I'm going to use this thread for all of my data dumps. Keep everything nice and clean. Feel free to suggest other ideas for trials, or to comment on any of the different things I have done!
--------------------------------------- New User Experience/Trial Mechs/Premades:
So some of the non-founders have been basically calling out us founders to play from the view of a new player. So today since I'm sick and not working, I decided to take this challenge and have a fairly detailed writeup of my experience.
I'm going to be posting my results in sets of 10 (doing 10 of each trial mech). Right now the Raven has been completed.
All results formatting is: damage (rank on team unless specified otherwise), kills, Total C-bills, C-bills from Cadet bonus
Rules:
Playtype: Any
10 rounds of each trial + 10 of my favorite
Will not change any of the preset weapon groupings
All PUGs, no premades of any kind
No vision modes other than night vision in River City Night (as I would assume a new player would ask)
No team chat for strategy, or chat in general other than to ask about premades.
Will follow the zerg, no lone wolfing and will follow any commanders instructions.
10 Rounds of the Raven 2X
Spoiler
Impressions: holy crap this thing is slow. Weapons are decent, heat is slightly an issue for pure alphas only. Staggering the large lasers and srm 6s and rarely using the medium lasers is probably best bet. Firing large laser alone is heat neutral on most maps. Caustic this thing is a death trap
Rating: GOD AWFUL. It eats LRMs like no ones buisness and moves slower than any real custom mechs out there.
Round 1: River City Night Conquest
Launched in the launcher window size rather than full windowed mode, got destroyed by LRMs in the river.
Their team had a disconnect, our team won. No one announced they were premade.
End of Round Total: Win by death
133 damage, 427 xp, 502970 CB with 424500 CB cadet bonus. 5th on team.
Round 2: Forest Snow, Assault
I played bad again, got eaten alive by a raven 3L and half their team when I came out of the cave. One afk on team. Possible 3 man on the other team, responded # when I asked if premade and number. Again launched in launcher window size, corrected after game (hey when you start a new account apparently your settings aren't saved!) Other team had ECM and used it to mask their entire force.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
103 (putting me at 2nd on the team, only one other person broke 100), 447k, 419k cadet
Round 3: Forest, Assault
Other team based rushed, only two of us returned, got slaughtered. No announced premade. One of their guys started team attacking the cappers.
End Of Round Results: Loss by cap
149 (5th), 463k, 414k
Round 4: River City Night, Assault
Big Brawl in Little City. Our team came up on top. Win. No afkers/DCs that I'm aware of. Was insulted when asked about premades by opposite team. Going to assume there was one. Got my first kill!
End of Round Results: Win by death
164 (6th), 1 kill, 487k, 409k
Round 5: Caustic Valley, Conquest
Oh boy lets see how this thing runs in the heat. ANNNDDD....Not good. Brawl in the caldera, shut down only using the SRM6s when heat broke 50%. Actually exploded after override because in the calderra it was not good enough to dissipate the heat below 100% even after 5-6 seconds of cooking alive. Good god this Raven is terrible.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
202 (3rd), 464k, 403k
Round 6: Frozen City Night, Assault
Raven is actually heat efficient in this map, not that it's hard. Their team rushed around dropship and hit hard. They were a man down (never connected). Had at least one other trial mech on my team or at least the stock config (Cent 9D). Had a team dragon run away and start capping base, they capped ours (he did no damage entire match). Crossing fingers to get out of this trial mech at this point.
End of Round Results: Loss by cap (and extermination)
119 (7th), 440k, 397k
Round 7: Forest Snow, Assault
Finally had a team announce they were a premade on the other team. They had an ECM raven and Commando, though didn't really use it to hide their forces. Team went through cave, got shot up on the other side. ONLY 3 MORE OF THIS!
End of Round Results: Loss by death
193 (3rd), 420k, 390k
Round 8: Frozen City Night, Assault
Team kinda wandered around in a circle for a while before deciding to go cave. Guy jumped on cap while rest of team picked off a couple heading back to their base. Ended up being a cap race which we lost (but with 3 or 4 kills to 0).
End of Round Results: Loss by cap
160 (4th), 448k, 384k
Round 9: Frozen City, Assault
Pretty much the same as 8, except with positive results. Achieved 2nd kill, almost 3rd on a cataphract but match ended.
