12 replies to this topic

[A banana in the tailpipe]

Totally thinking outside the box here so I don't expect this thread to go places... but when I look at the AC/20 I consider it the "battering ram" of mechanized warfare. It's cumbersome, you get up very close, and all but require your target to be standing still. It is a weapon designed to be the giant killer for mechs.



Now what if the PPC functioned the same way?

The standard version would have a range of 200/450, keeps the pinpoint, crank up the splash damage so point blank shots were viable but near suicidal, slightly lower heat/weight, and a slower projectile?

The ER version would have a range of 400/650, keeps the pinpoint, no minimum range, no splash damage, same projectile speed as current, slightly lower heat/weight, and the guass rifle firing mechanic.

[Wabbit Swaya]

You're treading dangerous waters, the ppc/ac5 meta humpers are gonna swarm you like a pack of piranhas on a side of beef.

[Flaming oblivion]

Let them swarm the game cant survive with the same ol' meta , it has to go .

[Mcgral18]

It's already a fantastic brawling weapon? Stick past 100M and you're golden.

[darkkterror]

So your answer to Sniperwarrior Online is to...take one of the premier long range weapons and turn it into a short-range weapon? What do we do after that when people still complain about snipers/poptarts? Nerf the Gauss Rifle into a short range weapon? That would then be followed by a nerf to the AC2/5 and we'll be left with Brawlwarrior Online.

Honestly, I don't think the answer to the current meta is completely redesigning an entire weapon away from its' original design.

[FupDup]

The PPC probably shouldn't be classified as a brawling weapon. For 7 tons, that's what we have the Large Pulse Laser for...or at least, that's what the LPL should be doing. :\

[A banana in the tailpipe]

darkkterror, on 18 May 2014 - 09:02 AM, said:

So your answer to Sniperwarrior Online is to...take one of the premier long range weapons and turn it into a short-range weapon?

Here's where I'm coming from. This game is all about the mechs. There's a ton of beautiful artwork and resources put into them, along with the dynamic physics involved for damage and effects etc. The weapons, are small peanuts to me and could more easily be adjusted than something major such as hit boxes. I'm a fan of brawling so there's some bias here, but I'm also just throwing darts at the wall with fun ideas. When the majority of the high end game is being spent at 800-1600yrds, players are missing out on a big chunk of the "experience" MWO provides with mech combat. To me that's a personal disservice to the devs who put in a lot of hard work to keep this game going.

Also, the weapons lack a lot of variety and having multiple "sniper" weapons just seems redundant to me so I'm always looking for ways to add some spice while bringing players closer together on the battlefield. This is just a whacky brainstorming thread. No complaints about meta. Just fresh ideas from my perspective. If your input is my ideas suck, I totally respect that.

FupDup, on 18 May 2014 - 09:08 AM, said:

The PPC probably shouldn't be classified as a brawling weapon. For 7 tons, that's what we have the Large Pulse Laser for...or at least, that's what the LPL should be doing. :\

I consider the LPL a superb brawing weapon for those who need to apply their damage with shorter rearm times. Remeber weapons follow a tempo much like the notes on a music sheet. Some flow in harmony while others are designed for solo performances. Need to run some errands now so enjoy the thread.

Edited by lockwoodx, 18 May 2014 - 09:12 AM.

[SgtMagor]

as far as changing the ppc, I would like to have a toggle switch for emergency purposes to disengage the field inhibitor, which will cause damage to your own mech, probably 5 pts half the value of the 10 damage for the ppc. with the added risk if your mech is to damaged to blow up your weapon an cause spread damage to side torso, and give a component bonus for the enemy mech your shooting at. just sayin!

