I'm actually having a real blast with this game. I didn't expect it to be so much fun. I shouldn't be totally surprised however as the core gameplay is TDM more or less. My Quake roots are so TDM heavy I'm finding it a fun crossover. I've always been a MW fan starting with MW2: Mercs many years back so I have as much history with the series as I do Quake.

While F2P the grind isn't bad if you join up with some groups on voice (I recommend CREDDITMWO) solo play is very brutal and you'll be lucky to win more than 30% of the time. Grouping up you'll win much more so you advance much faster in the game. It's almost as if you get free premium time by grouping (instead of paying for it). The game also greatly rewards basic teamplay quite a bit as focus fire is a strong tactic. In any 1v1 fight both mechs will likely take large amounts of damage while a 2v1 ends fairly quick.

Competent mech builds are a large part of success and often you have to invest many hours of CBills into a costly mech build to excel. Upgrades like Double Heatsinks (DHS), Endo Steel, upgraded engines (or even XL engines) along with different weapons are practically required to squeeze the most of any mech as the default load outs are not great. As a new play you start out in trial mechs which are basically canon versions of various mechs which are terrible death traps generally. After paying or grinding for a few hours you can get a real mech and start being much more successful.

Not much of a twitch shooter overall but aim does play a large role at times. Hitting specific areas on mechs rewards good aim and you can often de-leg mechs before killing them (which slows them significantly). There are also various mechs and builds which are greatly different. From the CPLT-K2 Gaussapult sniper, to light mechs who need fast twitch aim or the plodding Atlas there is a large variety to experience and master. The huge amount of weapons, armors, engines, mechs and setups leads to a complexity not typical in most shooters.

The game has lots of bugs and netcode problems still but I'm finding it refreshingly fun and a different take on the standard FPS shooter. I'm expecting great things from it in the future as it slowly develops with each new patch (usually weekly). The only real fear I have is they might be spending too much money too fast as Russ Bullock (President of PGI) has stated they are approaching 10 million spent. That is a lot when you consider there are only 11 mechs, 4 maps (with 2 variants) and one mode of play in the game currently. They have raised in excess of 5 million dollars alone through the Founder's Packages during closed beta but I still have my doubts about their development burn rate exceeding future revenues. I'm hoping most of their costs were front loaded with IP costs, engine costs, etc.

Is anyone else playing? What are your thoughts? I know it isn't Quake but I haven't played a FPS this much in a long time. I'm definitely hooked for the time being. I also did spend some money on it which is something Tribes Ascend or QuakeLive could never get me to do.