EDIT: Just realised that this post includes a lot of stuff not expressly relevant to the latest patch, shall I stick it somewhere else?
I have only posted on this forum once before - I can usually only be roused from my laziness and procrastinatory habits by things that really push my buttons; my buttons have been pushed in recent weeks, so I shall vomit my sanctimonious opinions all over your e-penises.
This has probably all been said before btw, so I apologise if my opinions just sound like a rehashing of what other people have said - I have had a flick through this thread but it's already too long for me to go crazy on it, so here goes:
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The last couple of patches have been pretty divisive, and have changed the game up quite a bit, some of these changes I like, some I like not so much. What follows are my entirely inexhaustive opinions on some of the most recent changes.
1) Movement. I actually think the movement changes were a great idea, it always looked stupid to me how a hulking great big Atlas could just face-scrape up a hill without even slowing down, and Stalkers just non-stop hill-bumping with PPCs got really boring. I think the movement changes have made the 'mechs feel a lot more physical which is nice. I also like that people piloting small zippy things need to actually watch where they're going and weave through cover, lest they smear against it and grind to a halt - this is not hard to do, but makes gameplay more interesting. However, I do sympathise with some players who are pissed off with it - PGI definitely need to go over all the maps and clean them up and smooth them over - too many random screwy bits that play havoc with your speed (not to mention the invisible walls). I also think Canyon Network needs an overhaul - I like the whole selective mobility thing, but the movement changes kind messed it up. other than that though, I the movement changes a thumbs up.
2) LRMS. LRMS are now absolutley *fine*, they do not need to be changed at all. I say this as someone who uses LRM 'mechs about 25% of the time. They are fast and punchy enough to be a dangerous support weapon and an effective deterrent, but not as apocalyptic as they used to be back in the day. Yes, you will occasionally get rofl-pounded by a LRM boat and his tag-buddy - this does not automatically make them OP. Most of the time they are just fine: they make the gameplay more dynamic by restricting open spaces, but can also be countered with ECM and and the like - in short, they make the game more interesting without completely dictating it. When I LRM I generally do no better or worse on average than I do with anything else. All I would say is buff AMS, but that problem has been around forever and ever.
3) Machine guns. Though probably in need of some changes, these bad boys are almost certainly better than you think they are.
4) SRMs. YAY!
SRMs are good again as of today! I used to use these a lot, then Artemis IV came out and I used them even more, then they went really bad. But they're back again and I have enjoyed a couple of games in my 4SP. Perhaps the 6xSRM6 SplatCat would have made a terrifying come back were it not for the heatscaling (which I will be getting to in a moment) but I honestly never found them to be aggravating. Like the AC40 Jager the SplatCat has serious drawbacks, it gets hot, has limited ammo, has very limited range, and if you actually concentrate your fire and shoot the pods off you neuter the thing pretty quickly. Suffice it to say, whenever I got pwned by a SplatCat, I knew it was a combination of bad luck and a good enemy pilot, not because my nice balanced fair 'mech got exploited by a skill-less cheesebuild.
Now, the main attraction:
5) The heatscale business...
In principle I am not opposed to the idea of a heatscale system, but I believe the particulars are flawed here - and it's got nothing to do with PPC boating because I never use more than two anyway
AC40 Jagers. They are seen as this super-badass stompy boat that is in desperate need of nerfing. I used to think so myself (partly because I used to use one a lot and wrecked face with relative ease) but I have since changed my tune. The AC40 Jager is capable of doing obscene damage in one place very quickly, but it has one *serious* drawback: it goes down like a paper bag. Whenever I was fighting an AC40 Jager I always used to think 'zomg they are OP cos they do so much damage and I can't kill them!', but then I thought to myself: "hey, I know from having used them a lot that they have XL engines with enormous side torsos, so why the heck am I not just going for a side-torso every time?". After this little epiphany I started actually aiming my weapons strategically and guess what? They go down like a sack of crap if you actually concentrate your fire. Yes: they are still dangerous, Yes: they will kill you sometimes, and Yes: they are quite cheesey. However, given their low ammo/tonnage efficiency and their exposed XL engines, I honestly no longer consider them OP - If you're riding in one and you come up against someone with a few lasers who knows what they're doing, you're in just as much trouble as they are. So I don't think AC20s should be included in the heatscaling, the only reason you'd include them on the list is to combat the AC40 Jager, and I honestly don't find them to be more problematic than other builds - I honestly get more nervous around centurions than AC40 Jagers because the buggers just won't die. Also, it's nice to have a scary 'mech that you sometimes need to run away from - the game was more fun when you occasionally came across things that were just way above your punching weight and had to ****/get backup/do something else.
