I, am a TT and Lore guy. I like my stock builds, stock history, etc. I loather boating/alpha strike metas, especially when done at the expense of the flavor of the game universe. There are plenty of other generic mech shooters for making generic mech builds with.
That said? I am also a realist. This is an evolving F2P, FPS with delusions of being a SimLite. The balancing factors that work well on paper, with RNG, etc, don't always translate well to the FPS environment. While the ideal is to keep things as close as "possible" to the source material, which has always been PGI's stated goal, reality is that things sometimes just don't work out as one hopes.
And that brings me to my "Endo 4 the Poor" initiative. For too long, the poor and underprivileged Omnimechs of MWO have been subjugated as second class citizens, by the Unholy Trinity. The Dire Wolf (no, it doesn't have Endo, and realistically, it doesn't benefit from it either as it needs space more than tonnage), Timber Wolf and Storm Crow. They hold a monopoly, no just on the game in general, but over their own kinsmen. One can hardly fairly balance Clan Tech, and determine what if any tweaks DOWN the Trinity needs until there is a semi-even playing field for Omnimechs in general.
Simply put, any nerfs to Clan Tech put in place now, seem to scarcely affect hose 3, but continue to drive the second class chassis even further into Mech Poverty. And because they are not balanced against themselves, it is all but impossible to really balance between Clan and IS.
Lock the criticals by chassis if you must, so those that have it, always have the crits in the same spot. Certainly we don't want our poor and underprivileged to have too much freedom. But show them mercy by allowing them a chance to shine.
The precedent was already set. We were going to get FULLY locked cores on all Omnis, originally. Then people realized....many Omnis have crap for armor, and would be DoA because of that. So Darth Paul relented, and armor became adjustable.
Likewise, we are not talking things that could cause major imbalances of their own, like Engines Swaps, etc, but something that realistically frees up about 4 tons max, for the biggest mechs that can realistically use it, like the Gargoyle. The Direwolf can't really use it, and the Warhawk has nowhere near enough free criticials. But mechs like the Nova, Summoner, Mad Dog and such would gain so much, from such a minor amount more of available tonnage.
So please, help our needy underprivileged OmniMechs. And by doing so help your IS mechs to, by allowing real balance to be a possibility in MWO.
TL;DR - Endo as an option, with fixed criticals per chassis, would make a lot of lower tier Clan Mechs more competitive, without needing freak level quirks. And at the same time, literally doesn't benefit any of the "Rich" high tier Omnis, because the ones that CAN use it, already have it anyhow.
*This message was brought to you by the Foundation for Better Mech Balance, and the Urbanmech Union of the Lyran Commonwealth.
For a similarly enlightenedmessage reviewing balance from a differing perspective, please see: http://mwomercs.com/...der-performers/
*Also, compiled form Andi Nagasia
Mechs with Endo that will not Change,
Lights(MLX)(KFX)(ADR), Mediums(IFR)(SCR), Heavies(TBR),
so to recap the SCR/TBR will not be buffed by this change!
Mechs without Endo that will Change and gain more Tonnage(+Number=ExtraTons)
Mediums(NVA+2.5), Heavies(MDD+3)(HBR+3)(SMN+3.5), Assualts(GAR+4)(WHK+4)(DWF+5)
so to recap the DWF gets the most Benefit from this, but it already has more Tons than it can use!
Edited by Bishop Steiner, 27 March 2015 - 08:29 PM.