Actually one of the largest complaints about the game so far is how diffrent it is from the Table top rule set. from double armor and internal values to modified weapon values from dmg to heat to range to ammo per ton. Being able to equip massive weapons in slots ment for small weapons. boating specific weapon types and pushing mech's way beyond what anyone would of thought possible.
It has always been possible to do this in Battletech.
The only difference it in the tabletop ruleset you can't do it on the fly unless your mech is omni-mech. However it has always been possible to trade several medium lasers for 1 ppc slot for example.
The biggest problem I have with the game is the so-so graphics (a matter of taste I know) and the fact that they have decided that those that paid for "founders' packages" will have their premium time start with open beta rather than full release. Until the metagame is in, I do not want to have my founders premium time start, indeed the whole reason I bought it was to get off to a good start once the game was complete with the metagame included. Had I had that information before I bought the package I would not have paid. They also are doing several other somewhat questionable things that smack of them trying to get an inordinate amount of money before formal, full release. I do not mind "free-to-play games" trying to get players to spend money. However, they should not change fundamental aspects of the purchase after they have gotten your money.
This right here is one of the most blatantly overhyped articles I've ever read from this site. I don't know what beta the author played but it wasn't the same one I have.
To whit: The game had promise, but, the heat mechanics, weapon damages, armor, engine limitations, collision faults and the fact that it is far easier, and quicker, to make money by losing as fast as possible show that the game needs TONS of work.
The fact that they're already charging RL money IN THE BETA is another massive warning sign. The grouping system needs tons of work, and articles like this are not helping the game, they're overhyping it.
I have massive nostalgia for BattleTech/MechWarrior myself, been playing for over 20 years, and they've missed the bar on this one by quite a bit.
Originally posted by Jackdog hope it supports joysticks, using a high end joystick back the old series was the my favorite way to control that torso/movement. Had one with a trackball made just for mechwarrior, but it is in electronic heaven now. With just keyboard annd mouse you needed 14 fingers and keyboard skills from hell. I'll givre it a try regardless
It supports joysticks but its not worth it. The support for joysticks is bad, you either move TOO fast or TOO slow. There is no real fine tuneing of the stick. So you are better off using a mouse.
The controlls are stupidly simple, standard WASD movement with W,A controlling throttle you dont need to hold it down to keep going. R locks target, so you can scan for information, other than that F9 brings up FPS. Not much else needed other than right ctrl and the arrow keys for setting your weapons groups. If you dont have a gaming mouse or use more than 2 weapons groups you will need to use your number keys on the top of your keyboard. But thats not a big deal. And Backspace cycles between group fire or chain fire. O overides shutdowns, P shutsdown and powers up. And thats it for controls.
You will need better than minimum specs, I suggest at least a i5 quad core or better and a 480 or better GPU. Anything less than a quadcore and you are slideing settings down. If your running a dual core you will be modifing the config file, because there are not enough ingame settings yet to make it playable for a dual core system.
Right now the game is still very early in its beta and not quite where it should be. It is getting better every other week so time will tell.
For me the game just falls short of mechwarrior, the static enviroments, lack of explosions on mech destruction, and it the power for you to be one shotted by some mechs, just makes it feel wrong.
Add to it the fact that it is a glorified frag tag game, like you expect to be added onto the end of a single player game as mp not as a fully formed mmo. It just doesn't come across to me as a solid title. I grew up with mech warrior, and this game just really fails at being it.
I'll admit some of that may have changed, I've not logged in to play in over a month, it just feels not enough to live up to the companies promiss of a AAA free to play title, as well it really fails at the promiss of being a reboot of the mech warrior franchise. I see the chance that this will be more of the death nail to it.
This right here is one of the most blatantly overhyped articles I've ever read from this site. I don't know what beta the author played but it wasn't the same one I have.
To whit: The game had promise, but, the heat mechanics, weapon damages, armor, engine limitations, collision faults and the fact that it is far easier, and quicker, to make money by losing as fast as possible show that the game needs TONS of work.
The fact that they're already charging RL money IN THE BETA is another massive warning sign. The grouping system needs tons of work, and articles like this are not helping the game, they're overhyping it.
I have massive nostalgia for BattleTech/MechWarrior myself, been playing for over 20 years, and they've missed the bar on this one by quite a bit.
You obviously haven't been paying attention.
The issue w/ dying fast in order to make money faster was already fixed. It lasted.... one week. In the build prior to the build you're referring to, it was STUPID easy to make money regardless if you won or lost a match. Now, the latest patch (which fixed the issue you're crying about) has found a fantastic middle-ground. You earn enough to repair / re-arm plus bank some credits following a loss, and you earn even more following a win. That's the way it should be.
