Hey there, Martian God here. I've been playing the MWO open beta for a while, and as more people get interested, I thought I'd help my fellow Booters out by writing up some of what I've learned.

0. Get on Teamspeak
Do this first: download the Teamspeak 3 client, and hit up the unofficial Teampspeak server.
Address: na1.mech-connect.net
Password: WordofBlake

There's no LFG functionality in game right now, pugging sucks, and the C3 client included in the game is just terrible. Head to the LFG channel and wait for an invite, or just grab folks from there and start a group. They'll help you through the process, just let them know you haven't done this before.

1. Money is the real XP
At least, it is for the first 20 or so hours of gameplay. Sure, you get to spend XP in the game to give your mechs an edge, but the real XP is cold, hard cash. This MMO is much closer to World of Tanks than it is to something like WoW, in that you have neither classes nor levels - you really just have your mech. When you grind, you grind for cash. When you upgrade, you upgrade with cash. Unless you want to spend real money, you're going to have to grind long and hard to get yourself into an Assault mech - just like you have to grind to hit level cap.

It'll be tempting to start blowing your cash on all kinds of weaponry tweaks, and I'll address why that's a good idea later, but bear in mind that every C-Bill you spend drops your XP bar by 1.

2. Don't split the party
For the love of god, stay with your group. I can't count the number of times I've seen people break off on their own and just get pummeled. You can start taking off on your own as a scout later, but don't get too far away.

3. Start with the trial mechs, no matter how much they suck
As of this writing, the trial mechs all kinda suck. I hear tell that there's an Atlas with a Gauss cannon now, but I haven't seen it. Whatever.

Here's the thing - remember point 1? Well, every time your mech is damaged or fires a round of ammo, it costs you money. Which means it costs you XP. Trial mechs, however, cost you nothing to maintain. The downside, and it's a major downside, is that you earn less money and no XP. But remember point 1 - money IS your XP early in the game. You can easily get your ass shot up by running into a wall, or trying to configure your weapons groups, all kinds of stuff; the game has a steep learning curve. Make those mistakes on someone else's dime.

Once you've got the hang of the game, go ahead and buy your own mech. But I tell you what, if I'm pugging, I almost always grab a trial mech. A bad loss in a larger mech can cost you more than you earn in a mission.

4. When you buy, buy a Jenner
Oh, Jenner. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Versatile loadouts, cheap repair bills, 110+ kph, and jump jets aplenty. To me, the Jenner is like the first nice set of tools you buy - you have to save up a bit for it, and while it's not as cool as the professional grade stuff, you'll make your first mistakes with it, get the experience you need, and even when you've moved on to bigger and better things, it's still useful. I suggest the D model, the one with the missile hardpoints. The all-energy one is garbage unless you can afford double heat sinks.

In your n00bery, the Jenner is great because even when you get cored out, you'll still make money on a mission (even a loss!). When it comes time to start customizing your loadout, you can't accidentally blow too much money because most of the expensive stuff just won't fit. It's great for learning how to do some advanced piloting stuff because it's zippy and maneuverable, and you'll get plenty of spotting bonuses as a scout.

Once you've cut your teeth, you'll find yourself able to lure enemy mechs off with barely a scratch, and keep other light mechs off your missile boats fairly easily (Streak SRMs are your friend here). And when you're ready, you can take the heaviest mechs on 1-on-1 with superior mobility.

Seriously, I f$*king love the Jenner.

5. Capture is king, so offer surrender (and take it)
You get way more money and XP for a capture than wiping out the enemy. If your group is just rocking house, offer to let the last mech (or two, never more than that) shutdown in exchange for not blowing it away. Have a mech watch him as everyone else heads to the enemy base to capture. You make more money, the shutdown pilot doesn't have a huge repair bill, everyone wins.

This goes for the reverse as well. If you're going down and someone offers surrender, take it.


Okay, that's all for now. More as I think of it.

Thoughts...

Some ass hats don't accept surrender. Fortunately, there are places to hide on most of the maps and just power down. Powering down when out of sight breaks sensor and missile lock-on. That's a good tactic if you're getting hammered by enemy LRMs as well.

Don't quit before the end unless you are dead. You get nothing.

To advance beyond the basic tier of XP bonuses, you need THREE mechs of the same class but of DIFFERENT variants. For example, if you wanted to become elite with the Awesome, you'd need an AWE-8Q, AWE-8T, and an AWE-8V (they have recently added an AWE-9M, but it's very pricy.)

This isn't as boring as it might sound because you can run them with different load outs. For example, my 8Q is a laser boat, the 8V is a brawler with SRMs and pulse lasers, and the 8T runs with a large laser+tag and LRMs. Each has it's own playing style.

Find a mech you like to drive. For example, I can't stand the light mechs. They give me too much motion sickness. Similarly, cranking the graphics up to max may not be optimal. Again, way too much motion blur for me. You'll have to test the various combinations and doing that with trial mechs will at least earn you cash as you play.

Since you can not choose your map, develop tactics that work for your configuration. For example, a brawler with short range weapons will thrive on the city maps, but should stick to the hills and rough terrain on the colony and caustic maps.

More...

R is your friend. Always hit R when targeting the enemy or scanning for targets. You get XP for spotting (with an owned mech), you get cash for spotting, you get valuable range and armor data on the enemy. There is never a reason not to hit the R key, make it a habit.

AMS (the little stove-pipe turret on some mechs) is your friend. AMS has an engagement radius which means your buddy can loan you missile defense. Staying close and concentrating firepower is not just a good offense, its a good defense. Of course, the more AMS on your side, the better.

TeamSpeak, Skype, or other chat program is not required. But, damn it sure makes things easier. You can call out targets, respond to orders and tactics faster, ask for help, etc. The chat system in MWO can and will get you killed since you can't pilot and talk at the same time. Also, in the heat of battle it is too easy to hit T and blurt your message out to everyone.
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TAZ