Master Maniac, on 20 March 2014 - 01:15 AM, said:
I see what you're saying, but - as you say - that's only part of the issue.
The *main* issue, and it is an issue, is that player skill and player-to-game input *is* a distinct factor when it comes to weapon mechanics. Pinpoint weapons are powerful (at least they are now - who knows what they'll nerf into oblivion in their quest to make this game as munchkin-friendly as possible), but this power comes at an extremely high demand on the player. That *is* a factor, no matter how much the superleet MOBA pros want to deny it in their quest to make everything numbers based.
A free-floating reticule makes it so that the slightest twitch can send your OMG ONE HIT KO super shot flying off into space, missing the target by inches. And that's if they're just standing still. There are dozens of variables for the player to contend with when aiming and lining up a precise shot - there's two at most when the player is using LRMs. That is why there is a stark difference between the two weapons.
Boating ballistics means you are heavily vulnerable while you wait for a painfully slow recycle, and more often than not, you're sitting right in the enemy's line of sight. Ammunition on these weapons is scarce, so there is an inherent, heavy limit on a mech's capabilities if it sacrificed enough armor/armament/speed to truly be considered an all-powerful ballistic "boat." Plus, he's a walking time bomb with all that ammo stuffed in his legs. So, yeah, he earned that 40 point alpha from a logistical standpoint - but he's still got to line up that perfect shot. The onus is on the other guy not to give it to him.
Boating high-damage energy weapons makes you pay in heat, which can screw you over in a heartbeat if you aren't careful. An overheat in the middle of a brawl is instant death. Sure, you may kill a guy, but that's it. You're done. Alpha strikes are a gamble, as they should be.
In these ways, those high-damage weapons are already balanced, with fairly sharp "cons." They don't need that extra, artificial nonsense to limit them. People who complained about alpha damage back in the PPC and Gauss days - yeah, a lot of those guys were boats who rightfully got reamed because they were sitting still and spamming missiles.
LRMs are subject to little, if any, of these setbacks under many conditions. They require no exposure, no aim, no control, and no timing. I mean, the biggest obstacle to hitting a marked target is...well...an obstacle. And I'm talking an obstacle the size of a friggin' mountain here. Anything less than that is not a problem for LRMs and their omniscient homing capabilities.
Too many players think that in a game like this, they're the star of the show, and if they make a mistake that gets them killed quickly, then there is something intrinsically wrong with the game. Charge right into an Atlas with your light mech and get blown away by an AC/20 and two ERPPCs? Yeah, that's on you. That *should* go without saying. It's the equivalent of people whining about shotguns in military shooter games. Like kids playing Army in the back yard, the loser of such an engagement cries foul, demanding some sort of mechanic to "give them a fair chance" when they find themselves up against that massive firepower. Don't earn your burn. Present yourself as a target in a fair contest, and you're risking being shot. But the enemy is risking himself to shoot you, too.
But of course, these people want to have their cake and eat it, too. They'll complain about skill based weapons blowing them away in a straight fight when they get ambushed in their LRM shooting camp, while at the same time they cry "get tactics" when people complain about LRM spamming. But again I digress.
Back to my point, and I do have one. Skill is an underlying factor for every weapon in the game...save LRMs. In most conditions, boating LRMs does not provide a negative risk factor for a player for at least 80% of the fight, up until the moment the enemy closes into close combat (should I say "if" they close into close combat?). Concentrated alphas are risky for the majority of the game's weapons, but it is *not* an impairment for LRMs. At worst, it can invoke a very brief shutdown which means the slightest delay between salvos. When you're in a nice, safe location (which LRM boats are for 80% of the match), this means nothing. No risk at all. This is why boating LRMs is fundamentally different from boating lasers, PPCs, or any type of ballistic weapon. There is little to no drawback to doing so if you're sitting back and firing from a comfortable spot.. And people *will* do so, because it is simply better to bring two LRM 20s than it is to just bring one.
Introduce a skill factor to LRM use, and *bam* - problem solved.
Okay, I have to respond to this, simply because it annoys me as a Missile Specialist. Allow me to enlighten you as to the skill requirements of the Missile Boat, and there are a surprising number of them.
As a missile boat, I have to rely on my teammates to have any chance of using my missiles indirectly, where I am safest. This means I spend anywhere fromm 3-8 minutes standing there doing nothing but waiting. While not a skill requirement, this means I need patience, or reliable teammates I know I can count on. That second one more than the first. Lacking reliable teammates, a Missile Boat is just a big target for pretty much every sniper on the enemy team, and easily killed overall.
I have to keep a CONSTANT awareness of my surroundings. If I don't, and something sneaks up on me, I'm dead. While other mechs need to keep awareness of their surroundings in mind, there's a big difference. Most of those mechs can still FIGHT if they get snuck up on. My Catapult may have 4 mlas, but I still do better with my 30 artemis-guided missiles than those 4 lasers. Since the thing that will probably be attacking me is most likely fast anyway, that makes it even HARDER to use those lasers. The only way I can counter this is by having teammates protect me, which leads back to the first problem: I need reliable teammates.
While my missiles can fly over a lot of obstacles, you don't need a mountain to stop them. Any old thing will do, like a teammate, yours OR mine, a building (or more than one building), a few stacked AMS, or worst of all, ECM. Now, I can of course counter this with careful timing, firing in larger volleys (though my Cat isn't a large-volley missile boat, and is more of an all-around support so it doesn't become completely helpless), or in the case of ECM, hoping my teammates can counter it (I don't use tag on my mech, since I don't WANT to be visible, since that means you all can shoot me). This is something else that none of the other weapon systems have, hard-counters that pretty much every mech can use.
So, in order for my missiles to kill you, you have to 1) be fighting my teammates already, 2) be in the open where my missiles won't hit anything, 3) not have a lot of AMS to protect you, 4) not have ECM to protect you, and 5) I have to not be in danger so I can focus on firing on you and not protecting myself.
What do you need to use PPCs? 1) Clear line of sight to your target, and 2) low enough heat to not kill yourself. And if it's normal PPCs, 3) the enemy to not be in your face so the PPC can work.
What do you need for ACs? 1 and 2 for PPCs, and 3) Ammo.
What do you need for pretty much everything else? 1 and 2, and occasionally 3. Now, COULD I move and direct-fire my missiles? Of course. And then I'll get counter-fired from enemy missiles and snipers immediately. Depending on how many enemy mechs can hit me at once, that attempt to direct-fire may have killed me, which is why I consider it a BAD idea, unless absolutely necessary, or the enemy team is definitely occupied elsewhere.
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