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Perhaps looking at Mech and weapon balance is not correct, but it's the missions that need to be addressed.
The two missions that exist now can both be won by destroying the other team. Sure, conquest to a lesser degree, but a team with a heavy weight advantage can easily win by ignoring points, especially on smaller board. I'm looking at you Forrest Colony.
If you look at it from a 'lore' perspective, or even whatever ration you can include in a science fiction, a 90 tonne mech should always have a strong advantage over a 45 tonne in a duel. But this is also a game. In a match that strictly is one side kill the other, ideally two pilots of even skill, one in a 20 tonne, one in a 90 tonne, should have equal chance to kill the other. That is balance. If one is favored, no matter how much sense it might make logically, it is poor game balance and one can hardly be blamed for choosing the mech with the statical advantage, i.e. the heaver mech. Which I think is what we are seeing now.
I have 287 drops under my belt, only 23 are in an assault mech. I love the medium and light-heavy mechs, but it is disheartening to see people who can, in two alphas, out damage what I can do in an entire match. After a few hundred matches of not competing does one abandon the style they prefer to be revalant or do they just quit? That answer depends on the person I suppose.
So back to the original point. A 100 tonne mech should pretty much always do more damage and be harder to kill then a 45. But if the game revolves solely around killing, eventually the decision to take the 45 gets harder.
Perhaps more game types, that find better ways to make smaller, lighter mechs relevant, is what may be needed. Sure, I could take a Misery and way out damage my Flame, but if the game did not always revolve around damage and kills, that would make less of a difference.
Edited - spelling
Edited by Red October, 03 June 2013 - 05:25 PM.
