Edit:My thoughts will be in bold black text. there has been complaints about the red, if this doesnt solve the issue i am not sure what will be done next.
From
http://community.pla...e-of-open-beta/
 [ADH]HUGHES, on December 11 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:
[ADH]HUGHES, on December 11 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:
We're just hours away from the Open Beta of HAWKEN! We can't thank you enough for your interest, support and passion for our game. The excitement from you means more than you know and it's a great boost of energy for us; a shot in the arm so to speak. Make no mistake, we've been working extreme hours to ensure this is the best possible game we can make and there is still so much to come; the features on the near horizon are not small additions and we can't wait for you to see them! We appreciate your hard work and enjoy the game very much. Keep it up.
Let's Talk Open Beta
Countermeasures, new mech content, performance optimizations, updated UI, a new starting mech, bug fixes, music and balancing! That's just a taste of some of the Open Beta improvements we're excited about. However rather than simply provide a list of everything that's new, in this letter I want to focus on a few related points.
Matchmaking and the Server Browser
One of the hot topics that surfaced during our final Closed Beta event was the removal of the server browser. I want to take some time to explain the reasons we're not going live with that yet. A fair and balanced experience is a high priority for us and the server browser was making it difficult for us to test our matchmaking design thoroughly. Even though it was sometimes a convenient way to jump into a match, ultimately it had a hand in making matches unbalanced, uneven and well… no fun for a good number of players. As a result of its removal we were able to make quite a few improvements to the system and hopefully players will see a difference in the matchmaking experience. Right away you should see changes not only in the balance of your opponent's skill, but also when a player joins match. Also, matches with more players are now favored so this will help reduce the chance a player will have to wait for more people before a match can start. There are other behind the scenes tweaks we've made since Closed Beta. We want the best possible experience for all HAWKEN players and we will continue to tweak as needed. This will make our tournament slightly harder to manage but we should survive. Did i notice some changes in CBE3? those were nice. If matches with more players are favored will this mean that matches with less players will take more time to fill up?
The server browser is not being removed permanently. We've decided to make its return a part of a bigger social feature plan for the near future. Clan support, dedicated servers and building communities through the server browser is part of our ultimate design and we will have more information on all of this soon. I'm personally a big fan of having a server browser, but we do want to roll it into something special. My mind might be playing tricks on me but you intend to charge for clan support and dedicated servers. Charging for server browser i think is a bad idea.
Introducing Siege Mode 2.0 and More
We've made some changes in Siege Mode and we're interested in hearing your feedback. We went back to a rule set we had quite a few months ago as internally we found it more fun than the "base tick" version we had in Closed Beta. Bases now have a "health bar" and battleships sit outside bases (once they get there), unleashing damage in order to take their opponent's base health down to nothing. The pacing is better and teams can more easily pull off an upset if they work together. This is just the beginning of a revamped version of the mode coming later which right now we refer to internally as Siege Mode 2.0. It'll build on some of the core mechanics that we really enjoy about the mode but we will be taking it to something a bit bigger. Your feedback on this mode is invaluable to making sure it's the best it can be. Hopefully the guns on the battleship won't attack both the players and the base otherwise this will turn the tide on the losing team and a slight imbalance will lead to a siege(literally) where one team sits outside the losing teams base and dominate.
We're also dropping in a few things next week we hadn't originally planned on, some new content that's a bit… seasonal. Just wait until you see, it's pretty awesome stuff! Yay, Santa mech!
Patch notes have been published for players interested in more details. I'll make a post in the next few days or so addressing the patch notes just like I did with the last release so you can get some insight on some of the changes we've made and I can answer a few of your questions.
Good Luck, Have Fun!
