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Some points I have to bring to discussion. This is my opinion and I think it would add to the game. So every one who like leave a comment on the flowing topics.
- it's a simulation
- heat influencing the mech
- pinpoint damage and ghost heat
- balancing with perks
it's a simulation
Ok, I'll begin with the most problematic topic first. Should MWO be a FPS or a simulation? The simple answer, neither of them. It need some elements of the FPS to make it playable also it need some elements of the sim to represent the setting and make the game what it is a Mechwarrior/Battletech game. I'm tending more to the sim side and dislike the heavy action oriented parts. For example the actual skill system shows a flaw in the system. In the basic sate your heavy or assault feels like a really heavy mech but after you mastered it it's more like a medium. It is necessary because the game is relative quick (or the distances are to short) and slow mechs are a easy target. But I also know that it have to have the FPS elements, it needs the accurate aim and the easy handling otherwise it would take away much of the fun for the most players.
Heat influencing the mech
Something that is long wanted but also controversial, the heat system. At the moment we have a system in with you go up to the magic 30 (TT) heat points and shutdown all the sudden. This has obviously an advantage. A player haven't spent much attention to the heat. If it reach the top he should stop shooting. But it also miss some important features that make the TT interesting. First of all you can keep shooting without any consequents till shutdown. This allows a higher alpha damage then it would with more consequences. This is also why people want the heat threshold smaller. You can shout an alpha and bring your heat up to 99% then go back to cover. Or my Jenner with 6 ML can shout someone twice in the back and run away to cool of. But back to the TT advantages. You have to build a heat neutral mech or at least be aware of the heat you generate. Also, thats why it called overheat, it is a risk to overheat and the risk will gradually be higher. I know ammo explosion and sudden death are no option but reducing the speed/mobility would be a risk (especial for light mechs) which could be dangerous. Also electronic devices can be effected by heat. Maybe an ECM fail at 50% and TC at 70%. At the moment a player can hold there heat at 80% why not at 20%? It would also effect an encounter. From: shouting all and reduce the fire at high heat, to: keep you heat low and punch a hole only if you are realty in danger and need to overheat.
It is difficult to manage, I admit, but if you build a heat neutral mech you have nothing to worry about. The same with ghost heat you need not to build a mech which can suffer GH and you are fine. But if you do, you can decide to take the penalty and shoot two AC20 or shoot them only one at the time. Also as I already mentioned the skill system is in this case not really well done. I think it would be better if not always every skill is active but you can choose 3 or 5 you will activate.
Pinpoint damage and ghost heat
Ghost heat my favorite topic
There are some good ways out there. As always I recommend http://www.qqmercs.com/?p=3987 but I found also an interesting alternative http://www.reddit.co...ha_compression/To make it short, there are three ways to handle pinpoint damage.
1. punish the use of to many weapons
2. lower or spread the damage
3. forbid the use
And all three ways are already in the game but unfortunately less effective. First there is GH, second bigger SRM have a wider spread and also more then 2 Gauss are forbidden. Bring them all together and we get a system that could work. This is just a fist thought and need much more to make it work but hear the idea.
- Lower the damage on laser when they are fired in groups. Eg. 1 ML5 damage, 2ML 9 damage and 6 ML about 20-25 damage.
- More spread on missile, 3 SRM6 will cover a bigger area so they might be more effective if shoot separately on the other hand you will be able to hit a light with the could of missile.
- also spread on ballistic weapons. It is just impossible(very unlikely) to hit the same point with two guns fired at the same time. Fire them after each other makes them much more accurate. In game this means if you fire on AC, Gauss or PPC (yes there are also ballistics) you hit bullseye, but if you fire more you got a LBX AC like spread. AC2 might have less spread then a AC20 but the point is if you need to hit a side torso at max range you have to shoot one at the time. If you have your target right in front of you and just want to do as much damage as possible, you can fire all. Also obviously all ballistics will effect each other, so is you fire AC5 and PPC they will spread out.
- And also forbid some weapon usage. Especial charging Gauss would be in this category. Allowing only one charge up at the time would make dual Gauss more difficult to use because the overlapping release-time is very short and you need much more skill. Also Clan/LRM might be effected. Only one LRM reload at the time
Balancing with perks
And finally the IS perks. As much as I like the perks but I'm not a fan of balancing Clan and IS with this alone. It's a problem inherited from TT and really hard to deal with. Clan suppose to be OP but in a game like this it is just not possible to let one side to be OP. On the other hand a Clan mech with better technology and genetically enhanced pilots cannot just be as good as every other mech. Therefore I would like to see some game mechanics that make it more difficult for Clans and also match there ideology. For example no indirect fire for LRM. They wight only the half, making them an on sight only weapon will make them to an secondary weapon and they loose have of they functionality. Also less effective computers. CEMC has no cloak, a Clan computer will loose the signal/lock as soon as the mech got out of LOS. Also the time to gather target information can be increased and not shared among the team. Clans need no weak points they shoot a hole through your CT
OK it's late and I need to go to bed...
