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MWO Patch Notes July 16th

Today’s Tuesday is patch day in Mechwarrior Online. Some long awaited changes have finally made it into the game. The patch notes address alpha strikes, sniper builds, victor, ssrm2 targeting and some other smaller stuff. The following list provides a quick summary for those who want the most important facts of the current patch notes straight up.

Patch Notes Summary TL/DR

• You will now generate a lot more heat if you fire multiple weapons of the same kind at once.
• The regular Victor variants are now available for c-bills.
• SSRMs will now randomly target different body parts.
• Regular SMRs had their damage increased by 33%.
• You can now select a map when running Testing Grounds.
• Crosshair Jump Jet shake has been reduced.
• Atlas RS(C) Champion Mech can now be bought for mc.
• You will take damage if you overheat (originally only if beyond 120%, now starting at 100%).
• Various bug, performance and graphical fixes.

Heat Scale for Alpha Strikes

A new game-changing mechanic is in place which increases the heat produced from firing weapons if one fires multiple weapons of the same kind at the same time. This will greatly reduce the effectiveness of sniper builds like Stalker PPC boats, “AC/40″ builds and SRM boats. LRM boats, Large Laser and Medium Laser crazy builds are affected to a small degree as well. However, not all weapons are affected.

If you would like to learn more about this, check out this guide: MWO Heat Penalty System explained without formulas

Weapon System	Max Useable	Heat Penalty
AC/20	1	very high
PPC	2	high
ER PPC	2	high
Medium Laser	6	low
Large Laser	2	medium
StreakSRM	4	low
SRM2	4	low
SRM4	4	low
SRM6	3	low
LRM15	2	medium

The first column indicates the weapon in question. The “Max Useable” columns indicates how many of this weapon one can fire at the same time without generating more heat than usual. The third column, “Heat Penalty”, describes how much extra heat per additionally fired weapon beyond the threshold you will generate.

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If you know of an excellent build, resource, or guide, submit it and maybe it will be featured on mwo-builds.net and seen by thousands of players. You can submit builds by sending us an e-mail, post it in the official looking-for-builds thread, or send us a private message via the official forums. You can also submit guides and builds via Facebook or Twitter (see below). Join hundreds of other Mechwarrior enthusiasts and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Receive the latest guides and the best MWO builds directly to your favourite social platform!

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Original Official MWO Patch Notes July 18th

Open Beta Update #21

Upcoming Patch – Tuesday July 16th @ 10AM – 1PM PDT

Patch Number: 1.2.231

Change Log

UPDATE

Greetings MechWarriors

Top 10 Awesome things in this patch. #inmyopinion

Number 10. Visual bug Fixes – Bye Bye Flickering terrain! #thatisbetter

Number 9. Performance Improvements! We’ve been hard at work optimizing the code so 12 v 12 won’t hurt your frames as much. #cantwaitfor12vs12

Number 8. The Victor is available for C-bills now! Those with mech bays and fat C-bill accounts are recommended to purchase this ‘Mech immediately. #greatmech

Number 7...

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One of the most viewed build on this blog is the Atlas D-DC all-round brawler build by Strawberry5. He and myself have played this build countless times and have proven its worth in PUG games. Mechwarrior Online has evolved since then, and strategies have changed. This Atlas brawler build has been adjusted slightly to better fit 2013 meta-game requirements. If you don’t like PPCs and want to look really good on the score board (damage dealt, kills, match score, etc) give this build a try. You will not be disappointed.

If you need AMS in this Atlas build, try swapping it for the Beagle Active Probe. Do not remove ammunition in exchange for the AMS since it is already carrying the absolute minimum for extended fights.

In comparison to the old Atlas brawler build, the new version trades the AMS, ammunition and movement speed for range, a BAP and burst damage.

• Use the high max range of your double Ultra AC/5 to lay down suppressing fire and chip away at enemies during the first minutes of the match. Enemy LRM-boats and other long range builds will duck back behind cover, and potential future enemies will have their starting armor reduced.
  
• Fire your Ultra AC/5s by single clicking at all times (1.1sec). Restrain yourself from holding down the key as they will most likely jam very fast and your actual damage output will decline. Only gamble on your weapons not jamming when being faced with certain death.
• Keep in mind that your ECM will not protect you from LRM barrages while it is set to counter mode.
• Although you have a BAP, it might be useful to counter an enemy ECM at times. The default hotkey for switching ECM modes is J.
• If you are engaged in an all-out close quarters fight, do not overheat due to alpha striking all the time. It will mean certain death. Instead, refrain from using the lasers and keep using your missiles and ballistic weapons only.

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Get Connected!

If you know of an excellent build, resource, or guide, submit it and maybe it will be featured on mwo-builds.net and seen by thousands of players. You can submit builds by sending us an e-mail, post it in the official looking-for-builds thread, or send us a private message via the official forums. You can also submit guides and builds via Facebook or Twitter (see below). Join hundreds of other Mechwarrior enthusiasts and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Receive the latest guides and the best MWO builds directly to your favourite social platform!

Follow @mwobuildsnet

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I finally delved into the Stalker chassis and bought three of them (Misery, 3H and 3F). Let’s start with a Stalker 3H build. This build is an LRM-Boat but features excellent close-range defensive capabilities in the form of Medium Lasers and Streak SRMs. It also comes with a Beagle Active Probe and an Anti-Missile System. In my opinion, the Stalker 3H is one of the best Mechs to build an LRM-Boat.

• Stay behind your teammates to provide firing support.
• Always tag enemies, but do not expose yourself too long to enemy fire.
• Your optimal attack range is ~250m; at this range you can fire all your weapons at once.
• The minimum range for LRMs is 180m. If you are closer to your target they will do NO damage.
• Do not forget to open your missile bay doors at the beginning of each match. The lights at the border of your screen will switch from yellow to green when they are opened.

 

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