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A: Partly due to the nature of how MGs work in the TT rules, partially due to how we chose to make it useful. When equipping a MG, keep in mind that it is not meant to burn through armor but is very useful for tearing up internals (crits). Bumping MG damage will turn it into a laser that can be kept on with no heat penalty until it runs out of ammo. Now imagine the devastating effect that a 6 MG spider could do to the back of an Atlas! We are still investigating balance of the MG but don’t expect any significant increase in damage.
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A: They are working as intended. They do not pose a real threat to a fully armored `Mech, however once damage, machine guns are deadly against internal components.
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A: There are two different times that ammo can explode. If an ammo bin is destroyed by a critical hit (each bin currently has 10 health), there is a 10% chance that the ammo remaining in that bin will explode. When a location, such as the right torso, is destroyed, each ammo bin in that location that had not already been destroyed by crit hits has an individual 10% chance to explode. There are two exceptions to this. The first is that, if you have ammo stored in your arm, and your arm falls off when your side torso is destroyed, there is no chance of the ammo exploding. The other is that Gauss Rifle ammo never explodes. However, all the explosion rules also apply to Gauss Rifles, except that they have a 90% chance of exploding.
I understand that, in your opinion, the MGs are "working as intended". I respectfully suggest that you reevaluate your intentions.
The MG is not a useful weapon. It does not do enough damage to justify mounting it. I realize that it is "crit seeking", but even in this it falls short. In the time it takes for the crit-buffed MG to strip an internal I could have used a real weapon to do the same thing and do it while also hurting the mech I was shooting at.
MGs have ALWAYS been able to damage a mech. Their damage was equal to an AC2, 1 point less than a small laser, in TT. I do not expect MGs to be buffed to the level of our current AC2, but leaving the MG at it's current state is a bad decision.
In TT, many light mechs make good use of MGs, both for stripping armor, and for "crit seeking". The MGs damage is balanced by the low weight, large ammo reserve, no heat and limited range. In MWO the MG has no advantage. Forcing the MG into the role of "crit seeker" is artificially gimping many stock mech designs. The Spider 5K, Cicada 3M (is that the right one? don't remember right now) both have 4 ballistic slots. The only thing that they can reasonably mount there are MGs. But you are better off NOT MOUNTING THEM than you are with them on your mech. The risk of ammo explosion outweighs the usefulness of the weapon.
Please, for your love of the game, please look at MGs again. Make them useful. Buff their damage. Let us try it with the buffed damage for 1 patch cycle. If you wish, have a hotfix ready to drop on us if the MGs suddenly become "OP". But MGs in their current state are a joke, and no weapon in MWO should be a joke.
Tickdoff Tank
Ps. We can talk about flamers and the LBX later.
Edited by Tickdoff Tank, 08 April 2013 - 01:51 PM.