So how do you play?

I was curious as to how the users here played their mechs in accordance with how often they play them in one session.

For example: do you play 1 mech repeatedly until you're done playing for the night or do you constantly change mechs after every match?

Personally, i change pretty regularly. maybe 2 matches in 1 mech then i change it up.

Also, does constantly changing mechs affect a person performance since its harder to stay comfortable with things like pitch and twist if you are always changing the variables?

 

I tend to focus on one mech at a time; find it, grind it, move on. Then if it is a competitive match, that is scheduled, I will warm up a little bit with whatever my role for that evening is and then go and drop. Sometimes I will change things up if I am having a shit day in terms of performance results in game and sometimes I will change it up just to add something fun like the Sarah Jenner Day and things like that.

 

I will usually start with the mech I'm grinding atm until the rest of my lance log in. We then see what everyone feels like playing that night and adjust to compliment each other. Or, as Michael says, if I'm having a shit day I change mechs every couple games till I start slaying fools. Some days it's shoot and scoot, some days it's Don Frye, others it's rain down lrm death. Sometimes it's be as annoying as possible in my commando and/or raven.. lol

 

It depends on my mood and on my friends. I might chose a mech because it goes well with my teammates's. Also I might change mechs a lot when I'm not comfortable. When I'm solo and/or everything goes well I might play for hours on a single chassis.
It's been a while I haven't played organized 8v8, but even in this case our squad was kind of random anyway.

I'm not the "find it, grind it, move on" type. Actually it's been a year I'm devoutly using a limited panel of mechs (jenners, centurions and spiders). I test other mechs out of curiosity, but I never play for the grind (if I like it I play and the perks will unlock by themselves, if I don't I sell) and finally always come back to my favorites.

 

I don't run mechs that I don't find aesthetically pleasing. Call it shallowness, or a arbitrary self-flaggelation/nerf, but it is what it is. If I'm playing a game, I am playing a game in style. End of.

I take a zen approach to games wherein I'm mixing intense disciplined training and personal feats of strength/tests of endurance, etc with open-ended free-flowing exercise in order to maintain and relax without losing the edge. It's like practice.

At the end of the day I don't need X damage or Y kills or Z wins in a row in order to justify a build or my position or playstyle. All I need is fun and/or dominance, not always together, and sometimes thats ambiguous to others. This game isn't always about glory. There is other shit at work.

When you consider the social dynamic of it, that's when you apply a sense of etiquette to the whole approach/attitude. I don't let other people influence what I'm dropping in unless I make a choice to let that happen, and usually only for the greater group benefit and not to pacify someone else's personal desire, f that.

Anyways -

I'm usually taking something competitive - aka a 3D since it's my main mech - but I have no problem making uncompetitive builds or puglord builds or superfail builds and doing what I feel like when hit launch. Whenever I feel like it, at any time. If you see me in some stupid looking mech there's a good reason for it - I'm trying not to be burn out which is what happens if you hold the gas pedal down 24/7. At least for me. There are lots of 'killer' types out there who don't care about doing anything but min/max tryharding every single drop. Those players disappoint me greatly. I hold them in low regard.

 

For the time being I stick to Mechs which need to be skilled out (Basic, Elite or Master), but if our group changes the game mode, if we had a few "bad" drops etc, I just hop from Mech to Mech. When I notice a lack of lights in Conquest, I take out a Cicada to fill the role. When we have not enough firepower to hold a cap point, I take out a Heavy or Assault.

But often times it is just "what do I feel like?" and then I pick a Mech according to this, sometimes bouncing back and forth every match or two.

 

Same. That's the reason Hunches and Spiders are two of the last mechs I'm grinding XP on. They just look ugly and I can't do it. I'm having a hard enough time with Dragons.

Personally, I usually grab a mech and grind through until I have at least one variant Elite'd out if I'm playing alone. If I'm just playing through mechs I've already Elite'd for fun, I'll bounce around ever five or six matches unless I'm having a particularly good day in one chassis. I've spent 4 hours straight playing an Elite'd Blackjack when I'm getting 600-700 damage matches.

If with friends, I try to bring in a build that will compliment what they're using. I would love to be in a clan, but, haven't found one yet. However, in the 4 or 8-man team situations with friends, I usually stick to one mech unless we are finding a certain element lacking - Usually a medium to provide support in whatever role is needed, Damage or Scout/Capping.

Ever switch from an Assault or slow heavy to a max-speed (tweaked) light? It's hell. I usually have two or three rounds adjusting my play-style back if I've been crawling all day then jump in a 150kph mech. My mind is still on DPS.

