#MWO Patchday - December 17th, 2013

Put on your moon boots, HPG Manifold is the newest world to defend! This map features a HyperPulse Generator which offers a good mix of open battles and tight corners. It's more of a planet than a moon, but don't let that stop you from blasting up this desolate landscape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98GEILOa24A

Wolverine & Griffin will automatically become available to those who purchased the Sabre Reinforcement promotion upon first login after the patch.


If you're still in the reading mood, check out MWO Lead Designer Paul Inouye's thoughts on Clan Technology, and President Russ Bullock's Command Chair post detailing the State of the Inner Sphere.

Today, Thunderbolt becomes available for MC and C-Bills!

[img width=700 height=700]http://infinitegamepublishing.com/images/mwosale-2013-12-17-b.jpg[/img]

The giving season is upon us and your Mech deserves a present too! With Hula Girl in the festive spirit, you can now grab a variety of holiday-themed cockpit items from the MechLab!
Brighten up your cockpit with some lights, gifts, snow-globes and holly! These jingles are only available during the holiday season.

[img width=700 height=700]http://infinitegamepublishing.com/images/mwosale-2013-12-12.jpg[/img]
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Developer Update & Patch Notes:

Greetings MechWarriors,

Well it’s the last patch of 2013! And it’s a big one!

Saber pack is in the wild! Wolverines and Griffins are preparing for battle as we speak!

Phoenix pack introduced our first 55 ton Medium ‘Mech and with the Saber pack we just doubled down. Enjoy responsibly.

The New map; HPG Manifold Is generating a hyper pulse in my cardiovascular system. Remember, in space, no one can hear you scream… unless you use VoIP. Move carefully and cover your sectors it’s going to be raining metal and lasers. Is that music I hear? Yes it is!
New Game mode: Skirmish! Many have asked for this mode and now it is here! I have to admit the thing I am most excited about is more new spawns!

Thunderbolt is out there for C-Bills and MC and all his Patterns are available for MC as well. Snowfall is the new pattern of the month and will help you blend in on those maps with snow falling.

See you on the battlefield MechWarriors!
Matt Newman

[size=14pt]Content

New Game Mode - Skirmish

Skirmish is the first step toward the evolving game modes that will make up part of Community Warfare. In this mode, both teams battle it out in a last man standing scenario. There are no longer bases to capture, or resources to collect. This is epitome of which team can destroy the other team first. Which team has the ultimate co-ordination and striking capabilities to dominate the other team? Get online and into Skirmish mode to find out!

Winning conditions:
Destroy all enemy 'Mechs
On time out most kills wins

New Map - HPG Manifold

This ‘A’ Station HyperPulse Generator is located on the only rocky planet in a tri-body system and is facilitated by a massive complex encircling the main array.
Because of the planet’s thin atmospheric density (of only ~25,000-75,000 atoms/cm3 at 263˚K and 25-100 rads of 8000 keV radiation), the complex must be fully shielded and self-sustaining.
The planets remoteness necessitates the conglomerate to also maintain a vast sensor array, house cargo & battlemech stations, fuel bunkers, warehouse facilities, living quarters and hangar bays.
Although destroying the facility would be a crippling blow, for the victors it is deemed far too valuable and therefore appropriation is the preferred strategy.

New Mechs

Thunderbolt TDR-5S

Tonnage: 65
Engine: 260 Standard
Top Speed: 64.8 kph
Max Engine Rating: 315
Torso Movement:
90 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:Armor: 416 (Standard)
20 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: Machine Gun x2
Left Torso: Medium Laser x3
Right Torso: LRM 15, SRM 2
Right Arm: Large Laser
Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 2 Ballistic
Left Torso: 3 Energy
Right Torso: 2 Missile, 1 AMS
Right Arm: 1 Energy

Heat Sinks: 15 Single

Jump Jets: 0 (0 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium

Thunderbolt TDR-5SS

Tonnage: 65
Engine: 260 Standard
Top Speed: 64.8 kph
Max Engine Rating: 315
Torso Movement:
90 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:Armor: 416 (Standard)
20 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Torso: Medium Laser x3, SRM 6
Right Torso: Flamer
Right Arm: PPC
Hardpoints:
Left Torso: 3 Energy, 1 Missile
Right Torso: 2 Energy, 1 AMS
Right Arm: 2 Energy

Heat Sinks: 21 Single

Jump Jets: 0 (0 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium

Thunderbolt TDR-9SE

Tonnage: 65
Engine: 260 Standard
Top Speed: 64.8 kph
Max Engine Rating: 315
Torso Movement:
90 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:Armor: 422 (Standard)
20 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Torso: Medium Laser x3, LRM 10
Right Arm: Large Pulse Laser
Hardpoints:
Left Torso: 3 Energy, 2 Missile
Right Torso: 1 AMS
Right Arm: 2 Energy

