MechWarrior Online: AS7-D with AC20 and 2 ER Larger Lasers in Action

I was grouped with a couple of fellow DHB members when one asked me about the load out of the Atlas AS7-D I was running. He wanted to finish off his Atlas pilot skills but hadn't found a good build for the AS7-D. So, I shared my build with him, AC20, 2 ER Large Lasers, and 2 Medium Lasers, and this is what happened in our next match.

MechWarrior Online: Combined DHB and Aces Wild 12 Man in Caustic Valley

Deaths Hand Brigade and Aces Wild team-up for a match in Caustic Valley. This is the last match of an impromptu event between DHB and Aces Wild. We started with two 12 man groups with members of the two units in both teams. The original plan was we were going to sync drop against each other. However, due to people coming and going it took a long time to get the two groups to sync drop and we eventually just did normal 12 man drops as much as we could.

Overall, it was fun dropping with Aces Wild and everyone had a good time.

MechWarrior Online: Lance of 4 Atlases in Tourmaline Desert

While grouped with another DHB member, Von Kempf, we get placed in a lance with two other Atlases. Result? Fun!

This was complete luck to get grouped with two more Atlases for my last drop of the night. The best part is they realized it was best for the four of us to stick together without anyone having to say it.

MechWarrior Online: Ilya Muromets with LB-10X and 2 AC5 in Action

I was a little bored running a three Ultra AC 5 (UAC5) build in the Ilya Muromets and after the recent changes to the UAC5, I decided to try something different because this excellent Cataphract variant deserves lots of playing time. The result... One LB-10X, two AC5, and 3 Medium Lasers. It doesn't sound like much, but it is a well rounded mech good at dishing out decent damage at range and excellent at finishing off mechs stripped of armor up close (under 300 meters).

Below are some videos of the build in action. Enjoy.

Solo drop in River City: 4 kills, 4 assists, 491 damage

Solo drop in Caustic Valley: 4 kills, 4 assists, 500 damage

Another solo drop in River City: 5 kills, 2 assists, 662 damage

MechWarrior Online: Atlas AS7-D-DC with AC20 and 2 ER Large Lasers in Action

These are a series of videos where I pilot an Atlas AS7-D-DC with an AC20, 2 ER Large Lasers, and 3 SRM6. It's currently my preferred D-DC build in PUG matches when I drop solo or when in a 4 man group with mechs of various weights.

The match below took place while in a DHB four man lance during an epic battle in Tourmaline Desert. Not the best place to be running this slightly warm build with only one Cool Shot, but somehow I manage to get 7 kills and 3 assists on 1063 damage and our lance accounts for all of our team's kills (11).

Battle in Forest Colony Snow where I get 5 kills and 7 assists on 787 damage. This was the last match of a long night where I had mostly very mediocre games in the D-DC.

MechWarrior Online: Pay To Win and Premium Time

With the recent addition of 12 player versus 12 player matches (12v12) and the changes to the amount of C-bills you can earn in those matches, I wanted to make a follow-up to my previous post on "Is MechWarrior Online Pay To Win?" and the issue of earning C-bills with or without Premium Time.

The typical argument I have heard is you earn less now in 12v12 matches than you did in 8v8 matches. Of course, no one has actually backed up their position with any real data. So, this is how I have used Premium Time to affect my ability to earn C-bills...

I have been tracking my daily C-bill earning since MechWarrior Online entered Open Beta on December 4, 2012. On December 28, 2012 I activated my Founder's Premium Time and purchased 30 days of Premium Time three times.

In order to see how playing without Premium Time affected my ability to earn C-bills, I let my Premium Time run out on June 30, 2013. So, I had Premium Time for about 6 months and I have now been running without Premium Time for about two and half months.

The C-bill earnings changes introduced with 12v12 matches occurred on August 6, 2013. So, not a lot of data to work with since then, but it will have to do for now and I am continuing to gather data. Below is a link to a copy of the spreadsheet I have been using to track my earnings, significant events, and costs through March 7, 2016.

Gimpy's C-bill Earnings Spreadsheet

A few things to keep in mind are major purchases like mechs and engines affect my earnings on some days (i.e. huge C-bill losses) and I do use consumables like cool shots and UAVs from time to time (i.e. not huge costs, but costs none the less).

