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The first major update (open beta update #8) since the holidays came to the free-to-play MechWarrior Online earlier this week and with it, Infinite Game Publishing and Piranha Games announced the game's first event weekend where players can earn bonus experience points just for playing as normal.

The latest patch adds four brand new - and very small - mechs, a new customization option and a few new modules to go a long with a series of bug fixes.

Bryan Ekman, creative director, Piranha Games:

"After a much-needed break over the holidays, we're raring to go with exciting 2013 content updates. 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."

The big news is the inclusion of a brand new mech, the Spider. It's a 30-ton light mech, the fastest in the game, but also the least powerful when it comes to weapons. There are three variants (see detailed breakdown on page 2), one that sports extra jump jets for increased maneuverability and another the supports the ECM countermeasure system. The fourth mech is a new premium hero mech, a Commando (25 ton mech - smallest in the game) dubbed the Death's Knell. It comes with a cool unique blue camo design.

The reaction to the Spider has been mixed thus far, mainly due to the fact that light mechs require a certain skill set and affinity for scouting as opposed to combat. With future game updates we expect the Spider to become a little more user-friendly, especially when the game can support it being able to move faster and when the weapons and countermeasure systems are better balanced. It does however, work well for MechWarrior Online's new Conquest mode. You can see my awful attempt at using the basic Spider with default loadout up top. Screenshots of the Spider and Death's Knell below:

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Double XP Event Details:

This weekend we’re offering DOUBLE XP for all matches! Join the mayhem and maximize your XP from Jan 18th 10am PST until Jan 21st 10am PST.

That’s right, every match you play will reward you with TWICE what you’d normally earn — and that’s on top of any Premium Time bonus you already get. Use a Hero Mech to stack your XP even higher, plus Founder’s get ANOTHER boost on top! Here’s a handy-dandy graphic to highlight how to maximize your XP, starting Jan 18th 10am.

MechWarrior Online Double XP

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.

GENERAL

NEW BattleMechs

- Spider SDR-5D

- Tonnage: 30

- Top Speed: 129.6

- Armor: 112

- Weapons & Equipment:

- Center Torso: 1 Medium Laser

- Right Arm: 1 Flamer

- Hardpoints:

- Left Torso: 1 AMS

- Center Torso: 1 Energy

- Right Arm: 2 Energy

- Jump Jets: 8 (8 Max)

- ECM Capable?: Yes

- Module Slots: 2

- Spider SDR-5K

- Tonnage: 30

- Top Speed: 129.6

- Armor: 112

- Weapons & Equipment:

- Left Arm: 1 Machine Gun

- Center Torso: 1 Medium Laser

- Right Arm: 1 Machine Gun

- Hardpoints:

- Left Arm: 2 Ballistic

- Left Torso: 1 AMS

- Center Torso: 1 Energy

- Right Arm: 2 Ballistic

- Jump Jets: 6 (6 Max)

- ECM Capable?: No

- Module Slots: 2

- Spider SDR-5V

- Tonnage: 30

- Top Speed: 129.6

- Armor: 112

- Weapons & Equipment:

- Center Torso: 2 Medium Laser

- Hardpoints:

- Left Torso: 1 AMS

- Center Torso: 2 Energy

- Jump Jets: 8 (12 Max)

- ECM Capable?: No

- Module Slots: 3

NOTE: We have noticed in testing some isolated cases of the Spider rubberbanding. If it appears on the live servers to an extreme level, we will either limit the speeds the Spider is capable of or pull the Spider until a fix for it is in place.

New Modules:

- New Pilot Module: Target Decay. Target Decay increases the time it takes to lose a target once line of sight is lost. Default time is 2 seconds.

- Rank 1: Increases target decay time to 2.75 seconds. Costs 5000 XP.

- Rank 2: Increases target decay time to 3.5 seconds. Costs 7500 XP.

- Adding a new rank to the Sensor Range Pilot Module

- Rank 2: Increases the boost to sensor range from 15% to 25%. Costs 7500 XP.

New Skin Package:

- Woodland Pattern Added for all mechs.

Performance:

- River City has had a performance pass.

Bug Fixes:

- Tag/Narc XP and CBills Bonus

- Assault 2,500 CBills, 25XP

- Conquest 1,250 CBills, 25XP

- When you pick a faction on the website the image in the front end will match the correct faction.

- Numerous front end bug fixes.

- Fixed an issue where the match wouldn't end if a user disconnected.

- Users that disconnect and die afterwards will now get a death counted towards their stats.

- Re-enable ambient temperature in Frozen City and Forest Colony.

- Create new mini map for River City, shows the correct out of bounds now.

Patcher:

- New layout

- Carousel re-sized, new buttons added, progress messages relocated, new art in places, and RSS feed added.

- RSS Feed

- The official MWOMercs Live Feed is now embedded into the patcher.

- Option to auto-patch

- If a new patch is found and this option is enabled, patching will start as soon as the patcher is opened.

Can be enabled in the options menu (accessed via the little "gears" button on the top right, next to the close/minimize buttons).

- Combined patch types (no in-game)

- In-game patches were performing terribly due to the overhead of the game itself, so patcher and in-game patches have been combined into a single patch type.

- General bug fixes