Patch Notes - 1.4.120 - 20-JUN-2017

by Alexander Garden in [ Patch Notes ] on, Jun 17, 2017 2:00 AM UTC 453  comments


Upcoming Patch - Tuesday, June 20th @ 10AM – 1PM PDT
Patch Number: 1.4.120
Standalone Client Patch Size: ~1 GB
Steam Client Patch Size: ~3 GB
Please note that due to compression differences the Steam patch size may be larger than the standalone client patch size. 

Quick Links
• Rules & Structure
• 'Mech Restrictions
• Ranking Systems
• Creating a Team
• Launch Panel
• Home Screen
• Team Roster
• Forming a Group
• Map Banning
• Pre/Post Match Screens
• Leaderboards
• Chat Channels
• Equipment and Weapon Changes
• Quirks
• Map Changes

Greetings MechWarriors,

The latest wave of Inner Sphere Resistance Hero 'Mechs have arrived, and are now en-route to MechBays of eligible MechWarriors. With the arrival of these Heroes all Inner Sphere chassis currently in-game now have at least one Hero variant.

This patch sees the release of our all-new 8v8 Competitive Mode! Featuring Competitive Leaderboards, Team Registration and Management features, Map banning, detailed statistics and standings, and more, this all-new Competitive Play area will enable players to form Teams for ranked combat in competitive Conquest matches. The release of this new Competitive Mode also marks the beginning of the Qualifying Phase of the 2017 MechWarrior Online World Championships.
Check out the Competitive Mode section of these Notes for all the details!

The recently-released Incursion Game Mode has been refitted and introduced for Faction Play in this patch. This patch also sees the introduction of weighted randomness to the Tug of War bar; a specific Game Mode may still be weighted to a distinct phase of the Tug of War, but matches will now have a random chance of running any of the other eligible Game Modes.

On the gameplay and balance side, this patch brings with it a significant Energy weapon balance pass, along with minor adjustments to AMS and LRM 5 weaponry. The focus of this Energy pass is twofold: provide better role definition between the different Energy weapon types, and most importantly, foster a better baseline balance between Inner Sphere and Clan Energy weapons. A complete rundown of these changes can be found in the Gameplay section of these Patch notes.

93 new Decals and 25 new Supply Caches are arriving in this patch. This batch of Decals includes the five remaining timeline-appropriate Clan Decals, an assortment of new Shapes, and a large collection of new Word Decals. These new Words can be easily combined to form distinct combinations like Clan Death Dealer, SRM Boom Stick, Frontline Breaker, etc.

As of this patch, Premium Time is no longer required for accessing any aspect of the Private Lobby feature! Tonnage rules, Match Time, Time of Day, View Mode, and Full Team settings are now available to all.

Rounding out the patch we have optimizations to the sound caching system and in-game Turrets, the addition of a central path for both Teams on HPG Manifold, the ability to re-assign Group Leadership, and a small number of other additions and fixes.

Read on for all the details of the June patch, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

- The MechWarrior Team



Welcome to the Competitive Play feature, MechWarriors!

Intended for players and Teams operating the highest levels of skill and organization, the Competitive Play feature is a Season-based, Elo-ranked competitive mode pitting organized Teams against each other in fierce 8v8 Conquest Mode engagements.
To join or form a Competitive Team you must have earned the Cadet Bonus 25 Achievement (complete 25 public matches).

Join the fight if you're up for the challenge, but participation should not be taken lightly!


Competitive Play and the MechWarrior Online World Championships

With the release of the Competitive Play feature in today's patch we have officially entered the Qualifying Phase of the 2017 MechWarrior Online World Championships.

The participation of the MechWarrior Online competitive community in the Competitive Play feature from now until August 25th 2017 at 6:59 AM UTC will be used to determine seeding for the MechWarrior Online World Championship Semi-Finals.
At that time, the top 12 eligible Teams from the global Competitive Play Leaderboards  - according to their Team Score Ranking (TSR) - will transition to the dedicated MechWarrior Online Tournament Build to begin the Semi-Final phase of the 2017 MechWarrior Online World Championships. That Semi-Final phase is currently planned to begin on a to-be-announced date in September.
With the use of the new global Competitive Leaderboards for seeding into the Semi-Finals, the finalist Teams are no longer distributed per-Region. In other words, the top 12 Teams will be the top-ranked Competitive MechWarrior Online Teams overall, regardless of Region.

Upon the conclusion of the Semi-Final Phase three Competitive Teams will rise to the top as Finalists. Those three Finalists will then meet in-person at Mech_Con 2017 in Vancouver, BC to determine who among them deserves the title of MechWarrior Online World Champions.

The Competitive Play feature in the main MWO client will enter a 'post-season' phase once the Semi-Finals begin on the dedicated Tournament Build, and will remain available for Teams to run matches as usual under the Competitive structure. However, your Team performance during this post-season phase will not contribute toward any seeding status for the 2018 Competitive Season set to begin next year. When the 2018 season begins all Leaderboard rankings and Team statistics will be reset.

Further details regarding Mech_Con 2017 and the MechWarrior Online World Championships will be provided in the coming months!



All Competitive Play matches currently operate under the following structure:

 8 vs. 8
 2/2/2/2 Weight Class distribution required for each Team (each Team must have 2 of each Weight Class).
 No additional Tonnage requirements or restrictions are in place.
 Matches are Conquest Mode only.

Other important rules and structure notes for Competitive Play:

 Team Rosters are limited to a maximum of 12 members.
 To participate in Competitive Play, Teams must be comprised of at least 8 members.
 Teams must have at least 7 Primary Members (aside from the Captain), and can have no more than 4 Alternate Members. The Captain counts as a Primary.
 Teams within the Competitive Launch Queue are automatically matched as best as possible according to their Team Elo.
• The Map used for the match is determined through a Map Banning system outlined in the Map Banning section of these notes.
• The Regional server used for the match is determined according to a system outlined in the 'Creating a Competitive Team > Choosing a Region' section of these notes.
• Teams are ranked on the global Competitive Leaderboard by an uncapped Team Score Ranking, outlined in the Competitive Ranking System of these notes.



