49 replies to this topic

[Tarriss Halcyon]

I'll share with you a story which should hopefully give you an insight to my playstyle.

One of my best matches was on the day that the Clans were released. Now, I'd received every Clan mech but the Warhawk right then. You'd think I'd be running those... lolnope.

I killed half their team, and reached the highest damage score I'd personally reached at that time, in a Misery with FIVE FIRE GROUPS.

Two ER PPCs, UAC5, two Medium Pulse Lasers, ER Large Laser and a SRM 6. It's the most outrageous array of fire possible, and the total opposite to meta. However, notice something?

I can hit you hard at any range from 0m to 1000m. If I'm not overheating, then I'm dishing out damage. I just checked the stats for the mech, which hasn't had it's build altered much since I first set it up.

It's got my second highest total of played games since stats were archived, at 94 (I RNG what mech to play, so I have a rather large number below 20). It's got a 1.07 win ratio, and a 1.45 kill ratio. (Highest after the archiving is a STK-3F, my beloved SRM20 Stalker. Highest in total is a COM-2D Streakmando that still sees frequent use as my Ravenslayer.).

Think about that. A mech as far from meta as possible still has a kill ratio of 1.45 after 94 matches, and I still play it because I love it. Would a meta player ever consider such a loadout?

As an aside, I don't look at my individual KDRs very often, and I don't change builds after setting them on IS mechs... well, ever. I'll just roll with whatever I set, and if it struggles, it struggles. Sometimes, the only reason why it's struggling is because it's basic.

Edited by Tarriss Halcyon, 15 April 2015 - 04:38 AM.

[Piney II]

If you're driving the latest and greatest "meta" death machine but hating it, what's the point of playing?

I've always built mechs that are fun for ME.

[Rogue Jedi]

RazorbeastFXK3, on 14 April 2015 - 04:11 PM, said:

Yay! I'm happy to hear when players finally understand how games are meant to be played. They are meant to be FUN and not FRUSTRATING! Too many players run in with questions like "Okay.. what's the BEST 'mech in the game and what's the BEST loadout for said 'mech?" without even thinking of what they're accustomed to using compared to what other players consider to be most effective for themselves instead of "What works for others may not necessarily always work for yourself in the field."

A few weeks back there was a thread where someone mentioned dieing too quickly in Stormcrows, I explained that they were getting focused down because the Stormcrow as "the second best Mech in the game" gets focus fired early because it is a very high priority target, I was then asked what makes it the second best Mech, because the player considered it to be rubbish.

what works for some will not work for all, e.g. 2 of my Spiders do about as well as my Firestarters in terms of stats, and I could not play the Dire Wolf successfully if my life depended on it, and even in the days of the PPC/AC5 and PPC Gauss meta I could not use PPCs successfully, I am just hopeless with PPCs but OK with ACs (except the 10) Gauss, Machine Guns, LRMs, SRMs and lasers

[Dawnstealer]

I like unconventional, fun builds, but I've found that, unless you're mounting something obviously stupid (6 TAGs, two NARC launchers, an all Small Laser Banshee, etc), aiming is FAR more important than anything else. I don't often have games where I'm doing 1k damage, yet I'll usually have a couple kills or more. I don't do this by kill-stealing, I do it by aiming; by knowing the mechs I'm up against and their tendencies.

[dr lao]

hay Sam
my advice is don't go charging in stay in the back of a group if you see two mechs firing on an enemy join in concentrate your fire with others work as a team to win the game not to get a kill .
Don't go running after a light there mostly decoys to split up your team

[Kin3ticX]

Riverboat Sam, on 14 April 2015 - 03:57 AM, said:

Spike Brave gave two pieces of advice in one of his videos that have completely changed the experience of playing this game for me.

First, he said don't bother trying to build the, "most effective", meta build for your mech. No. That's a quick path to hating this game. No. Instead pick a mech you like and then build it out for the play style you enjoy most. Build it for YOU to have fun in. Not with any other purpose.

Second, and this is the big one, he said he normally plays 100 matches in a build before he makes a decision about whether or not he likes it

Not sound advice if not downright bad. The idea that playing effective 'mechs is a pathway to "hating" the game screams party line bias. Jeez I hope that wasn't a direct quote from a video.

