Is MWO worth returning to in 2025?

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Title. I used to be a major fan of MWO, but quit when I realized I was spending more than I was comfortable with on mech packs. Nowadays, I'm much more cautious with my spending, and don't feel I would run into the same problem again. I bought MW5:Mercs thinking it would replace MWO for me, but for some reason, I don't feel the desire to continously play it like I did MWO, even though I generally have fun when I do play it. I've mostly been playing Instant Action for a few sessions, then ignore it for months.

What's the state of gameplay and business model in 2025? Have the graphics been updated to match MW5? How active is the community?

[Jimmy With An E]

Graphics are the same as they ever were, nothing spectacular but never an eye sore, mechs are still pretty. Im not sure when you last played, but theres a ton of new weaponry to play around with, and a ton of balance changes. Gameplay is still wishwashy, some matches are great and balanced while others are stomps, nothing new there. Free mechs are still given out almost monthly. Community is still going strong, it's a dedicated cluster thats for sure. The business model is still releasing new chassis or mech variants for money, and they are eventually released for MC and/or Cbills.
You can still have fun with this game, just hopping on in a favorite mech and doing your best to shoot the other stompy robots. Still nothing out there that can itch that one spot that this game itches. Try an Incubus 1 or 2 with Beam lasers and LMG or Heavy Large and LMG for a fun time

[Mr_Puddins]

I also recently bought Mech5 but find myself playing this instead. I also have alot invested in this account. I'd say it's still totally worth it. MWO is my main jam.

[NextGame]

I have been giving it a go recently as have had some time off and nothing better to do. It's doing OK for a 10 year old game insofar as you can still get quick play games for most of the day if you are willing to wait a few minutes (select at least 2 server regions).

Mechwarrior 5 titles are propping MWO up a little bit as the mechs made for them are making their way into MWO, albeit at the usual extortionate prices (you can buy your MW5 title of choice for the same price as a MWO mech pack). There doesnt seem to be much else going on content wise.

Their community forums have almost the entirety of the first page of general discussion filled with pinned posts from many years ago that no one is curating, so relatively abandoned from a community management point of view.

Considering its a bit of a niche title, with a very limited business model, its did well to survive this long but dont expect it to be all that different to whenever you last played - just more variety in mechs and fewer players.

Last I read PGI lose the licence for MW in 2025 which is held by Microsoft, so who knows what will happen then. However I read that a while ago so things may very well have changed, PGI aren't the best communicators.

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by NextGame:

-snip-

Alright then, it sounds like it would probably be a better use of my time to keep playing MW5:Mercs and push myself to get engrossed in the campaign, just due to the prices involved and not having to wait for full lobbies.

[Mochan]

MW5's online play is severly lacking. And you're only ever fighting dumb AI, no matter what mods you use, so there's no way it can compete with the kind of fresh emergent gameplay that a PVP game offers.

Even though MW5 lets you build mechs to your heart's content with much better mechlab once you have it fully modded, it's ultimately still just a singleplayer game. That has its pros and cons, but multiplayer's advantage in terms of fresh, "not been there done that" experiences will come out on top every time.

[ressenmacher]

Originally posted by Crossbreed Priscilla:

What's the state of gameplay and business model in 2025?

Business model is based on heavy monetization of cosmetics and new mechs. New mechs are available in mech packs for about three months, then only available with MC for another three months or so. I am a free player, and I do not feel that I am at a competitive disadvantage because of it.

Gameplay seems fine to me. The game is receiving substantial free content updates - new weapons, new or reworked maps, and a consistent offering of events (gamemodes and rewards). I think it will hang around for another year or two at least.

[Deviantdemigodz]

I would say no it is not worth playing anymore due to the fact with coordinated teams in solo quick play it is very unbalanced and very UN fun.

Plus all the good game modes the game had are dead or gone ( Faction play,scouting,Solaris and 8v8 ) plus with a horrible mini map game that you mostly play 4 maps out of 20 the game once had.

Just think of a terrible more repetitive version of World of Tanks and you can imagine what MW0 is like now.

[Mesker]

It isn't very good, I tolerate it. SPLs do 4 dmg, every mech has so many quirks that they lost their identities, monetization is as bad as it ever has been, genuinely can't recommend getting back into it.

[The Fifth Horseman]

The monetization is not worse than before. PGI added a new take on Hero mechs called Legendary mechs, and for $15 a pop they're a better deal than many of the old packages used to be. We also get ~monthly events that award a free mech (sometimes a pre-determined one, sometimes you can pick from a list)

[Computron]

Also if you buy one of the newer mechs or packs you'll unlock a questline(calculated by end-score only) for that mech which you access through the website store page which generally gives you additional decals, skins, credits and bolt-ons. (There were some i completed and didnt realize)

[Ezekial 🖖]

How long ago did you quit. Is this pre-community take over? The game has changed a ton, and is still fantastic IMO. IT's got a small stable community.

[KealyKays]

Originally posted by Crossbreed Priscilla:

Title. I used to be a major fan of MWO, but quit when I realized I was spending more than I was comfortable with on mech packs. Nowadays, I'm much more cautious with my spending, and don't feel I would run into the same problem again. I bought MW5:Mercs thinking it would replace MWO for me, but for some reason, I don't feel the desire to continously play it like I did MWO, even though I generally have fun when I do play it. I've mostly been playing Instant Action for a few sessions, then ignore it for months.

What's the state of gameplay and business model in 2025? Have the graphics been updated to match MW5? How active is the community?

A bit of a necro'd thread but for sure I recommend playing - MWO's definitely got more variety as the playerbase is harder to predict than the AI in Mercs but it can be frustrating when people turn off their brain and hold W.

Give it a crack again, the game's not very big - eventually you'll accumulate more mechs than you can comfortably play and you don't really need to spend more money on the game but that is a hard urge to resist haha.

[JAKLE]

Good god, I wish they would just re release the game or make mwo2 with updated QOL. These posts come out every other week because its a game released a decade ago.

Yes the game is great and still being updated. Games are as fast as a modern cod game when matchmaking, it can take a sec for the MM to balance weight, and this is where any delay comes from (for the most part)

Per the "Jarls list" at leaderboard.isengrim.org there are 22,801 active players.
Steam does not show player counts of people that directly use the launcher.

[JAKLE]

Added note; if they would re-release the game so it had a release date in more recent times listed on steam, these posts would go away.

Come join the stomps bot fun, and one of the best free to play models out there, they are extremely generous with premium currency and p2w does not exist. It's pay for earlier access or more space.

[COBRA.sombrero]

No.