The fact that they're charging RL money is to test their system. They stated outright that anyone who chooses to use the system will have any investment made paid back for each beta server reset, and again for open beta and release. I'd rather they test the system in beta than wait until release and have it blow up in their faces and take weeks to fix (Diablo 3 anyone?).
I too have been playing Battletech for over 20 years, and I think MWO is as close to tabletop as any game has gotten.... and they still haven't even implemented a lot of features.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem. -Glen Cook
MWO is a game recreating Battletech from the Tabletop into PC format and adhering to the strategy/tactical gameply side of things as closely as any MW game to date. It is not going to be like MW4 with jumping madcats, etc.
It also isnt going to be some lame wanna-be-mech-FPS that is using Robot Skins, ala Hawken. Anyone who thinks Hawken is a better game is obviously on their 7th installment of Call of Duty and loves that fast FPS style gameplay.
This is not that game.
The mechs move great. I think they move eactly as they should move. The lights and mediums, and even some heavies, are not "slow". They move like a giant mech. Yes the controls are a bit funny, at first, but play 10 matches or so and youll easily get the hang of it. In fact now that Im better at it myself I think it is BETTER the way it is set up.
A lot of winning a match is playing your ROLES properly and having cohesive teamwork. Funny that. Again, this isnt some CoD matchup you can waltz in and run and gun and do your own thing and come out the winner.
Your mech takes damage every fight it is in. You cannot single handedly destroy every enemy mech.
The game is fabulous. Great gameplay, great graphics, the mechs are amazingly well constructed. Weapons are as "realistic" as any Sci Fi game could possibly be. There are tons of options like 12v12 and community warefare which havnt been released yet.
FOR THOSE COMPLAINING ABOUT PAY TO WIN:
It isnt. So just stop.
YES, it will take you longer to rack up Cbills to buy yourself new mechs and equipment than someone using real cash. BUT the fact is it wont take you that long to get the Cbills you need by just playing the game. Ive bought 3 mechs within my first 50 matches or so.
Everyone has access to the same equipment, real cash buyers do not magically have access to a secret arsenal.
And, as many people have pointed out..... If Joe Bob has played 5 matches and buys $50 worth of cash, buys an Atlas, then goes and plays witht hat Atlas after 5 matches..... Joe Bob is going to get thrashed. The game is very much about skill. You cant buy that.
I've been in the beta for four or five months at this point. I have been a Battletech fan for multiple decades. I have led highly successful guilds in Mw3, Mw3:PM, Mw4, Mw4:M, and both MCs. My guild back then, the Davion Heavy Guards, was in a ton of various leagues from simple deathmatch ladders to NBT.
That being said, I have never been so underwhelmed by a MW/BT title.
It's 2012. We all saw the amazing MW: 3015 trailer a few years. UAVs popping out of the Warhammer, et cetera.
I was really expecting an updated game with fresh mechanics. I was completely wrong.
MWO is a very direct derivative of the TT ruleset. It's very constricting, the balance is a mess, assaults rule the roost, and they axed the entire territorial warfare aspect and much of the pilot skill progression.
This game offers nothing new. There is no evolution here. I wouldn't even consider MWO an iteration, merely a regurgitation.
I was expecting some forms of innovation. I wanted to see truly localized damage instead of the traditional 11 or 12 sections. I was hoping that shooting an Atlas in the crotch wouldn't be the same as shooting it in the chest.
I was expect some realistic weapons spread.
I was expecting an awesome electronic warfare aspect.
I was expecting autocannons to finally make a modicum of sense.
MWO offers none of these things. I was very disappointed with MWO.
SOOO your saying MWO is a computer version of the table top Battletech, as close as it could be....GOOD! I am getting so tired of all this 'innovation' crap people spit out all the time. Why can't someone just build us a good computer version of what we all used to play and love back then? Why does it always have to be innovative, new, different? Really, I played several of the Mechwarrior games, played the Mechwarrior rule set in TT too, and neither of them grabbed me like the original Battletech TT ruleset did. If MWO is true to the statements on here, that it does in fact try and adhere to the TT ruleset for Battletech then I say they got a hit, dont mess it up.
Well well, I'm surprised by the various people complaining about this game. It isn't even finished.
Yet, it's amazing to play even now.
For those who said the mechs move too sluggishly - were they piloting a Jenner with the Elite Speed Tweak skill? Guess not. I love it when I can catch an Atlas alone.... they're dead, they just can't hit me as I zoom round and round them, blasting away at their thin rear armour.