I would wholly agree that a newer player should freely experiment to see all the weapons and get a feel for things. That is the time to have fun just experimenting with options. However, the natural learning and optimizing process leads to driving effective 'mechs. Injecting the idea that effective 'mechs leads to hating the game will prematurely plateau players.

100 drops in something to figure out if it works? What is that, 10+ hours of play? If something doesn't work well don't bang your head into a wall for that long unless you just straight up don't care.

Edited by Kin3ticX, 15 April 2015 - 09:01 AM.

[Nightmare1]

That's good advice. Metas aren't fun to play. Sure, they're effective, but they are also boring and sometimes very frustrating to learn how to use properly. I always tell my pilots to ignore the Meta and go with what they know; to play their game and not the game that some hyper-comp/hardcore gamers somewhere determined was the "right" game. That's the only way to truly enjoy MWO. Otherwise, it's more like a miserable job than a relaxing video game.

I don't really agree with the 100 drops figure, but I do agree that it takes a dozen or so to determine if I will keep my own builds or not.

Edited by Nightmare1, 15 April 2015 - 09:13 AM.

[JC Daxion]

Rogue Jedi, on 15 April 2015 - 06:15 AM, said:

A few weeks back there was a thread where someone mentioned dieing too quickly in Stormcrows, I explained that they were getting focused down because the Stormcrow as "the second best Mech in the game" gets focus fired early because it is a very high priority target, I was then asked what makes it the second best Mech, because the player considered it to be rubbish.

what works for some will not work for all, e.g. 2 of my Spiders do about as well as my Firestarters in terms of stats, and I could not play the Dire Wolf successfully if my life depended on it, and even in the days of the PPC/AC5 and PPC Gauss meta I could not use PPCs successfully, I am just hopeless with PPCs but OK with ACs (except the 10) Gauss, Machine Guns, LRMs, SRMs and lasers

Yea, i agree, to often do people obsess about what is considered best, especially in the small % of elite competitive players. Builds that work great in groups of 5-6 or more, knowing maps, understanding cover, on comms, ect shine in groups, but many of those mechs up-close and personal with another mech with out back-up can be plain ol bad. Take the dragon 1N, the thing is a DPS monster, but also has a huge CT, and just about all it's fire power in one arm. Put that mech on a team with 3-4 other mechs firing on the same target, the enemy will go down like a ton of bricks, but in the PUG world, that mech often takes far to much face time, trading blows to be really effective. (i do enjoy the mech, but in a pug it can be lack luster at times.)

But really the best advice i can give, after playing for 2 years, is pretty much the same advice that was given to me. (though a bit evolved) I always say the best mechs for a new player are the HBK's if you are using C-bills, and Centurions if you are buying a Mastery pack. (mainly because of the engine that comes with the centurion champion) They are flexible mechs, that can use a variety of weapon systems that can let the player experiment with many different builds.

I even suggest adding a Bap, or tag to these mechs, as often when grinding to elites and learning how to manage heat is a huge issue for new players, or non-elites mechs. So many of these Uber meta builds are also because they are mastered and tricked out with full modules. Take that same mech, with a player learning, and they can be down right awful.

But as to the tools like BAP, narc, and tag, often players not understanding the game, and hanging back a bit, those extra's can really help the other players on the team, far more than a timber wolf that get's focused on and dies not pulling 100 damage. I'd take a medium with a BAP, hiding behind me any day of the week that can last to near the end of the match doing 100 damage over the alternative.

While people may cringe at the advice i give sometimes, mine comes from a guy that has played in pugs for 2 years, and has a great time doing it 90% of the time. That other 10% sometimes is due to frustration, a bad day, or just dealing with people that should be joining a 12 man verse yelling at the entire team most of the match, and their idea of "drop the mic" is calling the team Noob idiots and quitting before anyone can respond.

If you search the new player forums, you will find this post show up more than other other complaint.. I'm playing the best mechs, and the best builds and i still suck. I always say that is the problem right there. Playing what is perceived as the best meta of the time, is pretty much the worse way you can go, outside of joining a Unit, and playing with mentors, and following orders. (this is the one time i would say, ok maybe that is a decent way to start, if you have some MC)

But for the vast majority of players, the clan meta mechs, while good just cost far to much, and turn the c-bill grind into zero fun, on top of being one of the first players focused on every match.


