I have recently updated it (after finding Hawken just to simple) and the game is much improved.
While I am enjoying it, I can't help but think it would be even more fun if I could talk a few NORbies into joining me. So, I'm going to be pitching MWO to everyone in the hopes I can get some renewed interest. This isn't a full blown MMO - we're talking an hour or so of straight up PvP in giant robots!
There are other venues in the game now, Faction Play, which I have been unable to delve into just yet. They look promising, but that seems more for long term committed players? I'm not sure. I've just been doing Quickplay - which is a quick match, 12 v 12 players. I don't think I have ever waited longer than a minute for a match to get underway, each match takes about 10 minutes (they are timed, so they can't go on forever).
My old account had a bunch of stuff on it so it would be impossible for me to see what an actual F2P account would be like, so I opened one to start from the beginning to see what was what.
1. Go to MechWarrior Online and create an account. MWO is also now available on Steam;
2. Download the game;
3. Do the ENTIRE tutorial - not just for the information it imparts, but for the bonus C-Bills you get by doing it. C-Bills are the ingame currency you will use to purchase and configure your Mech. The previous version of the game made accumulating a decent amount of this money as a new player a soul-crushing grind, but there are now several bonuses and awards to get you started.
4. With your new account you 1 day of Premium time, which confers a +50% bonus to C-Bills collected and XP.
5. To start with you will only have Trial Mechs to pilot. This is one of the reasons I wanted to open a "Test Accountt" - between the tutorial and the ten (10) matches I have played on that account, I have accrued about 12,000,000 C-Bills - more than enough to buy my own Mech, depending on what I choose, maybe even more than one.
6. On the topic of #5 above, choose your first Mech purchase carefully! The game mechanics favor selecting a particular Mech and up to three of its "variants" in which you can unlock various capabilities relating to that particular chassis. It's kind of like "leveling" a toon - so you pick a Mech, whichever one that is, and you can spend XP to unlock various efficiencies, or pilot skills, that will improve the performance of the Mech.
2. Download the game;
3. Do the ENTIRE tutorial - not just for the information it imparts, but for the bonus C-Bills you get by doing it. C-Bills are the ingame currency you will use to purchase and configure your Mech. The previous version of the game made accumulating a decent amount of this money as a new player a soul-crushing grind, but there are now several bonuses and awards to get you started.
4. With your new account you 1 day of Premium time, which confers a +50% bonus to C-Bills collected and XP.
5. To start with you will only have Trial Mechs to pilot. This is one of the reasons I wanted to open a "Test Accountt" - between the tutorial and the ten (10) matches I have played on that account, I have accrued about 12,000,000 C-Bills - more than enough to buy my own Mech, depending on what I choose, maybe even more than one.
6. On the topic of #5 above, choose your first Mech purchase carefully! The game mechanics favor selecting a particular Mech and up to three of its "variants" in which you can unlock various capabilities relating to that particular chassis. It's kind of like "leveling" a toon - so you pick a Mech, whichever one that is, and you can spend XP to unlock various efficiencies, or pilot skills, that will improve the performance of the Mech.