Lord Scarlett Johan, on 26 February 2015 - 04:58 PM, said:
Then why is it that the best players almost exclusively use clan tech when it counts? Even they don't like that 95% of their robots are invalidated by basically what amounts to 4 mechs. I'm guessing you've never played with heim, proton, hairpiece, celyth, jager, mag, etc. As they all say the same thing: firestarter best light, crow best medium, timberwolf best heavy, whale best assault. All of the EmP, Lords, and SJR guys say the same thing. Heim and Proton rant about clan superiority and what it's doing to the game.
The IS and Clans aren't balanced. The clans own 3 of the 4 weight classes. You don't balance off the general stuff. You balance based on the best stuff by either nerfing the best stuff (whale, timber, crow, firestarter) or buffing the not best stuff until it competes.
This is
generalized though. In
general the Stormcrow is better than IS mediums. In
general the Timber Wolf is better IS heavies. In
general the Dire Wolf is better than IS assaults. Each Clan 'mech can be beaten by IS 'mechs, especially when the skill levels and different builds are taken into battle.
Best medium laser vomit build can be put on a Stormcrow. Best medium splat spl+srm can be put on a Stormcrow.
But you can not do both at the same time. Timber Wolf is considered to be better than Stormcrow by default, but what build either brings can widely change which would walk away the winner. Hell, a FS9-A can beat a Stormcrow or Timber Wolf if they focus those legs and stay out of their LOF. So what build you have and what build the enemy has can mean all the difference, especially in the hands of differently skilled players. A lot of people like to say Stormcrow is best based on a simple medium v medium fight. In a twelve versus twelve, you have to keep an eye on the larger picture. Now you have teamwork to take into account. Skill levels of the various teammates.
Honestly the biggest balance issue will remain skill level. Good teams will trounce bad teams. Good team versus good team will fall down to positioning, builds and who can capitalize on mistakes.
Please do not just rely on what the top tier competitive players bring to their 12v12 drops when considering balance. Balance can not be looked at in that vacuum and balanced purely based on what two teams bring in a single tournament.
Edited by jeirhart, 26 February 2015 - 10:44 PM.