The Hawken open beta has officially kicked off. The team has a pair of great forum posts for soon-to-be players: The latest producer's letter and the official open beta patch notes.

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.

Read the rest of the letter on the Hawken site.

Originally posted by TweFoju
1 question, is this MMO or just a multiplayer online?

multiplayer online with pregression. 

Lobby is a bit hit or miss depending on the game type you're lookign for.

I've been able to get into Siege games all day without much delay.

They need to adopt or turn on level balancing IMO. Being 1 shot by a level 15 mech is pretty frustrating.

Otherwise the game is really.....FUN...and NEAT... I'm looking forward to adding this to my FTP list. Audio is amazing, and the mech sprinting is just Win - saves soo much time.

Originally posted by marz.at.play
So why should we play this over MWO?

Better graphics, faster gameplay, better intuitive controls, more customization for weapons loadout and mech appearance. 

[mod edit]

i really tried to like it, but it was just so underwhelming in every department

it's too hybridy for my tastes and is really difficult to enjoy unless you're obsessed with mechwarrior type of games

Originally posted by marz.at.play
So why should we play this over MWO?

If you like MWO but think that 8v8 is just way too many mechs on the screen then switch to Hawken and it's 6v6 matches...

Originally posted by Czanrei

Originally posted by marz.at.play
So why should we play this over MWO?

Better graphics, faster gameplay, better intuitive controls, more customization for weapons loadout and mech appearance. 

Better graphics - NO, no way... and maps fit more pure FPS game then "phat" robots.

faster gameplay - for me its bad ... less tactics more rushing :S

better intuitive controls - NO, not at all

more customization for weapons loadout and mech appearance - YES, and this what i would like improoved in MWO even if it would not fit 100% with MechWarrior lore.