Appogee, on 23 April 2014 - 10:40 PM, said:
An average of 3 kills per match across 20 or more PUG games isn't ''some kills''. It means that, for every game where I dropped with a derp team who got wiped out 12-0, there was also a game where I scored 5 or 6 kills with that Mech. Nor is an average damage of 400 ''moderate'' in a Medium Mech. That average included games where I scored 150 (usually because I was left facing down most of the enemy team solo after just 5 minutes) and some games where I scored >700 when my team was rolling over the opposition.
Kilo 40, on 23 April 2014 - 11:44 PM, said:
yes. LRM LRM-centric loadouts are great when you have a team that lets you use them effectively....
just like all the other weapons...
The second quote is worth restating, since it's perfectly logical. Let's take a look at another weapon: Medium Lasers. I run a Jenner F with the traditional 6 MLas build, XL300, mastered efficiencies. When I have a team that is doing what they are supposed to, I can run anywhere from 700-1000 damage in that little thing, often without taking serious damage along the way. When I have Team Idiot on my side, stupiding their way into the other team and generally living up to their team name, that same 700-1000 damage loadout can score 0-250 damage on a bad round. The end of the first quote says it perfectly: you can do a much higher amount of damage
when your team is mopping up the opposition. In other words, when they are keeping your locks for you, and getting you the opportunity to dole out punishment.
This is exactly what LRMs are supposed to be doing.
If you were boating LRM5's, and hitting 700+ damage every single round without fail, regardless of how good/bad your team was doing, then THAT would be a greater example of a problem...but that's not happening. You mention you average out closer to 400 damage which is not a bad number...basically, your average is a perfect Improved Artillery Strike hitting all 10 shots. I would bet that a lot of decent players have similar average damage levels with their loadouts...I know my CDA-3M, JR7-F, and CDA-X5 all would be close to that average as well. I know some nasty Assault/Heavy players who will likely easily say the same about their mechs of choice. The point being that your overall results do not show a trend of being overpowered, it shows an occasional trend of going up against poor players, having a stellar team, or both.
When you perform this test and get 700+ damage with every single round, win or lose, then I will sit up and listen a lot closer to your argument...but until then, your own results show the expected conclusion: that your ability and potential with these weapons is directly related to the ability of your team to help you capitalize on them (and/or the enemy team to avoid them). Which is exactly how it should be.
Edit: And, I should note, in the mechs I noted where I have similar averages, I also hover around/near the 3:1 KDR ratio...which simply means you got the KB, not that you did most of the work. Getting 3 or more kills in a match where your team rolls the enemy is, again, not unusual, nor does it signal a severe imbalance of a specific weapon type. It signals an imbalance in the skill level of the combatants on each side.
Edit edit: Also, I'd be interested to see what your LRM damage is in terms of what is listed on the stats page...specifically, how many LRMs hit vs. how many you fired, and what the total listed damage on the page is. For instance, to stick with MLas from earlier in my example, across 163 matches since the reset I've fired 16,569 lasers for 15,210 hits (91% accuracy), for 49,001 damage. This equates to roughly 3.22 damage per average laser shot, out a potential 5 damage per laser. Calculating damage vs the total shots (including misses), that brings the average damage on those weapons to 2.97 per laser shot on use. Looking at numbers like those for your LRMs and calculating damage averages results in better information on the whole...but we're not here for logic, are we?
MEDIUM LASER Matches: 163 Shots fired: 16,569 Shots hit: 15,210 Accuracy: 91.80% Time used: 17:47:59 Damage: 49,001
Edited by durandal, 24 April 2014 - 07:35 AM.