25 replies to this topic

[James Warren]

Besides the hit registry issues and so forth...

Weapons:
Agree SRMS need a slight damage buff. If PGI can get the splash damage sorted out, it'd be cool if they had a much larger splash radius so that an A1 that gets right in your face is hurting itself too, and shots that aren't spot on precise still do some damage, preferably to the arms and legs.

LRMS are pretty good at the moment.
SSRMS are fine against heavier foes but are far too devastating to lights and mediums in my opinion - mainly due to the constant CT damage, even when fired from behind. I'd like them to home a little less, perhaps if they could only turn about 90 degrees max from the angle they were fired, and in more of a smooth arc than a sharp turn.

Ballistic weapons are good except for MG, LBX.
Machinegun range buff was good, although damage is still a joke. I love the crit-seeking idea on paper, but in practice its so unreliable that any destroyed components are by accident. This is largely because of how much the bullets spread and how long you need to hold the weapon on target before any weapons are actually destroyed, even with an armour-stripped target.

Flamer is still a waste of space (although it looks cool to spout fire). If the developers are afraid to increase the heating element of the flamer (and I can't say I blame them, it does have the potential for exploitation), then increase damage slightly to bring it closer in effectiveness to a small laser.

Pulse lasers don't really compare to their regular counterparts for reasons stated by others. On smaller mechs with plentiful energy hardpoints, choosing between one med pulse or two regular medium lasers is an easy choice.

Mechs:

I'd like better perks for certain chassis. Mechs like the dragon and awesome with huge torsos could get a 15% reduced damage bonus to their CT, for example. You do see every chassis being used which is good, however the number of Stalkers and Highlanders suggests that there's a pretty big underlying issue here, although its partially due to the current metagame.

General:

High-alpha camping. Boring.
Some people have suggested changes to the heat system, such as faster heat dissipation but a lower maximum heat. This type of thing could curb or at least penalise high-heat alpha strikes without harming overall game pacing. I think there needs to be greater penalties for repeatedly overheating and pushing too far over maximum heat capacity. Damage to weapons would be great, similar to the jamming of UAC5s. Some mechs are designed to be boats and I can get that. I just feel like alpha striking should be a reckless, 'all-in' type of strategy, rather than something you do every shot. Firing two ppcs at once is fine. Firing 4+ without serious repercussions isn't.

[Livewyr]

SRMs need a damage boost.
PPCs need a heat boost.
AC5 needs a tad lower CD.
ECM needs reworked. (Leave the cloak to Stealth Armor)
Seismic needs to only work while mech's legs are sitting still, and only give a general direction. (Give Halo back its radar.)

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Meta roles for scouts/skirmishers need boosted to be on par with combat roles.

[El Bandito]

Good news? People are using more mixed weight class.



Bad news? Jagers everywhere. Oh wait, that's not a bad news.

[Pezzer]

James Warren, on 09 June 2013 - 04:03 PM, said:

Besides the hit registry issues and so forth...

Weapons:
Agree SRMS need a slight damage buff. If PGI can get the splash damage sorted out, it'd be cool if they had a much larger splash radius so that an A1 that gets right in your face is hurting itself too, and shots that aren't spot on precise still do some damage, preferably to the arms and legs.

LRMS are pretty good at the moment.
SSRMS are fine against heavier foes but are far too devastating to lights and mediums in my opinion - mainly due to the constant CT damage, even when fired from behind. I'd like them to home a little less, perhaps if they could only turn about 90 degrees max from the angle they were fired, and in more of a smooth arc than a sharp turn.

Ballistic weapons are good except for MG, LBX.
Machinegun range buff was good, although damage is still a joke. I love the crit-seeking idea on paper, but in practice its so unreliable that any destroyed components are by accident. This is largely because of how much the bullets spread and how long you need to hold the weapon on target before any weapons are actually destroyed, even with an armour-stripped target.

Flamer is still a waste of space (although it looks cool to spout fire). If the developers are afraid to increase the heating element of the flamer (and I can't say I blame them, it does have the potential for exploitation), then increase damage slightly to bring it closer in effectiveness to a small laser.

Pulse lasers don't really compare to their regular counterparts for reasons stated by others. On smaller mechs with plentiful energy hardpoints, choosing between one med pulse or two regular medium lasers is an easy choice.

Mechs:

I'd like better perks for certain chassis. Mechs like the dragon and awesome with huge torsos could get a 15% reduced damage bonus to their CT, for example. You do see every chassis being used which is good, however the number of Stalkers and Highlanders suggests that there's a pretty big underlying issue here, although its partially due to the current metagame.

General:

High-alpha camping. Boring.
Some people have suggested changes to the heat system, such as faster heat dissipation but a lower maximum heat. This type of thing could curb or at least penalise high-heat alpha strikes without harming overall game pacing. I think there needs to be greater penalties for repeatedly overheating and pushing too far over maximum heat capacity. Damage to weapons would be great, similar to the jamming of UAC5s. Some mechs are designed to be boats and I can get that. I just feel like alpha striking should be a reckless, 'all-in' type of strategy, rather than something you do every shot. Firing two ppcs at once is fine. Firing 4+ without serious repercussions isn't.

When it comes to weapons I agree with you in every way except for SSRMs. The point (imo) of picking up a pair of SRMs is to ensure mech hits with every burst and to take lights down. SSRMs were made for anti-scout duty, but arent on par with normal SRMs due to the fact that you can only get them in 2s per hardpoint. That's just the point of this weapon, is all. Scout duty.
Also, as a Light it's great to use em to hit and run if you have a TAG.

As for Mechs, I agree with you. Also, I think there's a glitch with the hitbox on Dragons atm. I play as the Flame and get hit pretty much only in the CT, in fact I've seen a hit that from my POV was right in the arm but registered as a CT hit. Something I didn't notice earlier was that the Atlas' arm hardpoints should be a little higher. They need to heighten the arm/shoulder positioning on atlases so that they can actually compete with other Mechs at range/on hills. It could use an armor buff of some kind as well, 96 AP seem to go by way to quickly on these guys.

Generally, I agree with you once again. In the old MW games, shooting 4 PPCs at once was heat suicide. They don't create as much heat as they should. Also, I'm pretty sure you used to damage components if you tried it. They need to fix this ASAP, long-range fights with only 4 weapon types is boring and annoying. I can't run my shotgun Atlas on half the maps because of it. Not pilot fault there, balance fault.

[Victor Morson]

Snipers: 9/10. (PRO: PPC, (ER)PPC, Gauss. CON: ER Large.)
Midrange: 7/10 (PRO: Large Laser, (ER)PPC, Gauss, UAC/5. CON: LBX/10, AC/10.)
Support: 7/10 (PRO: LRMs, UAV. CON: AC/2, AC/5 (borderline).
Brawlers: 3/10 (PRO: Small Laser, Medium Laser, Streak/2, AC/20 (Borderline). CON: SRM, AC/10, LBX/10, Pulse Lasers, Flames, MG.)

I'd rank Scouts a solid 8/10 right now, primarily losing 2 points due to the Seismic picking up Light 'mechs at the same range it picks up Assaults, which cripples their capabilities right now for recon.

[Mark Brandhauber]

You wanna to know about gameplay balance right now.... bandito has already said it AC20 jaegers everywhere