For those who complain about pay to win - I got the lowest level of founders package, but not having a founder's mech hasn't been a problem at all! I've become elite in 2 different mech types, and will soon be an elite Atlas pilot too. This hasn't cost me money. Free to play you can still be the best in the match - it's all about skill and strategy.
YES - skill and strategy. Doesn't matter if you're in a big or small mech, it's the way you play. In one match I did 867 damage, and I was piloting a Jenner! Ahhh, my beloved Jenner - 153km/h jumping bundle of death-by-laser.
Can't wait for it to be finished, for the factions to be actually meaningful etc. But it's still the most fun to play, constantly-thinking skill and strategy shooter around. It also has a ton of customisation options for each mech, just too good!
But - desperately needs voice chat! Stopping to type out "help get this light mech off by back" or "they're flanking us to the right" sucks...
Also, the match-maker needs a little more work, especially when you have to fight on the Tourmaline Desert map 5 times in a row - it's enough to make you buy a Jagermech and fit it out with only ballistic weapons.
I think I'll keep my lasers, yet still fail to resist firing the lot of them when the internal systems say "heat level critical"... then "shutting down"...
Comments
It has always been possible to do this in Battletech.
The only difference it in the tabletop ruleset you can't do it on the fly unless your mech is omni-mech. However it has always been possible to trade several medium lasers for 1 ppc slot for example.
This right here is one of the most blatantly overhyped articles I've ever read from this site. I don't know what beta the author played but it wasn't the same one I have.
To whit: The game had promise, but, the heat mechanics, weapon damages, armor, engine limitations, collision faults and the fact that it is far easier, and quicker, to make money by losing as fast as possible show that the game needs TONS of work.
The fact that they're already charging RL money IN THE BETA is another massive warning sign. The grouping system needs tons of work, and articles like this are not helping the game, they're overhyping it.
I have massive nostalgia for BattleTech/MechWarrior myself, been playing for over 20 years, and they've missed the bar on this one by quite a bit.
It supports joysticks but its not worth it. The support for joysticks is bad, you either move TOO fast or TOO slow. There is no real fine tuneing of the stick. So you are better off using a mouse.
The controlls are stupidly simple, standard WASD movement with W,A controlling throttle you dont need to hold it down to keep going. R locks target, so you can scan for information, other than that F9 brings up FPS. Not much else needed other than right ctrl and the arrow keys for setting your weapons groups. If you dont have a gaming mouse or use more than 2 weapons groups you will need to use your number keys on the top of your keyboard. But thats not a big deal. And Backspace cycles between group fire or chain fire. O overides shutdowns, P shutsdown and powers up. And thats it for controls.
You will need better than minimum specs, I suggest at least a i5 quad core or better and a 480 or better GPU. Anything less than a quadcore and you are slideing settings down. If your running a dual core you will be modifing the config file, because there are not enough ingame settings yet to make it playable for a dual core system.
Right now the game is still very early in its beta and not quite where it should be. It is getting better every other week so time will tell.
So much crap, so little quality.
For me the game just falls short of mechwarrior, the static enviroments, lack of explosions on mech destruction, and it the power for you to be one shotted by some mechs, just makes it feel wrong.
Add to it the fact that it is a glorified frag tag game, like you expect to be added onto the end of a single player game as mp not as a fully formed mmo. It just doesn't come across to me as a solid title. I grew up with mech warrior, and this game just really fails at being it.
I'll admit some of that may have changed, I've not logged in to play in over a month, it just feels not enough to live up to the companies promiss of a AAA free to play title, as well it really fails at the promiss of being a reboot of the mech warrior franchise. I see the chance that this will be more of the death nail to it.
You obviously haven't been paying attention.
The issue w/ dying fast in order to make money faster was already fixed. It lasted.... one week. In the build prior to the build you're referring to, it was STUPID easy to make money regardless if you won or lost a match. Now, the latest patch (which fixed the issue you're crying about) has found a fantastic middle-ground. You earn enough to repair / re-arm plus bank some credits following a loss, and you earn even more following a win. That's the way it should be.
The fact that they're charging RL money is to test their system. They stated outright that anyone who chooses to use the system will have any investment made paid back for each beta server reset, and again for open beta and release. I'd rather they test the system in beta than wait until release and have it blow up in their faces and take weeks to fix (Diablo 3 anyone?).
I too have been playing Battletech for over 20 years, and I think MWO is as close to tabletop as any game has gotten.... and they still haven't even implemented a lot of features.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
Ok.
MWO is a game recreating Battletech from the Tabletop into PC format and adhering to the strategy/tactical gameply side of things as closely as any MW game to date. It is not going to be like MW4 with jumping madcats, etc.