As for the OP's 100 match advice, i'm not sure i would go that far, as i am always tweaking builds, and playing around with them as i level, But where i do agree is it typically takes me about 100 matches before i really am in love with a build that i want to stick with.


But you are right about one thing, the most important part is to have fun. The main reason why i love to PUG, people try new things, and you can get into some crazy fights, with a couple mechs for some epic brawls.. Not to mention you are not always up against a wolf pack of meta builds, that many could call over powered builds and be right. This is a very different experience than the high end groups that just stick together and the matches end the same way often, or you are just fighting the same mechs over and over again. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do the later, it is just not my bag.


Rock on Mech warriors!

Edited by JC Daxion, 15 April 2015 - 09:34 AM.

[EX S]

Void Angel, on 14 April 2015 - 02:03 PM, said:

... The reason that people get annoyed with "off-meta" build advice isn't that they think "the only way to have fun is to win." It's that they understand that futility isn't fun...

This needs to be on a billboard. Seriously.

[Tool Box]

Fenrisulvyn, on 15 April 2015 - 03:41 AM, said:

Wrapped up in a bumper sticker slogan by someone wiser than me: "We don't want to work the game, we want to play it"

I love your quote that would be awesome especially on a light mech.XD meep meep haha

Edited by Tool Box, 15 April 2015 - 09:43 AM.

[Void Angel]

Again, there is a very serious need for a balanced viewpoint on both sides of the meta discussion. Saying, "metas are boring," or "that's a pathway to hating the game," is just as wrong as saying "you have to play the meta or you are bad." On the one hand, you have inflexible, "my way or the highway" elitism - and on the other you have intransigent, "my way or the highway" solipsism. Neither are the hallmarks of a good person, or of a wise thinker.

Inflexible elitism is rather easy to understand, so I'll come back to it - but intransigent solipsism might be a bit obscure, so let me explain. Solipsism is a fallacy where the subject claims that the entire universe outside of himself isn't real; it's just a show put on for his amusement. If this silliness is challenged, the solipsist simply asks the challenger to prove that their objection is valid, which is impossible since the solipsist is the judge. The reason this is a fallacy is that the solipsist is really the one making the claim, and therefore must support it; he's just tricking challengers into trying to prove their objection using the very rule he himself ignores - once you know what to look for, you see it a lot in these forums, but I digress.

In any case, elitism is in many ways the inverse of this concept - rather than viewing other people as illusions populated by an unseen hand, the meta elitist views them as reflections of his viewpoints. He holds to a sort of social contract where players owe each other their best efforts. He wants to play the best game he can, and has a set of learned tactics and strategies to do so -"The Meta." Players who do not do those things are violating his understanding of the game - and his code of gaming ethics. This must be either stupidity, ignorance, or moral failure on their part, and once the meta elitist has explained to them the error of their ways, he expects them to do the right thing - and may become hostile and contemptuous if they refuse.

But on the other hand "I just do what's fun for me" crowd are engaging in a bit of inadvertent solipsism - because they're treating all the real people playing the game with them as being just part of the show. "It's my game, and you can't tell me how to play it." Yet if they dropped into a match where someone repeatedly shot through them to get at enemies (inadvertently, because target identification is hard,) or blasted them deliberately in the back for playing an "underpowered" chassis, they'd complain bitterly - and rightly so! Such actions would be wrong, and not because of the ToS. It would be wrong because the offending players are acting without regard for the damage they are doing to their teammates' playing experience - because it's not "your" game, or "my" game; in a very real sense, it's "ours."

Permit me a final anecdote before I wrap this up: There once was a thread made by a guy trying to figure out a good Atlas brawler build. We gave him advice, and he went here and there with his builds - and finally settled on a Stereotypical AC/20 Brawler Atlas. No one gave him the build; we just answered his questions and gave advice on how to play the Atlas - and he came up with it himself, after trying many other variations. It was quite interesting to see, because he would test, make changes, and try again, gradually evolving into what was and is, for Atlases, The Meta. He did this because while our individual preferences may vary, we're still all playing the same game with the same equipment - and the Brawler Atlas stereotype is the most efficient build for doing what he wanted to do.

