Strum Wealh, on 25 February 2014 - 09:39 PM, said:
The CRB-30 page rather clearly states, "Date Introduced: 3061" - as such, it would not be available for MWO.
However, the CRB-27sl (the
non-Royal SLDF variant) should be available (or can be argued to be so as a result of the unlocking of the Helm Memory Core).
That gives the CRB-27, CRB-27sl, and CRB-20 as the available-as-of-3051 variants (as PGI seems to be avoiding/ignoring Royal variants (like the CRB-27b), and the next
Crab variant in the BT timeline (the CRB-C) comes in 3056).
I think on page one of this thread I noted that I took all the advanced equipment and replaced it with comparable 3050 IS equipment, call it a CRB 29 and make it an apocryphal variant.
Anyways with the 20, 27, & 27sl you'll have the 3 variants you'd need to make it MWO viable. Even without the 30 this is still a viable chassis.
The important part of adding the crab is the role it fills out in a meta game. Energy weapons, Low to the ground, Torpedo Body Shape, Guerrilla Fighter.
I think stock(CRB - 20), Increased engine cap(CRB - 27), & stock+jumpjets(CRB - 27sl) would be fine for 3 variants. I'd buy all 3 and love them.
The reason I wanted the 30 was the inclusion of ECM. I think more mechs need ECM, it's kind of an indictment against PGIs own implementation of the ECM that they haven't introduced more variants of it since the cicada(I think that was the most recent, it's been a while). I am flexible, if it can't happen for people even with 3050 normalized equipment then I'd be willing to let that go.
These mechs have a role and that role is currently under utilized in MWO. If you want to change the Meta you have to introduce viable alternatives and let it change organically over time otherwise you have people screaming "PGI killed MY META."
The KGC and CRB are good mechs for changing the meta.
Edited by HammerSwarm, 26 February 2014 - 07:12 AM.