Which were your first 4 Mechs for the free Mechbays? And Why?!

I think this is a very interesting question. I want to know which were your first choices and especially Why? Would you change your selection if you could rewind the time back to the very beginning of your MWO Career?

My first Mechs were:

CPLT-C1 (It's the predecessor of the Mad Cat!)
AS7-D-DC (I wanted that Badass from the MW Trailers)
CTF-4X (Damn 4 Ballistic Slots?! Instabuy!)
STK-5M (because the first time i switched to this Monster as a spectator i was soo shocked from the impressive Firepower - Missiles and Lasers..)

Would i change the selection if I could turn back in time? Maybe yes, focussing on Eliting the first Chassis first. But i do not regret my choice from then because I had damn much fun even not on Elite! Haha

What about you??

 

My first four followed a pattern. See if you can pick it out.

Actually, I had another account before this one. Blew all my money in a half-kitted K2 that I really didn't understand or like, then barely scrounged the cash for a no-frills Raven 3L when my cadet bonus ran out. Realized how silly I'd been and just rolled a new account.

Now, my first four followed a real pattern...

1: CDA-3M: It had ECM and it was like a bigger gunnier Raven right???
2: CDA-2A: I like my 3M, let's see what these elite skills are like.
3: CDA-3C: Well, I need one more to elite Cicadas, let's try this one 'cause it's so different! (note: this was back before any machine gun buffs)
4: CDA-2B: Nope. Not grinding the 3C.

I think my next three were a D-DC, a Streakmando, and then the X-5. I've since sold all six of those before the X-5, though I did re-buy Streakmando back in June to celebrate having a computer that could actually handle his maneuverability. Only thing I'd change is I wouldn't buy the D-DC. I think I'm even happy calling the 3C a learning experience; I was just bad in the D-DC and I never bought another Atlas and that wasn't even one of my first four.

EDIT: Actually, I can count the D-DC since I sold the 3C and put the D-DC in its mechbay. ;D

 

My mech history is slightly unorthodox. My first account, the only mech I bought was a CPLT-A1. I was terrible at the game and because I am generally not a good shot in other games, I was going after a splat-cat strategy that I saw on youtube. I mostly played it as an LRM boat because it at least felt like I was contributing.

After the first 50 or so matches in the catapult, a friend and I were wrecked at Terra Therma by a pair of AC5 Jagermechs. We decided we wanted to do the same thing, so we re-rolled and grinded the 25 match cadet bonus together for a JM. I did the 25 matches on the DRG-5N(C) trial and loved how well the large lasers worked with the gauss rifle. It was amazing to me to do 300 or 400 damage rounds. For the first time, I had a KDR above 1 and averaged what I thought was a really good 250.88 dmg per game. When I finally got the JM-DD, I didn't like it as much as the dragon and went back into the decimal KDRs.

So, e92 is actually my third account. This time, I strategically planned to re-roll and take full advantage of the 25 match cadet bonus by stacking it with the 1 free premium day a mech with a hero cbill bonus. I settled on a Dragon Slayer. It wasn't the meta-mech at the time, or I wasn't aware it was. I bought it because I was after the VTR-9K. It was a bigger, meaner dragon with the capability of the same arm-mounted Gauss+LLas combo. The only other mech that could do it. And it could jump and had tons of armor? Winning! Hence, the first 3 mechs I bought on e92 was a VTR-DS, VTR-9K and a VTR-9S. The 4th was an AS7-D-DC, but I hated how slow it was.

The full list, in order, with my favourite italicized:
- VTR-DS, VTR-9K, VTR-9S
- AS7-D-DC
- CTF-IM, CTF-3D, CTF-4X
- FS9-E, FS9-S, FS9-H
- SHD-5M, SHD-2H, SHD-2D2
- RVN-2X, RVN-4X, RVN-3L
- TBR-P, TBR-C, TBR-S
[size=8pt]* I have the free CNT and TDR, but I've never even played them one game

Its funny how massive of a difference strategy and practice make in this game. I went back and played the old mechs a couple of months back:
- CPLT Archived: 64 games, 212.13 dmg per game, 0.67 KDR. Current: 8 games, 541.38 dmg per game, 2.25 KDR.
- DRG-5N(C) Archived: 27 games, 250.88 dmg per game, 1.06 KDR. Current: 5 games, 560.6 dmg per game, 6.00 KDR.

 

Hmm mine where:

CPT-K2 (it's so damn sexy)
DRG-1C (saw someone beeing awesome in it with the 4xllas build(before ghost heat))
DRG-1N (elite and i favored the dragon over the cat)
DRG-5N (elite and champ build)

I started with the catapult and had some fun with it, but the first three matches in the dragon where what realy pulled me into this game and it is still my most played mech the DRG-1C.

 

I was lucky and i got the Hunchie and the Victor in trial, so i went directly for it when i had the cadet bonus done and a minimum play exp, but not back made a HUGE mistake picking a Blackjack that took me 3 months of work to make it work properly for my playstile.

It was a bad decisition based in the pure amount of energy hardpoints the BJ-3 have, but i didnt realized that weight is also a factor of cooling, so either undergun with cooling or low payload. Finally i end hating badly the BJ-3. I even considered the choice to sell it and completely forgot the chassis, but i gave it a 2nd try with the baggage of exp i had on me. I was greatly surprised, cause its a great mech, just my playstyle dont fit in it.

My list of bad decitions were:
BJ-3------------>It was sitting in my garage, and only recently discovered that can be great, with skill.
HBK-4H------->Tried some ballistics, loved it.
VTR-9S(C) -->Never decide to spend money and then buy something the same day u get the MCs :blush:
SPD-5D------->MOAR SPEED!!!
HBK-4SP --->2nd good choice, but at the 5th try.

