113 replies to this topic

[Villz]

So wow....

The first time in a long time i'v seen a balance patch that had mutiple favourable changes. And no game breaking bugs . They even really improved my HSR. I'm really hoping this is the first of more to come.

Lets start on the PPC.

The god tier weapon of choice for the last 6 months. massive changes.
Projectile speed nerf down to 1500 from 2000m/s
Heat to 10 / 15 respectivly.
Needed changes but i feel this just cements LL's in as the goto weapon for raw dps. PPC snipers seem unchanged by the gauss desynch in conjunction. The weapon charge up is a non factor if u use a good bind like space bar to fire your gauss. Leanring to precharge out of habbit and how to time it in relation to JJ play seems to be just fine. I think it actually adds a bigger skill ceiling on the weapon system now. I had alot of fun playing my 2erppc gauss highlander just before. However this does end alot of the more trolly builds.

Next the Gauss.

The speed buff to 2000ms re invents this weapon and even has great synergy now with ac2's. (Perhaps some mechlab work to be done)
The main change is the charge up time added to the gauss. I'v heard some noobs have made macros to automate and synch up their shots for them. I see this kind of thing as a massive crutch tbh as i had no problem using space bar to do it myself just fine. I actually found myself getting alot better at aiming the ppc's slightly ahead of the gauss now to compensate for the different speeds. This seems to be a bigger factor the more space between you and the target so ER's feel it alot more

HSR / Hitdetection Buffs.

Iv had a completly night and day difference now between 95% of my shots. Although not perfect i think its a really great step towards nailing the netcode and HSR issues that ahve plagued the game for ALONG time. Really excited again about doing damage to what i hit.
For EG My first game back in a highlander in the new patch.

Feels alot nicer (270 ping)


Whats every1 elses experience with the new patch?
Am i on an island here?

*****
BTW
*****
check out my end of an era tribute video showcasing my last hoorah through the 3ppc gauss 732 1080p HD (watch in HD1080)



My last few games in MWO before the servers came down for the ppc nerf patch. These games happened all over a 2 hr play session i had right before the servers went offline for the new patch. So this is somewhat of a last hoorah / tribute to the long lasting PPC meta may you live forever !

Enjoying on showcase:

*Lord 3PPC+Gauss Heat Management
*Top Teir Positioning
*Busted HSR
*45 Pinpoint Alpha's
*Getting Stuck On Rocks Causing You To Get Mauled By 3/4 Of A Team
Edit:
Added the link to my post patch comparison video 732 revisted

Edited by Villz, 07 September 2013 - 10:19 AM.

[Khobai]

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Needed changes but i feel this just cements LL's in as the goto weapon for raw dps.

Not really. LLs are still mediocre dps weapons due to their limit of 2 and lengthy beam duration. UAC/5s are now the goto weapon for pure dps. Nothing else even comes close to matching their 5 dps @ 660m range. Thats not to say LLs arnt good weapons, theyre great supplemental weapons, but youre not winning a straight dps fight vs an Ilya with just LLs.

Sniper builds for the most part seem to have just dropped one of the ERPPCs down to a PPC to get heat back down to where it was before. Dual Gauss and Dual AC/20 are also making a comeback.

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The main change is the charge up time added to the gauss. I'v heard some noobs have made macros to automate and synch up their shots for them. I see this kind of thing as a massive crutch tbh as i had no problem using space bar to do it myself just fine.

Nobody has problems doing it without a macro. It has more to do with laziness than inability to do it manually. Its no different than using a macro to toggle TAG on/off instead of holding down a button to keep TAG on constantly. Seems silly not to use a macro for certain things, why do extra work, for the same end result?

Edited by Khobai, 04 September 2013 - 01:26 PM.

[Team Leader]

ok

[Villz]

Khobai, on 04 September 2013 - 12:38 PM, said:

Not really. LLs are still mediocre weapons due to their limit of 2 and lengthy beam duration. UAC/5s are now the goto weapon for pure dps. Nothing else even comes close to matching their 5 dps @ 660m range. Thats not to say LLs arnt good weapons, theyre great supplemental weapons, but youre not winning a straight dps fight vs an Ilya with just LLs.

