253 replies to this topic

[Just wanna play]

Helmstif, on 30 April 2013 - 10:00 PM, said:

Because it's not MEANT to be very good. I had plenty of glory moments with my beefed stock K2 BEFORE the HSR and heat reduction, simply by thinking myself as an LRM boat and chainfire the twin-PPC from afar. It's hard to grab kills with it, but the cumulative damage it can deal is tremendous. Average in my impression was 500-600, up to 100+ in really good/lengthy matchs.

It's as unlimited-ammo AC!

And you want it even stronger? You THINK people would "boat less hurr durr" if a weapon is buffed for single-use? SERIOUSLY? That would be one more f**king reason for them to boat it for f**k's sake!

Speaking of solution, I vote for JJ nerf/aiming desruption. I don't feel so strongly about heat rewinding for PPC/ERPPC, as they're still indeed great for suppressing brawlers, especially dual-AC20 Jagers. I never felt so strongly against quad-PPC Stalker/Atlas RS, or hexa-PPC Stalker, as their speed makes them easy prey for LRM and Light backstabbers. Or maybe they do need a slight heat-rewind, along with reduced projectile speed.

Yes they are, they are suppose to do a lot of damage and tear off limbs, while producing lots of heat, but no, they are just long range energy weapons in mwo

[Malastryx]

It is very disheartening to come into the forums and see all the talk from people that are frustrated because they can't play the way they want to play. In doing so they've lost all sight of the big picture and only care about their own highly limited points of view.

The vast majority of posts here stem from the fact the poster prefers "tactic A" and because of pop tarting they can't use it anymore and are unwilling to rise to the challenge. I'm sorry, but just because you die doesn't mean the other guy is cheating, it might mean you made a bad choice or had a weaker team. I realize your ego's may be larger than these mechs, but it doesn't give you justification for basically complaining that you died while "playing your best" (A sheer impossibility, naturally)

So these pilot's unwillingness to change tactics and actually use cover is completely overshadowed by their desire to be able to use their preferred mech and tactic at the cost of everyone else's preferred play style.

These posts use "justifications" of table top rules and realism as their vessel, yet it is only a very tunneled down example of TT rules or realism directed only at the subject at hand. If you were honestly concerned about table top and realism than most matches would be over in less than a minute due to the fact that we're already at what, 3 x the normal armor and internal structure values of TT? A single shot from an A/C 20 could easily core a lot of mechs on the field with TT rules while in MWO you can take countless volleys as long as you're torso twising.

Why don't we use TT rules for aiming too? When you shoot at a mech the game will randomly assign where it hits with a roll of the die, the aiming is just for fun...

Realism? Why don't we also make it so that if you run into a building in a spider you blow up or crash into the building and rebar crashes through your cockpit... Realism, it's what's important. What you're really saying is you want selective realism in order to acheive what you want - which is apparently a game that only allows your chosen tactic to be viable. Let's make it so that brawlers trip over obstacles when they're running headlong through all types of terrain. I think they should move MUCH slower in water since the silt and mud would offer much higher resistance to the mech's legs.

You're concerned about brawlers? So you want to reduce any build that is an effective counter to a brawler so that only brawlers are viable? Jump snipers are already at a great disadvantage at close range compared to most any other mech. Limiting their long range potential to be on par with non sniper builds means you just made that build completely inneffective just for the sake of only you having a good time.

I've played hundreds of matches since the highlander came out and have been on both sides of jump sniping and brawling.

Everytime I play one or the other it is always a different match. Different team makeup and strategies.
Very rarely do I wish I had chosen a different mech when in my sniper or one of my brawlers (muromets / cent 9a)

However, more often than not I instead regret my mech positioning or shake my head at the pugs who went in 1 by 1 to get slaughtered.


Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. What it always comes down to is team strategy and the skill of the pilots in each mech.
Most all tactics besides LRM's are viable right now (they really are nerfed into oblivion, however, I still see some LRM pilots and they still serve a purpose of keeping enemies behind cover and aiding in DPS during a skirmish. They also are very good at KS'ing if that's you're thing.

