I had fun with my first round. It was a hodgepodge of Clanners vs a 2 group FRR attacking force. Coordinating the defense with the rest of the team was a lot of fun, as was holding the gates. The fight around the base once they punched through was a bunch of fun as well.
Managed 3 actual CW matches tonight:
1) Attack vs SJR, went about as well as you can expect with Oosiks that cant afford engines for all their mechs versus a try hard clan with meta builds and full module loadouts.
2) Defend vs SJR, again, went pretty bad, with SJR opening all 3 gates, then crashing 1 gate with the heaviest mechs in their drop deck and just going straight for the cannon, ignoring the single lance of Oosiks defending it to DPS it down faster.
3) Defend vs a Ghost Bear Premade, was going pretty well, we had killed 24 of them and they had the cannon to about 56% health, but the game crashed on me 3 times, and the third time was in the middle of a huge push that we ended up losing, so I couldn't even screenshot the results screens. :x
Really fucking wish they would add a counter for each planet, so you could see how many attackers/defenders are in queue for it. The only way to consistently get matches is to have a 12 man, otherwise you have to rely on the shittiest teambuilder, and hope it builds you a team before another 12 man swoops in and gets the match.
My CW experience so far has been one of two things, both negative:
1) Search for a game, spend a while waiting for my team to form, and then drop with no opposition.
2) Get annihilated by 12 Clan 'mechs at the same tonnage as our IS 'mechs.
I remember PGI running a number of clan vs. IS battles earlier, and the collected win rates vastly favored the clans even when corrected for player skill. That Clan 'mechs were superior was universally accepted--so why won't PGI give them a reduced drop mass? What is so fucking hard to understand about this whole situation?
Eh. Three Clan mechs are universally accepted as superior. The rest are either comparable or outright inferior to IS contemporaries. And those tests were conducted before quirks were added. Quirks have done a lot to level the playing field, and IS lights continue to kick the shit out of any of the Clan light options.
My CW experience so far has been one of two things, both negative:
1) Search for a game, spend a while waiting for my team to form, and then drop with no opposition.
2) Get annihilated by 12 Clan 'mechs at the same tonnage as our IS 'mechs.
I remember PGI running a number of clan vs. IS battles earlier, and the collected win rates vastly favored the clans even when corrected for player skill. That Clan 'mechs were superior was universally accepted--so why won't PGI give them a reduced drop mass? What is so fucking hard to understand about this whole situation?
Eh. Three Clan mechs are universally accepted as superior. The rest are either comparable or outright inferior to IS contemporaries. And those tests were conducted before quirks were added. Quirks have done a lot to level the playing field, and IS lights continue to kick the shit out of any of the Clan light options.
step 2: Use PGIs shitty map design to get enough height to shoot over the gate at any IS trying to kill the generator with extra long range lasers, and extra light LRMs & ballistics
Anyways, finally had a good CW match where I wasn't forced to Counter Attack, which is absolutely impossible on the Borealis map, since all the defenders can guard both gates from a single hill in their base.
I played one game last night and it was a rag-tag bunch of players vs a premade 12 man can team.... sooo many timberwolves and stormcrows.... it was all I saw the whole game. We were attacking and it was bad. I have not been able to get another game going since... just waiting in queue forever
The idea of requiring each planet to have a separate queue is just the dumbest. There wasn't the population for it at the height of this game, let alone now.
Ok, now that i have some sleep behind me and can think a bit more rationally, here is my take away from last night...
Queue times completely kill my enthusiasm for CW. I understand why you can choose what planet to attack/defend, but the population is too small at any given time to support multiple planets on every border. We need to either be placed in a universal queue as attacker or defender, then just dropped on a random planet en mass. Or show us how many people are in queue for a planet thats being attacked so we can see exactly the games are going to be.
I really dont give a shit where i attack/defend, so long as i can actually play. Maybe make a preference for an ISvIS, ISvClan, or Clan v Clan. This queue forever crap sucks. Id rather pug then maybe get 1 CW gamein the short amount of time i have to play in the evenings.
In the 3 matches i did get to play in, Attackers are at a huge disadvantage. And god help you if you attack a top tier 12 man clan. While i would like to do well against the top tier players, realistically we dont have a chance. Were too casual and quite frankly i dont have the time/energy to be top tier. I can accept a stomp from time to time, its just the nature of the game. But when you get one match an hour, it would be nice to stand some sort of chance.
FPS drop make light mechs a nightmare to play. Bigger mechs less so, but its pretty horrible overall.
Maybe Attackers need some base defenses or something. Maybe a couple static dropships that are hanging around to shoot the campers.
