Two Games.

       During a recent online discussion, a remark, intended to be insulting, was thrown my way.  Being discussed was the viability of brawling vs. sniping.  The remark was that sniping has been nerfed, and brawling buffed, to the point that sniping is only viable in (expletive) PUG matches.

       While this was clearly intended to insult me, by implying I was not an elite competitive player, it did not.  Firstly, because being an adult with a life, who lives in a home I pay for myself, I don't have the time to devote to competitive play.  Secondly, it's true.  Sniping is mostly for PUGs.

       This caused me to reflect on the dual nature of this game.  In competitive play, you have a team that communicates via voice comm., (via third party software AHEM) and has a team created to support each other in the various combat roles.  To see one in action is amazing, and shows a simple fact, since even the bad teams are good compared to a PUG team.  Communication and coordination trump individual play, no matter how skilled the player, and always will.

       The competitive community is what you will mostly see in the forums.  They are into this game far more than the casuals, like myself, and it shows in many ways.  Mostly in their assumption that everyone in the forums plays competitively.  The numbers do not reflect this, but the online community is mostly competitive players, so they tend to forget that most people only play pick up games.

       The PUG community, (if it can even be called that) is a mixture of beginners, casuals, and those of us who actually used to go to the local battletech center to play.  ($20 for 10 minutes. {that's about $33.00 in today's dollars} Bear that in mind when complaining about the cost of this game).  The game play in PUGs is markedly different.  The lack of coordination, or the ability to count on your teammates to act for the good of the team, or even in a sensible way, results in a very different successful play style.

       There are very few pushes, almost no planning, and many unintended friendly fire accidents.  And while you would think that this environment would lend itself to up close and personal combat, it doesn't.  It happens, but it is not the productive brawling that occurs in competitive play.  It is simply a way for LRM boats on each team to get locks on a Mech that someone else is targeting.

       So the game is really two completely different experiences, depending on how you play.  Most of the disagreements we have about balance stem from this fact.  While there is no ready fix for this, native voice support would go a long way.  Good Hunting.

Turnaround for MWO

       There seems to be a huge amount of optimism, and suggestions, posted in the official, and unofficial MWO forums following the announcement of the sale of the game to "The Right People".   While I too feel this, and look forward to seeing what changes come, I am advising patience and caution.

       Patience because even if they immediately begin to turn everything around to the way the community has been politely suggesting for months (with ropes, torches, and pitchforks in hand), it will take time.  Given the nature of the changes, quite a bit of time.

       Due to school demanding my time (in between my job and kids) I haven't played in a while. (Weeks)  I'm done now. (MBA)  But I hadn't played because I felt the game was stagnating.  I am going to keep up with the updates and see where this goes though.  I feel the same optimism the rest of you do.

       I also advise caution.  Just because the right people own the game does not make the things they (and we), want economically viable.  Remember many have already given up on the game, and may not ever return.  As far as MMOs go this one is Medium, not massive, Multi-player, Online.  Smaller player bases make some features cost more than they could ever return.  I don't work for them and am not privy to their numbers, but I suspect if the things we wanted were economically viable, they would be done already.

       In any case there is the old Hollywood adage: "Good, Fast, Cheap.  Pick which two".  This applies to most things.  Now you could argue we had none of the above before, but even best case scenario: a good, fast game won't be cheap.  A cheap, good game won't be fast, and a fast, cheap game won't be good.

       So be optimistic, but be patient with the new owners.  And don't be surprised when not as much changes as you were hoping for.  Good Hunting.

The likely and unfortunate sale of Minecraft

       There are currently rumors that Microsoft is in talks to buy Mojang/Minecraft.  These sources (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg) also state that Notch is the one who initiated the talks.  I would say that these rumors are likely true.  This is not based on the reputations of the reporting companies, (Although they are right an alarming percent of the time), but on recent events.

       Allow me to explain.  Notch and the rest of the team have expressed, in recent months, their displeasure at being harassed and second-guessed bu certain types of server owners.  These are the ones who sell items on their servers that are free in the game.  Not original content, game features.  This meant they were not only completely unethical (Selling someone else's content without licence), but also violating the End User Licence Agreement. (EULA).

       There was a big to-do over this "sudden" enforcement, with many of these server-owners, which represent a truly small minority of server operators, making a big stink over being told they can't sell someone else's work.  It was at this point some despairing tweets came out of the development team.

       Then we have the takedown of Bukkit.  If they were to sell the game, a site that allowed the downloading of nearly identical content would obviously need to be eliminated.   This all adds up to a picture that either a sale of the game or company is about to happen, or some other, very major announcement is coming.  Also likely not good.

       The writing is on the walls.  As of my writing 16,646,675 copies had been sold.  If each major update (1.1, 1.2 etc.) sold for 15 dollars (and a few cent) they would make back the 2 Billion dollar price.  This is assuming no other content is sold in game, (it would be) and no money from merchandise, (which there would be).  This would also give Microsoft (or any purchaser) access to the player base.

       I believe this will happen, and it saddens me that the greed of a small few, will wreck things for the vast majority.

      Fingers crossed anyway.  I have never wanted to be wrong so badly.

The Minecraft EULA and you.

       If you are like the overwhelming majority of Minecraft players, the amount of attention given to the End User Licence Agreement seems high.  After all, it affects so few.  Most of the problem concerns Mojang stating that they are going to enforce policies that already exist.  Policies that are already super lenient.

       Mojang created a game.  They allow others to host copies of it and run a server.  The idea has always been that you can run a server, and split the cost of running it among a group.  If some amount of money was made, that was OK.  Server owners charging for elements of the game was not supposed to be part of the deal, and should not be tolerated.

       The whole problem is that Mojang is trying to be nice about the whole thing.  They want people to have fun playing their game.  They don't want people having to pay to get things that are freely available in the game.  This expectation is more than reasonable.

       Not only that, but with the advent of Minecraft Realms they are in the market of hosting servers themselves.  That is, in plain speak, they are graciously allowing server owners to use a copy of their own product to compete with them.  Is it beginning to sink in just how kind they are being to even allow private server hosting?  Granted Realms does not allow mega-server sizes, but it could be easily scaled to do so.

       It would be in their best interest to update the EULA in the 1.8 release to read that: "Non-Mojang-Hosted servers are for private, non-commercial use only.  As such no fees of any kind may be assessed to access them, in part or in whole."  They haven't done this because they are trying to be good about it.  But really, their lives, and the lives of the majority of players, would be easier if they did.

       This all could change due to the sophomoric, greedy, morally-questionable actions of a small minority of server owners.  The continued twitter-spamming, insults, complaints, and threats (Yes, threats) are causing a great deal of irritation, frustration, and disappointment on the part of the Mojang staff.   They are tired of it.  I don't blame them.

       Unlike most, I have read the EULA.  Mojang's EULA is not written in legalese, and is short enough to be easily understood.  There is simply no excuse for anyone to be mad about this.  They were told of the changes, given time to review them and adjust, they have now been warned and even given a grace period.
     