End of Round Results: Win by cap
303 (1st overall, not just team), 1 kill, 443k, 377k
Round 10: Frozen City Night, Conquest
THANK GOD IT'S OVER! 2 Kills this match, and ended up being a brawl of the lights, as each team came with 3. Unfortunately, ours were Raven 2xs and they had a 3L, cicada 3M Commando 2D and a Jenner. Only kills on my team were mine against a stalker and a cataphract who couldn't bother to turn around. ECM may have had an effect, but the trials vs custom was probably more an indicator of success.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
332 Damage (3rd overall, 1st on team), 2 kills, 419k, 369k
TL;DR Raven 2x results:
Win/Loss: 3/7
Kills/Deaths: 4/7
4,533,434 C-Bills
2,933 XP
ECM only prevalent in 2 matches, one clearly deciding while the other is a tossup. Two matches had confirmed premades (both on other team), one potential from the insults thrown my way when asked.
------------------------------ Centurion:
Spoiler
Overall imrpession: This is a sexy mech. That's all there is too it. While most trial mechs with ammo limitations give you vastly too little ammo to use effectively, with both the XL engine upgrade and artemis this thing not only has the advanced tech, but enough ammo to be able to fire nearly indiscrimintely.
Two thumbs up!
Round 1: River City Night, Assault
On a 7 man premade. Went lower city, they went upper with a few at base. Killed base defenders, won by cap by roughly a second.
End of Round Results: Win by cap
201 (3rd), 414k, 361k
Round 2: River City, Conquest
Rush river to Theta, brawl occured around cathedral. Focused their lrm mechs with my own. Exploded self with last hurrah as focused by hunch and cataphract. Also saw the first person I've ever seen with picture in picture zoom. One D-DC mech and a trial raven on their team.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
176 (7th), 404k, 353k
Round 3: River City Night, Assault
Enemy 4 man premade. Brawl in the river by citadel. Got 4 kills (1 kS
End of Round Results: Loss by death
338 (3rd), 4 kills, 412k, 344k
Round 4: Forest Colony, Assault
Team base rushed. Two 3L ravens returned, harassed enough for rest of forces to get back. Lots of dead mechs at the end of it.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
196 (3), 1 kill, 377k, 334k
Round 5: Forest Colony Snow, Assault
4 man premade announced on enemy team. Went cave and killed 2 inside, left cave and killed rest. Last remaining player on their team hid. Team capped.
End of Round Results: Win by cap
281 (5th), 1 kill, 417k, 324k
Round 6: Frozen City, Assault
4 man premade announced on enemy team. Went around dropship and got caught way out of position.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
153 (5th), 341k, 313k
Round 7: River City, Conquest
Went upper city. Got nearly immediately cored by a streakapult (hey they still exist!). One DC on team. They had a trial centurion that earned 3 kills.
End of Round Results: Loss by death
71 (7th), 349k, 300k
Round 8: Frozen City, Assault
This round was a cluster. Friendly fire abound on the other team which resulted in one DC, lots of damaged mechs, and an AFK. Might as well have been a 5v8. I killed their trial centurion.
End of Round Results: Win by death
261 (4th), 1 kill, 402k, 286k
Round 9: River City Night, Assault
One disconnect on their team, and two trial centurians. Brawl in lower city.
End of Round Results: Win by death
335 (3rd), 1 kill, 385k, 271k
Round 10: Frozen City, Assault
Got a quick kill on a stalker, then returned to base and found 2 catapults, a stalker, and a centurion waiting. I died nearly immediately. 4 man on my team.
End of Round Results: Loss by Cap
229 (1st), 1 kill, 299k, 254k
Overall experience: The dragon has so much potential, wasted by such a limited amount of AC ammo. 25 shots is...pitiful, and while I wasn't able to fire every bullet every match, that's because I was being ultra conservative and rarely except when I knew I was about to die would I double tap. Didn't find the jamming to be that much of a concern, I was able to double tap repeatedly a lot sometimes to unleash hell before jamming, and I think that's pretty balanced.
One thumb up. Give this bad boy some more AC ammo. Swap out a ton of LRM 10 for a ton of AC.
Round 1: River City Night, Assault
Brawl in lower city. Ran outta ammo (AC) prior to losing every weapon, then ran around a bit before finally killed. One disconnect on other team.
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
123 (6th), 279k, 233k
Round 2: River City Night, Assault
4 man enemy premade. Team went upper city, killed a raven, few of us pushed their cap and began capping, rest went back to base to prevent cap.
