The Blackjack 1X in a DHB four man group. I use its speed (now 116kph with Speed Tweak) to get around the main brawl to harass a LRM Stalker in the backfield.
Gimpy's exploits in MechWarrior Online. MechWarrior Online is a free to play game taking place in the year 3051 AD where you pilot giant robots called "battle mechs" or "mechs", team up with other people, and battle other groups of people for control of the galaxy!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
MechWarrior Online: Blackjack, BJ-1X, In Action
My Blackjack 1X with 8 medium lasers and moving at 106kph in action. Includes a revenge kill for gimping me.
The Blackjack 1X in a DHB four man group. I use its speed (now 116kph with Speed Tweak) to get around the main brawl to harass a LRM Stalker in the backfield.
The Blackjack 1X in a DHB four man group. I use its speed (now 116kph with Speed Tweak) to get around the main brawl to harass a LRM Stalker in the backfield.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
MechWarrior Online: DHB vs ACES Scrimmage
DHB and ACES have a friendly scrimmage in Forest Colony Snow - Conquest mode
An attempted scrimmage against ACES, but the sync drop fails and we end up going against another decent team in Tourmaline Desert - Conquest mode.
An attempted scrimmage against ACES, but the sync drop fails and we end up going against another decent team in Tourmaline Desert - Conquest mode.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
MechWarrior Online: DHB vs Antares Scorpions - 1v1 Duels in Alpine Peaks
A Death's Hand Brigade 8 man group duels an Antares Scorpions 8 man group one versus one in Alpine Peaks.
Monday, May 20, 2013
MechWariior Online: DHB vs DHB Battle in Frozen City Night
Two Death's Hand Brigade groups face off in Frozen City Night. A quick but brutal fight.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
MechWarrior Online: Shootin' Jenners Out of the Sky - Part 3
I shoot another Jenner out of the sky while grouped up with another member of DHB. We beat up on a couple of Highlanders too. Just because we can and they deserve it.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Is MechWarrior Online Pay To Win?
First, so we're starting from the same point of reference, let's start with a definition of "pay to win" from Urban Dictionary: "Games that let you buy better gear or allow you
to make better items then everyone else at a faster rate and then makes
the game largely unbalanced even for people who have skill in the game
without paying."
So, the short answer is, "No, MechWarrior Online is NOT pay to win."
However, the long answer is, while MechWarrior Online is a free to play game, it does have some things you can buy to improve your experience or speed up your progression.
These things include:
Paint, camouflage, and cockpit items are cosmetic only. They don't effect game play in any way. No one can argue they make MechWarrior Online pay to win.
Premium time does not effect game play either. It only adds to the money and mech experience you earn in matches. It's not pay to win, but it could be called "pay to make progress go faster." Yes, you can get access to better equipment faster, but everyone has access to the same equipment and the prices aren't so high that it will take you much longer to buy something without having Premium Time. C-bills and mech experience alone will not make you kill your opponents easier or faster. Only your personal skill can do that.
Champion Mechs only have an earned mech experience bonus. The mechs are exactly the same as any other mech you buy with c-bills. Definitely not pay to win.
Although Hero Mechs are unique variants, they are not any better than other mechs. Some are good variants, others not so much, but none of them are even close to being overpowered. I don't own one yet because I don't think the c-bill bonus and uniqueness make them worth buying. There are lots of Hero Mechs running around though. Full disclosure: One of the reasons I joined the Founder's Program was to own four Founder's mechs (25 percent c-bill bonus and unique look. Not unique variants).
Update (June 17, 2013): I purchased my first hero mech, Ilya Muromets (Cataphract chassis), on June 7. After using it quite a bit for the past 10 days, I must say it is a strong mech for its tonnage (70 tons) and weapon hard point locations (one ballistic in each arm and one ballistic in the right torso). The three Ultra Auto Cannon 5 (UAC 5) build is somewhat fragile though due to having to run an XL engine in order to have enough ammo for the UAC 5s to be effective in more than one fire fight.
When the Ilya first came out, it was the only mech that could mount three UAC 5s due to the hard point locations and this could be called "pay to win" because it was, and still is, a big time damage dealer. However, with the Jagermech that came out a few months ago, the Ilya is no longer the only mech capable of mounting three UAC5s. At five tons lighter, the Jagermech can't hold as much ammo as the Ilya, but it is still effective (I have a Jagermech with three UAC 5s) primarily due to the arms of the Jager being located higher up and you don't waste as much ammo shooting the ground like you do with the low slung guns on the Ilya (a disadvantage of the Cataphract chassis).
Another downside of the Ilya is anyone who has been around a while knows the Ilya is dangerous and it's not long before you find yourself being shot at by multiple mechs. Even with two to three assault mechs standing in front of you. :D
Update (March 19, 2014):Be sure to check out my post on what I think about the Hero mechs I have bought.
