I'm not sure exactly why I quit playing MWO several months back. It might have been finances (I know it's "free" but I am kind of obsessive, as should be evident by my post count here while I was active). It might have been hit registry. It might have been the alpha-strike dominance. It might have been a disagreement for how heat was being handled. And it might have simply been boredom. What I want to know is, how has the game changed in the past several months? Anything new would be awesome, but I'm specifically looking for the answer to 3 questions: 1) Is hit registry still borked or has that finally been fixed? I remember AC/20 rounds bouncing off, 6xPPC alphas making a mech go to yellow armor on the affected location, 5xSRM6 volleys (with 75%+ hit rate) splashing some yellow onto a light, and lasers only registering one or two ticks per blast (even if the entire blast was centered on target). I'm capable of realizing that I'm not perfect and sometimes I miss, but I'm also capable of realizing when I was dead-on and the game screwed me over. 2) How is heat management now? I quit right around the time they implemented the complex penalties for weapons fired within 0.5 seconds of each other. Are those still in-game? 3) Is the game still alpha-centric?
Check back in April or (more conservatively) June. Not much has changed due to UI2.0 clogging the development process. We have a lot of promises from PGI but nothing concrete yet. If you're already sitting on the sidelines stay there for a couple more months.
Thanks for the reply. I guess based on the info on smurfy that the heat penalty chart still exists. This is in my opinion an attempt to make a complex solution to a problem that doesn't even fix the problem. The heat penalty just means you can alpha less, which means poptarts chill longer, LRM boats sit there longer, and brawlers just fire off a blast and then torso twist some more (or you string your shots together). I'd prefer a system that encouraged alternate weapon setups instead of requiring you to have a complex understanding of how the heat mechanics apply. This tells me that my answer to #2 is that it isn't any better. Your post about cheese builds and problems with meta makes me think that #3 is still a big problem. I'm going to follow your advice and not even log in to test #1, although I am curious to see if hit registry is still bad. ETA: Oh, I remember now why I quit. I had a bad video card at the time that kept crashing on me, only at the time I only had the problem in MWO so I assumed it was specific to this game. After having numerous issues in Path of Exile and Starcraft 2, though, I found out it was not just this game, but my video card dealing with high-end graphics. I never had the problem in WoW, because 2004 graphics didn't push my card that much.
I still enjoy the game. But I've been a 'mech-fanatic since MW4 Mercs (not long by some people's standards but long enough) so I have fun despite all these issues. I haven't lost faith in PGI yet but my loyalty is starting to look more like a desperate desire to not regret the ton of cash I've poured into the game via Founders and Phoenix. But here's hoping they deliver and make a lot of changes between now and the arrival of the Clans. If you haven't been keeping up on MWO news; the road from UI2.0 to Clan Invasion is why I said to wait. The new UI, which we don't have quite yet (Feb 4th), has tied PGI's hands for the last several months but they claim many changes are on the way in preperation for the clan 'mechs.
Yeah, I'll have to see how clan invasion turns out. I'm not a big fan of permanently changing the gaming landscape...especially in a PvP scenario...especially when the winners get tech that make it easier to win next time. At least that's what I'd heard was coming, if I'm wrong let me know. I also worry that clan invasion is just going to be an influx of mechs and no real mechanic fixes. That is probably my biggest complaint about PGI is that it seems development focused on mechs, sales, and new features, with very little addressing netcode issues and balance issues. They've tried, and in some cases succeeded, but not up to the standards I was hoping for. I understand wanting to keep faith because of how much you've sunk into it. That's part of how I was. I think that's part of why WoW is still so successful (but mainly because everyone is still playing it, so if you want an MMO that everyone is playing, you play WoW). I also think it's why I'm glad I didn't buy any premium into other games I've played recently.
I'd argue on #3 that it has gotten a bit better. We don't see the huge alpha PPC boats we used to. We still see a lot of alpha builds but a lot less. Poptarts, ballistic and energy combos, streakboat variations. Dual PPC's with AC10/20 is common as jumptart. Current Meta is featuring a lot of mobility. Anything at or below 64 kph is having real problems. Mediums and heavies able to hit with 30-40 pts of damage and then duck with 80+kph and jumpjets is seeing a lot of use.
This has me thinking.... Now, I distrust PGI as much as the next guy, so I will not give them credit for this, but the current Meta is ~excellent~ training for the Clans. The whole point in the book about the Clans and Clan Tech was that they would rather stand on the battlefield one on one and trades blows until someone fell. There were only a few who saw the error of this (Aiden Pryde, etc) and began training their clusters to fight differently. If PGI finds a way to not royally **** the implementation of clans, then they are going to be slower, powerful machines. If that is right, then everything we are doing now with medium alpha/high mobility is really the same training that the Inner Sphere always did in the novels. We are training to fight the Clans right now. Honestly, the meta has never been more fun than it currently is, IMHO. Other than the HSR on lights (excepting ravens, somehow they get picked apart pretty easily) the game functions and plays very VERY well. It remains to be seen if PGI hits any of their dates. I believe they already had UI2.0 working when they announced the release. They had everything done they were going to do and THEN said "Okay, tell them 3 months from now". CW? We will not see it until July 2015 if at all. Now that they have the license through 2018, I think they are more willing to invest back into the game. Personally, I am done paying for anything until the value = cost a little better. I will support MWO by being content. They need to get a grip on their ideas that anything in a video game is worth $500. TL;DR - Gameplay is awesome. Better than ever. PGI still has no idea how to manage this game.
They did fix, or at least improve, the HSR issue which was causing hits to not register a couple months ago. Ballistics and PPCs seem to hit more consistently now. SRMs are still borked. The ghost heat penalty is still there, so people have been finding different weapon combinations to get around it, and PGI has been nerfing weapons to deal with these new combinations. Same as always, basically. I would say its not as alpha-centric as it used to be. Sustained ballistic damage (AC5s + AC2s in whatever combination will fit) seems to be one of the higher damage metas these days. For example, the Shadowhawk SDH-2H with 3 ballistic slots and jumps has been tearing up the battelfield recently, since it also has the mobility Lan noted.
Well, I've dug around and I gotta say I'm not too impressed with what I've seen. I updated the game, but I don't think I'm going to hop on and play. Same thing I did with SWTOR recently: updated it only to uninstall before I hopped back on. What specifically turns me off is the way they handled 3rd person, continue to cling to the failed heat model akong other things. This game was fun when I started, but it has grown into a convoluted mess of the devs looking for easy ways to get kids interested in spending MC.
