229 replies to this topic

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Personally I never use it, but it does make sense for certain builds (CTF-3D comes to mind especially).

What I dislike about it most is that it is set to always-on as default. Maybe once a phase 2 tutorial goes live we'll see some kind of rework of the starting settings (throttle decay is evil, too). My dream is that PGI will introduce Achievements related to arm lock, throttle decay, and running through each of the tutorials (I'd love to see huge c-bill rewards, like several million each, tied to doing the tutorials, and a few thousand GXP for completing a match with arm lock off, and again with throttle decay disabled).

[Bishop Steiner]

Faith McCarron, on 22 April 2014 - 08:05 AM, said:

It's a useful tool when used properly. Call it a "crutch" all you want, why would you NOT use a tool that is available to you? That's like saying "Ranged weapons are a crutch. Anyone using them is a badz. I only use small pulse and srm-2"

same reason I don't spend my nights poptarting. In the end, while good players can poptart, it does nothing to improve your skills. Using armlock instead of improving your own ability to track on converge does nothing to improve your skill set. It DOES however invite people to further abuse the FLD insta convergence poptart meta which has made this game stale for the last year (though there are certainly MANY factors contributing to that).

XenonCx, on 22 April 2014 - 08:46 AM, said:

If my mech has no arm weapons, then I turn on Arm Lock at the beginning of the match. Otherwise it stays off.

On mechs without arm weapons, I find the arm crosshair to be visually distracting, so I lock it down. The less confusing things my brain sees the better I play.

For this reason I'd also very very much like to change the crosshair color. On some maps, that brown crosshair doesn't contrast very well and gets lost in the clutter of mechs and rocks.

I feel your pain watching a newbie attempt to brawl in an Atlas with arm lock on at full zoom, not sure I could hold it in...

Wouldn't have made more sense for PGI to simply have "locked" the reticle on mechs with no arm weapons in the first place, instead of giving yet another patented FPS ezmode button? I agree the crosshair float is distracting on my BNC-3E, but guess I just got over it, lol. But have spectated too many matches where people have never figured it out. Blame the toggle, blame the existence of it, blame the lack of proper tutorial, etc, but it is an issue.

[Steel Will]

Bishop Steiner, on 21 April 2014 - 10:16 PM, said:

Can't hold your arm and torsos together?

No one can. No matter how slowly you move your arms, your torso will lag behind without arm lock (or without arm actuators). PGI needs to fix this mechanic and get rid of the hard toggle completely. Arms & torso should be locked when arms are moved slower than the torso can turn, and should break lock if arms are moved faster than the torso can turn. It's bizarre to me that not only has this not been the default behavior all along, it somehow wasn't the glaringly obvious solution over adding a hard (and poorly implemented) arm lock toggle.

[Bishop Steiner]

3rdworld, on 22 April 2014 - 09:24 AM, said:

I don't do the perma-on, lock myself. But ever time I pop, I hit shift to lock the 2 together. Increases the chances of the full alpha hitting the same location.

On mechs that don't use arm mounted weapons, I find the arm reticule moving about slightly annoying, so i end up holding shift much of the time.

but tell me true, how would you feel about it being removed entirely? We argue on a lot of things, but you have been here a long time yourself, so you have perspective. We have a game, where the community and the company agree, mechs die too fast. Yet when have a mechanic in the game that not only promotes high pinpoint alpha but is buried to be a death trap for new players. Would the game not truly be better off without it?

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

XenonCx, on 22 April 2014 - 08:46 AM, said:

If my mech has no arm weapons, then I turn on Arm Lock at the beginning of the match. Otherwise it stays off.

On mechs without arm weapons, I find the arm crosshair to be visually distracting, so I lock it down. The less confusing things my brain sees the better I play.

If a mech has articulated arms, even if there are no weapons on them, having arm lock disabled can still be an advantage, as you can use the arms to shield your vital torso sections more effectively.