End of Round Results: Win by Cap
32 (8th), 254k, 210k
Round 3: Caustic Valley, Assault
2 man premade ally. Big brawl on the 3 line. Actually fired all but 10 of my LRM ammo. Went down to the last man, K2 vs C1 Cat, we win. Trial Dragon has major heat issues in this map, and can't even fire the LRMs effectively for extended periods of time.
End of Round Results: Win by Death
189 (6th), 278k, 181k
Round 4: Forest Colony, Assault
Unknown number of premade players on other team (as they said I must be drunk to play solo, I assume they were not). Big battle at the boat. Obtained my first kill as the Dragon.
End of Round Results: Win by Death
181 (6th), 1 kill, 236k, 143k
Round 5: River City, Assault
Battle in upper city, unloaded every bullet and nearly every missle by shooting from the bridge and trying to hang back
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
217 (3rd), 146k, 90k (last round of cadet bonus)
Round 6: Caustic Valley, Assault
Same premade as in round 4 on enemy team. 2 man premade on ally team. Fight on the right side ridge near 7 line. One teammate ran to their cap, they pushed ours.
End of Round Results: Loss by Cap
179 (4th), 37k
Round 7: Frozen City Night, Conquest
Stuck with a D-DC. When we crested ridge their D-DC countered ours and then nuked us from orbit with LRMs. Premades appeared to be on both teams (each team posted a url to join their merc group).
52 (6th) 34k
Round 8: Forest Snow, Conquest
I learned my mom goes to college. One disconnect and one afk on the opposite team. Pushed Epislon (cave) and then fought at Theta (mid). Ran completely out of ammo once more.
End Of Round Results: Win by Death
288 (5th), 91k
Round 9: Frozen City Night, Conquest
4 man ally premade, 8 man enemy premade. First fight at Theta, then the small city area above it. Ran out of ammo with the AC right before it was blown off.
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
155 (6th), 54k
Round 10:
3 man premade on opposing side. Spent what seemed like ages trying to blow off an Atlas' side torso to no avail with its single medium laser.
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
125 (7th), 49k
Stalker is a killing machine. This thing takes so much punishment and can dish out just as much. The only downsides to this thing are speed, and complication. 5 weapon groups are set up for this thing which could be overwhelming for a new player.
Round 1: Frozen City Night, Assault
Battle at the dropship. At least a 3 man premade on opposing team (3 had the same Clan Tag). One commando on our team remined while theres capped.
End of Round Result: Loss by cap
274 (2nd), 32k
Round 2: River City, Conquest
Battles everywhere. 3 Man premade on opposing team. This stalker takes a huge beating to bring down. First kill in the Stalker achieved! One disconnect on the other team.
End of Round Result: Win by Death
332 (4th), 85k
Round 3: River City, Assault
I felt like I was that giant bodyguard at the end of on bak or however you spell it where he just sits there getting kicked by Tony Ja for like 20 mins but not feeling anything. Wandered upper city and proceeded to have nearly the entire team circle me and start firing. My entire team came from behind them and wiped them out. My only kill was a commando running around at the end of the match.
End of Round Result: Win by Death
443 (2nd overall), 1 kill, 119k
Round 4: Caustic Valley, Conquest
Hey someone has read this and recognized me! Caustic Valley, as all mechs do, causes this mech to run hot as hell. Fight occured on the power plant side (where our spawn was), and we were wiped out fairly quickly. Unlike the previous round, two fatlases, one with ultra AC/5s and the other with LBX-10s, ripped me apart.
247 (2nd), 1 kill, 38k
Round 5: Forest Colony, Assault
Fight in the middle, got caught off guard but was able to turtle my way behind cover and have people come to my front. Only lost my LRM on one of my arms. Incinerated everything else with those sexy SRM6s.
End of Round Results: Win by Death
446 (2nd), 3 kills, 137k
Round 6: Forest Colony Snow, Assault
Fight in the open river...not the place the Stalker wants to be. Got focued by another Stalker with SRMs and a dragon.
End of Round Results: Win By Death
156 (7th), 67k
Round 7: Caustic Valley, Conquest
2 Man premade on enemy team. Why...why must my team rush calderra and bring me along with it (by rules). Dished out a lot of damage but only brought down a raven who immediately DCed after I blew off it's leg.
