the solo grind

[Hammer]

really sucks. it is probably a big turn off for people right now. you really need to be in a group of people which gains a lot of benefit.

i actually think ECM is a game changer, but makes it more tactically challenging. think of it as artificially increasing the size of the map.

i share Buff's frustration about lights. they can really ruin your day. i do not know if it is lag, but they are really hard to hit. if you are by yourself two or even one light can easily take you out. it sucks, and i do not think it is the right flavor for the game. that said, a group that sticks together can fix that, or at least help mitigate the overpowered lights (I hate saying that, just some balancing needed there i think). That said, if you are solo maybe you should try running in lights?

PUGS just suck for the most part. also think about free play vs pay to play. free is going to be a grind. the game devs and publisher are in this to make money, they have to make a living too. so they make it just barely tolerable to play for free and hope you will spend some money on the game. fair enough i guess. this does make it even more of a grind when you are by yourself and playing PUGS because most of the time you are going to lose, which equals squat for experience; making the grind take even longer. I know, I am there.

right now I am grinding in medium mechs. i am taking care of the worst chassis first - the Cicada. i am on the last one. i have my basic skills on three version of the chassis, and am working on elite in the 3M right now. i am doing the most expensive last because it allowed me to build my bank account up to buy it while working on the first two chassis, and it is the best of the Cicada chassis. i sold the other two chassis off once i was done with them as they were no longer needed; this helps fund the next purchase. i plan to keep this 3M chassis as i will have plenty of funds to just buy another medium chassis to start on to work towards master.

i will probably keep the three medium chassis i elite in, which means i may eventually have to spend a few real dollars to add mechbays, but then i can also add some camo patterns at the same time. both of those items are cheap.

this is my skill/chassis plan. i will repeat with the next class i decide to pursue.

one more point to add - if you are just grinding and not in a group and need cbills, just drop with a trial mech and make money. if you are likely to lose anyway you will not miss that much XP.

and NEVER spend your GXP on mech skills!

[Buffalo Six]

ECM a 1.5 ton, 2 slot item does the following

1) Disables artemis IV bonuses
2) Disables TAG bonuses - a system that requires constant user input, skill and coordination to use.
3) Disables NARC completely - a heavier system with ammo that requires skill, and coordination to use.
5) Disables BAP completely - a system of the same mass and size that did much less.
6) Makes LRM locks take twice as long (4x longer if you start with an artemis)
7) Makes SRM locks take longer (I think)
Disrupts communication between friendlies making coordination/scouting much harder
9) For some reason makes it so you can't target the user and let your teammates know unless you are magically between 180m and 200m away
10) Relegates AMS - a system with 1.5 tons, 2 slots and ammo to the dustbin.
11) Can counter another ECM if you deign to push a button.

Now from what I saw in the few matches I played in was, 2-four man premades (or hell it could have been a 8 man) running 2-3 ecm atlases, and 1-2 ECM raven 3L or Commando 2D. The matches all ended up with both sides out in the middle at 300m and pewpewpew slug fest or.....in our base with a 300m slug fest pewpewpew.

There are no tactics right now, my sole mech with almost the all the 3 basic skill sets complete is.....a damn cat which is basically dead weight now. I have a Atlas DC-D with ECM equiped but I cant afford the cost to fix it after each match when it gets torn limb from limb so that leaves me in a light (support scout....dead) or a beam boat with questionable ECM coverage and again dead.......

did the devs even ever play TT?

[Slayer]

The solo play undoubtedly sucks, but I think H has it right. I believe this is SOMEWHAT by design. They need some way to hook you and get you to spend some cash on there cow. I REALLY want them to fix some simple issues before I throwing cash at them. There were some really simple controls from back in the day that are just missing right now and as I stated earlier there social piece is garbage. Match making is clearly still a work in process. I have no idea why they have machine guns available right now ... they're anti-personal, maybe light vehicle weapons, NOT uber weapons to be used against mechs....It's just stupid. No thing irritates me more then to have a light start circling me rattling away with a bunch of machine guns and watch my mech slowly go to pieces because I can't get them targeted.