       There is also no reason for Mojang to put up with it.  If it were my choice I would add a phrase to the 1.8 EULA push: "Any attempt to charge for access to any part of the game, other than a server access fee, will result in an immediate revocation of license for the offending party.  This is entirely at Mojang's discretion, and may be appealed."  I might be tempted to leave off the: "other than a server access fee" part, as well.

Multi Core Support and Minecraft

       It was recently suggested in a tweet by Dinnerbone (Tweet) that Minecraft would be possibly be altered to support multi-core processing.  Like many of you I said: "Finally!"  But this brings me to a topic that can't be denied.  Multi-Core, despite being the norm in computers for some time now, is not supported by many online games.  Look up another game you play.  Odds are it isn't supported.

       The reasons for this are legion, but all boil down to not wanting to exclude people with older, or less powerful systems, and trying to optimize across a near infinity of hardware profiles.  While I can see the logic of these, it is a point of frustration for many.  The fact is that the hardware available on the market has passed by the needs of the vast majority of users.

       If you are old enough, you remember having the list of games that you were "so going to buy" the minute you got a better machine to play them on; because your current battle station didn't pack the gear to run the newest games.  When is the last time that happened?  I'm guessing sometime back when people still used the word "Millennium" a lot.

       Back to the topic at hand.  There will be many hands up right now asking why this particular non-issue is being addressed ahead of some real problems, missing features, or other content.  Those are the same questions that are asked in every online game, when any feature is announced.

       The good news is that the developers take the community's interests to heart.  They do listen, and one gets the impression that they care.  Look up the forums for Mechwarrior online to see what the other side of the coin looks like.  While they have reformed, of late; historically their draconian policing of the forums is the stuff of legend.  Or at least a case study in how to turn people away from your, otherwise excellent, product.

       I sit here typing this on an Asus ROG laptop that I have only ever come close to maxing out playing The Sims 3.  (Meh).  So any time a developer says they are going to optimize for multi-core, I get excited.  I want that feature for every game.  I just don't expect it.

ELO and you.

       First I want to address something.  I have previously written about the way to pilot lights and mediums.  I have not written about heavies and assaults.  This is not because I dislike them or lack experience with them, those are my favorites, actually.  It is because so many, have written so much, and a lot of it is good, that I simply have nothing to add.

       I will say that for heavies: here be meta.  The min/max build reigns supreme and the jump snipers are the regents among regents.  Some assaults as well, but generally an assault's job is to be a menace, by any means necessary.  This means taking one for the team in a lot of cases.  It means being the priority target in every case.

On to the topic...

       I enjoy the occasional stat rest, and honestly, I am not sure how I feel about ELO.  Getting smoked is part of any game.  And by only battling those of your own ability level, you limit your ability to learn from your betters.  It is certainly frustrating to have pro-level gamers pound you into the dirt every game, and it would be discouraging to most.  But the learning curve, while steeper, is also shorter.  

       Before Mechwarrior Online I hadn't played a mech game since Microsoft picked up the franchise years ago.  (not anything against them, that's just when I had some major life events that prevented me from owning a good computer.)  Honestly I played more games at the Battletech Center at North Pier than I ever did the PC version.  

       If you have never been to one I will sum up the experience for you.  Strategy is non-existent, the points were awarded based on damage done, with very little penalty for dying.  You paid for ten minutes, and kept re-spawning until it was up.  It was not, as you might imagine, good training for competitive play.  

       There were leagues, of course, where strategy was employed, but my income was not reliable enough for me to commit to that weekly expense.  20 bucks for the game, 40 for parking, plus food and drinks.  It was most of my month's savings, after expenses, at the time, and really cut into my drinking money.  

       Although wasting money on 10 minutes in a pod, in imaginary robots ate up so much money I couldn't afford an engagement ring.  I eventually did buy a ring, but for someone infinitely better.  Given how happy I am now, I suppose that 6 bucks a minute was a hell of a bargain, but that is a post for another blog.  

        As a result I was rusty terrible.  If ELO was in place during that time I would not have (re)-learned the art of dodging behind cover when Betty told me I was being rained on.  I would have taken longer to learn twist-jutsu if I hadn't been smacked around by my betters, who employed this technique.  

       So while I accept that for many players, ELO is the way to ensure they don't get too frustrated, and come back; it does stifle learning.  Despite the complaints that, occasionally, you drop with new players; or that, as a new player, you drop with experts, ELO is working as intended.  In fact I would say it is working optimally, because the occasional mismatch is a golden learning opportunity.  If you take the time to watch your team, should you die early, you will undoubtedly see a technique, or a way of using a certain weapon, or maybe even observe a build, that might never have occurred to you.

Happy Hunting.

A measure of effectiveness.

       Several of my recent posts have generated rather heated discussions.  Both because of my defense of unconventional builds, and my habit of seeing things differently.  But there is one common thread.  When you design a build to do damage, you are wrong because high damage means sloppy mech destruction.  A lower damage count, many times, results in more kills.  This cannot be denied.

       The other side of the coin is that when you look at kills, that number may only be high because you are stealing kills from teammates, or you are running a glass cannon, and despite your impressive count, your team loses.  This also is true.  Your win/loss ratio could be used as a measurement, but to us PUGgers, due to the variability of teammates, and random disconnects, it really doesn't mean much.  So where to begin?

       While the tendency is to make a build, play test it, and bounce it off other players for opinions, that method is far from scientific.  I want something based on gathered data, that can conclusively show a build, mech, or pilot, is good, or bad.  There are more variables to cope with than can possibly be gathered together, so which ones should be the center of focus.

       In my line of work I deal with several regulatory agencies.  My department must keep track of several metrics, each of which tell only a part of the story, but together, tell everything.  Preventive maintenance goes up, correctives go down.  Things like that.  It would seem, at first, that the same dynamic could be captured here.

       I have previously drawn up spreadsheets with odd combinations of metrics expressed at ratios, because such things can be quite useful.  Damage per second / heat per second, is a good example of this.  Damage per ton is another.  I felt I could come up with some magic ratio that would indicate your effectiveness as a pilot, your skill as a mech designer, or at least the effectiveness of a build.

       After all, the kills/deaths ratio doesn't tell the story completely.  And, as it has been painfully pointed out to me, the job of some mechs is to wreak havoc and die noisily in the center of the field.  Drawing attention to yourself, while your team either picks apart the enemy, or captures objectives.

       At first glance it would seem like kills/damage might work.  Using a great game and a terrible one, to maximize the spread, I came up with (7 kills / 1208 damage {I know right, great game.  Not typical though unfortunately} x 100 for usability) yields 0.579 for a match in my "terrible" atlas build.  The same math for a bad match in my shiny new CN9A(C) yields (1 kill /200 damage, x 100) 0.500

      Clearly this ratio does not tell much of anything, since one of my best matches, and one of my worst, are separated by such a small amount.  Maybe that few hundredths (Ten thousandths, really) means a lot.  My experience likely is not indicative of everyone else's.  Also, matches can be won or lost on the capture of objectives.  Wins pay better, all else being equal.  So that guy in the Jenner didn't kill anyone, he did win you the match.  His ratio couldn't even be calculated, but without him, you all lose.

