MechWarrior Online: Mad Dog (Vulture) Video Series

Here is a video series of various Mad Dog, aka Vulture, builds I have been using.

In the below match on Alpine Peaks, I am using the MDD-B with two LRM20 with Artemis, four ER Medium Lasers, and a TAG. I get 4 kills and 8 assists on 879 damage.

Playing MechWarrior Online for Charity: Extra Life 2014

On October 25, 2014, I and other members of Death's Hand Brigade will be playing MechWarrior Online for 24 hours straight in order to help raise money for the Children's Miracle Hospital Network during Extra Life's National Day of Gaming.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit DHB's Extra Life team page. Each member will be playing for a different hospital, so be sure to check them all for the hospital nearest you.

I will also be broadcasting the entire 24 hours I will be playing on Twitch.tv. Be sure to stop by. Thanks!

MechWarrior Online: Clan Collection Wave 2

I am a sucker for mechs with C-Bill bonuses and I HAD to buy the Man-O-War collection in order to get the Vulture / Mad Dog Prime Invasion mech (I own the Masakari collection too). The typical bonuses like Premium Time and two variants per chassis are nice, but the four Faction Content packages are a great bonus.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out the lower half of the Clan Collection Wave 2 page and click on each of the Clan Wolf, Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Jade Falcon, and Clan Smoke Jaguar links. Skins for these pre-ordered Clan mechs, four more war horns, the colors for all mechs, and cockpit coffee cups was too much to pass up.

And for the record, I am not a dirty "clammer". The mercenary unit I belong to, Death's Hand Brigade, is an Inner Sphere unit and, based on what we have told, will be restricted to Inner Sphere mechs during Community Warfare. But, we will still be able to use our Clan mechs in non-Community Warfare matches. So, I am covering all of my bases by owning whatever Clan mechs I can get my hands on. :D

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Update: November 19, 2014

The first two mechs of the Clan Wave 2 pack are now in the game and I figured I would take the time to talk about each of them.

Mist Lynx / Koshi (25 ton light mech)

I am not a big fan of light mechs in general mostly because the quick bouncing movements of the cockpit while going 130+ kph give me a headache after about 15 minutes. The base speed of the Mist Lynx is 113 kph and I played one for over two hours without problem.

I know 113 kph (about 124 kph with Speed Tweak) is not very fast for a light, but based on the time I have spent in a Mist Lynx, I think they will be alright. I say that because all three variants come with six permanent jump jets and these things practically fly. They are very maneuverable and make great "peek and poke" mechs.

Their major upsides are:
-Small profile
-ECM
-Plenty of jump jets

Their major downsides are:
-Permanent Clan Active Probe (would be nice to be able to remove this when running ECM)
-Do not have a lot of space of weapons (about 7.5 tons)
-Do not have a lot of armor
-Hit boxes are not messed up (you can hit them) like the Spider and Firestarter

Overall, the Mist Lynx has been fun and I look forward to playing it more often.


Ice Ferret / Fenris (45 ton medium mech)

The Ice Ferret is a fast medium mech with not a lot of space for weapons. A lot of people complain about the lack of weapon space, but I am finding their speed and armor very useful. Combine their base speed at 129 kph (142 kph with Speed Tweak) and the near max armor in the stock builds, and you can focus on putting in the right weapons to match the hit and run tactics they are meant to use.

So far, my favorite builds are:
-2 Medium ER Lasers and 2 SRM 6 for brawling support
-3 Streak SRM 4 and 1 Small ER Laser for light mech hunting

Their major upsides are:
-Speed
-Armor

Their major downsides are:
-No jump jets
-Not a lot of space for weapons

Overall, I have been happy with my Ferrets. They are fast, pack a solid punch for their weight, and are typically ignored when bigger mechs are around.

MechWarrior Online: 1 Year Customer Appreciation Program

September 17, 2014 will mark the one year anniversary of the MechWarrior Online launch event in San Francisco, California. It's hard to believe it has only been one year. It seems like it has been longer than only one year and, despite what some naysayers have said, a lot has happened since then.

For example:

• Four new maps (Tourmaline Desert, Crimson Strait, HPG Manifold, and Terra Therma)
• UI 2.0
• Private Lobbies
• Many new Inner Sphere mechs and 8 Clan Invasion mechs
• Community Warfare Part 1: Unit creation
• Numerous bugs squashed
• Numerous weapon and equipment adjustments
• Mech Modules of various types. Weapon modules being the most notable.
• Quirks for Clan mechs and some Inner Sphere mechs

And I'm sure there are some things I have forgotten.

The best part of this anniversary is Piranha Games's Customer Appreciation Program

As a long time player and customer, I stand to get quite a few nice toys. The most notable being:

• Exclusive Centurion variant: CN9-AH with a 30% C-Bill bonus
• Exclusive Atlas variant: AS7-S with a 30% C-Bill bonus
• Exclusive King Crab: KGC-000 (my guess at the model) with a 30% C-Bill bonus
• Founders mechs C-Bill bonus increased from 25% to 30%
• Exclusive Mad Dog/Vulture Clan Invasion mech with 30% C-Bill bonus and two variants when I buy the Wave 2 Man-O-War package

 All in all, some very nice and much appreciated rewards for being a loyal customer.

Thank you Piranha Games

MechWarrior Online: I Have Officially Played Over 10,000 Matches

According to my profile at MechWarrior Online, here are my significant statistics while playing MechWarrior Online through September 10, 2014.

Matches Played	Wins	Losses	Ratio	Kills	Deaths	Ratio	Damage Done	XP Earned	C-Bills Earned
10,076	5,676	4,379	1.30	6,981	5,452	1.28	2,124,329	8,408,064	1,194,674,999

Not the most impressive stats, but they are mine and you can't have them. :P

As you can see, I have also earned over 1 billion C-Bills which happened back in late May, 2014. I haven't played the most matches or have the most C-Bills in MechWarrior Online, but I have to admit I smile every time someone notices how many C-Bills I have or how much experience I have on my Atlases when I am broadcasting on Twitch.tv. :D

Yeah, I play this game a little too much, but I enjoy it and it keeps me home at night where The Wife can keep an eye on me. That's what I tell her at least. ;)

And for the record, I am not a disgruntled player. I am a Legendary Founder, Project Phoenix Overlord, and own the Clan Invasion Masakari package. Call me a sucker or tell me I don't know how to manage my money (ha!), but despite the game's flaws, I am still having fun after more than two years (started Closed Beta in May 2012).

No game has kept my attention as much as MechWarrior Online has since I played EverQuest from 1999 to 2003 and World of Warcraft from 2004 to 2010. And, I took multiple month long breaks from playing both of those games during those time periods. My longest break from MechWwarrior Online in the past 28 months? One week during Christmas in 2012 and another week during Christmas 2013.

So, having said all that... I am looking forward to the things coming in MechWarrior Online later this year and beyond.

Back Up and Running After a Little Downtime

A little over two weeks ago my computer decided it didn't want to work for me any longer and after negotiations with its replacement, I now have a new computer (with some cannibalized parts from its predecessor) that is bigger, stronger, and faster. :D

So, now I can get back to playing and broadcasting MechWarrior Online.