Yeah, the Warhawk isn't a great mech, but it's at least functional; far superior to the Gargoyle. The Gargoyle is at least a contender for the worst clan mech for tonnage. The Mist Lynx is a much worse mech, as is the Ice Fridge, but at least they are light.
The Gargoyle, though? 20t payload on an Assault mech moving at "fast" (read: Fast for an Assault), 89kph? A Stormcrow runs at 107kph and sports a 23t payload, better hardpoints and better hitboxes, at 25 tons less.
When Medium mechs move faster, carry more guns in better hardpoints, in a smaller frame with better hitboxes? The armor advantage is irrelevant.
I'll take that further: Armor is worth very little in MWO. It's not without value (there's a reason everyone maxes armor all the time!) but if you're under heavy fire, you're pretty much screwed no matter what. I'd ALWAYS rather have a Stormcrow on my team than a Gargoyle. Even doing things like leading a push? Stormcrow. The Gargoyle is a tremendous waste of tonnage. Trading payload space, cooling, speed, and hitboxes for a little bit of armor is absurd.
More than any other, IMHO, the Gargoyle needs quirks
badly. Lots. I don't even know where to begin.
The Adder is probably the best of the bad Clan mechs, when played properly (read: As a low-tonnage medium mech). The Adder can bring a substantial amount of firepower, particularly given it's drop weight. Spladders can deal tremendous damage, energy based Adders can poke reasonably well. Still, some sturdiness based quirks would go a long way, as it's also a medium sized mech: Adders are very easy to put down right now, while being too hot to be proper Glass Cannons.
I'd like to see the Adder gain a fair bit of ST and Leg structure, and reduced heat on Energy or Missile weapons (depending on omnipod/chassis/however Clan Quirks are working.
The Summoner? It's pretty bad. Not terrible, but it does suck. 21t of pod space is not good for a 70t mech, particularly one that lacks the hardpoints to take several lighter weapons. Too little tonnage for heavy weapons, too few hardpoints for several lighter weapons.
The Summoner's advantage is that it's very tanky, quite solid really. The Summoner
could be a good to great mech. More than quirks, it needs ES (and ideally FF) unlocked, but I think that's not going to happen. The Summoner needs substantial jump jet quirks to make the very precious and limited tonnage invested in them worthwhile. It also needs to have it's few hardpoints gain substantial buffs, so it can use single heavy weapons effectively enough to be worthwhile. A quirk applying only to one energy hardpoint that dramatically improves an ERPPC, for example, would do very well.
The Ice Fridge? It's awful. I don't see how they'll make it good, but don't know enough about it or care enough about it to figure it out. At least the Adder is a low-tonnage Medium; an asset in drop deck construction. The Ice Fridge is a high-tonnage light: Paying more tonnage for Spider firepower is pathetic.
Andi Nagasia, on 04 March 2015 - 07:57 PM, said:
i under stand its an assault and the nova is a Medium, but the Gargoyle is still the fastest assault,
with some builds it can out do a warHawk with energy weapons, the WHK is better with Missiles,
in CW it may not be worth the weight, but in pugs it can Nascar with the best of them, +armor,
Even in PUGs, being able to play Nascar doesn't make a mech good. In every case, a Stormcrow would be more of an asset to a team than a Gargoyle. The Stormcrow will last as long, deal more damage, move faster, and keep an Assault slot open for a mech that sucks less.
Edited by Wintersdark, 04 March 2015 - 08:09 PM.