There is both truth and error in both camps of gamers. We do have a moral obligation to recognize that the people around us have value, whether we are in a physical or virtual space. This means both that we ought to pay attention to the mechanical advantages inherent in some weapons and tactics over others, and that we ought to respect others' preferences in how they want to play. Taken as rules, these are often mutually exclusive concepts - but taken, as they should be, as principles, they can and should be balanced against each other.

Edited by Void Angel, 15 April 2015 - 12:47 PM.

[RazorbeastFXK3]

I tend to engage targets that are an immediate threat to my life first in battle regardless of what type of 'mech they may be unless I'm directed to focus fire to help the team get through the opposition more efficiently. I'm probably ignorant for that but so far it's worked. Then there are the times when I'll engage an enemy at extreme ranges for target practice (Leading targets using PPC/ER PPC/AC2/AC5 and a few times with a Gauss Rifle) to fine tune my skills in the field.

Sometimes chasing the scouts is fun but tends to get out of hand when the scout leads the chasing party into an ambush resulting in a "Divide and Conquer" situation. But yeah.. I do see how players will normally ignore one 'mech in favor of taking out a "omigosh! It's a [insert battlemech name here]! KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!" enemy.

I'm not very good at using the ER PPC/PPC/Gauss Rifle as I find myself accidentally taking out my own team as there's no way to stop/detonate a projectile if a friendly runs in its path mid-flight.. but I'm working on it. At least with lasers we can redirect the fire somewhere else.

Rogue Jedi, on 15 April 2015 - 06:15 AM, said:

A few weeks back there was a thread where someone mentioned dieing too quickly in Stormcrows, I explained that they were getting focused down because the Stormcrow as "the second best Mech in the game" gets focus fired early because it is a very high priority target, I was then asked what makes it the second best Mech, because the player considered it to be rubbish.

what works for some will not work for all, e.g. 2 of my Spiders do about as well as my Firestarters in terms of stats, and I could not play the Dire Wolf successfully if my life depended on it, and even in the days of the PPC/AC5 and PPC Gauss meta I could not use PPCs successfully, I am just hopeless with PPCs but OK with ACs (except the 10) Gauss, Machine Guns, LRMs, SRMs and lasers

It does get dull after a while using average builds. Reason why I like to change things up at times to keep things interesting. It does irritate me a little when players believe that what doesn't work for them absolutely cannot work for anyone else. 'specially when they fly off the handle throwing temper tantrums over "omg lrms are NOOB weapons! don't use 'em"

Void Angel, on 15 April 2015 - 12:44 PM, said:

Again, there is a very serious need for a balanced viewpoint on both sides of the meta discussion. Saying, "metas are boring," or "that's a pathway to hating the game," is just as wrong as saying "you have to play the meta or you are bad." On the one hand, you have inflexible, "my way or the highway" elitism - and on the other you have intransigent, "my way or the highway" solipsism. Neither are the hallmarks of a good person, or of a wise thinker

In any case, elitism is in many ways the inverse of this concept - rather than viewing other people as illusions populated by an unseen hand, the meta elitist views them as reflections of his viewpoints. He holds to a sort of social contract where players owe each other their best efforts. He wants to play the best game he can, and has a set of learned tactics and strategies to do so -"The Meta." Players who do not do those things are violating his understanding of the game - and his code of gaming ethics. This must be either stupidity, ignorance, or moral failure on their part, and once the meta elitist has explained to them the error of their ways, he expects them to do the right thing - and may become hostile and contemptuous if they refuse.

You're right about that.. I sometimes forget to mention the part about how it's a team game and players should keep in mind that no matter what they bring into the field, they should try to lean towards being effective for the benefit of the team's survivability as well as enjoy the game. Popping UAVs, calling out targets, report visual enemy movement outside radar range and keep a eye open for enemy UAVs for examples. I don't like it when anyone assumes that everyone knows what they're thinking but I've fallen victim to that where I guessed someone already knew the mechanics of certain features.

Like the times when I'm spectating seeing my team shooting at hollow red triangles and when they cry about their team not helping them.. I mention to 'em about how just because they can see the hollow red triangle on their radar doesn't always mean the entire team is able to see it.