       The more I thought about it, the more it seems it can't be done.  When you think about it, if there was one ratio by which an effective assault pilot could be rated, would that ratio be valid for a light pilot?  If the effectiveness of a medium is judged by the kills/damage ratio, does that hold up for a heavy, or a light?

       In the absence of any reasonable, or even mildly irrational, metric to measure effectiveness as a pilot, or the effectiveness of a build, there is only one, long-term, way to measure your efficacy.  The win/loss ratio.  If you have been doing your part, regardless of poor-performing teammates, you will win matches.  This is because bad players will, over the long-run, appear on both teams, more or less, equally.

       But then ELO is always seeking to keep that win/loss ratio close to 1.  Whether it works or not; it does invalidate the win/loss ratio as a usable metric.  So here we are, back at the beginning, bouncing ideas off of each other, and having no real numbers.  Not for the PUG world anyway.

Submarines and you.

       I am setting out to change your mind.  I say this up front because, hopefully, you will be less resistant to honesty than coercion.  Most of the debating I do with people about this game is because I think of things in a completely different way than most.

     Most seem to regard mechs as either giant soldiers, or only in the terms described in canon.  The roles of the mechs are as defined by a small game company who thought giant stompy robots with axes and guns were kewl.  I don't disagree with that sentiment.  And who doesn't dig giant robots? But these were not military geniuses.  I am not either.  But I know enough to look for analogs of mechs in the modern world to see what military geniuses think they should be doing.

       Some have suggested that mechs are like bombers and fighters in WWII.  The assaults being the bombers, and that they needed protection from enemy fighters.  The lights and mediums being the fighters, and the heavies... well it goes off track here because this comparison is flawed.

       Mechs are analogous to ships.  Think of the role a submarine plays in naval warfare.  Scouting, hit and run, harassing (and hopefully sinking) larger ships, disappearing after a single shot only to reappear and shoot again.  Sounds like a light mech, doesn't it.

       Frigates are smaller than destroyers. They are designed to protect larger ships, and perform anti-submarine duties.  naturally they also get used for basic attack and defend scenarios.  Sounds a lot like mediums.

       Destroyers are larger and have a primary role of defending larger ships against attacks by smaller, faster ones, like frigates and submarines.  Originally called "torpedo-boat destroyers" it was shortened to just, destroyers.  Many have become the primary surface combatants of the navies of the world.  This fits nicely with Heavies.

       Cruisers are the largest of ships.  They have the most displacement and exist solely to lay down some hurt, in the most efficient manner possible.  (Battleships and Battlecruisers are no longer in main use by the world's navies, and in fact only three countries use cruisers at all)  This is obviously the Assaults.

       So if we play the mechs to the roles of ships, we should, in theory, be an efficient, powerful, battlegroup.  You will note that the role of a cruiser is not to draw fire away from the rest of the group.  Nor is it to lead the charge.  The role of the cruiser is to fire on targets, while smaller ships see to its protection.

       So when I am confronted by angry voices saying that the most angering sight in the game is a barely damaged Atlas, that the job of the assault is to be a laser-sponge, that the entire point of an assault is to die in a "loud, grotesque, military manner", (extra internets if you get that reference), I reflect on two things.  First, that the person saying this, while passionate and well-versed in the game's lore, probably hasn't looked at ships.

       Second, that they don't realize that a mech is not a soldier, it is an expensive piece of hardware.  A captain's responsibility is their very expensive ship.  If this game were as real as some of you think, having your mech destroyed would be worse than hiding or running, despite what the lore says.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_ships

The Atlas Experiment part duh

       So.  After much criticism, many helpful suggestions, and some soul searching I have completed another week in the refitted Atlas.  I now sport an AC20, (having given up on the Gauss) and a machine gun in the ballistic points.  One ER PPC on the side opposite the AC20, so I always have something pointed at someone, and a flamer.  I also placed three LRM 5s.  I will explain these choices.

       The AC20 is because it's a beast.  The ERPPC, because the heat is worth the extra range, and damned-sure worth not having a minimum.  The 3 LRM 5s are because three 5s weigh less than a 15.  Every little bit helps.  Also it kind of matches the tube layout.  Originally I did not include the MG or flamer.

       But then I was forcibly reminded about the nature of PUGs.  My team mates rushed headlong into the mists ahead and left the slow Atlas and his massive artillery behind.  And then I get light swarmed.  I didn't exactly have the time to type a request for help while backpedaling, so it didn't end well.

       Adding the Flamer and MG helps keep lights at bay long enough to dispatch them, or for help to arrive. They aren't exactly a waste of space in close quarters fighting either.  This brings me though to why I built the, admittedly gimmicky, 2xAC2, 2xLL, damage machine I was using.  In a PUG your teammates are rarely to be counted on.  No matter how well they play as an individual, they lack coordination.  This is where the "role specific" mech methodology fails.    

       But I digress.  After another week I am more comfortable with the "more traditional" Atlas I now run.  The other night I had a game that came down to 2 on 1, with me being the 1, and an Atlas being one of the other 2.  Looked mostly intact too.  Great.  My AC20 was nearly out, missiles long used up.  I won't bore you with the details, but I pulled a win right out of my ass.  (OK, by request details below)

     HPG map.  I just had my last teammate and the mech we were engaging go down nearly simultaneously.  I had already used my LRMs and had gotten notice that my AC20 ammo was 25%.  I peeked over a ramp that I was on to see an Atlas and another mech that, sadly I didn't recognize.  Both because I don't have them all memorized, and because I was focused on the bigger threat.  (other mech was tore up).

     I fired the AC20 into the Atlas' back, and backed up so as to not be seen.  4 count and peek.  Back was to me again.  Fire again and back down.  6 count this time (Figured they'd take a longer look around.)  Peek, back to me again, fired... Just as the Atlas turned.  OK time to back into a corner to waited for them to come to me.

       Smaller guy was first.  I fired the flamer, MG and AC, which then was out of ammo, in a vain attempt to at least make the battle even.  While I would like to dazzle you all with the story of how I didn't take a hit, that would be a lie.  I was pounded.  Torso twisting like an epileptic doing the Humpty-hump, I managed to not lose anything more than armor.  At this point I was mostly keeping my right side, with the now inert AC20, and fairly useless flamer toward them.  

       Honestly if they had headsets I would not have pulled that out.  I managed to keep both of them where I could see them most of the time.  Firing the flamer/MG combo at the smaller opponent seemed to be keeping him from hurting me too much.  I lined up on the Atlas, was thankful I opted for the ERPPC for the 100th time that match, and fired.  His left arm came off.