Sniper builds for the most part seem to have just dropped one of the ERPPCs down to a PPC to get heat back down to where it was before. Dual Gauss and Dual AC/20 are also making a comeback.



Nobody has problems doing it without a macro. It has more to do with laziness than inability to do it manually. Its no different than using a macro to toggle TAG on/off instead of holding down a button to keep TAG on constantly. Seems silly not to use a macro for certain things, why do extra work, for the same end result?

I'm not even going to bother to explain the parts of what i disagree with and things i think you fail to comprehend on the matter but ok sure thnx for the feedback none the less

[Khobai]

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I'm not even going to bother to explain the parts of what i disagree with and things i think you fail to comprehend on the matter but ok sure thnx for the feedback none the less

Anything I cant comprehend i kill with UAC/5s.

[Villz]

Khobai, on 04 September 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

Anything I cant comprehend i kill with UAC/5s.

maybe if they are noobs sure

btw they already said in official response they are looking intot he UAC mechanic so i can expect the silly Lottery dps they do to be toned down aswell so short term crutches

Edited by Villz, 04 September 2013 - 01:45 PM.

[IronChance]

I've found that the PPC heat increase combined w/ new gauss charge up have forced me out of the 2ppc/gauss meta for now, which is great, I think. I tried several times last night to repeat the success I had been having pre-patch and couldn't replicate it. I see what Villz is saying and I get that I now have a choice to make: do I love the ppc/gauss combo enough to practice and raise my skill level to be effective again with them or do I move on and find a loadout that is easier/more effective for me. I have to say I kind of like facing that kind of choice.

I'm exploring a lot of combinations now and feel I'm finally free to do that since there aren't nearly as many high-alpha/high range builds running around out there now. That was the whole reason not to experiment before, since no matter what I tried I always ran into the ppc/gauss builds and died. After a while I had stopped trying to fight it and finally entered that meta and instantly almost doubled my dmg/kills. Now I'm back down to where I was before performance-wise, but I also feel like the battlefield has opened up a bit, which is a trade I'll gladly make.

Overall, I think the patch is a success. It feels like you need to use a lot more skill to use the ppcs and gauss effectively since you can't afford to mismanage heat or even miss (that much). That feels right to me. Those always seemed like highly specialized weapons to me, anyway, but that's really just my opinion.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Khobai, on 04 September 2013 - 12:38 PM, said:

Not really. LLs are still mediocre dps weapons due to their limit of 2 and lengthy beam duration. UAC/5s are now the goto weapon for pure dps. Nothing else even comes close to matching their 5 dps @ 660m range. Thats not to say LLs arnt good weapons, theyre great supplemental weapons, but youre not winning a straight dps fight vs an Ilya with just LLs.

Sniper builds for the most part seem to have just dropped one of the ERPPCs down to a PPC to get heat back down to where it was before. Dual Gauss and Dual AC/20 are also making a comeback.

Not sure why people keep doing this. You can't compare a Ballastic weapon to an energy weapon because of hardpoints, i.e. you can't mount a UAC/5 on an Energy Hardpoint.

That being said, LLs are absolutely the only real option left if you want/need a heavy energy weapon. Previously you could reasonabily interchange the PPC for a LL or vice versa if you wanted to change the gameplay of your mech. Now it is impossible if you want to retain any heat managability without total build modification that is.

What is there now? ER LLs are as hot as PPCs and so are LPLs, plus they weigh as much as PPCs. The leave ONLY the LL for heat efficient energy builds. This stupid nerf pretty much killed Energy build diversity.

[Chavette]

You LOST on that pic! You're not supposed to show it!! Quick!

[Villz]

haha yes but i am lord

hope u liked my movie chavette
hopefully u can make an appearance in the next 1

also thnx for feedback on topic nice work team!

[Khobai]

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maybe if they are noobs sure

Everyone is a noob compared to me, lol.

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so i can expect the silly Lottery dps they do to be toned down aswell

There is no "silly lottery dps" if you know how to use UAC/5s properly.

