Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries

The modding community finally fixed the awful scaling:

 

There is plenty to criticize about all the ways the game is lacking, but have you played previous Mechwarrior titles? I've played literally all of them. Trash mobs and repetitive missions was always part of the experience. But I don't let that ruin it for me, because I always found creative ways to enjoy it.

May I suggest that you take a break from it and wait for it to hit the Steam Store? By then, many more of us will have it and we can play it together with some fun additions to gameplay to spice things up. I don't want to tell you how to play the game, but playing the vanilla game solo is not the "ideal" experience of the game if you ask me.

Some other ideas:
if the game is getting too easy for you, try running with lighter/faster mechs or set a time limit on missions. It significantly changes the experience when you suddenly can't just mop the floor of everyone. Would I have preferred a more fleshed out game with more interesting gameplay mechanics baked in, yes. The vanilla experience is not great, but I like that it at least gives me the flexibility to play it how I want to. Perhaps your tastes have change and that's fine. But overall, MW5 is still objectively an improvement over previous games in the franchise. And we should not discount the massive mod support it has that will keep it relevant for many years to come.

 

It left Epic a month or two back, hasn't made it to Steam yet but, a number of us are playing it from the Microsoft store. Sadly apparently they haven't managed to come up with any sort of cross play so Epic users are limited to playing with Epic users and Microsoft with Microsoft.

 

It already has, well kind of... My best guess is that since Microsoft owns the IP, PGI were able to leave a clause in the contract with Epic that Microsoft could get it before the year of "exclusivity" was over. They wanted to get all the sales possible through Epic with the really good profit sharing that it allowed for while they could. Now PGI is desperate to get more sales as being the big fish in the small tank is over and they are just another game in the epic store and already well out of the top 20 sellers on the platform. (side note I was blown away that Siege is in the top 20 sellers there, 5 years after release on nearly every other store imaginable) I'm hoping that the DLC can breath some new life into it by the time that the steam release happens (if it happens) sadly my experience so far has been with an incomplete and basic game that has less functionality in some respects than early close beta MWO had. It already has had large discounts on Epic and is free to play for all the Microsoft PC Game Pass holders so I'm not sure how this will turn out. I laugh that I managed to get MW5 for free with only having to pay Microsoft $1 for the next three years of Gampass access, much better than what I was going to get from my now refunded pre-order. Also have the new Microsoft flight simulator for free in addition to tons of other games. Really has been a great deal for me.

 

Launched in December, currently on the summer sale for around 30% off of the $50 price tag, has been more heavily discounted before with special offers that stacked. Zero extra content yet, simply adding in the content that was promised from the start with adding in the ability to mod it. The additional dlc that was supposed to originally come out this summer has been postponed due to Covid with no additional word on it in a while.

 

You do lose access if you end the service subscription. However I didn't pay the normal amount per month. There is still a loophole for anyone who has an xbox live gold subscription (anyone who plays online with an xbox) to prepay for 36months of service, then for $1 total you convert all 36 months of xbox live gold service to the microsoft xbox game pass ultimate edition.

So since I already had an xbox live gold subscription to play the odd game with friends from college and I pay for a year at a time for the best discount anyway it was a no brainier. In this case I bought two 12 month cards from amazon (actually 13 months when you activate and set up for a recurring payment you get an extra month to what ever value the redemption code was for) then an additional shorter one to max my account out to 36 months banked of xbox live gold time. Then I did the upgrade from xbox live gold to xbox game pass ultimate for $1 which then changed all 36 months to game pass ultimate. Since I was already going to be paying for xbox live gold for the next few years anyway to game with my old friends on my xbox, I ended up paying a single dollar to get access to free games for the entirety of that time as well.

 

oh no they aren't charging a dollar for the games, the games are all entirely free while you have the subscription, I just happened to only have to pay a single dollar for the next three years of the service to gain access to all the games on the game pass service.

The ability to buy the games if you really like them or even just buy the upgrade from the base (free to your account) game to the higher versions is really nice so in the case of forza horizon I only had to buy the upgrade from the base to the deluxe game to get all of it. Also the discount on all the games and dlc in the store is really nice as well regardless if they are part of the free game library or not.

 

It's really not that complicated. The Xbox service just uses basic DRM methods to control access and is basically just like any other subscription-based "access service", but for video games. When you stop paying the service, you stop getting "access" to play the game (except for the one specific exception that MH already explained). If you don't want to wait (or already have an Xbox live pass), the access pass is a great temporary solution. But if you can stand to wait, just wait for the Steam version.

Getting more details on new free updates and the first major DLC. Sounds like a lot of good news:

https://mw5mercs.com/news/2020/04/38-mw5-mercs-dlc-update

FREE UPDATE:

• Will launch alongside the "HEROES OF THE INNER SPHERE" DLC
• More immersion! - a Comstar news feed will keep you informed on border changes and tech advancements as they happen, plus many more lore-based events.
• QoL fixes such as full 360 LOS radar, and ambient and area-based heat effects.
• more details waiting to be announced.

HEROES OF THE INNER SPHERE DLC:

• New Career Mode - start a career from scratch in any of the great houses or import your progress from the original Campaign.
• Career Paths - Complete 5 different job types to unlock career path rewards including new blueprints for quirking mechs.
• Expanded Inner Sphere Map that includes 61 total warzones (+18), 34 Industrial Hubs, and 55 quest lines (+11) recrafted for less linear, more open exploration.
• Hunt down 7 new heroes and their hero mechs in the story-driven Hero Quests, featuring 7 unique handcrafted missions.
• 7 new 'Mech chassis: Corsair, Vulcan, Charger, Hatamoto-Chi, Dervish, Champion, Marauder II
• 50 new variants including new variants for existing chassis.
• New equipment: ECM, EWECM, BAP, EWAP, MASC, Supercharger.
• New Weapons: Chem Lasers, Short Burst lasers, Mech Rifles.
• New Procedural Mission type: Beachhead that features artillery strikes and emplacements.
• New Giant Moon Biome and Moonbase garrisons.

This is just a guess, but my guess is this will come out around the same time as the Steam launch. The Steam release will likely be discounted and available as a combo pack with the new DLC. Good news for anyone who has waited this long. I always knew I wanted the Steam version, but I'm glad I kept the Epic version if for no other reason so that I could tell you all with certainty "wait for the Steam version".

 

Props to NGNG for calling it as they see it!!

I'm sadly right there with him, so much I wish was just a little more completed like screen resolutions that worked.

 

More good news for MW5!