MechWarrior Online: Clan Collection Wave 3

I'm surprised I held out this long (3 days), but I just bought the Clan Collection Wave 3 Gladiator pack. The four extra variants and mech bays were just too hard to resist (Must have them all!). Plus, the 111 days of banked Premium Time (60 from Gladiator pack and 51 days from Monthly Rewards) is nice to have.

In all honesty, when I first saw the list of mechs included I wasn't too impressed as I already have the iconic Clan mechs (Mad Cat, Vulture, Daishi, Loki, and Thor). But then I took a look at the Mech Specs on the Clan Collection Wave 3 page and was convinced I "needed" these mechs.

I am not a Clan only or Inner Sphere only person, but here's why I "need" these mechs.

Arctic Cheetah (Hankyu) - a true fast moving 30 ton light mech with ECM and Jump Jets.

Shadow Cat - a 45 ton medium mech with decent speed, ECM, and Jump Jets.

Ebon Jaguar (Cauldron-Born) - typical fast moving 65 ton Clan heavy mech with lots of hard point variations to choose from.

Executioner (Gladiator) - a 95 ton assault mech with Jump Jets that is fairly quick for an assault mech. The weapon load may be lacking at first glance, but it's in-game performance will determine how viable it really is and I think there's enough hard point variation to make it useful.

Now, the Shadow Cat and Executioner also have MASC (burst of speed engine modifier), but how it will be implemented is still an unknown. In the past PGI has stated MASC equipped engines have proved problematic because the game's net code has difficulty handling hit detection on mechs traveling at speeds over 170 kph. The Shadow Cat and Executioner more than likely will not approach 170 kph, but it should be interesting how they handle MASC and what the downside(s) to running it will be. If PGI can get it to work well without messing up hit detection, we may be seeing more MASC equipped mechs for both the Clans and Inner Sphere in the near future.

That's it for now and these mechs will not be available until June. So, there's plenty of time to speculate on how useful these mechs will be in all parts of the game and I believe they will be. Check out the Mech Specs section of the Clan Collection Wave 3 page and see for yourself.

MechWarrior Online: Resistance Collection

A few weeks back during a town hall meeting Russ Bullock, President of PGI, mentioned their biggest money makers have been the mech packs they have released in the past (Founders, Phoenix, Clans Wave 1 and 2) and they would continue to release mech packs as a result. A sound business decision.

So, the newest mech pack is the Resistance Collection. A collection of four Inner Sphere chassis (three variants each)... Panther (35 tons), Enforcer (50 tons), Grasshopper (70 tons), and Zeus (80 tons). Not a bad collection of fairly well know Inner Sphere mechs. How they will hold up in today's MechWarrior Online is unknown though.

However, with quirks being added to existing Inner Sphere mechs on November 4 to make them more competitive with Clan mechs, it is a good assumption these new Inner Sphere mechs will have quirks to make them competitive as well.

The Resistance Collection looks to be another great value and lets people who were not around for the Founders or Phoenix programs or who could not afford the Clan packs to purchase a somewhat reasonably priced top tier Inner Sphere mech package ($80) to qualify for a special King Crab assault mech being released in mid-December.

Be sure to visit the The Resistance Collection page for more information. And, yes, I have the top tier Wrath pack already.

(click image to enlarge)

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.