13 replies to this topic

[Beofryn]

Just wanted to point this out. The BLR already had one of the worst placements of an AC mount in the game. Underslung on the arm? Why can't you mount it to the side like you do once we add more than one? Oh well, so I can't fire it while looking over a ridgeline. Annoying, but I can deal. Still makes a good weapon in general combat, right? Not anymore. With the slower shell speed, shell drop has become much more significant. And with the really low mount on the BLR, I actually can't shoot over simple ground cover anymore. Map designer decided to put a small pile of rocks just enough to slow a mech down as it stomps over it? Offers 100% cover from my biggest single weapon now. Spider sniping me from up a mountainside? Good thing my AC is arm mounted! I'll just aim up and...my arm can't aim far enough above it to actually hit it.

There's gotta be something you can do to alleviate the PPC/AC meta without causing other problems like this. Ya know, something like fix the mistake you made a few patches ago and add the charge up time to the PPC instead of the gauss. Since the whole problem was that the PPC syncs up so well to ALL OTHER ballistics and doesn't COUNT as a ballistic. Or leave the gauss as is (I do kinda like the skill aspect of it now) and change the PPC in some other way so it isn't a ballistic disguised as an energy. Maybe give it a column of crackling energy between you and your target that lasts for .5s and then does all its damage right at the end of it. Your target makes it around a corner or your aim slips right at the end tracking some light mech? No damage done. But make the shot and all the damage is done to one location, just like it is now. Sound good? Still different from lasers, but now different from ballistics, too. Go ahead and use this suggestion, you can pay me for it in mech bays.

[jollyrancher1]

I totally agree with you beofryn, the location of single ballistic's barrel on the battlemaster is the worst of the 3 shown, but nitpicking about details like that is really petty. Why not just think of it as being a safer place to put your biggest gun. An opponent must be below you to shoot the gun, otherwise your armor plated arms cover the gun until aimed to fire.

PPC/AC meta is actually pretty sweet. Out of all the guns, they are the perfect combo at direct fire. Ammo using ballistics with heat weapons is a good match. They even cover each others weaknesses to an extent. The pilot has to manage all of the aspects of the guns to run their mech well. The meta went from all snipers that hit hard all at once, to snipers that use ammo and at least those 2 types of hard points. Im still a big fan of the 2ppc gauss mechs!

LRMs are kinda good but have lock on problems and are not reliable on a battlefield with ecm, cover, and caves. Boating too many makes you a fat artillery piece that might not even get to fire, but faster catapults with JJ and lrm are still kinda fun. Im really loving the hybrid stalker right now as well. http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f1d6a923c2eb82f

The srms are really weak right now. They are way too hard to hit with. They are only good up to about 180m and I have taken them off of most of my mechs. Same with machine guns and flamers, but I dont run many lights other than the ones with ecm or JJ because that would pretty dumb.

The ac10 is such a bad weapon right now though. Its basically a newb gun just like the lbx. It is very safe to use. Not great and not bad just safe. The gauss is superior in almost every aspect and only weighs 3 more tons, but explodes. The ac20 does twice the damage for only 2 more tons, but lacks range. The fire rate is a little higher on the ac10 than both, but you can only run about 2 of them due to the weight and that is only on a few ballistic emphasizing mechs due to crit restrictions, so they dont suppress they snipe just like a ppc but with slower bullet speed. In close combat 10 damage is simply not enough. 2 meds is 10 damage and only costs 2 tons so any laser boats would kick your ***. The only good thing about ac10 is that the ammo is 15 a ton so 3 tons per gun and you shouldn't run out of ammo.

The only mech I still run with an ac10 is the orion and it is so unspecialized it works. http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8ddf2625c2b5372

[Sparks Murphey]

It's as if the Battlemaster has been designed to carry lasers and missiles, complemented by a machine gun or three, and not as an autocannon carrier! Outrageous!

[Ironwithin]

Change your loadout ... AC10s were already crappy in comparison before. You can do a lot of nice builds with all the BLRs, ditch the dumb AC10. The Battlehamster™ is a beast with pretty much anything you put in.

Personally I always thought the AC10 needed a buff, not a nerf ... can't see the reasoning behind this "fix".

Edited by Ironwithin, 10 January 2014 - 09:23 PM.

[DeathlyEyes]

What they need to do is stop nerfing weapons and start bringing other weapons that counter the weapons that are poblematic up to par. The charge time hasn't really done anything to discourage me from running ppc/gauss combo. I can do it just fine but run dual AC5s on my Dragon Slayer because I get higher DPS. On my Shadow Hawk I run the ppc/gauss combo just fine. The only thing the nerf has actually affected is that now it is really hard to counter pop snipers with the gauss rifle. They can charge while jumping and shoot before the person attempting to counter snipe them can charge. The only thing the charge mechanic has done is forced more pop sniping if the gauss rifle is used.

A true solution to the problem would be to bring other weapons up to par. Most specifically lasers. I refuse to use lasers because duration is too long for me to do effective pinpoint damage. A better solution would be to reduce duration and make them more viable. Even in a mid to close range battle I would rather ppcs/acs/gauss to lasers because I need only to expose my torso for a short period of time to put damage on a target. Lasers I have to focus on the target and am not able to shield my torso immediately after firing.

