IMHO, I'd say the game is in a better place mechanically, but in a worse place with the player base. I have an absolutely awful time if I solo-queue, and a decent time if I group-queue. There's so many premades running around on separate voice-comms that a solo-queuer is an easy kill. If you're one of those premades though, it can be a lot of fun. Aside from the guilty fun of stomping solo-q'rs without comms, you do run into other smart premades and that combat can be challenging and a LOT more interesting.
Some random thoughts on current state vs CB:
- The net lag is in a much better place - ie the light mechs are now hittable by lasers without leading them.
- SRM stacking is the current FTW, making toe to toe brawling a lot more dangerous than it was
- ECM is too uber. This past patch that removed the light's lag shield has reduced the frequency you see ECM a fair deal, but it just does way too much for too little and it makes certain mech variants far too desirable. In 8 man matches, ECM and countering ECM dominates everything you do.
- because of ECM, LRM's are probably at an all-time low. Otherwise LRM's can be pretty devastating.
- still all kinds of instability issues. There's the FPS bug, where you suddenly get a slideshow any time you face a direction where there are mechs. There's the mech lab bug, where it locks up trying to display your current mech (readouts show 0 with moving indicator bars). There are still occasional crash to desktops when starting matches. There's lesser stuff like screwed up HUDs. Generally, I feel like its about 50% more stable than it was in CB.
- UI is slightly improved but still poor. Better mech stats, but still no in-game detail on the weapons and equipment. Clumsy launch method for groups, atrocious social UI (many players have no idea there is an in-game method to chat, because it is so well hidden).
- The F2P part is a little tougher than CB. You don't make as much C-Bills so you have to play a lot of matches to afford stuff, but it feels about right. Trial Mechs suck (horrid weapon & heat loadouts) and I feel bad for newbies that have to play these, but they do make cash. The nice thing is that Light Mechs are cheap, and they can be pretty effective. Easy entry to the customizable mech game, for free. People will bitch endlessly about P2W in any game, but I don't see it here. You'll regularly see $3M Jenners owning the crap out of a $12M Atlas under the right conditions. Extra mech bay slots are pretty cheap and probably the one place a really hooked free-player will need to spend a little dough. Hero Mechs are not even slightly OP (yet, anyway) and at best are just better looking variants. Their 'C-bill boost' is no different than any other F2P game that allows you to pay to 'boost' your xp/gold/whatever gain-rate.
- Frankly the MC to $ ratio is way too stiff, IMHO. I think they'd see a lot more people $-buying mechs if they were 2/3 the cost or maybe on sale for a 1/2 occasionally. They ought to be experimenting with sales to find the sweet spot, but they aren't.
- they are still actively balancing, with near-weekly patches. They don't get everything right but at least they're trying.
Criticism aside, bottom line, it can be a fun game, but find a group. I'd avoid the game if you play casually and solo-queue when you have an hour here or there. Its night and day, the difference in play.
Author
Topic: Mechwarrior Online (Read 108461 times)