'course there's always the exception where players get so into the game they forget that the system doesn't always readily autotarget whatever they're engaged with.

Void Angel, on 15 April 2015 - 12:44 PM, said:

But on the other hand "I just do what's fun for me" crowd are engaging in a bit of inadvertent solipsism - because they're treating all the real people playing the game with them as being just part of the show. "It's my game, and you can't tell me how to play it." Yet if they dropped into a match where someone repeatedly shot through them to get at enemies (inadvertently, because target identification is hard,) or blasted them deliberately in the back for playing an "underpowered" chassis, they'd complain bitterly - and rightly so! Such actions would be wrong, and not because of the ToS. It would be wrong because the offending players are acting without regard for the damage they are doing to their teammates' playing experience - because it's not "your" game, or "my" game; in a very real sense, it's "ours."

[Zephonarch II]

Sounds like common sense that you'd have to work around a build long enough before you actually get the hang of it. Especially after just purchasing a Basic-grade mech. But even after that, yeah the Sdr-5d is a great mech. Definitely not a meta-build mech however but great for support.

But really, this game does have a steep learning curve. If you get that teamwork, focusing fire, heat management, timed peaking/ pot-shotting/ evasiveness, and all the other tactical stuff behind mwo is vital for being a good MechWarrior, than props to ya man.

For me, I've been experimenting with smurfy to see what mechs might be useful in CW. And really, after grinding at 15+ mechs and mastering 15 and sticking with them, ... as a vet, you may see like me that CW is MWO's future. I'm looking for a Blr-3S, Stk-4N, AWS-8Q, and maybe a Cda-3M where I'll just tack an AC20 on it. Because no one will expect that! I'm aiming to try unorthodox builds because, hey, that's what makes games fun!

And until the fps optimizations come back in to keep me out of 10-15fps range, I'll be able to focus fire again....

Cause lately I've been sucking badly. ... but, unlike you, I realized the game's at that stage again where PGI is trying to force more content in, downgrading performance. Why else are they releasing new maps so quickly? It'll improve. And after CW is shined real nice, the game will definitely get overhauled for us. We even might need some Teamwork Tutorials too, to be integrated in-game. Cause so many people are going lone wolf and getting everyone killed now, it's not funny. Sometimes it's not the fact you're running a bad build, or you are just inexperienced. It might be that you're team is thinking independently not dependently on one another. Voip might help. Or just communicate more often with the chat commands.

Well there's my rant. And I really do appreciate these threads. It's nice to see people finding this game to be very finicky and intricate when it comes to demonstrating actual skill in it. As someone whose played this 3 years straight now, yeah, it's a real nice grind fest I admit comparing MWO to many other games. And if you're enjoying it again, than great! It certainly isn't like the old MW games, but still. It's Battletech. If you can see the Devs respect the Canon/lore, than this will franchise will stay complex.

Just wait until X-Pulse lasers get put into the game! S/M/L X-pulse, Light/Hvy MGs!, MRMs! IIC mechs!
Just wait until the game reintroduces Repair and Rearm features!
Wait until we get a single player Campaign!
Wait until the Training Grounds gives us actual AI to practice on and fight against all on our own!
We might even get a random terrain generator put into the game. Which this game might need for CW when fighting or hundreds of planets.

The game might moult out of a f2p, but it's worth it...

Just keep learning and have fun.

Edited by Zephonarch II, 15 April 2015 - 04:30 PM.

[segeri9]

Well put there. The way I have the most fun is being able to rub in the fact that I got to prove people wrong when they complain that I'm using a "useless mech".

I don't call it useless. I call it a challenge.

So far, I've gotten the biggest adrenaline rushes when piloting my locust 3s with 3x srm2's. Nothing like taking down a crab from the back with the thought of eating dirt with one shot looming at the back of your head.

Like you said, I tweaked the build a couple of times before I found MY sweet spot. twin streaks not doing enough damage? not enough space for BAPS? switch to 4x srm 2s. Always running out of ammo? drop an srm and switch it for ammo. Load in as much modules for said weapons. Ended up having a mobile srm6 launcher with a tight spread and the fire rate of srm2's. sweet spot right there.

Edited by segeri9, 15 April 2015 - 05:06 PM.

