95 replies to this topic

[Mawai]

I think it depends on the player.

In light mechs you move fast, fire fast and have to react fast. If you don't you die. You have to stay moving, pay attention to the mini-map, don't out-run your support, try to distract opponents, interdict LRM support, pop a UAV to show the entire opposing team on the mini-map just so your team stops peeking and reacts appropriately. Light pilots have to think fast and act independently and in concert with team mates ... turn a 1:1 into a 2:1 ... shore up a failing part of the line. Lights have a huge number of roles to play ... most of which are not rewarded well ... though a good light pilot can make 150k+ (no premium or mech bonus) ... so lights can easily be money makers.

On the other hand with assaults, assaults tend to move slower, they have a wider choice of weapons and need to have them appropriately grouped so that they can be applied when required. Assaults MUST stick with their team mates ... if they don't they will likely die ... maybe first, maybe last ... but they will die without support (unless the rest of your team was good enough to win the match without you). With assaults, the choice of approach is critical ... they must pay attention to the location of nearby team mates, they have to try to figure out not to peek one after the other into the withering fire of 4 to 6 opponents (this happens way to often) ... but they also have to learn when to push or charge ... if you have 4 more mechs with you and there are 2 or 3 opponents ... PUSH and everyone focus fire on the opponents one by one and kill them. Assaults are far more of a team player mech ... and you have to make that team work or you will probably lose. Good aim also helps. Learn to torso twist during weapon cooldown but be ready to turn back to fire. Try to watch for the opponents pushing ... focus fire on the lead element with your team mates ... if you don't have any ... you made a mistake . Know your weapons ... an LRM can't hit past 1000m ... IS LRMs do no damage within 180m. PPCs do no damage inside 90m. Assault mechs are the center around which the whole team should rotate ... in many cases, if you want to win in an assault, you need to lead.

So assaults and lights are VERY different. They appeal to very different play styles and people. Both roles require thinking but some elements of that are different. Assaults definitely need to consider the whole team much of the time .. certainly in a different context from lights. Some folks will be amazing assault pilots ... others amazing light pilots. There aren't many that do both well since the play styles appeal to different people ... so my bottom line would tend to be different but not necessarily harder ... harder depends on the players abilities and some will find light impossible while others find assaults boring

[Straylight]

It's hard to draw a direct comparison, since the skillsets and tactics are so different.

A Light pilot has to be on the ball 100% of the time or he's going for a ride on the silk elevator, but he has the speed and agility to react to situations as they develop.

An Assault pilot has to be aware of what's going to happen BEFORE it happens; he can't react very well, so he has to plan ahead and control the situation to his advantage.

That's not to say that Lights are entirely reactive and Assaults are entirely proactive, however. A Light without a plan is dead just as quickly as one that's not paying attention, and an Assault that refuses to adapt to circumstance is going to get cut apart in short order.

With all of that said, though, Assault pilots seem to plateau at a certain competency level. I can't think of a single instance where I came out of a fight with an Assault thinking "damn that guy was good". The perceptible difference between a a good Assault Pilot and a great one is negligible, because once you have enough skill to not make the basic mistakes, the chassis covers for any little errors the pilot makes.

Not so with Lights. Since the little errors show more on a Light, the difference between a good Light pilot and an amazing one is more visible. I've come away from MANY scraps with Lights impressed by the other pilot; I've even been that Light pilot myself on occasion.

[Eboli]

Lights give you an incredible amount of flexibility and independence of choice of plan for attack or defence. Generally you can choose where and when to attack and have the speed to get out of a sticky situation (unless alpha-ed). BUT - a silly mistake or a surprised encounter will ruin your day.

Lights mechs can create mayhem as well for the enemy (chase the squirrel) and if the rest of your team are organised they can turn this effect to their advantage.

Good thing is that there are light mechs out there to cater to playing styles for sneakiness or to outright attack. I play lights and in a very aggressive role. In a tight match I am likely to find myself dead by the end but usually with more than 10 times my mech's weight in damage which I use as a measuring stick for success.

Assaults are big and slow and require forward planning and you usually don't have an option of an escape plan because of your speed. Being able to aim in the right spot is very useful.

IMO, In the end it is power vs speed/flexibility.

