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The recent change to missiles has been the best thing to happen to the Light-game since this game went Open-Beta.
I've been a full-time scout pilot since early closed, that would be like June last year.
4500+ games since Open Beta, and way more than that during Closed, nearly all in Scouts.
Please take this to heart - I'm not one of those people who moan about nerfing this, or buffing that, as a rule I just keep my head down and work with what we've got at any given time.
That said, since Open beta, the light game has been a joyless experience, and I've stuck with it only because my unit needed scouts.
The dominance of the Raven, with it's combo of ECM and massively powerful Streaks made this so.
Now, finally, with missiles (Streaks and to a lesser extent LRMs) being that bit less powerful, we're finally seeing the Light game open up to allow Jenners, non-ECM Cicadas, Spiders, etc.. being not only good for trolling, but also a competitive option.
Last night in a League match I dropped in a team with 2x Jenners and a non-ECM 'Cada, vs a team that also eschewed ECM Lights.
Just consider - two competitive units (final match of the season so real effort) NOT taking as many ECM-lights as possible. When was the last time you ever heard of that?
All night tonight I've been running random 8-mans, and have seen a real mix of Lights, who have al ben able to perform; I've seen, and been on teams who didn't even take a single ECM/Streak light.
It sounds such a little thing, but this is such a radical turn around as to be amazing. It's the first genuine opening-up of options I've seen since Open.
The changes regarding hitboxes and state-rewind prevent Lights being as dominant overall as they used to be, but still we've had the situation where any scout that isn't a Raven 3L is an utter joke, and the guys in the Ravens aren't enjoying themselves either.
Now that one can withstand a few barrages of Streaks, we're back where the genuinely better pilot wins a given engagement, and the choice of mech reflect more the pilots playstyle and role, rather than just one mech to rule them all.
ECM can now be about stealth, and not about denying or enabling the only weapon worth a damn.
This has been the single best thing to happen to me in the game since it started, and I pray to the mech-gods that this "temporary" measure doesn't suddenly roll back to where Streaks are once again the dominant scout weapon, meaning everyone and his dog has to out-ECM the enemy just to have a chance.
So in conclusion, please, please please - Keep streaks in thier box. Right now they're an effective attrition weapon, that will wear you down over time and are ideal to keep up the pressure on a target, but if they become just a little more powerful than they are right now, they'll go right back to being the only sensible option, the God-Missiles they have been for as long as Open Beta has been in place.
Please don't let that happen.
Much love - a scout who aches to pilot anything but a Raven..
Edited by BigJim, 25 March 2013 - 03:05 PM.