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
406 (1st), 1 kill (not recorded due to DCer), 49k
Round 8: Frozen City, Assault
At least a 2 man premade on my team (as they had identical suffixes denoting clan). Couple players mentioned that they prefer pug when questioned. Big sniper/LRM fest at the dropship, before the other team pushed from the tunnel and dropship and pinned us down til our deaths.
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
241 (4th), 31k
Round 9: Forest Colony, Conquest
One team DC. Got pinned down at theta and destroyed.
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
287 (2nd), 42k
FINAL ROUND: River City Night, Assault
At least a 4 man premade on other team (one claimed it was 8 but another said no). Went upper city getting stuck to an Atlas on the bridge, taking a while to become detached. Other team caught every point before killing. Possibly friendly premade as one stated he hated PUGs...which wouldn't make much sense if he was pugging himself. Hey look a D-DC without ECM. It's a unicorn!
End of Round Results: Loss by Death
469 (1st overall), 46k
TL;DR Total (after 40):
W/L: 15/25
K/D: 21/28
C-Bills Earned: 10,438,076
XP earned: 13,024
On premades:
In 30 matches only in 14 rounds did people openly admit to being a premade (note, 7 of these have come after 6 during the Dragon trials, and in some of these cases premades were on both teams). One group admitted they were sync dropped with 7 (I was the 8th) and another was a full team. Every other team announced 4 except for one with 3. Like the math supported, it was about twice as likely the enemy team had the premade than I did.
One interesting thing I noted is that in the centurion had far more premades involved. This could be due to two things. A) being in a medium allows you to be matched against more premades. as this is played later in the day than the raven people are starting to log on, or C) there just isn't as many premades as people think there are. People readily admitted to being premades when asked, so I learn more towards the number being correct than far off from people not admitting to being in premades.
Addendum: From the Dragon trials a lot more premades were present, which leads me to belive that it's just people beginning to log on. Then again, as I note below, now that I'm in the Heavy/Assault mechs, maybe it's due to the class matching that I'm really starting to see the bulk of the premades.
Addendum 2: From the Stalker Trials once again more premades were present akin to the Dragon trials.
On ECM:
Only one match out of 30 had a heavy dose of ECM, and that was a single premade. ECMs were only prevelant on Raven 3Ls. There were one or two commando 2Ds seen overall, and I think in all 20 rounds only 3 atlas D-DCs were spotted. Only in the premade match did having ECM swing the game heavily into the ECM teams favor, and on the most part was just lone lights running around.
Addendum: Even in the Dragon trials with far more premades ECM was basically irrelevent, both sides having one or two but mainly using it for themselves rather than using it tatically to turn the tide of battle.
Addendum 2: Again, only in the heavy premade (the 8 man) was ECM really used to any effect. I believe that the ECM issue is overblown with respect to pugging. It just didn't really do anything in any match that actually mattered, other than making the equipped mech harder to find/kill using locked on weaponry.
On Diversity:
By far the most numerous mechs I have seen are the Catapults, Stalkers, and Cataphracts.
The least numberous mechs are the Awesome, Jenner, Commando, and Dragon, surprisingly (I typically have seen a large influx when running in my premade due to the new hero mech).
The middle pack is Centurions (most have been trials), Ravens, Cicadas, and Fatlases.
Addendum: Seen a lot more hunchbacks than I initially estimated, putting them with the middle pack, drop the Cicadas down to least numerous.
Addendum 2: Same as above, nothing really changed.
Overall experience:
Fairly positive. The Raven is trash, the Dragon could use some improvement, but both the Stalker and Centurion are fine, if a little on the hot side. By fine I don't mean killing gods of death, but enough for someone new to the game to be able to dish out a bit of damage and still have relatively good survivability.
The cadet bonuses are amazing, and it's actually kinda sad when it goes away and you begin earning those 35-50k matches instead of 600-700k.
In roughly 4 hours of playtime I earned over 10 million C-bills. I think that's perfectly acceptable for getting a new player started.
I think making all the trial mechs come standard with double heat sinks would be a huge benefit to the new user experience, but at the same time, theres just going to be no helping mechs like the raven 2x excel without giving new players a fully customized one.
Other Misc. Math:
In non-prime time, premades were present in 7/20 matches, prime time they were present in 12/20. I'd probably suspect the true numbers to be around 9/20 and 15/20, respectively.
3/40 drops were synced.
Admitted premades with the larger numbers (i.e. they existed or were a group of 4v2 or 8v4) won 12/19 games.