Chatt.

 

I will usually start off with a Founders or Hero mech and earn some c-bills. Once I have enough I'll start playing my regular mechs for fun. If I have something I want to level up then I might play it until I get a few efficiencies unlocked before switching. Exceptions would be if I find a build I want to try out then the stuff above doesn't matter. If I need to buy something I will play nothing but Founders or Hero mechs but I will swap between those.

I can usually stand to play the same mech over 3-10 games at most then I have to pick something else.

 

For solo play I grind 1 chassis at a time and master all variants of a chassis before moving on to the next.

To this date I have not yet sold a mech I have 37 in my mechlab which includes the 4 founders and all the hero mechs as well as the Sarah's Jenner.

I refuse to pay for the champion mechs though.

For group play I use whatever mech is required by my unit at the time.

 

If I'm sitting down and loading up the launcher to get a game fix in... I'll take my Jenner, because to me, it's fun.

If I'm sitting down to blow off some steam... I'll take my Jenner, because of it's speed/damage 'hit and run' aggressive capabilities.

If I'm going to be leveling up a different chassis/variant... I'll take my Jenner, because I love this mech and find it great to get warmed up with.

lol, I know this all too well! As I stated, I always start out with my Jenner, so while I've been working on my Victors, I've been going Light-Assault-Light, as I usually will end my play session with my overall favorite mech as well. (do I need to say Jenner? ) I'm amazed it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I couldn't stand the adjustment from the JR7 to an Atlas. But the Victor has a different "feel" to it, and I find the transition do-able.

To be honest, I practically lived in my JR7-F in Closed Beta. It was the second 'Mech that I Mastered. Ran it exclusively. Since Open Beta, I've diversified into the other weight classes and am working on developing some skills across some different roles other than the Scout/Harasser I have been for the past year. The 'Mechs are Mastered, so I'm not running them to grind anymore. I run them to keep the "dust" off of them. And I'm trying to force myself to run them for more than a few matches. It takes a few matches to remember all the 'Mech's nuances, and play it more efficiently, so a mere half hour doesn't cut actually learning something.

But at the end of the day, I'm back in my Jenner, listening to MechWarrior 2's "In-Game 1", MechWarrior 4's "Hunter" or other songs of my compilation of MechWarrior soundtracks. But those two are perfect for Caustic Valley with a 150 kph 'Mech!

EDIT: Well darnit! Now that I've sat here and listened to the dang soundtracks, I've got to play. So much for trying to NOT play for a week. I....Just....Can't.....Do it! LMAO (the assimilation begins......)

 

I play one mech till its mastered, then move on.

 

I think Morg likes Jenners. (I'd vote for the JR7-F as the best mech in the game personally)

 

I don't PUG much, I nearly always have some people to play with from our Mumble Community;



Been hooking up on some TS3 servers aswell, just to switch it up and get some other playstyles and peoples viewpoints.

Anyhow, how do I play?

If in a PUG, I tend to play mech builds (irrelevant which chassi) that can deal with most situations. Anything with 80+ speed basically. Preferably something I have yet to master but many times I'll just go for the CB flow and war with my founder mechs or my Ilya Muromet.

If in a premade, I run the same mech for a few rounds (it does take a while to get the right mindset in, 5-10 rounds). The choice of mech and loadout is made to fit with the lance, at least somewhat. Either so we can work together with similar speeds or complement with light - heavy combos etc.

I rarely just go online in a random mech.

 

I usually have 4 mechs fully equipped in the quick slot. I rotate between them.
Usually there is :
a hero there for some cbills
a mech with build I am testing on
a mech I am leveling
another mech I like to play with at the time.

There is usually a light, and some medium-heavy. The other two depends on mood.

Currently it is jenner, YLW, Quickdraw("Barbie the Zombie" build testing) and a BJ-3 (Leveling)

I usually PUG, when I die I can quit game and quickly drop with another mech.

 

Today, I played like crap. That's how I played! Dropped with Vergere for about 3 hours. Had some decent rounds but switched mechs about every 3-4 matches. Never settled into a play-style and it showed! :blush: However, after a break, I came back into my Treb (my current mech I'm running for XP) and tore it up... Moral of the story, I need to stick to one play-style mech.

 

@Cpt Chattahah, I was looking for you the rest of that game after you called out. Seemed like bad odds with most of your team there.


Rather strange, the game before I met Scromboid. Allstars night?