Driadon

I haven't tried any skirmish yet, though I've made some cool loadouts I wish I could just import into the skirmish list. That said, some of the lances I sent out on some missions worked much better than others. One of my favorite lances was:

-A Commando I built into a small LRM boat, piloted by someone with Multi-target and sensor lock. Great for scouting and able to lower mobility on multiple targets from safe cover. Also 10 LRMS + M Laser can still be dangerous in the right situations.

-A Vindicator, stock build. Put someone with high piloting in there and use it to harass and "speed tank" by jumping often. Does heat up like crazy if PPC and jumpjets are used, but realistically its not there to fire much off.

- Thunderbolt, TDR-5S. While the enemies are busy swatting at the Commando and Vindicator, this mech can not only fire some decent LRM volleys while moving up, but once it has line of sight it can dish out some punishment.

-Hunchback, HBK-4G. Heavily armored to tank, AC-20. nuff said.

@hayt: If you're still having issues with this, in the Main Menu, click your callsign in the top right. From the new window, click on the Update Profile button, should be the middle of the three presented. In here you can update your callsign and change your lance colour scheme.

If you've been following along with the Waypoint crew, you will probably have heard their talks of Dekker, one of the 5 starting Mechwarriors (including you) that your merc crew has.
And he's a totally nondescript redshirt.

This has led to a lot of talks of people losing Dekker in hilariously fleeting or heroic fashions, as it would with anyone bearing a resemblance to a specially selected member of the Tactical/Security whose face you just didn't recognize.

So what's yours been?

On my end, I actually haven't lost a single character yet, and Dekker has actually become one of the most distinguished 'mech pilots I have. The guy won the battle at Panzyr almost entirely on his own. I threw him into my just recently acquired Firestarter, as I had dealt with a swarm of them in the past and got freaking rocked. Unfortunately I didn't think about how ineffective flamers would be in the snow. Thankfully, the Firestarter has such a massive jump distance with its stock equipment that I didn't really need to do much damage, and more just survive with the rest of my lance, while Dekker bounded his way to the control center and machine-gunned the damn thing with 5 rounds to spare.

Motherfucker is a legend.

@turambar: I've done a few of the Base Defense missions, and only had one go south (largely because I positioned a Shadowhawk in the PERFECT place for a LRM heavy vehicle to launch 40 missiles at it...with no evasion. My bad.)
You do generally need a good mix of maneuverability to stay ahead on the scouting and speed tank -- and heavy weapons and range is less of a factor as they come to you, granted you can concentrate fire well enough to keep the in-range enemy munitions low.

The issue with a complete lack of progression is that that is a major reason for players to play in the first place, and doesn't actually solve what progression does for MMOs which is long-term retention. That isn't to say that a progression-less traditional fantasy MMO couldn't exist, but you'd have to solve that retention problem first to make it viable. I think the best example of that would be to look at something like EVE Online, which retains not by traditional progression of experience points and quests, but by money assets that can be gained or lost in greater numbers via player interaction.

I'LL SPIT, I'LL SPIT AK

I'LL SPIT, I'LL SPIT AK

JP has been making so amazing music since as well.

• Rabbit Junk - Shadow Horizon
• clipping. - Body and Blood
• Ho99o9 - Street Power
• Moodie Black - Hawk vs Vulture
• Death Grips - Spikes
• Atari Teenage Riot - Revolution Action
• Cyanotic - Pressure
• Street Sects - Featherweight Hate
• Youth Code - Transitions
• Left Spine Down - Prozac Nation
• The Shizit - Just One Fix
• 16Volt - I Fail Truth
• Killing Joke - Implosion

https://open.spotify.com/user/driadon/playlist/5nnGofZ9EYhr2qNC3hOAdO

As an ex web guy, I appreciate this.

Big question: what did you enjoy about those RPGs that you're trying to look for? A lot of people are suggesting Torment, which is a great game, as it is more story based and are assuming you're looking for something more story driven. However, if you're more interesting in trying out pure mechanics, the Legend of Grimrock games were great in creating a much more digestible old CRPG feel. If you want something in the middle, those new Shadowrun games are fantastic, with Hong Kong being my personal favorite.

I don't think it was any one occurrence, I just started pre-ordering less and less until I stopped doing it, especially for physical copies. The last pre-order I remember putting money down for was Pokemon X and Y, though there may have been one or two digital releases I pre-ordered a day before release to pre-load. At one point I was pre-ordering a lot as a reaction to limited print runs - who wants to run around the city trying to find a copy of Halo 2 or San Andreas? But as companies have gotten more savvy with their physical distribution, and embraced digital, it became less of a needed thing. Then, tack on all of the very negative and gross pro-pre-order culture shit that started to show up like pre-order bonuses, Gamestop fiending over you putting your money down weeks or months in advance, etc. It made me very jaded, in a good way, to what pre-ordering was doing to the medium.