Scratx, on 26 May 2014 - 07:37 AM, said:
The bigger problem is that it's a battlemech, not an omnimech. Worse, it's a _clan_ battlemech. One of the (supposed) big things about clan vs IS balancing is the Omnimech customizability being completely different. Seeing a clan mech customizable as much as an IS battlemech using clan technology is probably OP.
That is arguably the main problem with Clan "standard"/non-OmniTech 'Mechs (after the near-universal
lack of variants) - the Clan weapons & other tech was supposed to be balanced by the customizability limitations of the base OmniMech, in both TT and in MWO.
However, MWO left out the customizability limitations on standard BattleMechs (described in
Strategic Operations, pages 188-189), and removed the repair & rearm costs as a constraint on running all manner of expensive Level 2/"LosTech" gear.
For example, simply forbidding players from employing "factory-grade" modifications (which would have meant: no changing internal structure type (STD to ES or vice versa), no changing engine type (STD to XL or vice versa), no changing gyro type (not applicable to MWO... yet?), no changing cockpit type (not applicable to MWO... yet?), no changing myomer type (not applicable to MWO... yet?), and no installing/moving/removing CASE), as well as any "field-grade" or "maintenance-grade" modification that alters hardpoint types or locations would have reigned in the so-called "metagame" far more effectively than anything PGI has tried thus far.
It likely would have also helped to narrow the gap in "viability" between customized 'Mechs and stock 'Mechs.
Without such measures in place, the combination of current BattleMech customizability and Clan technology (which, if absolutely nothing else, would generally be lighter and/or more compact than the IS counterparts) would lead to a point where the "metagame" would revolve around Clan non-OmniTech 'Mechs & all others would be rendered (or, at least, widely considered to be by the so-called "community") unable to compete.
As such, for Clan non-OmniTech 'Mech to not render all other content obsolete/undesirable, PGI would have to completely overhaul the 'Mech customization system,
as well as overhaul the skill tree system to allow them (and other 'Mechs that may have fewer than three variants) to be usable in the first place.
P.S.: Bishop, I take it you recall how Oda and I went back-and-forth on the
Black Knight in Ultimate 'Mech Discussion, with myself defending the prospect of using the three non-Clanbuster variants (
here and
here)?