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Arm Lock


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#1 B E E L Z E B U B

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 05:09 AM

after i die i usually stay and watch people gaming in hopes of seeing new tactics or builds.
what i see lately makes me sad. more and more players playing 3rd person and locked arms.
i try explaining that they will do much better if they get used to free arms and/or 1st person, but well.... doesnt help.

i bet some will read this and go "i play 3rd person and/or locked arms."

so to you goes the following: Why, why would you do that..?

#2 Curccu

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 05:57 AM

Well arms are locked @ 3PV?

and to answer your question
Mech like this http://mwo.smurfy-ne...9eaa24d8c687f86 which have no use for extra arm crosshair or doesn't even have any weapons in arms.
Or http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8ad33c191474bc4 can do pinpoint damage way easier arm lock on than off. If I need to shoot higher or lower than my torso movement allows, I have this Left Shift button in my KB

I don't use 3PV, but arm lock definitely if it gives me edge.

#3 B E E L Z E B U B

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 06:27 AM

but it makes you so cumbersome. i use my HBK-4P with lasers mounted on the torso only, and still i dont use arm lock. i find it to be so much quicker in reaction compared to arm lock. try and see...

Edited by Karma Police, 22 October 2013 - 06:27 AM.


#4 Spawnsalot

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 07:58 AM

I'm sure what Karma Police is referring to are those poor folks in champion Atlases, for example, being circled by fast mechs with arm-lock defaulted to on and he can't turn quick enough to catch his tormentors and all you can do is cringe and ask the guy to try holding left-shift, praying that he has chance to read it, so they have a chance to fight back and so they don't get frustrated and leave the game due to "shoddy controls".

Arm-lock and 3PV really should be off by default because new players won't know about the alternatives unless they go looking for them which, for something like this, they really shouldn't have to.

#5 Commodore Frank

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 08:02 AM

I can understand if the people weren't using their arms at all, but arm lock isn't a bad thing in itself. I prefer my arms don't flail everywhere until I need them, so I leave it on. I have no qualms with holding shift for a long time when needed. I'm quite used to it as an avid Doom player.

#6 oldradagast

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 08:14 AM

Arm lock is a curse. I truly wish they had never toggled it "on" by default. There are few things as sad as watching some obvious newbie be circle strafed to death in a bigger mech while he's completely unable to track the target thanks to his arms being locked to his torso. It's a cruel joke on new players and really should be turned off. Yeah, having arms and torso weapons "is hard" - but it is far less annoying than slowly dying to some fast pest because you can't move your arms.

There are a few builds out there that don't need arm lock switched off, but they are the rarity and, quite frankly, vulnerable to being out maneuvered in a fight unless they are also very fast.

#7 Burke IV

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 08:19 AM

Some mechs are meant to be piloted with arms swinging free. Its a skill worth mastering cause for every time it gets in your way there will be many instances when it helps. Not letting your arms point in silly directions is a skill. Try piloting a HBK-4SP (LRMS) as a gentle way to get your brain round moving and targeting arms. When you get good you can run away from somebody shooting them as you go in that mech cause the arms combined with torso almost point backwards. fun fun fun :D Unlocking will allow you to target your missiles but there will always be a hard cap on how fast you can react in certain situations with them locked.

#8 Burke IV

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 08:25 AM

View Postoldradagast, on 22 October 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:

Yeah, having arms and torso weapons "is hard"


every fps ever has one xhair. players have been conditioned to twitch react to that nice stable central xhair, and now suddenly they got 2 and one of them wobbles about if you dont keep it still. Its the learning curve of the game. Its easy to keep one of the 2 on target but both requires a bit of mental effort. Once you get yoru head round it you will be engaging 2 mechs at a time :D

Edited by Burke IV, 22 October 2013 - 08:27 AM.


#9 Roland

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 08:28 AM

In actuality, arm lock gives a pretty huge advantage in many situations. Certainly if you have weapons spread between arms and torso, you want to have arm lock on when you fire, for weapons convergence reasons.

Better players are able to use the toggle key to leverage both modes on the fly.. either playing with arm lock on and flipping it off via a key press when they need to use arm movement to aim beyond the range of the torso, or playing with it off and flipping it on when shooting.

If you never use arm lock, you're basically doing it wrong.

#10 Alcom Isst

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 11:03 AM

Even when you have weapons all not in your arms, you should still have arm-lock disabled or have the disable/enable on an easy key-binding for tracking reasons.

I have Arm-lock always on by default, but with my keybindings I can just hold down tab to tu- wait... wait...

Why do I have to hold the silly thing down and not just tap it to enable/disable?

#11 Logen Ninefingers

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 01:33 AM

As someone posted before a couple of days before I was watching a BH Atlas pilot who had 6 mpls and a AC20 being circled by a med... i suggested turning armlock of in options got a friendly reply about effing back seat drivers and that pressing shift is enough... but he never used shift to unlock his arms... :blink: and died a horrible death by the hands of an almost cored med pilot.... I thought what an i.......

I strongly support 1st person view without armlock as default setting.

#12 Curccu

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 01:49 AM

View PostAlcom Isst, on 22 October 2013 - 11:03 AM, said:

Even when you have weapons all not in your arms, you should still have arm-lock disabled or have the disable/enable on an easy key-binding for tracking reasons.

I have Arm-lock always on by default, but with my keybindings I can just hold down tab to tu- wait... wait...

Why do I have to hold the silly thing down and not just tap it to enable/disable?

Maybe some day... PGI is "looking" at this thing

#13 NextGame

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 07:25 AM

Armlock is fine.

Why? because it is optional.

Besides, you can have the best of both worlds via liberal use of holding down the shift key.

Edited by NextGame, 23 October 2013 - 07:26 AM.


#14 oldradagast

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 08:22 AM

The problem isn't that arm lock is useless. The problem is that it is turned ON by default and most new players have no clue how to turn it off. So, while it may be annoying for a new player to adapt to having 2 crosshairs, I firmly believe it is far worse for them to experience Arm Lock while being circled to death by a smaller, faster mech.

The first problem - having 2 cross hairs - will just confuse them for a while, but they'll probably think "Okay, I can figure this out, and look how I can shoot at everything around me - cool!" The second option, the current mess with Arm Lock on by default, will most likely instead have them think, "Why did my 100 ton mech die to a tiny mech? Why couldn't I shoot him as he ran around me? This game is dumb." Then, they uninstall and never look back while never knowing that they could have turned Arm Lock off and actually had a chance at hitting that pest that was circling strafing them to death.





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