51 replies to this topic

[Tahribator]

I don't think the Awesome as a chassis, will become viable with any measures short of a geometry change/scaling. They're obviously not going to do that. No matter what you put on it, even disable ghost heat for them, it's still going to be a glass cannon that can be soloed by a Commando.

The PB is even more messy, I put about 80 hours into my Awesomes but I never ever thought about buying one. In that case, I agree with the OP(and Homeless Bill also put out a few articles on this) that it needs some love. Ever since the hitbox changes, Awesome sides take a lot of damage so putting an XL in them doesn't make much sense anymore. That means the PB is even less viable since that change.

[Sephlock]

Never.

[Cion]

Excellent post op. I've always toyed with the idea of buying the PB with my precious MC, but never have because it's just bad to the point it's sad. That's coming from a pilot that has a severe thing of making "less than optimal" mechs and builds work.

If PGI gave any love to the PB I'd buy it instantly, I have a love for Awesomes and love to play my other variants.

Chances that PGI listens to this thread and dedicates 1 staff member to do anything for the Pretty Baby, probably less than 5%. Why would they spend any time and resources on an obsolete mech that will not bring any more $$ when they can work on gold mechs, a new map, or new hero? R. I. P. PB

[Mystere]

Give the PB pro-PPC quirks like -3/5 heat and immunity from ghost heat and it should do much much better. Do something similar for the rest of the variants and the Awesome will become awesome.

[N a p e s]

Mystere, on 14 July 2014 - 11:24 AM, said:

Give the PB pro-PPC quirks like -3/5 heat and immunity from ghost heat and it should do much much better. Do something similar for the rest of the variants and the Awesome will become awesome.

The PB can't even break the ghost heat threshold for PPCs... Actually, it can't break any ghost heat thresholds except for LRMs if I'm not mistaken.

[Cion]

Every now and then I run a 3 PPC AWS-9M. I group fire them and have a ton of fun. I don't care bout ghost heat, it works ok. It's just a fun build.

[Green Mamba]

Maybe they will have a hitbox adjustment down the road for MC or something

[General Taskeen]

I crafted these specifically for stock matches, using more restricted rules, since I play Smurfy more than playing the game:
AWS-8VPB "Pretty Baby" (Tech 1)
AWS-8VPB "Pretty Baby II" (Tech 2)

Best suited for Stock Mode, with no stock mode. Sweet.

[N a p e s]

Cion, on 14 July 2014 - 11:57 AM, said:

Every now and then I run a 3 PPC AWS-9M. I group fire them and have a ton of fun. I don't care bout ghost heat, it works ok. It's just a fun build.

Absolutely! The typical 3 PPC build for the 9M is still a lot of fun. Alpha when you can spare the heat or need a kill shot and otherwise alternate 2-1-2-1-2 and lay down some consistent pain.

[Mavairo]

Sadly, PGI will likely never look at the AWS again ever.
They are well aware of how god awful the mech is, all one has to do is look at the play dynamics in data mining and they'd see VERY VERY few awesomes that are owned are actually fielded. And that most players just go right on and skip buying the AWS after doing even just casual research themselves.

The Pretty Baby's missile hardpoints are terrible, the energy ones are even more damning, especially that head laser.

PGI would rather release new mechs than stick true to an old statement that they made "we want to make money on ALL of our mechs. It doesn't benefit us to leave a mech that is vastly subpar to the others in it's class" (paraphrasing)

[KamikazeRat]

Long time ago, i saved up my C-bills and bought an 8Q....worst decision ever. Don't get me wrong, i love the 8Q, still have it, but its not good enough to justify buying two more to master it. So she gathers dust, every now and then i get nostalgic and break it out.

And every time the Pretty Baby goes on sale, i think, AH HA, now is the time to dust off the awesomes, ill buy a PB, work it up until i can finish off the stable with another awesome. Then, i look at the hardpoints of the PB and change my mind... its happened like 3-4 times.

Wish list
-Graphics update (like the hunchie and 'pult got, don't forget the dragon, cataphract, and others while you're at it, sorely needed for the asthetics of the stompy robots in the mechlab, which many people enjoy almost as much as walking around in the big stompy robots)
-Turn the barn door into something closer to a garage door, even if its still a double car. AWS are always going to be big. but, it doesnt need to be comicly so.
-Pretty Baby's hardpoints and decel, add 1 or 2 useful hardpoints and tweak down the decel quirk. -33.33% compared to the base AWS is pretty substantial, considering the turn rate bonus it gets is only 10% (checked smurfy) if you even bring it to a 10-15% penalty the change would be noticable, but not make it drasticly slower

PGI give me any of that, and i'd probably pay full price for the Baby. Work on this after a couple more maps

Edited by KamikazeRat, 14 July 2014 - 05:17 PM.

[MauttyKoray]

The Basilisk, on 14 July 2014 - 02:10 AM, said:

Since they already broke the Pay To Win Barrier with their Clanmechs pre order action I don't see a reason why PGI shouldn't do an Overhaul of their heromechs to make them a bit more attractive.

How did they break the Pay To Win barrier? The clan mechs were never pay to win to begin with. The pre-order was nothing more than early access and as you can see they weren't fully implemented (LRM minimum range to give one example) when released. MC purchases come out next (which are more expensive than the pre-order) and then the C-Bills after. Now, while Hero mechs should not be PTW either, I do support them having quirks that do give them unique play style and vary them from the standard chassis, including giving them a slight bonus compared to the standard chassis.

Purchases in this game support the devs and allow it to exist which, while it may not be perfect, give us a MECHWARRIOR game that is one of the closest iterations to table top we have ever seen. Granted, I haven't been able to participate in this game for very long (only having just built a computer to handle it at the beginning of the year) but at least recently PGI's added content and changes to the game have constantly been improvements for the past 7 months from my point of view. Not everything from table top can translate to realtime and the fact has to be taken into account that we're people behind a computer screen, not pilots sitting in cockpits that can overheat and cook themselves while trying not to die.

On that note, I would support giving agility bonuses to the PB as its description even says it should. Increased acceleration/deceleration and even a smaller bonus to the turning rate would make the PB stand out from other Awesomes with its odd hard point configuration. Oh, and I don't even own the PB, just saying I'd like to see these positive quirks to have it show up more often on the battlefield and break the PPC/LRM boat norm.