Particle Projector Cannons are equipped with a Field Inhibitor to prevent feedback which could damage the firing unit's electronic systems.^[1][2] This inhibitor degrades the performance of the weapon at close ranges of less than 90 meters. Particularly daring warriors have been known to disengage the inhibitor and risk damage to their own machine when a target is at close range. ^[

[darkkterror]

lockwoodx, on 18 May 2014 - 09:09 AM, said:

Also, the weapons lack a lot of variety and having multiple "sniper" weapons just seems redundant to me

But don't we already have multiple brawling weapons as well? There's the AC20, SRMs (assuming hit registration worked properly), pulse lasers (assuming they didn't suck), the LB-X (assuming it didn't suck), Streaks, regular lasers...

Granted, a lot of those weapons have some issues as I pointed out, but it seems to me the solution would be to fix the brawling weapons we already have rather than repurpose a long range weapon into another brawling weapon.

Not to mention the fact that repurposing the PPC would mean that the only true long range energy weapon available would be the ER Large Laser. You're taking something (long range energy weapons) that only has 2 options currently and reducing it to 1.

Edited by darkkterror, 18 May 2014 - 09:27 AM.

[Dago Red]

So you want to turn the regular PPC into the snub nosed version?

[Flaming oblivion]

Make short range weapons always do more damage then long range weapons , since as mwo today proves long range weapons are far to effective and far less situational . Nerf them at the minute there's almost no reason to equip a laser vs a ppc, no reason to equip a ac20/MG , vs ac 10 / 5 , With the way srms are broken even streaks are ok if you boat for killing mediums/lights not really effective against anything much bigger , lrms come out on top , Everything is scaled towards rng play .

Edited by Flaming oblivion, 18 May 2014 - 10:39 AM.

[A banana in the tailpipe]

darkkterror, on 18 May 2014 - 09:25 AM, said:

But don't we already have multiple brawling weapons as well?

Take wild west weapons for example. There were tons of variations of long guns and pistols, but the pistols took on several different shapes and sizes, crazy multiple barrels, etc with far more variety than the rifles that all pretty much performed the same function. That's kinda how I view MWO as a wild west shoot out ducking behind barrels and shooting out windows rather than a protracted campaign of colonial regimental soldiers taking turns knocking each other over with musket balls. BORRRRINGGGGGGGG

Now take a look at any intro ever made for a AAA Mechwarrior game and they are all at close range focused on showcasing the mechs, not the weapons. More variety would be a good thing then so both the mechs and weapons are appealing to a more general audience rather than just the tryhard crowed focused on winning at any cost.

Flaming oblivion, on 18 May 2014 - 10:37 AM, said:

Everything is scaled towards rng play .

Everything is scaled towards not lagging people to death. I do understand where they are coming from.

Edited by lockwoodx, 18 May 2014 - 11:07 AM.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

The PPC is not a "brawling" weapon, and by rights it shouldn't be able to compete with brawling weapons in their area of specialization, just like brawling weapons should not be able to compete with PPCs in their area of specialization.

The PPC is a direct-fire mid- to long-range main battle cannon, essentially. This means it is the primary damage source for a mech for medium range firefights. Light ACs will always be better at "sniping" (though the Gauss is king there), though the ERPPC can certainly compete in that role, and lasers are easier to fit into builds and can do some things that PPCs cannot, but PPCs are the best mid-range main gun (AC10s fill a similar function).

Pulse Lasers and SRMs (and the AC20) ought to beat PPC builds inside c300m, and light AC builds should beat PPC builds beyond c600m or so. That gives PPCs a sweet spot of dominance in the mid ranges, while still remaining effective enough close in or far away that it doesn't cripple PPC carriers.

The current state of balance doesn't make the above all that tenable, however. Outside 90m, PPCs remain one of the strongest weapon choices, though on paper they lose to the LPL both in damage per shot and in dps, and beyond c600m they remain incredibly effective (moreso than the competing laser choices, generally, due to their FLD mechanics).

If PGI implemented damage arcing for PPCs specifically and dynamic precision reduction generally then PPCs could be tweaked to become more useable while reducing their dominance in brawling and sniping situations.

A general cooldown pass (reducing overall rates of fire for all weapons except specialist brawling weapons like standard SRMs and Pulse Lasers) would also help to split weapons into roles that they ought to be filling.