73 replies to this topic

[Gaan Cathal]

Viper69, on 05 April 2013 - 07:29 AM, said:

As others have said. You probably are seeing less bad ones. Only the really good light pilots are still running around as it should be. A good light pilot is the eyes of his team and or a rear guard skirmisher/hitting the long range mechs. Before with the lag shield bad players didnt have to be good to succeed and with the soon to be state rewind for ballistics the difficulty is going to ramp up another notch.

Speed an maneuverability can be more deadly than an AC20 to the head.

HSR for ballistics is going to be a much more brutal introduction for lights than HSR for lasers was. Given the way ballistics are used, they can take a lot of lights out with one or two hits. For one thing I envision getting very annoyed at being hit with an AC40+ while I'm behined cover. Not that I'm saying don't introduce HSR for ballistics, HSR is one of those things where it's bad either way, but it's less bad having it.

Zen Hachetaki, on 05 April 2013 - 07:31 AM, said:

In addition for the Davion mech would definitely not be the Jenner which is more of a Kurita mech (although yes Davion uses many as well). The Wolfhound is more Davion - in game currently would the Jager not be a typical FedRat mech?

Wrong thread?

Edited by Gaan Cathal, 05 April 2013 - 07:35 AM.

[stjobe]

Gaan Cathal, on 05 April 2013 - 07:23 AM, said:

(sorry commandos, really I am)

No more than this old Commando pilot. The restrictions PGI has put in (as well as not restricting certain things) really hurts the Commando. I still love them to death and I usually have a blast when I play them, but I'm fully aware that I have to work for it much, much more than a 3L (or even 5D) pilot.

Incidentally, I have dropped once in my ECM+3xSSRM-2 COM-2D since they started tracking the new stats:



I swiftly went back to my ERPPC COM-1D because it felt like cheating.

I just wish the game would reward some actual Scout-related activities a bit more.

[PropagandaWar]

Last night was ganged up by a spider and jenner in my cent. I didnt make it. Hunchback I probably would have cent didnt make it. They are viable.

[Viper69]

Gaan Cathal, on 05 April 2013 - 07:34 AM, said:

HSR for ballistics is going to be a much more brutal introduction for lights than HSR for lasers was. Given the way ballistics are used, they can take a lot of lights out with one or two hits. For one thing I envision getting very annoyed at being hit with an AC40+ while I'm behined cover. Not that I'm saying don't introduce HSR for ballistics, HSR is one of those things where it's bad either way, but it's less bad having it.

I know, last night I hit a commando running away square in the rear torso with an AC20, no armor blink at all. Our 2xAC20 Jagermech hit him both barrels rear center nothing as well. Will be interesting but I fear the good light pilots who rise to the top will be brutal killers, as they should be.

[Novakaine]

Anything that ganks the little beasties is with me.
I hate the ********.

[EarlGrey83]

just play conquestmode for a change, on large maps lights have a lot of fun there.

[Vrekgar]

You dont want to be bored playing a light mech?

Play a GD Spider. Ive seen some AMAZING spider pilots, Ive tried it myself and I suck at them. But these guys... Jesus they are amazing.

Its light on guns but if you have brass balls you can do some amazing ****. Just, Dont Blink.

[Esplodin]

Primary 5D pilot that bought the first assault - Heavy metal. NO experience driving an assault whatsoever. 2-3 hours of game play I had all basic efficiencies unlocked and was rolling in the C-Bills, 1 KD ratio. Even with fiddling with the build after each match. There is no way in heck I could do that in a Spider. Maybe with the savior bonus that was put in a patch or two ago. It is just sick how quickly you can rack up XP and CB.

There is zero incentive in XP/CB to drive one, which is a huge issue. The energy HSR has already thinned the field considerably, and for the better. Once HSR comes into play for ballistics and missiles I have the feeling that I'll be forced to garage my beloved 5D until the speed nerf comes off. Maybe not though with how poorly people aim. I personally love beam boats that still complain about lag shield - lol.

[Ngamok]

Waking One, on 05 April 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

Light mechs are amazing and annoying as hell. I support more things that screw with them.

I was playing last night and all I saw were lights running into my legs on pretty much every map. Yes, they are annoying because they leg hump me with no fear of getting knocked over.

[TheSteelRhino]

Sorry, but you're wrong.

There are only 8 mechs per team. If you are seeing 2 lights per team that would statistically indicate a fairly normal distribution considering there are 4 weight classes. And I would argue that the cicada FUNCTIONALLY is essentially a light mech anyways. It's barely a medium.

Now, what I think you are seeing is that there are FEWER than before because they are no longer OP. Improved netcode, state rewind, corrected hit boxes on Ravens, and finally the exposure and corrections of the issues with SRM and SSRM's has removed several of the *cough* "advantages" there were in lights. In short, they weren't taking damage as they should, and were doling out to much.

