50 replies to this topic

[Thunder Child]

I think the only thing that really needs to change with it is to double it's cooldown to every second sensor sweep, and maybe reduce it's blast radius a bit.
It is a powerful incentive to actually bother with the scouting game mode.
Lastly, it means that players can't just Turtle (regardless of which team has it).

[C E Dwyer]

I like the Long Tom Feature, however, it is as others have mentioned dropping to frequently

[ScarecrowES]

Cathy, on 01 May 2016 - 12:27 PM, said:

I like the Long Tom Feature, however, it is as others have mentioned dropping to frequently

Well, how about this?... have it drop less frequently, slightly reduce its blast radius, slightly increase the time between target and explosion, and reduce the possibility that it can do a head-shot to near zilch (like arti and air strikes)... buuuuut, re-increase its damage a bit,

This makes Long Toms drop a little less frequently, and be a little easier to avoid, but more devastating (though less cheap) when you're caught in one.

We did a test last night. If you have your entire drop clump together, and start running just before it drops, you'll need a mech that goes about 97kph or faster over flat ground to avoid being caught in the blast. So that's almost 100kph to escape the blast if you are at the epicenter and take off running when it's about to drop.

We should probably tune it so that a slower mech... maybe 75 or 80 kph... has the possibility of escaping the blast if it's at the epicenter and takes off running. I think that's pretty good balance. It keeps the Long Tom lethal and important, but not unmanagable.

It would probably also be smart to scale the damage in such a way that the possible damage you'll receive becomes progressively lower the farther you are from the epicenter. Not a linear progression... maybe full damage out to 2/3 the blast radius, and then dial back the last 1/3... that way, if you catch a glancing blow from the strike, you're not still taking massive damage.

Edited by ScarecrowES, 01 May 2016 - 01:00 PM.

[Dirk Le Daring]

Give it a 4-5 minute cooldown ?

But keep damage as it is, it really should be a mechkiller.

[DjPush]

Alistair Winter, on 01 May 2016 - 01:46 AM, said:

They're not going to remove the Long Tom, and they shouldn't. If the Long Tom wasn't devastating, it would make Scouting missions feel less important. That being said, it does need to be nerfed. Those instant headshots aren't fun for anyone either.

Personally, I think the Long Tom would be a soft re-introduction to knockdowns. So it damages and stunlocks everyone for 3-5 seconds, basically, but doesn't outright murder them.

I'm not saying it needs to be removed. Just change the number of times it goes off in a match.

[Mystere]

DjPush, on 30 April 2016 - 07:21 PM, said:

It's not fun when the Long Tom robs me of xxxx damage and xxxx C-bills.

I'm sorry to say but you're doing CW wrong!

[teslabear]

Without going into whether Longtom is overpowered or not, it's kind of killing CW right now. All 4 planets available for attack/defend for JF have pretty much 0 enemies playing because we have the longtom on them.

No game = no win for everyone, regardless whether you are dishing out or being pummeled by the longtom.

[wanderer]

Seal Farmer, on 30 April 2016 - 07:44 PM, said:

The Long Tom needs to be completely removed and something else added in its place.


You know what reduces the frequency of Long Toms? Not playing any map where the enemy has this ridiculously stupid feature or some people not playing FP at all..


Had a game where we had Long Toms and multiple PUG enemies disconnected during the game after getting hit by it and multiple others stated they would not continue playing Faction Warfare. Long Toms are actually ruining Faction Play.

Its and idiotic feature that enables teams to win 48 - 7, as in our case.

Considering your name, that is tremendously ironic.

Again, LT's take 90%+ scouting. Your side is getting nuked? Go scout. Stop trying to invade. Frankly, if domination via LT keeps the PUGs out of your Invasion drops, that's a -good- thing. I see an enemy with 90%+ Scouting, I don't frickin' queue for Invasion, I queue for Scouting to make Invasions viable..

But PUGs don't understand that. Heck, PUGs at this point don't often understand scouting when I get them dropping in stock Urbanmechs and questions like "isn't this just "kill the enemy side"?

[Gas Guzzler]

wanderer, on 01 May 2016 - 08:40 PM, said:

Considering your name, that is tremendously ironic.