       Now I felt like I could win this, for the first time since seeing that dreaded skull.  Circling the Atlas, (and absentmindedly shutting down once myself), it took three more shots with that ERPPC to down him.  The smaller mech, (that I really do feel like an idiot for not knowing) was backed against the wall, I don't think he was even firing at that point.  Maybe out of ammo, or guns blown off, since he was short a limb or two.  

       While I would like to say it was a clean death, that would be a lie.  Apparently they added shake to the aiming reticle for close matches.  It took me three shamefaced shots to take that thing down.  But I did take it down.  I don't exactly think it was a statue worthy performance, but it was a win.   

       The end result was 4 kills, 5 assists, just over 700 damage.  So almost as well as I was doing after months with my other build.  I suspect with enough time I would hit the same levels as my "terrible" build.

       I am curious why there was such a visceral reaction against this Terrible Atlas build Does it look wrong? Yes.  Is it counter-intuitive? Yes.  Is the chassis, in fact, a terrible fit for the build? Yup.  Did it work? Absofreakinlutely.

       See the build was born out of frustration with my Jagers.  They kept overheating when I needed them up and running, and I was tired of compromising on that.  More heat sinks meant less ammo.  I tried the infamous AC40 build, but I felt dirty running it.  Also, it lacked the range, and honestly the fun of the AC2 builds I ran.  I wanted a mech with enough weight allowance to not ever worry about heat.  So I made that Atlas that you all hate.

       So I had made the longest range machine I could.  LRMs, as I know from using my own ECM, aren't much good against some mechs.  One person asked; with all of the ammo I carried, if I ever ran out, because if not, that meant it was too much.  In reply:  Yes.  Yes I run out of AC2 ammo frequently.  Even with that much.  That happens when you are shooting people from further away than they can return fire.

       So my point, is that if the performance is the same, but more c-bills are awarded when you do more damage, why not use it?

The Atlas Experiment

       Based on conversations I've had on various online forums, I have been playing my Atlas all wrong.  See, given it's consummate lack of mobility, and relative height advantage, I had been using it as a sniper.  A sniper with low power guns.

       It is no secret that I favor simple reliable builds.  On paper that UAC 5 sounds great.  In the real world (Well, the game world) it fails spectacularly every time I need it.  This propensity to fail 1/5th of the time makes it undesirable to me.  My methodology is always the same.  Mathematically speaking, any weapon system you use will be taking space, and weight allowance from another.  Since mass drivers (ballistics and missiles) are the more powerful, and less heat generating, I like those.

       Unfortunately this isn't a movie and you will run them out of ammo.  So a backup energy weapon is advisable.  I like to set the maximum number of weapon types to 2 if at all possible.  This is because it allows the most damage to be dealt, while still affording flexibility.  My build was an Atlas DDC, with ECM, (the whole reason you get the DDC) AMS, standard 300 engine, 2 AC2s, 2 large lasers, (best heat management for the damage they do) over 20 Double Heat sinks, and a metric butt-ton of AC2 ammo.  I also added advanced zoom.
     
       You will notice there are no missiles.  Any other weapons added would mean carrying less ammo, and running out; or fewer heat sinks, and constantly overheating.  Overheating is not a problem I have in this build.  The dual AC2s, which fire together do huge amounts of damage/second.  My range, given the advanced zoom, is far enough that I can target the missile boats and not be fired back on.  When they do the AMS takes care of most of that problem.

       The Lasers are great for upping the damage count, or when my side is selectively targeted, which is always.  My post game stats averaged 400-600 damage and 3-5 kills with a truly random amount of assists.  Not as good as many of you, but good for a casual PUG player like myself.  I have had games with 5 kills and 1200+ damage.  But I'm not going to lie, they were rare.

       So I switched my build to a guass cannon, (for the range) and PPCs.  I did badly the first few games because I kept getting light swarmed.  This was not a problem for me when I ran AC2s, since they fire about 2x/second.  So I dropped 2 tons of ammo, (I had too much anyway) and added a machine gun and ammo.  (it was either that or a flamer)  I also swapped out the PPCs for ER PPCs.  More heat, but no minimum distance.  Now the lights didn't swarm around me and I could begin my experiment.

       I gave myself a week to get used to the new build.  After a while I really felt like I was pounding the other team.  Right until the end of game report.  I was now averaging only 200-300 damage and 1-3 kills with fewer assists.  So the punchline is: While I see where the impression would arise, that bigger guns equals more damage; that is simply not the case.

       Also, with my first build, I was able to keep entire lines of enemy mechs behind a ridge, or other cover, while my team closed the distance.  They usually had to send at least two of their own to take me out, but by that time my team was on the rest of them.  This worked much better than you'd expect.  Again, math.  Double coverage on me, means an imbalance in our favor in the main fray.  The other advantage is that I could keep pounding away while any mech I was engaged with at close range was overheating.  More than once this has made all the difference.

       So the short story is: smaller, rapid firing long range weapons do more damage consistently, than their larger bore counterparts.  Add to this the inherent advantage of not needing an additional "Light-broom"  and the case becomes clear.  The AC2 is the current king of the battlefield.

The People of PUGs

       There are some truly excellent players out there Pugging away.  Guys (and presumably gals) who's names you remember because you hope to have them on your team.  There are some amazing shots, crazy yet-effective builds, and positively genteel pilots.

And then there are these guys...

Captain chat spam:  Thankfully this baboon seems to have a 9:00 bed time, but you'll know him when you see him.  Whether its random Nazi nonsense, or insulting teammates mothers, he makes his presence known.  Some do this well enough that it does irritate enemies into making mistakes; but usually they just concentrate fire on the mouthy guy, he becomes a bad memory, and moves on to the next match.

Mechcommandon't:  The guy who passes lobby time by repeatedly assuming, then relinquishing command.

Blaze of Glory:  Wants to be first to the front.  Puzzled at how often he dies 1 minute in.

Streak of brown:  Not playing a sniper or LRM boat: hides in back anyway.  Often seen blocking the retreat of a teammate instead of switching places or getting out of the way.

Cheese with that:  Never has made a mistake, but boy are his teammates a disappointment, and he will tell you all about it, if you bother to look at the chat.  Like how they are never in the right place to finish that enemy he almost got.  Or how they can't manage to capture five resources with the two assault mechs remaining.  If he were still in the game he totally could.

All alone again:  Somewhere between Blaze and Cheese, this troglodyte consistently rushes into traps, knots, or deathballs of enemy mechs, far ahead of his team, then whines about a lack of help or backup on the chat.

That isn't "R":  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaxddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

oops sorry.  

Hit T by mistake

Four figure ping:  You see him in the lobby.  You hope that it's just a momentary misread.  It will go down.  Nope.  DC.  Better luck next time.  Not like we wanted an even number.

Participle Projecting Can:  Knows more euphemisms for homosexual than he does other words put together.  Uses them all repeatedly.  Methinks the laddie doth protest too much.

