118 replies to this topic

[DaZur]

But not exactly like one would think...

Things we'll see less of:

• Assaults - Drop-decks will force players to make meta impacting decisions over what they bring to battle... Do I front load with my biggest Assault and resign to running marginal mediums and lights or do I make concessions for a more balanced deck?
  
• Ammo biased mech design - CW is a protracted engagement. It will require some consideration of ammo dependent builds... That Dakka mech and that Lurm-boat will become battlefield liabilities if players don't balance their builds by including some energy weapons.
  
• Speed and mobility will now be a plus beyond simple avoidance or rushing to sit in a square - Yup, those pesky lights will have a job to do that may not depend on killing anything! If there is any sort of time limit to these engagements... Teams will be reliant upon pilots who bring something to the battlefield that can motor...

What we'll see less of:

• Assault heavy teams.
  
• Mech configurations devoid of balance.

In short... the meta will swing inside the CW play arena. It will not happen over night because habits and the appreciation for balance will be lessons hard learned but... "Yes" CW will usher in balance long over due...

Now... If we could just get organized teams to play nice with the soloists.

[Adiuvo]

Perhaps for the IS, but the most common clan drop deck by far will be 3 Stormcrows and a Timberwolf. There's very little reason to take anything else.

[Brody319]

They are just going to bring the mechs that can be used to abuse the system. Shadowhawks, firestarters, Jaegers, and Cataphracts for IS. Hellbringers, Kit foxes, timberwolves, and stormcrows for Clans

[DaZur]

Adiuvo, on 08 December 2014 - 01:09 PM, said:

Perhaps for the IS, but the most common clan drop deck by far will be 3 Stormcrows and a Timberwolf. There's very little reason to take anything else.

Agree to a point... In response I ask, what are the most popular builds for them? Are they ammo dependent? If the present meta leaves them a liability in CW, can a balanced configuration keep them viable... If not is there a better drop composite?

[Brody319]

DaZur, on 08 December 2014 - 01:12 PM, said:

Agree to a point... In response I ask, what are the most popular builds for them? Are they ammo dependent? If the present meta leaves them a liability in CW, can a balanced configuration keep them viable... If not is there a better drop composite?

ammo dependance isn't a problem if you are bringing 4 of them,

[CDLord HHGD]

Adiuvo, on 08 December 2014 - 01:09 PM, said:

Perhaps for the IS, but the most common clan drop deck by far will be 3 Stormcrows and a Timberwolf. There's very little reason to take anything else.

Most of which pack SRMs pretty heavily. A nasty punch. Be interesting to see their longevity in this.

[Kain Demos]

Adiuvo, on 08 December 2014 - 01:09 PM, said:

Perhaps for the IS, but the most common clan drop deck by far will be 3 Stormcrows and a Timberwolf. There's very little reason to take anything else.

We'll see. The community is much larger than the "2%" that min-max everything and read the forums daily.

[Mcgral18]

cdlord, on 08 December 2014 - 01:13 PM, said:

Most of which pack SRMs pretty heavily. A nasty punch. Be interesting to see their longevity in this.

They make fine laserspam as well.

Lokis and DoomCrows are likely to make an appearance. I prefer the 4 high mounted lasers to the TimberGods 2.

Then again, I haven't really tried SRM Timbies. Perhaps I should.

[Vassago Rain]

Adiuvo, on 08 December 2014 - 01:09 PM, said:

Perhaps for the IS, but the most common clan drop deck by far will be 3 Stormcrows and a Timberwolf. There's very little reason to take anything else.

IS will eventually run triple shadowhawks and a black knight, I'm sure.

Kain Thul, on 08 December 2014 - 01:15 PM, said:

We'll see. The community is much larger than the "2%" that min-max everything and read the forums daily.

The 98% will have to compete with the 2%, or they'll get destroyed in CW.

[Adiuvo]

DaZur, on 08 December 2014 - 01:12 PM, said:

Agree to a point... In response I ask, what are the most popular builds for them? Are they ammo dependent? If the present meta leaves them a liability in CW, can a balanced configuration keep them viable... If not is there a better drop composite?

They can both be configured to use pure lasers.

Kain Thul, on 08 December 2014 - 01:15 PM, said:

We'll see. The community is much larger than the "2%" that min-max everything and read the forums daily.

I suppose, but if people want to actually be able to take and hold planets in CW they'll need to optimize their dropdecks.