In order to be eligible for use in Competitive Play matches a 'Mech must be available for purchase in-game with C-Bills.

 Hero 'Mechs, Champion 'Mechs (and Trials), and other Special variants are not eligible for use in Competitive Play.
 Standard 'Mechs that have not yet been released for direct purchase with C-Bills in-game are not eligible for use in Competitive Play.
 OmniMechs that are using an OmniPod from a variant not available for purchase with C-Bills are not eligible for use in Competitive Play.




Competitive Teams are ranked using two skill-tracking systems: Elo and TSR (Team Score Ranking).

Elo

Solely used for matching Competitive Teams against each other within the Competitive Queue, Elo is an established rating system for calculating relative skill levels between players in competitive engagements. The base starting Elo for all Teams is 1500, which increases or decreases according to the performance of your Team in Competitive engagements. Your Team Elo rating is a capped metric, and can be no higher than 2750.
Teams within the Launch Queue are matched according to their Elo, with the matchmaking system attempting to provide the best possible Elo matchups between Teams within the Queue.

TSR

Used for determining the placement of your Team in the global Competitive Play Leaderboards. TSR operates on the same principles and formulas as Elo, and begins at the same base starting value as Elo (1500). Unlike Elo however, your Team TSR is not capped; it can continue to increase beyond 2750 for Teams capable of breaking that threshold.

When the Qualifying Phase comes to an end, the top 12 Competitive Teams according to TSR will proceed to the Semi-Finals.



To create a Competitive Team you must have already completed at least 25 public matches of MechWarrior Online across any combination of public Game Modes.

Choosing a Team Name and Team Tag

Character restrictions

Team Names must adhere to the following conditions:

• Must be between 5 to 24 characters in length.
• Can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), spaces, and underscores.
• Must adhere to the Code of Conduct, including any pertinent rules and user agreements.

Team Tags must adhere to the following conditions:

• Must be between 2 to 4 characters in length.
• Can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), spaces, and underscores.
• Must adhere to the Code of Conduct, including any pertinent rules and user agreements.

Word Filter

An offensive word filter is in place for Team Names and Tags. You will not be able to register a Team if either field contains filtered terms.
Please Note: Team Names which pass the filter are still subject to moderation if they are deemed offensive by Support services or are otherwise deemed to violate the Code of Conduct. We strongly recommend you err on the side of sensibility and decency when creating your Competitive Team Name and Tag, as violating the Code of Conduct, Tournament Rules, Terms of Use, or Privacy Policy could make your Team subject to disqualification.

Existing Unit Filter

To prevent the creation of Competitive Teams using the established monikers of existing Units or Competitive Teams with which the player has no association, Competitive Team Names and Tags will be checked against all existing Units in MechWarrior Online.
If you are not a current member of the Unit which holds the Name or Tag you are trying to register your Team with you will not be able to register your Team.
You do not need to be the Unit Leader to register a Competitive Team using the same Name or Tag; you need only be a current member of that Unit. Please coordinate with your respective Unit Leader and other Unit Members to determine if any specific member of your Team is intended to act as the creator or Leader of your associated Competitive Team. If necessary, Team Leadership can be surrendered to another Member once the Team has been created by using the Edit Roster interface.


Competitive Team Registration window

Choosing a Region

This determines which of the three Server Regions your Team prefers to play on.

When matched against a Team with a different Server of preference, the Server used for your match will be automatically chosen based on the Team with the fewest number of matches played on their preferred server. This is done to ensure consideration is taken for balancing opposing Teams around the potential impact of regional latency on their competitive performance.

For example: A European team is matched against a North American team. The European team has run fewer Competitive Matches on their preferred European Server than the opposing Team has on their preferred North American Server. As a result, the European Server would be chosen for that match.

Your preferred Server Region can be changed at any time up until August 1st 2017 at 6:59 AM UTC. At that time all Team Roster and Region selections will be locked in, and will not be eligible for any further changes. Make sure your Team Roster and Server Region are finalized and set correctly prior to that date!

User Agreement

By submitting a Team for registration you must agree to adhere to the Code of Conduct, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service. You must further understand and agree that your participation in the Competitive Feature - along with the participation of your Team as a whole - is subject to your adherence to those agreements, and that all rules and infractions are subject to final judgement at the discretion of Piranha Games.



The Competitive Play launch panel is persistently available on both the Competitive Play Home screen and the Team Roster screens. Through this panel you can launch your valid Competitive Group into the Competitive Queue, track the number of other Teams currently in the Competitive Queue, view the Next Match Window timer, view the current local and UTC time, and view the current status of Team Roster and Region Editing.


Competitive Play Launch Panel

Next Match Timer

Competitive Matches are kicked off at regular, 3 minute intervals. At the end of each countdown the matchmaking system will review all Teams in Queue and assign matches ideally and accordingly based on Elo. In the above screenshot, a Competitive Group has satisfied all Launch Conditions and are ready to Launch into the Competitive Queue.

Launch Conditions

Before Launching into the Competitive Queue you must satisfy the following conditions:

• You must have a valid Group of 8.
• Your Group composition must adhere to the 2/2/2/2 Weight Class rule structure.
• All Group members must be Ready.

An alert message is presented within the Launch Panel to specify why your Team or Group is not currently eligible for Launch due to a conflict with one of the above Launch Conditions.
Once the above conditions are satisfied you will be able to initiate Launch. After Launching into the Queue you and your Team will be presented with the Launch countdown. When the countdown reaches 0 the matchmaker will perform the respective Team matchups, and you will proceed to the match phase if successfully matched against another Team.

If you are the 'odd Team out' and are not matched against another Team for this Launch window, you will be placed into a priority status for the next Launch window.


In queue, waiting for matches to kick off



The Competitive Play Home screen is your window into recent competitive match results and a list of 'active' Competitive Teams.