Thankfully the following fools are not much seen anymore:

Team Killington:  Apparently believes himself to be a double agent.  

Notabot:  Moves and shoots randomly.  Either a keyboard spambot, or someones toddler sibling.  

Captain Mal Content:  Complains in chat about how bad this game is.  Yet still playing, oddly...

I'm sure I've missed a few of these endangered feces.  I'm sure there are new types (d)evolving as I type this.  Happy Hunting.  

Weight Limits and You

       I am taking a break from my ill advised series on the roles of each weight class in PUG matches to present some thoughts on how weight limits would change the way we play the game.  Much has been thrown around on this already, so I will try not to focus on that.  Also I will be focusing on only the PUG matches.

       This is because I play exclusively PUGs, and pre-made teams will have an even larger advantage once weight limits go into effect.  This is because they can plan, in advance who is in what mech.  For arguments' sake I am going to assume 720 tons as a base.  Mostly this is what the player base seems to have settled on as right, (more or less) and because it is as good a number as any.

       The inclusion of a weight limit means several things.  Firstly, there will likely not be any teams with 4 Atlas on them anymore.  Second, at an average of 60 tons per mech, everyone needs to pull their weight.  There will be more lights, and more mediums.  This is because a single Atlas will make the rest of the team average 56 tons.  There needs to be that offset.  2 Atlas makes the rest of the team 52 tons.  It gets bad quick.

       So to all the assault pilots: "you need to bring the noise big time."  To the lights: "one of you needs to babysit each assault on your team."  Sorry guys, but when there are fewer big guns on the team, the ones you have need to be preserved.  The only way around this is our newest MVP; the mediums.  Between 40 and 55 tons they represent a group that is below the average tonnage.  Each medium frees up tonnage for a heavy or an assault.

       Heavies:  Your role is basically unchanged.  But remember that each ton over 60 will cost teammates tonnage.  Given the Min/Max nature of most heavy builds, and the cost/ton of the damage they bring, I predict that this class will lose popularity faster than assaults.  My reason is simple.  With a proliferation of lights, and medium mechs, slow-moving glass-cannons will not be able to pull their weight.  They will be spotted, and disassembled too quickly to do much good.

       To the mediums: "you are now the bread and butter of a team."  At your tonnage and speed, plus the ability to pack some firepower, you will finally get the respect you deserve.  Still help out that assault pilot, but remember too that you have the ability to swarm and swamp enemy mechs.

       Think about this: a team made of all 6 assaults and 6 lights will do well, but it will be very hard to coordinate.  A team of 6 mediums, and 6 heavies will be easier to coordinate, and bring the same firepower, but not much will be different.  But a team of 3 Atlas, 6 Blackjacks, and 3 Hunchies scares the hell out of me.

       Mediums are great platforms for attrition fighters.  Guns, speed, and not too much armor make them hard to hit, and bad to be hit by.  I am predicting that you will not see too many assaults without ECM.  A map full of fast, mean attrition fighters means that being a big, slow target makes you die fast.  Unless you remain hidden.

       While it will mean some adjustment, and many min/max builds will be forgotten, I'm with the lore guys in saying this will be a welcome change, even if it mixes skill levels more.  Provided there are an equal number of green recruits on each team.

       Like we all are then, I remain cautiously optimistic.  Good hunting.

Your broken mob farm: or How I learned to stop worrying and love the changes.

       I never will tell someone that their opinion is invalid.  But I will make the people complaining about their mob farms being broken love the new changes...  Well, like the new changes... Maybe "accept" is a better word.

       Minecraft was always intended to be a game of horror survival.  That means you live, but just barely.  That means with enough hard work you might have an adequate shelter.  With enough work, you might even be safe for long stretches of time, despite the constant threats.  It does not mean that farming dangerous creatures is something you should expect.

       "Hey jerk" I hear some of you saying, "there is a large community who play this game just to build things like mob farms and automation."

       Yes.  Yes there is.  Why I have even been known to indulge in creative-mode building myself.  I will not say you are playing the game wrong, as there is no wrong way to play it.  But your complaint about having to redesign your slime farm is misplaced.

       First, Mojang is merely correcting things that were not right in the first place.  A creature that spawns in swamps should be able to survive in them.  Second, there are other designs which will still work, so you can still farm them.  Third, and most importantly, as a designer you should be relishing the opportunity to redesign something.  It's part of the fun of the game.

       OK, that was a stretch.  Having something randomly broken, that you have put a great deal of time and effort into, is really annoying.  But to be fair, this was done to improve the game, not to break your stuff.  I despise command blocks.  They make designing things too easy.  But I tolerate them in the game because they did improve it in many ways.  Not any ways I use, but still...

       The real reason that anyone complaining about changes in Minecraft should accept them is that, unlike every other company out there, Mojang has yet to charge for expanded content.  They are not breaking your slime , or golem farm, just to charge you extra to make it functional again.  By changing the game, for free, they are creating a new user experience, generating renewed interest, and keeping the game challenging.  Isn't that why you're still playing in the first place?

Creeper queen.

I have been playing Minecraft since the beta.  Mostly continuously.  It is an addictive game.  But I have always been bothered by something.  The behavior of Insinuatis dissiluntis viridis vulgaris, or the common Creeper, has always bothered me.

Skeletons and Zombies are undead, hate all life, and so will attack you simply for having the audacity to be alive.  Endermen are like shadow creatures, and will only attack if you "see" them.  Spiders are just giant spiders.  Hunting when it suits them.  Extra-dimensional creatures attack you for being alien.  But what explains the behavior the Creeper?

Really, what does this silent murderer gain from destroying itself in an attempt to destroy me?  Why, in fact, does it creep?  What is its motivation to self-combust?  What , in nature does something like that?

Bees.  Bees do that.  They sacrifice themselves for the good of the hive.  To sting is to die, but the colony lives on.  Hmmm...

It may have been suggested before, and I'm certain I'm not the first person to observe this, but I think we need a few more types of creeper.  We've seen the drones.  What of the ones tending the colony, or the young, or the queen?

The nurses could be found nesting in the treetops of the new dark oak forest biome.  This nearly continuous canopy would make a perfect hiding place for a Creeper nest.  Maybe there would be one especially large tree that would, if you got too close, erupt in creepers like stone does in silverfish.

Once enough of this tree was removed, either by the loss when a Creeper comes out, or by damage, the queen would emerge.

While I shudder to think what the queen would be like, it would be a completely overworld boss.  No journeying required, no exotic creation methods.  All you need is to seek out the hive, or have the bad luck to stumble on one accidentally.

Perhaps there should be some rare, or exotic treasure found in the nest.  Maybe whatever it is they eat would have some effect that could be exploited.

Or maybe they will forever remain a mystery...

