Tycho von Gagern, on 12 September 2013 - 09:10 PM, said:
I think before we decide who PGI should be taking advice from, we should consider what that advice is.
As I recall, it was all the "top" players who were saying, "Oh, no, nothing wrong with the 6 PPC Stalker meta. The problem is all these LRMs, SSRMs, and anything I don't consider "skill based."
Then it was, "Oh, no, 2 PPC/Gauss is fine. No problem there. Leave it alone. Leave ECM alone. Leave whatever abuse-able mechanic I've discovered alone. The only thing that's wrong with this game is 3pv, LRMs, SSRMs, anything I don't consider "skill based," and oh yeah the ***** n00b whiners that don't agree with me."
You can say that you are the best player in MWO and that's why PGI should be listening to your recommendations all you want. Maybe you are the best player in MWO (I doubt it, but whatever). It doesn't matter. PGI shouldn't listen to your recommendations because your recommendations are just as self-serving as everyone else's and suuuuuuucccccckkkkkkk.
That's the thing- the hexappc stalker was not broken. I repeat, it was not broken. Bad build. Very easy to kill. Even as a solo pugger, the 6PPC stalker was rarely anything but fodder. As someone else so delicately put it, the hexapcc stalker had a bit of a narcolepsy problem.
4PPC stalkers, on the other hand, yeah. Almost every high level player I knew agreed that they gave you far too much effectiveness for the amount of skill they required. The 4PPC stalker still put some stupid damage downrange, but it didn't have to take a nap after every shot, would have an engine fast enough to turn and keep up with circling lights (or mediums, seriously those 6PPC stalkers were running like 150 engines) and had far more heat sinks, enough that they could keep firing after just one volley.
I don't think I know a good competitive player who has ever said that LRMs were OP, except during the three-day lurmpocalypse where they were hitting in the cockpit every time. SSRMs are actually still too good- not because they destroy every mech every all the time and are too good in all situations, but because they essentially invalidate light play entirely. Almost every light mech carries either ECM or streaks even to this day- and that's because streaks are just too good against lights. The fundamental concept of a weapon that never misses and does continuous damage over time will always be broken against lights, as they just don't have the armor to withstand a fight against anything that pits their ability to aim and dodge against their opponent's ability to click once every few seconds for 30s.
If you think there were droves of good players defending ECM's implementation in this game, you need to reexamine your sources. I can't think of a single good player who has defended ECM, either the way it works now or how good it used to be. It's just far far far too good for a 1.5t 2 slot accessory, and pretty much everyone has always agreed on that.
Most of the people you've seen defending these things have not been good players. They've been mediocre players who have been abusing broken mechanics who don't want to see them fixed. What good players actually want is a balanced game. We want to drop in 12mans and pugs and see a huge variety of tactics that are viable. We want to be able to see a team of mixed brawlers, snipers, scouts, skirmishers, midfielders, and more, and say, "Yeah, that looks reasonable." Do you have any idea how boring it is to drop game after game where every single player is using nothing but PPC or PPC/gauss? With maybe an occasional ac40? That's. Really. Boring. It's not fun. We want everything to be equally good, we want balance, because that's what makes the game fun.
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