77 replies to this topic

[TheSilken]

Yea forgot about that one. Yank your mech to the side and hope for the best then?

[Podex]

Pretty much what everyone else said. I rarely test fire, but when I change a loadout or forget my weapon grouping for a particular variant, I'll sometimes do it.

Always pointed at the ground, safely away from the group.

[percolated1]

I do it sometimes if I'm switching to a laser boat to test whether my group 1 is set to chainfire. Plus sometimes it fires people up to blast rocks on start. Been a long time since I clipped anyone, I always try to be super careful with my aim but you know how those hyper Jenner guys get darting around folks. ;-)

[loopala]

2 types of test firers

type 1 i don't care about. they test fire away from the group and hit no one

type 2 is borderline stupid or negligent and hits teammates

don't be type2

[TercieI]

loopala, on 22 December 2014 - 08:09 PM, said:

2 types of test firers

type 1 i don't care about. they test fire away from the group and hit no one

type 2 is borderline stupid or negligent and hits teammates

don't be type2

Oh my yes. Always find a wall and check your minimap before testing to be sure no teammate is right on you and might get hit.

[Chocowolf Sradac]

I know I sometimes will test fire different weapon groups mostly to see the heat generation and what percentages it puts my heat to so I know those numbers to prevent overheating in battle

example if weapon group 1 puts on 40% ontop of my movement say at %9 I know I can shoot it twice without overheating and have a good idea what percentage to cool down to before being able to fire again

[Navy Sixes]

People say they have good reasons, and I suppose it's good to know which arms your grouped weapons are in. It is also sometimes fun to zap cars in the city maps. If you have 100+ mechs like Shar Wolf (although I think it's safe to say that's more the exception than the rule) you might forget your heat output, especially now with quirks making each chassis unique.

Having said all that, I still can't help but feel joyfire (doesn't matter if you're testing your heat or groups. If you're not trying to hit an enemy with it, it's joyfire) is kind of bush-league. If you've been playing long enough, you know the maps. You know the mechs. You know the weapons. If you've been playing long enough, you get "psyched" or "pumped" or whatever by putting those beams into enemy CT's; melting rocks just doesn't do it for you anymore.

So while there are certainly exceptions out there, when I drop into a PUG match and see someone zapping clouds or rocks or the RT in front of them, I assume that person is new. I'm probably going to work my way behind and away from that person as the battle develops, and try not to get tangled up in anything hairy alongside them. In my experience, people who can't keep from joyfiring at the start of the match don't know the maps or their own builds. They aren't sure they're going to get a chance to shoot the enemy before they die, so they want to watch the light show now. Also, in my PUG experience they are often the people who can't help themselves trying to shoot through you to get at a kill.

The more joyfire you see from your team at the start of a PUG match, the more you will probably have to carry if you want to win. It is known.

[Basskicker]

You say shooting cars on city maps is fun. Too bad they dont blow up when that happens... would be cool if they did though.

My "test fire" vice is on snowy maps... I just can't help but draw pictures in the snow with lasers. And on maps like alpine there isnt much else to do until we all gather at the hill and kill eachother.

[Martin Oberhofer]

I use a multimonitor setup.
while surfing/doing something else during the Waits my mouse went unbound to the screen, means i can exit the mwo Window with my cursor. if it happens in a fight its pretty "unpleaseant" so at start I exit once the mwo-window
point my cursor back into, and have then to left click in order to bind te mouse to mwo (cant exit anymore)

that left click fires a weapon group.

99.9% I aim at a really close rock, building whatever
once or twice it happend indded I hit a teammate - sad but has happend, lag/bad connection doesnt help...
apologized on the chat... but of course to late

[Euphor Kell]

Because sometimes you just can't remember which arm those weapons are on.
no good looking around a corner trying to poke, only to realise you are shooting your left arm into the wall instead of your right.

also, heat management.
with 70+ mechs, multiple different loadouts for each, sometimes i just can't remember how cool i have to be to shoot a certain weapon group on a certain map. usually i shoot my laser group twice, to see how hot it gets, and how much it cools between salvos.

