65 replies to this topic

[Y E O N N E]

That people are comparing DPS in here is hilarious when the game revolves around burst damage. When you consider that, the gap between Gauss and AC/20 is significantly smaller and what the AC/20 has in burst damage and weight savings is made up for in spades by the Gauss Rifle's longer range, lack of heat, and lower critslot requirements.


That said, the only change I think the Gauss needs is heat generation. Something like 3 or 4 heat on firing would be good, just enough to make users think twice before combo-firing with a pair of PPCs. Such a rapid discharge of electricity would certainly generate oodles of toast.

[Lightfoot]

No, it's horrible. MWO's Gauss Rifle has got nothing to do with Battle Tech. The Battle Tech Gauss Rifle has no de-sync. The de-sync is only usable by Mouse because it is the drag-and-drop function from the windows interface that was designed for the Mouse. MechWarrior is a game traditionally played with a Joystick and for the many players who use a joystick the Gauss Rifle is just not available.

Look this is a QoL issue and should be addressed, not just ignored month after month. If you really want a de-sync for the weakest DPS per Ton weapon in Battle Tech, make it one that is controller neutral. However, I will tell you that all previous MechWarrior games balanced the Gauss Rifle by just giving it a 25-30% longer recharge than the AC20/LB20X.

I am sorry for you all that Battle Tech added the Gauss Rifle to it's arsenal, but it's long past due that it was added to MWO. MWO does not have the Gauss Rifle. They made it into a Sniper Rifle which MechWarrior and Battle Tech do not have. This is why no one uses just one Gauss Rifle, because just one is too weak for a Sniper Rifle activation mechanism. Prior to the de-sync it was as common as in Battle Tech to see a Mech with just one Gauss Rifle. This is normal, canon. After the de-sync, only used as 2xGauss. This is abnormal, not canon, as only a few assaults are known to have carried 2xGauss Rifles.

Please just drop the de-sync or turn it into something that players can use with just a single Gauss Rifle. You folks are way too paranoid if you think a normal functioning Gauss Rifle is a game-breaker. If PGI had just had the awareness to make the Gauss Rifle with a 6 second recharge from the beginning it would never have needed the de-sync.

[NovaFury]

Back before gauss had chargeup times it was essentially an AC15, only with far better projectile speed and range to make up for the fact that the 'AC15' was marginally heavier than the AC20. It's true that overall blanket DPS was lower then, so the fact that the Gauss rifle has absolutely terribad DPS/ton wasn't too prevalent. Cat-K2s rolled around with their 30 point tack drivers, busting cockpits and center torsi left and right. Best of all it was heatless, so you didn't have to worry about double heatsinks.

30 point alphas aren't so impressive anymore, but with the advent of larger, beefier mechs with more and more ballistic hardpoints, decoupling gauss from it's charge time would place it back into it's king of PPFLD weapons. Pinpoint convergence and no fire delay allows any assault chassis that can pay the weight tax, (The dire wolf being the logical conclusion) to add 15 or 30 points of instant-hit, on demand pinpoint damage to whatever other guns they're already carrying that actually, you know, interact with the heat scale.

2 gauss, 2 ERPPC DWF is ridiculously powerful right now. I can only imagine if I was handed the old K2 with a pair of extra PPCs bolted onto it.

Edited by NovaFury, 07 December 2014 - 11:32 PM.

[Christof Romulus]

Lefty Lucy, on 03 December 2014 - 10:20 AM, said:

Gauss rifles are a ton of fun to use. The charge mechanic sets them apart from other ballistic weapons, they do great damage, and they require excellent tactical sense and situational awareness to use well.

IMO it's the perfect balance of powerful/difficult to use without being totally OP once a player gets the mechanic down.

Holy crap... is this post happening? IT IS, IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!

[QuantumButler]

I for one hate the mechanic that turns Gauss rifles mech scale longbows, but whatever.

[Theodore42]

Mirumoto Izanami, on 04 December 2014 - 08:10 AM, said:

I feel like people asking for a hard minimum range for gauss rifles because of TT rules, don't really understand TT play. The minimum range for guass (and PPCs and LRMs) in TT is a soft minimum, not a hard minimum. You can still shoot at mechs within this range, you just get a negative modifier to your to-hit. However, a skilled pilot (ie, high gunnery skill) can negate that penalty and use such weapons effectively at all ranges.

With that in mind, the charge mechanic actually works well to represent this. Skilled players (pilots) can brawl well with a guass rifle despite its charge up, while average and bad pilots have trouble with it (and in all cases, more so with faster targets in close, further mirroring TT play).

I agree, the charge is TT compatible. TT (and WH40K, and D&D, and anything that requires dice that aren't 6 sided) is based off wargames which aim to boil combat down to statistical formulas. In TT you don't need to know if the pilot had to recharge a gauss or have good timing. All you need to know is his statistical chance to hit a target at various ranges.

PGI could come up with similar statistics about how well pilots of different Elo ratings fare against targets at various ranges with the gauss rifle. It would probably look similar to the TT mechanic.

As for the charge up time not being compatible with players that use joysticks, I disagree. Mouse has a button; joystick has a button. Joysticks are harder to use than mice because of the aim. I'm not saying a mech simulator can't exist that awesomely utilizes a joystick, but mwo is definitely designed around a mouse.

As for the OP: I agree! Gauss is the most fun!

EDIT: IS quirks 2 is out tomorrow: HBK GI to get Gauss buffs.
I'll see you on the battlefield! Better aim for my side torsi!

Edited by Theodore42, 08 December 2014 - 10:10 PM.