Large Lasers. What the hell did Large Lasers do to deserve all this!? I have no idea why LLs are in the same boat as PPCs... they are a little lighter yes, but they are less powerful, have less range, and smear their damage very easily. They just don't need a nerf. Even LL boating (in my mind that is 6+) isn't cheesey because the heat/weight problems already incur large penalties. I don't really have anything else to say here, I have just *never* been killed by a load of LLs and thought "what a ******* ****-take cheese-build!!". If that isn't enough, the Atlas RS can't effectively fit 4xLL now, and neither can the Flame - they were both builds that worked well IF YOU USED THEM WELL. And yes, I know about the whole 0.5s thing, but you'd be surprised how much difference that makes to a 4xLL Flame - damage concentration already requires skill to pull off. Point in fact - I am now more tempted to stuff a load of PPCs in my RS than try 4xLL.
Which brings me to the next point:
PPC Boats. I don't (personally) like PPC boats one bit; I enjoy playing MWO, but I have enjoyed it substantially less since PPCs appeared everywhere - they were unusably bad a few months ago, but they got buffed too hard. So that is one good thing the Heatscaling system has done. But if you have ERs mixed in with PPCs, then you completely circumvent the problem, which is something the LL cannot do. Yes, there is of course such a thing as an ERLL, but dear god the heat... I cannot imagine using two of them beside another two LLs. By comparison an ER/PPC combo would not be so bad. And yes, the HexaStalker is now dead, but they were awful to begin with.
To be honest, I just don't think the heatscale system is necessary. All they needed to do - imo - was make PPCs a little bit hotter and see how that worked. I don't see the point of overhauling the way heat and loadouts work together so drastically when so many unproblematic things are so badly affected.
6) FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE MAKE LARGE PULSE LASERS NOT CRAP! These things are the most awesomest weapons in the whole game, like punching someone in the face with Dubstep, and I want them to be good so badly. I have never been in a situation where I wouldn't rather have a PPC or an LL+HSs instead.
7) My friends and I think the matchmaking needs to be changed. Or, perhaps, done away with altogether. There is something interminably unsatisfying about constantly playing people of a similar skill level to you. I am hesitant to throw my weight around on this subject because I know how hard a decent MM strategy must be to make, but I really want it to change. As one of my friends says, it's far more interesting to play matches with a wide range of skill levels - you can have fun slowly dissecting the odd noob, only to turn around and get completely face-rolled by someone way better than you are. It would also allow people to learn off each other and would, I think, actually bring new players up to speed faster. You could have a kind of compromise, where the teams are matched according to average ELO, but each team has an internal ELO range that's as wide as possible. Another way I think a more diverse MM system would help is related to AC40 Jagers: as I mentioned earlier I think their threat-level is way overstated, but it occurred to me that this may only be the case for lower ELO matches in which newer/worse players fail to play hunt-the-side-torso. I realise I am making huge assumptions about my ELO level (truth is I really have no idea where I fall on the range), but it's an interesting thought nonetheless.
Eugh, I didn't mean for this to be so long.
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Super-Summary: smooth-over map geometry, throw heatscaling out the window, nerf PPC heat, make the matchmaking less dull.
Yours in superiority and magnificence,
Prawn X
p.s. LB10Xs are awesome as hell - try them if you don't belive me.
Edited by Mega Prawn, 16 July 2013 - 04:31 PM.
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ToxicValor, on 16 July 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:
