Author Archives: Sean

About Sean

Sean is a writer and gamer by nature. His first introduction to the BattleTech universe was MechWarrior 2, and has been hooked ever since. He now plays MechWarrior: Online in order to fill that missing void of BattleTech since MW:4 and MC:2.

The Return of Kerensky! The Clans Come To MechWarrior Online!

After years of anticipation, the Clans are now finally coming to MechWarrior Online. Known to the lore as “Operation Revival,” the Clans returned to the Inner Sphere after centuries. Now their wonderful and iconic OmniMechs (not BattleMechs!) will be laying waste to a match near you.

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As like previous pre-orders, you can buy up to assault-class OmniMechs and get all of the lighter weight ‘Mechs along with it. The full $240 dollar package (the Masakari package) gets you eight Clan OmniMechs: the Warhawk/Masakari, Timber Wolf/Mad Cat, Stormcrow/Ryoken, Adder/Puma, Dire Wolf/, Summoner/Thor, Nova/Black Hawk, and the Kit Fox/Uller. You also get all of the variants for each OmniMech.

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The First MechWarrior: Online Live Tournament

Greetings MechWarriors!

We have a great day approaching. The first serious live tournament for MechWarrior: Online is going to be showcased on Twitch.TV starting at 2pm PST (that’s 5pm EST for you guys on the East Coast and 10pm for all of you in the U.K.).

I’m very excited and I’m certain you are too. Let’s go through a quick rundown.

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MWO: Weekly Update #3 – Company on Company Action! (8/6/2013)

714-august-6th-12v12-patchIt’s finally here. Twelve versus twelve matches are live on MW:O. This is a big step for Piranha Games as well as the players of clans. For Piranha, the game needs extremely stable servers and more optimization to smoothly run twenty-four highly rendered BattleMechs on an extremely well-textured map. This is going to be a major test of their internet code, and we all hope they can pull through. For the players, especially those in Clans, the twelve versus twelve matchup is going to open up a new host of tactical decisions as well as problems that come from those tactics.

But why twelve versus twelve BattleMechs instead of ten versus ten or fifteen versus fifteen?

Longtime fans of the BattleTech franchise know the answer to this question. But for those who are new to BattleTech and MechWarrior the twelve versus twelve match-up is the iconic company on company battle. It is a staple of the universe. Each company of BattleMechs is made up of three lances (4 ‘Mechs each). Each lance fulfills some battlefield function. You can see in the video that Piranha Games posted what one lance would look like: a fire-support lance of nothing but Catapults. The Company on Company match-up is not only a test of an individual’s skill at piloting a BattleMech, but a trial of command and control.

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MWO: Weekly Update (07/28/2013)

Victor 2Hey MechWarriors! It’s been a long time. A few things happened in real life that really threw me for a loop, but I’m back now. Since it’s been so long since I’ve given you an update on recent patches I’m really excited about this. We have a lot of things to cover and we’re on patch number 1.2.231. So not only do I have a bunch of previous patch notes to catch up on, but I also have this latest patch to discuss. I know it’s a little late for this patch but I think that after playing the game for a good week I can evaluate the changes by playtesting them rather than just giving you my expert speculation on their impact.

The change log starts with, “The Top 10 Awesome things in this patch.” I’ll go down the list to quickly describe these changes. Then I’ll evaluate the changes to see if they’re actually important for the game and I’ll give you my take on their overall effect (10 being least useful, 1 being most useful).

Number 10: “Visual bug fixes – bye-bye flickering terrain!” The terrain looks really nice up close, but when you are targeting and attacking enemies at long range the flickering terrain can be distracting. Due to the flickering terrain it was hard to notice if you actually hit your target, or if you hit obstacles with your weapons instead. Fixing the flickering terrain improves gameplay, so this one moves up for me to number 6.

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MWO Weekly Update #1 – Week of May 25, 2013

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Update #1: Week of May 25, 2013

Hey guys! It’s Sean here for your first weekly update on MechWarrior: Online. This one is for the week of May 25th. Be on the lookout for my full review of the current status of MechWarrior: Online, due out soon.

This post is going to look at:

  • Important May 21st Patch Notes
  • Introduction of the Blackjack
  • Preview of the Victor

 

 

 

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First Time For Everything: A BattleTech Tournament

Having just left the Renaissance Pleasure Faire (another wonderful nerdy experience for anyone who hasn’t tried it), I headed down the 54 freeway to a small game shop. This area is completely unfamiliar to me, yet I have a sixth sense as to where this place may be. It must be the inner table top gamer yearning for well-painted miniatures and well-loved lore.

The SoCal 2013 BattleTech tournament is held in Fullerton. Stepping inside, you see everything you need to know about BattleTech: technical readouts, sourcebooks, well painted terrain, and most importantly, BattleMechs.

Playing with BattleMechs on an actual table is something that has always escaped this lifelong fan of the BattleTech universe. Yet, in this store, located in the middle of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, fans and players of the BattleTech universe converged.

The "Main Event" Continue reading