How to meduim

I want to start by saying that my posts are all about making yourself more valuable to your team in a PUG.  Following my advice is likely to earn you less cash and XP than most other play methods.  My goal is to play for the team.  I ride for the brand, even if it is in 15 minute increments.  (I guess Lone Wolf suits me).

Also, before I begin, I want to qualify that I am giving advice on mediums as an observer.  I have tried to pilot them very few times, and, well... let me put it like this.  I do best with min/maxed, novelty, or purpose built mechs.  I can't get that to work for mediums.  (I do not consider a metric butt-ton of lasers to be a gimmicky build)  So I am basing my post on my observations of the medium pilots who have blasted my face off, or if I was lucky and they were on my team, racked up numbers that would make an Atlas pilot cry.

It seems that the best way for a medium to be built is fast, and general purpose.  While I would suggest lights and heavies to begin with a plan; mediums should play fast and loose.  You are the utility infielder, the pinch-hitter.  You need to chase down lights, cap points, bum rush a heavier mech, and pack enough punch to be a true menace, all in the same game, and at a moments notice.  No one expects the Atlas to cap points, and no one expects the Spider to duke it out in a firefight.  As a medium pilot you will be called on to do both.

While there are many ways to go about this, the builds that seem to do best are the laser boats.  Since (although I still hate them) lasers are the best general purpose weapons in the game, this is what I see working for people.  Many balance this out with LRMs.  One medium pilot told me the best way to play was to use up all of your LRMs, then rush what was left of the enemy line.  But then, that was before the great LRM nerfing of '13.

In a perfect world, mediums would do the capping, and lights the scouting.  I say this because a light, capping a point, usually has to run off when confronted.  A medium will be able to hold, or at least hold long enough for reinforcements.  In a skirmish, mediums can shine.  There is only one job to be done, wreak havoc.  Really, for an overburdened medium pilot, having only one job is like a vacation.

There.com

I recently had received an email informing me that my old avatar on There.com was able to be resurrected, with all my stuff.  For those of you who do not know, There.com was an online community, like second life, but it took place on islands, and mostly had an islander theme.  I wasted more time than I care to admit on that game.

I think the right word is game.  You made an avatar, you could fly a hoverpack, ride a dune buggy, pilot a hoverboat, ride a hoverboard, shoot a paintball gun, you know, game.

But then again, you mostly chatted, bought clothes, (which back in the day included Levi's and Nike's) interacted with friends, some of whom you had only met playing there.com, and who actually lived in other countries.  You could design clothes to sell, then trade your Therebux for real currency.  Mostly you converted real currency to Therebux to buy things, because seriously, hoverboard.

I got in on the beta, (class of seychelles), and had a lifetime membership, but had been a long time since I had played.  In fact I stopped pretty much the day I jumped into the Minecraft beta.  The company actually shut down the game in, or around 2008.  Apparently they had started back up.  Anyway, I decided "what the hell?", and downloaded the client.  Within minutes I was back on my favorite island, but my items would take another day or two to load.

I was skimming the FAQs and came across something that talked about payment, apparently there is now a fifty cent charge for test play.  That is good because the game was subject to a lot of griefing.  That charge would prevent most of it.  Also it was now an 18+ community, that would prevent the rest.

Buried in the FAQs was a line about still honoring the lifetime memberships.  Sweet.  So I waited a day or two and logged in, jumped on my favorite board, and raced away.

This game, online community, whatever; in its day was so crowded that whole areas would not load for minutes at a time, as servers raced to keep up.  There were cross country buggy races that had hundreds of participants.  There was an online concert.  (I forget the band).   There were houses that could be rented but none were available.  Everywhere you looked were people, porta-zones, things to do and people to talk to.

Now however, you might run into a group of three others on any given night.  No one flies, drives, or walks anywhere.  They just stand and chat.  I think membership is like 10 bucks a month.  I thought: "this will pick back up. Surely they started with the beta members, and are just beginning to fill up."  Nope.  They've been up for a while now.  It's still entertaining, but what good is a social venue with no people?

There.com was exiting.  There.com was a great place to hang with friends.  There.com was a good way to spend a Saturday night.

There.com was.

And it could be again...

The core game, community, whatever, is still solid.  Users can still create new items and sell them.  The community is, as it was then, very helpful and supportive of new entrants.  They will loan you any item you want to use, and you can level up without ever owning something.  It is still amazing to tool around on a hoverboard and see the astounding amount of detail that was put into the islands.  It is still a rush to do a time trial on a buggy course.  It is a ton of fun when you meet someone new, and teach them chat commands ('chicken).  The game still has the unlimited potential it always did, but what it lacks, and no one knows why, is advertising.

The owners are not pushing it.  They don't seem to care if it makes money.  That is great, but the community is much better with more people.  So here is the advertising they refuse to do.  Try the game for 50 cent.  If you don't like it, all you're out is half a bottle of Coke.  If you do, you have a club to hang out in, a board to ride, and people to meet.  If I see you, I'll even lend you my favorite hoverboard.  It's better than facebooking.

How to Light

When joining a PUG, it is best to bear in mind what you intend to do with your mech, before the match even starts.  If possible, declare this to your teammates prior to the start of the match.  While piloting a light this normally takes the form of: "I have a TAG, any boats out there?", or "I'm capping (point) then (other point)."

While scouting is the natural role of the light, there are many other options for you.  First, if on conquest, capture remote points.  One smart-ass in a spider, capping points early on, is the difference between winning and losing.  If you are doing this, do not ever engage the enemy.  Let the heavies and assaults do that.  Just keep running from one point to another.  If able, report any enemy sightings.  The shame here is that you don't get more XP for that.

If on skirmish, stick close to an Assault and play flyswatter for him.  You get some kills, you protect a teammate, and basically you both benefit.  Like the little birds eating the flies from the back of a water buffalo.

On assault, take the long way around the outside of a map.  Use that TAG if you have it.  Scout while attempting to "cap" the enemy base.  I used the quotation marks because you are not really capping.  You are convincingly staying there until some enemy mechs show back up, then running like hell.  The enemy team is now split up and disarrayed.  If none of them turn back, you get a cap win.  Not great, but not bad for a plan B.

If you are intending to purely scout, then do.  But, do not engage the enemy.  Take a shot, and flee behind your line.  (Or a large mech)  Pop out and flank, take one shot and flee.  Unless you are skilled in mechanical ballet, if you engage you will be nothing more than a smoke plume in short order.  (If you are that good, I'm assuming you aren't reading this.)

Needless to say you have a mech that runs like a raped-ape.  If you are in a light that is not blindingly fast; start over.  You cannot make that thing into a gunboat; don't try.  (Unless you are that wise-guy in the ERPPC raven.  Bravo on that.  You sir, are a massive ass-pain.)

Mech layout

In the creation of a customized mech there are so many options that it is overwhelming to even the best players.  That does not stop people from complaining that there are not enough, but that is another post.  The options are, thankfully, approachable by intuitive math.  Don't panic, I'm not going all "spreadsheet warrior" on you.  (although I can do that with the best of 'em.)  I'm talking out ballistics, lasers, and you.

