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(Because this is the internet and "pics or it didn't happen", here is my profile.)
Ok with that out of the way I'll start on what I think are the biggest problems with the game so far. This is not going to be a rant. It is constructive feedback, and I don't need rants as responses. If you can't debate in a logical and mature fashion please don't reply.
1. Bugs (go figure) Right now the biggest issue is bugs. Interestingly I have had relatively few, but I know from keeping up with the forums, albeit posting little, that I am in the minority. I only suffer from texture dropping and the host of minimap issues. However the minimap issues I suffer from have not been fixed since closed beta. Minimap missing, minimap rainbow, minimap un-moving, minimap displaying things super tiny. My favorite bug that isn't a crash, is the total missing hud bug. Not much fun when I don't have a cross-hair and can't tell who is on my team. They did fix, to my joy, the constant crashing and disconnects for me. They also fixed the yellow screen bug. It concerns me though that so many bugs have persisted for so long, and a few new ones were introduced with the latest patch.
2. Balance This is a big one because it contains several parts.
A) First part is missiles. The hotfix rollback on damage was followed up with a post asking us to feel it out. Well I've felt it out and they are now under-powered. LRM's are pretty far under where they have been for a long time. I miss the days when I could one-shot an awesome with an lrm60, but that is simply overpowered. They feel to me between 20-40% under where they should be, which ironically would put them at about... 1 damage. SRM's don't feel quite as bad but are still under what they should be doing. I'd say 10-20% to low to be justified.
B.) Ballistics. Right now the LBX and the AC10 are just horrible. Now, I have a Jager that gets great damage and has good rounds with 2LBX and 2SRM6. But I know that when I'm point blank hitting an unarmored mech in his core with them and barely changing the color (rather than strait up killing it) that something needs to be done. Ammo types seem to a popular consensus and I agree with them. The AC10 might benefit from a CDR. Right now two AC5 outperform a 10 by light-years and dropping the AC10's CD might fix this and make it useful again.
Then there is the AC20... Oh boy... The AC20 is actually perfect right now. The weapon is right where it should be, but it's also horribly imbalanced. Cat's and Jager's should only be allowed 1 of these weapons if any. The Akimbo Cat and Jagers are ruining a good portion of this game. Look, it doesn't work in the fluff, and it shouldn't work here. Cat's don't have room in the side torso's to equip them. Jager's arms should be immobile to equip them. They have caused a trend in players to use these builds to the exclusion of all others and they are causing a lot of problems for the community. Are they overpowered, yes and no. They cockpit in a single shot, which is horrible, and they core you in 2-5 depending on your build. They are almost impossible to successfully shut down if you don't have range on them. They also have a tendency to one shot the legs on scouts which ruins their games. On the other hand they screw your team out of a more versatile mech. That said, this should not have been allowed to continue as long as it has.
C) Energy weapons - (Heat sinks) - Energy weapons as they are, are fine. They work exactly as intended and I feel are perfectly balanced. They do feel under powered compared to ballistics but they require no ammo or travel time so I can let it go. They do however highlight that the heatsinks in the game are still broken. DHS and SHS are both still not operating at levels that are sufficient. The clan weaponry will be completely destroyed by the current state of heatsinks. I think an great way to fix this issue is by nerfing alpha damage. Create an exponential increase in the amount of heating firing multiple weapons at the same time cause. This would bring dps back into the game and stop the alpha lunacy. I deal with the heat well, because I'm used to it and I make good builds for the current system. New players are completely destroyed and put off by it, and I know many who have already quit because of it.
3. Mechlab A lot of you will wonder why I even bring this up. The reason is simple, the arm on Raven is the same size as the arm on a Stalker. What's worse is that it's bigger by two slots than the arm on an Atlas because the poor Atlas had the misfortune of having real arms and hands which can't be used. Perhaps you feel that is a sufficient trade for lateral movement, but the size difference is preposterous. This exact problem is the reason the tiny machine gun slots on a catapult can slot an AC20, but the arms on anything with hands gets screwed. Just take a casual glance at the pod on a hunchback or the side mount on an Atlas and then back at the Catapult and tell me you can squeeze more than an engine and some machine guns in there. You need some system to adjust the amount of space mechs have to work with, and the amount a weight a limb can hold.
4. Miscellaneous other concerns. The above are my three biggest concerns, but here I'll toss in other things that worry me or are worth mentioning.
1. New content - I think they are actually getting new content out at a reasonable pace. People complain about new maps but honestly, a lot of work goes into them and they are putting them out pretty quick. I'd like to see River city about half as much but with the new vision modes the map is more tolerable. The Heavy Metal launching before the stock builds is a little odd, but I'm not going to cry havoc over it.
2. Matchmaking - This deserves to be a point above but I can't offer anything constructive. It sucks, and I hate it... Watching 6 members of your lance run off to get Kappa on Tourmaline while the rest of the map gets capped is just infuriating. I'm not sure what the elo ranking is doing, but on average at least 4 people on my team act like they have never played a game in their life. I'm dropping consistently with trial mechs and I can't understand why. I feel bad for the trials on the other side because it's like free kills for me, and that's not even remotely fair.
3. PGI - This one is a hot button issue, but I think a lot of people will agree with me on this. First, we can see the duck, we can smell the duck, and even hear the duck, so it must be a duck. This may be called a beta, but it really isn't. So that excuses nothing in my book. The minute you take my money for a product you are accountable to me for delivering on that product. (For those of you who want to mince words, please take an economics class. Because it's digital and f2p does not keep it from being a product or an economic investment on the part of the buyer.) I DO NOT think PGI is doing a bad job. I don't think its a great job either. But I have no hatred toward them or spite. I think they have a few pretty glaring issues that need fixing immediately, but so far I have not been overly disappointed. I just want them to be straight with me, and take a little bit more care with the license they are using.
So these are some of my thoughts. I think PGI takes too much flack for most of the issues out there, but I feel for some of the really angry people for some of the bugs that still have not been fixed and some of the balancing issues that have outstayed their welcome. I'd appreciate any constructive feedback you guys have on any of these points.
Edited by Prathios, 04 April 2013 - 11:17 PM.
Agreed on AC/10 and LB10X... Completely disagreed on the akimbo Jagers and Catapults. Especially on Catapults, actually. In fact, your main argument reeks of "Not that dead horse again!!" as you use the same, discredited argument a lot of people threw... "There's no room on the side torsos for that gun!" ... there's 12 critical slots there to be used and a bloody hardpoint. It fits, period. Plus, now we can even see the damned guns on the 3D model, in case you didn't notice... (and am I the only one that likes to kill those jagers and catapults at range? I _have_ killed several already. And if they got close to you, especially the catapults, then they're playing the game well and shouldn't be punished for it. They're SLOW, dammit. Even the Jaeger is slow with that kind of loadout, despite being able to use XL, unlike the catapult)
. I do accept that the AC10 feels a tad off. I'm going to be experimenting with my new Cataphract on how it works with other weapons. The AC20 does feel rather..... spot on. The thing bloody stings and feels like a good equalizer to popping Assaults or (with skill) showing Lights who's boss.
