1
Just wanted to see what everyone thought of the game's current overall balance. This includes weapon types, weapons, heat, tonnage, mechs, hardpoints, and modules.
Let me know what you guys think. I await the replies.
But first, lemme open this up with my own personal thoughts on gameplay balance. I have been playing since early closed beta, back when there were only 2 bugged-out maps and LRMs were godly OP. After recently playing about 10 games in a number of mech types (all of the basic types and a number of Heavy/Med types, due to their discrepancies), I would say that the game is less balanced than it was 4 months ago (the last time I played. I thought the game was perfect at the time but didnt have time to play. If only I would've known..[was a lot easier to earn creds]).
SRMs: Da fuq. These are supposed to be short-range armor strippers. Now they are literally less useful than a machine gun. Machine guns do less overall dmg, but at least they can KO armorless mechs quickly.
LRMs: I think they are good atm. They do a lot of damage, but have to retain a lock to be useful. They cant shoot over cover any more, THANK GOD! Now if you're a defensive player you won't get eaten up by them as much.
Ballistics: This is arguable, which is why I want to see what everyone else thinks when it comes to wep balance especially. I think some ballistics do too much damage (the larger calibers) and don't provide knockback anymore. I think they are way too easy to use, and the projectiles move too quickly. Ballistics are supposed to be weapons for the experienced player, the Hunchback who's AC/20 takes 3 seconds to get to the enemy but if you LEAD IT will knock that enemy down and do quite a bit of damage. Nowadays AC/20s strip armor in 2-4 shots (exaggeration, but is pretty close for most mechs) and AC/10s snipe like the dickens.
IMO all ballistics need thier projectile speeds lowered, thier knockdown added back into the game, and for the larger calibers the damage lowered on fresh mech armor. I think lower calibers should do a little more damage on lightly-armored areas as a bonus to smarter players/Light ballistic mechs who like to finish a mech off for the team and jet off to the cap.
Lasers: The Large lasers are finally useful now...but due to map size finally being large enough, outclass Meds and Smalls by a stupendous amount. Imo, meds need to have a little more range or do more damage or something! Whenever I'm using Med lasers on my own builds, I feel like im pulling out a last-ditch weapon because my Ballistics ran out or I'm overheating. They don't have the same Umph they had 4 months ago, which I thought at the time was the perfect amount of Umph! Smalls have faster cycling speeds but seem to do less damage for the heat now, which is depressing. The 6-Small Jenner build is extinct, and I dont know why. They shouldn't be, but current balance causes it to be so.
PPCs. They need rebalancing in some way. They feel a little off. PPCs are supposed to Stun when fired enough at a single enemy and do a decent amount of damage, but at the expense of overheating. Now they fire quickly and do a large level of damage (in comparison to other lasers) with little heat and no stun effect. Why? I don't understand why lasers are being replaced by PPCs, they are all supposed to be balanced with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Heat: Lasers are supposed to give off a lot of heat, they're lasers, but right now it seems like Meds in particular are a little too hot, compounding the problem I've been having with my own personal laser builds. I feel like some ballistic weapons arent giving off enough heat for thier damage while others are giving off a hair too much. Idk, maybe hearing from others will change my mind on this.
Mechs: The Dragon is made of glass, the newer turret-arm Mechs seems to have a huge advantage (Blackjacks/Jagers). They get mostly ballistics which atm are a little OP imo AND they are very small targets when firing over hills. The Trebuchet is still a block of metal to shoot at (meaning the shape due to arm length/missile pods makes them too easy to hit) and isn't very powerful for its' size. The Atlas has lost its' fearsomeness on the field, its armor seems to get stripped too quickly and it's about twice as hard to stop as it used to be. I feel like a blumbering ***** wearing Knight's armor running into walls and mountains whenever I'm in one, which is not what the Atlas is supposed to be like. Pretty much any "conventional" mech with standard arms/upright build seems to be at a disadvantage at the moment. Stalkers used to be underpowered POS's and now they are a better choice of mech than an Atlas, and the same for Jagermechs when compared to Dragons. When did this happen? That makes more than half the mechs in this game at a disadvantage. At least that's what I'm seeing as a whole.
Also, what happened to Mech crashes? They were funny, but haven't been in the game for some time now
Let me know what you guys think, as I said at the begginning of this post.
TL:DR, what's OP, what needs a buff, SRMs suck and Ballistics are too good imo.
Edited by Pezzer, 09 June 2013 - 07:58 AM.
