5
Paul Inouye, on 21 March 2013 - 02:46 PM, said:
The Hotfix What it addresses: I'm going to ask you to help us test these values by FEEL. Not by playing SpreadsheetWarrior. Missiles are STILL a very big threat to the target but just aren't doing these chart topping damage numbers. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS MESSAGE: This is a TEMPORARY fix to quell the damage done by missiles at this time. We are fully investigating the damage model AND focusing on the grouping of missiles and will update as soon as we can on how any changes will be managed/implemented.
Spoiler
The results were abysmal. While the ER beam weapons did respectable damage, the LRMs simply did not perform. Part of this was due to the prevalence of ERPPC sniper and poptart builds; particularly on Friday night, the majority of many matches consisted of poptart highlanders. Sniper prevalence makes life difficult for anyone using LRMs, because you have to expose yourself to flank them, and you have to flank them in order to hit them with missiles when they stand behind a hill. Even in line of sight combat, however, my 22 tons of LRM launchers didn't deal enough damage to my enemy to be a threat. I seriously felt like I was throwing wet kittens at them - cute, and they scratch you up a little, but they're not a real threat.The ERPPC, on the other hand, was devastatingly effective when used against me. 3 ER PPCs (21 tons of weaponry, compared to my 22) would deal smashing damage to the precise same location - just under a third of my 96 points of CT forward armor. These systems would deal full damage to me out to 810m, which would allow the firing 'mech 8.1 seconds to get back into cover if I launched LRMs at the same time they fired. Even if it took them half my flight time to acquire me and shoot, they'd still have over 4 seconds to escape my LRMs. Obviously this is more than enough time to walk behind a building or hillside - or to simply shut off the jump jets and let gravity take its course. Thus, the only way to deal full damage with LRMs is to catch a 'mech completely out in the open, with no cover nearby. This is a difficult proposition, as every map contains multiple means of cover.
However, even if I am able to deal full damage with my LRMs, my launchers are still outperformed on the basis of DPS/ton by the ERPPC. ER PPCs are longer-ranged than my LRMs (albeit at reduced damage,) and an equivalent tonnage of charged particle projector will simply outslug my my missile launchers - while dealing all their damage to whatever location their marksmanship can manage, instead of scattered over my torso. Certainly the ER PPC runs far hotter per ton than any LRM system, but that will only matter in a prolonged engagement where I'm not dead in three shots - in other words, if my enemy is charging me over a long stretch of open terrain starting at 1000m, and I can just plaster him without distractions from his team. This is not likely to happen; the maps are designed to prevent this from becoming necessary, and anyone who's been playing for a week will avoid running over vast open stretches while under fire at all costs.
Finally, contrary to popular opinion, LRMs are actually more difficult to use (i.e. hit people with) than direct-fire weapons against any opponent who is trying to avoid them. Certainly, their tracking ability makes them seem like easy-mode, fire-and-forget weapon systems, but this is not the case. In order to deal damage with LRMs, you need to position yourself so that your volleys avoid his cover. Unless you're firing into a brawl that's taking place on open terrain, this means that you're off to the side of the main battle lines - and broadcasting your position to any interested party with bright rocket flares as soon as you open fire. Further, if your enemy breaks targeting lock, you must spend precious instants to re-lock once you re-acquire him, and LRMs are of course non-functional at less than 180m. The result is that unlike ERPPCs, which remain a devastating weapon at close ranges, the risk of flanking with an LRM 'Mech is much higher than if you were armed with an ERPPC.
In summary, the ERPPC outperforms the LRM in every metric but heat efficiency. It has greater range, more focused damage, and is easier to hit with under most combat conditions. Furthermore, the ERPPC is an all-range powerhouse, having the third-highest dps/ton of any non-laser weapon (dealing all of its damage in a single pulse,) and shares the title for fourth-highest absolute range in the game. These advantages more than offset the LRM's advantage in heat efficiency, particularly when considering the weight of ammunition required to keep an LRM launcher in the fight during heavy combat (one ton of ammunition for an LRM20 would last for 23.75 seconds of firing.) The ERPPC, a multipurpose beam weapon, is outperforming the LRM, a specialized long-to-mid-range weapon system... in the LRM's own field of specialization.
The LRM is not a totally broken system; it does do some damage, and may well be more effective if used by a full-on Stalker or Awesome missile boat rather than my hybrid Atlas build - or as part of a deliberate strategy by a premade team. Purely on its own merits, however, it is a markedly sub-par weapon system and is in need of some serious love. The planned changes to missile flight speed will help significantly, but this will do nothing for the low damage of the weapon system in instances where my missiles were hitting home anyway. Perhaps most tellingly, players I talk to and see in-game have largely stopped using anti-missile systems, even going to far as to call people out for "wasting tonnage" on them. Until their damage is comparable to their difficulty and weight requirements, LRMs will continue to be an unattractive weapon system.
Now, we know that all weapon systems are being looked at constantly - that's not just a beta thing; that's how administration of live games works as well. I'd simply like to know where the development team feels we are concerning the relative effectiveness of LRMs - and what, if any, changes beyond than the missile speed buff are possible in the near future.
(Alternately, feel free to slap me upside the head and point me at a post if I missed something.)
Edited by Void Angel, 25 April 2013 - 03:20 PM.
