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[Flying Dice]

Battlemasters are definitely in-meta right now for IS, they're all at least decent. The 2C in particular is excellent; you can cram a bunch of LLas (obviously don't alpha unless you like being fucked by ghost heat haha) or whatever in those high side-torso mounts, pack it with double heatsinks (make sure to have a STD-330 or so engine so you can fit three into there), and then abuse that armor, those quirks, and those high mounts to go legs-down and spread damage for days.

The King Crabs are likewise in-meta, they're some of the best Assaults the IS has right now if played properly, though the low mounts and fat nature makes them less-suited to the pokey peek lifestyle (but you can corner-peek if you set your claw weapon groups up in a left/right split).

Likewise, the Catapults are all at least decent, and LRM spam is still perfectly viable in PuG Quick Battles. Shadowhawks are still decent, Thunderbolts are pretty good, Hunchbacks are solid, &c. Pretty much the only place where you're approaching nonviability is with the Lights, and even those are still workable even if they're not the greatest on paper (unless that Jenner is the -F, 'cause that's totally still in style).

And honestly it's just like tanks or planes: it's less what you drive and more how you play it. If you pick something that's strong right now which meshes with group/FP meta, yeah, you'll do better, but you can still outperform 75% of players in anything just by not being a drooling moron.

IS has got more mechs anyways, which in the end means more solid options. Clans, like I said, basically only ever run Dire Wolf, Timber Wolf, Ebon Jag, Hellbringer, and maybe a little Stormcrow in FW, except when they get pushed down to their Arctic Cheater or whatever.

--

Once the event starts, I'm gonna keep a tally of my prizes here. If anyone else wants to do the same, I might draw up percentages and average prize amount for the variable ones.

[Wiles]

Do mechs ever go on sale? I was having a lot of fun with the Arctic Cheetah on trial that you can only buy with MC, but I'm not really willing to pay 40$ just so I can buy a single battlemech.

[Dostoevsky]

Do mechs ever go on sale? I was having a lot of fun with the Arctic Cheetah on trial that you can only buy with MC, but I'm not really willing to pay 40$ just so I can buy a single battlemech.

The mech packs (Clan Waves, Resistance, etc.) don't go on sale, but the MC prices for individual mechs in the in-game store do occasionally go on sale. There have been occasional C-bill price sales as well.

For the Arctic Cheetah in particular, if you're thinking of picking it up for real money you can get the first level of the wave three pack for $30, which would come with the benefits of an (I) Prime variant (bonus C-bill income) and a few other bonuses.

Edit: which one were you looking at that's MC-only? It looks like all the variants are currently available for C-bills. The (C) variant, which is MC-only, is just an ACH-Prime with extra XP gain (which isn't really much of a bonus, in my opinion).

[Wiles]

Edit: which one were you looking at that's MC-only? It looks like all the variants are currently available for C-bills. The (C) variant, which is MC-only, is just an ACH-Prime with extra XP gain (which isn't really much of a bonus, in my opinion).

Oh I thought the MC only one was different than the Prime. I'm new to the game so I'm not so good at spotting the differences. Thanks for pointing that out!

edit - They do seem different to me though, the ACH-Prime has 4 energy hard points while the ACH-Prime(C) (which is only purchasable with MC) variant has 6. The ACH-C has 7 energy hardpoints but it doesn't have ECM. I like the idea of having ECM to help my team out, but I'm not sure how vital that is.

[Dostoevsky]

Generally speaking (C) versions (like all parenthetical versions) are an existing variant with some sort of earning bonus applied, and sometimes a fancy paintjob.

Taking a closer look, the (C) version of the Prime uses parts (called 'omnipods') from the other ACHs - specifically, an ACH-B left arm and ACH-C right arm. That'd affect the hardpoints it can use, but you can make that same swap in the regular Prime variant. In other words, you can buy the regular ACH-Prime and then swap out the arms (or side torsos, or legs) with other parts. Costs some C-bills to buy the new parts, but just C-bills - you can achieve the same loadout as the (C) version without paying any MC.

Swapping omnipods like that is something only clan mechs can do. While Clan mechs are labeled by the CT (center torso) part, they can swap out the rest of the parts with their other variants. E.g. I can swap out the 6E Prime Right arm on a Nova with a with a 1B arm if I wanted to; it'd still be a an 'NVA-PRIME' but has different hardpoints/quirks.

Edit: To go a little further in describing omnipods, think of buying a clan mech as buying just the CT, since the rest of the parts can be swapped out. The different CTs often have different bonuses/quirks; click 'view in mechlab' in the store and then mouse over the CT to see what quirks a particular variant offers in the CT.

