6 replies to this topic

[Santos Villalobos]

Currently, when you've targeted an enemy mech and that enemy is destroyed, the target lock will remain on the mech for approximately one second. The purpose of this feature was to let targeting players know which part of the enemy mech was destroyed that subsequently caused the mech's incapacitation.

In my opinion, this has only caused more harm than good. What "post-destruction target retention" has truly done is mask the point at which a mech is destroyed, thus allowing the player to waste valuable ammunition by continuing to fire at a destroyed enemy that he perceives to be still active. This happens particularly when armed with Streak SRM-2s and LRMs since there is no visual change to the HUD's targeting reticule when the targeted enemy mech is destroyed. Additionally, the problem is exacerbated when the target is out of line-of-sight, as the "plume" of smoke and sparks that denotes mech destruction cannot be seen by the attacker.

This feature is well-intentioned but, as with many aspects of this game, poorly executed. A complete removal of the feature would be acceptable, but a more immersive one would be to add a flickering effect to the targeting reticule to signify the destroyed mech's dying electronic signature.

My main argument is that target lock should be lost immediately upon mech destruction. The perk of seeing what part of the targeted mech was destroyed does not counterbalance the nuisance of maintaining a lock on a disabled mech, which can lead to waste of ammunition, unnecessary and otherwise avoidable generation of heat due to firing said wasted ammunition, and, in a brawl, the loss of that brief, though valuable, second of time in which the attacking player is engaging a destroyed mech.

That is all.


P.S. Repeal the Heat Scale.

Edited by Santos Villalobos, 18 January 2014 - 10:05 AM.

[Lord Perversor]

Imho i see no issue, if the target is so close to death ppl should not try to tunnel vision into grabbing a kill and learn to focus on enxt objetive, or just shoot with ammo free weapons.

[Stingray Productions]

the problem is when the target is destroyed, for one more second a lot of people keep shooting at it wasting their time and ammo.

[Firewuff]

The ct dissapears as soon as its destroyed. Given most weapons have a longer than 1 sec recycle this only really affects ac2 and possibly uac5. Streaks if your chainfiring a bunch and lrms this will make little difference as the travel time is so long

Honestly it makes such little difference its not ffunny. Bsides in reality it would take time for the computer to know if it happened. I would rather see more sensor glitches and fuzzyness than it be perfect all the time. Thstbis more immersion. Just because the game engine knows doesn't mean we should.its the same as using player knowledge in a roleplaying game, just cause I know there is a monster behind the door doesn't mean my character knows.

[Zerberus]

As you stated, it was the way you want before.

The community wanted it the way it is now.

WIth all due respect, use your targeting system proactively and the problem solves itself. Aka "Look, aim, shoot." as opposed to the "aim, shoot, look" playstyle that wastes ammo on dead targets.

BTW: There is no heat scale in MWO, so there is nothing to repeal. TT has a heat scale, Tactics has a heat scale, MWO does not.

Stingray1234, on 18 January 2014 - 10:54 AM, said:

the problem is when the target is destroyed, for one more second a lot of people keep shooting at it wasting their time and ammo.

I think we`ve catered to the mouthbreathers enough these past few months...if the last year has taught us anything it`s that dumbing down the game does not make them play any better, it just makes them think they can have whatever they want so they whine even louder when the answer is no.

Edited by Zerberus, 19 January 2014 - 10:33 AM.

[Davers]

But guys! He is talking about one WHOLE second! Someone should do something!

[Santos Villalobos]

An earlier poll regarding this feature, from June 2013, is split 14-9, with the majority against the new feature. It is an exaggeration to say that the "community wanted it".

Secondly, there is most certainly a heat scale in this game. It is otherwise known as "ghost heat". This is how it works: http://mwomercs.com/...cale-the-maths/

Thirdly, the suggestion to pay more attention to the target's damage status is not useful. Take a look at the target damage status on the upper right of the HUD next time you're in-game. Any component will flash for a bit (maybe 0.5 to 1 second) if it takes any damage. This same animation is used for a component that is destroyed, so it flashes due to the final damage done to it and then disappears. Consequently, when a CT (or RT/LT for an XL-powered mech) is destroyed, it flashes in the same manner as if it was simply taking damage, for 0.5 to 1 second, even though the component is already destroyed. The duration of the flashing occurs concurrently with the post-destruction target retention I have mentioned, so the only time left between the component disappearing from the targeting screen and the loss of target lock is in tenths of a second.

All of that to say, this is not a matter of skill. There is a solid half-second or more wherein no player can determine if the target is active, and you only realize that another player scored the kill until after you've fired your weapons. This is a costly upshot to a rather weak premise: to allow a player to see what component led to the destruction of the target. But good players will already know which component was destroyed because they were aiming for it.