I like my heavies to move about 84kph and even with the XL engine I fear no medium can do me any harm expect the situations that I'm quite badly damaged - but in those I admit it - I fear the lights more.
I literally shred through any sorts of medium mechs with my Cataphracts or/and Orions - not only that - I conciously am looking with engagements with mediums, cause I'm fully aware they don't stand a change against my firepower/armor ratio, also they're not fast enough to run away when realizing that themselves at least to try running away without dieing.
I liked my Hunchie 4SP before the alpha-meta reached it's final contageous stages - it was somewhat competitive mech back then. The same goes for my Zombie Cent 9A. Both of them were light mech's bane.
Now... with the SRM nerfs I can't even compete with the lights and I completely fear any single mech in the heavy and assault chasis.
I simply can't find use for the mediums except being some sort of back-end LRM support with light defence - and I'm not into playing that. Ever.
I'm more like the head-on aproach guy, even with my XL I like to be facehuggin the enemy and I build my heavies for that(as a friend of mine noticed, especially the face-hug part

). Back then - if you had the luck - you could've round a mid-skill Atlai pilot just like any ordinary light would circle around it - delivering punishment enough for bring it down.
Let's face it - the uselessnes of the medium mechs in the most of it's part comes from the SRM nerfing.
That's about it.
No matter what's the medium's weapon of choice now you just don't have that fearsome punch, that allowed you back then to think, that you have ANY chance at all against something heavier than you.
Now it takes just soooo long time with such a weaponary to take the target down, that, of course, completely logically - at some point you get your deserved punishment cause of your own lack of firepower.
Heavies - they can make the best use of the Ballistics - they have the spare tonage for it.
Mediums don't.
They had missiles that were doing something, now the (S)SRMs named lack the very same punch and if you're piloting one - you'll get boned for chosing so.
I love missiles and I miss them - and having in mind their situational usage, current spread, the skill required to operate em( you're not agreeing? Well... try to kill something that's circling around you with 170km/h by hitting the exact location you wish with the missiles and then I'll agree they're the noob's choice) I think that they require some buffing and if not completely, then to a great part it's (S)SRM's fault that mediums lack a role now.
That's my 5 cents at least.
Edited by Voidcrafter, 23 October 2013 - 05:11 AM.