On jump sniping:
If you honestly think jump sniping is an easy win button then the chances are you have never tried it.
There are so many pop tarts I see with 100-200 dmg a match and 2 assists, etc that just can't hit the broad side of a barn. Hitting consistently at range and aiming at the damaged component to take down the mech quickly is not easy, no matter how much you guys would like to pretend it is. Add in movement and constantly changing direction of a good pilot and you'd better be one hell of a shot.

In regards to the comments about matches with 5-6 highlanders being very hard to beat... You do realize that is 5-6 assault mechs right? Of course it's going to be hard to win, unless you beat them on caps which should be easy at that point if you're running much lighter. 5-6 DDC's would be difficult as well. That line of reasoning is very lackluster.


On brawlers:
I have seen excellent atlas pilots get close and take out 2 x highlanders by themselves. This is acheived by a much higher sustained dps, great aim, and the patience to only fire when you have a clear shot at whatever component you decided to take out first. Sure, the atlas got banged up but the highlanders went into panic mode and just hit whatever happened to be in their crosshairs. The Atlas' damage was evenly spread amongst all of his armor while the highlanders' CT's took the brunt of the damage.

On that note:
So many brawlers just "spew" their weapons everytime they see a mech (no matter what they're aimed at) over and over again until it (hopefuly) dies. Does anyone think this is skill? To be effective at killing any mech quickly you must concentrate on taking out a component you choose based on the mech and scenario. This rarely happens with pugs, as the alpha spew is so much easier and it racks up damage. I would take a teammate doing 300 well placed damage over a 600 damage spew monkey any day.

How many CT's can you tear out with 300 damage?

How many arms and torsos can you tear up with 600 damage?

Which one's better?

I don't expect my post to change anyone's minds, because those that scream nerf the loudest are the ones who would use cheat codes if they could. The people who can not stand a challenge but instead want things given to them with very little real effort.

My best guess is that they have indeed tried pop tarting but were unable to use them effectively and are instead left with pleading for nerfs so they can use their spew monkeys with reckless abandon.

At the end of the day:

- Sniping should be viable and they should be able to hit you hard from a long distance while able to take cover easily. This already takes a lot of skill if the other mech doesn't just stand their letting you pelt them or doesn't run straight at you with no turning at all.

- Scouting should be viable and worthwhile for capping, disrupting enemy lines, and spotting / tag while still being a risk that you can get taken down quickly if you're careless.

- Brawling should be viable and it is when pilots use the terrain to their advantage and not zerg across open areas thinking that as long as they get in close they can finish a fresh poptart with one alpha because they're a brawler....

- LRM's should be viable using teammates with tag and supressing the enemy line and disrupting their plans. (even now it does this well, nobody likes damage even if it's a small amount)

[oldradagast]

It still hurts my head that some folks think that by making boated weapons STRONGER, it'll mean you "need less of them" so folks will magically for some reason stop boating good weapons and instead fill up on other, random ones, thus "fixing" boating weapons?!

No - if armor is halved or boated weapons are buffed and that's it, all you'll see is even MORE boating and quicker deaths of the targeted mechs. Nobody is going to stop using the most powerful weapons in the game in the most powerful configuration (boating) just because their targets are easier to kill. Don't believe me? Half the armor on all your mechs and play the game. Do you suddenly see everyone targeting you with only half their boated weapons? Of course not - instead, you eat a full alpha and die even faster.

IMHO, some other thoughts:

1) Weapon Size: This interesting idea was floated earlier. If the weapons took up more space, it would make boating them harder, though this would deviate from tabletop, which may or may not be a good idea.

2) Some sort of boating / alpha penalty: More heat? More negative effects from heat? Damage dealt being reduced if a whole ton of it hits the same spot at the same time? Convergence changes? Just random ideas...

