Patch Review: Oxide

Welcome back to Patch Review, Gatekeepers.  Today's review will be short and sweet, but it's actually a pretty important update.  There's a slew of new stuff, so let's get started.

First off, the Oxide.

This Jenner variant is loaded for bear with missiles.  It should be pretty interesting to see if that quad missile array can be put to the fullest use by most pilots...the Oxides I've encountered seem to be hip to chasing recon mechs.  That might work on a Davion or Steiner scrub, but not a House Liao recon pilot!  However, it could be a really nasty missile platform if someone wanted to specialize in a certain type.  The chassis could really lend itself to Fire Support as well, loaded with LRMs.  It could also pull duty as a Hunter-Killer, if equipped with Streaks.  There's no Energy hardpoint, so you can't mount a TAG.  Artemis is going to be the big deal - it doesn't come equipped as standard.

Now, the peripherals.  There's a new trial mech, a Highlander.  Check that out if you've never piloted one.  Holiday items are available for purchase, and these are seasonal so grab 'em up if you want that Hula Elf.  A host of visual improvements have been made to the Jenner variants, both to customization and even the icons.  That's an appreciated improvement.  Besides that, there are some new animations for falling mechs, running through lava (bad idea) and flamers cast light on high graphics settings.  That's a good chunk of stuff for the monthly update - it will really start to stack up as the months roll past.

The real meat though is the hit box changes, especially for the Dragon.  This really affects how your armor will be spaced out - up until now the left and right torso you could practically strip because every time you get hit it took the damage to the center torso.  Now, with the changes in the size of the side torso hit boxes and change to the pelvis make a significant and welcome change to the silly way the Dragon took damage.  Of course, there were other chassis changed as well so make sure to check your faves:  Centurion, Cicada, Trebuchet and Atlas were changed as well.

Get your kicks on the Gatekeepers' new Teamspeak3 server, and lets get our community back together for some company level drops!  I know the holidays are rough on folks, but communication is key!  We have the TS, but we're also on Facebook.  Stick together, be safe during the holidays.  To my folks here in the Forbidden Zone, watch out for ice on the road!  It's December 5th - that ice storm outside is the very breath of Krampus!