4 replies to this topic

[Inyc]

The art team right now has the power to balance any cheese build people complain about.

Think about it. The giant AC/20 on the Atlas side torso is one of its most vulnerable point. 9 out of 10 atlas I see killed loses that side AC/20 (or Gauss) early in the fight. Same with the Hunchback's giant shoulder mount. Same with the catapult ears. Or the Centurion gun arm.

Players will always focus on the big, obvious weapon on the enemy mechs because those weapons are powerful - but vulnerable.

I mean what is the only thing that keeps the Splat Cat moderately balanced? The big obvious ears.

So all that needs to be done to balance PPC stacking mechs or AC/20 / Gauss K2s is to have weapon models be represented accurately on the mechs, with an increase to the hit-box that follows the bigger weapon size.

Because the best balance is risk vs reward balance. Bigger weapons have a bigger reward and should carry a bigger risk.

You could apply this to missiles as well. If smaller missiles gave Cats smaller ears, some people might think twice about LRM10s vs LRM20s. Smaller missiles in torso slots means less missile ports to get shot in, etc...

[Kodiak Jorgensson]

the features being worked on it just takes time, the game already has a "pod" system. remove the K2's PPC weapons and give it some lasers the barrles are shortened. the CN9-A change the AC10 to an LB10-X the lower arm changes. im not entirely sure a missle pod system could work, the D-DC atlas could end up looking silly with just a side torso filled out with missles.

Garth Erlam, on 02 January 2013 - 12:42 PM, said:

Q: So... could it be, that in all mechs real equipped weapons shown correctly with different models for SL and LL, AC-2 and AC-10, PPC ect..? And if weapons not equipped - there be "empty" places. [Warge]
A: This is something that is added over time. The K2 and Hunchbacks already show this, but it is a very time consuming thing to do. Once we’ve covered the major hurdles of features and Mech customization, we will be expanding resources on these type of visual upgrades. [Paul]

http://mwomercs.com/...vs-29a-answers/

[FrDrake]

When I read your title I honestly thought that this was going to be a thread about how much @$$ the art team for MWO kicks and that you wanted them to take over other major areas of the game and do just as good of a job.

But really their art team is great.

[Bishop Steiner]

heh, I thought it was satirizing all the QQtryhards who complain about new hero mechs and maps "when they need to finish fixing the core of the game mechanics", as if the artists and code team were somehow interchangeable.

[Inyc]

Bishop Steiner, on 28 February 2013 - 12:24 PM, said:

heh, I thought it was satirizing all the QQtryhards who complain about new hero mechs and maps "when they need to finish fixing the core of the game mechanics", as if the artists and code team were somehow interchangeable.

No this is really just how visual design can be a powerful balance tool. And it already does balance parts of the game, and can certainly be used to balance some of the biggest complains people have now.

Of course I am aware it is much harder for them to balance with new assets than with just numbers changes.