Conversely, the team down a member either from a DC or AFK lost 8 out of 10 times, with both those wins being on teams with premades.
Farmers, greifers, and afkers are far more of a detriment to the game than the premades. The disconnects are sometimes due to bugs, and that can't be helped at the moment except with bug fixes.
Locationclimbing Mt Tryhard, one smoldering Meta-Mech corpse at a time
Posted 28 December 2012 - 11:28 AM
I have done this, though I use anonymous accounts (So no founders or premium or hero bonuses). I have 2, one my old Clanmates know, the other no one knows about.
I actually had a fair chunk of fun, and discovered that certain Trial Mechs are actually VERY effective if one learns their idiosyncrasies and has a strategy beyond "alphastrike". (Which seems to be the tactic of choice)
I actually ended up really loving the CN9-D and Cataphract-1X, and have found several designs that all I did when I bought my own was increase ammo or something minor on. (Some, IMO, are truly bad though, like the basic Raven, or the AWS--9M, where essentially 2/3 of the arsenal is useless due to heat)
Will definitely pop in after work to see what else you accomplished.
Locationclimbing Mt Tryhard, one smoldering Meta-Mech corpse at a time
Posted 28 December 2012 - 11:36 AM
Lefty Lucy, on 28 December 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:
I did a similar experiment with the trial centurion, starting a new account to test the cadet bonus.
My KDR when I was done was .29
My KDR on my main account is 1.7
Trial mechs are not "fine."
Can't agree with you Lucy.
Are they optimal? No. But in that same Centurion, I was getting 1-2 kills virtually every match, the exceptions usually being when I had the joy of dropping in a group of morons, where we just got rolled. First several matches I got destroyed. Then I changed tactics. And lo and behold, I started racking in kills.
What did I do? Stop going in for "Max alpha" range early, and used the mech for it's intended purpose, as a Flanker and Harraser. Would use it's speed to skirt the fight, find solid locks and drop LRMS on them. Would occasionally claim a kill that way, but more often just softened them up, or forced them to change positions, making them better targets for my team.
Used the LB-X and Lasers to swat Cicadas or the like who could close on me, and discourage them from trying any mischief (admittedly, doesn't work if the other side wolf packs you, but then, even a "Optimized Mech" seldom does in that case.)
Once my LRMs were exhausted I would move into the 250 meter zone and starts flanking and exploiting weakened mechs, harassing them and forcing them to choose who to face, me, or the Stalker (insert larger mech type here), and doing mop up duty. 2 kills, and 450-ish damage were far from uncommon.
Might not set the world on fire, but if you find those stats "unacceptable" you have been min/maxxing it too long my adversarial friend!
Only thing keeping from posting stats, tbh, is that I want that account to be totally anonymous. I just prefer to have a "safe haven" where I can do my stuff without any forum/TS drama.
***PS, I would note that an optimized mech is ALWAYS better in performance, apples to apples. But trial mechs and stock designs are usually not "bad". and if the Stock designs were as good, then what reason (especially if RnR return) would I ever have to build/mod my own?
Also would note one reason us "veterans" often have our K/Dr drop preciptiouusly in them is we have become so accustomed to the advantages of extra ammo, DHS, XL engines for speed, etc, that they become CRUTCHES, or in your term, they are like playing the game in "EZMode" and we don't tend to ply well if we can't use our crutches.
Take the trial mechs, and take one of us with a lot more experience, but who always drives a premium mech, and someone with similar experience in a trial, and force us into the same battlefield and the guy who hasn't had the crutches wil almost always be better at piloting them than us, because he intimately knows the limitations and the workarounds. (I might be wrong, but I believe you mentioned something similar about people finding the 9M unplayable just not understanding how to cycle, cool and run the mech).
Edited by Bishop Steiner, 28 December 2012 - 12:03 PM.
Also, these cadet bonuses are insane. A little over an hour playing (mainly due to the writeups afterwards, probably 45-50 minutes of actual playtime and watching Wayne's World) and I'm already at nearly 5 mil.
Edited by Hammertrial, 28 December 2012 - 11:40 AM.
Locationclimbing Mt Tryhard, one smoldering Meta-Mech corpse at a time
Posted 28 December 2012 - 11:43 AM
Bishop Steiner, on 28 December 2012 - 11:36 AM, said:
Can't agree with you Lucy.
