Piranha Games president Russ Bullock said on Friday that the open beta is scheduled to launch on Monday, October 29. Originally the free-to-play shooter was scheduled to throw open its doors to all on October 16, but was delayed due to the game's "current state of stability". The team said the new date would depend on the stability and playability of the new build, which now seem to be good to go for this coming Monday.
MechWarrior Online went into closed beta on May 22. It features a real-time mechanic where 24-hours in the game equals to 24 hours in the real world (January 1, 2012 is equal to January 1, 3049). The setting takes place during the early stages of a massive interstellar war and throws players into the seat of "the most powerful war machine to ever walk the field of battle," the BattleMech. Players can customize the Mech to suit their battlefield role, upgrade systems, replace weapons, and tweak armor with endless options.
On Friday Bullock presented a fairly lengthy update, addressing many concerns gamers have expressed all through the closed beta, including concerns about launching the open beta too soon. He reaffirmed that the team just couldn't ask the closed beta testers to continue because they are likely fatigued from having to start over multiple times.
"We can’t effectively test certain things any further with our current community," he added. "In many ways we can’t effectively test systems both in back end infrastructure and game systems without both more and different types of players. We need to bring in new non-core players to determine what aspects of MWO interface, etc need to be changed and exactly how they should be changed. We can’t make proper headway in these areas without Open Beta."
The blog also reveals that the Founder's Program has generated millions of dollars. The company offers three Founder's packages: the $120 Legendary package, the $60 Elite package, and the $30 Veteran package. All three offer a nice set of perks including free access to a premium account for a limited time, a Founder's tag, in-game currency and more.
So far Piranha has received $5.2 million USD. "That is a huge statement to just how amazing the MechWarrior franchise and it’s unique and exciting play mechanics are, and now a whole new generation of gamers are about to learn that," he said.
Exactly.. there's nothing massive about it.
Furthermore, SLI is still not supported.
So basically anyone with aging gaming rigs can't run it respectable.
I remember playing Mechwarrior when it came free with my Matrox Mystique video card about 20 years ago. heh heh.
you exagerate things drastically !!!!!
1. you are not locked into the 4 trial mechs, on open beta players will get a starting income to buy a regular mechs.
2. you don't have to pay real money for new mechs you can use in game currency
3. you did note it was CLOSED BETA, you can't join a closed beta or even an open beta and expect a fully polished game. you might as well stamp "I'm an idiot" or your forehead. if you expected a fully fleshed out game experience.
4. you must have got into the closed beta MUCH MUCH earlier than the current incarnation, because there are full options for altering your key bindings, and there is even controller suport now for joy sticks that allow top change bindings. from the sound of things, a lot has changed since you tried teh closed beta , because i'm in the closed beta and the game you describe jsut isn't what i've been paly all morning.
Ahem, 16 years ago, the mystique didn't come out till 96 and the mystique 220 in 97....... But then again, I did have the original non accelerated version in 95
On a note: MWO online is loads of fun, and you do not need to spend a dime. Also, it's 8 on 8 game play - for now... remember, it's in BETA and there are still A TON of things they need to add into the game. This game is still very early, but already it's a lot of fun.
You want a really throwback reference? I used to play Battletech MUSE online, that was text based combat and that was still more in depth and open world community than this is.
Too bad none of you will be up to Gen X standards for FPS, but I suspect you can beat us at Angry Birds.
It is not ready. Every patch breaks new stuff or introduces new bugs. For example, they lauded the new items like Double Heat Sinks in the latest patch. It was broken and not working as intended. It took all off 1 game for folk to notice it was not working . Exaggerated repair costs. Nope no dev spotted that Armour repairs were running at 100% and no 1.5% ...
Add in that there is only 1 gameplay mode, 7/8 vs 7/8 and 3 maps and that their environmental effects on heat etc were borked and you get a sense that PGI is simply not experienced enough, large enough or skillful enough to handle the development of the game.
i feel sorry for so many who will come in and then feel cheated or let down by the developers on one of the oldest Mech franchises around..
Good job at supporting the downfall of gaming.
actually Hawken is not like Cod....that's all I'm allowed to say > Hawken NDA -.-
A little-known (these days) requirement for a game is for it to be fun and entertaining. Constantly getting knocked over for a ridiculous period of time as a part of game strategy is definitely not fun.
Mechwarrior: Living Legends