It also isnt going to be some lame wanna-be-mech-FPS that is using Robot Skins, ala Hawken. Anyone who thinks Hawken is a better game is obviously on their 7th installment of Call of Duty and loves that fast FPS style gameplay.
This is not that game.
The mechs move great. I think they move eactly as they should move. The lights and mediums, and even some heavies, are not "slow". They move like a giant mech. Yes the controls are a bit funny, at first, but play 10 matches or so and youll easily get the hang of it. In fact now that Im better at it myself I think it is BETTER the way it is set up.
A lot of winning a match is playing your ROLES properly and having cohesive teamwork. Funny that. Again, this isnt some CoD matchup you can waltz in and run and gun and do your own thing and come out the winner.
Your mech takes damage every fight it is in. You cannot single handedly destroy every enemy mech.
The game is fabulous. Great gameplay, great graphics, the mechs are amazingly well constructed. Weapons are as "realistic" as any Sci Fi game could possibly be. There are tons of options like 12v12 and community warefare which havnt been released yet.
FOR THOSE COMPLAINING ABOUT PAY TO WIN:
It isnt. So just stop.
YES, it will take you longer to rack up Cbills to buy yourself new mechs and equipment than someone using real cash. BUT the fact is it wont take you that long to get the Cbills you need by just playing the game. Ive bought 3 mechs within my first 50 matches or so.
Everyone has access to the same equipment, real cash buyers do not magically have access to a secret arsenal.
And, as many people have pointed out..... If Joe Bob has played 5 matches and buys $50 worth of cash, buys an Atlas, then goes and plays witht hat Atlas after 5 matches..... Joe Bob is going to get thrashed. The game is very much about skill. You cant buy that.
I've been in the beta for four or five months at this point. I have been a Battletech fan for multiple decades. I have led highly successful guilds in Mw3, Mw3:PM, Mw4, Mw4:M, and both MCs. My guild back then, the Davion Heavy Guards, was in a ton of various leagues from simple deathmatch ladders to NBT.
That being said, I have never been so underwhelmed by a MW/BT title.
It's 2012. We all saw the amazing MW: 3015 trailer a few years. UAVs popping out of the Warhammer, et cetera.
I was really expecting an updated game with fresh mechanics. I was completely wrong.
MWO is a very direct derivative of the TT ruleset. It's very constricting, the balance is a mess, assaults rule the roost, and they axed the entire territorial warfare aspect and much of the pilot skill progression.
This game offers nothing new. There is no evolution here. I wouldn't even consider MWO an iteration, merely a regurgitation.
I was expecting some forms of innovation. I wanted to see truly localized damage instead of the traditional 11 or 12 sections. I was hoping that shooting an Atlas in the crotch wouldn't be the same as shooting it in the chest.
I was expect some realistic weapons spread.
I was expecting an awesome electronic warfare aspect.
I was expecting autocannons to finally make a modicum of sense.
MWO offers none of these things. I was very disappointed with MWO.
Well well, I'm surprised by the various people complaining about this game. It isn't even finished.
Yet, it's amazing to play even now.
For those who said the mechs move too sluggishly - were they piloting a Jenner with the Elite Speed Tweak skill? Guess not. I love it when I can catch an Atlas alone.... they're dead, they just can't hit me as I zoom round and round them, blasting away at their thin rear armour.
For those who complain about pay to win - I got the lowest level of founders package, but not having a founder's mech hasn't been a problem at all! I've become elite in 2 different mech types, and will soon be an elite Atlas pilot too. This hasn't cost me money. Free to play you can still be the best in the match - it's all about skill and strategy.
YES - skill and strategy. Doesn't matter if you're in a big or small mech, it's the way you play. In one match I did 867 damage, and I was piloting a Jenner! Ahhh, my beloved Jenner - 153km/h jumping bundle of death-by-laser.
Can't wait for it to be finished, for the factions to be actually meaningful etc. But it's still the most fun to play, constantly-thinking skill and strategy shooter around. It also has a ton of customisation options for each mech, just too good!
But - desperately needs voice chat! Stopping to type out "help get this light mech off by back" or "they're flanking us to the right" sucks...
Also, the match-maker needs a little more work, especially when you have to fight on the Tourmaline Desert map 5 times in a row - it's enough to make you buy a Jagermech and fit it out with only ballistic weapons.
I think I'll keep my lasers, yet still fail to resist firing the lot of them when the internal systems say "heat level critical"... then "shutting down"...
I do hope that it at least stands up to MPBT game on GEnie from 1992.