clan tag next to their name, I did create a unit. Just reply here or shoot me a pm and I'll try to send an invite in a timely fashion.

The quicklook inspired me to get back into this game after a couple years of inactivity. So far, I've spent half the day messing around with my Raven 3L shooting NARCs and stuff. Much better from the balancing issues I recall. At some point, I noticed the Marauder for sale on their website... Now, I was a huge Mechwarrior 1 fan. Back in the day, it was the best game I had ever played. The Marauder was my go to mech even though I'm sure most people flocked to the Battlemaster when they were able to find one. There was nothing more satisfying to me than to charge up into battle, shoot a bunch of Battlemaster's legs off and take that shit as primo salvage. Anyway, short story even shorter, I bought the collectors pack and am enjoying it even more. I still don't really understand that module stuff, but the mech bay improvements are amazing.

Can I hang posters of anime ladies inside my cockpit?

@imsh_pl: Possibly, but it was probably cost you $15

is this game art?

@goebel: I've always wanted to dive in to a MechWarrior game but never had the OG Xbox or a pc back when they were a thing, does this newer game require much of a pc to run smooth? my machine is getting over a few years old now

@richyhahn4: If your PC was running games pretty well two years ago, then it should be able to handle this. It's CryEngine but the game came out in 2013 so it's not a huge technical masterpiece or anything.

What's the standard protocol for doing Faction Warfare battles? On one of the first times I tried it, I was shot by an allied group because I was "doing it wrong".

@imsh_pl:Not yet. MWO is pretty young, we try not to sexualize her.

@meptron: 50 people working on graphics and interactions for 6 years. God I hope its art.

@richyhahn4: Its recently gotten some optimization passes but it still doesn't scale very well. Depending on the PC you might have a shot, just make sure to turn off particle effects.

@mikelemmer: There is a report player feature on the scoreboard. If that happens again, report them. Faction Warfare is endgame content so expectations are high. A cursory look around doesn't show me a guide to CW. This is a video series with a helpful youtuber as he takes a f2p account into community warfare. If you reddit, head over to r/outreachhpg if you have other questions.