Competitive Play Home Screen

Active Teams

Any Competitive Team with at least one member viewing the Competitive Play area will be listed in the 'Active Teams' area of the Home screen.
No indication is provided as to which Teams are running a full, eligible Group, nor is any indication provided as to which Teams are currently in the Launch Queue. This is done to help reduce the avoidance of launching into the Competitive Queue queue due to the presence of specific Teams another Team may wish to avoid competing against.

Recent Matches

The 'Recent Matches' section of the Competitive Play Home screen provides a summary list of all recent Competitive Matches. Clicking on a specific match within the list will take you to a detailed view for the match in question:


Competitive Play Match Results

Viewing Competitive Team Details

Details for a specific Team can be viewed by clicking on their name within the 'Active Teams' list. This will enable you to get a sense of the lifetime performance of this Team and its members through the current Competitive season.


Team Details window




The Team Roster screen for a brand new Competitive Team with no additional Members.

Editing your Roster
Once you've created a Team, it's time to start inviting your friends as prospective teammates. To do so, click the Edit Roster button to access the Edit Roster menu.


Editing the Roster of a brand new Competitive Team

From here, the Team Captain can perform the following Team management actions:

Invite a player from your Friends list
• This will bring up the standard Social tab, through which you can send Team Invites.

Assign Primary or Alternate roles
• All Teams must have at least 7 Primary Role members, and can have no more than 4 Alternate Role members. The Captain is always considered a Primary.

Transfer leadership to another Member
• If you wish to assign the Captain role to another member of your Team, you can do so by adjusting the Roles. This will transfer all Captain/leadership privileges over to that Team member.

Toggle Launch privileges
• This will allow you to determine which of your Team Members have permission to form a Competitive Play Group of 8 and Launch into Competitive Play matches.
• We generally recommend that you enable Launch permissions for all members of your Team, to ensure that your members are never in a position where they can't participate in Competitive Play when at least 8 members of the Team are online and ready to go. This feature is primarily provided for Captains who wish to control when and under what Group composition their Team participates in Competitive Play matches.

Change your Preferred Region
• This will set your Preferred Server Region. For more information on what this means for your Team, read the "Choosing a Region" entry in the Creating A Team section above.

Leave the Team/Remove a Team Member
• This will remove you from the Team. If you are the Team Captain, you can also choose to Remove any Member of the Team.

Disband the Team
• As the Team Captain you have the ability to disband your Competitive Team altogether. Before your Team can be disbanded however, all other Members must first be removed.


An example of a fully formed Competitive Team.

Accepting a Team Invite

Any invite you receive to a Competitive Team will be present within the standard Alerts tab of your Social window. Prior to accepting a Team Invite you will be able to view the Player who invited you and the Competitive Team they are associated with. If you wish to hold off on accepting the Invite you can select the Postpone option. If you wish to reject the invite altogether, you can do so by clicking the invite and selecting the associated option in your Alert tab.
You can only be on one Competitive Team at a time.


The Team Invite window



To form a Competitive Group, click the 'Create Group' button from the Team Roster screen.
Checking seven other Team Members before creating the Group will automatically send Group invites to those players. Alternatively, sending Group invites when a Group has already been formed is as easy as ticking the box for each player you wish to invite. In other words, you are not required to navigate the Social screen and issue manual Group invites when forming a Competitive Group.


Inviting Team Members into an already-formed Competitive Group


A full Competitive Group, ready to launch

While the creation and management of Competitive Groups can be done entirely within the Competitive Play screen, Competitive Groups also utilize the existing Group interface. Viewing that interface from your Social window will provide you with the essential information required for Comp Play when looking to join the Competitive Queue.
Groups can easily switch from a Comp Play Group Type to another Group Type without needing to reform.
A new feature for the existing group window is the ability to easily re-assign Group Leadership by dragging the 'crown' icon to the desired Leader. This new functionality is present for all Group Types, not just Competitive Groups.


A Competitive Group when viewed from the existing Social > Group window




The map on which the Competitive Match will take place is determined from the results of a Map Banning process.
At this stage, Group Leaders for each Team will take turns 'banning' one of the five maps for the match. The last map remaining after the banning process will then be used. The method for determining which Team votes first is random.


Map Banning Screen



Once the match has launched and the Map Banning phase is complete, the two competing Teams will be taken to the pre-drop screen shown below.
Lance distributions, Weight Class designations, Tonnage values, and 'Mech designations for the opposing Team are not visible to your Team. Pilots on the opposing Team are always sorted alphabetically.


The pre-drop screen


Matchup screen

When a match is concluded and you return to the frontend, you will automatically be shown the Match Results screen for the match in which you just participated.


Match Results



The Competitive Play feature has its own distinct Leaderboards for Competitive Teams. The placement of your Team within the Competitive Play Leaderboard is determined by your Team Score Ranking (TSR).
At least 10 Competitive Play matches are required before your Team will appear on the Leaderboards.
In addition to the TSR, the following traits are also tracked within the Competitive Play Leaderboard:

• Region
• Total Wins
• Total Losses
• W/L Ratio

Competitive Play Leaderboards run under a season-based system; 2017 Season, 2017 Post-Season, 2018 Season, and so on. When the Qualifying Phase for the 2017 Season comes to an end, the top 12 Competitive Teams according to TSR will proceed to the Semi-Finals.



Two new Chat Channels are now available for use by Competitive Teams.

The Team Chat Channel only contains rostered Members of your Team.

The Comp Chat Channel is a global channel in which all Competitive Players can participate.

Please Note: All Code of Conduct conditions apply here, as they do in all other Chat Channels! The continued participation of your Team in the Competitive feature is contingent upon your adherence to the Code of Conduct. We will not hesitate to disqualify Teams who are not capable of adhering to a common standard of sportsmanship and respect.



As a part of our comprehensive review of baseline balance between Inner Sphere and Clan systems, Energy weapons have been under heavy scrutiny. Over a period of months we have closely monitored overall usage and performance statistics for all Energy weapons and how they perform compared to the rest of the available weapon types. 
This overview has highlighted not only the core imbalance between Clan/IS tech, but imbalances present within the lineup of Laser weapons as a whole, with seemingly minor parameter differences resulting in unequivocally superior options.