Im hopeful. Its still beta, so things will change. Just give it some time. Meanwhile, ill be grinding in the solo queue to afford more modules.
At this point I would say post your thoughts on the official boards in patch feedback.
The fact PGI even released it shocked me. And that first game we ha last night was amazing. I think we were an organized Oosik group verse a less organized clanner set but still it was fun.
It is beta, let's see if this new content releasing PGI is willing to listen to feed back as well.
I wasn't too surprised by what I saw with CW. I think the potential is there but there needs to be several refinement passes. I really wish we had a chance to do an IS vs IS match last night as that would have given me a better feel for how balanced the maps are. To me the key takeaway is PGI was able to deliver an alpha/early beta level CW experience to us. How many of us thought that would happen at all? They can play with balance using the drop deck and tonnage restrictions. If clans could bid each other down that would actually test their skills vs the stomp they are getting today. I like the way the drop deck works and the strategy inherent in that. 2-3 months of revisions could have the whole concept being fun. Right now they need CW CLAN v CLAN, CW IS v IS and CW IS v CLAN and just forget the battle map in the sense of houses and other theaters, if the user base grew I could see that working, right now too much wait for a fight.
+1
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Another thing... Lights are pretty useless unless everyone bum rushes with them. Sooooo.... I need to find a couple more heavies to use/like that arent too ammo limited.
For a first release the CW is functional. That first defense was awesome, from plugging them up at gamma, to getting our 2 wubbolts in their drop area to the final push on alpha. It felt epic, but for naught, Susquehanna has changed hands as of this am.
Later I pugged a defense drop (it was a counter attack on boreal), IS vs clan. Playing with Oosiks is better, but the drop was still fun. Ended up about 38 vs 43 with a mission failure. Once the gates were opened it was a constant, slow, grinding brawl.
There are things to improve (frame rate issues, the ui madness). And for pete's sake we need a way to locate modules! Attacking an empty planet should count a half/quarter win. If we had the will to grind on Ardoz all night we could have taken it without any resistance (and that's not "fun").
0
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
So this CW stuff doesn't actually require premade groups, it's just a public matchmaking queue that takes a really long time?
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Yet more things I'll miss this weekend. Silly vacation.
Pretty excited! Get to play tonight and a little tomorrow maybe.
Sounds like this initial CW is a decent go of it for an initial release, they just need to make a global match maker versus plant based.
EDIT: Also, I have four medallions to choose. Been thinking 2xFRR, and one Marik. Can't choose between Steiner and Davion for the fourth. Marik is a sure one just because I like that faction.
so this is fun huh? I saw the announcement and came home to discover that my building had lost power due to this crazy windstorm, which still wasn't on by the time I left this morning
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
so this is fun huh? I saw the announcement and came home to discover that my building had lost power due to this crazy windstorm, which still wasn't on by the time I left this morning
Sounds like a core of fun, with some rough edges, if I'm gauging the reactions right.
I don't think I have enough engines to be able to field four mechs... and I only have 4 mechbays total, so I guess I'd have to drop with whatever I had on hand. Or maybe it's time to buy a few mechbays finally...
My CW experience so far has been one of two things, both negative:
1) Search for a game, spend a while waiting for my team to form, and then drop with no opposition.
2) Get annihilated by 12 Clan 'mechs at the same tonnage as our IS 'mechs.
I remember PGI running a number of clan vs. IS battles earlier, and the collected win rates vastly favored the clans even when corrected for player skill. That Clan 'mechs were superior was universally accepted--so why won't PGI give them a reduced drop mass? What is so fucking hard to understand about this whole situation?
Eh. Three Clan mechs are universally accepted as superior. The rest are either comparable or outright inferior to IS contemporaries.
OK, but the three Clan 'mechs that are universally accepted as superior are superior to everything on the IS side in their respective weight classes. The Stormcrow is better than any IS medium, the Timber Wolf is better than any IS Heavy, and the Dire Wolf is better than any IS assault. So in three of the four weight classes the Clans have a 'mech that beats anything the IS has to offer, and light 'mechs still hardly matter, especially in CW from the sound of it.
Quirks closed the Clan-IS gap some and made piloting IS more fun to give people an incentive to use them in mixed battles but if it's straight-up Clan versus IS the IS is still going to get rolled.
so this is fun huh? I saw the announcement and came home to discover that my building had lost power due to this crazy windstorm, which still wasn't on by the time I left this morning
Sounds like a core of fun, with some rough edges, if I'm gauging the reactions right.