You can fire double shots that jam 15% of the time for 5.03dps
OR you can fire single shots that NEVER jam for 4.55 dps

Both modes of fire have their uses, but the UAC/5 is 100% consistent when it needs to be. And yes they may nerf the UAC/5 eventually, but until then, it is the best dps weapon in the game.

Quote

Not sure why people keep doing this. You can't compare a Ballastic weapon to an energy weapon because of hardpoints, i.e. you can't mount a UAC/5 on an Energy Hardpoint.

Certainly you can compare a ballistic mech like an Ilya to an energy mech like a Stalker. And the Ilya does way more dps, at least until it runs out of ammo.

Edited by Khobai, 05 September 2013 - 02:09 AM.

[MustrumRidcully]

Viktor Drake, on 04 September 2013 - 05:36 PM, said:

Not sure why people keep doing this. You can't compare a Ballastic weapon to an energy weapon because of hardpoints, i.e. you can't mount a UAC/5 on an Energy Hardpoint.

If you are married to your mech, then no, you can't compare them.

But I am not. I can choose the one that gives me access to the best weapons, whatever this currently may be. So yes, ballistics and energy hard points are very comparable.

Though you don't always have to change mechs. On a mech with 2 ballistic hard points and 4 energy hard points you might have the choice between 4 PPCs or 2 Gauss, for example, or a combination of them.

But just because one of my mech doesn'T even have a ballistic hard point doesn't mean I can't compare ballistic and energy weapons - I don#t compete with the guy using my mech, but I am competing with the guy that I am "matched" against, and if he uses a mech with a stronger build then mine because he uses a different mech, he and his team has the advantage.

[MrZakalwe]

The 5LL Stalker is very much back in the game

Think the normal PPC has been overnerfed, myself, on anything that isn't a jumpsniper.

P.S. you lost? Delete the picture now! Leave us our illusions!

Edited by MrZakalwe, 05 September 2013 - 01:58 AM.

[Khobai]

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The 5LL Stalker is very much back in the game

Agreed, although I much prefer the 5 ERLL Stalker for the additional range. But when it comes to straight up murdering people, you really cant beat triple UAC/5s, IMO. Even though the Ilya made that setup notorious, I actually prefer it more on the Jagermech, for the high mounted guns that let you shoot over obstacles.

"Stronger build" is entirely subjective though. Because while the Ilya does way more dps, its dps also drops off completely once it runs out of ammo. While the Stalker does its dps consistently throughout the game. So if the Ilya is played poorly and doesnt connect with most of its shots, then the Stalker will likely come out ahead. Essentially, if you're good at aiming ballistics, the Ilya is probably better, but if you cant hit the broadside of a barn with ballistics, the Stalker is better.

Thats my take on LLs vs UAC/5s anyway.

[VXJaeger]

No, everything must be nerfed to oblivion and everybody must use small lazors which shoot strawberry smelling chocolate bars and flowers, so none get hurt.

[MrZakalwe]

VXJaeger, on 05 September 2013 - 02:13 AM, said:

No, everything must be nerfed to oblivion and everybody must use small lazors which shoot strawberry smelling chocolate bars and flowers, so none get hurt.

INB4 Pgi spends a lot of man-hours adding a smell mechanic nobody wants to the game because a developers 8 year old niece wanted to know what mecha smell like.

[Villz]

lol i hope not maybe this is a first of many good changes to come?

all we need to the movement fixed and uac's changed and the games in a nice play to experiment with for a while IMO

[MrZakalwe]

At this stage I'd just like to see the hit detection issues sorted so that actual work on balance can begin.

SRMs that damaged people would be a meta changer.

I wonder if the folks who worked on 3PV could have worked on fixing hit detection? the skillset doesn't seem all that different.

[Slambot]

Dude! The new meta is rapid-fire AC's. There are lots of combinations. UAC5's, Ac5/AC2, etc. etc. Heavy weapons are out, PPC's are out, Lasers have been out for a very long time. The game has come down to rapid fire suppression dps.

[Villz]

i think lasers are fine ..... u ever seen how fast a 6ll stalker can take the shoulder of an XL'd cataphract lol ?