97 replies to this topic

[Phashe]

QuickDraw is a noseeum. More dragons than quickies.

[InspectorG]

oldradagast, on 21 September 2014 - 06:46 AM, said:

Locusts: No point at all to these mechs.

Oh there is a point. !!!Cheap thrills!!! as well as tightening your margin for error to paper thin.
Powerful? HAHAHA. But it is very satisfying, even at mid/lowish elo that you got kills(particularly solo) and over 150 damage.

[InspectorG]

Soulscour, on 21 September 2014 - 10:56 PM, said:

People keep mentioning locusts. Lots of people play locusts. I think its because of the challenge and it is considered the worst mech in the game. I don't understand why some bad or average players even try to play them though.

Locust piloting has sharpened my skills quite a bit. You really learn not to peek your nose where you shouldnt.

[r4plez]

Also i would like to see more Archers in game

[Vassago Rain]

Trenchbuckets, fangs, pretty babies, TDKs, the raven hero, non-3L ravens, locusts, spiders, quickdraws...

The list is pretty long.

[Bloodweaver]

Light
Commando
Why? Not as nimble as a Locust, not as powerful as a Jenner/Firestarter, not as much utility as a Raven. Also, low-slung weapon hardpoints.

Adder
Why? Not sure. You can pack some serious firepower on this thing. I imagine the fixed flamer makes quite a few people sneer, though. Also, not as good-looking as the Kit Fox.

Medium
Trebuchet
Why? LRM boats requier more tonnage than the Trebuchet can offer. It does well with mixed SRM/LRM loadouts, but those are not min-max and thus not competitive. Also, huge target, easy to bring down. Lots of arm-mounted weapons on arms that are quickly removed in combat.

Cicada. The X-5 and -3M are not quite as rare as the Trebbie; the other variants are practically nonexistent.
Why? It's an oversized Jenner, with fewer weapons and no jump jets. That being said, the -2A is one of my favorite, and best-performing, 'mechs in the game.

Come to think of it, I rarely ever see non-trial Kintaros, either. Not sure why.

Heavy
Quickdraw. Common at the moment, but only because one of the trial 'mechs is a Quickie.
Why? Giant target, not as specialized as a Dragon, few and difficult-to-use hardpoints.

Assault
Highlander. Especially the -733P.
Why? Unimpressive hardpoints. Poor maneuverability. Nerfed jump jets.

Battlemaster seems to have become uncommon as well, not sure why.

[Xtrekker]

Primeval, on 22 September 2014 - 05:47 AM, said:

Shadow cats, Nova cats, Urban mechs, Hollander... etc.

Just naming a few mechs i barely see in the game

Haha, could you imagine a Novacat in this game? You would spend the entire game shut down.

#missingmybushy

[theta123]

Yesterday i saw an Adder. And i completly forgot this game had adders.

Dayum, we need to stop the spider/raven ECM plague

[FREDtheDEAD]

MeiSooHaityu, on 22 September 2014 - 06:16 AM, said:

I see the Urbanmech all the time in the game, it is standing on the dashboard of my Ilya. He looks so fancy with his top hat, cigar, and spats.

That's the urbane mech.

[Sam Slade]

Russ Bullock, on 21 September 2014 - 06:39 PM, said:

Four words "Inner Sphere Mech Quirks"

At least this is my hope.

Make those hover jets throw us across the map... This is one of the very few occasions where a 300% nerf-reverse would be ideal. Make the jump a gut wrenching, 3/4 of your fuel, break for high orbit. Make Jumping a bit of a rush...

You want to poptart fine, but it's going to cost you your feathering fuel to fire your stabilisers and
you'll be floating there asking for a gauss slug ... and expect a back cracking landing(hello
modules... 'shock absorbers' and 'stabilisers').

AND... make their efficacy a function linked to quirks and JJ numbers(anything less then max stays crappy hover jets and doesn't get heat vents).

P.S.: Russ is this increased activity is the real deal and not a positive publicity consultant nagging you then kudos. Going to mail you through LinkedIn, something I'm involved in is taking an interest in MWO. Beat that for poor B2B communicants...

Edited by Sam Slade, 23 September 2014 - 06:31 AM.

[Scyther]

(Re: Russ's reply about IS Mech quirks)

I think this needs to be part of the solution also. Some mech chassis might not be workable but they may be 'quirkable'.

Even in TT days I recall looking at some of the mechs in a readout and thinking 'Who would ever play this?'. (Voluntarily I mean, we had some games where a 'company' had a specific mech pool and that was what you had to choose from)

I am sure re-designing current mechs is not high on the priorities list, but scale and hitbox changes to some of these 'Unplayed' might help as well.

Edited by MadBadger, 23 September 2014 - 06:58 AM.

[RockmachinE]

I play the Dragon, it's a completely viable mech, but one needs to adjust tactics to make it work. The key is max speed and armor, weapons are not even that critical.

