14 replies to this topic

[Lightfoot]

Most battles I have been in today are just AC5 or UAC5 brawls at very close range like back in July of 2012. Add some MLAS and SRMs. Even on maps that should favor long range. Not seeing Gauss Rifles at all, more Large Lasers than PPCs.

That's a bad balance because it gets old very fast. The AC5/Uac-5 cluster mechs are limited to a few chassis, so no reason to own a variety of mechs right now. Even LRMs are beaten easily by some AC5/Uac5 at close range on the long range maps. That's nothing new of course, that's same old thing.

A few weeks ago MWO had very diverse gameplay, the AC5/UAC5 was countered by Gauss and PPCs on long range maps, but not at short range. So battles ranged over the entire map. The current Gauss nerf makes it unusable in actual gameplay. I have watched players carry one around and never fire it even when it's the only weapon in range. The ammo counter stays at 30, so they never fired it at all.

So there is nothing stopping players from rushing in and brawling with superior brawl weapons now and that's how 90% of my battles play out since the Gauss desync was added.

[DDM PLAGUE]

I agree, I think They have made a mistake with the penalties on weapon boating. Weapon platforms are generally purpose specific, that hasn't changes since the beginning of time, and each has its strength & weakness by the very platform design, as in a long range boat being venerable to a brawler closing and vice versa. all the heat nerfs did was to make the PPCX & ERPPC obsolete, not to mention it has made the Hero mechs like the Firebrand & the Protector a joke in their stock configurations. I would personal like to be able to come up with my own strategies for defeating a weapon rather than have the game play destroyed by all the so called balancing, I have been playing Mech for 14 years, and unfortunately it seems that the folks screaming its OP still win out against common sense. There are better ways to control game play, carrying over battle damage into the Mech lab, Make us pay to repair these multi million dollar vehicles, and you would see folks rethinking some of there weapon choices, for the simple matter of cost to field.

Edited by DDM PLAGUE, 15 September 2013 - 08:51 AM.

[Naduk]

i somewhat agree with you plague
repair and rearm does balance weapons of very high value

but at this time its not the answer
solving the weapon balance issues with out coin involved is much easier AND it improves the core gameplay experience
since the removal of repairs (something that upset me alot) we have seen the game improve by a massive margin

yeah sometimes its a 2 steps forward 3 steps backward type thing
but thats just balance
look at DICE, over 10 years they have been at it and they still dont get it right

repair and rearm should be another layer of balance that is purely there for flavor to make rare items stay rare, not to control who gets the OP toys

with out the upkeep costs people are more willing to exploit things based on the "will this work" method
that experimentation shows up alot less with Repairs

ppcs are fine by the way
i use ppc more now than i ever have before
many of my mechs carry 1-2 (much inline with BT lore/feel) not the 4-6 that many people were carrying
its much better this way

[Urdnot Mau]

So, you're say that light mechs now actually carry small lasers and medium lasers instead of PPCs ?

People don't run PPC + Gauss anymore because they don't want to. As simple as that. They don't wanna think too much. Just press the button and "hey, i killed you! gg"

The fact that Light ACs are now more common means that people are fighting in close range more often, making it harder to play with Dual Gauss or PPC+Gauss. The fact that you have more free tons implies in spending it with other weapons, such as large lasers and medium lasers (or SRMs)

So, now people can use PPC+Gauss, Light ACs and backup weapons, or they can just boat LRMs (i see a lot of those). Seems pretty balanced to me

[Galen Crayn]

Its only the same whining as in many other threads: "Oh, i cannot boat PPC/Gauss anymore and alphastrike pinpoint damage with one button push, the game is broken! MWO will die!!!"

I think now PPC/Gauss are no longer overpowered, all the exploiter have to learn more tactics than alphastrike the hell out of any mech. I know guys, its complicate, but you will just do it

Edited by Galen Crayn, 15 September 2013 - 03:37 PM.

[Jam the Bam]

So if something is going to kill you at close range don't let him get close. Its called movement and it seems to be something the community has forgotten how to do with the recent 'I win button' builds that work at every range.

[BOWMANGR]

I'm pretty happy with the recent weapon changes. I ignore all those calling the game boring and 'not fun'. Their definition of 'fun' is pressing a single button assigned to the OP weapons and kill then repeat. This is fun but not strategy, not tactics and certainly not 'a thinking man's shooter', what MWO strives to be. If you want mindless one-button kills go play CoD.

PGI should continue making ALL weapons viable and stomping any one that is OP in each new meta. It will keep the game fresh and interesting.
Right now, for example, everyone and their mother is using UAC5. Would you call this fun if PGI stopped making weapon changes or as whiners call it "nerfing the fun out of the game"? Well, some will say it's fun simply because their definition of fun is stomping around with their macro-enabled net-copied Cataphract build with 3xUAC5's, winning not with skill but with OP stats. Well, news flash this is NOT fun for everyone. It's fun for YOU. YOU are not a majority. Deal with it or learn to play with a balanced build and not the OP one.

That is all.

[Snowcrow]

I'm still having fun sniping in my dual gauss ilya.
It's still an excellent sniper weapon.

[ChallengerCC]

Simple: mono builds should have in every case a big disadvantage!
For now UAC/AC weapons dont have them.

Possible solutions: heat penality like with other weapons. ammo shortage. increased center torso on every mech by x2(need to be done, because every 3/4 kill is done by a center torso disabling and the rest of teh mech is untuched and thats **** and not a intresting firefight)

[Lightfoot]

Quick reply about MechWarrior Balance. Long range weapons defeat short range weapons when the map supports it and vice versa on short range maps.

The reason for this is that short range will always defeat long range weapons on a short range map. That much is hardwired into the weaponstats by Battletech. So, if long range weapons no longer work better than short range on a long range map like Alpine or Caustic Valley, players will only take the short range weapons and use short range tactics. And this is what is happening. Yes, you can use AC5 and UAC5 at 600 meters, but no one does. No one does because there is no longer anything to stop them from just rushing into brawling range. It's the same playstyle we had in July 2012- November? And MWO LRMs are only support, they do not control open ground by killing mechs.

By the way, some Light Mechs carry one or two PPCs/ERPPCs in their stock mech primary configurations, so it has always been a viable tactic for Light mechs. Should MWO be outlawing it as some of you think? Do you think Light mechs should only brawl and that's it? I would like it if Light mechs had more multi-role ability really.

[JudgeDeathCZ]

Gauss+2ERPPC is still viable but not instant-easy-win-button now so many noobs using it use 3xuac/5 FotM now and good (jump)snipers keep using gr+2xERPPC.

[Sneaky B]

September 9, 2013

This guy dealt 1648 damage with PPC + Gauss: build link

Quit complaining.

Edited by Sneaky B, 16 September 2013 - 05:46 AM.

[FREDtheDEAD]

The desync of Gauss and PPC was a good thing but they've overdone it and rendered PPCs too hot to use. Non-ballistic mechs are having a hard time of it with so many heat based nerfs (Pulse Lasers, (ER)PPCs, ghost heat).

[ChallengerCC]

It should be more difficult to shoot ac weapons. So you need skill like with the gauss and not press 1 button to win.

[Tyzh]

I would just like to clarify for this thread that UAC5s are not a brawling weapon. It's a 600m DPS weapon, and the nature of high fire rate DPS weapons is actually a liability for brawling. (You can't shoulder and spread damage properly when you have to stare at the guy you are shooting at.)