13 replies to this topic

[Rhent]

Well NARC is now working as it should. Its too bad that it took Piranha about 2 years to make it actually work the way the community wanted it to work.

Who knows, maybe the heat cap could actually get looked at as a way to fix the Alpha Hide and go Alpha game.

[Baltasar]

I actually think it needs to be lowered down to around 20 sec at least. With the speed of lrms up 30 sec is a really long time. I think 20 sec will balance out nicely but will need some testing at least. I do like that they have finally made narc worth the tonnage, however, it can still be a pain to aim at times.

[Straylight]

I'd still like for the launcher to have a longer range, but I think the 30 second time is acceptable.

Don't think of it as "30 seconds of getting pounded constantly by LRMs" think of it as "30 seconds of keeping your head down in cover and not shooting back".

EDIT: And if people think they're overpowered now, I can't wait to see what they'll think once we get Arrows.

Edited by Straylight, 18 March 2014 - 09:01 PM.

[Kaeb Odellas]

It's also only useful if your team actually has LRMs. The first time I launched with Narc today, that was definitely not the case.

Edited by Kaeb Odellas, 18 March 2014 - 09:00 PM.

[Straylight]

Kaeb Odellas, on 18 March 2014 - 09:00 PM, said:

It's also only useful if your team actually has LRMs. The first time I launched with Narc today, that was definitely not the case.

Yeah, definitely specialist equipment better suited to a spotter in a team than a random Light in a PUG.

[Baltasar]

Straylight, on 18 March 2014 - 08:58 PM, said:

I'd still like for the launcher to have a longer range, but I think the 30 second time is acceptable.

Don't think of it as "30 seconds of getting pounded constantly by LRMs" think of it as "30 seconds of keeping your head down in cover and not shooting back".

EDIT: And if people think they're overpowered now, I can't wait to see what they'll think once we get Arrows.

Don't mind the hiding in cover but several maps aren't conducive to hiding behind cover. Take the caldera as an example...a lot of the terrain doesn't lend itself to blocking missile arc but it does to break LOS and move lateral to avoid missiles. However, 30 sec of not being able to do do any of that nor ECM bubble (which I think ECM has caused most of the problems anyways with unbalanced LRMs but that's a different thread). Hence why I think 20 sec is better. Like I said 30 sec is a very long time in battle situation Rarely can you even hold Tag for 10 sec. It was honestly, just a poor decision, to implement both in the same patch imo at least.

[Kaeb Odellas]

Straylight, on 18 March 2014 - 09:02 PM, said:

Yeah, definitely specialist equipment better suited to a spotter in a team than a random Light in a PUG.

I actually stuck it in my WVR-6K, since a single 10-tube launcher is still kinda worthless.

[Straylight]

Baltasar, on 18 March 2014 - 09:14 PM, said:

Don't mind the hiding in cover but several maps aren't conducive to hiding behind cover. Take the caldera as an example...a lot of the terrain doesn't lend itself to blocking missile arc but it does to break LOS and move lateral to avoid missiles.

Then you should probably stay out of the caldera, or bring lighter, faster friends who can scare off the NARC-carriers before they tag you.

Baltasar, on 18 March 2014 - 09:14 PM, said:

Rarely can you even hold Tag for 10 sec.

Speak for yourself, bub. I once kept a TAG up on a clump of ridge-humpers for six minutes straight before someone noticed me. I wish I'd recorded it; watching them look for me was hilarious.

[SirLANsalot]

Straylight, on 18 March 2014 - 10:12 PM, said:

Speak for yourself, bub. I once kept a TAG up on a clump of ridge-humpers for six minutes straight before someone noticed me. I wish I'd recorded it; watching them look for me was hilarious.

Ah the ECM Spider in the corner of the map 600m away taging a whole team. Love it when people cannot think outside of the box they have themselves in and do not think to look around if LRMs keep coming down on you after you have long backed off a ridge. Look up for a UAV or look for a spider sitting behind you.

[LoneMaverick]

Kaeb Odellas, on 18 March 2014 - 09:00 PM, said:

It's also only useful if your team actually has LRMs. The first time I launched with Narc today, that was definitely not the case.