[Ialdabaoth]

The thing is, I'm new. So do I suck? yeah, probably. Do I bring underpowered 'mechs sometimes while trying to figure out what combinations work? Definitely. Do I sometimes have no idea how to aim weapon systems that I've never fired before? Absolutely.

Well, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GO TO LEARN, THEN? I'm avoiding CW and sticking to PuG for a reason, guys - I don't want to mess up anyone's "serious" gaming, and there's no "kiddie pool" that I can go and figure out how to aim, twist, and maneuver against actual moving targets except the PuG pool. So I need SOMEWHERE to go and gain actual hands-on experience and training.

My hand-eye coordination isn't the best; my reflexes are slow; I easily get overwhelmed when lots of autocannon shells and LRMs are hitting me at once. But I'm not going to get better at that any faster if people are telling me to remove my genitals and uninstall the game; all you're going to accomplish is stressing me out more, which makes me learn even slower and perform even worse.

So seriously, where'd you like me to go, if not your precious PuG match?

[Spike Brave]

Ialdabaoth, on 15 April 2015 - 06:39 PM, said:

The thing is, I'm new. So do I suck? yeah, probably. Do I bring underpowered 'mechs sometimes while trying to figure out what combinations work? Definitely. Do I sometimes have no idea how to aim weapon systems that I've never fired before? Absolutely.

Well, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GO TO LEARN, THEN? I'm avoiding CW and sticking to PuG for a reason, guys - I don't want to mess up anyone's "serious" gaming, and there's no "kiddie pool" that I can go and figure out how to aim, twist, and maneuver against actual moving targets except the PuG pool. So I need SOMEWHERE to go and gain actual hands-on experience and training.

My hand-eye coordination isn't the best; my reflexes are slow; I easily get overwhelmed when lots of autocannon shells and LRMs are hitting me at once. But I'm not going to get better at that any faster if people are telling me to remove my genitals and uninstall the game; all you're going to accomplish is stressing me out more, which makes me learn even slower and perform even worse.

So seriously, where'd you like me to go, if not your precious PuG match?

Please come to my pug match! Ask questions, make some mistakes, and if you die watch the others. Also if you want to just practice aiming and moving with no return fire just head out to the testing grounds. You can get there by pressing the home tab of the UI and clicking the testing grounds button of the left nav bar.

[Ialdabaoth]

Actually, the things I need to learn are specifically how to keep cool under fire. Mostly, I need to learn how to quickly take down 3-4 mechs when on my own, so that when my team all decides to back off and leave me in the middle of an open field with three assaults and two heavies focusing fire on my side torso, I can still take down two of them before I die.

[Graves24]

The meta Thunderbolt 9S just doesn't work out for me. I got the Thunderbolt 9S for free at some point, but I can't get used to ERPPCs. I really love SRMs and any ballistic weapon aswell as regular lasers.

I guess the Thunderbolt just doesn't fit my playstyle at all.

[Tim East]

Graves24, on 17 April 2015 - 06:34 AM, said:

The meta Thunderbolt 9S just doesn't work out for me. I got the Thunderbolt 9S for free at some point, but I can't get used to ERPPCs. I really love SRMs and any ballistic weapon aswell as regular lasers.

I guess the Thunderbolt just doesn't fit my playstyle at all.

You know, you could always just run it non-meta. I ran one with AC5 as a primary weapon system for a long time, and a Gauss for a little while as well.

[JC Daxion]

Void Angel, on 15 April 2015 - 12:44 PM, said:

Again, there is a very serious need for a balanced viewpoint on both sides of the meta discussion. Saying, "metas are boring," or "that's a pathway to hating the game," is just as wrong as saying "you have to play the meta or you are bad." On the one hand, you have inflexible, "my way or the highway" elitism - and on the other you have intransigent, "my way or the highway" solipsism. Neither are the hallmarks of a good person, or of a wise thinker.

Said a lot of interesting things, but i think some of it is sorta off the point a little as i don't think people are saying just throw out everything meta, and play bad mechs. (aka a jag DD with 6 machine guns and a pair of ML's) But there are ways to build the DD outside of the typical AC-5 build, and a lot of mechs fall into this category.