3) Jump Jets aren't working as advertised - or are they?: I haven't had time to test this, but I've heard that you can still pop-tart effectively with 1 jet. That just seems wrong... If players actually needed to devote appropriate tonnage to the jets to get a good pop-tart build, that would be fewer tons they would have for weapons, which might bring some balance, assuming the jump jet height is out of wack as some have stated. Also, it probably should be harder to hit a far-away target when jumping.

4) Map design needs to encourage all types of play: Really, for me, this is the big one. Most of the time, I don't mind snipers, though I also don't play at "high levels" where apparently everyone is jump-sniping. That being said, Alpine Peaks is a disaster of a map that heavily reward snipers and one starting point in particular. Those type of maps need work - the lake in Forest Colony isn't much better, IMHO.

5) Encourage other weapons by fixing the underpowered ones: Missiles could use a small buff, though not back to the crazy days, and the splash damage needs to be fixed. If consumables (air and artillery strike) were worth something, that might be a way to discourage boating snipers from simply hiding in one spot while shooting all day. And let's not even get started on the machine guns, flamers, and LBX-10... ugh...

All that being said, the only issue I personally have a problem with is the design of some of the maps. Alpine, as mentioned, is often a one-sided disaster against a team that is remotely capable, and the Forest Colony Lake is way too easy a death trap, too, IMHO. I also wish missiles were buffed a bit, but that's it. If they did that and tweaked those death-trap maps, I'd be fine without any other changes with regard to jump-sniping and sniping in general.

Edited by oldradagast, 01 May 2013 - 08:14 AM.

[Just wanna play]

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 08:12 AM, said:

It still hurts my head that some folks think that by making boated weapons STRONGER, it'll mean you "need less of them" so folks will magically for some reason stop boating good weapons and instead fill up on other, random ones, thus "fixing" boating weapons?!

again, said ppcs should be stronger for a completely different reason, sure it would affect boats, but we never said we think making ppcs stronger would stop boating, we just said their purpose as a heavy damage dealer doesn't really exist in this game unless you have a lot of them, and a 3 erppc awesome 8q would also then become a viable option to counter a 6 ppc stalker because he would have him beat in damage and heat at proper long ranges, as well as not having so many drawbacks dragging him down, and actually having an effective weapon set-up against other assaults

and so you still haven't noticed us saying increase the heat so that you CANT use 5 or 6 ppcs with out killing yourself instantly with heat, or giving your self crap armor and/or speed and those with 4 ppcs would have to be very specialized

all we are saying is that double armor is causing the high amount of boats , and we are only using 6 ppc stalker as examples, imo boating weapon is fine as long as it isn't taken 2 far

most custom boats are actually pretty bad mechs already (except proper lrm boats once they get proper balancing, they are naturally very good since lrms where always intended to be boated in some forms on some mechs, just look at catapults and awesome

i think everyone can agree with

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 08:12 AM, said:

I ..... wish missiles were buffed a bit, but that's it. If they did that ..... I'd be fine without any other changes with regard to jump-sniping and sniping in general.

if you have a mech with a good, versatile, weapon load out, these maps aren't really death traps (remember what i said about ppc boats being already very specialized, these kind of mechs might love 1 map and hate the other)


sounds like someones a bit of a sailor boy themselves

[Lord of All]

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 08:12 AM, said:

...All that being said, the only issue I personally have a problem with is the design of some of the maps. Alpine, as mentioned, is often a one-sided disaster against a team that is remotely capable, and the Forest Colony Lake is way too easy a death trap, too, IMHO. I also wish missiles were buffed a bit, but that's it. If they did that and tweaked those death-trap maps, I'd be fine without any other changes with regard to jump-sniping and sniping in general.

I agree with most of what you have said except this. Map design should not dictate Tactics EVER. Tactics should be derived from terrain and cover. A good commander should be able to Overcome and Adapt to any terrain and this is supposed to be a team effort even though currently there really is no viable way to have commanders without a 3rd party solution.