[William Slayer]

believe it or not, I have a different answer than most of the folks who have given you one already! Tradition. During a match on the hp g manifold, as you enter the arena there is always a circular type target as part of the wall where you enter. It is tradition for many folks to fire a laser or two into the center bullseye. Kind of like slapping the picture of the mascots as you walk out of the locker room before a game!

[Aiden Skye]

I like when people decide to test fire weapons in a match instead of the freakin testing grounds and damage my mech. It's usually followed by another test. Me testing the durability of their mechs with a few ppcs to the face.

[operatorZ]

BrandonKF, on 21 December 2014 - 02:24 AM, said:

I have to ask. I see it, all the time, even with Koniving and other veterans.

Why?

Wait...you don't shoot your weapons at the start?.....wierd

[Podex]

W A R K H A N, on 23 December 2014 - 05:51 AM, said:

I like when people decide to test fire weapons in a match instead of the freakin testing grounds and damage my mech. It's usually followed by another test. Me testing the durability of their mechs with a few ppcs to the face.

Those are either accidental or malicious, but I like to think that 99.9% are accidental. It sucks, but people's fingers slip, windows swap, or something bumps the button. Those are easy to shug off even though you end up losing a good chunk of armor. Things happen. It's the malicious and/or spastic firings that chap me. A few times I've had to take my hand off the mouse just to avoid taking out someone who is willfully firing on teammates. They are necessarily TKers, but they think it's fun to shoot the good guys.

IF you're going to test fire for heat/grouping, fire at the ground, away from others. If there is any chance that someone could walk into your shot, do not shoot. Also, don't fire into the air and give everyone's position away (same goes for AMS when at a hidden rally point, turn it off temporarily).

[Vlad Striker]

Tycho von Gargen, that's why much joy fire predicts game loss. You right.

[Big Tin Man]

Reasons to test fire weapons when you own 45 mechs

1. Check heat (45 mechs x 16 maps = too many combinations to remember)
2. Check that the weapons groups didn't get reset (THX pgi, gg)
3. Check that I'm in the mech that I think I'm in (funny, I alpha'd the lasers, but all that came out were lurms. Ohh noooooooo).
4. Personally I never test fire ammo limited items (save dakka for the bad guys).

I have never accidentally shot a teammate when doing any of the above, as it's not hard to wait 10 seconds for the initial lag spike to work itself out and wait for people to start moving. I HAVE intentionally shot teammates at the start, but we were on comms and they deserved it

[BrandonKF]

Hey, I got my quota back. Now I'll probably lose it again going back through everyone's posts.

But still, thank you all very much for the responses! Ya'll are awesome!

[timaeus]

Forgetting which key is the chain-fire key and which key is the Alpha strike key.


In Nova testing it out...

[MilesTeg1982]

its pretty simple - people who just fire their weapons without beeing engaged in a fight are idiots in 99 or 100 cases.

1. they don't care if they hit a teammate - even the guys who claim to shot away from the team don't have eyes in their back and can't predict lags - so if you fire your weapons at the start there is always a risk of hitting teammates unless you first walk away from the group to a safe distance (which I actually have seen about 10 times only in about 10.000 (no joke) matches).

2. they don't care if they show their position on the map to the enemie - which usually means also the position of teammates. You know the kind of situation where you sneak up on the enemie and wait for a good opportunity to strike when the main body of enemies engages the rest of the team - it really helps to have some idiot with you who has nothing better to do than shooting in the air and thus telling the enemie where you are.

3. in my experience (as I said - about 10.000 matches) - people who fire with their weapons with no enemie in side are the same people who don't care who they hit in a fight.

4. another observation I made - if you have more than 3 of these guys in your team in a pug and the enemies don't have the at least the same number of lightshow kids - it will be a loss - because those guys to more harm to the team then good.

ps. forgot to mention - there are also some idiots who think its funny to shot at people who ask them to stop the lightshowsb - if you see those in a match - just stay away and let them die

Edited by MilesTeg1982, 27 December 2014 - 09:29 AM.

[Sadistic Savior]

BrandonKF, on 21 December 2014 - 02:24 AM, said:

I have to ask. I see it, all the time, even with Koniving and other veterans.

Why?

Most of the time it is to test for heat response. The heat variables afre different for every map.

Sometimes it's because we are bored. Especially true for the most boring map ever made: Alpine.