They need to fix up some simple stuff, work on the more difficult mechanics issue and then start filling out content again. Rinse and repeat. Since this thread is about solo play though, i'll say I pretty much have done the same thing H has done except i've used the Hunchback. For now I have kept the three variants i've purchased, but i'm at the moment still saving up for the jumping 'phract.

One question I have though is, if I sell off a mech that i've earned all the skills for and unlocked the module, do I keep those skills if I sell off the variant? Does it affect the skill tree on the other variants since you need three to unlock?

I suppose these questions could be answered on MWOs site ... perhaps i'll go look then.

[Hammer]

are you sure ECM does/effects all that? if so that is a lot more than i thought. i have not seen it have that much of an effect though. in the last few days i have been playing i have actually been in some good drops - jockeying for position, trying to get the early damage in before the inevitable brawl - which truthfully always seemed to hapen even before ECM.

if there are issue, really post in the MWO suggestion forums. either find the thread about the topic or create a new one. sometimes even developers post there.

here is the link to the suggestions forums:

http://mwomercs.com/forums/forum/35-suggestions/

yes, you get to keep your experience if you sell off the mech. just the bonuse are only on that mech chassis, so if you really elite one you are probably going to want to keep it.

[VEGETA]

Well Being Canadian (servers are in Canada) I found my ping to the server (before I moved) to be 40ms so I was not as affected by most by the large. and I can tell you that the ac20 to lights was fun. one shooting commandos was some what common for me. so I am either a crack shot or there is a lag issue. So if they fix the lag then I expect lights to be less valid. also knock down being removed is not helping as I see a lot of light mechs are bump staring off other mechs. Once knockdown is brought back in, the bad light pilots will be less useful.

As for the grind, there are 2 ways to help, one is buy premium time which gives a boost. Ya even I don't expect to do this. the other is to buy a hero mech. the hero mech has a 30% boost and I can tell you that my Wang had helped me earn cash. The good part is that its a on time cost. and I can tell you that I have gotten some of my best matches in a wang with just a ac20 and 2 ml's.

Another thing I have found is that daytime and late night pugs seam better for some reason. Ie not getting rolled as much.

there is some tactics right now Buff BUT not near what we are use to. and those tactics are limited to only a few per map. the good news is that the next map is suppose to be larger so tacticts we would like may be on way.

I have maxed out the mech tree on Cents and have started on a Cataphract. tho I may go back to the dragon I spend most of my time in closed beta in.

Alos someone mentioned pre beta cbills. There was a reset for us pre beta people so I crpossed in with 0 cbills to open beta. I just coughed up the cash for a wang and since then have not spent one MC, all cbils I grinned.

[Hammer]

"my Wang had helped me earn cash"

OMG! we did not want to know that Veg.

last night i did probably 8 drops, and my team won 6 times. not bad for PUGs and solo, not sure how much i influenced it. i can hope a lot. there might be something to the late night stuff, i get online about 9PM Pacific.

[Slayer]

Just snagged some "free premium time". Great grab for solo work. Showed up on an MWO facebook post, just followed the link, logged in and redeemed the "coupon".

http://mwomercs.com/pennyarcade#btn

WHAT IS PREMIUM TIME?
Great question MechWarrior! Premium Time is a powerful way to maximize your in-game
rewards for participating in online battles. Players with Premium Time are awarded an
additional 50% Gained XP and an additional 50% C-Bills!

[Hammer]

OK, no reason everyone should not go get this. you do not even have to activate it right away. i got the coupon, and am saving it for the time i know i will be online and playing for quite a while to make the most use of it.

Go get your free one day of premium time!

Thx Slayer!

[Slamhammer]

you get that if you were a founder during the closed betta, I just activated mine yesterday..

[Slayer]

Does this not stack with your founder time?

[Hammer]

i am pretty sure it does. this is a separate coupon from any founder pack time for an extra day or a day if you do not already have time.