While i do have some close to meta mechs, i typically tweak them for my game play, like my best mech the 5SS, i run it with a pair of ERLL's on top of the MPL's, as the typical meta for this mech is 7 MPL's but the range on it is short, and running in pugs, those pair of ERLL's really help me out early in the match, or later, or even verse certain mechs, like say an AC-40 Jag.. run outta range and kill with the ERLL's with no worry about getting hit.

But what you said about a team game i think is kinda key.. You are right, and if your build/mech you make can help you more than a so called meta mech, and you are hauling your weight, and scoring in the top 3 on your team consistently you can pretty much say you are playing a team game well, no mater how you are built. That is what i shoot for as my own goals, score top 3 and win the match. I also love getting savior kills, that means i am helping my teammates from being killed. If i'm playing an LRM mech, i look for the highest damage score thing. (forget the name off hand) that means while i might have got 6 assists, but if 3 of them i had the most damage on a mech as it went down, i was doing a good job. Sorta like playing a light, i look for assists, components, and my kills are gravy, as much of what i try to do is distract.. fire a mech in the back, and hope they turn to me, and let my buddies shred um.

It really is a deep question on the meta/verse non-meta, but to me the most important thing is are you helping your team win, or are you dying with under 100 damage in the first few mins of the match more often than not? (yup that was me when i learned to play 2 years ago) Now i have improved, but i always think when i do see a timber drop first, i think,, get outta that mech and learn the game first.

Ialdabaoth, on 15 April 2015 - 06:39 PM, said:

The thing is, I'm new. So do I suck? yeah, probably. Do I bring underpowered 'mechs sometimes while trying to figure out what combinations work? Definitely. Do I sometimes have no idea how to aim weapon systems that I've never fired before? Absolutely.

My hand-eye coordination isn't the best; my reflexes are slow; I easily get overwhelmed when lots of autocannon shells and LRMs are hitting me at once. But I'm not going to get better at that any faster if people are telling me to remove my genitals and uninstall the game; all you're going to accomplish is stressing me out more, which makes me learn even slower and perform even worse.

So seriously, where'd you like me to go, if not your precious PuG match?

The best place to go practice a bit with heat/weapons are in the training grounds. It should be off the HOME tab. You can launch any mech you own, or trail mech onto any map. (are CW included, i have not checked in lately) But all the normal maps are in. You can play around, and learn the maps 15 mins at a time. Very worth doing it.

But aside from that, Your best bet is to stick near the assault lance. Back them up, or if you push ahead, and find yourself in trouble, run to the assaults, often that brings mechs into a killzone/ambush. The simple fact is though, if you are fighting 3-4 mechs alone you are doing it wrong, outside of the end of the match, and hopefully they are all beat to crap already.

I play as an aggressive short/med ranged brawler more often than not, and you can get into trouble doing so when the whole team decides to play hide and peak at 800m+

have you checked out smurfy? http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

It is a great place to play with builds with out spending money, but here are some rules of thumb for weapon system combos'

2 Large lasers

4-6 medium pulse lasers

3-6 medium lasers

Medium or small lasers with an AC-20

Ac-5 + PPC's or large lasers

SRM 4-6's in groups of 2-4

LRM 10's or 15's in pairs, though single 15's can be used on some mechs combo'd with energy or ballistic back ups


Basically you want to try to focus on a range, short/medium or long, and then have the majority of your weapon systems in that range. But even my brawlers i try to have some longer range weapons as so often games take a while to get rolling, and standing doing no damage for 5 mins is no fun.

Long range mechs, is the opposite, you want some shorter range/faster refire, and cooler running weapons in case you get brawled.

Another thing to look at are Alpha total.. But keep in mind weapon ranges on this, and Heat dissipation, combined with DPS, Often it is better to add a few extra heat sinks, or more ammo than another weapon system. Some mechs are alpha monsters and others are more DPS.. for example a 40 point, pin-point alpha is darn good, But if the DPS is only 2.5, you are either a hit and run mech, or just a poorly built one. now, a 40 point alpha, with 6 DPS, is a much tougher build, and will put on much more sustained damage in the heat of battle. Some assaults are much higher alpha, so you need to be wary of those mechs, like large assaults, but often once they heat up, you are on a much more even playing field, especially on the hotter running maps.

Edited by JC Daxion, 17 April 2015 - 12:01 PM.