As a result, we have made comprehensive adjustments to the Energy weapon lineup, focusing on two primary goals:

• Better distinction between roles within the Energy weapon lineup
• Better baseline balance between Inner Sphere and Clan Energy tech

Regarding the question of roles, we've taken a comprehensive look at Laser weaponry and have made a number of adjustments to further define their best-use cases. At a top-down level, we are designing the weapons around the following parameters:
 
Standard Lasers
• Well-rounded across Damage per Second (DPS), Range, and Duration, but will be outclassed in these parameters by more specialized weapons.
• The most Heat-efficient Lasers with sustained fire, with the lowest Heat per Second (HPS) stat across the entire Laser lineup

ER Lasers
• Best Range of all Lasers, but at the cost of Heat and overall DPS. 
• Provides the most efficient platform for trading shots at Range, but at the expense of overall DPS.

Pulse Lasers
• Trades overall Range for higher DPS and shorter Duration, providing highly-focused burst DPS over multiple shots. 
• Possess the most favorable Cooldown, Duration, and Damage per Heat (DPH) ratio out of all of the Lasers, but runs at the highest HPS with sustained fire.

When it comes to the Clans, we feel it's important to maintain the power they are known for and to honor the lethal heritage by which they are defined. However, retaining this power advantage needs to come at some cost for the sake of balance. While the changes in this patch will maintain Clan Range values, and will not excessively hit their Damage values, the overall performance between the two technology bases has still been narrowed.

We still aim for Clan weaponry to maintain an edge over their Inner Sphere counterparts when Clan players are fully utilizing their superior Range, Damage, and DPS in tandem with effective positioning. However, when fighting within the effective Range of Inner Sphere weaponry, 'trading' between opposing 'Mechs will be on more even ground, with Inner Sphere 'Mechs potentially coming out on top due to inherently better Heat efficiency.

Given the scope of these changes, we've provided before and after comparison tables to convey the practical impacts these changes will have.



Small Lasers

Design Notes: Out of all the weapons monitored over the past few months, Small Pulse Lasers have proved to be the biggest outlier on both the Clan and Inner Sphere side. While we want this weapon to focus on high DPS for its tonnage, its previous tuning led it to massively over-perform against other Small Laser and Medium Laser builds. This was due to a combination of its upfront damage, short duration, superior DPS, and its sustained Heat efficiency.

We have therefore tuned the Damage and Cooldown properties of the IS Small Pulse Laser to keep a similar profile of sustained Damage potential, but with a a DPS more reliant on multiple follow-up strikes. This leaves the realm of higher single burst Damage to multiple Small, ER Small, and Medium lasers. Additionally, Small and ER Small Lasers have been tuned to bring them closer in line with the rest of the available options.

IS Small Laser • Heat reduced to 1.7 (From 2)

IS Small Pulse Laser

• Damage reduced to 3.5 (From 4) • Cooldown duration reduced to 2 (From 2.25)

Clan ER Small Laser

• Cooldown duration increased to 2.75 (From 2.25) • Duration increased to 1.1 (From 1)

Clan Small Pulse Laser

• Damage reduced to 4 (From 6) • Heat reduced to 2.7 (From 3) • Cooldown duration reduced to 2 (From 2.25) • Duration reduced to 0.6 (From 0.75)


Prev. Dmg Per Second New DPS Prev. Dmg Per Heat New DPH Prev. DPS per Ton New DPS/T Prev. Heat Per Second New HPS
Small Laser 1.00 1.00 1.50 1.76 2.00 2.00 0.67 0.57
Clan ER Small Laser 1.54 1.22 1.67 1.67 3.08 2.44 0.92 0.73
Small Pulse Laser 1.45 1.40 2.00 1.75 1.45 1.40 0.73 0.80
Clan Small Pulse Laser 2.00 1.54 2.00 1.48 2.00 1.54 1.00 1.04

Medium Lasers

Design Notes: The Medium Laser line of weaponry sees changes mostly focused toward refining balance between Clan and Inner Sphere tech. IS Medium Laser heat has been brought down to provide them with more sustained power, while Clans have seen various adjustments to bring them into better overall alignment with their IS counterparts. These changes to Clan Mediums additionally help to improve the overall between the Clan ER Medium and Medium Pulse Lasers.

IS Medium Laser

• Heat reduced to 3.4 (From 4)

IS Medium Pulse Laser

• Cooldown duration reduced to 2.8 (From 3) • Heat reduced to 3.8 (From 4)

Clan ER Medium Laser

• Cooldown duration increased to 3.5 (From 3) • Duration increased to 1.25 (from 1.15)

Clan Medium Pulse Laser

• Damage reduced to 7.5 (From 8) • Heat reduced to 5 (From 6) • Duration increased to 0.9 (from 0.85)

  Prev. Dmg Per Second New DPS Prev. Dmg Per Heat New DPH Prev. DPS per Ton New DPS/T Prev. Heat Per Second New HPS
Medium Laser 1.28 1.28 1.25 1.47 1.28 1.28 1.03 0.87
Clan ER Medium Laser 1.69 1.40 1.17 1.17 1.69 1.40 1.45 1.20
Medium Pulse Laser 1.67 1.76 1.50 1.58 0.83 0.88 1.11 1.12
Clan Medium Pulse Laser 2.08 1.79 1.33 1.40 1.04 0.90 1.56 1.28

Large Lasers

Design Notes: The performance of the Large Pulse Laser previously eclipsed that of its other Large Laser counterparts, even at range brackets more befitting other Laser types. Like other Pulse Laser changes, we are making its Damage potency more reliant on its sustained DPS properties, while significantly reducing the Duration attribute of the ER Large Laser to make it a more powerful ranged weapon. We still want the ER Large and Large Pulse Lasers to remain potent weapons, but we want this power potential to be more situational, with Large Pulse lasers being more focused toward mid-range burst DPS, and ER Large lasers more focused toward long-range trading.

