Mystere, on 05 June 2014 - 07:24 PM, said:
Read more carefully, because if you do, you will realize that my counter is "coordination" and not "head shots". For crying out loud, I even highlighted it.
No. Coordination is something everyone can do. Poptartting is the simplistic peak meta behavior that poor design choices have enshrined as the optimal play style.
The only reason poptarting works is because most people don't do it. Not because they can't; I can teach a monkey to poptart with a Highlander 732, 30 incredibly boring minutes and 2 bunches of bananas. I don't, like most people don't, because I want more variety from the game than 2 weapons, 3 mechs and 1 trick. The problem is that we have 2 choices - either buy into the dichotomy of playing in a way we don't enjoy because it gives us the best odds of winning which can be fun in its own way or option 2, play in a way we enjoy even though it puts us at a disadvantage.
It has nothing to do with coordination or skill. Nothing at all to do with either - it takes less skill to poptart than it does to play a boomjag. Poptarting is harder than LRMing, but not a whole lot. That's why it's the peak meta - it provides the biggest benefit for the lowest complexity and effort. Coordination and skill exist outside of PGIs intentional creation, protection and support of the distinct and significant advantage poptarting has in the game.
This is the game they want. Absolutely no question. The current poptart meta is the one they have painstakingly built and balanced for over the last 2 years. AC10s got a range, projectile speed and projectile dropoff nerf, MGs have had a dozen changes, there have been slews of things they felt were important enough to get altered (not even fixed - I mean altered) while poptarting was carefully sheltered and protected. NOW, 2 years later, they're talking about maybe some sort of leg damage? That will be insufficient to really stop poptarting or else.... why have jump-jets? A bit of a slowing down for the Highlander and nerfing the Victors ability to *brawl* (not poptart, but do anything EXCEPT poptart)...
No, this is what PGI wants. Someone said it earlier - the point is to make poptarting the peak meta but so freaking dull and simplistic and boring that anyone who's just playing the game for fun won't bother most the time, thus letting people who don't mind boredom if it means winning at something feel like they're above average. If everyone poptarted then 99% of the poptarts in this game would suddenly realize they are, at best, average.
Good player swill be good with any meta, any build, any mech. Poptarting is a crutch or even a burden for a good player because it's so much better than any/every other setup that if you don't do it you're gimping yourself. The problem with poptarting is it rewards mediocrity. It creates a simple to learn and easy to deploy tactic that provides a significant advantage letting the mediocre excel against people who are otherwise better but have no interest in endlessly rinsing and repeating the same tired behaviors.
That's why poptarting is toxic. It exists to reward and encourage mediocrity by creating a single peak build/design that is significantly superior to all others as to provide anyone who cares more about winning than playing Battletech a way to get their winning fix while still being only mediocre at the game.
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