[Just wanna play]

Lord of All, on 01 May 2013 - 11:51 AM, said:

I agree with most of what you have said except this. Map design should not dictate Tactics EVER. Tactics should be derived from terrain and cover. A good commander should be able to Overcome and Adapt to any terrain and this is supposed to be a team effort even though currently there really is no viable way to have commanders without a 3rd party solution.

Exactly, jungle colony is a fairly extreme close range map, and alpine is an extremely long range focused map, if you don't have a weapon for both of those ranges, or you dont have a strategy to get in to your effective range, thats your problem

[oldradagast]

*Sigh* Double armor is *not* the cause of boating. People boat because it is the most effective way to deal the most damage all at once at a high range with the easiest aiming possible since all the weapons have the same characteristics. If armor was doubled or halved, it would not have any effects on current weapon layouts at all because competitive players will always use the best weapons possible. Note that I'm not opposed to changing the weapons a bit to discourage boating, but halving armor would make the situation far worse.

Maps should not dictate strategy... which is why Alpine is flawed since it basically forces long-range sniping and heavily rewards the side that starts near Sniper Mountain. All other maps allow for all strategies in at least some locations, but Alpine is basically one strategy all the time. A few small changes - more cover - would fix it, IMHO. Note that I always have a mix of weapons on my Mechs to cover all ranges, so this isn't just grumbling because I can't win with SRM blasts, etc. I'm just tired of basically starting most real combat on Alpine 2 mechs down thanks to the sniping.

Edited by oldradagast, 01 May 2013 - 01:29 PM.

[DegeneratePervert]

Last Thursday marked the first week in four months that I have not purchased SOME MC... not planning on getting any more tomorrow, either. The game used to give me so much enjoyment that I always bought some each pay-day, even if it was the $7 pack. Now, with the current long-range sniper meta, not so much. I hope they fix it soon.

I still feel that the way to balance boating in this game, a symptom of which is the pop-tards, is to introduce a heat-scale with penalties. Make going up to 90% heat a bad thing. Also, JJs can be balanced by adding an appropriate amount of shake depending on the mech's tonnage. IE, a spider, Jenner, or Raven won't feel the shake nearly at all to keep them from being over nerfed, but anything from a Catapult on up is going to have issues shooting while midair.

[Just wanna play]

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

*Sigh* Double armor is *not* the cause of boating. People boat because it is the most effective way to deal the most damage all at once at a high range with the easiest aiming possible since all the weapons have the same characteristics. If armor was doubled or halved, it would not have any effects on current weapon layouts at all because competitive players will always use the best weapons possible. Note that I'm not opposed to changing the weapons a bit to discourage boating, but halving armor would make the situation far worse.

Maps should not dictate strategy... which is why Alpine is flawed since it basically forces long-range sniping and heavily rewards the side that starts near Sniper Mountain. All other maps allow for all strategies in at least some locations, but Alpine is basically one strategy all the time. A few small changes - more cover - would fix it, IMHO. Note that I always have a mix of weapons on my Mechs to cover all ranges, so this isn't just grumbling because I can't win with SRM blasts, etc. I'm just tired of basically starting most real combat on Alpine 2 mechs down thanks to the sniping.

sniper mountain rarely gives that much of an advantage unless everyone in the match is a newer player, different sides have to use different strategies to take away the other sides advantage, its the same on all maps, and the 2 mechs down are probably just bad players that, possibly, don't have a good variety of weapons

what exactly do you mean by a good variety for long range?? what do you have on your mech exactly?? just state the weapons plz

[oldradagast]

Just wanna play, on 01 May 2013 - 01:40 PM, said:

sniper mountain rarely gives that much of an advantage unless everyone in the match is a newer player, different sides have to use different strategies to take away the other sides advantage, its the same on all maps, and the 2 mechs down are probably just bad players that, possibly, don't have a good variety of weapons

what exactly do you mean by a good variety for long range?? what do you have on your mech exactly?? just state the weapons plz

No problem:

Both my Atlas and my Highlander have a pair of large lasers, while my other mechs all pack an ERPPC... oh, and my Jagermech has 2 UAC5's. They are not purely long range, but I strongly dislike the "270m Mech" that can't do anything at any real range. Keep in mind that I'm NOT advocating any major changes to the game - just fix Alpine and avoid maps like that in the future... oh, and buff missiles a bit.