Are they optimal? No. But in that same Centurion, I was getting 1-2 kills virtually every match, the exceptions usually being when I had the joy of dropping in a group of morons, where we just got rolled. First several matches I got destroyed. Then I changed tactics. And lo and behold, I started racking in kills.
What did I do? Stop going in for "Max alpha" range early, and used the mech for it's intended purpose, as a Flanker and Harraser. Would use it's speed to skirt the fight, find solid locks and drop LRMS on them. Would occasionally claim a kill that way, but more often just softened them up, or forced them to change positions, making them better targets for my team.
Used the LB-X and Lasers to swat Cicadas or the like who could close on me, and discourage them from trying any mischief (admittedly, doesn't work if the other side wolf packs you, but then, even a "Optimized Mech" seldom does in that case.)
Once my LRMs were exhausted I would move into the 250 meter zone and starts flanking and exploiting weakened mechs, harassing them and forcing them to choose who to face, me, or the Stalker (insert larger mech type here), and doing mop up duty. 2 kills, and 450-ish damage were far from uncommon.
Might not set the world on fire, but if you find those stats "unacceptable" you have been min/maxxing it too long my adversarial friend!
Only thing keeping from posting stats, tbh, is that I want that account to be totally anonymous. I just prefer to have a "safe haven" where I can do my stuff without any forum/TS drama.
For the record, my K/Dr on my main account is currently 2.40, while it sits right at .89 on that account. The lack of team support, more than the mech, accounts for a large chunk of the difference, at least in my case. (Also admit, the first week I used that acct with the Phract-1X, which I did better damage, but similar W/L, K/Dr with.) My KDR took it's biggest hit using the AWS-9M which is just not in any way or form an efficient machine, no matter how you try to heat conserve. Between the inconsistent damage from they PPCs, and ridiculous heat load (and the streaks being nerfed half the time by ECM) and of course, being percieved as a bigger more dangerous target, I seldom ever got 1 kill with it.
The problem with it, the AS7K and such aren't that they are trial mechs though, it is that PGI has seriously screwed the Heat Scale, but NOT optimizing everything around 3025 tech first, then adding and balancing new tech items like DHS and ECM against an unmovable standard. When even core things like LRMs and JJs are still getting the nerf/buff Yo-yo, the issue goes far beyond trial mechs.
As it is, they have currently made MOST stock designs, especially 3025 ones, obsolete before they even launch them.
Hammertrial, on 28 December 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:
Alright, ate lunch, Centurian Time
Also, these cadet bonuses are insane. A little over an hour playing (mainly due to the writeups afterwards, probably 45-50 minutes of actual playtime and watching Wayne's World) and I'm already at nearly 5 mil.
Have fun with it, and if you run into issues, look above for my "CN9-D Tutorial Advice". It ain't a brawler, but used right the 9D IS a very effective harraser.
Bishop Steiner, on 28 December 2012 - 11:36 AM, said:
Can't agree with you Lucy.
Are they optimal? No. But in that same Centurion, I was getting 1-2 kills virtually every match, the exceptions usually being when I had the joy of dropping in a group of morons, where we just got rolled. First several matches I got destroyed. Then I changed tactics. And lo and behold, I started racking in kills.
What did I do? Stop going in for "Max alpha" range early, and used the mech for it's intended purpose, as a Flanker and Harraser. Would use it's speed to skirt the fight, find solid locks and drop LRMS on them. Would occasionally claim a kill that way, but more often just softened them up, or forced them to change positions, making them better targets for my team.
Used the LB-X and Lasers to swat Cicadas or the like who could close on me, and discourage them from trying any mischief (admittedly, doesn't work if the other side wolf packs you, but then, even a "Optimized Mech" seldom does in that case.)
Once my LRMs were exhausted I would move into the 250 meter zone and starts flanking and exploiting weakened mechs, harassing them and forcing them to choose who to face, me, or the Stalker (insert larger mech type here), and doing mop up duty. 2 kills, and 450-ish damage were far from uncommon.
Might not set the world on fire, but if you find those stats "unacceptable" you have been min/maxxing it too long my adversarial friend!
Only thing keeping from posting stats, tbh, is that I want that account to be totally anonymous. I just prefer to have a "safe haven" where I can do my stuff without any forum/TS drama.
Indeed I can vouch that the CN9-D is surprisingly effective as a hit and run striker similar to what the Dragon is intended to be. Despite the XL engine they are surprisingly long lived in combat and while the LB10X is horrible at range shoved into your face it is quite effective.