The dragon is so nimble it's basically a really fast medium mech with heavy mech armor values. The torso twists ludicrously fast, fast enough to fight lights, the turning speed and speed in general is brilliant, the dragon is a light killer. It's a heavy mech that does 106Kph. You can turn around assaults like its no tomorrow, even some heavies you can actually outmanoeuvre and stay behind.

The hood CT hitbox is not as bad as people make it seem, the torso twists so fast you can actually turn it away quickly enough to dodge AC shots at most but the closest distances. In fact I rarely die to CT.

This is the key: Use the Dragons' speed as soon as you lose tactical advantage. Reestablish a dominant position by repositioning on the battlefield. You have plenty of armor to do so without much fear.

At the end of the day I believe its the most nimble and fast mech that can deliver this firepower with this amount of armor at this speed.

~500 damage and 2-3 kills per round are good averages for this mech. It doesn't dish out that much damage, but because one gets to pick his fights and is so fast, kills are very common.

The builds I use are all based on the Dragon C, do 106 kp/h and have Max armor (a few points short), but they can vary a little bit.

1x LB10X
4x MLAS
Emphasis on longevity, cools down quickly
--
1x LB10X
4X MPLAS
Emphasis on burst damage, runs slightly hot
--
1x LB10X
4x MLAS
1x LRM 5
Emphasis on versatility, this guy does everything, but is slightly low on ammo

Edited by Louis Brofist, 23 September 2014 - 08:31 AM.

[RockmachinE]

The second mech I run is a Commando. They are a rare sight indeed. This one I won't brag about, because I would need videos as proof and my rig is not up to the task. Max speed and 1 long range weapon was my requirement. I came up with a max speed, max armor commando that runs a ERLL and 2xML (not an uncommon build).

This is a killer mech. Like I said, I don't want to brag about this without video proof, but in this you can easily net 3-4 kills per round, even more. This mech can singlehandedly win battles if played right. It has the magical ability to take enemy mechs "out of combat" and make them focus on himself (if they chose to ignore you, they'll die or lose components). If you play this right, you can make 2-3 mechs focus on you instead of the main front which is often enough to give your guys an edge in an area or engagement.

I wish I could post videos of this. 700+ dmg rounds are relatively common.

BUT

It takes a very very aggressive yet controlled playstyle that relies heavily on twitch skill and situational awareness to pull off and won't always work due to being one shotted etc. The hit rate is pretty good though, about half the rounds are literally like this.

The reason I post these here is because I play 2 mechs which would be considered obsolete (the dragon moreso then the commando, but the later is a rare sight to). But both are mechanically sound and work very well with the current meta. The reason they are not favored is that it requires a play style completely opposite of the current meta, a play style actually more akin to a FPS then a tactical shooter - mech "simulator" such as MWO. A style not favored by MWO players in general.

Again I need to lament my lack of a good rig, I've been playing MWO differently from the start and I know it sounds like ****** online bragging, but my style works and is completely different to what I've seen anyone do in MWO. I want to show this to people really badly, but I have no ability to do so and I know people won't just take my word for it so the best I can do is stats, but those would not be very accurate as they entail all the trial and error, the noobish days and all the failed builds that I've tried.

Edited by Louis Brofist, 23 September 2014 - 08:38 AM.

[Almond Brown]

Good question OP.

Hmmmm. I would say, you know that guy/gal that runs off by him/herself and then chat tells you he/she got killed really quickly?

Whatever they are driving.

You just never get to see whatever they were driving much. LOL.!

[FREDtheDEAD]

Almond Brown, on 23 September 2014 - 08:24 AM, said:

Good question OP.

Hmmmm. I would say, you know that guy/gal that runs off by him/herself and then chat tells you he/she got killed really quickly?

Whatever they are driving.

You just never get to see whatever they were driving much. LOL.!

I get to see them for a moment as they run over to my lance to say hello. Friendly fellows.

[Dawnstealer]

Quickdraw and Dragons.

Don't agree about Commandos - TDK is my go-to for a fun match where I want to pile on the damage, and the 2D is an awesome support mech.

[Duncan Jr Fischer]

Read through the lists here... I guess I'm lucky, as I see many mechs that nearly everyone mentions quite regularly. Not too often, but quite regularly. I see Trebs, Commandos, Battlemasters, Awesomes..
Locusts are very frequent for me. Orion and Thunderbolt I ride every day and see them pretty often, I even see 2-3 of them on the field at a time regularly. They are the most potent heavies in IS, beside CTF.

Really rare mechs for me are
Dragon - I guess I saw total about 4 of them in the last couple of months.
Wolverine - about the same, and I only tried mine once. Never liked it, and he seems to have few fans.
Quickdraw is truly rare, but not extinct, and I ride mine pretty often, it's great. But hero QKD I saw about once or twice.
Adder - I guess I only saw those about a couple of times, but in the current state of balance there seems to be no place for them and a couple other mechs..

[DEN_Ninja]

DavidHurricane, on 21 September 2014 - 05:49 AM, said:

Founders Catapults are rare.

I still rock out in my CPLT-C1(F). Tad bit overshadowed by them angry kittens or irate puppies though.