Seriously bummed I'm on vacation right now :P
Well it may have a hotfix or two under its belt by the time you get back. Also the event will involve c-bills and gxp, which isn't as great as 2xExp or something. Still nice, but not the end of the world.
I don't think I have enough engines to be able to field four mechs... and I only have 4 mechbays total, so I guess I'd have to drop with whatever I had on hand. Or maybe it's time to buy a few mechbays finally...
You can add trial mechs to your drop ship deck. They all aren't terrible.
Sorry guys, turns out you didn't win those games versus Clanners
Don't be a goose. I never said it isn't possible for the IS side to win sometimes with superior player skill, coordination, and some luck. But all other things being equal the Clan side has a huge advantage and it's ridiculous to pretend like they don't. They can pack way more firepower per ton and they can do it without sacrificing survivability. Clan 'mechs are better. They are designed to be. People would be raising hell if they weren't. But in the lore setting and in the tabletop game you can mitigate that with stuff like unequally sized forces, the Clan rules of engagement, etc. to make things interesting, while PGI is either unable or unwilling to implement anything like that in MWO.
Sorry guys, turns out you didn't win those games versus Clanners
Don't be a goose. I never said it isn't possible for the IS side to win sometimes with superior player skill, coordination, and some luck. But all other things being equal the Clan side has a huge advantage and it's ridiculous to pretend like they don't. They can pack way more firepower per ton and they can do it without sacrificing survivability. Clan 'mechs are better. They are designed to be. People would be raising hell if they weren't. But in the lore setting and in the tabletop game you can mitigate that with stuff like unequally sized forces, the Clan rules of engagement, etc. to make things interesting, while PGI is either unable or unwilling to implement anything like that in MWO.
If you're comparing technical stats, Clan Mechs are better.
But since this game isn't played in a vacuum, Pilot skill is more important.
That's why a Jenner is able to kill a Timber Wolf solo.
Watching Kiriesani on twitch doing CW on that Sulphur map and it's frustrating to watch them run up to the gate and then slowly get whittled down while playing peekaboo
I haven't been able to play CW yet, but I don't have anything to do tonight or tomorrow night. I'll be jumping on Vent pretty much as soon as I get off of work. Hope we can a 12-man going and roll some Clanner scum.
Seems like its pretty much impossible to do CW unless you drop in a 12man, been sitting in it waiting for a team for 10 minutes hoping to do some solo pug runs for mad cash..
edit
Theres also someone on the FRR subforum on the mwo forums wanting to unite all the FRR Units and Loyal Mercs together and create a war council and shit.
Posts
im not even bothering with medallions
I'm just..ugh, I was excited.
Clans vs IS on an open field? Complete blowout for the Clanners.
Clans vs IS when the IS can leverage a solid positional advantage? IS just choke the shit out of the Clan mechs.
1) Attack vs SJR, went about as well as you can expect with Oosiks that cant afford engines for all their mechs versus a try hard clan with meta builds and full module loadouts.
2) Defend vs SJR, again, went pretty bad, with SJR opening all 3 gates, then crashing 1 gate with the heaviest mechs in their drop deck and just going straight for the cannon, ignoring the single lance of Oosiks defending it to DPS it down faster.
3) Defend vs a Ghost Bear Premade, was going pretty well, we had killed 24 of them and they had the cannon to about 56% health, but the game crashed on me 3 times, and the third time was in the middle of a huge push that we ended up losing, so I couldn't even screenshot the results screens. :x
Really fucking wish they would add a counter for each planet, so you could see how many attackers/defenders are in queue for it. The only way to consistently get matches is to have a 12 man, otherwise you have to rely on the shittiest teambuilder, and hope it builds you a team before another 12 man swoops in and gets the match.
MWO: Adamski
MWO: Adamski
Eh. Three Clan mechs are universally accepted as superior. The rest are either comparable or outright inferior to IS contemporaries. And those tests were conducted before quirks were added. Quirks have done a lot to level the playing field, and IS lights continue to kick the shit out of any of the Clan light options.
Kit Fox: 30t
Stormcrow: 55t
Timberwolf: 75t
Maddog: 60t
Hellbringer: 65t
Direwolf: 100t
step 2: Use PGIs shitty map design to get enough height to shoot over the gate at any IS trying to kill the generator with extra long range lasers, and extra light LRMs & ballistics
step 3: PROFIT
MWO: Adamski
MWO: Adamski
Queue times completely kill my enthusiasm for CW. I understand why you can choose what planet to attack/defend, but the population is too small at any given time to support multiple planets on every border. We need to either be placed in a universal queue as attacker or defender, then just dropped on a random planet en mass. Or show us how many people are in queue for a planet thats being attacked so we can see exactly the games are going to be.