You should've tried the Centurion. It's the best trial right now and chances are that by 10 matches, people will already figure that out and use it.
I'm doing 10 of each for a total of 40 matches, then 10 in mechs i prefer after for the final 10. I love the cent 9D trial from previous experiences. It's just a nice compliment of speed, armor, and weaponry.
Interestingly, round 1 of my cent (just finished) I ran into my first sync droppers (on my team fortunately). I was actually surprised they admitted they were a premade, given my previous experiences. Perhaps there isn't as many of them as possible. Who knows.
Edited by Hammertrial, 28 December 2012 - 11:50 AM.
As this has been discussed in many other threads, the problem with Trial mechs is they are stock from TT.
Since this game has deviated so far from TT in some aspects but remains the same in others, there is INHERENT imbalance in the game and the trial mech exemplify this.
Twitter version:
No one wants to play a mech game where you can only shoot every 10 seconds. No fun for anyone.
If you actually took a TT game, move for move and shot for shot, and simulated it in MWO the matches would last less than 1.5 minutes. No fun for anyone.
So they increased firing rate ~ 3x's TT. Which means they had to double the armor in introduce a hardpoint system. But did not triple heat sinks to counter the new firing rate.
That, my friends, it the entirety of the basis for all the balance arguments in this game. (matchmaking and VOIP are completely separate issues.)
As this has been discussed in many other threads, the problem with Trial mechs is they are stock from TT.
Since this game has deviated so far from TT in some aspects but remains the same in others, there is INHERENT imbalance in the game and the trial mech exemplify this.
Twitter version:
No one wants to play a mech game where you can only shoot every 10 seconds. No fun for anyone.
If you actually took a TT game, move for move and shot for shot, and simulated it in MWO the matches would last less than 1.5 minutes. No fun for anyone.
So they increased firing rate ~ 3x's TT. Which means they had to double the armor in introduce a hardpoint system. But did not triple heat sinks to counter the new firing rate.
That, my friends, it the entirety of the basis for all the balance arguments in this game. (matchmaking and VOIP are completely separate issues.)
I'm not just testing trial viability. I think trials will always be inferior, but they don't necessarily suck (the Raven 2X surely does though). I'm testing the new player experience as a whole. Amount of premades encountered, ECMs effect, W/L ratio, economy (in terms of how quickly c-bills are made).
Just got 4 kills in the centurion against a 4 man premade. Only one was a blatant kill steal (though i didn't know it at the time. When you shoot an atlas with two medium lasers and it explodes instantly...)
Edited by Hammertrial, 28 December 2012 - 12:12 PM.
Thank you OP for taking the time. I will be watching this with intense curiosty.
I would also say you have way to much time on your hands but you did metion you were sick.
I will need to see a note from some figure of authortity in order for you to be excused.
Thank you OP for taking the time. I will be watching this with intense curiosty.
I would also say you have way to much time on your hands but you did metion you were sick.
I will need to see a note from some figure of authortity in order for you to be excused.
If I didn't have all of today (i might still go out and get my oil changed) I would have just broken this up into a couple day sessions.
Unlike most of the forums lately, I actually love this game and have no problem playing it for extended periods of time.
(and as it's the holidays I already requested off until New Years, so it wouldn't matter if im sick or not =P)
Edited by Hammertrial, 28 December 2012 - 12:23 PM.
Centurion Results are up. Interestingly, while XP went way up (because I ended up with a positive KD ratio) the C-Bill results went way down. This is probably due to the cadet bonuses steadily declining over time, rather than being some sort of fixed % per match for 25 matches.
Also made some notes about premades, ECM, and mech diversity.
Going to get my oil changed hopefully, then off to the Dragon.
Edited by Hammertrial, 28 December 2012 - 01:32 PM.
I'm running a free account at the moment and have clocked up 10 games in the CN9-D so far. I'll post a full log but the trial CN9-D is fine. It runs hot as hell on Caustic but elsewhere, it's a perfectly fine mech. With all the whining and bleeting, I was expecting the trial experience to be awful. It really isn't; I'm having a lot of fun with it.
3
as this is played later in the day than the raven people are starting to log on, or C) there just isn't as many premades as people think there are. People readily admitted to being premades when asked, so I learn more towards the number being correct than far off from people not admitting to being in premades.