I like to run mechs designed so that I have only two or three weapon groups, and rarely need to worry about heat.  There are many who can juggle SRMs, LRMs, lasers, and ballistics, with way too few heat sinks, dance around and do just fine.  I am not one of them.  These guys have a weapon, or counter, for every occasion.  The way I see it that is unnecessarily complicated.  Also, Omnimechs are a long way off, yet.

In the simplest terms there are low-heat, high ammo weapons: ballistics.  There are medium (though still too high) heat, high ammo weapons: missiles.  There is one low ammo, no heat option: the machine gun.  And there are high heat, no ammo lasers and PPCs.

When you get right down to it though, heatsinks are to lasers (and PPCs) what ammo is to an autocannon.  The great thing is that unlike mass-drivers, which require a different ammunition for each type, energy weapons can all share the same heatsinks.  (so do the ballistics, I know)

The best builds, I have found, carry two types of weapon, at most three, divided into two (or three) groups.  For example, two AC2s, and two large lasers.  The ACs deal damage at a distance, and have a high rate of fire.  The lasers deal better damage, especially close in, but generate a ton of heat, and have a long cycle time.  Together they can alternate fire and be a real pain.  If you were to add another laser, it would be grouped in with the others.  Add a machine gun and it should be a separate, special use, group.

Another option would be two LRM15s and two lasers.  While less flexible in terms of rate of fire, this allows for indirect fire, doing damage at a distance, and still maintains some close in punch.  If you only take one kind of weapon though, make it energy weapons.

I have seen that guy running the min/maxed JM-glasscannon, that needs extra cool down time, and has no extra weight allowance for a backup laser.  Hell, I've been that guy.  It is a fun build.  Right up until that match where it is you, out of ammo, and your arm-less Centurion teammate, trying to keep a relatively healthy Dragon off of a contested resource; and you end up trying to ram a Dragon to death.

The benefits of a simpler set-up are many.  Fewer things to screw up.  Fewer types of ammo to carry means more of the ones you do carry, which means not running out.  More room for heat sinks, and that means rarely over-heating.  More room for a bigger engine.  Simpler affords you much more flexibility.  More engine, and average heat sinks for those that like to run.  More heatsinks and average engine for brawlers, who can just keep laying down a drum-solo of fire without over-heating.

The downsides...  Well sometimes you are really banged up and want to hide and cap, while firing missiles indirectly, so as to remain alive.  With some simple builds, you can't do that.  Sometimes the enemy won't be nice and stand still to be shot.  Missiles won't help you much here, if they are diving in and out of cover.

PPCs are essentially AC20s dressed up like lasers.  They require a lot more heatsinks, (ammo) and do all of their damage in one shot.  The slow projectile speed makes shooting a moving target... interesting, but they make a mess when they hit.

The argument for lasers is that they are perfect general-purpose weapons.  They do not have a fast cycle time, but they do good damage per ton.  My only complaint is that they spread damage over time.  Which means keeping them on a moving target, or only dealing partial damage.  They are the workhorses of this game though, and despite my distaste for them, need to be given respect.  (There is something inherently dissatisfying about firing a laser.  Just in game though.  Firing one in real life is amazing.)

The Illusion of (Un)Availability

I'd like to preface my first post here by saying that my ideas are all based in speculation, and are completely my opinions based on my experiences. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Sam's post about "Pugging" (I've never heard of this term, so it sounds like I'm one of those sad people he's talking about in his opening statement. Honestly for some reason I think it sounds kind of dirty, but maybe that's actually a reflection on me) brought me back to an idea I've spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking about, mostly to justify my own embarrassing League of Legends playtime (something like 555 hours over the past 2-ish years; is it embarrassing because it's so much time or not enough? It all boils down to perspective).

The idea, specifically, is that League of Legends is indeed a sport, even if in referring to it as such I have to stick the "e" on it to differentiate it from traditional sports (i.e. it is an "eSport"). I'm not here to debate the soundness of that claim or to talk about how there is in fact a professional league, or that those players train to do things that normal people can't, or that the viewership/sponsorship numbers verify its status as a sport, or whatever.

Actually, I wanted to talk about a specific phenomenon I've noticed in casual League players: their inability to make themselves even remotely available throughout the duration of their games (which can generally last anywhere from 20-60 minutes). Sometime last year, my girlfriend with whom I've recently moved in (actually, I guess almost two years ago isn't that recent), complained about my inability to detach from a game for a second to help her with something, ranging from largely unimportant (another perspective issue) tasks, like reading over something she wrote, to pretty significant favors, like picking her up from or giving her a ride to a meeting she was late for. She pointed out that I can never walk away from games because throughout my childhood I was allowed to invest way too much significance into them, but that as a kid she never had a problem turning off her Gamecube or whatever if her mom said it was time to go. Eventually we talked this over; I made my case that a single game of League was a fairly long time investment wherein every moment would pretty heavily impact the course of the entire experience, and not only for myself, but for nine other real people, who had essentially also agreed to commit up to an hour of their time to this venture. She came to accept that point and I started being more considerate about starting games during time-sensitive periods, and even ended up leaving a few of games when something crucial came up unexpectedly, because obviously (it wasn't that obvious to me before, sadly enough) certain life events require prioritization over others, regardless of a predetermined commitment.

Fast forward to today, where my mom regularly complains about my dad's (and my brother's) apparent League addiction(s), and I can't completely side with either of my parents on who's in the wrong. On the one hand, I completely understand her frustration, because the two manboys with whom she shares a house are sitting on their computers participating in this completely alien (to her, at least) activity, while she struggles to complete chores without their assistance because of their preoccupation with their laptops. On the other hand, (and I am not trying to endorse the idea that League of Legends specifically is more important than helping your mom/wife do housework) the situation starts to grow more complex if you consider the act of playing a game of League as a pickup basketball game, or in some cases, participation in an amateur sports league.

For people who play normal games (and even Solo Queue games, to an extent), League of Legends is essentially a series of pickup games. You log in, and maybe you'll queue up with friends, but in general you play with nine strangers who suddenly all agreed to get together and collectively participate in this activity that each of you individually enjoy (barring trolls, but that's everywhere in everything). You're interacting with other people in a shared context to achieve a common goal. As my dad can attest, you can make friends (way more than I'd be comfortable with, in his case) with your short-term teammates and even your opponents, maybe out of a shared respect for each other's attitude or gameplay, who knows (I sure don't). Playing League of Legends, despite occurring behind a monitor, despite the notoriously toxic community, is actually a deeply interactive shared human experience. More simply, and more importantly (in this case), it is effectively the same as casually playing a sport in your free time, with the added sidebar that you do it inside your own house (in our case).

