The engineers at Piranha have been hard at work at their latest robot warrior for free-to-play battler Mechwarrior Online. Disappointingly, the Spider Mech isn't an octolegged monstrosity that traps its flitting opponents in webs of hardened steel. Instead it promises to be the fastest, most maneuverable addition to the Light class - with eight jumpjets to bump up the agility.
According to the press release, "Spider pilots can create nightmares for pilots of heavier Mechs on the battlefield; this is the time to watch your back!" Presumably they're working on a giant, reinforced can of bug spray for a future release.
In addition to the Spider, which is available now, the game will be holding its first double XP weekend from Friday. "Scheduled to run the duration of the weekend, MechWarrior pilots will hunker down at home in order to defend and conquer in the InnerSphere." The XP increase will stack with other boosting bonuses, such as Founder benefits and Premium Time.
"After a much-needed break over the holidays, we're raring to go with exciting 2013 content updates," says Piranha's creative director, Bryan Ekman. "The addition of community-focused features such as the Double XP event, new Mechs and performance tweaks let's us kickoff the New Year in a big way. This is just the beginning of a huge year for MechWarrior fans."
Pilots can also look forward to the Death Knell on January 22nd - another small, fast Mech with four arm-mounted lasers. Boy, they really go over-the-top with their Mech naming conventions, don't they. I guess when it comes to massive robotic killing machines, subtlety stops being a priority.
