Experience

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* Pilot Lab

### Loyalty and Rank

Players can join a Great House, join a merc corp, or remain unaffiliated (lone wolf). You cannot, however, be a member of a Great House and a merc corp at the same time. You get one or the other.

Loyalty Points (LP) determine how devoted you are to a particular faction (Great House). LP will decay over time if a player is inactive. Engaging in actions opposed to a particular faction will cost you LP with that faction.

The way LP are earned depends on your affiliation:

* **Faction (House) Players** – Earn LP by playing and winning matches. As LP accumulate you gain military rank. Gaining rank in a faction earns special privileges such as membership in special units, new skins, bonus C-Bills, bonus experience points, etc. Eventually, the ability for players to add custom faction units may be added. The highest ranking players may even influence which planets are targeted for conquest (and presumably defense).

* **Merc Corp Players** – Players who earn LP as a merc will see their points go to their corp. Once the corp has accumulated a certain amount of LP with a faction they will be able to engage in planetary combat on behalf of that faction. (However, every merc corp will start out with a minimum of LP with each faction that allows them to bid on small contracts.) LP will also determine the type and level of contract that a merc corp is permitted to bid on. These LP will also decay, which means that merc corps must remain active in order to retain the ability to bid on the types of contracts they are interested in with the various factions. Ranks within merc corps are determined and assigned by the merc corp’s leader. Permissions can also be associated with each rank at the leader’s discretion. It is also important to note that rank in a merc corp does not come with any special perks in the same way that faction rank does.

* **Lone Wolf Players** – These guys earn LP through participation in random matches. However, these LP will have zero game implications. Ranks are also not available to lone wolves. There is a plan to increase the role of lone wolves in the universe post-launch.

Players can switch their allegiance between factions, merc corps, or even lone wolf status. There will be a cost involved in doing so, however.

There will be a mechanism in the game to entice players to join less heavily populated factions. This could take the form of lower operating costs, C-Bill bonuses, or something else entirely.

### Experience

#### Leveling

This is what faction LP get you, provided you are affiliated with a Great House faction. Players automatically gain rank in their faction as LP are accumulated. These can decay over time if a player is inactive, though there will be a grace period before decay begins.

Players whose LP have begun to decay will not lose any House rank, though the privileges associated with said rank may drop off a little. As an example, let’s say you have earned the rank of Captain with 5000 LP. You then take a nice vacation in Singapore for three weeks. During this vacation your LP with the faction drops to 3000, which would be less than what is required for the rank of Captain. As a result, your title now changes to Honorary Captain and you may lose a few of the benefits, like maybe you get a few less C-Bills per day. As soon as you get your LP back up to 5000 again (or whatever is required for Captain), the “Honorary” part drops off and your benefits return to normal for the rank of Captain.

Incidentally, rank does not equate to the ability to issue orders to other MechWarriors. To quote developer Paul Inouye, “Rank is purely a reward system for consistent and successful gameplay.”

#### Leveling

Pilots gain 'Mech experience points (MXP) and general experience points (GXP) for in-game actions, completion of objectives, and winning matches. These experience points can be used for purchasing Battlemech efficiencies and pilot skill upgrades, which are discussed later.

#### Mech Leveling

You earn 'Mech XP (MXP) for some in-game actions and winning matches. These MXP are earned and stored on a per-chassis basis. MXP is then used to purchase new capabilities for that specific chassis in the form of Battlemech efficiencies.

As players get into matches they begin to earn GXP and MXP. After each match, the MXP earned is stored in the 'Mech itself. This pool of MXP can be spent on something called BattleMech efficiencies. Essentially, these BattleMech efficiencies represent your pilot’s increased familiarity and skill with that particular 'Mech chassis. Each 'Mech has its own custom tech tree, and you spend your MXP pool on the efficiencies within that 'Mech’s tech tree. General XP is also spent on BattleMech efficiencies, but can be used on any 'Mech; it does not necessarily have to be used on the 'Mech it was earned in.

Each efficiency, or upgrade, on a tier must be purchased before you can access any of the efficiencies on the next tier. Once the basic efficiency terr has been completed on variant A of a given 'Mech, the player will need to the expert efficient tier as well before the master tier efficiency can be purchased on variant A. The same occurs after the Elite I tier, and again after Tier 8. This pattern will vary somewhat for 'Mechs that have more or less than three variants.

* Unlocking all elite tier tfficiencies doubles the effectiveness of the basic tier efficiencies
* You must unlock all the basic tier efficiencies of three different models of the same 'Mech before you can unlock the elite tier efficiency of one of those models
* You must unlock all the elite tier efficiencies of three different models of the same 'Mech weight class ( before you can unlock the master tier efficiency of one of those models

Once a tier has been unlocked on a given variant, it stays unlocked, even if you sell the 'Mech.

### Pilot Tree

BattleMechs are able to equip modules in addition to equipment. Equipping modules is a two step process; first you unlock them via the Pilot Tree in the Pilot Lab, then you buy and equip them to your 'Mech in the Mech Lab. Like equipment, modules are equipped to your 'Mech and are not fixed to a single model like efficiencies are.

Below is a table of available modules and their costs.

## MWO Primer Contents

* Introduction
* Backstory
* Gameplay
* BattleMechs
* **Experience and Leveling**
* Warfare in 3049
* Mech Lab

**Appendices**

* Acronym Glossary
* System Requirements
* Additional Reading