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Shkspr · 04-21-2018, 04:30 PM

I've had a blast following the different YouTube streams of the people who got prerelease copies of Battletech, but the thing that struck me is how bad people seemed to be at it. People not building evasion on their 'Mechs, being obsessed with height advantage (which confers no more than a 5% bonus to hit), ignoring jump jets (which I attribute to disabling your players jets during the first scripted mission) and heat buildup, passing up chances to strip evasion from enemies because the to-hit chance is too low, and so on. Of the streams I watched, there was one guy who had significant experience in the BT universe, and he was, not surprisingly, the only guy who didn't do his damnedest to get the starting light 'Mech pilot killed.

So I'm excited, because people aren't going to be bringing as much TBS hex knowledge as they think to the initial game, but I'm dismayed, because much of the commentary seems to indicate that this learning curve may frustrate MWO owners, who think that just porting over their shooter builds is going to guarantee them a cakewalk, and are likely to turn on the game when it turns out that isn't the case. I'm already seeing lots of ignorant comments that it's a game for 5 year olds, which seems silly since most everybody has been playing missions with 0.5 difficulty out of 5.

The game is gorgeous, boasts huge depth, and appears to go all-in on the lore, to the point that I pulled out my old 3025 Technical Readout to follow along on the playthroughs. The only thing I've seen that concerns me is watching a lance of Locusts take down an Atlas 'Mech in the skirmish mode in about 10 rounds (followed, of course, by the same guy in an Atlas taking down a lance of Locusts in half the time).

Bonus silliness: it's fun to watch each of the streamers go through character creation only for them to wind up with characters that are 80% similar: Everyone hails from the "rare" background of the Deep Periphery, has a huge unkempt beard, ends up with Gunnery skill, and eventually recolors their 'Mech lance to be in red and silver. Even in cases where the streamer chooses another option, there's a moment on screen when their mouse hovers over the option. You can see the indecision in the mouse movement. Hilarious.

Anyway, I'm probably going to be addicted to this for at least two or three days before I'm distracted by shiny objects and/or work. Fun!

04-21-2018, 04:30 PM	#38
Shkspr College Benchwarmer Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Amarillo, TX	I've had a blast following the different YouTube streams of the people who got prerelease copies of Battletech, but the thing that struck me is how bad people seemed to be at it. People not building evasion on their 'Mechs, being obsessed with height advantage (which confers no more than a 5% bonus to hit), ignoring jump jets (which I attribute to disabling your players jets during the first scripted mission) and heat buildup, passing up chances to strip evasion from enemies because the to-hit chance is too low, and so on. Of the streams I watched, there was one guy who had significant experience in the BT universe, and he was, not surprisingly, the only guy who didn't do his damnedest to get the starting light 'Mech pilot killed. So I'm excited, because people aren't going to be bringing as much TBS hex knowledge as they think to the initial game, but I'm dismayed, because much of the commentary seems to indicate that this learning curve may frustrate MWO owners, who think that just porting over their shooter builds is going to guarantee them a cakewalk, and are likely to turn on the game when it turns out that isn't the case. I'm already seeing lots of ignorant comments that it's a game for 5 year olds, which seems silly since most everybody has been playing missions with 0.5 difficulty out of 5. The game is gorgeous, boasts huge depth, and appears to go all-in on the lore, to the point that I pulled out my old 3025 Technical Readout to follow along on the playthroughs. The only thing I've seen that concerns me is watching a lance of Locusts take down an Atlas 'Mech in the skirmish mode in about 10 rounds (followed, of course, by the same guy in an Atlas taking down a lance of Locusts in half the time). Bonus silliness: it's fun to watch each of the streamers go through character creation only for them to wind up with characters that are 80% similar: Everyone hails from the "rare" background of the Deep Periphery, has a huge unkempt beard, ends up with Gunnery skill, and eventually recolors their 'Mech lance to be in red and silver. Even in cases where the streamer chooses another option, there's a moment on screen when their mouse hovers over the option. You can see the indecision in the mouse movement. Hilarious. Anyway, I'm probably going to be addicted to this for at least two or three days before I'm distracted by shiny objects and/or work. Fun!