This means that mechs with direct fire weapons (lasers at the moment, but state rewind for ballistics and missiles is coming in a couple of weeks) can now effectively hit those mechs unless the pilot is good enough to leverage the speed and maneuverability to avoid fire.

The primary job of light mechs is to SCOUT most of the time. Not to say they don't have a fast Striker and harassement role. They do, and that's important. But the reality is that a lot of people were running them because the mechanics were broken, and they were reaping huge rewards.

I am sorry, but you were saying this is broken? I'm saying it's finally ALMOST right. We still need knockdowns. Sorry, a 30 tonner runs into a 65 tonner...something is going to fall and break. And if a 65 tonner runs into an atlas..something is going to fall down and break.

(To be honest, I am one of what has to be quite a few folks that got quite sick of invincible ravens running right at them and circling with impunity, who are more than happy to take months of frustration back out on them.)

Edited by Rhinehardt Ritter, 05 April 2013 - 10:40 AM.

[WardenWolf]

Zen Hachetaki, on 05 April 2013 - 07:09 AM, said:

All this being said how "could" they measure/rewards this beyond that our team won? I don't know that answer but ti would be cool if somehow they could deduce how often you were fired upon and how often you made someone miss/waste ammo/overheat/bang their keyboard in frustration and show it as a stat. Bob and weave; never be predictable; never go below 130 kph - the code of the Jenner/Spider pilot.

It is tough, but I think there is a lot of possibility:

1) Reward mechs more for damage the smaller they are. Light mechs maybe get 150-200% the xp / cbills for damage of an Assault, with Mediums getting like 120-125%, and Heavies getting 110% or even the same as Assaults.

2) Reward light mechs for time spent near enemy mechs - this would represent time spent harassing them, and if they did poorly they would die and have a lesser reward (so that it doesn't just reward suiciding).

3) Reward captures more *in Conquest* (please don't in Assault, in fact just change Assault to get rid of the cap), and reward interrupting or halting enemy captures as well.

Those are just a few ideas off the cuff, I'm sure we could come up with more if we try

[Durant Carlyle]

Everybody seems to be waiting on the Flea as they somehow believe that it will be the SOOPER FASTESTEST LIGHT 'MECH EVAH!

Flea comes with a 120 engine and goes 97.2 kph default. The role-based maximum engine it can carry is a 170 (120 x 1.4, rounded up). That makes for 137.7 kph maximum speed without Speed Tweak. It's no speed demon.

The introduction of MASC might make things interesting, but only if the netcode-forced speed cap is lifted. In which case, the Spider (183.6 kph with role-based 340 maximum engine, without Speed Tweak) would be very close to the Flea's speed, depending on how they implement MASC. And the Spider can run that fast all day, unlike the MASC-enhanced Flea.

[Gnatter]

I can say lights are quite effective. I also wish they would fix and reinstall knock downs. With that, I agree lights would be very close to spot on. I also want the speed cap removed. I really want to see what my Spiders can do with a true max speed.

[Zen Hachetaki]

@ Gann - yes you are correct - misposted - my bad.

-Zen

Edited by Zen Hachetaki, 05 April 2013 - 10:57 AM.

[Jman5]

The biggest problem facing lights are the players not the mech or gameplay.

Base capturing ability gives your team a huge advantage over a team of full assaults/heavies. Yet enemies and allies alike scream like banshees anytime someone dares disrupt their sniper-war. "Go back and defend my base? ARE YOU MAD?!"

Scouting and relaying information is another big advantage of the light mech, but PuG matches often have little to no communication, so it's next to useless unless you can get a lock. On top of that, many lights don't even scout to begin with. They stick with the group.

These problems are entirely player driven and so the solution is for light pilots to play their role to its full potential or pick a bigger mech.

[Tank]

I play mostly light and I found this class most fun of all others. I really can't see how it's any way boring - you have most freedom, wide range of tasks like scout/support/capture/distract and all in most dynamic way possible. And you are most likely to be last man standing if do everything right!

If someone plays light as an assault class - I have nothing but pity for that person.

[Roland]

I cannot remember the last time I played a game without multiple light mechs.

[Boochie]

I see lots of light mechs. They're just never on my team. I can pretty much put money on seeing at least a 3L, usually two in every match.

[PropagandaWar]

Come to think of it I see more lights than mediums. Sure we'll get our runs with 4 of us but.... Yeah. No lights are all over the place! All over! Get them off me! Dammit im getting shot in the back! Yeah that's the sound I usually hear through comms from the guy who ran off without backup or in a stupid PPC/LERM boat.

[Bagheera]

Roughneck45, on 05 April 2013 - 04:58 AM, said:

Light mechs are viable.

I still see plenty of them, just not half the team like it used to be with full lagshield.

This.

They are plenty viable - the only possible complaint might be that end of match rewards aren't quite comprehensive enough to reward many of the tasks lights should be doing.