Heat Sinks: 15 Double

Jump Jets: 4 (4 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium

Sabre Reinforcement BattleMech Details (expand the spoiler)

Griffin GRF-1N(P)

Tonnage: 55
Engine: 275 Standard
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360
Torso Movement:
130 degrees to each side.
25 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
35 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 304 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Right Torso: LRM 10
Right Arm: PPC
Hardpoints:
Left Torso: 1 AMS
Right Torso: 3 Missile
Right Arm: 3 Energy

Heat Sinks: 12 Single

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 10%
30% C-Bill Bonus
10% Loyalty Point Bonus

Griffin GRF-1N

Tonnage: 55
Engine: 275 Standard
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360
Torso Movement:
130 degrees to each side.
25 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
35 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 304 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Right Torso: LRM 10
Right Arm: PPC
Hardpoints:
Left Torso: 1 AMS
Right Torso: 3 Missile
Right Arm: 3 Energy

Heat Sinks: 12 Single

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 10%

Griffin GRF-1S

Tonnage: 55
Engine: 275 Standard
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360
Torso Movement:
130 degrees to each side.
25 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
35 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 304 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Torso: LRM 5
Right Arm: Medium Laser x2, Large Laser
Hardpoints:
Left Torso: 2 Missile
Right Torso: 1 AMS
Right Arm: 4 Energy

Heat Sinks: 16 Single

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 10%

Griffin GRF-3M

Tonnage: 55
Engine: 275 XL
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360
Torso Movement:
130 degrees to each side.
25 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
35 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 320 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Torso: Small Laser
Right Torso: LRM 20
Right Arm: ER PPC
Hardpoints:
Left Torso: 1 Energy, 1 AMS
Right Torso: 4 Missile
Right Arm: 1 Energy

Heat Sinks: 13 Double

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 10%

Wolverine WVR-6R(P)

Tonnage: 55
Engine: 275 Standard
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360
Torso Movement:
125 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side.
35 degrees up and down.
Armor: 304 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:
Head: Medium Laser
Left Torso: SRM 6
Right Arm: AC/5
Hardpoints:
Head: 1 Energy
Left Torso: 3 Missile
Right Torso: 1 AMS
Right Arm: 2 Ballistic

Heat Sinks: 12 Single

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 25%
30% C-Bill Bonus
10% Loyalty Point Bonus

Wolverine WVR-6R

Tonnage: 55

Engine: 275 Standard
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360

Torso Movement:
125 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.

Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side.
35 degrees up and down.

Armor: 304 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard

Weapons & Equipment:
Head: Medium Laser
Left Torso: SRM 6
Right Arm: AC/5

Hardpoints:
Head: 1 Energy
Left Torso: 3 Missile
Right Torso: 1 AMS
Right Arm: 2 Ballistic

Heat Sinks: 12 Single

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Wolverine WVR-6K

Tonnage: 55

Engine: 275 Standard
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 375

Torso Movement:
125 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.

Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side.
35 degrees up and down.

Armor: 368 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard

Weapons & Equipment:
Head: Medium Laser
Left Torso: SRM 6
Right Arm: Small Laser, Medium Laser, Large Laser

Hardpoints:
Head: 1 Energy
Left Torso: 1 Missile
Right Torso: 1 AMS
Right Arm: 4 Energy

Heat Sinks: 14 Single

Jump Jets: 0 (0 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 25%

Wolverine WVR-7K

Tonnage: 55
Engine: 275 XL
Top Speed: 81 kph
Max Engine Rating: 360

Torso Movement:
125 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.

Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side.
35 degrees up and down.

Armor: 370 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard

Weapons & Equipment:
Head: Medium Pulse Laser
Left Torso: SRM 6
Right Torso: SRM 6
Right Arm: Small Pulse Laser, Large Pulse Laser

Hardpoints:
Head: 1 Energy
Left Torso: 2 Missile
Right Torso: 1 Missile, 1 AMS
Right Arm: 2 Energy

Heat Sinks: 13 Double

Jump Jets: 5 (7 Max)

ECM Capable?: No

Module Slots: 2
Movement Archetype: Medium
Quirks: Torso twist speed increased by 25%

New Camo Skin

New Snowfall skin available.

Gameplay

Music added to the Front End. (Can be disabled in options)
Music added to the 'Mech startup sequence.
Victory and Defeat music added.

Bug Fixes

HSR improvement - Reduced possible desyncs that would occur for projectile weapons -- especially for connections with variable latency.
Fixed an issue where some parts of the terrain had seams or holes, particularly on Low Spec.
Fixed an issue where Vsync wasn't working when users played in Window or Full Screen Window mode.

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

 

Plenty of content to have fun with for the holiday, that's for sure

 

This new map looks so f*cking awesome! Best looking map till today! It's like fighting on Cybertron as Transformers! Hell yeaaaah

 

Digging the in-game music!