You start with four mech bays and if you want to have more than four mechs at one time, you will have to buy more mech bays at 300 MC each ($2-$3). You can not buy mech bays with c-bills. Technically not pay to win because you can't pilot more than one mech at a time in a match. You can have 50 mechs in your mech stable and it still wouldn't make you more likely to win.
Update (May 7, 2015): Mech Bays can now be acquired through gaining Faction ranks in Community Warfare. Basically, you get one Mech Bay at ranks 2, 6, 10, 14, and 18. You can do this for each House/Clan and there are 10 Houses and Clans total. So, if you put in the time, you can acquire 50 Mech Bays without spending any real world money. You can find all of the Faction Rank Rewards here.
Now, if you choose to not spend any real money on MechWarrior Online, you will probably progress at a slower pace if you stick primarily to playing the game by yourself. And by "progress", I mean buying mechs or equipment to make your bought mechs better. Unless you spend MC on buying a mech, you are stuck playing trial mechs until you earn enough c-bills to buy a mech of your own.
How long does it take to buy a mech with c-bills? Well, everyone gets a c-bill bonus in their first 25 matches and you will end up with somewhere between 8 and 10 million c-bills depending on how well you play. So, you typically earn enough c-bills to buy a few light mechs, a couple of medium mechs, or maybe even one heavy mech after the 25th match and have enough c-bills to do some customization. If you are playing with Premium Time during your first 25 matches, you make 50 percent more c-bills or 12-15 million c-bills total. This will give you enough c-bills to buy an assault mech and customize it with pretty much anything you want.
Update (September 13, 2013): I added a new post with some details on my experience playing MWO with and without Premium Time as it relates to earning C-bills. Includes a spreadsheet with how many C-Bills I have earned per day played from December 4, 2012 to March 7, 2016.
Apparently there is some misinformation being floated around that the best Consumables (one use items) can only be purchased with real world money. This is COMPLETELY FALSE.
Yes, consumables you purchase with MC (bought with real world money) are the best you can get. However, you can use GXP to permanently upgrade the consumables bought with C-Bills (in game money earned while playing) so that they are exactly the same as the MC versions.
For example, in the screenshot (click image for a bigger version), COOL SHOT 9 BY 9 is the GXP upgraded version of COOL SHOT 9 (not shown because that's the non-upgraded version) is available for 40,000 C-Bills and operates the same as the MC version, COOL SHOT 18. Both remove 18 heat points from your current heat level over the same period of time.
You can also see I have upgraded my ARTILLERY STRIKE and UAV with GXP (but not my AIR STRIKE). They perform exactly like their MC counterparts. I have never bought a consumable with MC because I have upgraded the C-Bill version consumables I use on a regular basis with GXP.
This has become a lot longer than I originally intended, so I'll stop here. But if you're still not convinced MechWarrior Online is not pay to win, give it a try for yourself. It really is free to download and play.
So, the short answer is, "No, MechWarrior Online is NOT pay to win."
However, the long answer is, while MechWarrior Online is a free to play game, it does have some things you can buy to improve your experience or speed up your progression.
These things include:
- Paint for your mechs (all mechs come painted in drab green)
- Camouflage patterns
- Cockpit items like mech statues, banners, air freshner, dice, and many more
- Premium Time - increases c-bills (in game money) and mech experience earned in matches by 50 percent each
- Champion Mechs - stock mechs with an experience bonus of 10 percent (stacks with Premium Time)
- Hero Mechs - mechs with unique weapon hard points, custom paint jobs, and a c-bill bonus of 30 percent (stacks with Premium Time)
- Additional Mech Bays - You need one bay for each mech you own. You start with four bays.
Paint, camouflage, and cockpit items are cosmetic only. They don't effect game play in any way. No one can argue they make MechWarrior Online pay to win.
Premium time does not effect game play either. It only adds to the money and mech experience you earn in matches. It's not pay to win, but it could be called "pay to make progress go faster." Yes, you can get access to better equipment faster, but everyone has access to the same equipment and the prices aren't so high that it will take you much longer to buy something without having Premium Time. C-bills and mech experience alone will not make you kill your opponents easier or faster. Only your personal skill can do that.
Champion Mechs only have an earned mech experience bonus. The mechs are exactly the same as any other mech you buy with c-bills. Definitely not pay to win.
Although Hero Mechs are unique variants, they are not any better than other mechs. Some are good variants, others not so much, but none of them are even close to being overpowered. I don't own one yet because I don't think the c-bill bonus and uniqueness make them worth buying. There are lots of Hero Mechs running around though. Full disclosure: One of the reasons I joined the Founder's Program was to own four Founder's mechs (25 percent c-bill bonus and unique look. Not unique variants).
Update (June 17, 2013): I purchased my first hero mech, Ilya Muromets (Cataphract chassis), on June 7. After using it quite a bit for the past 10 days, I must say it is a strong mech for its tonnage (70 tons) and weapon hard point locations (one ballistic in each arm and one ballistic in the right torso). The three Ultra Auto Cannon 5 (UAC 5) build is somewhat fragile though due to having to run an XL engine in order to have enough ammo for the UAC 5s to be effective in more than one fire fight.
