MechWarrior Online hits open beta October 16th

Andrew Brush 11 Oct, 2012 at 11:42am ET Article published in Gaming

Piranha Games’ free-to-play reboot of the MechWarrior franchise MechWarrior Online is now one step closer to release with an open beta slated for October 16th.

Also announced with the open beta was the planned retirement of the Founders Pack program on October 14th. This three-tier system currently allows players closed beta access through the purchase of various bundles of in-game currency and premium account time, as well as the opportunity to pick up unique founder’s mechs with lifetime bonuses on match earnings. Well worth considering if you fancy piloting the particular Jenner, Hunchback, Catapult or Atlas chassis on offer.

With both a respectable selection of fully customisable war machines and some semblance of the BattleTech universe through a game timeline which moves in step with the lore all the way from 3049 —MechWarrior Online has great potential and should appeal to MechWarrior’s tabletop and video game fans alike.

For those of you who aren’t already duking it out in giant robots you can get a taste of the gameplay here to tide you over until open access drops on Tuesday.

Comments

11 Oct 2012 ~ 11:43am primesuspect Pew pew
11 Oct 2012 ~ 12:46pm midga Don't forget, Icrontians, if you're interested in slagging some mechs with us, you should totally get in on our mercenary corp, Dargon's Draught. We have voice chat and beer
11 Oct 2012 ~ 1:42pm Tushon A random note: I tried both this and Hawken. Hawken's very first thing was offering a tutorial. I never played a MechWarrior game and felt totally out of sorts and had no clue what to do. I knew general movement/aiming, but didn't know how to vent heat, etc. There was no keybinding menu in the game to look at, and I don't think even a closed beta should require you to look through pages of a forum for stuff like that. That was a big turnoff for me. Maybe getting in with some IC will make it more enjoyable.
11 Oct 2012 ~ 1:46pm Ilriyas @Tushon, we can help you out with learning the rules mate if you ever feel like hopping on just give @Midga, @Basil, @QCH, @Drasnor, @UPSLynx, @Thrax, or myself a shout on steam or something and we'll set about arranging a group.

(Midga, Basil, QCH, and I play pretty much every night thus far)
11 Oct 2012 ~ 2:29pm Tushon Will do next time I am looking to get my mech on.
11 Oct 2012 ~ 2:30pm midga @Tushon How was Hawken? I signed up, but I haven't gotten in to try it yet.
11 Oct 2012 ~ 2:34pm Tushon I only had time to run through tutorial, will let you know ... sunday? maybe late tonight
11 Oct 2012 ~ 3:17pm QCH
A random note: I tried both this and Hawken. Hawken's very first thing was offering a tutorial. I never played a MechWarrior game and felt totally out of sorts and had no clue what to do. I knew general movement/aiming, but didn't know how to vent heat, etc. There was no keybinding menu in the game to look at, and I don't think even a closed beta should require you to look through pages of a forum for stuff like that. That was a big turnoff for me. Maybe getting in with some IC will make it more enjoyable.
I agree 100%. It took me weeks to understand all the stuff to just live throughout a match. Getting in on Chat with the Dargon's Draught group (us listed above) makes it easier to config and best utilize the different things. Good news, in the almost 8 weeks I've been playing, the game has changed so much. Now much of the info I needed to learn the game is embedded in the game (damage, heat dissipation rates, Overall max damage) but I still use outside sources to understand weapons and such. I hope they have a great tutorial for Go Live and walk through how to buy a mech, build a mech, setup key bindings and even things like cycling weapon groups.
11 Oct 2012 ~ 7:22pm UPSLynx can you still get the founders packs after open beta starts?
11 Oct 2012 ~ 8:14pm Ilriyas
can you still get the founders packs after open beta starts?
They're closing it down on the 14th so act fast.
11 Oct 2012 ~ 9:34pm DocFrazier So is MechWarrior 5 canceled altogether?
11 Oct 2012 ~ 9:41pm Ilriyas
So is MechWarrior 5 canceled altogether?

Mechwarrior 5 evolved into Mechwarrior Online.
12 Oct 2012 ~ 3:53pm midga If you need help figuring out which mech you want from the founder's pack, if getting one, let me know.

Also, for anyone who's interested in joining up, shoot me a PM saying so with an email address to add to our Google Group, and your in-game (/in-forum cause it's the same thing) handle if you have it. I'll get you all added, and I'll help anyone with anything I can getting-started-wise. I'm pretty familiar with the game and the VOIP setup (we use C3 because PTT actually works through the game with it, because the game will launch it for you, and because it's called C3), so I can likely either answer your questions, or point you to where you can get the answers.

I can't wait to have a full group of us on. It's gonna rock so many socks.
12 Oct 2012 ~ 6:37pm NLichtman I just signed up yesterday. I didn't even realize when it was going to open, but I'm glad that I signed up.
12 Oct 2012 ~ 6:51pm UPSLynx I'll probably go with Hunchback for the founder. One of my all time favorites.
12 Oct 2012 ~ 6:59pm midga @UPSLynx It's a good one. Just be aware that you don't get to choose your variant. The base variant (AC/20) is probably my favorite anyway, though. Sadly (sorta) I've gotten to the point where I almost never play anything without jumpjets now. Just love that maneuverability too much.
13 Oct 2012 ~ 2:20pm midga OPEN BETA HAS BEEN PUSHED BACK

There is not a date as of yet, but to address concerns expressed by the community, PGI has decided to postpone opening up to the public, among other things. Full details can be found in the official post by Lead Designer Paul Inouye.

No word in that post about whether this will extend the time you are able to purchase a founder's pack, so assume the cutoff is still tomorrow and jump on it while it's hot!
14 Oct 2012 ~ 2:30pm Basil SOON.
14 Oct 2012 ~ 4:10pm UPSLynx Purchased, with Hunchback in tow.
15 Oct 2012 ~ 2:47pm UPSLynx Whew. Good thing - Founders program did indeed end last night.