 

Skirmish mode
New map
Music

3 strikes you're out!

oh wait, we're supposed to be negative about this game. #PGISUCKSOHYEAH

 

New patch issues:

New bug: Cryengine error bug, crashes MWO.
New bug: Textures missing on Frozen City Night
New Issue: Consistent Lag Spikes

Concerns: Outside from those not much. They didn't up the chance of the new match which is good in the long run, but sad that it took me over 2 hours to get to play on it once. Lots of Wolverines and Griffins out last night, not surprising there. Had a decent time playing with my mates, just wish I would not get new bugs every time I patch MWO.

 

New map was entertaining the few times I got to run it, love the muffled weapons sounds, definitely adds to that off-worldy ambience! Discovering that my little Jenner can run around under all the ramps was also amusing.

Music is okay but I found it grating pretty quickly and went back to running whatever music I was in the mood for in the background. (YouTube has some nice extended Dubstep gaming mixes *grin*)

No less than 3 cry-engine crashes in a relatively short play session *grumble grumble*

Had a weird glitch during a Skirmish on Crimson Straight where a Griffin (last red standing) seemed to be stuck in one of the pillars at the corner of the upper deck area. He could rotate, torso twist and fire his weapons but other than that was trapped. (My mostly obliterated Cicada and I bravely freed him from his dilemma with a few ER PPC bolts)

I'm happy with the patch as long as this cry-engine crashing thing gets ironed out!

 

Collection of random thoughts:

The new spawn points are silly for Skirmish mode. I wish they would have kept the old drops for that mode. Most people seem to understand that the first thing you do is group up though, which is good. Just frustrating when the black jacks want to chase the spider scout all over the map. Most people bring big mechs, but I did get a match against 6 lights. Why bring lights to skirms?

I got the cryengine crash once, but it was on match exit, so I didn't mind too much. In general I feel like this game is pretty bug free - much less than lots of other games anyway. I also saw some people complaining about the latency, but I didn't experience any of it.

It took me 17 matches to finally get into HPG. It was kind of chaos all over the place because people weren't familiar with the map. Great fun and made lots of small 1v1/2v2 fights. I didn't get it in my jump jet mechs so I didn't get to test if the gravity was noticeably different.

 

Thoughts on latest patch & the fun had last night.

• Dropped into HPG first time playing in my AC20 BlackJack. Love the new map... it could be just because it's new... and I only dropped once into it, but.... love the new map.
• The soundtrack thing is kinda cool, but I prefer my own Dethmetal, Dubstep, MW2 Mix. They could have done a Make Your Own Soundtrack thing, where you select a playlist of songs for the interface/MechLab, and a seperate playlist that is randomized per drop..... Just a thought.... Give me UI2.0 first though.
• I didn't get anything out of the new game mode... It's Assault without the hokey base... Lame, but hopefully better things in the future... see this topic(Shameless plug) for some excellent thoughts on this...
• I haven't experienced any crashing, but I only dropped 6 times last night, so maybe I haven't hit it yet.
  
• There was a loss of textures in Frozen City for some reason, don't quite understand that.
  
• I found it interesting having a Dragon dissappear from my site just as I was about to unload an Alpha strike into it's back, only to teleport back in downfield of me. lag lag lag... hope they fix this soon.
  

All in all a decent patch I think, but I don't know if you can call it progress.... we are still in beta for all practicle pourposes. I'm thinking PGI might have to spend some more money on coders... seems like that is where they are most weak.

 

Lag spike maybe due to too many people logging and disconnecting and shit so I understand.
Texture missing thing is annoying, yeah.
Cryengine pure program call or something, I HATE THAT! Good job introducing a gigantic bug PGI!

But other than that, new map, new game mode, and saber package! I am happy! New music for those who cares. Sounds nice, but I have turned it off already.

 

Michael or Vergere, could you post this for others to see (and maybe someone can confirm first)

7 Days Premium Time
Redemption Code: HAPPYHOLIDAYS

 

Frozen City has had broken textures as often as not for the past several patches.

And, yeah, Skirmish mode will need some mechanic to prevent a lone pilot from dragging matches out forever... or two matchstick mechs staring at one another for 5 minutes. I doubt they'll create a surrender mechanic.

 

Extremely low time limit would help solve the problem. But where one problem is fixed, several other will arise. Lower time limit will reduce the chance of a come-back or underdog. It also would discourage light mechs and harassers because they rely on longer matches to deal sustained damage. This would lead to an increase in Heavies and Assaults. The future plan to have a weight limit would help remedy that issue though.

 

A Surrender button would be reasonable. In LOL there is such a teamvote option for desperate situations.

 

All I can say is that I would RAGE if I was the last mech left on my team and believed I could win, but everyone on my team voted to surrender... :angry:

 

I hope they implement even tonnage and not weight limits in pugs. It would just lead to longer wait times for big mechs. Let the players play what they want. Matching tonnage is fair.