Alternatively, you can go to http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/. This provides just about all the info you'd want about mechs, parts and quirks in a (somewhat) readable format. It also gives you a simulated mechlab to toy around with customizing your mech (the UI there is so good that PGI ended up more or less copying it into the game).

[Flying Dice]

The Champion variants are pretty much universally wastes of money; they charge premium prices for an exp gain bonus (which only matters for the first 20ish matches you play in it) and maybe a slight stat bonus. Buy Hero mechs/packs with them or nothing with real money--the ones with C-bill income buffs and (typically) unique paintjobs, names, quirks, and hardpoints.

[Tnx]

So are medium mechs just afterthoughts in this game?  The huge post by flying dice seems to guide players to start on a light and work towards an assault/heavy right away?  Also, what mechs have nice and clean cockpits that are good laser vomit candidates?

[Sonlirain]

Wait... is this the same game by chance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqun_DzGPs

[Flying Dice]

So are medium mechs just afterthoughts in this game?  The huge post by flying dice seems to guide players to start on a light and work towards an assault/heavy right away?  Also, what mechs have nice and clean cockpits that are good laser vomit candidates?

Nah, that's mostly because I'm writing from the perspective of preparing for Faction Play. The way weight limits for your lance tend to work out is 2x Assault + 1x Heavy + 1x Light, or 1x Assault + 2x Heavy + 1x Light. It's generally not worth pulling Mediums in most cases because:

1. Unless you are already using a single Assault and two low-weight Heavies, you're probably going to have to pull something like 1x Assault, 1x Heavy, 2x Medium.

2. Related to ^, Faction Play almost entirely orients around line-of-battle grinding and full-company pushes through heavy fire. Anything much below a Heavy will melt way too fast, and FP battles tend to cascade, where losing one or two mechs early makes it much easier for the other team to hold/push through while the dead guys are waiting to drop back in.

3. Seriously, there's basically no room for anything except high-damage high-armor beasts, with pretty much the sole exception being an ECM/jumpjet Light--and almost everyone would take a fourth Assault or Heavy if they could. All FP maps are basically just one big collection of choke-points with few/no places where you can flank, support, avoid fire while still being useful, &c. The bottom line is that in FP you will take a lot of nasty hits with every mech you field, and your team needs you to be able to take those hits, because the entire enemy team is going to be able to. Taking an underweight lance into FP is only preferable to one other option: taking a lance full of stock/trial mechs in.

Like, this. My typical experience as an IS pilot while in combat is staring down the barrels of anywhere from 2-10 Clan Assaults and Heavies. That's the majority of my contact with enemy forces. If you bring fragile mechs, don't know how to spread damage, &c., you're just going to die over and over again without doing anything useful.

Mediums are perfectly viable in Quick Play, and generally sit at the same 20-25% of mechs in queue as Assaults and Lights, mostly because the game modes and maps are designed to fit multiple playstyles.

--

Unrelated, here's the numbers I've seen from the variable grab bag rewards: 10 MC, 20 MC, 300 GXP. Guessing that the C-bills are going to be in the 10k-100k range.

[Dostoevsky]

I'll also note that the Faction Play Flying Dice is focusing on (also called Community Warfare) is one of the two modes of play, and is the newer/controversial mode, the more serious mode, etc. A little like Clan Wars in World of Tanks. You don't have to touch that side of the game if you don't want to, and if you're going to play solo (i.e. not join a group) I'd argue you're better off avoiding it as much as possible. That's my personal opinion, at least - feel free to give it a try. As Flying Dice notes, the gameplay is pretty different from Quick Play's Assault/Conquest/Skirmish game types.

Wait... is this the same game by chance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqun_DzGPs

It is, and the saga surrounding the introduction of Clan Mechs may well have been the nadir of MWO. When Clan Mechs first came out they were both pay-only and pretty darn overpowered; those days are (mostly) over. There are still 'pre-order mechs many months in advance' packs, but nowadays no gold mechs (which were reportedly insisted on by PGI's ex-publisher IGP), less P2W, etc. etc.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, now it's more "oh god please pay us $30 to get a pack of variants and some premium time in a few months when they launch we're not making any money" for every new mech. Which is silly, especially for the ones that don't come with a hero mech, because it takes maybe two to four days tops to grind enough C-bills to buy and outfit 3x of just about any mech.

I figured to include FP because as long as the company doesn't go under it's going to eventually be revamped into something that doesn't consist of waiting 15 minutes to get stomped by a premade 12 or coin-toss to see which group of PuGs has more retards. That, and because you can get a ton of free stuff by playing it.

--

Just got my first C-bill drop and I was off in my estimate; it was 500k.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Just got my first C-bill drop and I was off in my estimate; it was 500k.