When the Ilya first came out, it was the only mech that could mount three UAC 5s due to the hard point locations and this could be called "pay to win" because it was, and still is, a big time damage dealer. However, with the Jagermech that came out a few months ago, the Ilya is no longer the only mech capable of mounting three UAC5s. At five tons lighter, the Jagermech can't hold as much ammo as the Ilya, but it is still effective (I have a Jagermech with three UAC 5s) primarily due to the arms of the Jager being located higher up and you don't waste as much ammo shooting the ground like you do with the low slung guns on the Ilya (a disadvantage of the Cataphract chassis).
Another downside of the Ilya is anyone who has been around a while knows the Ilya is dangerous and it's not long before you find yourself being shot at by multiple mechs. Even with two to three assault mechs standing in front of you. :D
Update (March 19, 2014):Be sure to check out my post on what I think about the Hero mechs I have bought.
You start with four mech bays and if you want to have more than four mechs at one time, you will have to buy more mech bays at 300 MC each ($2-$3). You can not buy mech bays with c-bills. Technically not pay to win because you can't pilot more than one mech at a time in a match. You can have 50 mechs in your mech stable and it still wouldn't make you more likely to win.
Update (May 7, 2015): Mech Bays can now be acquired through gaining Faction ranks in Community Warfare. Basically, you get one Mech Bay at ranks 2, 6, 10, 14, and 18. You can do this for each House/Clan and there are 10 Houses and Clans total. So, if you put in the time, you can acquire 50 Mech Bays without spending any real world money. You can find all of the Faction Rank Rewards here.
Now, if you choose to not spend any real money on MechWarrior Online, you will probably progress at a slower pace if you stick primarily to playing the game by yourself. And by "progress", I mean buying mechs or equipment to make your bought mechs better. Unless you spend MC on buying a mech, you are stuck playing trial mechs until you earn enough c-bills to buy a mech of your own.
How long does it take to buy a mech with c-bills? Well, everyone gets a c-bill bonus in their first 25 matches and you will end up with somewhere between 8 and 10 million c-bills depending on how well you play. So, you typically earn enough c-bills to buy a few light mechs, a couple of medium mechs, or maybe even one heavy mech after the 25th match and have enough c-bills to do some customization. If you are playing with Premium Time during your first 25 matches, you make 50 percent more c-bills or 12-15 million c-bills total. This will give you enough c-bills to buy an assault mech and customize it with pretty much anything you want.
Update (September 13, 2013): I added a new post with some details on my experience playing MWO with and without Premium Time as it relates to earning C-bills. Includes a spreadsheet with how many C-Bills I have earned per day played from December 4, 2012 to March 7, 2016.
CONSUMABLES
Apparently there is some misinformation being floated around that the best Consumables (one use items) can only be purchased with real world money. This is COMPLETELY FALSE.Yes, consumables you purchase with MC (bought with real world money) are the best you can get. However, you can use GXP to permanently upgrade the consumables bought with C-Bills (in game money earned while playing) so that they are exactly the same as the MC versions.
For example, in the screenshot (click image for a bigger version), COOL SHOT 9 BY 9 is the GXP upgraded version of COOL SHOT 9 (not shown because that's the non-upgraded version) is available for 40,000 C-Bills and operates the same as the MC version, COOL SHOT 18. Both remove 18 heat points from your current heat level over the same period of time.
You can also see I have upgraded my ARTILLERY STRIKE and UAV with GXP (but not my AIR STRIKE). They perform exactly like their MC counterparts. I have never bought a consumable with MC because I have upgraded the C-Bill version consumables I use on a regular basis with GXP.
This has become a lot longer than I originally intended, so I'll stop here. But if you're still not convinced MechWarrior Online is not pay to win, give it a try for yourself. It really is free to download and play.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
MechWarrior Online: DHB Sync Drop Fail in Tourmaline Desert
Two DHB 4 man groups try to sync drop for fun and end up fighting each other in Tourmaline Desert.
MechWarrior Online: 1/60 Scale Mech Models
One of my fellow DHB members, Almeras, is also a highly skilled model builder. He has been teasing us on the private DHB message board for the past few months about the mech modeling project he has been working on. He has been explaining his process and including screenshots along the way. The thread is covered in drool. :D
He sent the final products, commando and raven models, to the makers of MechWarrior Online to see if they might be interested in expanding their business to include selling mech models based off the mechs in MechWarrior Online.
Long story short is they are interested in doing something. Details are still to come. In the meantime, be sure to check out the public thread with lots of pictures on the MWO boards: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/115828-amazing-resin-%E2%80%98mechs/
He sent the final products, commando and raven models, to the makers of MechWarrior Online to see if they might be interested in expanding their business to include selling mech models based off the mechs in MechWarrior Online.
Long story short is they are interested in doing something. Details are still to come. In the meantime, be sure to check out the public thread with lots of pictures on the MWO boards: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/115828-amazing-resin-%E2%80%98mechs/
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