32 replies to this topic

[Bud Crue]

So I am trying to dump mechs that I don't play. In this process I have come to conclude that a lot of the mechs that I really like to play are based purely on my childhood recollections of TT and MW video games as opposed to actually being good or effective mechs (at least for me).

For example I really, really like my Crabs and like to bring them when I can. I justify their occasional CW presence by "they are tanky," "they are pretty fast," "they are small so I can avoid enemy fire," etc. The reality (both perceived and mathematically analyzed) is that I am not good in Crabs and that I would almost always be better in a Black Jack (even before the latest quirk patch) or an Enforcer or even a Cicada or Griffin. Yet I love the dang Crab.

So, just curious what mechs people like to drive even though they know that they are less than ideal for them (or that they just "suck" in them), but nevertheless can't resist the allure (whatever the cause of that "allure" may be) of that crappy mech.

Don't want to hear about why a mech is great or bad, but rather merely what mechs that YOU are bad in but feel obligated to drive anyway. What's your addiction? Sort of one's personal anti-meta. Another one for me is the Black Knight. My stats in Thunderbolts and Grasshoppers are even Cataphracts are all better but I love my Knights. I have a feeling the War Hammer is going to be another such mech for a lot of us.

[Imperius]

My mech that I currently bad in is called the "Wish this mech was in the game" (translation Mad Cat MK II)

[3xnihilo]

Commandos. . . I can do better in any other light mech, but I still see those little guys there and I can't resist

[MeiSooHaityu]

Probably the number 1 example for me is the Vindicator.

I loved that mech ever since the MWO concept art and I am still trying to make it work in a tier 3 environment with very little success.

The Vindicator has many things going against it. It is a bit large for a smallish medium (45 ton but could pass as a 55 ton in size IMO). It has large arms (which houses it's firepower), a low engine cap for a light medium that seems to limit it around 90kph (1AA is an exception and I wish ALL Vindi's had that cap). It also has a relatively easy to hit soft CT. At least most can jump REALLY well.

*The 1R is pretty decent at least.
*The 1AA has only PPC quirks so with 2 PPCs it is unable to protect itself at short range so be careful.
*The 1X is actually doing well now after the A/C2 improvements. Whether it is 3 A/C2s and 1 MLaser or 2 A/C2s and a PPC, both loadouts are fun and not too bad.
*The St. Ives Blue has been a straight up headache to run. Why can't the SIB also receive PPC quirks like all other Vindicators? It has a PPC arm like the other Vindicators so what gives? It isn't any better than the others. *sigh*

Anyway, despite the headaches, i love how it looks, lovr the cockpit, love how it jumps, and i still have this dilusion like i will find an amazing build.

Runner up: Urbanmech. I'd pick it, but im not actually THAT bad with it normally.

[Alistair Winter]

The Cicada is probably my worst mech. It used to be one of my best mechs in 2013. Before the dark times. Before the Empire hardpoint inflation & quirkening.

Today, the Cicada feels left behind.

[adamts01]

Mist Lynx for life!

I'm not terrible in it, but my Cheetah does everything better.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Alistair Winter, on 11 January 2016 - 06:39 AM, said:

The Cicada is probably my worst mech. It used to be one of my best mechs in 2013. Before the dark times. Before the Empire hardpoint inflation & quirkening.

Today, the Cicada feels left behind.

I'll say this, watch Sean Lang play his Cicada's. That man works wonders with that mech. He basically uses it to quickly get into position, poke, and bug out. He is really darn good with it.

NGNG has a few Cicada matches posted up now. At the least it might help with build ideas.

[El Bandito]

[Ted Wayz]

Vindicator. It vexes me.

[Wintersdark]

Bud Crue, on 11 January 2016 - 06:20 AM, said:

Don't want to hear about why a mech is great or bad, but rather merely what mechs that YOU are bad in but feel obligated to drive anyway. What's your addiction? Sort of one's personal anti-meta. Another one for me is the Black Knight. My stats in Thunderbolts and Grasshoppers are even Cataphracts are all better but I love my Knights. I have a feeling the War Hammer is going to be another such mech for a lot of us.

I play a hell of a lot of random mechs, but the most significant one here is (and I get this is kind of backwards for this thread):

The Stormcrow.

I feel obligated to play it when I'm going hard in CW, but...

I hate the Stormcrow. I'm just not anywhere near as good in it as I should/could be, simply because I just don't really like the mech very much at all.