Finally, the entire team here at Adhesive and I sincerely thank all of you for helping out. HAWKEN would not be where it is without you and it's not something we take for granted; not for a second. We review the feedback, see how people play and we work to address the issues. There are so many tidbits we learned from you the community, things you may not even realize. Open Beta is an opportunity for us to get even more feedback, from an even greater number of fans and with your help HAWKEN is only going to get better as the weeks continue. We apreciate your hard work and the fact you are open to our feedback this is the reason i am doing this in such details.
Make sure you keep your eyes open for players with [ADH] and [MTR] tags out there, they won't be easy targets. Always feel free to say hello and we will have more updates for you as we work towards the final release of HAWKEN.
Thank you again!
Jason Hughes
[ADH]HUGHES
Producer, Adhesive Games
From:
http://community.pla...ta-patch-notes/
 Scapes, on December 11 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:
Scapes, on December 11 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:
Overview
Our Alpha and Closed Beta test pilots have helped us immeasurably by playtesting HAWKEN and providing their impressions and suggestions on the official forums. As a direct result of your experiences over the past months, we're proud to present the HAWKEN Open Beta patch notes.
MECHS
Assault Mech
All players will start with the Assault mech with the following loadout.
- Name: Assault
- Class: Medium (Class  
- Chassis: Fred
- Ability: Weapons Coolant
- Primary Weapon: Assault Rifle
- Alternate Primary Weapon: Submachine Cannon
- Secondary Weapon: TOW Launcher
- Unlockable Prestige Weapon: Point-D Vulcan
- Support Item: Shield In my oppinion the most misunderstood item, is it a good idea to give it to the starter mech? (look forward to a Protip series explaining this in detail thanks to BuDeKai, JustJake and I)
- Offensive Internal: Radiator (Rookie Offensive Internal)
- Defensive Internal: Cage (Rookie Defensive Internal)
- Functional Internal: Regulator (Rookie Functional Internal)
Players who purchased the Ensign, Lieutenant, or Commander bundles will receive the exclusive, prototype Vanguard mech with the following loadout. Unique mech acessible only with money wether it is balanced or not is not the issue the simple fact that paying players have access to stuff freeloaders don't i consider P2W
- Name: Vanguard
- Class: Heavy (Class C)
- Chassis: Cupcake
- Ability: Vanguard Turret (currently operates same as Mobile Turret)
- Primary Weapon: Submachine Cannon
- Alternate Primary Weapon: Mini Flak Cannon
- Secondary Weapon: Grenade Launcher
- Unlockable Prestige Weapon: Point-D Vulcan
- Offense Item: Detonator
- Support Item: Repair Charge
- Offensive Internal: Brand-New Radiator (Rookie Offensive Internal) Advantage to paying users
- Defensive Internal: Brand-New Cage (Rookie Defensive Internal) Advantage to paying users
- Functional Internal: Brand-New Regulator (Rookie Functional Internal)Advantage to paying users
Rookie Internals
All Assault and Vanguard mechs come equipped with "rookie" internals which have no negative effects unlike other internals.
- Brand-New Radiator (Rookie Offensive Internal): Reduces Weapon Heat Generation by 5%
- Brand-New Cage (Rookie Defensive Internal): Increases Maximum Armor by 5%
- Brand-New Regulator (Rookie Functional Internal): Increases Experience Gain by 20% I really like this internal on the default mech although increasing the Hawkenpoints received would have been a good option aswell.
We've added a new gameplay item called countermeasures. These automatic consumables activate when there is a status or condition present. Each activation consumes one countermeasure use. All countermeasures are drawn from an account-wide inventory of countermeasure uses, the pilot decides which (if any) countermeasure type to equip to a mech in their garage.
- Extinguisher: Reduces weapon heat upon overheat.
- Battery Charge: Reactivates systems disabled when affected by EMP effect.
- Descrambler: Renders mech immune to the Radar Scrambler effect.
Bad hawken, Bad game design. I will point you to this video. http://penny-arcade....de/counter-play Once you have watched this video you will understand these counter measures do not provide anything to gameplay. Not only do they not provide anything to the gameplay but they remove important aspects of gameplay since they do not even require you to press a key to activate them.
Taunts
We've added a new cosmetic item called taunts. There are two types of taunts: hologram taunts and mech taunts. When a hologram taunt is activated, a projector is deployed in front of the mech (like an HE Grenade) and displays a animated visual that appears facing any player looking at it. The hologram lasts about ten seconds (which doubles as the cooldown) and only one may be deployed at a time. When a mech taunt is activated, the camera zooms out to third-person view (similar to repairing) and the mech itself "emotes" a particular movement. During this time the player cannot move.
- Hologram Taunts
 - Chicken: A crowing chicken.
- Finger: A taunting index finger.
- Mech Dance: A dancing Fred model.
- OMG Victory!: A cheering girl's face with "V" fingers.
- Red Bear: A crying bear's face.
 
- Chicken: A crowing chicken.
- Mech Taunts
 - Little Chicken (Light): Mech struts in a circle.
- Dirty Dog (Light): Mech brushes feet, kicking back dirt on a fallen opponent.
- The Rooster (Medium): Mech flaps weapons like wings.
- That Just Happened (Medium): Mech takes a bow, twice.
- Double Bag Brag (Heavy): Mech uses shields to "double bag" a fallen opponent.
- GLHF (Heavy): Mech uses shield to wave.
 
- Little Chicken (Light): Mech struts in a circle.
Repair Drones
- Each repair drone now has its own, unique body style.
- Commanders of the Vanguard Initiative also start with the exclusive PY-R0 H0G repair drone equipped to their Vanguard mech.
- Cosmetic thruster effects now have unique nozzle designs. Yay more shiny  
- Ensigns, Lieutenants, and Commanders of the Vanguard Initiative also start with the exclusive PY-R0 BURN thruster equipped to their Vanguard mech.
- You'll be ready to literally rocket the runway with these awesome camos: Wicked-Grn, Ripples-Yel, Earth-Lime, Pixel-Tan, Wisp-Brn, Worm-Or, Boom-Teal, Checker-Pnk.
- Ensigns, Lieutenants, and Commanders of the Vanguard Initiative also start with the exclusive Vanguard Bronze, Silver, and/or Gold (depending on their Vanguard Initiative tier) camo equipped to their Vanguard mech.
- The new Brommens medium chassis is now available in the Body Shop. Yay more shiny  
- Auto-switching of items upon use can now be disabled from the Settings Menu. Customization is always a good idea thank you devs
Tutorials
- Interactive Basic Training and Garage Store tutorials are now available in the Deploy pane. Easier access to basic game mechanics means happier beginers and less QQ on the forums
We are extremely excited about the evolution of this mode, but in the short-term we consider it a work in progress. We're carefully watching how it's played and are eager to get your insights on how you feel we can improve it.
- Bases now have integer-based health like mechs.
- The energy required to launch a battleship now reduces over time instead of increasing over time.
 - Battleships will automatically launch if an energy requirement reaches zero this way.
 
- When launched, battleships will stop outside an enemy base and do damage to it. Not an issue as long as the ship doesn't attack players in their spawn.
 - Per team, only one battleship can be active at any given time.
 
- Energy Stations no longer run out of energy, but they will provide less per second when simultaneously used by multiple mechs. This will add to the gameplay and pace of the game i fully support this.
- The mech level cap is now 25.
- When you reach level 25, you can unlock each mech's prestige weapon. You will still gain XP on level 25 mechs. This XP is called "Overflow XP" and can be transferred from the level-capped mech to a lower-level mech in your Garage. This mechanic is nothing bad in itself but i am against it personally as i believe it stunts player growth.
 - Please note that Overflow XP is not active as of this patch.
 
- Radar and Radar Scrambler items now bounce off of walls and ceilings, deploying on the ground when they land.
- Collision on all turret items has been removed, allowing for improved player mobility after deployment. Good i guess even tho i am not in favor of simply ghost walking throught them.
- All internals now have positive and negative effects with the exception of rookie internals.
- The interactive Basic Training tutorial takes you to a new training map, allowing rookies and veterans to the basics of HAWKEN by fighting sweetly inept AI drones. I already voiced my positive opinion on this.
 - Anticipate updates and improvements to this map on a regular basis.
 
- Adjustments have been made to Bazaar's layout for improved balance between starting locations.
- Landmarks have been added to all maps to help players become more familiar with maps and make it easier to locate teammates.
Our weapons have undergone balance updates thanks to the community's great feedback and testing. We all know the weapons are vital to making HAWKEN feel amazing and fun to play. New players won't notice a difference so this is mainly to inform our more experienced pilots.
Overall, weapons should behave much closer to how they performed in Closed Beta Event 2, with added emphasis on consistent feedback to the player and removing extremely high burst damage.
- Short to Mid Range
 - Flak Cannon: Slightly decreased damage, but decreased heat generation and spread to compensate.
- Mini Flak Cannon: Decreased rate of fire and damage, but decreased spread and heat generation to compensate.
- Submachine Cannon: Decreased spread to make it more effective at mid range. Previously known as Submachine Gun. I always called it the submachine cannon and made the effort to check in A2 and CBE2 to make sure i was not mistaking. Maybe people call it the SMC becaus our brain is lazy and associate it with something we already knew. I also like these changes a lot and look forward to trying them ingame  
- Point-D Vulcan: Increased spread to make it less effective at range, but reduced heat generation.
 