Also, before my Premium Time ran out, I played almost every day because I did not want the Time to be wasted. Since then, I do not feel I HAVE to play every day and don't play quite as much. I play as often as I do because I really enjoy playing the game.

Keep in mind, the data sample size for my Premium Time usage is at least three times as large as the non-Premium Time usage (6 months versus 2 months) and 12v12 matches have only been out for less than 60 days. So, the data is not conclusive, but I think is still useful.

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Note (November 18, 2013): 30 Days of Premium Time was available at 40% off the normal MC cost this weekend. I feel this is one of the best deals they offer and this is only the second time they have had this sale. So, I bought 60 days of Premium Time thinking to add to my current Premium Time in the bank (120 days). However, it activated immediately because it was purchased normally. The Premium Time I have in the bank is from purchasing the Phoenix Overlord package and has to be activated by pressing an "Activate" button in the MWO client. So, I added a new section to the Analysis section of my spreadsheet to account for the change in my ability to earn C-bills. I ran without Premium Time for 135 days.

 Note (April 30, 2014): I activated my bank of approximately 173 days of Premium Time so I could customize Private Matches as needed.

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If you do not want to dig through the numbers, here's the short version of my C-bills earnings (check out the spreadsheet link above for the most up-to-date numbers).

Since Open Beta Started on Dec. 4, 2012
Average per day played	708586
High	7,816,076
Low	-25,333,822
With Premium Time
Average per day played	869898
High	7,816,076
Low	-25,333,822
No Premium Time June 30, 2013 to Aug. 5, 2013
Average per day played	107,332
High	2,224,964
Low	-9,638,248
No Premium Time - 12v12 since Aug. 6, 2013
Average per day played	745,831
High	2,745,524
Low	-14,347,758

Conclusion in regards to MechWarrior Online being Pay To Win:
Premium Time definitely lets you earn more C-bills over time, but this is not Pay To Win. Premium Time allows you to earn C-bills faster to purchase the mechs and weapons you want. It does not allow you to purchase superior mechs and weapons because there are no such things in MechWarrior Online. Everyone has access to the same mechs and equipment. Only your personal experience and skill will make you a better pilot. And, those can not be bought with C-bills or real world money.

Conclusion in regards to earning less C-bills in 12v12 matches:
It's hard to say with only about 60 days worth of data (I have a couple of days between June 30 and Aug. 6 where I only played 2-3 games that are throwing things off), but the 12v12 earnings appear to be slightly superior even when compared to Premium Time. For instance, my average C-bills per day played for 12v12 would be 932,288 after the 25 percent Premium Time bonus. That's 62,390 more C-bills per day than what I earned with Premium Time running.

The reason for the increase is because with more mechs on the field, your chances to earn bonuses for destroying components, getting savior kills, spotting assists, kill assists, and kills are all increased. Yes, your chances of getting killed faster are also increased, but, with some practice, you will learn to avoid those situations. :D

MechWarrior Online: Atlas AS7-D-DC with 2 LB-10X in Action Video Series

This is a video series showing off my Atlas AS7-D-DC with 2 LB-10X, 2 Medium Lasers, and 3 SRM6 with Artemis build. I don't claim to be the person who first ran the build, but I did originally run it back in Closed Beta and see others running similar builds from time to time.

Its major weakness is the lack of pin point damage of the AC20 and the raw damage per second of the Ultra AC5. However, with the fast recycle time, low heat, and critical hit rate on internals, the LB-10X makes for some good fun. Especially when combined with the SRM6s. Strip the armor off the torso armor and watch the light show begin!

Assault match in Canyon Network:

Assault match in River City

Assault match in Terra Therma

MechWarrior Online: Cataphract CTF-3D with 2 ERPPC and Advanced Zoom Module

I'm piloting a Cataphract CTF-3D with 2 ERPPC, 2 Medium Pulse Lasers, and the new Advanced Zoom module while in a Canyon Network Assault game. I really like the new advanced zoom module. The old version was near unusable, but this new version is great. You can actually tell what you are shooting. Big kudos to PGI on this change.

MechWarrior Online: Jagermech, JM6-S, with 2 AC20 in Alpine Peaks

I solo drop in a Jagermech, JM6-S, with 2 AC20 in Alpine Peaks Assault while chatting with people in my Twitch channel, www.twitch.tv./Gimpy21. I only get 4 kills and 1 assist with 366 damage on the loss, but it was still fun.