The variation is so wide. I've got between 82.5k to 162.k. It's irrelevant of how you perform in the game that generates the coupon (match score, I believe).

Anyhow, I've got my best games so far in Catapult A1 with 4x SRM6s and 2x SRM4s with Artemis. It's a 'shotgun flanker' build with 80kmh top speed thanks to 300XL engine. Heat is actually easier to manage compared to my other laser-oriented or mixed weapon mechs. Consistently getting 3-4 kills in PuG and even in a lost game, I could still get 200-400 match score. Perhaps not as high as better players get, but I've had really positive experience with this build. Just make sure you set each weapon group 1 and 2 to:
2x SRM6s
1x SRM4

Otherwise you'll get ghost heat from firing more than 4 SRMs at once. I have weapon group 3 set to all SRMs firing alternatively and only alpha-strike ('\' key) when target rear torso is at point blank range.

CPLT-A1 Shotgun Flanker

Also, due to my high ping, snipping is finicky and I prefer short-medium range heavy mechs. Any recommendations on mechs and weapon choices?

EDIT: Got 7 kills with above build and I don't even consider myself a good player. I know the Cats are off Meta now, due to their big size and low number of hardpoints, but man, somehow this one just works for me. Hoping PGI will rebalance the Cats in coming patch.

[tryrar]

Man, double heatsinks make ALL the difference for the Raven 3L. Before, I was lucky to get 4 salvos off with my ER large lasers before shutting down completely(and that's if I chain fired). Now, I can get 5-6 chainfire salvos off no problem, plus as much SRM shots as needed against those sneaky fast lights or anyone else that gets close. Though, I'm still debating wether to keep the SRM 4 I have or go back to twin streaks. On the one hand, I don't need to lock-on to fire first, which means I can deal with ambushes(important since I'm set up to snipe). On the other hand, it's hard to hit fast moving targets with the missiles(not so much with the lasers since I can sweep them). Thoughts?

[Flying Dice]

Honestly? My preference is to go all-in and not try to stopgap for brawling.

This is the Raven 3L build I run. Once you get your skills you top out at ~147kph going forward and ~100kph in reverse, and reach that in less than four seconds from a standing start. You turn on a dime and can twist your torso about as quickly as you can move your mouse. You can alpha those ERLLas eight or nine times in a row before heat starts being a concern, which is about the maximum amount of times you ever want to fire from the same general location (assuming you're being responsible and shifting after every shot). Obviously there's no point running a 3L if you don't take ECM.

Ofc. you run ERLLas CDR and Range modules, as well as the usual Radar Deprivation. The second 'Mech module could reasonably be either Seismic Sensor (defensive) or Advanced Zoom (offensive).

But yeah. You can reach out and touch someone from up to 1500m (more importantly, you can alpha from ~700m out for 18 damage every ~3 seconds), run away from literally anything else in the game while dodging fire via serpentine movements because you turn and run fast enough for that to be viable, and are basically impossible for the average PuG team to focus down, since that requires another ECM mech catching you in counter-ECM long enough for them to pay attention and shoot you. I tested it once on Crimson Strait, sniping at my maximum range from the island--I still managed around 100 damage even though I had to have been doing just about the lowest possible damage per shot in the game.

There's a reason why Raven 3Ls are probably the single most likely 'Mech to be last man standing in a Quick Battle, and it's certainly not because only good players use it. It's survivable as fuck. The extreme speed build is also important for your score, because you absolutely have to relocate frequently, since anything at all that can hit back at your ideal range will probably core you or almost do so; the less time you spend running between positions, the more time you spend putting lasers downrange.

The other reason why I generally avoid putting missiles on my 3L (apart from the utter lack of tonnage for them and the even greater potential for being one-shotted by something nasty) is because they flat-out don't compare to the ERLLas when it comes to damage potential. A SRM-4 or two SSRM-2s do less than half the alpha of the ERLLas and in return make you slower and less heat-efficient, all for the sake of trying to cover for a situation that you can generally avoid with good positioning or escape with quick reactions. The only light that really scares me when I'm in my 3L is an Arctic Cheater, since they're fast as fuck, studded with low-heat low-CD weapons, and can ECM-cancel. Most others you can play the "Oh, I saw you coming when you were 400 meters out and moved a few hundred meters back to a new position, have fun getting legged while you're too far to fire back," game with. 

[Dostoevsky]

Man, double heatsinks make ALL the difference for the Raven 3L.

Only in very rare circumstances does one ever want to use single heat sinks. There are a few non-troll builds that need them to save on slots, but normally doubles are a necessity. Single heat sinks were buffed a tiny bit in the most recent balance patch, but doubles are still effectively a required (and somewhat pricey) upgrade.