[DaZur]

I dunno... I'm not sold that the present meta will support very well in CW.

So many of these meta vetted configurations are designed to insta-jib and are not designed for protracted engagements...

There's an awful lot of speculation over how to abuse the terms of engagement... That said, as far as i can see, most are built on the premise they are running the present meta stable.

It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out.

[DaFurryFury]

People who bring only stormcrows and Timberwolves are boring though. They will be the people who can't win without them and aren't playing the game to have fun but playing just to win on a cheap trick. They will sacrifice variety in play, which is a lot of the appeal in MW, just to win. In any case, I'm not scared of the srm builds that will be present because imo, the name of the game will be speed and accuracy and srms are neither of those unless you're running a quirked build and really good at leading shots. It's not often I get stripped by srms.

[RG Notch]

Kain Thul, on 08 December 2014 - 01:15 PM, said:

We'll see. The community is much larger than the "2%" that min-max everything and read the forums daily.

I wouldn't say "much".

[DaZur]

Oh the tears that will be shed if PGI enforces a "one unique chassis per deck" composite rule...

[Vassago Rain]

DaZur, on 08 December 2014 - 01:18 PM, said:

I dunno... I'm not sold that the present meta will support very well in CW.

So many of these meta vetted configurations are designed to insta-jib and are not designed for protracted engagements...

There's an awful lot of speculation over how to abuse the terms of engagement... That said, as far as i can see, most are built on the premise they are running the present meta stable.

It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out.

There's no such thing as a 'protracted engagement.' Matches will be decided really quickly by huge swarms of stormcrows eating your robots

I think you're seriously overestimating how deep and complex our FPS MOBA actually is.

[Abivard]

Actually it is poised to do the exact opposite.

Maybe 3 clan mechs variants, and 5 IS mech variants are likely to be seen.

I also imagine that the tactics employed will quickly devolve into no more than 2 or 3 variations per map and that is counting both sides together.

The truth of the matter is, that the more variables that are removed or are tightly constrained the simpler and less diverse it becomes, which is quite the opposite of the OP's Orwellian topic title.

Edited by Abivard, 08 December 2014 - 01:26 PM.

[Barantor]

Vassago Rain, on 08 December 2014 - 01:17 PM, said:

The 98% will have to compete with the 2%, or they'll get destroyed in CW.

That's the thing though, the top tier teams cannot and will not be able to do it all. A lot of those teams are only in certain time zones, so any 'gains' they make when they are on will likely be needed to be done again during the next day.

Weekends will obviously change things around, but if a faction is relying on a few 'comp' teams to drive them to some sort of victory then they might be in for a shock as they lose everything when they aren't on and the normal folks lose and win on the old 50% basis like public games.

[pwnface]

DaFurryFury, on 08 December 2014 - 01:19 PM, said:

People who bring only stormcrows and Timberwolves are boring though. They will be the people who can't win without them and aren't playing the game to have fun but playing just to win on a cheap trick. They will sacrifice variety in play, which is a lot of the appeal in MW, just to win. In any case, I'm not scared of the srm builds that will be present because imo, the name of the game will be speed and accuracy and srms are neither of those unless you're running a quirked build and really good at leading shots. It's not often I get stripped by srms.

I always see this being brought up on the forums, people complaining about optimized builds/decks being boring and cheap. I think a lot of the competitive types equate winning with fun. Maybe you like running troll builds and winning less, maybe that is fun for you, but certainly not the case for many of us.

[DaZur]

Vassago Rain, on 08 December 2014 - 01:24 PM, said:

There's no such thing as a 'protracted engagement.' Matches will be decided really quickly by huge swarms of stormcrows eating your robots

I think you're seriously overestimating how deep and complex our FPS MOBA actually is.

Or I'm underestimating to what lengths organized teams will go to game the game to achieve a win despite the reality that it may very well destroy the very arena they've been waiting to play...


​"Never underestimate the arrogant stupidity of humans" I guess is the lesson eh?

[Adiuvo]

DaZur, on 08 December 2014 - 01:28 PM, said:

Or I'm underestimating to what lengths organized teams will go to game the game to achieve a win despite the reality that it may very well destroy the very arena they've been waiting to play...


​"Never underestimate the arrogant stupidity of humans" I guess is the lesson eh?

Playing to win will destroy a game where the goal is winning?

Edited by Adiuvo, 08 December 2014 - 01:30 PM.