Again, LT's take 90%+ scouting. Your side is getting nuked? Go scout. Stop trying to invade. Frankly, if domination via LT keeps the PUGs out of your Invasion drops, that's a -good- thing. I see an enemy with 90%+ Scouting, I don't frickin' queue for Invasion, I queue for Scouting to make Invasions viable..

But PUGs don't understand that. Heck, PUGs at this point don't often understand scouting when I get them dropping in stock Urbanmechs and questions like "isn't this just "kill the enemy side"?

What's even more fun is dropping in a 12 man and rushing the enemy team at the last second with a few lights so that the long tom drops in the middle of the enemy team, and your lights get away unscathed. We have been using that tactic to great affect. An enemy team's long tom typically kills more of their team then it does ours.

[Ace Selin]

When i play with my unit, its fine we adapt and overcome, but when i see people stating they wont play FP due to the Long Tom, that means its time for it to go. We have low numbers already, especially in Oceania and losing players due to this mechanic needs to be curtailed and the only way to do it is to remove it from the game.

teslabear, on 01 May 2016 - 08:32 PM, said:

Without going into whether Longtom is overpowered or not, it's kind of killing CW right now. All 4 planets available for attack/defend for JF have pretty much 0 enemies playing because we have the longtom on them.

No game = no win for everyone, regardless whether you are dishing out or being pummeled by the longtom.

Yep, thats what im seeing too. Planets where the enemy has the Long Tom have far far reduced player numbers versus planets without it.

Edited by Ace Selin, 01 May 2016 - 08:48 PM.

[wanderer]

teslabear, on 01 May 2016 - 08:32 PM, said:

Without going into whether Longtom is overpowered or not, it's kind of killing CW right now. All 4 planets available for attack/defend for JF have pretty much 0 enemies playing because we have the longtom on them.

No game = no win for everyone, regardless whether you are dishing out or being pummeled by the longtom.

And obviously, you've dominated them on 4v4 as well. What's invasiion going to do, other than give you twelve of those players neatly wrapped up for farming? Think about what you see there. 98% means your opponents basically came to scouting and were promptly, repeatedly, and thoroughly rekt and then fled in terror.

What makes you think 12v12 would be any different?

[HellJumper]

@OP i hope you do understand that the live servers are used for "Testing" purposes...

It works like this... New feature.. Limited internal testing..(because test servers are not active that much on regular basis )

Put it out on live server.. let players play.test it.. rage it out.. If enough rage is build up, well then nerf it.. if not then work on something else..

Thats how i perceive them at adding new features

[Deathlike]

It should've been obvious when our balance overlord is probably responsible for it.

Even then, very little "practical" testing is going on (see previous hotfixes), so the result makes sense (aka, it's totally imbalanced).

[HellJumper]

Deathlike, on 01 May 2016 - 10:30 PM, said:

It should've been obvious when our balance overlord is probably responsible for it.

Even then, very little "practical" testing is going on (see previous hotfixes), so the result makes sense (aka, it's totally imbalanced).

because the liver server is the testing server

[BattleBunny]

The most Die-Hard FW dude in my unit ragequit FW yesterday. A good close match got long toms enabled on third wave in a close game and it immediatly ended a wave of mechs.

Well done PGI. I thought he would never go back to group queue.

[Lily from animove]

No, the long toms is what makes scouting important, if you tone down long toms too much scouting becomes pointless.
Long tom requires a LOT scouting being successfull to be used and this should be rewarded properly.
On the other side, denying the long toms isn't that hard, So counterscouting it is a task that should be done as well.

FW changes and we all need to adapt that it is now more than just 12 man Invasions.

Edited by Lily from animove, 02 May 2016 - 03:13 AM.

[Prof RJ Gumby]

I would go for them being stronger like they were at first, but not that regular and inevitable. Like used every 2nd or 3rd satellite pass and having about 10s delay after smoke. Now they're kinda more irritating than scary. I would prefer them to be scary.

Just IMHO.

[Jetdrag]

I heard you can stop long toms by scouting.

[BattleBunny]

Jetdrag, on 02 May 2016 - 04:26 AM, said:

I heard you can stop long toms by scouting.

Nope. We had two lances drop and win 9 out of 10 scouting matches for hours. It didnt matter as there were still to many matches being lost by others.

I guess you were trying to be funny?

[Joey Tankblaster]

Same here.

Five 4-mans were not able to substantially change the Intel balance (although wining more than losing). Waiting time was horrible too.