Wintersdark, on 27 May 2013 - 02:39 PM, said:
This isn't very constructive.
I hate trying to be the voice of reason, but this isn't a discussion between the Pop Tarts and the LRM Boats. This may come as a surprise, but I'm willing to lay hard cash that the majority of players actually want all the weapons to be viable. And, maybe it's just me, and I'm a crazy *******, but I'm willing to bet that most people have Pop Tarts, LRM Boats, Brawlers, and probably a lot of various hybrids in their stables.
I know I have a couple mechs that are kitted right now as pop tarts. A couple scouts, a pair of LRM boats, a sniper, and a whole whack of varying balanced builds across my 20 or so mechs. And even then, I change builds on mechs I'm using constantly.
So... No, "Pop Tarts" don't want this game to be Quake. They're not a separate group of players at all. Most are just using whatever is working best for them right now. And even amoungst people I know who really love pop tarting, they don't want everyone pop tarting because that leads to purely un-fun gameplay. Pretty much nobody enjoys a battle of 16 bouncing mechs taking random potshots around, just as practically nobody wants to see a game where every mech on the field is an LRM boat.
Edit: I quoted you, but I don't mean to single you out. It's just a common thread in these debates, this "Us vs. Them" thing, and it's really counterproductive.
Anyways, I'm sorry, I'm just ranty today.
This is why my personal opinion is to raise LRM damage to fearsome levels equal to their tonnage value like a PPC, but curb their tracking down to make them dodgeable by all but the slowest most imobile mechs - which have ecm, ams and cover yet to deal with LRMS.
With proper design this gives users the skill to do something other than wall hump or AMS to deal with LRMS and this skill minigame then factors into overall gameplay to allow for new strategies like lrms on the flanks, brawlers in the middle to cover a battlefield properly and deal with LRMS that are evadeable while also removing a lot of the "incomming missile" frustration that leads to everyone cowering.
if at the same time lrms did enough damage to be fearsome we could approach a similar feel to what we have with ppc gauss where lead times etc call for good pilot judgement and aim on fast targets, making the entire experience more satisfying.
the one inevitable QQ will be the LRM slaughter of people who stand still, back up, or just pilot bloody horribly and eat LRMS to the face - but that is when it becomes necessary to teach with a tutorial pilots the basic skills of coping with each weapon system on the battlefield, or to learn the hard way on the battlefield, just like you learn the hard way when an atlas flattens you now.