notes are here. http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/118563 ... -21052013/
ive had a chance to play some and thought i would give my input on what ive seen so far. ( not that anyone asked, but since when has that stopped me lol )
the new mech, the BlackJack, is intersting. i think its a good addition and so far it seems to be fairly balanced with a mech of its weight class.
the new map. canyon network i like. plenty of plateaus and ravines to run around in. the graphics of the map is stunning to me, even though i run lower graphics then most. its not a terribly hot map as far as i can tell. should be a fun addition.
the new module: Seismic Sensor is a great addition. i advanced mine to the 400 meter radius and its great for sensing incoming mechs. including lights that you cant detect otherwise.
i have no working experience with the other modules at this time.
there are a lot of good things that came with the patch. but there are some things ive noted that suck as well.
LRMS boats are now standard again. this is due to the slight increase in damage, but more so because their speed has been increased and their trajectory is now more of a high arc then before. its very hard to find cover as the missiles almost come strait down on you. while each of these things separately may not seem to be that big of a deal, in combination its very hard to not get beaten up if not destroyed by missiles now. i had built a missle board to check it out ( 4 LRM 15 stalker ) and confirmed its a serious death dealer right now, its bad to the point that i quite playing it and will be going back to the streak boat i had previously. this one addition to the patch has really had a huge impact on the mechwarrior community as seen in the forums and personal experience. i think Metaliman has quite playing because of this and other issues untill a hotfix or another patch comes out to address the issues. 976-pain has had a huge issues with the game crashing, to the point where last night he uninstalled and re-installed the game. i havnt spoken to him yet to see if that helps.
Match making now totaly sucks. its not longer based on mech weight and works on something called Elo. ( no i dont know what it stands for ) it is basically your skill score from what i understand. it was implemented to keep new pilots from comeing up against expert players and losing the joy of the game before they learn the basics ( now if they would quite braking the game so experts dont lose their joy of the game.... ) but from my perspective, it seems to penalize players who try hard to gain skill. from what i understand the match maker now tries to equalize the Elo score of both teams despite tonnages involved. the longer the wait, the worse chance of a match of Elo. so the game ends up in a slaughter of one side or other. from personal experience, i have been in quite of few games where our team has dropped with only 7 players (very common now) and even just 6 players vs a full 8. and/or games where we have 1 assault mech vs 3-4 on the other team. so to me, this seems totally broken at the moment.
(side not on match making. it is my understanding that MWO devs decided this match making as a simplified way to allow us to play online... the main concept is to enable the Community Warfare aspect of the game and it will take over. so with this in mind, i doubt there will be a lot of effort to fix the matchmaking aspect of the game untill the CW aspect is enacted. )
i am glad to say that the pain in the ass hug bugs are finally fixed. the fact that we are now having random crashes take away from the enjoyment factor of the game. while ive only had 2 of these since the patch.. some of us ( 976-pain) has had a HUGE issue with this and not being able to drop with team mates add to the frustration. the addition of some cool modules are fun and neat and useful, but the over powering of LRMS also make this game less enjoyable.. while im glad and encouraged at the progress the game is making. im frustrated about the unbalanced approach the devs seem to take in the changes. while i understand that a person cant think of all the possibilities while creating something of this magnitude, ( yes is a big undertaking and i doubt i even understand how big, because i dont program stuff.) a little foresight would be nice. at least to the point where they have a hot fix ready to implement just in case ready to install once they see the outcome. perhaps it will come..
all in all. before the patch i would call the MWO experience a 7/10 in enjoyment factor ( after the hotfix for the hudbug of course.) for me well worth the time and money i put into it with the hopes of what was to come.. also the enjoyment factor involving long lost friends from battlefields ages past. now though with mainly the LRM issue, and the unbalanced matchmaking. i would have to lower that score down to 5/10. that is even with the additions of a interesting new mech, a new map and modules and fixes and balances. i like most of us, enjoy the honing of our skills. in bettering others because of ability and/or hard work or the use of intellect in plotting tactics. each of us draws joy from games in many different ways. each of us give to the game in their own, special, ways. but the point of a game is just that, the word game implies enjoyment. you should enjoy a game more times then not. and at this point, im at a 50% chance of enjoyment or total frustration, depending on the drop. i have been destroyed by missiles while taking what USED to be cover with hardly getting a chance to engage an enemy player. i have been on the receiving end of being so out skilled because of the pug i dropped with and so outbalanced tonnage wise, that the game lasted a few scant minutes and not one destroyed mech on the other side.. i know we all hate to lose.. but its even hard to enjoy a match where your team was so good or over weight that you couldnt even get a shot off let alone engage enemy in a fight also is frustrating. while a few drops are worth while, where your team stuck to gather and magically seemed to know what to do and who to shoot at. and showed great teamwork in winning the day. these matches seem to be far less now.
while i maintain hope of where this game is going, for right now. it is an work of frustration for me. the claim that the light lag shield has been addressed, i have yet to see substantial proof of this as i still cant seem to hit them no matter how i aim or where. i still seem to have a major problem with loss of damage when i alpha stike. trying to evade a LRM swarm is harder then it ever was and even with the buff of the AMS system it seems to make very little difference. ECM is less effective then ever due to the ERPPC and PPC counter and now, the Beagle active probe also counters it. along with tag and narc. my frustration level seems to be on a all time high at this point.
i will continue to play. and to try to keep my skill level fresh. but for now, its far less fun then before. perhaps these issues will be addressed, remember we are still in Beta. the whole purpose of being in a pre-release game is to go threw the painful growth aspect of it. i take pride in my skill as a mech pilot. i always have. its part of my private drive playing this game. i may never be the best, but i just want to be 'GOOD' and be one of those guys when a foe sees me on the battlefield they whisper "oh crap...."
the purpose of this post is to well, i was bored.. ok? lol and to bitch a little. i wanted to give my evaluation of what i see right now. and also point out some cool things that came our way. please feel free to post your point of view on what i said, and/or your own perspective. instead of giving up and moving on, try to get it out and see what happens. as each of us have our own reasons that brought us to mechwarrior online. im sure we each have our own perspective and aspects that make this game more or less enjoyable and/or frustrating. so get it out and the open people!
in the end, my main hope is that these growning pains make a game we all want to play and give us another reason to hang out with each other. and maybe draw back old friends we lost along the way. 
