Victor Morson, on 28 May 2013 - 02:10 PM, said:
I entirely and absolutely disagree. During the LRM apocalypse, do you know what happened? The game slowed down. It became more strategic. You had to move your lance cover-to-cover in order to keep your head down. Hell, for a period brawlers even came back because they were absolutely devastating at hunting LRM boats.
The typical game length went from about 6 minutes to about 14 minutes during this time. It was a massive improvement to the pace and all thanks to highly damaging weapons.
So PGI's ideal pacing is to nerf long range missiles, close range missiles and all ACs so that everyone is forced to ridge with snipers? If that's their idea of pacing whoever is responsible for their pacing should be replaced in the role.
EDIT: Also, call me paranoid, but I am doubly against nerfs because once something is nerf'ed PGI will take about 6 months to throw it a tiny fix. That is why we need a hell of a lot more people calling for buffs right now.
Yes, PGI takes too long and makes buffs in very small ammounts while making nerfs in much larger jumps. I totally agree that this needs to be addressed. I am hoping the test server environment coming up (in June?) helps them do tuning on weapons more quickly.
As for your other statements:
While the LRM game DID make people more aware of cover, and helped with close ranged mechs, that was at the expense of LR direct fire weapons becoming far less useful. Both
pacing and
gameplay are important. I don't want a game where you can stand in the open for 2 minutes and not be hurt. I also don't want a game where 2-3 well placed alphas takes out your mech. Where one mistake kills you every time. I also don't want a game that plays like a traditional FPS.
Mechs should be able to take a beating. I would prefer to balance in other ways (weapons spread, etc), but PGI has shown they will not look at those options, so damage, range, and heat are our only options.
In the end, the AVERAGE player should be able to last X amount of time exposed to enemy fire (where X is determined by PGI, but lets say roughly 15-60 seconds)
You want the survivability to mean that brawlers can close and be relatively unscathed if they did it well and used cover. If they ran across 750m of open ground at 60 kph to close they should be VERY hurt or dead.
You want LRM mechs to be able to survive in a solo manner, do good damage (not not great) alone, and do great damage when combined with a spotter or direct firing with TAG.
You want LR direct fire mechs to be able to severely damage a brawler who gives them free shots or an LRM mech standing in the open, but be at a disadvantage when facing that same brawler up close.
Believe it or not, I think we are fairly close to this right now. LR Gauss/PPC's are still a wee bit too powerful. LRM's are a wee bit too weak. The mid range game (UAC5 and LL) might need a little love, but I will withhold judgement on that until other changes are in place. Short range mechs will be helped indirectly by good LRM fire, and perhaps by raising the max speed available for light mechs to allow for better scouting and spotting.
2
