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[Kodyn]

I'm sure this has been brought up in the past, and I'm sure it's on the Dev's radar, as it's a pretty obvious issue, but was curious as to how soon it might be addressed, especially with CW coming up-

IS Hitboxes/Armor Values. When will they be getting a pass like the quirks?

We got the quirks, and I think that's absolutely great, and a step forward, but I think an even bigger issue, and one that will still exist with and despite the new quirks, is the state of IS hitboxes.

Several of the mechs that are currently in a sorry state, and do not see much play are in that predicament primarily because of their hitboxes. They can be given all the weapons quirks and slight structure/armor buffs in the world, but they'll still die if a fly lands on the wrong part of their mech.

For example, take Orions, or even Highlanders. Both are seemingly good mechs, with nice hardpoints, nice potential loadouts, good armor, good speed(on the Orion), etc. Yet in practice, both these mechs seem to have a black hole at their center which draws all fire into their CT hitbox no matter how much you twist, nor what kind of engine you run.

Now while it's nice to not be restricted to either STD or Xl engines, the reason for not being restricted being that you'll die equally quickly is not a comforting thought. Both are nice mechs, both have their die-hard fans, but neither will ever compete with clan mechs, or the current meta, not without some serious love.

These are just two examples of IS mechs that I've found to suffer greatly from having massive CT/RT/LT hitboxes, but I know that others need the love too. The issue right now being that clan mechs like Stormcrows can absorb 2-300 damage to a few locations and never go down, so why would anyone with a choice(and not on the IS side for CW) pick one of these frail IS mechs over a clan medium that can take 3-4x the punishment?

Yes, I know people take other mechs anyway, including the ones I've mentioned, but they are not in any way close to being viable or competitive, which is the issue.

It's not just a few mechs, either. The Atlas, for example, is supposed to be one of the IS' mainstay brawlers, should be able to at least hold their own for a little bit against clans....yet I regularly watch them torn to shreds in seconds under a withering hail of Clan and even sometimes IS firepower. Yes, the rare Atlas can stand triumphant and have some good damage matches where they zombie and live, but more often than not, they lose most of their weapons a few seconds into any fight, and are forced to rely on spastic torso twisting and a couple of backup weapons to finish up a match.

Now I'm not suggesting clan nerfs, I understand that they're supposed to have better tech, etc. What I do think however, is that perhaps all IS mechs need some kind of armor buff across the board. Not only are clan mechs able to dish out so much damage nowadays, most of it pinpoint alphas, but they're able to survive anything IS mechs throw at them, unless it's en masse. Now on top of this, IS mechs will be capable of dishing out greater dps as well. This just means that IS mechs will be able to kill other IS mechs even faster, as clan hitboxes will still be able to keep them safer than any IS mech could hope to be.

As the damage outputs in the game grow, i feel like the armor, at least for IS mechs, needs to be allowed to catch up, or we're going to be looking at some very short matches in the future, especially in Clan vs. IS CW matches. This is not TT, where clans should be overpowered, etc, because IS can group up and take them down. The clanners here don't fight with honor, or 1v1, or drop in 10-man stars, and you can't force PUG IS pilots to work as a team.

Therefore, some kind of balance has to be implemented. Right now everything is running around doing very high amounts of damage, and tomorrow, many IS mechs will be capable of even higher numbers. While it's going to be good fun, at the same time, I think most IS mechs that have hitbox issues are going to spend all their time in a smoking heap on the ground.

(For the record, it's not all IS mechs that are in need of hitbox help, some seem to be in a much better place than others. I for instance pilot CTFs alot, and have been able to solo down an Atlas more than a few times. We're talking a heavy with an XL engine, brawling the biggest, baddest Assault the IS has to death, and walking away to go kill other stuff...I kind of feel like that shouldn't happen. Not saying the CTF needs a nerf, but the Atlas could use a buff, if it's that easy to just pull apart for a mech with good hitboxes like the CTF, or any clan mech.)

Anyway, sorry, I know that was long, and I know it's very likely already something in the works, as it's such a glaringly obvious issue, but I appreciate your time, anyone who read it. I think you guys are doing a great job making a great product, and I hope it will only continue to get better and better,