Cicadas and the like without arm weapon mounts, though, there's no real reason to have arm lock disabled, unless you want to flap your wings at people when you spawn in... (guilty here)

[Bishop Steiner]

Steel Will, on 22 April 2014 - 09:35 AM, said:

No one can. No matter how slowly you move your arms, your torso will lag behind without arm lock (or without arm actuators). PGI needs to fix this mechanic and get rid of the hard toggle completely. Arms & torso should be locked when arms are moved slower than the torso can turn, and should break lock if arms are moved faster than the torso can turn. It's bizarre to me that not only has this not been the default behavior all along, it somehow wasn't the glaringly obvious solution over adding a hard (and poorly implemented) arm lock toggle.

yes, not perfectly. And that only became a problem when PGI unwittingly added an ezmode button. The idea was to simplify immersion. Not to make the current meta even worse. If they want it in game it should be something that is ONLY available during Cadet Time, and about halfway through that they should be specifically taking off the training wheels. I am all but certain it was not added to make Poptarting even more efficient.

[Roland]

Bishop Steiner, on 21 April 2014 - 10:16 PM, said:

Rant thread!

What The heck is up with the arms lock? I get n00bs and scrubs using it, but seriously, why else would you use it? Can't hold your arm and torsos together?

Basically every good player uses it to snap his reticles together and guarantee them to be lined up instantly. Especially for a lot of jumpsniping builds that split weapons across the arms and torsos.

It's another one of those features which was intended for new players, but ended up being used by high tier players situationally because it provides a significant advantage in certain cases.

I have a key mapped that effectively provides a toggle for it, so you can flip it on and off easily, in addition to being able to hold the button.

Quote

Our last mech? A BoarsHead with no armor breaches.

For some reason, the BoardsHead attracts bad pilots like flies to honey. I'm not sure exactly why, but when I see a boars head, the odds are generally going to be that its piloted by someone who is extremely bad at this game.
(queue enraged boars head pilots)

[Khobai]

a legitimate use for arm lock is when you have no arm weapons like on a banshee 3E

[Roland]

Oh, an for the record, I would totally support the removal of arm lock. It should never have been added, and dumbed down the game significantly.

[Bishop Steiner]

Khobai, on 22 April 2014 - 09:39 AM, said:

a legitimate use for arm lock is when you have no arm weapons like on a banshee 3E

I prefer to use my arms as active shields. By all means make it easier for me to bypass 64 pts of armor to reach your torso unimpeded. If the things catch even a bit of incoming fire it is better to be free to do so..

Roland, on 22 April 2014 - 09:39 AM, said:

Basically every good player uses it to snap his reticles together and guarantee them to be lined up instantly. Especially for a lot of jumpsniping builds that split weapons across the arms and torsos.

It's another one of those features which was intended for new players, but ended up being used by high tier players situationally because it provides a significant advantage in certain cases.

I have a key mapped that effectively provides a toggle for it, so you can flip it on and off easily, in addition to being able to hold the button.



For some reason, the BoardsHead attracts bad pilots like flies to honey. I'm not sure exactly why, but when I see a boars head, the odds are generally going to be that its piloted by someone who is extremely bad at this game.
(queue enraged boars head pilots)

And you do address exactly why it should not be here. Much like poptarting, the high end comp almost requires it (as a brawler I will never surrender to it though! MWAHAHAHAH!) but I would say specifically it is why it should be gone, as my other posts about the current state of meta mention.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Roland, on 22 April 2014 - 09:39 AM, said:

For some reason, the BoardsHead attracts bad pilots like flies to honey. I'm not sure exactly why, but when I see a boars head, the odds are generally going to be that its piloted by someone who is extremely bad at this game.
(queue enraged boars head pilots)

The depressingly ironic thing with the Boar's Head specifically is that the very thing that makes it special (6 arm energy hardpoints) is entirely obviated by having Arm Lock enabled...

[Khobai]

Quote

I prefer to use my arms as active shields. By all means make it easier for me to bypass 64 pts of armor to reach your torso unimpeded. If the things catch even a bit of incoming fire it is better to be free to do so..

Never had problems not hitting an assault in the arms.

[A banana in the tailpipe]

Arm lock exists because low slung arms do better locked at range, and better unlocked at short range. Mechs like the Jager who don't need to bother should never unlock their arms unless something is directly above/below then which there is a toggle for.