Cheers!
Eboli

[0bsidion]

It's a good question, but I think assaults are probably easier. Sure, they both require timing and situational awareness, but lights are not very forgiving of mistakes. If you're dodging enemy fire and looking one way while running another and you run into something that brings you to a stop, unless you're really lucky you're hosed. Lights often have the speed to let them get in and out of bad situations, but takes a lot of experience to know when, where, and how to engage in a light. And even that won't necessarily protect you from the occasional horrible death.

Assaults on the other hand can usually dish it out as well as take it. Sure, they tend to be slow and if things start going south you probably aren't going to be able to extract yourself in time to get away, but usually assaults bring enough firepower they can often take an enemy or two with them when they go.

[Vandul]

It really is a matter of the player. Good eyesight, coordination, depth perception and the ability to think ahead 10-15 seconds are critical for either chassis.

Assaults are certainly more forgiving, since they can take more punishment. Lights require a bit more 'twitch' and a thorough understanding of the map thats being played. Throw in the Z factor (jump jets) and lights can become a handful.

IMO (which I value highly), the toughest class to pilot is the medium. It is tough to understand your true roll and many of the chassis and variants require a really thorough understanding of all the things that assaults and lights have to take into consideration.

[Joseph Mallan]

For me Lights. I am a bull in a china shop player. Liking teh Hulk v Loki style fighting.

[MeiSooHaityu]

For me, lights are easier to play.

Assaults are too slow and too lumbering. Even with their tankier nature, I tend to not be able to move quick enough to avoid fire. I may absorb more damage, but I seem to die just as quick in an assault vs any other mech.

And I just can't stand moving that slow. It is excruciating.

I can pilot heavies decent enough and I think I prefer mediums the most.

I pilot lights here and there and do pretty decent with them.

Lights might not have the front loaded damage of heavier mechs or the durability, but if you are quick and sneaky they are very rewarding.

I finds lights not as forgiving as other mechs, but I also find them more rewarding to play.

For me Lights > Assaults, hands down.

Edited by MeiSooHaityu, 29 January 2015 - 07:23 AM.

[Bigbacon]

If hit reg ever gets better vs lights, they will be the hard mode then. Some of them just survive the impossible (firestarter i'm looking at you)

[topgun505]

Harder to play? Depends.

Mainly it depends on what light you are talking about.

A FSR or SDR vs any assault then the assault is much harder to play. Those two lights with their borked HBs can absorb a ridiculous amount of firepower. I've lost track of how many times I've had a FSR or SDR be the last man alive on my team and he's running around amongst 5-8 of the enemy team and they are all lighting him up like a Christmas tree with enough damage that would melt a couple direwolves and it still takes a solid minute or two for it to die.

Any other light vs assault? It's a tossup. Nearly any light can be fairly easily one-shotted if the light screws up with his maneuvering (especially the Jenner). But on the flip side LRMs are largely useless against them. Assaults can melt quick if caught out of position but they can pump out a massive amount of damage in short order. It really depends on the pilot and how many mistakes they make in their play.

The reason why you see so few lights by comparison is that there is little cbills in it for you unless you are in a dedicated LRM squad so you are getting all kinds of NARC and TAG bonuses.

Edited by topgun505, 29 January 2015 - 07:35 AM.

[Amsro]

I would say the hardest class to pilot is mediums, the no-where-man mechs that have the worst of both worlds.

Lights + Assaults are similar difficulty and Heavies are the easiest class to play.

IMO

[sceii]

I love piloting light mechs.(lct, com, kfx).
I think lights and assaults require totally different skill sets.
In light you need to go fast and do stuff for your team like scouting, finishing cored mechs, killing abandoned assaults (usually it's easy to kill a stalker with a locust 1v1). Everything light pilot need is knowledge of situation right now. You always can run away 150+. You can not kill many people, facetank or do superdamage(unless you pilot fs).
While in assault you need a luck not to be abandoned by the team, knowledge of situation five steps ahead, you need to know how long does it takes to torsotwist or aim weapon, where can you go and where you can not go, when to push and other stuff.
So i think it is MUCH easier to pilot light mech then assault, yes you got a firepower, but you do not play a quake style shooter where everything you need is run n gun, you operate a freaking low mobility death station.

Amsro, on 29 January 2015 - 07:37 AM, said:

I would say the hardest class to pilot is mediums, the no-where-man mechs that have the worst of both worlds.

Lights + Assaults are similar difficulty and Heavies are the easiest class to play.

