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Atheus, on 24 June 2014 - 08:44 PM, said:
I'd like to point out that it does not matter whether this hypothetical player is highly skilled, or modestly skilled. The question is whether Clan tech will improve their ability to kill enemies and/or win matches. If they can build a mech that is better suited to killing/winning using their play style with Clan tech than they can build using IS tech, they serve as living proof that Clan tech can indeed provide an advantage to certain players that currently can not be acquired with C-Bills.
Is this Clan advantage universal to all players? Maybe not. It doesn't particularly matter, though. Some players may find Clan tech does not suit their play style. That does not mean that other players can not boost their combat potential using clan tech. Thus, whether or not you feel you can personally benefit from Clan tech, you should absolutely recognize that it is a pay to win element that will continue to be just that until all of it is available for C-Bills.
Is this Clan advantage universal to all players? Maybe not. It doesn't particularly matter, though. Some players may find Clan tech does not suit their play style. That does not mean that other players can not boost their combat potential using clan tech. Thus, whether or not you feel you can personally benefit from Clan tech, you should absolutely recognize that it is a pay to win element that will continue to be just that until all of it is available for C-Bills.
To be quite honest, I was expecting a more drama infused post based on your previous posts, but since you've put forth a calm and collected post, and not necessarily raging, I'll take a bite.
As being a big fan of lasers, my main build of choice up until the Clans has been my founders Catapult with only 3 ER Large, a crap ton of heat sinks, and jump jets. I've always had a knack for smooth consistent aim across multiple PC games and consoles. Most often taking sniping rolls in various FPS games using weapons that are not one hit kills, but rather less powerful guns that require precise aim to do well, such as the Scout rifle in Counter-Strike, or the M40 in SOCOM for those familiar.
Long story short, I have fairly good aim, and I like to use weapons that challenge me while capitalizing on my strengths at the same time.
It would be a lie to say I'm unbiased with the Clan mechs, but my bias primarily comes from the fact that the way Clan weapons work is exactly the kind of play style I've wanted. A chance to finally be rewarded for good aim, instead of my Catapult laser build where even with 100% perfect aim I'm not doing jack s*** to an assault or the current meta. They just simply didn't do enough damage nor have enough psychological impact on the enemy player to stop or halt their advance.
So now comes the question of whether or not Clan mechs are pay2win...
In as unbiased of an opinion as I can muster, based on my own experiences in Clan mechs and watching my fair share of other players, I have to say no, and by that I mean, for the average MWO player there is very little to no advantage they will get with Clan mechs.
To break this down further, let's look at lasers.
Now, it's true that Clan lasers don't really have that much of an extra duration than their IS counterparts, so it seems that the advantage would go to the Clans, but that doesn't take into account the fact that lasers weren't (and still aren't) a primary weapon of choice, with the exception of light mechs. Most players I've watched seem to struggle just to keep IS lasers focused for the entire duration, so having an even longer duration means that most of those players will likely do even less damage with Clan lasers than IS lasers.
When it comes to the meta builds, the Clans are at a disadvantage, because the meta builds revolve around PPC/Gauss combinations, whereas the IS ones revolve around PPC/AC5.
The only way to really perform well with the PPC/Gauss combo is to utilize macros to time the release of the gauss with the firing of the PPCs, but that's an issue with how macros impact gameplay, and not necessary about the weapons themselves.
If it came down to choosing a meta Victor, or meta Timberwolf, my primary choice would be the Victor. I don't run macros, so trying to manually time PPC and Gauss together is a convoluted process at best, often resulting in many missed shots. I've played the meta Timberwolf, I've put all weapons on one side, and I just don't like it. Don't like the feel, don't like the heat, and don't like the fact I'm being, "that guy."
I've seen some of the better players excel with the Timbertart, and I've seen some of the better players fumble with it. The real game changer comes from using macros that simplify the process, but once again, that's a problem related to the impact of macros on balance, not the weapons themselves.
I do think that some of the Clan weapons do need balance adjustments, but it's very, very close. Any issues with balance regarding Clan poptarts is not an issue with the Clan mechs themselves, but rather the same PP FLD issues we've had for as far back as most of us care to remember. Clan mechs just highlight the issue more because the main poptarting builds for Clans are on some of the most agile mechs, and the only way to truly balance the whole poptart meta to begin with has nothing to do with nerfing chassis or weapons themselves.
So in the end, Clans are more like pay2play for those who don't want to run the meta. I hate the meta, but I hate losing streaks more. Now I can finally utilize the weapons I've always enjoyed and actually get rewarded for having good aim. The folks that have always wanted more of a brawling type game will also enjoy being rewarded for their efforts in Clan mechs, as IS mechs have been nerfed to such an extreme that the only viable type of game play for IS pilots is to play the meta. That's the way it was before the Clans rolled out, and that's the way it still is.
Clans are pay2play for those that want to do well without having to resort to the only effective IS play style of PP FLD jump snipers, but in order to do well in Clan mechs, a player must already have solid skills in brawling and accuracy, and without a distinct advantage being afforded to your normal everyday MWO player with average aim, the Clans are therefore not pay2win.
With that said, I'll leave you with a couple questions:
Do you think that maybe there were IS players who were good players but didn't have much of an impact on games because they didn't run meta builds? What if the Clan mechs just simply made different play styles viable, and what you're actually seeing in-game are actually really good players to begin with, who (until now) would have never been noticed before?
