Charons Little Helper, on 22 November 2013 - 04:58 AM, said:
Is there at least one of these on every balance thread about anything?
Higher skill cap isn't an end unto itself.
It would not be beneficial.
It's not going to happen.
Ever.
Get over it.
I don't argue to abolish it. I argue that it's a fine mechanism. It just needs some balance. I argue that there should be a short delay in obtaining perfect convergence just like your targeting information on the mech comes with a delay, and that it should even auto correct for movement by giving you a "lead" dot. I also argue for a relatively simple "spread" that's predictable: I want torso mounted weapons to fly straight out of the mech until you get perfect convergence, while arms will full actuators and single fired weapons will go directly to your crosshair if you don't have a good lock and full target information. This is not random spread, your weapons will always go exactly where they're supposed to go. It's purely a system to slow down the ability to do pin point alpha/grouped strikes.
This does multiple things for the game at one time:
1) It emphasizes that having full arm actuators is not just a nerf to a mech by making them unable to mount AC20's, as full actuated arms should converge automatically. This in turn will create larger reasons for players to target hard points other than the center torso as arms will become tantalizing targets loaded with the bulk of the mech's damage output in many cases.
2) It helps balance high mounted arm hard points (vs. low) as high arms are much better for staying in cover while fighting (ridge humping). Now those mechs will need a little more time to do damage, helping balance the low mounted arms that can fire as soon as they're in the open.
3) It emphasizes single firing weapons over grouped/alpha strike weapons as single fired weapons should converge to the crosshair with no delay. This will increase the survivability of larger mechs to large pin-point alphas as it will take longer to put massive damage on a single hard point. This is a good thing for the game. It doesn't significantly effect the ability to damage small fast mechs as single fired ballistics and chain fired lasers are already the best ways to take them down in most situations.
4) It provides a link to the targeting system, which in turn provides better synergy for support and spotting roles in the game. Currently, LRM boats are the only mechs that synergize significantly with the rest of the team. This would put a mechanism in the game where scoutting/spotting becomes something that every player wants someone doing actively. Diversifying the ways to play and make useful and significant contributions to a team is a good thing.
5) It means that ECM would need a rework as it's totally broken that not being able to target a mech completely shuts down weapons that work off of a lock. When this effects everyone it will be recognized widely as being totally over powered. I recommend that ECM work on just the mech using it while that mech is in motion, and that the field spread outwards when still. This provides a much better in game balance as the ECM mech needs to do something generally dangerous (not moving) to reap the massive benefits of covering the entire team, while preserving the main benefit for just itself.
6) Higher skill cap with a reasonable entry level climb is something to be sought. It only promotes good play over time, and increases the interest as a player gains familiarity with the system. This actually makes play easier for low level players by re-emphasizing single fired weapons. That creates simpler weapon groups for new users and makes entry level mechs more survivable without upgrades. On the other end it pushes up the skill cap as players have to gauge weapon spread off their torsos for snap shots and/or deal with using mech loadouts that rely on arm hard points which are easier to pick off.
7) We can eliminate ghost heat as this mechanism will serve to spread and slow alpha strikes(the primary issue that ghost heat addresses), and the weapons can go back to being balanced based on regular heat generated and tweaking how heat sinks work (more or less threshold and cooldown) all of which is more intuitive to understand for the new player (which is a good thing).
On the con side: I see none, honestly. Unless you're a player who is only capable of winning by using large alphas with pin point convergence to totally wreck people with alpha strike after alpha strike. Then I could see how this is something you'd be afraid of being implemented.
Edited by Prezimonto, 22 November 2013 - 05:54 AM.
2
I'm between terms and have finished grading, so I'm due a little free time, and this game's actual game play is stale. Instead I like to spend time trying to lay suggestions to make it better.