IMO

My HBK-4G disagree with you.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Amsro, on 29 January 2015 - 07:37 AM, said:

I would say the hardest class to pilot is mediums, the no-where-man mechs that have the worst of both worlds.

Lights + Assaults are similar difficulty and Heavies are the easiest class to play.

IMO

I feel that quirks have helped change that a bit (at least for IS mediums).

Mechs like the Centurions and Hunchbacks have seen buffs to durability a long with some relatively aggressive weapon quirks.

I feel it has given them that nudge they needed to make them more appealing and more effective.

Overall I do agree though that the Heavy class does everything well enough to be considered the easiest class to play.

[blood4blood]

I have a bad habit of getting bored and impatient when playing assaults, which makes them difficult; the actual piloting and shooting isn't particularly hard though. Lights keep my attention better and I enjoy them more, so I tend to play them to relax and just have fun. I play every weight class, though, and really I'd say it's just a matter of adapting and changing priorities in your skill set depending on what mech you're in, whether it's more tank or skirmisher, indirect fire (LRM's) or direct, short range vs. long, etc., not that one weight class is necessarily harder than another. Everyone needs good aim, map positioning, situational awareness, etc. to do well.

[Kassatsu]

I never really thought of it. Ultimately I'd say it's harder to do poorly in a light mech than it is to do acceptably in an assault mech.

One mistake in a light mech and poof, your leg's gone, and then you die half a second after that.

One mistake in an assault mech, and well, it depends on how bad it was, generally you don't instantly explode however.

Edited by Kassatsu, 29 January 2015 - 07:44 AM.

[Senor Cataclysmo]

I find lights waaaaay easier than assaults. With lights you can usually escape if you're in trouble, with assaults its one mistake and you're finished!

[3xnihilo]

I think lights are easier, that is why I pilot them almost exclusively. I actually die quicker and do less damage in assaults than lights so my incentive to invest time and c-bills into them is not very great. And, I believe all of my best KDR's are in locusts and it is just hilarious to kill things in a locust

[Devilsfury]

Assault by far. Lights are easy mode with skilled pilots. Just bring a Firestarter and use the JJ bug and they are almost impossible to kill for the average pilot.

[Greenjulius]

Monkey Lover, on 06 September 2014 - 06:28 PM, said:

Lights are easier when hitreg sucks like it has been for the last few months. Assaults are easier when hitreg is working

^This.

I traditionally find lights to be easier, but with streakboats becoming "A Thing" again, I'm less inclined to run them.

I reserve special treatment for streakboats that I encounter now.

Devilsfury, on 29 January 2015 - 07:53 AM, said:

Assault by far. Lights are easy mode with skilled pilots. Just bring a Firestarter and use the JJ bug and they are almost impossible to kill for the average pilot.

I'll never understand why people have so much trouble killing Firestarters. Just go for the legs. As long as there aren't several hitting you at once, they aren't an unstoppable force.

Edited by Greenjulius, 29 January 2015 - 08:02 AM.

[Devilsfury]

Greenjulius, on 29 January 2015 - 08:00 AM, said:

^This.

I traditionally find lights to be easier, but with streakboats becoming "A Thing" again, I'm less inclined to run them.

I reserve special treatment for streakboats that I encounter now.


I'll never understand why people have so much trouble killing Firestarters. Just go for the legs. As long as there aren't several hitting you at once, they aren't an unstoppable force.

The main issue is that in Pug matches, most people cant aim and are dependant on streaks. The second one is that people will try and shoot the CT or torso and we ALL know that doing that is a crap shoot. Half the time it will register and the other is literally does zero or minimal damage. But yes, everyone should shoot legs 100% of the time on any medium and below.

[Greenjulius]

Devilsfury, on 29 January 2015 - 08:06 AM, said:

The main issue is that in Pug matches, most people cant aim and are dependant on streaks. The second one is that people will try and shoot the CT or torso and we ALL know that doing that is a crap shoot. Half the time it will register and the other is literally does zero or minimal damage. But yes, everyone should shoot legs 100% of the time on any medium and below.

Very true. People instinctively aim for CT even though it's a bad idea with lights.

I think the problem is that firestarters spread that damage between their arms, side torso and center torso equally well. It makes the firestarter feel more tough than it really is.

How often do you see a firestarter go down to CT/ST destruction without losing significant armor elsewhere?