IS Large Laser

• Cooldown duration reduced to 3.1 (From 3.25) • Duration increased to 1.1 (From 1)

IS ER Large Laser

• Cooldown duration increased to 3.4 (From 3.25) • Duration reduced to 1.1 (From 1.25)

IS Large Pulse Laser

• Damage reduced to 10 (From 11) • Cooldown duration reduced to 3 (From 3.25)

Clan ER Large Laser

• Cooldown duration increased to 3.75 (From 3.25) • Duration reduced to 1.35 (From 1.5)

Clan Large Pulse Laser

• Damage reduced to 12 (From 13) • Cooldown duration reduced to 3.2 (From 3.25) • Duration reduced to 1.09 (from 1.12)

  Prev. Dmg Per Second New DPS Prev. Dmg Per Heat New DPH Prev. DPS per Ton New DPS/T Prev. Heat Per Second New HPS
Large Laser 2.12 2.14 1.29 1.29 0.42 0.43 1.65 1.67
ER Large Laser 2.00 2.00 1.13 1.13 0.40 0.40 1.78 1.78
Clan ER Large Laser 2.32 2.16 1.10 1.10 0.58 0.54 2.11 1.96
Large Pulse Laser 2.81 2.72 1.57 1.43 0.40 0.39 1.79 1.91
Clan Large Pulse Laser 2.97 2.80 1.30 1.20 0.50 0.47 2.29 2.33

PPCs

Design Notes: With the unique arcing Damage property of the Clan ER PPC - which results in up to 50% extra Damage dealt - the potential for raw damage output is substantially greater than its Inner Sphere counterpart. While we still wish to maintain that Damage output, we want that edge to have a bit more give and take between the two tech bases. On the Inner Sphere side, the PPC and ER PPC will now possess superior raw pinpoint DPS over the Clan ER PPC, while the Clan ER PPC will have more general DPS due to its arcing damage effect.

Clan ER PPC

• Cooldown duration increased to 4.5 (From 4)

  Prev. Dmg Per Second New DPS Prev. Dmg Per Heat New DPH Prev. DPS per Ton New DPS/T Prev. Heat Per Second New HPS
PPC 2.50 2.50 1.00 1.00 0.36 0.36 2.50 2.50
ER PPC 2.50 2.50 0.74 0.74 0.36 0.36 3.38 3.38
Clan ER PPC 3.75 3.33 1.07 1.07 0.63 0.56 3.50 3.11

Missiles

Design Notes: The effectiveness of multiple, smaller LRM launchers compared to their larger counterparts is something we have been observing closely. Currently the cooler running benefits of the larger launchers is made somewhat redundant due to the naturally lower heat settings on the Weapons themselves. At this time, we want to keep the LRM 5 the most DPS efficient out of the LRM lineup, but this trait should come at the cost of more heat. This will ensure that even with mass LRM 5 launchers being used, you will eventually hit your heat cap after multiple volleys.

LRM 5

• Heat increased to 2.4 (from 2)

Clan LRM 5

• Heat increased to 2.4 (from 2)

AMS and Clan AMS

Design Notes: AMS has found itself in a particularly useful state after the release of the Skill Tree, and we feel like its baseline properties could use a bit of a boost. While we are only providing a minor increase to its Max Range, we want to provide a fairly large increase to its Optimal Range in an effort to make it more reliable against incoming SRM and S-SRM fire.

• Optimal Range increased to 165 (from 125) • Max Range increased to 250 (from 240)




Variants from two Clan and eleven Inner Sphere chassis are receiving Quirk adjustments in this patch.

On the Clan side, all variants of the Night Gyr and Marauder IIC (excluding the MAD-IIC-8) are receiving reductions to their Base Mobility stats in this pass. The Night Gyr is additionally losing the existing Mobility Quirks for its Center Torso OmniPods, but in most cases is receiving a portion of that back in the form of less potent Mobility Quirks in the Left and Right Torso OmniPods for certain NTG variants.

On the Inner Sphere side however, the ENF-4R, ENF-5D, BLK-6-KNT, KGC-000, KGC-0000, and KGC-00B are all receiving improvements to Base Mobility stats, while an array of other IS variants are seeing mostly positive adjustment to their Quirks.

Inner Sphere Quirk Changes (PDF) Clan Quirk Changes (PDF)

Night Gyr

When a 'Mech begins to perform outside the balance variance curve, we tend to keep it under tight observation to see if that behavior persists or levels out over time. While the NTG has been reported as an over-performer for some time now, under close examination we found that it often swung wide in both directions. Even at high-tier play, we often found that the NTG could be oppressively effective under correct positioning, but on the other end of the spectrum, could be relatively ineffective if caught out of position. Under those circumstances, we are generally fine with 'Mechs having a high effectiveness curve provided it does not become a constant. This same kind of behavior is still seen in Dire Wolves, for example.

In the months prior to the Skill Tree, the NTG was already under tight observation, and now in the wake of the Skill Tree release the overall performance capacity of the NTG is in need of reigning in.

• All NTG variants have received a blanket reduction to their Base Mobility stats and the removal of CT OmniPod Base Torso Yaw and Torso Pitch Quirks. However, the LT/RT OmniPods for the NTG-A, NTG-B, NTG-C, and NTG-D have received minor Yaw and/or Pitch Quirks in return.

Marauder IIC

Like the Night Gyr, the Marauder IIC had been under heavy observation for previously skewing above the curve. With its performance in the wake of the Skill Tree release, we are reigning in its Mobility.

• All MAD-IIC variants (excluding the MAD-IIC-8) have received a blanket reduction to their Base Mobility stats.


UrbanMech

The UrbanMech has seen relatively healthy improvements from the Skill Tree, but the distribution of Armor Quirks across the variants has proven a bit lopsided. In this pass we've unified the bonuses across all UM variants, and have provided a slight durability buff to the large Ballistic Arm hardpoint.

• UM-R60L and UM-R63 have received increases to their existing Armor Bonus Quirks to match the values already present on the UM-R60.