As for Sniper Mountain only crushing new players, that's true, but since I only PUG, I get a lot of them and thus the battle, as I said, often really begins after we're down a man or two... not that I'm a great player (I'm not) but at least I try to use cover.

Edited by oldradagast, 01 May 2013 - 02:15 PM.

[Kenyon Burguess]

heres a few quick suggestions: 1. falling damage needs to scale up with the tonnage of the mech. 2. at a certain heat point I think pilot damage or at least permanent sensor damage should come into play. 3. I don't mind lrm damage atm, but the missles need to double in speed to the target. 4. disable weapon convergence if the pilot doesn't have a target lock. 5. jump jets should throw you up and forward slightly, not only would this assist in preventing poptarting but it would help all the players from getting stuck on objects because they were unable to get a running start before lift off. 6. decrease frontal kill rewards, increase reward for killing a mech from behind.

[Lord of All]

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

*Sigh* Double armor is *not* the cause of boating. People boat because it is the most effective way to deal the most damage all at once at a high range with the easiest aiming possible since all the weapons have the same characteristics. If armor was doubled or halved, it would not have any effects on current weapon layouts at all because competitive players will always use the best weapons possible. Note that I'm not opposed to changing the weapons a bit to discourage boating, but halving armor would make the situation far worse.

Maps should not dictate strategy... which is why Alpine is flawed since it basically forces long-range sniping and heavily rewards the side that starts near Sniper Mountain. All other maps allow for all strategies in at least some locations, but Alpine is basically one strategy all the time. A few small changes - more cover - would fix it, IMHO. Note that I always have a mix of weapons on my Mechs to cover all ranges, so this isn't just grumbling because I can't win with SRM blasts, etc. I'm just tired of basically starting most real combat on Alpine 2 mechs down thanks to the sniping.

Actually to solve this you should be able to choose your mech and or loadout depending on what map you will be dropped on. I think if your sitting in a jumpship for months before you get to a planet to battle you have had the time to put on the correct loadout. but that ain't gonna happen so Every battleplan lasts until it meets the enemy, adapt and adjust. That's all we have to work with.

[Just wanna play]

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 02:08 PM, said:

No problem:

Both my Atlas and my Highlander have a pair of large lasers, while my other mechs all pack an ERPPC... oh, and my Jagermech has 2 UAC5's. They are not purely long range, but I strongly dislike the "270m Mech" that can't do anything at any real range. Keep in mind that I'm NOT advocating any major changes to the game - just fix Alpine and avoid maps like that in the future... oh, and buff missiles a bit.

As for Sniper Mountain only crushing new players, that's true, but since I only PUG, I get a lot of them and thus the battle, as I said, often really begins after we're down a man or two... not that I'm a great player (I'm not) but at least I try to use cover.

well large laserz arent long range weapons at all, and are fairly terrible on alpine, er laserz are far better for the heat/tonnage/ damage since past 450m your large laserz loss damage (you'd be surprised how much at common battle distances), and on alphine distance greater then 450 are very common, so both your assaults are medium-close fighters really, and the uac also slowly losses damage past 600m, good, but not perfect

also, erppcs start to loss damage past 810m, so yeah, no wonder you dislike alpine, you have to close the distance to be effective with your srongest, and slowest, mechs

yeah, i get what you say about newbies getting wiped out, i see it happen 2

[Just wanna play]

imo this game could use some more long range weapons, alpine is a bit of a challenge for any mech to do full damage on

[Lugh]

oldradagast, on 01 May 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

*Sigh* Double armor is *not* the cause of boating. People boat because it is the most effective way to deal the most damage all at once at a high range with the easiest aiming possible since all the weapons have the same characteristics. If armor was doubled or halved, it would not have any effects on current weapon layouts at all because competitive players will always use the best weapons possible. Note that I'm not opposed to changing the weapons a bit to discourage boating, but halving armor would make the situation far worse.

