Radical eliminator, on 06 July 2014 - 12:27 PM, said:
They can pop over a hill of flank and get out relatively unscathed with information in time for the team to react. You cannot do this with an assault, it is too slow and too big a target to be effective at this. Be pissed off all you want, but if ravens start sniping, their speed goes underused and the team is deprived of information and advantage. Expecting the fastest assaults to do this, just signs the death sentence of the team as the assaults likely die first.
Heh, the key word there is 'relatively'. 5 points of damage to an assault is nothing. It's serious damage to a light.
In the current meta, there is no light mech in the game that isn't risking being effectively one shot if it shows it's squishy little face for even a second. Assaults can at least survive a peek at the enemy. Lights can be removed from a fight in one volley.
That's why you're seeing light mechs mounting long ranged weaponry - not because they want to be poor man assaults, but because it's one of the only ways they can survive while still having an impact on the match, other than being a temporary
50 damage sacrificial protection consumable™ for a friendly assault.
I'm not sure about your experience, but these days with the Clans and their ability to carry LRM40 on just about anything, light mechs (without ECM) leaving the safety of their group to scout are playing 6 chamber Russian roulette with 4 rounds loaded. MadCats and DoomCrows can mount enough streaks to take out a light in a couple of volleys (which is HILARIOUSLY fun but ultimately self defeating for me as a light pilot), or an already damaged light in one go. They're also fast enough to tail you for at least as long as it takes to unleash those volleys.
Meta builds, IS or Clan, can one shot any light, if they can aim.
I've been playing lights since closed beta. These days, my only chance of having any meaningful impact on my team is to loiter with my guys and play the role of striker once things heat up. I'm fine with that, i've adapted. Sure, I can do my own little baiting runs or quick R mashing intel gathering missions, but the only mechs with a chance of pulling off scouting runs are mechs with ECM. IMHO, of course.