Firestarter

With the changes brought on by the Skill Tree, we want to provide different niches throughout the lineup of Lights for 'Mechs that tend to have similar Hardpoint and mobility profiles. In the case of the Firestarter, we want it to trade a bit of the Mobility you find in Light 'Mechs focused more toward speed, and make it more capable of effective offensive engagements with an increase to durability.

• All Firestarter variants have received Structure Bonus Quirks, with equal values across all variants.

Panther

As one of the more improved 'Mechs over the previous month, we didn't wish to adjust the Panther too much in this pass. We have however unified the Armor Bonus Quirks to also include the Legs, giving it a bit more uniformity to how it scales with the Skill Tree.

• Existing Structure Bonus Quirks for all Panther variants have been replaced with Armor Bonus Quirks.


Enforcer

Performance wise, the Enforcer has remained in a fairly stable position over the past few months, but we find it to be often overlooked compared to many of the other Inner Sphere 50 tonners. To give it a bit more diversity in function across the line, we are going to be giving the 4R, 5D, and the new Hero variant a slight Mobility boost. We've also made a number of other minor adjustments to a few other ENF variants, outlined below.

• ENF-4R/ENF-4R [C] have lost their Laser Duration Quirk and have received reductions to their Large Laser Range and Energy Range Quirks, but have received increases to their Base Mobility stats in return. • ENF-5D/ENF-5D [R] has received an increase to its Laser Duration Quirk. • ENF-5P has received a new Energy Cooldown Quirk.

Hunchback

Armor and Structure Bonuses are traits that we've been keeping a close eye on in the wake of the Skill Tree release. We do not wish to disrupt the overall way that Armor and Structure Bonuses are handed out at this time, but we do wish to address the outliers as they crop up. For this pass we will only be touching the Hunchback 4SP (and the BattleMaster BLR-2C) with a modest reduction of their native Structure Quirks; the intent here is for these Quirks to not overly compound upon the Skill Tree benefits to the extent that they have up to this point.

• HBK-4SP has received a reduction to its existing Structure Bonus Quirks.


Grasshopper

Like the Wolfhound and the Crab, the Grasshopper has seen a modest increase in its effectiveness in the wake of the Skill Tree release. However, this increase has been disproportionate depending on which variant you're taking into the field. In this pass we've adjusted a handful of GHR Quirks to bring a bit more balance to the Force to the various Grasshopper variants.

• GHR-5H/GHR-5H [C] and GHR-5J/GHR-5J [R] variants have received new 10% Missile Cooldown Quirks. • GHR-5N has received a new 10% PPC Velocity Quirk. • GHR-5J/GHR-5J [R] have received new CT/RT/LT Armor Bonus Quirks, but have lost their CT Structure Bonus Quirk. • GHR-5P has received a minor increase to its LL/RL Structure Bonus Quirks, a reduction to its CT Structure Bonus Quirk, and the removal of its LT/RT/LA/RA Structure Bonus Quirks.

Black Knight

The Skill Tree has had a fairly positive impact on the Black Knight, and we feel this will only improve more with the Energy Weapon changes. With fairly minor differences across the BL variants however, we wanted to rework some of the Quirk arrangements to better distinguish each variant.

• BL-6-KNT/BL-6-KNT [R] and BL-6B-KNT have received new Sensor Range Quirks. • BL-6-KNT/BL-6-KNT [R] have lost their Energy Cooldown, Energy Range, and Energy Heat Gen Quirks. • BL-7-KNT has lost its Energy Heat Gen and Structure Bonus Quirks and has had its Energy Cooldown Quirk reduced by half, but has received new Armor Bonus Quirks. • BL-7-KNT-L has lost its Energy Range and Structure Bonus Quirks, but has received new Laser Duration and Armor Bonus Quirks.


Zeus

As one of the more mobile Assaults in the wake of the Engine Desync, the Zeus' performance has been steadily increasing. While we do not wish to over-tune while still in the immediate wake of the Skill Tree release, we do feel there is room for a few minor improvements to its current Quirks to make the Zeus a bit more effective.

• ZEU-5S has received a new LRM Velocity Quirk, and has received an increase to its Ballistic Cooldown Quirk. • ZEU-6S/ZEU-6S [R] have received a new 10% Missile Spread Quirk. • ZEU-9S has received new 5% Missile Spread and 10% Missile Velocity Quirks. • ZEU-9S2/ZEU-9S2 [L] have received new 10% Ballistic Cooldown and 10% Energy Cooldown Quirks.

BattleMaster

See notes for Hunchback.

• BLR-2C/BLR-2C [C] have received various reductions to their existing Structure Bonus Quirks.

Mauler

This pass is simply aimed at leveling out the field a bit between the various Mauler variants.

• MAL-1P has received new 10% Missile Cooldown, 10% Missile Velocity, and 10% Missile Spread Quirks, and has received an increase to its existing PPC Velocity Quirk. • MAL-1R/MAL-1R [R] have lost their LRM 15 Cooldown and ER Large Laser Cooldown Quirks, and have received reductions to their Missile Heat Gen and Energy Range Quirks, but have received generic LRM Cooldown and Energy Cooldown Quirks in return. • MAL-2P has received new Ballistic Cooldown, Missile Cooldown, and Missile Spread Quirks, and an increase to its existing UAC Jam Chance Quirk. • MAL-MX90/MAL-MX90 [C] have received new Laser Duration and Missile Spread Quirks and an increase to its existing Energy Cooldown Quirk, but sees a reduction to its existing Ballistic Range Quirk and the loss of its Ballistic Heat Gen Quirk.

King Crab

The previous Quirks for the King Crab were fairly dated, with its last pass back in April of last year. The introduction of the Skill Tree hasn't benefit the KGC to the same degree as some other 'Mechs, and we felt the need to provide the KGC with a fresh re-work of its Quirks.

