The June stuff didn't really change, but July... Spoiler This time I have decided to include both June and July in the road map and to update this post when things change or items get added to the list. Here is what we have in store for you in the months of June and July. --- June 2nd New Mechlab - The all new mechlab featuring both column and expanded view styles, also comes with a fix for the long standing Invalid bug. There are still many areas we want to improve including speeding up mech saving time, but this is an amazing start. New 4th variants for Resistance 1: GHR-5P, PNT-10P, ENF-4P, ZEU-5S - These are only available for early adopter qualifiers. Sometime soon the variants will make their want to the Gift store and spend some time there before becoming available for MC and Cbills. Reduced volley delay for all Clan AutoCannon/Clan Ultra Autocannons - details in the patch notes. We will continue to consider further changes to Clan AC's. June 16th Delivery of the first two Clan Wave 3 'Mechs the Executioner & Ebon Jaguar - It is my current understanding that these will come with fully functioning Faction skins rather than waiting for the final Wave 3 delivery date, look for further updates. MASC - This patch introduces a new piece of equipment on the Executioner and it will function as described in the most recent town hall with fine tuning of variables still underway. CW Map changes: improvements to combat both spawn camping and light rushes. What we did was make sure each map had a dedicated Defender spawn area away from the map's objectives. In order to spawn camp attackers would need to specifically ignore map objectives and push into this new area. All drop ships will now hover over the drop area 4 times longer than they use to providing cover to the 'mechs they drop off. Also all drop ships now carry the same 12 ERLL load out and have weapon quirks to shorten cooldown and laser duration. Oh and they will aim for the Center Torso only. We have also placed a new protective shell on the O-Gen objects that have one opening that shows the exposed generator within, this exposed opening is positioned pointing into an open area exposed to the turrets and likely defender positions. The idea is that attacking units which are properly winning the engagement and push themselves into the enemies base may find the O-gens not much harder to destroy then they are currently. But large forces of fast moving light mechs will not be able to circle strafe and shoot the O-Gen from all angles at high speed while avoiding enemy fire. They will be forced to only be able to damage the O-Gen from reduced angles in exposes areas making it much more difficult to ignore enemy mech's. July 7th River City overhaul – this has involved both art and code and is a significant piece of work. Slipped one additional patch, but was worth it to set a new bar for maps to follow. Removed legging stun lock - a mech will still drop to 15 kph when legged but will no longer continue to drop down as it takes damage, it will climb to its new top speed and remain there. Two new hero mechs - Thunderbolt and Wolverine Mechlab retrofits - Retrofits are complete for the Awesome, Commando, Dragon and Cicada - also the Centurion gets some minor changes to the look of its main right arm weapon. Mechlab expanded view for 720p - The Mechlab will now function for 720p resolutions. The Warehouse will roll out from the right hand side which unlocks those resolutions. July 21st Arctic Cheetah, Shadowcat and all remaining Wave III content Spectator tool improvements · Spectators can now join via the lobby of a private match, without being granted special access by PGI (aka Tina) · Two spectators allowed in total · Improved input and control support · Complete overhaul of the in-game UI for broadcasters · Will be able to select ‘Mechs with the cursor · Improved info/details for the ‘Mech in 3rd person mode · Mini-map support for broadcasters This we hope unlocks a start to a lot more tournaments and e-sports mentality for MWO. UPDATE: currently the spectator update is considered a risk item for July 21st. Every effort will be made to keep this release date but it is possible it won't be ready in time for this patch. If a change is made I will update this post. Regional Servers - We are targeting servers for both Europe and the Oceanic region. There have been some delays outside of our control which puts our new target for the European server at July 21st. Every effort will be made to have the Oceanic server launch on the same date but it may need to follow by a patch or two - more details as we have them. We expect these regional servers to open up playing to a significant amount of players that had pings over 200 who chose not to play, we greatly look forward to welcoming them back. August 4th New Mech Select Screen - we are targeting this patch for a new Mech Select screen that incorporates all player feedback and we feel will be another big upgrade to the front end experience in MWO. Thanks for playing and your support. Cliff Notes version: July 7 -WVR and TDR hero mechs -River City redone -Destroyable trees and light posts -Legging "stun lock" removed (where you can be kept at 15KPH as long as you're being hit) -Mechlab changes -Changes to Awesome, Dragon, Commando, and Cicada (physical) July 21 -Arctic Cheetah and Shadow Cat release for preorders -POSSIBLE Spectator Mode unlocked for Private Matches -Regional servers for Europe and Oceanic. Oceanic may come later August 4 -New Mech Select screen, which should hopefully be far superior.
wolv and tbolt heroes, called it 2 weeks ago rcity, cool i guess stunlock out VERI GUD cheeto, might order it, prolly not. but wtf........ regional servers is the big, will see how the schism goes.
