Enter The Dragon Slayer!

It’s time for the first patch in July from the MechWarrior Online team… and this one hits hard!

We get our new Hero ‘Mech – the Victor DS (Dragon Slayer).  This variant appears to be MWO specific, as I can find no variant/famous pilot that used a DS.  It has a good base loadout (Gauss Rifle PPC, 2 Med. Pulse Lasers, and a SRM 6).  We’ll get the non-hero variants in two weeks (with the next patch).

Dragon Slayer Introduction Video:

We also get the much needed first attempt at adding a ‘heat penalty’ to the game.. to address things like the 6 PPC Stalker build.

Critical Heat Damage System.
– Mechs reaching 120% heat will start taking damage to their center torso at (0.75 damage + (0.001 damage per tonne) + (0.001 damage per engine rating)) / 1.5 sec.
– The damage will continue until heat drops below 100%.  This damage will occur both during an automatic shutdown and when overriding shutdown.
– To indicate this heat damage is being applied, a yellow siren light will turn on inside the cockpit.

It will be interesting to see how much (if at all) this discourages those high-alpha, low heat dissipation builds.  I think the 120% starting point might be too high, and that will need to be lowered down to 110% in a future build.

As of today’s patch… the terrain will have more of an impact (no more walking up the sheer edges on the Canyon map, or going straight up the sides of the mountains in Alpine peaks).  This is a good fix on paper, it will be interesting to see how it plays out in game though.

– Mechs are now unable to traverse slopes greater than 45°
– Mechs will now slow down when climbing slopes from 20° to 45°, depending on mech size.

New Champion ‘Mech (Atlas-RS), changes to the Founder’s Jenner (to be followed by the rest of the Founder’s ‘Mechs) that allow it to be repainted, bug fixes, UI cleanup…

Not quite everything that was planned for delivery today (12v12 is missing, but was indicated as going in today back in June’s developer update), but, a good healthy patch.  Full patch notes after the jump, or here.

Open Beta Update #20

Upcoming Patch – Tuesday July 2nd @ 10AM – 1PM PDT

Patch Number:  1.2.229

Change Log

UPDATE

Greetings MechWarriors,

So we have gone and done it again! Victor Hero is releasing first and what a beauty it is. Having The Dragon Slayer in your Mech lab will probably melt your face off with pure “Mech goodness”. Then again, if you don’t buy one, someone else will and they’ll melt your face off in battle. The 30 percent C-Bill boost doesn’t hurt either. Did you know with a hero Mech and a Premium account you can literally** swim in C-Bills? Sometimes I upgrade and downgrade double heat-sinks just to have a laugh and burn through some C-Bills.

Oh boy It’s the ATLAS Champion! Want to try the Atlas RS build that was the Piranha Favourite for much of closed beta? Here you go! It’s a mostly-brawler, sometimes sniper build we found very, very fun. So go check it out!

Hey look some Cockpit Items! Mech Statues. Enjoy!

Hey Look a new Mech Pattern! Tartan!…Bless you…. Thank you… You’re Welcome!

We have some interesting gameplay tweaks that are going to change how you play. Movement on inclined surfaces and a new overheat mechanic so watch your heat or you might get beat.

Various other Items are all in the patch notes for you to read so go ahead and read them!

See you on the Battlefield!

Matt Newman

**and by literally I really mean figuratively swimming in C-Bills

Content

New Hero Mech

“Dragon Slayer” VTR-DS

– Tonnage:  80
– Engine:  330 XL
– Top Speed:  66.8 kph
– Max Engine Rating:  400
– Torso Movement:
– 90 degrees to each side.
– 20 degrees up and down.
– Arm Movement:
– 20 degrees to each side.
– 30 degrees up and down.
– Armor:  494 (Standard)
– Internal Structure:  Endo-Steel
– Weapons & Equipment:
– Left Arm:  PPC
– Left Torso:  SRM 6
– Right Torso:  Medium Pulse Laser x2
– Right Arm:  Gauss Rifle
– Hardpoints:
– Left Arm:  1 Energy
– Left Torso:  2 Missile
– Right Torso:  2 Energy, 1 AMS
– Right Arm:  2 Ballistic
– Heat Sinks:  14 Double
– Jump Jets:  4 (4 Max)
– ECM Capable?:  No
– Module Slots:  2
– 30% C-Bill Bonus

New Trial Champion Mech

Atlas AS7-RS(C)

– Tonnage:  100
– Engine:  325
– Top Speed:  52.6 kph
– Max Engine Rating:  360
– Torso Movement:
– 80 degrees to each side.
– 16 degrees up and down.
– Arm Movement:
– 40 degrees to each side.
– 30 degrees up and down.
– Armor:  608 (Standard)
– Internal Structure:  Endo-Steel
– Weapons & Equipment:
– Left Arm:  Medium Laser x2, AMS
– Left Torso:  LRM 15 w/ Artemis IV FCS x2
– Right Torso:  Gauss Rifle
– Right Arm:  Medium Laser x2
– Hardpoints:
– Left Arm:  2 Energy, 1 AMS
– Left Torso:  2 Missile
– Right Torso:  1 Ballistic
– Right Arm:  2 Energy
– Heat Sinks:  13 Double
– Jump Jets:  0 (0 Max)
– ECM Capable?:  No
– Module Slots:  2

New Trial Mechs

– Commando COM-2D
– Blackjack BJ-1X
– Catapult CPLT-C4
– Atlas AS7-RS(C)

Cockpit Items

– Jagermech Statue.
– Trebuchet Statue.

New Skin

– Tartan skin.

Gameplay

– New Movement Archetypes.
– Mechs are now unable to traverse slopes greater than 45°
– Mechs will now slow down when climbing slopes from 20° to 45°, depending on mech size.

– Critical Heat Damage System.
– Mechs reaching 120% heat will start taking damage to their center torso at (0.75 damage + (0.001 damage per tonne) + (0.001 damage per engine rating)) / 1.5 sec.
– The damage will continue until heat drops below 100%.  This damage will occur both during an automatic shutdown and when overriding shutdown.
– To indicate this heat damage is being applied, a yellow siren light will turn on inside the cockpit.

User Interface

– Now showing all three lances on the EoR Screen.
– Changed all references to “Team Commander” to “Company Commander”.
– Minor clean up for Lance UI.

Bug Fixes

– Quickdraw will now have jump jet effects.
– Fixed an issue where LRMs shot at close range & off target were causing the missiles to perform a gravity whip maneuver.
– Heavy Metal will no longer play it’s on kill music if the mech if it’s not fully powered.
– Fixed an issue where LRM volleys would share the same spread pattern when firing from a weapon with a small tube count – ie. LRM15 from a 6 tube launcher. Subsequent volleys will now have a different spread.
– Fixed an issue with SRMs and closed weapon doors. SRMs would launch instantly on the client from a weapon with closed weapon doors; however, the server would properly delay the shot to simulate the weapon doors opening. This could result in missiles colliding on the local client but not register any damage. This fix will now open the doors properly before firing. Please NOTE: This issue ONLY occurred with SRMS being fired from launchers WITH CLOSED weapon doors.

General

– Jenner Founder has a new pattern, with this pattern comes the ability to color it as well.  Other Founder ‘Mechs will be getting the same treatment and will come in later patches.
– Added environmental sounds to the levels.
– Updated spawn locations so lance mates will spawn together.
– Improvements to ‘Mech damage glow.
– Re-enable F9 button to display the FPS and users location.

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

The MechWarrior® Online™ Team