• KGC-000/KGC-000 [L], KGC-0000, and KGC-000B/KGC-000B [C]/KGC-000B [S] all receive positive changes to their Torso Turn Speeds. They have also received a reduction to LA/RA Armor Bonus Quirks, but with the addition of new CT/LT/RT Armor Bonus Quirks. • KGC-000/KGC-000 [L] have lost their Ballistic Velocity Quirks, but have received new Missile Cooldown and LRM Spread Quirks. • KGC-0000 have received a reduction to its Laser Duration Quirk and the removal of its Energy Cooldown and Missile Cooldown Quirks, but has received new Ballistic Cooldown and Ballistic Velocity Quirks. • KGC-000B/KGC-000B [C]/KGC-000B [S] have received reductions to their Ballistic Velocity Quirk and the loss of its Energy Range Quirk, but has received new LRM Spread and AC/20 Cooldown Quirks and an increase to its existing Ballistic Cooldown Quirk.



New Lanes in HPG Manifold

A new middle-approach lane has been added for both Teams, providing easier access to the center of HPG when approaching from the Bravo spawn. The previous system of two lanes per-Team, both on either side of their respective spawn areas, was prone to causing needless scattering of Lances in Solo or loosely-coordinated matches, and required Bravo Lance to travel a considerably greater distance before being able to group up with the rest of the Team.

You can see these new lanes reflected in the BattleGrid below.



HPG manifold has also undergone the following changes, partly due to the introduction of these new lanes.

Assault Game Mode

Base Capture Points have been relocated to G4 and D7, respectively.

Conquest Mode

Capture Points have been overhauled to better function in the context of these new paths.

Incursion Mode

Turrets have been added on top of the walls directly surrounding each Team Base to prevent sniping of key Base elements from those areas of the wall. These special Turrets are equipped with 4 Clan Medium Pulse Lasers, and will only engage Enemy 'Mechs if the 'Mech is on top of the wall and can acquire line of sight to key Base elements. These Turrets boast significantly inflated Health values, and are functionally invulnerable.

These Turret additions for HPG Incursion are less to do with the addition of the new lanes, and more to do with requiring a direct base incursion to attack the Enemy Base on HPG.




Tug Of War Random Mode Selection

As of this patch, Game Mode selection in the Tug Of War bar now operates on a 'weighted-random' selection system. While a specific Game Mode may still be weighted to a distinct phase of the Tug of War, Faction Play Invasion matches will now have a random chance of running any of the other Invasion Game Modes.

While the original Tug of War system conveyed a sense of progression within the Invasion conflict - starting with initial Skirmishes and ramping up to a final Siege against the Orbital Defense Cannons - the nature of that progressive system meant that players running Faction Play sessions at specific times could face a situation where they'd only be dropping in one single Game Mode for the duration of their available playtime. Cases where one side made a strong initial push into the final phase of the Tug of War could lead to situations where Siege would be the only playable Game Mode in Invasion for a significant period of time, negating the value and variety of standard Quick Play Modes being available in Faction Play.

As the Mode in which you'll drop is no longer a guarantee, we have removed the Game Mode identifiers from the Tug of War screen.



Incursion Game Mode

Originally released for Quick Play in our April patch, the Incursion Game Mode has now been integrated into Faction Play. To accommodate the unique mechanics of Faction Play and the Drop Deck system, we have made the following adjustments to Faction Play Incursion:

• Health values for Mobile Bases and Tower Generators have been increased.
• Each Tower now provides 3 minutes of use per-charge, rather than the 2 minute duration seen in Quick Play Incursion.
• Re-spawn Drop Ships for Faction Play Incursion are not equipped with weaponry.
• The Air Control Tower and Radar Tower for Faction Play Incursion have undergone minor changes to their behavior:

Air Control Tower

When powered, the Air Control Tower will call in a friendly DropShip to fly over the Enemy Base and attack any Enemy forces within range.

The DropShip will maintain a brief holding pattern before evacuating the battlefield.

A new DropShip will arrive every 7-12 seconds, depending on the map, for as long as the Air Control Tower has power. The maximum frequency of this arrival has been reduced from the values seen in Quick Play Incursion (7-17 seconds).

Radar Tower

When powered, the Radar Tower conducts a full radar sweep of the battlefield, revealing Enemy locations for a duration of 5 seconds. This is unchanged from Quick Play Incursion.

This sweep re-occurs every 55 seconds for as long as the Radar Tower has power. This sweep is an increase from the 25 second re-occurrence seen in Quick Play Incursion due to the presence of the Scouting/Intel Radar Sweep mechanic.

Radar sweeps do not detect 'Mechs under protection from ECM.



Store Page

Release Date for MC: December 5th 2017

Inner Sphere Resistance Hero Variants

• UrbanMech UM-K9 "K-9" [Quirks]
• Wolfhound WLF-GR "Grinner" [Quirks]
• Panther PNT-KK "Katana Kat" [Quirks]
• Crab CRB-FL "Florentine" [Quirks]
• Enforcer ENF-GH "Ghillie" [Quirks]
• Grasshopper GHR-MJ "Mjolnir" [Quirks]
• Black Knight BL-P-KNT "Partisan" [Quirks]
• Zeus ZEU-SK "Skokomish" [Quirks]
• Mauler MAL-KO "Knockout" [Quirks]
• King Crab KGC-KJ "Kaiju" [Quirks]

Check out the Inner Sphere Resistance Hero Countdown post here for more images and information, along with a video of Officer K-9 on duty.

Special details for the UM-K9

The UrbanMech UM-K9 Hero 'Mech comes with unique police light geometry; when triggered with the 'Add On Toggle' keymap (L by default), the lights will activate and a siren sound will play. While the lights will remain active and loop until you turn them off, the siren will only play once per each activation.

The K9 'Mech also boasts a unique Cockpit light item, visible in this image. This light also activates when the Toggle Light command is issued, and will loop until it is deactivated. This Cockpit light does not count as a placed Cockpit Item; all three Cockpit Item slots are still available for use.



