aniviron, on 25 April 2013 - 10:10 PM, said:
Yes, it's great that you did well in your medium. One game proves nothing. Please observe the following:
Now you could look at this screenshot and go, "Wow anivirion, 780 damage and three kills and you lived to tell about it? Your mech must be great!" Well, maybe. You could also keep looking at the screenshot for a while until you realize, "Oh hey, that guy only did 138 damage in his 4P, and he was one of the first to die. That mech is pretty bad."
It's nice that you can have a good game in a medium. If you're a good pilot, it's going to happen every now and then. But this doesn't change the fact that if I'd been in a heavier mech that round, I probably would have had over a thousand points of damage, and with less effort to boot. For that matter, it goes to show you that anecdotal evidence means nothing. Every time an "x is underpowered" thread comes up, someone posts a screenshot of how well they can do with x. Sure, you did great, and I'm proud of you. But what isn't posted is the dozens of rounds where the object in question has middling or awful rounds, or how a player who hasn't spent too much time in this game does with it.
In short: statistics are more meaningful than stories. And given that heavies and assaults absolutely dominate in percentage of mechs dropped, this implies that there is a problem with lights and mediums. By and large, players play what works, and what helps them win, because losing over and over isn't fun. Which makes one wonder why so few players are playing lights or mediums.
I was once told a Hunchback loadout would not work. I submitted not one, but four end screens of my mech in action, each end screen back to back. Does that help tell a better tale? I believe i did about 150 upwards to 600 damage in those matches. Its all in how you play. What works for one player might not for another one.
Personally, I find my mediums (Hunchback and Centurion) make great guards. I dont have them geared to go fast, as they don't need to for their intended roles. They are also still usually fast enough to still be able to scout, outflank or distract if need be. I have a friend who runs an almost stock Centurion, stock speed. He does very well in it in most matches.
My cicada I find is a big light. Hes great for strikes and scouting. I do have a slow 3C that I've dubbed as the Hollander 2 that does well enough.
And in response to someone about a slow light, been thinking about getting a Spider 5V (or is it k) and make it a jumping Hollander to try and play off the success I've seen on my Hollander 2. I've heard people playing Spiders as mock Urbanmechs too.
To summerize, med mechs have their place. Its all in how you set them up and use them. They are the jack of all trades. Able to do anything, but not great at any one thing. Now if they had cost included, then having several med mechs vs one assault would be their strength. In the universe lore, that is the real strength of a med, cheap to make, fix, replace and about to gang up on larger mech types.