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[Capnflintlock]

Quickdraws are rarely used these days, mainly because of the misunderstood role of medium mechs. Today, I would like to clarify what this issue is, and how it pertains to the IV-FOUR.

Medium mechs are jacks of all trades, master of none. They can handle themselves well in most situations, but will always get beaten by dedicated mechs to each of their own respective trades. This is the main reason people dislike playing medium mechs. They're slower than lights, so why would I choose it over say a Jenner or firestarter? They're less powerful than assault mechs, so why would I choose to brawl in a one? Players only see the glaring strengths or weaknesses of a mech if it smacks them in the face, and as a result skim over their hidden beauties.

For example, look at the clan mechs. You see countless threads about how glaringly overpowered clan mechs are, because they have big, shiny, powerful weapons in abundance that they can carry into the battlefield. Because weapons are easily identifiable to a certain mechs strength, players flock to attribute it solely to a mechs overall effectiveness. When you get down into really identifying how Clan mechs work, you'll generally see their respectable, but slow speeds when compared to IS mechs, horrible twisting speeds, and weapons that require more time on target to deal their full damage. Each of these weaknesses isn't game breaking, but it inhibits the clans from becoming overpowered power houses, and you can use each of those points to counter them.

So why am I talking about clan mechs instead of the Quickdraw? Well the same reason clan mechs are seen as over powered is the same reason Mediums and the quickdraw are seen as inferior mechs. They carry less flashy speed and firepower than their cousins, so players question why they're even viable choices. Sure, a medium might not outperform either lighter or heavier mech classes in their respective tasks, but what they CAN do is handle every situation equally well. This is where the quickdraw shines as a support mech.

Quickdraw IV-FOUR

In this build, my quickdraw runs with a UAC5, LRM 10, 2 medium lasers, and a SRM 6. You may have noticed this build is stretched in terms of its effective combat range, but its done so that I can perform to the same degree of effectiveness at all ranges and situations. Is an enemy at long range? I can dink them with volleys of UAC5 shells and LRM 10s, dealing 20 damage per cycle. Is an enemy in medium range? Again, UAC5 with 2 medium lasers dealing 20 damage. Is the enemy at close range? SRM 6 with 2 medium lasers dealing 22 damage with the option to go ham at the expense of heat using the UAC5 to cause 32 damage instead. The build is also heavily armored, with a decent amount of speed, and full jump capabilities, allowing it to get around to any part of the battlefield its needed, or alternatively escape most other mechs.

Though this build, along with mediums in general lacks in any one combat range, they can access all parts of the battlefield quickly, and reliably, and can generally choose when to engage targets on more favorable terms. Due to the time this takes, this regulates them more into a support position than anything else, but that's absolutely fine because they can actually GET to that teamate that's out numbered and help turn the tide.

This is by no means the best build out there, nor may it even be above average to the norm, but it performs well for me. Any critiques are fully welcomed. Thanks for taking the time to read my wall of text if you've gotten this far.

TL:DR, Quickdraws and mediums in general are misunderstood, and can perform extraordinarily well if used to their full potential.

Link to build is here, incase you skimmed down and somehow missed it.
[Build]

[Herbstwind]

while what you say basically is correct, the Quickdraw (and the IV-Four in particular because of the ballistic slots) is hindered by its low slung arms and the bad movement type (see link below). In addition, the Quickdraws hitboxes are not really among the best (more like far from it).

While this is nothing that could not be remedied (i.e. just change the movement type to medium) by PGI, they just don't seem to care about it

http://mwomercs.com/...ement-behavior/