Even if your team has few/no LRMers, the intel provided by a NARC can be vital. It really helps herd the pug cats into a correct fight, and can keep them from getting blindly flanked when they're too busy staring down their crosshairs to pay attention to their sides and rear.

One thing with NARC that does need a change, apparently no assists are given to the NARCer unless the target dies while being NARC'd. Seems silly to me, seeing as how you can trace a MLAS across a torso and still get a hefty assist for the mech when it is downed, NARC provides alot more support to the team than that MLAS did, even if noone even shot at the target while it was NARC'd, the info is invaluable.

[Straylight]

SirLANsalot, on 18 March 2014 - 10:53 PM, said:

Ah the ECM Spider in the corner of the map 600m away taging a whole team. Love it when people cannot think outside of the box they have themselves in and do not think to look around if LRMs keep coming down on you after you have long backed off a ridge. Look up for a UAV or look for a spider sitting behind you.

Ordinarily I'd agree, but I was actually in a Raven that match...

[Lyoto Machida]

Straylight, on 18 March 2014 - 09:02 PM, said:

Yeah, definitely specialist equipment better suited to a spotter in a team than a random Light in a PUG.

As an appreciative LRM pilot, it helps (in 12s or PUGs) when a light pilot announces 10 or 15 seconds before they do something that they're about to TAG/NARC/UAV something so that the LRM boats can be ready and no time is wasted. Also having the chassis and designation handy is great...especially in the case of UAVs as the boats will need to cycle through up to 12 targets (not counting turrets on assault). Having an idea of how solid your lock is and if the LRMs are actually hitting helps as well...probably easier on comms though.

[Willard Phule]

Rhent, on 18 March 2014 - 08:12 PM, said:

Well NARC is now working as it should. Its too bad that it took Piranha about 2 years to make it actually work the way the community wanted it to work.

Not really, but I understand where you're coming from.

The Guardian ECM suite SHOULD actually block transmissions from the NARC beacon...not the other way around. But, then, the Guardian shouldn't be blocking Streaks or target locks so......yeah.

Seems kind of a backwards way to go about it, if you ask me. BAP and NARC aren't supposed to shut down ECM...ECM isn't supposed to be some kind of electronic wall that nothing can penetrate. Since PGI can't code ECM properly...their only recourse is to add some kind of counter to it...and these are the logical choices, I guess.

Either way...I'm really loving all the NARC boats out there right now. D-DCs don't get a free pass anymore. Heh.

[Baltasar]

Straylight, on 18 March 2014 - 10:12 PM, said:

Then you should probably stay out of the caldera, or bring lighter, faster friends who can scare off the NARC-carriers before they tag you.

This was just the opening of the match trying to move from one side to the other. Especially since teams start so far apart form each other. I'll just have to take the lower side I'm just saying Narc on certain maps is extremely powerful because of the angle of the slope of the land such as most of hills even around the culdera aren't condusive to blocking lrm missiles at all. (don't bet me wrong though I love both buffs to LRMs and Narc.)

Straylight, on 18 March 2014 - 10:12 PM, said:

Speak for yourself, bub. I once kept a TAG up on a clump of ridge-humpers for six minutes straight before someone noticed me. I wish I'd recorded it; watching them look for me was hilarious.

Then they were doing a very piss poor job. It's not that hard to see if if one of your team mates were tagged and have one person start scanning for tag lasers. Nothing is more satisfying than squashing lights tagging especially if they have ecm cover while doing it. I do remember back in closed beta 8v8 I had a game while tagging with my jenner (before ecm implementation). I couldn't believe they weren't turning around trying to find me while my team was lighting them up with with missiles. It can be done but with competent players not so much. I guess that goes with most game mechanics though.

Irregardless my raven is not set up as a complete scouting mech and love that narc can be useful again. Have to try and get some friends on when I can rely on LRM mechs instead of rolling the PUG and hoping I get lrms on my team. Then can really test to see how powerful Narc can be when you have a dedicated lrm + spotter lance. Also, nice to actually be useful running a spotter light and actually feel like its not some dead weight (although I wish they would share some of the damage dealt by LRM boats with the spotter mech to encourage more spotting). I just hope PGI is smart enough to wait a couple of weeks to see if things die down before considering any hot fixes.