Mechwarrior Online: Free To Play MMO announced.

And the followup:

• The close beta is now up, but is currently invite-only. Anyone who has an account and fills out a Beta Profile (which includes submitting system specs) may be invited.
• Anyone who buys a Founder pack is guaranteed beta access by July 17th.
• When they said "North America" they meant NA servers. You can play from anywhere, but your connection might not be as good.

It's worrying me a bit when we haven't seen the Urban maps they've been promising us.

Frozen City doesn't count?

The game is still in closed beta, and only three maps have been revealed so far. There's still plenty of time.

I have faith that its going to be a rather OK game.

A map with massive ambient heat levels is perfect for smashing the laserboat tendency endemic to most MW metagame. Missiles look even more anemic than in MW 3, which I didn't think was possible, but I can overlook that.

Urban environments in MW tend to be like the chemical plant in that Caustic Valley video, in case you've forgotten. I personally am not a big fan of urban combat because the spacing tends to both restrict more agile machines and obstruct Assaults. Having to always look at my minimap to avoid backing into a building while under PPC fire is never fun.

Well, hey, Frozen City looks less restrictive than Tharkad from MW4: Mercs, so that might help.

Well, there should be maps which pander to various mecha preferences, no? Hot and cold maps are both equally necessary to things such as, say, urban, and open maps.

Without varying context the metagame will always favor a specific group.

I swear I remember them saying that Frozen City, for some reason, didn't count as an urban map.

Well, it's close enough, it looks like.

Hey, this is a thing?

Neat. I recall the FASA tabletop game rather fondly, although only the really old school Inner Sphere stuff. Wasn't a fan of the Clan junk, though.

Yeah, it's a thing, or is going to be anyways (surprised that Microsoft's letting them make this game in the first place).

Also, while it won't launch with Clan tech, it will start off in the year 3049 or so, which is close to Operation Revival anyways. Plus, Clan stuff isn't so bad (War of Refusal, anyone?).

Microsoft has no say. They don't own the FASA license anymore.

The concern with implementing Clan structures is that everyone will go Clan since their society rewards combat more directly. All Trials, all the time regardless of context.

Then again, I don't think the lot of the average IS pilot was ever anything to write home about compared to that of Mercs and Clanners anyway.

The average militia pilot, no. Some House Units (Davion Guards, the Swords of Light, Warrior Houses) on the other hand...

And only some mercenaries commands are truly elite, the majority of them are just freelance garrison/security units.

edited 25th Jul '12 4:49:22 AM by Rationalinsanity

^^Yeah, but dammit, I want a Battle Of Tukayyid reenactment.

^There are also the notable Merc units, such as Wolf's Dragoons, Northwind Highlanders, and Kell Hounds.

edited 25th Jul '12 5:35:39 PM by RocketDude

Tukayyid, apart from the Clan Wolf front, was pretty one sided. The Falcons managed to savage the Comguards badly and the Bears managed to force a draw but otherwise it was a rout. Exactly as Focht and Ulric Kerensky planned (even if the former wasn't entirely sure that the latter actually wanted the Comguards to win).

Yeah but those units are the exception. Any ordinary merc band that tries to take on a House unit or a front or second line Clan unit is begging to be mauled.

edited 25th Jul '12 6:17:02 PM by Rationalinsanity

Still, it'd be nice to see in video game form.

Which actually does bring up the question of how the Clan Invasion is going to be handled and whether or not we'll ever get to see the Jihad and then the Dark Age.

edited 25th Jul '12 6:19:08 PM by RocketDude

Sure, if the game lasts for 25 years.

It's Jenner-time.

Jihad as written in the fluff might go awkwardly. As in your pilots would be killed by VX gas before they even reach their mechs.

Closed beta access is starting for those who bought Founder's Packages now. I would have bought one myself, but my computer doesn't meet the game's minimum requirements.

A first look, for those who are interested.

I find it amusing that there are comments on the video that predict the game will die due to 'turning off casuals'. Quite the opposite from the usual opinion that games are getting too casual friendly, eh?

From what I can tell it looks like a prettier MW 4 minus most of the streamlining in that part of the franchise, which is pretty much what people were waiting for.

edited 3rd Oct '12 8:27:58 PM by Recon5

Eh, I can understand the complaints about it looking slow, but this is BattleTech, where making a fast 'mech comes at quite a bit of compromise.