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In canon, jump jets took up more tonnage than they have in this game before yesterday's patch. So a fix was needed. I think it's pretty widely agreed that the patch took the nerfing too far, since your max elevation is very low. But even if they up the elevation a good bit, we'll still end up with jump jets that are weaker than in canon. And purely from a balance perspective, jump jets are a weak option.
In canon, a Catapult could be standing still one turn, then rocket 120 meters in any direction - forward, sideways, or backward - while gaining . . . I think it was something like up to 40 meters of elevation.
Currently MWO seems to be using JJs just for ballistic launching and some mid-air turning. You can't adjust your movement sideways, and if you start on the ground next to a building, you cannot jump above it then glide forward so you can land on the roof. (Instead you have to ram the building and scrape your face up the building, and then pop onto the top, which doesn't even make sense physics-wise.)
We're going to be getting a mech eventually that is iconic for its ability to land on enemies. As is, the jump jets are insufficient for this task.
Proposed Tweak
What I'd love to see is tiers of maneuverability.
- 1 Jump Jet - Crappier than pre-patch. 3 seconds of ballistic vertical lift, going fast enough to get you 10 meters off the ground and still have a smidge to feather the landing. It's only really useful for hopscotching over pits and such.
- 2 Jump Jets - Same as pre-patch. 6 seconds of ballistic vertical lift, going fast enough to get you 20 meters off the ground. You can jump over Atlases.
- 3 Jump Jets - Pre-patch, plus limited strafing. Still 6 seconds, but 30 meters. Also, you can strafe sideways or forwards or backwards while jumping - maybe by by pressing Shift and a direction. Strafing uses fuel to propel you some way other than up, so you trade elevation for distance. For the sake of not having cartoon physics, you should probably only be able to strafe about 6 meters in either direction, but that's still handy if you're in the middle of River City and want to hop up and glide to the top of a building.
- 4 Jump Jets - Better strafing. As above, with a max of 40 meters, and a lateral max of 12 meters.
- 5 Jump Jets - Even Better Strafing. Vertical 50 meters, lateral 18 meters.
- 6+ Jump Jets - Hovering. The Spider is going to be offensively weak (2 med lasers), so it needs some trick to make it work playing over a Jenner. What if they could stay in the air longer than 6 seconds? The mech might have an 'altitude limit,' where it won't let the pilot get above, say, 50 meters, but it gives it time to snipe from on high. In exchange, it's a very visible target. As usual, if you're moving before you jump you maintain momentum, but it falls off quickly, so even if you have 8 jump jets and are airborne for 12 seconds, you'll not be 'flying,' but rather 'hovering.'
People sometimes worry about pop-tarting, but that tactic in MW4 was due to the ability to use 3rd person view to line up your shot and then jump just high enough to clear an obstacle. In MWO you're in 1st person, so poptarting is not nearly as effective.
What do you think?
(No, we don't need these:)