PGI refuses to fix this simple mechanic and it has lead to the current spread of weapon use. If they want medium lasers to be used more they should start reducing the duration. On another note, if they reduce the duration they need to do so in small incriminates. They need to not drastically change weapon mechanics but instead slowly move them until they get a balance they want.

[xengk]

If you want to hill peak in the BLR, use the torso energy point for PPC or LLaz instead.

[Solis Obscuri]

h4t3r4d3, on 12 January 2014 - 05:41 AM, said:

What they need to do is stop nerfing weapons and start bringing other weapons that counter the weapons that are poblematic up to par. The charge time hasn't really done anything to discourage me from running ppc/gauss combo. I can do it just fine but run dual AC5s on my Dragon Slayer because I get higher DPS. On my Shadow Hawk I run the ppc/gauss combo just fine. The only thing the nerf has actually affected is that now it is really hard to counter pop snipers with the gauss rifle. They can charge while jumping and shoot before the person attempting to counter snipe them can charge. The only thing the charge mechanic has done is forced more pop sniping if the gauss rifle is used.

A true solution to the problem would be to bring other weapons up to par. Most specifically lasers. I refuse to use lasers because duration is too long for me to do effective pinpoint damage. A better solution would be to reduce duration and make them more viable. Even in a mid to close range battle I would rather ppcs/acs/gauss to lasers because I need only to expose my torso for a short period of time to put damage on a target. Lasers I have to focus on the target and am not able to shield my torso immediately after firing.

PGI refuses to fix this simple mechanic and it has lead to the current spread of weapon use. If they want medium lasers to be used more they should start reducing the duration. On another note, if they reduce the duration they need to do so in small incriminates. They need to not drastically change weapon mechanics but instead slowly move them until they get a balance they want.

Lasers work really well for concentrating damage. You need to commit to placing the shot.

[Monky]

If you're using the arm hardpoints for sniping you're doing it wrong. 2x PPC or 2x ER Large in the side torso high mounts. Use the arm mounts for close defense. AC10 can still be viable up close even on a low mount if you can only fit 1 Ballistic and it can't be an AC20 - just stop using the low mounts to project firepower at a distance and you'll see improvement. This is why CTF-4X became near extinct after the Jaegers came on the scene even though Jaegers have less avail. tonnage. Use the weapon mounts that are advantageous for a certain fighting style.

[Ewigan]

1) what others said

2) if you really wasnt to depend on your arm mounted ballistics though, ditch the AC10, add AC5 or 2 (i LOVE my 3 AC2 BLR) and enjoy the fun!

[Grendel408]

Battlemasters are not suffering from weapon placement... because if one Mech suffers... they all do, depending on preference. I mean... I love my BLR setup

[Ironwithin]

You should definately lose the ammo in your center torso, that stuff goes up, you go down. Put it in the legs or arms (also you might want to put the ams-ammo in your legs/arms as the BLR's head is rather easy to hit).

[o0Marduk0o]

jollyrancher1, on 10 January 2014 - 08:40 PM, said:

The ac10 is such a bad weapon right now though. Its basically a newb gun just like the lbx. It is very safe to use. Not great and not bad just safe. The gauss is superior in almost every aspect and only weighs 3 more tons, but explodes. The ac20 does twice the damage for only 2 more tons, but lacks range. The fire rate is a little higher on the ac10 than both, but you can only run about 2 of them due to the weight and that is only on a few ballistic emphasizing mechs due to crit restrictions, so they dont suppress they snipe just like a ppc but with slower bullet speed. In close combat 10 damage is simply not enough. 2 meds is 10 damage and only costs 2 tons so any laser boats would kick your ***. The only good thing about ac10 is that the ammo is 15 a ton so 3 tons per gun and you shouldn't run out of ammo.

The only mech I still run with an ac10 is the orion and it is so unspecialized it works. http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8ddf2625c2b5372

Are you crazy? It's a great gun and the bullet speed is back in line with the other AC (well, [U]AC5 still 50 m/s too fast). You call it bad because you can't deal with it? The speed loss is hardly noticeable unless you shoot way beyond its intended weapon range all the time.
2 AC10 + PPC is awesome, when you can mount it.

[C E Dwyer]

Sparks Murphey, on 10 January 2014 - 08:44 PM, said:

It's as if the Battlemaster has been designed to carry lasers and missiles, complemented by a machine gun or three, and not as an autocannon carrier! Outrageous!

I agree but the fact to current state of the game is so ballistic ac2/ac5/ ultra centric its not surprising that the load out go for those load outs, not sure why ac10 load out was used on the blr though as the other weapons mentioned make it a more competitive mech.

yes it should be an energy mech but won't be, until lasers get something to make them not also rans

[C E Dwyer]

Grendel408, on 17 January 2014 - 05:30 PM, said:

Battlemasters are not suffering from weapon placement... because if one Mech suffers... they all do, depending on preference. I mean... I love my BLR setup

aim for the legs !!! lol no anywhere but the arms..an xl humm I only put those on victors in assaults, and not all of them, as I like the feeling of fear when one of my sides go and I don't fall in a heap

Edited by Cathy, 18 January 2014 - 07:19 AM.