Along with its complimentary delivery to eligible Inner Sphere Resistance Hero 'Mech owners, the following Cockpit Item is also now available for purchase in-game:



Molotov Cocktail (Inner Sphere Hero Standing Cockpit Item): 500 MC




93 new Decals are arriving in this patch, featuring the remaining five original Clans within the timeline, additional Shapes, the K-9 Police Badge from the Inner Sphere Hero pack, and a large number of new Words.

Basic (180 MC)

Misc (1)

• K-9 Police Badge

Shapes (18)

• Heptagon 1
• Heptagon 2
• Heptagon 3
• Hexagon 1
• Hexagon 2
• Hexagon 3 
• Octagon 1
• Octagon 2
• Octagon 3
• Pentagon 2
• Pentagon 3
• Rhombus 2
• Rhombus 3
• Square 1
• Square 2
• Square 3
• Triangle 2
• Triangle 3

Words (69)

• Blood Spirit
• Burrock
• Cloud Cobra
• Fire Mandrill
• Ice Hellion
• Star Adder
• Alpha
• AMS
• Assault
• Back Off
• Ballistic
• Battle
• BattleMech
• Blood
• Boat
• Boom
• Boom Boom
• Boom Stick
• Brawler
• Breaker
• Clan
• Claw
• Crusader
• Death
• Death Bringer
• Death Dealer
• Destroyer
• Energy
• Epsilon
• Fire
• Freeborn
• Freelancer
• Frontline
• Gamma
• Greetings
• Guard
• Heavy
• Hold Locks
• House
• If You Can Read This, You're Too Close
• Inner Sphere
• Kappa
• Laser
• Light
• Loyalist
• LRM
• Mech
• Medium
• Merc
• Mercenary
• Metal
• Missile
• NARC
• Omega
• OmniMech
• Point Toward Enemy
• Scout
• Sigma
• Sniper
• SRM
• Streak
• Strike
• Support
• TAG
• Theta
• Trueborn
• Unit
• Warrior
• War

Special (500 MC)

Clans (5)
• Clan Blood Spirit Emblem
• Clan Burrock Emblem
• Clan Cloud Cobra Emblem
• Clan Fire Mandrill Emblem
• Clan Ice Hellion Emblem



BattleMaster (all variants): Fixed Monitor placement to resolve obstruction of Warhorns and Hanging Items.
Floating Chat: Resolved a brief client hang that could occur when accessing Floating Chat.
Grim Portico (F5): Provided better out-of-bounds demarcation
Groups: Fixed an issue where Group formation could break if there were no active Faction Play Conflicts.
Javelin (all variants): Restored missing Jump Jet effects for two of the nozzles.
Skill Tree: Improved description text for Magazine Capacity and Missile Rack Skill Nodes to convey per-ton effect.
Skill Tree: Renamed all Skill Branches to reflect the Skill Class.
• As part of the work required for the release of new Technology and Equipment in the July patch, certain 'Mechs have undergone minor changes to Hardpoint mount geometry. The UrbanMech Right Arm Hardpoint mount has now adopted a square design, for example.

Group Changes
• Group leadership can now be re-assigned at will by dragging the 'crown' icon to the intended Group leader.
• Support for the new Comp Play Group type has been added to the existing Social>Group screen.

Private Lobby Changes
• As of this patch, all Premium Time requirements for the use of Private Lobby features have been removed. Tonnage Rules, Match Time, Time of Day, View Mode, and Full Team settings are all now available regardless of whether any participant has Premium Time running.

Turret Optimization
• Turrets have undergone an optimization pass in this patch in an effort to reduce their performance footprint. This optimization is more likely to assist machines in low-spec territory, and will hopefully lead to some minor performance gains for Game Modes in which Turrets are utilized.

Sound Cache Optimization
• This patch features improvements to our previous methods of caching game sounds. In addition to eliminating rare issues with delayed sound triggers, this optimization may assist machines with lower amounts of available memory, particularly within Faction Play matches. This will also address the perceived Jump Jet audio delay introduced with the Skill Tree patch, which was a by-product of the previous caching method.

New Supply Caches
• 25 new Supply Caches have been added as of this patch


Patch Files (Direct Download)

To make the patching process easier for players with limited download caps, we'll be providing direct download links for the patch file(s) that comprise this patch. This will allow you to download the patch file(s) elsewhere, for manual injection into the MWO patcher through a Patch Cache folder.
Aside from allowing you to download the patch file(s) elsewhere, on another connection, there are no additional benefits to performing the patch this way; the patching process itself will be the same.

This direct patch download process will only work for players running the standalone client. It does not apply to players running MWO through Steam.

Patch File(s): 

http://patcher.mwomercs.com/patch/Production/frontend/FrontendPatch_302.zip

http://patcher.mwomercs.com/patch/Production/frontend/FrontendPatch_303.zip

How to use these patch files

• Download the above file(s)
• For sake of ease we recommend creating a dedicated folder for the patch file(s), such as 'MWO Patch Cache'
• You do not need to unzip or unpack the patch file(s)
• Launch the standard MWO launcher
• Click the gear icon in the top right of the launcher window
• Choose the 'Specify Patch File Cache' option
• In the field that appears, paste or enter the location in which you saved the patch file(s) and hit OK
• For example, C:\Users\<username>\Documents\MWO Patch Cache
• Click the blue Patch button
• The launcher will now check the Patch Cache folder you defined. If it locates the required patch files, it will unpack and use those files to apply the patch.
• Once the patch is complete, launch the game

POPULAR FORUM TOPICS

Mw5 Clans Hot Fix #3 Preview
Nov 1, 2024 1:17 PM UTC

New Mech Pack - Grand Summoner
Nov 1, 2024 11:10 AM UTC

Trick Or Treat 2024 Plus Haunted Deals!
Nov 1, 2024 8:03 AM UTC

Patch Notes - 1.4.302.0 - 22-October-2024
Nov 1, 2024 5:15 AM UTC

Inconveniently Ugly Minis?!
Oct 30, 2024 4:28 PM UTC

Post your gaming rig/setup!
Oct 29, 2024 3:44 PM UTC

Mechwarrior 5: Clans Hot Fix #2
Oct 28, 2024 8:00 PM UTC