[Alistair Winter]

MeiSooHaityu, on 11 January 2016 - 06:56 AM, said:

I'll say this, watch Sean Lang play his Cicada's. That man works wonders with that mech. He basically uses it to quickly get into position, poke, and bug out. He is really darn good with it.

NGNG has a few Cicada matches posted up now. At the least it might help with build ideas.

Yeah, I encountered him recently, in a pretty standard cda-3m with uac5 and 3 ML. He did 800 dmg in defeat. The thing is, he plays a lot. A lot. I'm sure he would do well with most mechs.

[Malleus011]

Before quirks, I kept playing Thunderbolts no matter how bad they were. It still feels funny to see a CW drop full of Thuds, when pre-quirks you hardly ever saw them.

Currently I'm stuck stubbornly playing Griffins without metabuilds.

[MerryIguana]

Malleus011, on 11 January 2016 - 07:44 AM, said:

Before quirks, I kept playing Thunderbolts no matter how bad they were. It still feels funny to see a CW drop full of Thuds, when pre-quirks you hardly ever saw them.

I was just about to post this.

Hipster tbolt pilots foheva!

[0bsidion]

Wintersdark, on 11 January 2016 - 07:19 AM, said:

I play a hell of a lot of random mechs, but the most significant one here is (and I get this is kind of backwards for this thread):

The Stormcrow.

I feel obligated to play it when I'm going hard in CW, but...

I hate the Stormcrow. I'm just not anywhere near as good in it as I should/could be, simply because I just don't really like the mech very much at all.

If you don't like it and you don't do well in it why bring it? Though I have to admit, I don't do terribly well in my Crows either.

My favorite less than optimal mechs are the Mad Dog, the Shadow Cat, the Hellbringer, Hunch IIC, and the Nova. I do generally post decent games in them, but I typically do better in my TBR or EBJ. I want to like the Summoner, but that lack of pod space though. It's rough.

[jss78]

I'm guilty of this a lot. I have these really stubborn ideas about what a battlemech "should" be like. I especially dislike one-button single-weapon-type boats, and prefer somewhat mixed loadouts. They're just more fun to play. I run "superstock" mechs a lot.

There are limits to how far I'm comfortable to take this: I wouldn't run something I couldn't pull my weight in. But then I find the Solo queue to be such a derpy place that you can pull your weight in just about anything, provided you play really careful. I don't mean that as an insult, just an observation -- I love that the solo queue gives fun builds a place to exist.

I love Crabs! There's really no rational reason to run them vs. Blackjacks, but I they look super cool and do well enough, so why not? If you only run "effective" mechs, there'd literally be no reason to run any IS medium but a Blackjack, they way they were handled in the rebalance. But where'd be the fun in that?

[Prokust]

Hell yeah my mad's...its hard work for me to love them. But i spend money on em so i HAVE to master them atblast...imho

[Cion]

All the mechs I have are for "cool" reasons and never for "meta" reasons. If they happen to intersect, cool.

Therefore, my garage is full of:

Commandos
Awesomes,
Catapults
Hunchbacks
Atlas (atlai? atlases?)
Lolcusts

This has been before quirks, independent of quirks and meta.

[Blue Hymn]

I've been around since Open Beta, so there are some mechs that I cling onto even though everybody recommends other stuff in comparison. Even more so with all the people that tell me "this mech is garbage, don't touch that thing", "this mech is more efficient", blah blah blah. So many people that think only these few mechs they've selected are the only ones worth using, using the exact same weapon loadouts, and never really piloting the mech because it's a damn aesthetically pleasing one.

So many people that think that winning is everything, and mechs that don't win for them are garbage.
Don't care - I'm just here to enjoy what I like.

Commandos - Love them speedsters. Don't have the firepower, and can't hold a candle against most other light mechs with their laser alphas when 1v1, but when you touch the speed of god with 167kph (I miss 171kph), nothing else matters. Even if people call the Commando a trashcan on legs.

Awesomes - Been piloting one since Open Beta through the bad, the ugly, and the FUGLY. Nothing can separate me from that mech, with all the things we've been through. I can probably think of only a few people that had stuck with the Awesome as long as I have since Open Beta.

[Elizander]

I still drive my Pretty Baby.

[Rhaythe]

I love my X5. I love my Locusts and Urbies. I have a pretty healthy affair going with my Panthers. And lately, i have a real soft spot for the AC10 Hunchie. That thing does far better than it should for such a mediocre weapon.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've used a heavy or assault mech in months.