THE NEW 8-PLAYER GROUP SYSTEM (Release to Live Dec 4,2012):

The new 8-player group system will allow players to create groups of 8-player and match up against other 8-player groups. The following is a guide on how to do so.

Begin by clicking the SOCIAL button at the bottom right of the client.

Upon doing so, you can 1) click the Group Tab at the top of the Social Panel and then click 2) Create Group.

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A new dialog box will appear on the screen that will ask you what type of group you’d like to create. Your choices are 4-Player Maximum or 8-Player Required.

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4-Player Maximum means that you can create a group from 2-4 players. These groups will be launched against the general player base as per the current Match Maker system. Groups using this system will be bound to equalization of Mech Chassis balancing (for every Mech of a specific weight class on one team, there is another of the same weight class on the opposing team.)

8-Player Required means that you MUST have 7 more players join your group to make a total player count of 8. When in this type of group, you cannot launch the group until all 8 positions are filled.

For the purposes of this post, select 3) 8 PLAYER REQUIRED.

Note that when selected, the 4) group information changes to show the requirements for launching in this manner. Click Create.

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An 8-player group has now been created and you are listed as the group owner.

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Recently we started to allow players to use the 5) READY and NOT READY buttons in the Social Panel to indicate to your group owner what your status is in terms of being prepared to launch. This is will not change and business is as usual.

What’s new is that there is now a 6) player counter that indicates the number of players required before being able to launch the group. There is also a new header 7) Launch Mode which will have additional functionality in the near future (hmmm... what would a “Mode” be?). But for now, this is where the group owner can launch the group once it is full and everyone is ready.

What happens beyond this point? The Match Maker now goes out and tries to find another 8-player group looking for a game. If found, the two 8-player groups will be matched together and the game will commence.

The new 8-player group system DOES NOT have a Mech weight class balance requirement. It will be up to the player base to determine what Mech classes they wish to drop with.

That’s all there is to it! Now get out there and start making your way to becoming the most powerful Merc Unit in MechWarrior Online!