I think it's too early to panic. Let's consider that MWO has already implemented a number of systems that differ from TT and previous MW games, such as the dynamic heat limit (and the infamous Ghost Heat to compensate for it). It's natural that deviations are going to occur, and it's also understandable why PGI seeks to not invalidate all IS tech with clan release.
Also consider this. BV and huge difference in power between Clan and IS mechs takes into account stock IS mechs. A stock Catapult C1 with BV of 1399 costs 5 790 125 C-Bills. A stock Mad Cat with BV of 2737 costs a whopping 24 233 124 C-Bills. But let's take a sample
build for our modern C1, real in MWO, and smurfy says that it would cost us 14 404 727 C-Bills, already not such a huge cost difference with the Mad Cat, also considering 10 ton weight difference, eh? Conceivably, our upgraded C1 would also fare better against purely implemented Clan mechs.
On another note, if I understand correctly, Omnimechs have a disadvantage of hard-set upgrades. This means Endo, FF, even engine size and type can't be changed. You want to run your Mad Cat with an STD engine? Nope, can't happen. It remains to be seen what advantage they're gonna give Omnimechs in return (fully customizable hardpoints?), but it appears to me that it's gonna be a quite short walk from what we have now to having balanced clan tech, probably mostly a matter of balancing weapons.
Anyway, it's too early to make conclusions, but I welcome the PGI's direction on this one, since I was not looking forward to rebuying an entire garage worth of mechs at nearly 4 times the prices, and that's exactly what PGI's Clantech balancing is aimed to achieve. Fingers crossed for now.
Edited by Azargo, 05 December 2013 - 03:02 AM.