From my experience now, i would have done:
HBK-4H----->UAC5 or AC20 build, just for the fun of trolling with ballistic in a fast platform
HBK-4SP-->LRM-boat
HBK-P------>Brawler
>-------------->Stop to get the Hunchback variants Elite with 3 diff playstyles, then one of these 3, in order.
SHD-2H (Best medium ever) /CTF-4X (Funniest ballistic platform) /SPD-5D (Did i said MOAR SPEED?!?! )

 

This is based on when I started playing the game post-"release". I stopped playing for a while shortly after the transition from closed to open beta. CPLT-C1 was my first mech, from founders, but I didn't play it until later.

The first 4 mechbays? JM6-DD, JM6-A, JM6-S, ON1-P.

Order of mechs I got into:

JM6-DD: Because I love the look of the mech. Closest thing to a Rifleman I could get. Always enjoyed the Dakka from previous titles, and this baby had the most. (shortly followed by the rest of the Jagers)

ON1-P: First Hero I ever bought. Came out shortly after I started playing the game again (since Closed Beta). (shortly followed by the rest of the Orions)

KTO-19: Kintaro also came out shortly after I started playing again. Looked interesting. Enjoyed playing it with non-standard builds (like my 3x ERLLas build). Worked well at the time, not so much these days. Streaks were fun, especially with the Artemis glitch was still present.

JR7-D: Wanted to get into light mechs. Had a couple options at the time, but the Jenner had the most energy hardpoints so I decided to go with that. Shortly followed by the Spiders.

 

Wow, your stories are all so interesting.

 

+1

Fun thread. I'm coming up on my one year MWO anniversary. I started sometime last year in September I think.

 

I started in closed Beta, so the Full on Founder's Pack was the first. After that it went like this:

Atlas K
Atlas D-DC
Awesome 8Q

Bought the Atlas K with my Founders MC so I could sell it as soon as I didn't need it for the Cbills, the rest was for assaults and assault mastering.

 

Relatively similar to SubjectSeven here....

I had the founders pack and tried but hated the Hunchback, had no interest in the Catapults and this was pre-cadet so not enough isk to get Atlases.. so I started my love affair with lights via the Jenner.

Next mech I really remember getting enthused about was the Yen-lo-Wang and I spent a while in centurions before changing to fast Dragons when the Flame came out ... 4 LL baby.

Only picked up the Fang when it was half off and instantly had a superb run in it.

Strangely picked up Cicada's next for the ECM as was playing in a lance by then. I doubt my sanity in hindsight as was ml/mpl with tag at the time as I was target caller for LRM boats. :blush:

Then I finally went to Atlases after all that time!

Promptly hated the D and refused to use the DDC much as conventional wisdom said all the rest were crap.... so spent far too many games in the RS...

PS: Not sure the OP's question applies to me as I've never sold a mech.

 

I'm a Legendary Founder, so I made the obvious choice: two Hunchies and two Catapults.

The Hunch 4P and 4SP are still some of my favorite 'mechs. I never could bring myself to pilot the J or to shell out the cash for the Grid Iron.

The Catapults were less successful. After the Jager came out, it obsoleted my precious K2. I still have it sound for nostalgia. I'm less happy with the C4. It's neither fish nor fowl. It doesn't have enough missiles to cheese, nor enough energy to provide adequate backup.

 

Was looking up RS stats to see 151 battles in archive and my eyes fell on one embarrassing omission from my list....

257 battles archived alone in my Quickdraw-5K..

Right after the Dragons..... immensely better.

 

Hunchbacks and Ravens. There choices were limited at the time.

 

My first four mechs? Well, a friend gifted me some MC, and I foolishly bought the X5...so I filled in my ranks with the CDA-2A and the CDA-3M. After I mastered those, I picked up the Jenner F, and the rest was history

 

1. COM-2D
2. COM-3A
3. COM-1B
4. HBK-4P

Well, I started just after they started the open beta, and at the time, the trial mechs were complete junk, and it was very difficult to earn money in them since they didn't get the full cbill reward at the end of the match. So, my first mech was the Commando 2D since it was basically the cheapest mech and I could use it to farm cbills. For some strange reason, though, I decided I needed to elite it, so I got two more variants of the Commando.

After finishing the Commandos, I was sick of lights, and bought myself a Hunchback 4P because it had no re-arm costs, and my favored build didn't have endo, so the repair bills were low. So yeah, my original buying decisions were basically just based on cbills. That said, I've been playing my 4P a lot recently, and it is still a blast to pilot.

My next mech was the CTF-4x, because 4 ballistics, and no ghost heat on the AC2s (and the Jagers weren't out yet).

 

This is actually my third account as well :blush:

My first account I grinded, and then bought the catapult, and I hated every minute of it.

Then I made my second account, and grinded out the newly released Orion's, specifically the K. I hated that too (ironically it's one of my most loved mechs now, I was just an idiot and had no idea how this game worked, the heat system was off the charts and I had no idea ghost heat existed)

And now I'm on my third account, which brings me to my four favorite mechs. My first chassis was my beloved highlanders. The Heavy Metal in particular after that, it was the 733C and then 732. Then I grinded my way and bought myself a shiny new commando, which I also hated :blush: (see a pattern?) and finally, I bought my beloved Dragons (by the way, bought the Fang on sale, I regret nothing!)

 

CPLT-K2 - hmm.. a catapult with ppcs (oh and it can carry 2 gauss, saw a vid about that)
CPLT-C1 - Ah, you need 3 to master.. lets try missiles
Raven 3L - Always loved the mech from tabletop.. and heh ECM seems useful.
I stil have "Dead Bird" (With FrankenCamo)
Some Trebuchet - Heh lets try a medium (I still love my Trebs)

 

Hmm interesting to see how many start with the catapult^^