Maps should not dictate strategy... which is why Alpine is flawed since it basically forces long-range sniping and heavily rewards the side that starts near Sniper Mountain. All other maps allow for all strategies in at least some locations, but Alpine is basically one strategy all the time. A few small changes - more cover - would fix it, IMHO. Note that I always have a mix of weapons on my Mechs to cover all ranges, so this isn't just grumbling because I can't win with SRM blasts, etc. I'm just tired of basically starting most real combat on Alpine 2 mechs down thanks to the sniping.

Wrong. But nice thought. There are plenty of ways to fight that map, but most of the ID10ts that pilot in this game are unwilling to be patient and workaround terrain under cover to get behind the other position. Taking an inferior position and attempting to out shoot the guys on the higher ground.

The map can easily be won by outflanking the other team. Few do it. And they charge for glory over a far too open stretch and die horribly.

[Just wanna play]

Lugh, on 01 May 2013 - 02:56 PM, said:

Wrong. But nice thought. There are plenty of ways to fight that map, but most of the ID10ts that pilot in this game are unwilling to be patient and workaround terrain under cover to get behind the other position. Taking an inferior position and attempting to out shoot the guys on the higher ground.

The map can easily be won by outflanking the other team. Few do it. And they charge for glory over a far too open stretch and die horribly.

yep, have some snipers fighting those on higher ground while the rest of your team flanks, i once kept 3 people distracted in the trial dragon (lots of guass ammo was fired that day) while my entire team flanked mountain, once they got up there, it was over, they where purely brawlers and they did fine, frankly, with proper team work, having some dedicated brawlers can really help on that map, you just have to know where they should go (they should know 2)

in pugs tho.... god knows what will happen

[Alpha087]

If poptarts were nerfed completely, then there'd be nothing stopping the DAC20 Jagermechs from running more rampant than they already are. Suddenly this would turn into a brawler game of who can one-shot the other guy's shoulder first. Aimbots would become a lot more obvious with the AC over-use, and Light mechs would stop being used by a good amount of players with the frustration of being insta-legged and killed.

Things PGI needs to do:
Fix heat generation so PPCs make more sense.

Fix LRMs so they can help balance out the over-use of other builds (But don't overdo it, obviously).

Stop listening to the people who cry about getting killed by something because they refused to approach this game with any strategy or thought and instead decided "I'll just click and shoot!!", because listening to those kinds of people is what will run this game into the ground before it's even out of beta.

Edited by Alpha087, 01 May 2013 - 03:17 PM.

[MWHawke]

Suggestion: Stop running in the open directly at jump snipers. You might survive.

[Just wanna play]

Alpha087, on 01 May 2013 - 03:15 PM, said:

If poptarts were nerfed completely, then there'd be nothing stopping the DAC20 Jagermechs from running more rampant than they already are. Suddenly this would turn into a brawler game of who can one-shot the other guy's shoulder first. Aimbots would become a lot more obvious with the AC over-use, and Light mechs would stop being used by a good amount of players with the frustration of being insta-legged and killed.

Things PGI needs to do:
Fix heat generation so PPCs make more sense.

Fix LRMs so they can help balance out the over-use of other builds (But don't overdo it, obviously).

