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New patch out. I have mixed reactions.
Conquest mode is awesome. It's a traditional Domination-style objective mode, familiar all the way back to Unreal Tournament, with the exception that it keeps MWO's no-respawn mechanic, of course. 5 objectives, including the same 2 bases/spawn points from Assault mode, of which each team starts in possession of one, then 3 initially neutral points usually strewn across the mid-line of the map (Frozen City's an interesting exception since it's a C-shaped play area).
So far, I'm finding this to be the far superior mode compared to Assault. The five capture points give an incentive to spread out and work in small groups rather than simply moving around the map in an 8-man focus fire deathmatch kill squad far more effectively than the threat of simply missing the other team's kill squad as you pass each other to the Assault enemy's base.
On the other hand, I did see a game where the enemy team simply stuck together and moved from one point to the next, effectively annihilating everything it ran across. Had I been in something faster than a Hunchback, I might've been better able to try to avoid that deathball and harry their territory possession, instead, but that's not how that game shook out for me.
The notion of having to be mindful of map control and have eyes on many places at once makes ECM a much more interesting and tactically useful proposition for more than simply surprising the enemy with your deathball as it rounds the corner.
Similarly, the Stalker enters the game with 5 variants, each of which has, of course, a preposterous number of hardpoints. The model looks solid; I have no complaints despite being on the wrong end of one's sights a few times.
Two new hero variants this time around, both of which are Dragons. Nice. I'll have to land myself one -- I love the Dragon chassis, and the hero/Founder C-Bill bonus is a nice way to run around in a chassis you like anyways. Bonus points for marketing/planning/balancing for releasing a couple faster hero mechs at the same time they release the game mode that promotes mobility a bit better.
However, the economic changes aren't, in my opinion, as unreservedly successful.
The rundown is as follows:
* Repair and Rearm is gone
* Trial Mechs earn 100% C-Bills and earn Pilot Experience
* Victory and Loss C-Bill awards appear dramatically reduced
* Kill, Assist, and Damage C-Bill rewards are cranked up
* A new "Cadet Bonus" gives rookie pilots a flat bonus for their first 25 games. Veterans who already have games under their belt get the bonus retroactively, pro-rated for the number of games they have completed. The 25-game total is 8 million C-Bills
Like I said, I've got mixed reactions. The Cadet bonus is great. 25 games, no questions asked about performance, and you can afford virtually any single mech you want. That's a fantastic introduction to the game. Couple that with making Trial mechs not suck, and this could've almost been a winner by itself.
Increasing the influence of performance by cranking up damage done, assist, and kill bounties while reducing win/loss flat awards is a good move, too. Heck, so is increasing the overall payout of an average win record, for that matter.
Axing repair and rearm, though, is a terrible notion, and I'm already seeing the effects on the battlefield.
I loved repair and rearm for the balancing factor it added to mech choice. Do I bring an expensive Atlas and risk getting it banged up, or do I play a safer, Medium mech to get a good mix of offensive punch and expendability as far as my wallet goes? It promoted a very good mix of mech classes on the field.
That's gone, though. I'm pretty sure my dozen matches tonight averaged 4 Assaults per enemy team, and that's not just due to people wanting to try the Stalkers. As a fan of the "feel" of Medium and Heavy mechs, this is incredibly disappointing. It's really rough playing when everybody outweighs you, and glass cannons like the Hunchback simply have no place when there's no disincentive to make running an Assault risky. Hunchies aren't fast enough to justify their relative fragility the way a Light, Cicada, or Dragon could, and their ability to bring the big guns to a fight isn't impressive when you can bring an equal number of Atlases to bear anyways.
In short, the economic changes are, overall, a step towards being a less grindy game, and that's good for player retention, I think, and particularly good for converting people trying out the game into regular players. The new content is fantastic and a breath of fresh air. But the unintended consequences to drop balance will hopefully warrant some more tweaks in the future, either by (partially) going back on the removal of Repair & Rearm, or by introducing new matchmaking restrictions or factors with regard to weight.
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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades
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