It seems to have had some effect on what people use, but I disagree with the change because I think it's a convoluted solution to an easily solved problem. It's like their fix for ECM -- they gave everything around it some kind of buff to offset the broken design instead of actually looking into ECM's (and streak's to some degree) functionality.
My problem with this fix is illustrated perfectly in the heat scale post. Paul used a 4 PPC stalker as an example as if it were perfectly normal, and that says a lot about the future of the game. Personally, I don't think stalkers should be allowed to run 4+ PPCs -- I think the stalker chassis should be limited to missiles and lasers with maybe a little room for a PPC or two. PGI is giving IS mechs this much freedom because they are worried about Clan v IS balance or they want people to feel like they have unlimited options (clearly not the case when everyone flocks to high upfront damage builds instead of mixing it up).
Mechs need to be forced into roles for this game to be balanced. You give them just enough space to play around with loadouts, but you keep them on a short leash so they don't go trying to stack a bunch of precision weapons for easy kills. Don't get me wrong, I think high alphas are a legitimate tactic, but everyone is using their hardpoints for high damage, direct fire alphas because it is the path of least resistance. If you force people to use indirect fire weapons (dodge-able) or lasers (damage over time) through hardpoint sizes, you can balance the way players fight and deal damage.
The assault class, for example:
Atlas: Should be used as a jack of all trades. Main focus should be the cannon and then a mix of lasers and missiles. Sizes for weapons will vary based on the choices made by the player, but there should be few or no PPCs involved when loading one up.
Highlander: Jack of all trades with JJs; minimal PPC use except for the 733p
Stalker: Main focus should be missiles followed by some smaller energy weapons. Personally, I wouldn't allow more than two PPCs, that way the player still has a reason to fall back on missiles (otherwise what is the point of having missile hardpoints?). Straight energy should not be the first thing that pops into someone's head when making a loadout for a mech like this. We have a chassis made for energy boating and everyone ignores it because its role has been stolen by the stalker's flexibility.
Awesome: The only Assault that should be boating PPCs. It's an energy platform first and foremost and it has a couple of variants capable of using missiles as secondary weapons.
Victor: Fast jack of all trades with JJs; minimal PPCs use
Hardpont sizes/restrictions should be based on the stock loadouts. Give mechs some flexibility so that they can carry slightly larger weapons or change the way the loadout is balanced, but do not give them the freedom to completely neglect a whole set of hardpoints to exploit another...that is why we have the problems we have. Giving mechs their roles back will eliminate the need for this overcomplicated penalty system.
Edited by skullman86, 20 July 2013 - 01:29 PM.