This thread exists because 90% of the people left on this pile use assaults.

Edited by lockwoodx, 22 April 2014 - 09:44 AM.

[Curccu]

Bishop Steiner, on 21 April 2014 - 11:57 PM, said:

So SJR needs exploits and crutches? I don't believe that. Wow. How did you survive in the pre armlock days? (I get in comp 12, where everyone is using every exploit under the sun, you do it to, but seriously, it ain't nothing I'd brag about, lol)

crutch. and teaches bad habits, plain and simple.

Exploit? Crutches? Really?
It's damn option for a player to choose and in some cases it is just better and I don't see any reason to handicap myself against other players that doesn't do that to themselves either.

I think did pretty good without arm-lock but "now" that PGI gave us an option to use it, I don't see any reason NOT to use it when it benefits me.
IMO it's like saying that PGI originally gave us only SHS and I did well why should I upgrade to DHS?... really.

[Alexandrix]

I think you are all missing the real problem here......Why is a (seemingly noob) player that uses perma armlock and max zoom while in a brawl with a smaller faster mech.....in the same match as a veteran that's been playing the game forever?

Edited by Alexandrix, 22 April 2014 - 10:04 AM.

[WarHippy]

Bishop Steiner, on 22 April 2014 - 12:21 AM, said:

well, not to be a jerk (well, more than usual, lol)...but ya know... L2A?

(seriously..... I can't be the only person able to compete in this game without it, right..well me and Kharnzor......)

or is everyone so dialed into the poptart meta that the brawl, where free arm movement is ESSENTIAL is an afterthought? (which is in itself a sad commentary for this game)

I'm with you on that. Had it been me in my Boar's Head things would have gone much smoother for the group.

[Ngamok]

Alexandrix, on 22 April 2014 - 10:03 AM, said:

I think you are all missing the real problem here......Why is a (seemingly noob) player that uses perma armlock and max zoom while in a brawl with a smaller faster mech.....in the same match as a veteran that's been playing the game forever?

Obviously because Bishop is bad

[Tahribator]

It's just a feature added to supposedly help the beginners, but ended up crippling them unbelievably. It is now only used by experienced players to momentarily lock arms(shift key) when taking potshots(usually when poptarting and jumpjetting).

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Ngamok, on 22 April 2014 - 10:10 AM, said:

Obviously because Bishop is bad

Sometimes I have to wonder just how big a spread the MM draws from. Does it go entirely on average Elo for a team, or does it have a total range it can draw from, or does it pull in players who are within a certain range of other players (allowing for a cascade effect of Elo ranges; 3000 pulls in a 2800, which pulls in a 2600, which pulls in a 2400, etc., resulting in a 3000 Elo player and an 1800 Elo player on the same team).

[Bishop Steiner]

Curccu, on 22 April 2014 - 10:00 AM, said:

Exploit? Crutches? Really?
It's damn option for a player to choose and in some cases it is just better and I don't see any reason to handicap myself against other players that doesn't do that to themselves either.

I think did pretty good without arm-lock but "now" that PGI gave us an option to use it, I don't see any reason NOT to use it when it benefits me.
IMO it's like saying that PGI originally gave us only SHS and I did well why should I upgrade to DHS?... really.

c'mon man, don't get prickly, lol! It's MY rant, remember!?!?!?

But yeah, it is a crutch. Be honest about that. It was designed to ease immersion for new players, and was discovered as a fast track easy switch to lock arms back to improve pinpoint damage. In a game where the Devs (and mos tof the community) are constantly stating we die too fast, and they want to increase the average TtK, It accomplishes the exact opposite man. It is a poorly thought out option form PGI (are we shocked?) that someone discovered could make their FLD Meta even more efficient. And so, the Comp Crowd, of which you guys are the pinnacle, adopted it. That doesn't change the reality of what it is, or that it has little or no place in the game.

So I apologize for baiting you in a condescending manner, because I know you are a heck of a pilot, with or without it, but I ain't retracting the general statement about armlock being a crutch.