Taking a glance at the current balance situation, who woulda guessed it but the Trial of Everything Clans have an advantage at range and when dueling while the Inner Sphere is better at dps/brawling and speed. Also, IS LRMs and ACs are straight-up better if you know how to use em. The Clans are more forgiving with their burst-fire ACs but totally unforgiving in every other way. They can't twist, they overheat, and they require really good aim and opportunistic tactics. I've played with a guy that uses almost all beams on a Timberwolf and averages 1000 damage per match, and I've seen heavily-armed SRM Timberwolves do only 160 damage. It all depends on your skill level and tactics.
Also, remember: while Clan beams do more damage per beam duration and have more range than IS lasers, they also produce much more heat. Don't call OP when that Timberwolf does 800 damage on the other team, only to go and overheat 5 times the next match that you don't get to see.
To sum it up, Clans aren't OP. They're difficult to use but effective in the right hands with the right build, just like any other Mech. I'm actually doing 100 less damage per match atm (when compared to IS), still trying to get used to them heh
P.S. I know you're going to hate me for saying this, but I would suggest performing a topic search before making a new post. This is the 20th IS vs Clan thread that I've seen pop up, and that's just from my daily glance at the forums. You're lucky though, because this is the 1st or 2nd one that I've replied to (now that I've played the IS vs Clan dynamic from both sides, I feel well-informed enough to actually make a post concerning the balancing)!
Edited by Pezzer, 11 July 2014 - 10:51 PM.