There’s a downside to the official comeback of iconic stompy robo-suit game Mechwarrior, and that’s the end of ongoing development for fancy-lookin’ Crysis mod Mechwarrior: Living Legends. While initial word that this free multiplayer total conversion was facing its last stomp led the community to suspect legal action by the people behind the new official game, Mechwarrior Online, the claim now is that MLL development is winding up through mutual agreement.
Another thing to note is that MLL isn’t being shut down, only that there’ll be no more development of (and presumably support for) it from now-ish on. The community can still go play it, though I would imagine Mechwarrior Online devs Pirhana Games are hoping they’ll jump ship to their free-to-play official game instead.
Claims ‘Criminal’, lead at MLL dev Wandering Samurai Studios:
- MechWarrior: Living Legends - Stats. Statistics and general information about MWLL. Weapons; Variants; Weapons. Name Type Raw Max DPS Estimated DPS vs Mech Estimated DPS vs Aero Damage per Ton Ammo Clip Size Clip Price Primary Damage Primary Damage Type Primary Splash Secondary Damage Secondary Damage Type Secondary Splash.
- Buy games with points Unlock 50+ site features Store your mods in one place forever. MechWarrior: Living Legends Mod Patch v1.01 A Mod for Crysis. Members see zero ads. Signup for free. Anyone who download the full client before January 20th should get this patch. ----- Balance - Damage drop off added to.
MechWarrior: Living Legends (MWLL) is a total conversion modification for Crysis. MWLL is at its very core a mix between a First Person Shooter (FPS) and a Simulation (SIM).
“There has not, nor has there ever been, any legal action or threat of legal action leveraged against the MechWarrior: Living Legends development team. This was an assumption of a small amount of volunteers based on incomplete information. To clarify, the decision to discontinue development of MechWarrior: Living Legends was made by the founders and owners of the project. On behalf of all the people involved in MechWarrior: Living Legends we must sincerely apologize to all parties affected by this miscommunication.”
Similar is claimed by Mechwarrior Online’s Ross Bullock:
“We both realized that the MWLL community was small and it really wasn’t competing with MWO but still each time a feature was added to MWLL that was in MWO it felt as though we were doubling up effort to restore this great brand.
Mechwarrior Living Legends Forum
I expressed that we were not trying to shut anyone down but asked him how we might meld the two communities better and even look to possibly hire on any great talent what was in that project. ( Hey MWLL guys send in those resumes ) For a long time the IP was in the wind and MWLL is one of those games that really kept MW on peoples minds so the project and the individuals have our up most respect.
We discussed this topic for a little while but again it was friendly and there was no threats of shutting the mod down just more of a sense of “Why are we doubling up efforts here?”. After the show he contacted me expressing that they really wanted to finish what they started with MWLL and had a set of features that they would like to get done and asked if that was okay with PGI. They presented a very professional plan on the remaining work they wanted to complete and stated after that it would be time to stop production on MWLL. I thanked them for the plan and said that it all sounded great.”
It’s tempting to speculate, innit? I probably shouldn’t, though. At least no-one’s in court, at least the game wasn’t abruptly ripped off the internet and maybe some folk will end up with better jobs too.
And the new 0.7.0 patch for Living Legends is to be its last, after almost four years of development. Included in the update are the likes of “several new mechs and vehicles, some new maps, a brand new HUD for mechs and tanks, a bunch of rebalancing and fixes.” If you want to play MLL, now is probably the best time to do so, for fear the servers become ghostly over time.
Mechwarrior Living Legends Server
You can download version 0.7.0 here (or via torrent), and fill your eyes and mind with information about the Crysis Wars mod here.
Announced at MechCon 2016, Piranha Games is taking MechWarrior back to its singleplayer roots with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. Slated for a 2018 release, Piranha Games president Russ Bullock took the stage to reveal the first footage of MechWarrior 5, which is being developed using Unreal Engine 4. You can watch that demo in the video above and head over to MW5mercs.com for more info.
Though details are scarce, what we do know is that MechWarrior 5 is a completely standalone singleplayer game being developed by Piranha Games using a separate team than the one currently supporting MechWarrior Online, its multiplayer-only CryEngine game that went into open beta in 2012. MechWarrior 5 will feature 'intense PvE ‘Mech combat in an immersive, career-based Mercenary campaign driven by player choice.'
If you're not too familiar with the series, MechWarrior is the tactical FPS offshoot of BattleTech, where players pilot a single BattleMech and issue orders to squads (called 'lances') of AI-controlled allies. Set during the Third Succession War of 3015, MechWarrior 5 puts you in the cockpit of a 'green MechWarrior mercenary' caught in the conflict by factions vying to control the Inner Sphere—the region of space surrounding Earth. True to MechWarrior, pilots won't just need to prove themselves on the battlefield but will also oversee the maintenance and enhancement of their BattleMechs. Along with the emphasis on player choice, MechWarrior 5 seems to adhere closely to the traditions established by the earlier MechWarrior games.
Aside from the demo, you can feast your eyes on the screenshots below to see what a MechWarrior game in Unreal 4 looks like. Spoiler alert: Pretty damn good. With the turn-based BattleTech strategy game coming in 2017, there's an exciting future ahead for fans of mech-on-mech combat.
Stay tuned, as I'll be bringing more coverage of MechWarrior 5 (and BattleTech) straight from MechCon.
