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I have seen something that force me to do some investigation.
Situation - i was able to hit targets with excellent convergence with both arm weapons of a basic Highlander.
I changed some thing and made a testrun in the test lab....the enemy wasn't moving so everything should be simpler....but it isn't - shots went left and right hand from the enemy...and i didn't moved the crosshair.
And suddenly I remember: You did need some time to level your crosshair on target to get that feared 100% accuracy... that means you have to think about your movement, about movement of the target travel time and much more.
With the introduction of HSR we had some problem within my gameing group. Because the necessary lead to the target was complete different - more simpler.
So isn't he reign of High Alpha Meta not just a "accident" simple caused by server calculations?
Here is the excerpt:
http://mwomercs.com/...vs-42-answered/
miSs, on 12 July 2013 - 02:28 PM, said:
Also along the same lines from IceSerpent: Can we get a detailed description of what exactly your vision of weapon balance is? I am not looking for generic "we want everything balanced" answer, but rather something along the lines of
"weapon X should fit this role, weapon Y should fit that role, ideally there would be these pros ond cons of choosing X over Y, etc."
Answer from Paul: Weapon convergence is a tough nut to crack. We want to keep the number of random “dice rolls” to a minimum, and network synchronization can become unpredictable when trying to determine a convergence point that may or
may not be moving. It will be necessary to make the convergence point calculation server authoritive and that can cause a desync due to the fact that the simulation runs at different frequencies on the server and client.
While this is something we’ve wanted for a while, it’s becoming more and more apparent that it is going to take some serious engineering time to address. Currently, the engineers who would be working on this are already tasked with
other high priority features and investigations. Pulling them off their current schedule will have both short and long term negative effects on the game as a whole, so the chances are very low that they will be able to address
convergence any time soon. Convergence will always be something we will keep on the drawing board but as to when it can be tackled is not known at this time.
Regarding the weapon convergence skill in the Pilot Tree, we will be implementing something else in that spot in the near future.
As for what is considered a balanced weapon, it is one that doesn’t stand out as the “be all end all, must have to succeed”. Nor should any weapon provide 0 benefit to the player. Not all weapons will be equal in damage per second or
heat per second. Each weapon has its own positive and negative properties and quirks.
The direction we’re going with balancing is to allow maximum viable weapon configurations within the constraints of a Mech chassis’s hardpoints, and not have high Alpha strike builds being the only viable way of playing the game.
Weapons should be available for any player wanting to play their favorite gameplay style with a little added skill.
For example, a player who plays as a brawler needs to have a variety of weapons at their disposal for both burning armor and hitting internals. The brawler can use any of the lasers and short ranged missiles to accomplish their tasks.
Heavier autocannons will also help this play style. It IS however up to the player to adjust their play style to meet the intricacies of the weapons they choose to bring to the battlefield.
Another player may want to play long-range fire support. Long-range missiles and far reaching projectile weapons are better suited for that style of gameplay. A player who wants to scout may want mid to far reaching weapons but can’t
afford the weight cost of packing ammunition so energy weapons would suit it better. But again, all of this requires the player to understand the weapon system and adapt to their behaviors.
We are balancing weapons so that there are multiple weapons systems that are useful to players, no matter what their play-style is.
"weapon X should fit this role, weapon Y should fit that role, ideally there would be these pros ond cons of choosing X over Y, etc."
Answer from Paul: Weapon convergence is a tough nut to crack. We want to keep the number of random “dice rolls” to a minimum, and network synchronization can become unpredictable when trying to determine a convergence point that may or
may not be moving. It will be necessary to make the convergence point calculation server authoritive and that can cause a desync due to the fact that the simulation runs at different frequencies on the server and client.
While this is something we’ve wanted for a while, it’s becoming more and more apparent that it is going to take some serious engineering time to address. Currently, the engineers who would be working on this are already tasked with
other high priority features and investigations. Pulling them off their current schedule will have both short and long term negative effects on the game as a whole, so the chances are very low that they will be able to address
convergence any time soon. Convergence will always be something we will keep on the drawing board but as to when it can be tackled is not known at this time.
Regarding the weapon convergence skill in the Pilot Tree, we will be implementing something else in that spot in the near future.
As for what is considered a balanced weapon, it is one that doesn’t stand out as the “be all end all, must have to succeed”. Nor should any weapon provide 0 benefit to the player. Not all weapons will be equal in damage per second or
heat per second. Each weapon has its own positive and negative properties and quirks.
The direction we’re going with balancing is to allow maximum viable weapon configurations within the constraints of a Mech chassis’s hardpoints, and not have high Alpha strike builds being the only viable way of playing the game.
Weapons should be available for any player wanting to play their favorite gameplay style with a little added skill.
For example, a player who plays as a brawler needs to have a variety of weapons at their disposal for both burning armor and hitting internals. The brawler can use any of the lasers and short ranged missiles to accomplish their tasks.
Heavier autocannons will also help this play style. It IS however up to the player to adjust their play style to meet the intricacies of the weapons they choose to bring to the battlefield.
Another player may want to play long-range fire support. Long-range missiles and far reaching projectile weapons are better suited for that style of gameplay. A player who wants to scout may want mid to far reaching weapons but can’t
afford the weight cost of packing ammunition so energy weapons would suit it better. But again, all of this requires the player to understand the weapon system and adapt to their behaviors.
We are balancing weapons so that there are multiple weapons systems that are useful to players, no matter what their play-style is.
That in mind, i really have to ask myself if all the "JJ" shake, Ghost Heat, Gauss Charge Mechanics - and I'm pretty sure the AC nerf to come only fixes to fill the gap - the missing convergence time has caused?
I know that the pin point - elite skill - was in my eyes the most important skill for my Pract and Dragon Mechs - with most fire power in the arms.
I know that sometimes repair things isn't that easy. So what about other mechanics to bring a kind of convergence back - without causing additional calculations on the server.
I guess the simplest fix would be to bind weapon convergence directly to the "R" lock on - but the problem is - that ECM Stealth armor is not allowing you to press "R" - so you need a PPC or TAG guy to disable the ECM - press R and be
able to land perfect shots for a split second of time.
In alternative every weapon disable the effect of ECM on the mech that was hit - could be explained with some technobable - the ECM is capable of disrupting IR - and MAD sensors - but hits of weapon fire will cause a interference so that target equipments are capable to lock on.
fired without lock - weapons have a fixed convergence at there effective range.
For example a AC 2 fired from the left arm of a JaegerMech will hit the right arm of another JaegerMech at 2100m when aimed for the center.
In this case AC 2 weapons become a kind of point weapons that surpress enemy ECM and keep the target in lock. First shots will went wide or low so you are hardly able to make perfect accurate snap fire.
Don't underestimate the effect of this feature - all of us have to start anew to learn how to hit moving targets. But I think its better to fix instead of fighting the symptoms.
Have you other ideas to bring back that simulation aspect?
Or is this feature so long gone that don't know what I'm talking about?
Edited by Karl Streiger, 18 October 2013 - 04:38 AM.
