Recs.
Updated
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Your favorite "unseen" mechs have made a comeback
Unseen refers to certain imagery, namely the visual appearance of a number of iconic BattleMechs, that has not been depicted in official publications since 1994 for legal reasons. The units as such—their BattleTech names, game stats and history—always remained part of the BattleTech canon.
Basically due to legal restrictions, many Mechs have been unused in the past that are now currently in this game to be used.
Pro It has gratifying mech building
The ability to personalize based upon your weapon preferences is huge. All through a discovery process and learning what works for you and what does not. Its the same concept behind what makes Armored Core games so entertaining, despite having awful gameplay, mechanics, and storylines.
Pro Some Mechs are straight up overpowered with certain builds
Certain groups of weapons or boats naturally complement each other, such as SRMs and AC cannons, or LRMs and lasers. Some configurations can be overpowered, which results in you having an advantage while other players are disadvantaged.
Cons
Con P2W: Pay to not get mauled to death constantly
Trial Mechs are a joke. They are intended to allow you to get right into the thick of the action until you've saved up to purchase a mech of your own and customize it to your preferences. That however is never the case as you are constantly losing right off the bat, making it nigh impossible for you to make a real income in game, causing many newbies to turn away rather quickly. Until you spend some of that sweet sweet micro transaction cash, or by some miracle make the 10-17+Million it takes to create a viable mech build, then you are just gonna be eating bullets for a while.
Con Purchases you make are worthless the moment you make them
Spent 50 real dollars on an okay mech with an okay build but feeling a little buyer's remorse? Wanna sell it back to PGI for C-bills? Well too bad, with one exception (The Cicada Hero), most mechs and their parts are worth less than half of what you bought them for in game currency.
Con MC: Mechwarrior Credit is worthless
It's an absolute waste of money in comparison to the mechpacks, collectors packs, and pre-orders, which come loaded with modules and goodies that are a real pain to unlock and pay for with MC and C-Bills.
On top of that, PGI seemingly punishes players who spend money on MC instead of Mechpacks by offering "Customer Appreciation" items that are of far greater value than rewards offered for MC alone, even if the dollar amount spent is the same.
Con You cannot easily create or communicate with clans in game
You can create a unit, but beyond that, you are severely limited to a poor man's AOL instant messanger, which is saying something. Once you are in a match, voice communication becomes enabled. If you dont have teamspeak or a mic you are very much out of luck.
Con Customer "Appreciation" Events are just a ploy
Customer "Appreciation" Events are simply a ploy to goad players into spending more money through the MWO website, so that players might receive a slightly different variant of a Mech that is "free". One must make high dollar purchases to get those mechs that may or may not be OP depending on what's been nerfed at the time.
Con General social interactions
Making friends is hard since everyone in the match is booted at the tally screen. Nothing of the previous match is recorded, so you can't find the people you liked from the last match in order to friend them. Identifying people you want to play with and friend request must be done before the match ends, or you must wait till you meet that player again, which is not very likely.
Con Pre-order Mechs and Mechpacks
Every time one of these are introduced to the game, players find a way to abuse them and break the game. This causes PGI to Nerf everything globally through heat, charging, hard point restrictions or individual weapon nerfs. Some of said restrictions don't even make sense lore-wise: Since when has a gauss rifle ever needed charging in books and previous games? Never. They are always charged all the time.