MechWarrior Online: Community Warfare Beta

Piranha Games (PGI) gave us an early Christmas present and released the Community Warfare Beta five days early on December 11, 2014. Match making on the planets was a little rough around the edges because there was no way to see how many other people were queuing up, but that was resolved on December 18 when they added the number of attackers and defenders to the search planet window and allowed us to see how many people were actually preparing to drop on a planet for your faction. These small changes have really decreased wait times.

The new game mode, Invasion, is really fun thanks to Drop Ship mode where each player is able to bring four mechs between 140 and 240 tons total. Currently Clan drop decks are somewhat limited due to there only being eight Clan mechs available to the whole community. However, Inner Sphere drop decks have been surprisingly fun in trying to find the "perfect" combination of mechs.

The Invasion maps have been modified since December 11 because it was very easy to rush and eliminate the enemy cannon without much mech on mech combat being needed. PGI came up with a quick solution by adding three small generators that need to be eliminated before the main objective can be attacked. The generators are a little too easy to destroy, but PGI is aware of the issue and has commented on the issue and may be increasing the damage a generator can take before being destroyed.

Overall, Community Warfare in MechWarrior Online is very fun and is close to being what many of us have been waiting for since the game was announced. I cannot wait for more maps and additional features. Good job, PGI!

Below are some videos of a few matches I have played.

Death's Hand Brigade's first real win in Community Warfare on the planet Wing against House Marik. I had an issue with the Twitch recording at about minute 8, but it clears up around minute 13. I know that sounds like a long time, but the match was almost 30 minutes long!


Gimpy's First 2000 damage match in Community Warfare


In the below video, Death's Hand Brigade's 3rd Battalion defends the planet Waldorff from Marik aggression. It turns into a very close game and flying spiders are squashed at about 20 minutes in. :D