Stop listening to the people who cry about getting killed by something because they refused to approach this game with any strategy or thought and instead decided "I'll just click and shoot!!", because listening to those kinds of people is what will run this game into the ground before it's even out of beta.

you guys are kinda late to the conversation saying that don't ya think??
also, imo on your list there you should include fixing that ***** internet code so faster lights (spider, jenner, deaths knell, cicada) can go at the speed they are designed and balanced for, right now max in game speed is 150kph, and all engines letting mechs go faster (with speed tweak, i think you can go max 146kph with out it) are not currently in game, mainly because they would cause lag problems and such, so im sure lights are easier to ht then they should be, and the spider esp is pretty weak since its made for speed and is just as fast as a jenner with more then twice the firepower

[Void Angel]

Just wanna play, on 01 May 2013 - 11:06 AM, said:

again, said ppcs should be stronger for a completely different reason, sure it would affect boats, but we never said we think making ppcs stronger would stop boating, we just said their purpose as a heavy damage dealer doesn't really exist in this game unless you have a lot of them, and a 3 erppc awesome 8q would also then become a viable option to counter a 6 ppc stalker because he would have him beat in damage and heat at proper long ranges, as well as not having so many drawbacks dragging him down, and actually having an effective weapon set-up against other assaults

and so you still haven't noticed us saying increase the heat so that you CANT use 5 or 6 ppcs with out killing yourself instantly with heat, or giving your self crap armor and/or speed and those with 4 ppcs would have to be very specialized

all we are saying is that double armor is causing the high amount of boats , and we are only using 6 ppc stalker as examples, imo boating weapon is fine as long as it isn't taken 2 far

most custom boats are actually pretty bad mechs already (except proper lrm boats once they get proper balancing, they are naturally very good since lrms where always intended to be boated in some forms on some mechs, just look at catapults and awesome

i think everyone can agree with

if you have a mech with a good, versatile, weapon load out, these maps aren't really death traps (remember what i said about ppc boats being already very specialized, these kind of mechs might love 1 map and hate the other)


sounds like someones a bit of a sailor boy themselves

The problem with your argument here is that the changes you're proposing might have the results you predict:

• Making ERPPCs more powerful with a scaling heat increase will actually make builds who rely on the weapon more powerful - by allowing PPC-heavy builds to be more flexible in their armaments, thus reducing their vulnerability to more balanced or counter-specialized builds (such as brawlers.) ERPPC heavy assault builds would still lose out to a specialized assault brawler, but your proposal would give these 'mechs spare tonnage with which to mount high-efficiency short-mid-range weaponry. This would make them much more difficult for heavies and mediums to take out than they already are - remember, they still have their ERPPC alpha strike for a finisher, even if they overheat for the kill. The net effect would be to make these weapons even more devastating, since a balanced or short-ranged build who has already taken damage just getting into optimal range must now contend with a secondary arsenal of short-ranged weaponry.
  
• ERPPC stalkers don't really hate any map except possibly Caustic Valley (and any energy-heavy build suffers there - that's kind of the point.) This is because the ERPPC, contrary to some people's perception, is not a dedicated long-range weapon - it is an all-range powerhouse whose burst pinpoint damage makes it an attractive weapon system for nearly any build that is not a knife-range brawler. Thus, an ERPPC boat like the Stalker can deal excellent damage at long range while still simply destroying smaller 'mechs who try to close with it. This is an indication that the ERPPC is too strong currently, but buffing its heat and damage will not change that balance. Instead, by reducing the number of ERPPCs that can be carried effectively, it will free up tonnage for additional weaponry - as discussed in the previous point.
  
• PPCs are already edging out lasers as the light chassis weapon of choice. Partly this is due to the prevalence of sniper builds recently, but buffing the weapon on a damage/ton basis would make them even more attractive to light chassis who often rely on hit and run tactics in the first place (unless you are a hitbox-abusing, unskilled wh expert Raven Pilot who is totally just good at the game and not milking an unfair advantage at all.)
  
• If you are not talking about buffing the damage in proportion to the heat, the same effect on weapon balance would be achieved by simply increasing heat generation at current tonnage levels - without creating an ammunition-less, long-ranged AC20 which is small enough to be mounted on a Spider.

Edited by Void Angel, 01 May 2013 - 03:59 PM.