All good stuff imo. Thunderbolt/Wolverine heros, FINALLY. Hopefully there is something interesting worth picking up. River City, looks amazing so far. Stunlock, I've been asking for this for EVER. Glad it's finally happening. Mechlab changes. Says the Warehouse window will develop from the right side, hopefully this means the modules tab doesn't keep bouncing left and right, can only hope.... Also hope they fixed a few of the bugs like switching mechs on the module tab not actually keeping your mech in the module tab. Spectator mode for private lobbies is going to be fkn AMAZING. So many easy opportunities.
+1 to everything Solahma said. Any ideas about those two hero mechs? For the Wolverine I could imagine they'll do the 3050 time line variant 7M as it would add a very mobile medium mech to the IS arsenal with WVR-style, but still distinctive hardpoints (2x ERLLas -RA, 2x MPLas - RT+H, 1x SRM6 - LT, 5 jump jets, 12 DHS, MASC). Didn't found anything worth mentioning about the Thunderbolts, so maybe they'll make that on up?
The TDR hero could go with the Tallman, but that's another energy boat...won't bring anything unique. Otherwise...who knows?
9x energy vomit. I guess you can put SPL in them, oh well. 5Sb seem like another choise. Still boring. Is going to see how the server change is doing. I hope it is not forced. I hate to be forced into playing Oceanic server eventually, don't agree with the asian playstyle, and the playtime.
Russ said on Twitter a month or so back that there would be options to play on a specific server, or all servers. We'll see how it goes
very curious how much of a E-Sports Mentality Boost this will bring.. Also a new Mech Select Screen - what were the general player feedback on this again?
Probably still play on euro/american server. I hate dealing with asia players ... too different a playstyle an d mentality.
The sneak peek we got looks VERY good. Can select from a huge list with pictures like we used to, and it looks like the camo/colors we put on mechs should show in the select screen. Also, I think you can spin your mech around in the main screen now...but not sure. Could've misread that. But overall, see below for some glances. Previews:
It honestly looks much faster than what we have now? You don't have to find the mech, then save it, only to open it, add modules, save again, etc. Where does it look slower in those?
I rename mech so i now if they have modules But you are right, and maybe it turns out to be faster. Definitely looks better though.
Selecting mechs was never the problem for me in the old system... saving them now.... bloody slow when you got to large numbers. I really miss seeing how many mechs i have and how many free bays on the front page.
Well, you see your remaining mechba count in the shopping page, which is the only time free mechbay number matters anyways. But yeah I know the pain of saving mechs, as I do have a little more than a few mechs in my garage.
I'm curious about how asian MechWarrior players play. Do they act like crazy nukem Liaos would pilot their mechs? lol
Data from various online games. Of the common ones with a bigger population: They group and work within their own culture usually when it comes to korean and china chinese, with many of their own unspoken norms. They can be a bitch to play with, think brazil players times ten. Rarely help out if it is not of their interest, and kill steals like a mofo if it matters in games. Basically, takes things seriously to win for their own gain, rather than having fun. Also, language problem is the norm. Taiwanese (St Ive, right?) and HK are quite friendly towards outsiders though. HK players are generally fine with english. Japanese (kuritas!) are reasonably polite on the outside at least (they do have tons of rituals on their own, but rarely apply it to outsiders in a western game). If you buy into their style and the way they do things (sending a hello/o7 first, and then simple plan suggestion, etc), japanese players would work well in groups. Russians varies. But you guys know the deal already. Other places are less common, but generally ok friendly. Had some good times with some malay/singapore players before. No problem with english here as far as I have met. Aussie players are actually cute wombats in disguise.