As a quick aside, as far as I remember my mom complained for years that my dad needed to get out of the house more and spend time with some friends, and for reasons I don't totally understand (and as a result, don't want to ignorantly speak on), it looked like this caused friction in their relationship. My dad definitely did spend most of his time at home, just sitting on his laptop playing even less engaging games that required even less actual human interaction (like Mafia Wars or Farmville). Recently (as in within the past two or three months, but after even more months of my brother's and my asking if he was interested), my dad started playing League of Legends more than once a day, and since then I don't think he's stopped (in fact I'm pretty sure that for at least a month he's been playing more than I do). However, it's given him something with a fairly sizable content base to talk to his kids about, and to keep his mind engaged in during his free time. Maybe more importantly, it's given him something to care about, as petty as it might be, and it's given him people to talk to outside of work and home, about something that he enjoys, and on a pretty regular basis.

Now that he finally has something that he's hugely focused on though, it seems to be taking up too much of his focus. I've seen or heard about my dad or my brother being unable to help my mom do housework or unload groceries too many times to count (although who would even be counting that anyway? Only a little shit) because they were already involved in a game of League. Coming back to my original point, I can understand my mom's frustration with these situations, but I think it's important to think about this alternative. My dad could have joined an amateur basketball league at a park or something, and he would have been literally unavailable, in almost every sense of the word. He wouldn't even be around to reject the favors being momentarily asked. My brother could be one of those kids that spends a lot of time at a park (although a little time at the park probably wouldn't hurt him, speaking frankly) actually playing pickup games, and he wouldn't be around either. The only real difference between these two situations (where my family is active and probably healthy vs the current state of affairs) is that my mom has to physically look at their faces while she struggles with whatever she's doing, and then hear them bluntly deny her requests. If they weren't there, she'd just be stuck doing what she's doing alone, but I get the feeling that she wouldn't be complaining to them about their momentary unavailability. If anything, I feel like she'd probably be more open to the idea of them doing their parts once they were, by all definitions, available.

I don't want to get into arguing about how playing a traditional sport is a more valuable use of time than wasting your life in front of a laptop screen, because that means trudging into the ugly argument of "what is a sport and also League of Legends is not a sport are you joking". I just wanted to offer some context on why League players feel like they can't walk away from their computers in the middle of a game. The truth is that it's not that easy, just like I assume it isn't that easy to walk away from a pickup game mid-game (although I actually imagine that tons of kids have had to walk away from tons of pickup games, so maybe this entire post was a waste of time, both yours and mine). It appears to be easy because our society trivializes computer usage and respects physical athleticism, and from the perspective (again) of someone who doesn't play games in real-time, let alone one that requires a long-ish commitment, that's all it appears to be - frivolous computer usage.

This point seems to come from a fairly privileged perspective, but with another shift of context I think it can be made more universally relevant. The tables could even be reversed in this situation, I think. For example, if my mom was in the middle of an insane gym session or some kind of class or maybe like a dinner with her coworkers, it wouldn't be cool if my dad and brother busted right in like, "UH THIS PLACE IS A MESS CAN YOU HELP ME OUT HERE, JESUS". Maybe they'd call her or text her, and maybe they'd take care of it themselves or maybe she'd help out when she got home. Isn't it possible that the same courtesy should apply to someone playing a game of League?

That being said, my brother can be a real dickhead about not stepping away from a game at any moment for anything. Like dude you can step away from your laptop for thirty seconds if all you're doing is sitting at base waiting for like 15 gold or your hp to refill before going back to lane and your mom is literally standing outside for twenty minutes because she forgot her keys inside. It's one thing to be mid-teamfight while pushing in or defending an inhibitor turret and another to just be split pushing while your team is handling 4v5s just fine, and during a NORMAL game. You know she wouldn't leave you waiting outside for twenty minutes unless she had a really good reason, so come on, don't be a dickhead.

P.S. there are obviously reasons that you should immediately leave a game (the Master Yi whose wife was allegedly giving birth and who allegedly told her to wait as long as she could comes to mind), but...

tl;dr: I don't think the groceries are going to spoil in the trunk of the car if we wait 20 minutes for us to stomp these nooblords, and if we were out shootin' hoops our moms probably be waiting even longer or doing it themselves. And if we were just at home doing nothing at all we'd probably be getting complaints about how we do literally nothing at all. Basically there is no winning and maybe that's life. Actually,

P.P.S. / tl;dr x2: There is no winning and that's just life.

MWO: 10 steps to better Pugging.

If you didn't know, PUG is Pick-up game.  That is to say, a game (in this case Mechwarrior online) where you are playing in a team, but not with preformed groups.  Like a playground game of pick-up basketball.  If you did not know that, you really need this.  If you did, hopefully you do not.

I will be presenting you some basic practices, not tactics, that will enhance your PUG.  Nothing Mech, or even class specific really, just some mostly overlooked, good ideas.  Giant stompy robots are fun; but giant ass-stompy robots are more fun.

First, everyone mentions the "Deathball" that forms in PUGs.  While the deathball is a good idea for moving from one place to another, it is best to spread out a little once your team finds a ridge, or other partial cover to take advantage of overlapping fields of fire.  If two of you are shooting at the same enemy, from different positions, he needs to split his fire.  If he is smart enough to concentrate his fire, he is going down before either of you, due to taking twice as much fire as he is dealing.  (not always, but in a perfect world.)

Second, do not travel faster than the slowest mech in your group.  Most likely that is an Atlas, or Jaeger, which has big guns.  If they are at the back, enemy scouts will pick them apart before they can aid your team.  Many times that Atlas has ECM, so you want to stick close by anyway.

Third, be a flyswatter.  If you are not the giant gun, protect the giant gun.  Keep the lights and mediums off of your big guns.  They will thank you, your team will thank you.  As an added bonus both of you will be concentrating fire on enemy mechs.  You might even get credit for a kill doing this.

Fourth, if you are the big gun, do not get caught alone.  Use the text if you have to.  In fact, at every class, unless you are the last one alive, (and you are most likely in a Spider if you are) you should never be standing anywhere alone.  (experienced scouts excepted, of course)

Fifth, if you are the last one standing, don't hide.  If it's one-on-one, and you will get the capture win, OK.  But if not, don't be that guy.  Go out in a blaze of glory, a smoking black cloud, and a fine red mist.

Sixth, before the match, use team chat if you have anything that might help your team.  "ECM here", "LRM boat here", "TAG here".  There will be dumb comments from those prone to such, but most of your team likes to have that info.

Seventh, compliment a good kill.  Even if it's from the other team, and it frosts your ass to say it.  Especially then, actually.  Do not say "good game" or "GG" unless it was.

Eighth, please do not try to shoot each member of the other team, to get assists.  Concentrate on the win.  Grinding will become a grind if you go for cash and XP.  Those will come in greater quantities with a win anyway.

Ninth, Stretch.  Seriously.  You will have better reaction time, and therefore better games if you are not all cramped up.

Tenth, (you guys like official sounding numbers right, so I need ten of these)  Um... eat your veggies?