I really dont give a shit where i attack/defend, so long as i can actually play. Maybe make a preference for an ISvIS, ISvClan, or Clan v Clan. This queue forever crap sucks. Id rather pug then maybe get 1 CW gamein the short amount of time i have to play in the evenings.
In the 3 matches i did get to play in, Attackers are at a huge disadvantage. And god help you if you attack a top tier 12 man clan. While i would like to do well against the top tier players, realistically we dont have a chance. Were too casual and quite frankly i dont have the time/energy to be top tier. I can accept a stomp from time to time, its just the nature of the game. But when you get one match an hour, it would be nice to stand some sort of chance.
FPS drop make light mechs a nightmare to play. Bigger mechs less so, but its pretty horrible overall.
Maybe Attackers need some base defenses or something. Maybe a couple static dropships that are hanging around to shoot the campers.
Im hopeful. Its still beta, so things will change. Just give it some time. Meanwhile, ill be grinding in the solo queue to afford more modules.
The fact PGI even released it shocked me. And that first game we ha last night was amazing. I think we were an organized Oosik group verse a less organized clanner set but still it was fun.
It is beta, let's see if this new content releasing PGI is willing to listen to feed back as well.
DaMoon, you'll need to drop out of the Irregulars so we can send you an IOSK invite.
@Stabbity Style I've promoted you to Oathmaster of the unit. Congratulations! You're now a junior paper-pusher.
Yea... Its a crap system. It just needs a global queue for your faction for attack or defend. Then just dump you onto a planet
Later I pugged a defense drop (it was a counter attack on boreal), IS vs clan. Playing with Oosiks is better, but the drop was still fun. Ended up about 38 vs 43 with a mission failure. Once the gates were opened it was a constant, slow, grinding brawl.
There are things to improve (frame rate issues, the ui madness). And for pete's sake we need a way to locate modules! Attacking an empty planet should count a half/quarter win. If we had the will to grind on Ardoz all night we could have taken it without any resistance (and that's not "fun").
Sounds like this initial CW is a decent go of it for an initial release, they just need to make a global match maker versus plant based.
EDIT: Also, I have four medallions to choose. Been thinking 2xFRR, and one Marik. Can't choose between Steiner and Davion for the fourth. Marik is a sure one just because I like that faction.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Sounds like a core of fun, with some rough edges, if I'm gauging the reactions right.
Seriously bummed I'm on vacation right now :P
OK, but the three Clan 'mechs that are universally accepted as superior are superior to everything on the IS side in their respective weight classes. The Stormcrow is better than any IS medium, the Timber Wolf is better than any IS Heavy, and the Dire Wolf is better than any IS assault. So in three of the four weight classes the Clans have a 'mech that beats anything the IS has to offer, and light 'mechs still hardly matter, especially in CW from the sound of it.
Quirks closed the Clan-IS gap some and made piloting IS more fun to give people an incentive to use them in mixed battles but if it's straight-up Clan versus IS the IS is still going to get rolled.
Well it may have a hotfix or two under its belt by the time you get back. Also the event will involve c-bills and gxp, which isn't as great as 2xExp or something. Still nice, but not the end of the world.
You can add trial mechs to your drop ship deck. They all aren't terrible.
Don't be a goose. I never said it isn't possible for the IS side to win sometimes with superior player skill, coordination, and some luck. But all other things being equal the Clan side has a huge advantage and it's ridiculous to pretend like they don't. They can pack way more firepower per ton and they can do it without sacrificing survivability. Clan 'mechs are better. They are designed to be. People would be raising hell if they weren't. But in the lore setting and in the tabletop game you can mitigate that with stuff like unequally sized forces, the Clan rules of engagement, etc. to make things interesting, while PGI is either unable or unwilling to implement anything like that in MWO.
1050 free points. Not bad.
If you're comparing technical stats, Clan Mechs are better.
But since this game isn't played in a vacuum, Pilot skill is more important.
That's why a Jenner is able to kill a Timber Wolf solo.
edit
Theres also someone on the FRR subforum on the mwo forums wanting to unite all the FRR Units and Loyal Mercs together and create a war council and shit.
I am doomed...
Can mech corpses clog up clan guns? If not, I need a Plan B.
Step 1: Pilot the mechs with the most taxing geometries for CPUs/GPUs.
Step 2: Hope the corpses of your shot-up mechs crash your opponents' rigs.
Step 3: Profit?