- Flak Cannon: Slightly decreased damage, but decreased heat generation and spread to compensate.
- Mid to Long Range
 - Assault Rifle: Decreased heat generation and spread, making it much more effective at mid and long ranges. unrequired buff, but we shall see how it plays and compares to others before judging. also doesnt reducing its spread increase its accuracy at all ranges?
- SA Hawkins: Decreased heat generation and highly increased accuracy. Also increased rate of fire to more effectively chip opponents down.
 
- Assault Rifle: Decreased heat generation and spread, making it much more effective at mid and long ranges. unrequired buff, but we shall see how it plays and compares to others before judging. also doesnt reducing its spread increase its accuracy at all ranges?
- Long Range
 - Slug Rifle: Highly decreased spread to make it extremely accurated while zoomed in. Also decreased spread while not zoomed in.
- Sabot Rifle: Highly decreased spread while zoomed in and unzoomed. Slightly increased damage to allow for better bursts.
 
- Slug Rifle: Highly decreased spread to make it extremely accurated while zoomed in. Also decreased spread while not zoomed in.
- Explosive Weapons
 - Rev-GL: The Rev-GL was overhauled to make it much more effective in every situation, especially in one-on-one combat. Its projectile grenades travel at a higher velocity to hit targets easier and its damage was increased slightly. Damage was fine. RoF and heating were the main issues. Dumbing down the skill required to aim it is also uncalled for.
- EOC Repeater: We increased the radius of deployed projectiles. Projectiles now do more damage to players who walk over them. Look forward to seeing how these changes will affect gameplay.
- HEAT Cannon: Slightly decreased charged projectile damage. I guess that's a good start, but the main issue with the heat is its lack of heat generation when using charged shot. A possible fix for this is to stop heat reductiion when charging a shot, basically keeping it at what ever it was before you started pressing mouse1.
- Seeker: Increased projectile speed, but decreased homing strength, meaning they won't track opponents quite as well. Fixed a bug where projectiles were locking onto opponents too easily. I fear the increased projectile speed as it was already pretty powerfull and i can not comment on the vagueness of the rest.
- Hellfire Missiles: Decreased damage slightly, bringing it closer to other secondary weapons. ahw thats too bad it was so hard to hit them in the first place that huge chunk of damage really gave me a feeling of satisfaction then every missile hit.
 
- Rev-GL: The Rev-GL was overhauled to make it much more effective in every situation, especially in one-on-one combat. Its projectile grenades travel at a higher velocity to hit targets easier and its damage was increased slightly. Damage was fine. RoF and heating were the main issues. Dumbing down the skill required to aim it is also uncalled for.
- The Garage has been renovated with a new look.
- The Garage and Deploy menus have been improved.
- The in-game interface has been updated with major changes to the HUD and item icons.
- Lore and polished descriptions have been added to nearly every item, weapon, and mech. Yay lore! now all we need is roleplay forums.
- Music has been added to the Garage, Deploy, and Postgame panes.
- Lots of new sound effects and sound variations.
- Massive improvements to localization support.
- Environment collision has been improved on all maps.
- Optimizations have been performed on all maps.
- Heavy mechs in turret mode can now use items.
- XP and HC gain are no longer improperly recorded on rare occasions.
- Beautified the sky on the Uptown map.
- Players will no longer see their own thruster exhaust visuals in the HUD.
- Left and right weapons will no longer appear swapped in Postgame pane or in holograms.
- The "Syncing Account" message should no longer appear when failing to join a match.
- Heavy mechs can now exit turret mode while overheated.
- Players names no longer appear twice on the scoreboard. No more doppelgangers!
These are my thoughts on the patch notes. I feel obliged to write them in detail because i could QQ about the countermeasures but i feel it is more fair for the devs to see both the positive and negative aspect of my opinion. If i have not commented on something it is probably because i have nothing constructive to bring to the table or would rather see it in game before posting my opinion.
Please note these are my feelings of the patch notes before i have the chance to try them out in game. hopefully i will remember this thread in a week or two and post my change of opinion.
I welcome you to criticize my post, or to provide your own opinion on the subject.
Edited by h0B0, December 16 2012 - 10:46 PM.

 

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