2
The Video Demonstration:
Why is Pinpoint Aiming Bad?
Because it removes gameplay options. For 18 years, MW has been dominated by the "massed direct-fire weapons" metagame. Yes, all the way back to Mechwarrior 2 in 1995. Ever since I started doing league play in MW2 (good o'l NBT...), the ability to concentrate weapons on a single point has defined every. single. mechwarrior game. ever. The reason is that all the games have kept the armor and critical hit system, and put it into a First Person environment. The armor system and weapons weren't originally designed for that, so they have never been balanced in any MW game.
With Pinpoint aiming, you can concentrate your fire on the CT resulting a quick kill. Non direct fire weapons, like missiles and LBX, will always be inferior in this situation. Any mech loadout that uses them will be sub-par. Not to say that a skilled pilot can't make good use of them, but they are underpowered in comparison and always will be. Your gameplay options are limited by the requirement to focus fire.
To combat this problem, PGI has instituted obnoxious, heavy-handed balance systems like Ghost Heat and Gauss Charge Up. They have nerfed each FOTM weapon in sequence, a chain that will never end. Past games did the exact same things (MW3 laser heat nerf for example). The core mechanic - pinpoint convergence - must be addressed or all of this will continue as it has for the entire existence of the franchise.
Kinetic Aim - The Fix
Tie the aiming reticle to the mech's movement. That's all. The rest will take care of itself. Thus, the accuracy that everyone loves/hates is still there. There is no fundamental change to the existing game. Nothing is taken away from the pilot, like a cone-of-fire system would do. What you point at is what you hit- but pointing at the right thing becomes harder. Pinpoint aiming retains it's power and continues to exist- but comes with a cost. That cost is speed. This small difference means that other weapons become useful in different situations because of their different mechanics, instead of being inferior because of those same mechanics. For example, SRM's become desirable in a brawl specifically because of their spread, making it easier to hit whil at high speed. It means that a pilot is forced to choose between the power of pinpoint weapons, and the vulnerability of having to move slowly to use them. It opens up new possibilities for mech quirks, efficiency unlocks and modules (arm reflex would actually mean something), and weapon mechanics. Skill and strategy are made more important, instead of being diminished as COF would do.
Best of all? It's already in game. There's no question of how hard it would be to implement or code, because it's already been done. This is exactly how aim works in 3pv. Why it's there I have no idea, but a demonstration can be made with it. You can go test it yourself. The aim point is tied to the mech's walking animation. Since the animation has already been tied to engine rating, this automatically balances itself across different chassis and loadouts. See the video above.
I do have some tweaks to suggest, before it's put into 1pv as well. First, tie the aim bounce to each individual foot, so it bobs left to right slightly. This will spread weapons fire out accross the different armor locations. Second, aim for the following level of balance: A mech at full speed, with an above-average pilot, should be able to reliably hit an Atlas sized target at 1000m- but not accurately enough to aim at individual components, or with 100% of shots. From that point, faster/smaller mechs and different loadout options all balance themselves out naturally from their existing mechanics. Nothing is forced or arbitrary (*cough* Ghost Heat *cough*).
Watch. Read. Discuss. Flame (you know you want to).
Edited by RandomLurker, 19 September 2013 - 04:10 PM.
