401 replies to this topic

[Tina Benoit]

Hello MechWarriors!

Those of you who listened to the Town Hall on April 16th may remember the discussions regarding Quirks!

This thread is to hear out your feedback regarding your least favorite Quirks, pick the top 3 that you wish were different!

[AlmightyAeng]

Tina...this is a fantastic way to reach out. SUPER Kudos!

Least favorite:

Of the ones that come to mind...

The Ember: Quirks for ballistics when only MG's are worth taking on it? Except...machine-guns aren't really worth taking? And just laser duration...when both the FS-9A and the FS-9S have far better ones? Leaves me sad that a mildly gimped Firestarter is quirk-gimped in comparison.

Firebrand: PPCs? Not worth taking on this mech...it's be nice if it had better general energy quirks instead.

[Tiamat of the Sea]

Any 50%+ fire rate quirk on a non-energy weapon: I'm sorry, but 50% quirks then kicked further by Fast Fire and modules are kind of ludicrous. Perhaps reduce that SRM-focus quirk on the Huginn's fire rate and add better travel speed on the missiles and tighter clustering to go with the increased range? Give the Dragon 1N better ammo capacity or something like that? As it is right now, these quirks basically read 'Turn this weapon into a completely different (and two or more times as powerful) weapon with the same effective range.' Similar things go for all the super-high fire rate quirks, excepting possibly the CN9-D's LB10-X quirk, though that's mostly because people keep trying to use the LB10-X as an AC/10 equivalent, which it really isn't without some kind of overblown quirk.

FS9s: Not the FS9-S, but all FS9s. Firestarters. Flamer 'mechs. None of which have any quirks that do anything at all to flamers specifically, and most of which have quirks specific to other energy weapons that they originally carried less of by number than flamers. The Ember's machine gun range is kind of meaningless too, but mostly.... why do none of these things have any attempts to make Flamers more than a toy weapon? Surely something could be thought of here- heat reduction, cone improvements, improved rate of inflicted heat, added damage to armor, something. All these quirks specific to non-flamer weapons on The Flamer 'Mech. Kinda ludicrous.

BLR-1G/3M: These 'mechs have badly reduced torso twist. Yet, they have the same overall degree of quirk as other BLRs. This wouldn't be much of a shame if not for the fact that they retain the arm durability increases of the other BLR variants. Letting aside the fact that very little of value is typically found in the arms of the BLR compared to the rest of the 'mech, why would the arms remain buffed in durability on the variants that are less able to use them to protect the main body of the machine? This makes little sense, both in-universe and in-game. The variants can't use the arm durability for much compared to other BLRs (who get cored out pretty darn quick anyways, which is why so many people feel secure throwing XL engines in them) and so these quirks are much less valuable than they are on the other variants.

Edit: As others have noted, the torso twist on these two BLRs is itself a quirk as currently defined by the game, and with these BLRs being focused on close-quarters weapons, that's kind of silly too. So I'd say either go one way or the other- the problem is either the cut twist quirk needs to be changed out to render the predilection for close-quarters weapons more viable, or the arm quirks and CQ Weapons quirks should be altered or swapped for something that will work despite the poor twist range.

Edited by Quickdraw Crobat, 20 April 2015 - 03:45 PM.

[1453 R]

I agree with Quickdraw: most any 40% or higher (total) refire rate quirk on any non-energy weapon - and frankly even on energy weapons - is just too much. No 'Mech is so disadvantaged as to need to add "Rotary" to its main weapon's name. The 50% fire rate quirks on the DRG-1N haven't actually improved it - they've given it one flat, easily-predicted trick while also completely polarizing the machine into one singular builds - dual AC/5

Given the existence of Fast Fire and cooldown reduction modules, 40+% refire quirks are overboard. You can cut the base refire of certain weapons on certain machines down to a third of what it's intended to be, and that's ridiculous. Even a 30% upper limit on quirk-based refire would be very significant without being out-and-out busted the way it is on things like the Drag1n or the Hugginz.

Everything else can be dealt with, but 40+% refire quirks are too massive a damage increase to really tolerate, and are a direct culprit of the recent power creep. Or power surge, rather.

[Hawk819]

I'd like to see better Quirks for the Clan Energy weapons and maybe some Velocity Modules for the C-ER PPC, C-UAC's and C-AC. Some of these quirks are just totally lousy.

[Telmasa]

Like Quickdraw Combat has said, my least favorite quirks are those that wind up breaking the game.

And it's usually quirks that add up to 50%, though sometimes it's just 25% (Firestarter-S case in point - despite that you guys have already nerfed the Firestarter quirks, the Firestarter S still is too powerful, hence why folks still continue to rant about OP firestarter quirks when all the other Firestarters don't really have any anymore.)

I wish most quirks were reduced & changed to the "iterative" kind of quirks.

I also believe quirks should be re-swept according to performance by tonnage and NOT according to a "5 tier system".

(i.e.: Locust? Compare to other 20-25 tonner mechs. Raven? compare to other 30-40 ton mechs. Shadowhawk? Compare to other 50-60 ton mechs. Summoner? Compare to other 65-75 ton mechs. Stalker? Compare to other 80-90 ton mechs. Dire Wolf? Compare to 95-100 ton mechs. and so on and so forth)

[Tennex]

PPCs are only usable with PPC velocity quirks.

PPCs should be buffed in general with velocity increase, and the quirks wont have to be as high

So it can actually be used on other mechs without PPC quirks.

Edited by Tennex, 20 April 2015 - 01:22 PM.

[IlKhan Prepaid Kerensky]

Quirks that change PPC or ballistic weapon velocity are the most annoying ones. If my weapons have different properties between mechs it becomes incredibly unfun to switch between them. Buffs to projectile velocity are not actual positive buffs, they make aiming harder and force you to relearn muscle memory between variants. If I could disable all velocity changes and make them a flat value between all mechs I would in a heartbeat.

This is more annoying than a bad or broken quirk, it shows that the people responsible don't have a firm grasp on what kind of changes to gameplay actually give a player an advantage in a shooter.

Shot consistency across variants are a significant contributing factor as to why lasers are the best weapons in the game.

Edited by Prepaid Lenin, 20 April 2015 - 11:44 AM.

[StillRadioactive]

Tina Benoit, on 20 April 2015 - 10:11 AM, said:

Hello MechWarriors!

Those of you who listened to the Town Hall on April 16th may remember the discussions regarding Quirks!

This thread is to hear out your feedback regarding your least favorite Quirks, pick the top 3 that you wish were different!

JR7-D/JR7-F/JR7-K: Yes, all three of them.

Once upon a time, all of the 35 tonners had a role. The Firestarter was the knife fighter, the Raven was the sniper, and the Jenner was the hit-and-fade skirmisher. With the introduction of the quirks system, the Jenner was somehow overlooked as the Firestarter was buffed to the point where it completely surpassed the Jenner in the Jenner's own role.

So here's what's needed to bring the Jenner back:

• CT Armor buff. This thing is a giant, walking CT. It's way too fragile to work in the current environment of high damage laser vomit.
  
• Acceleration/Deceleration buff. Make it the 35 tonner of choice for those who enjoy maneuverability over other attributes.

To differentiate the variants from one another, you have to focus on what each one does well.

• JR7-K: Leave it as is. With the CT armor and accel/decel buffs, it should be perfectly fine.
  
• JR7-O: Leave it as is. With the CT armor and accel/decel buffs, it should be perfectly fine.
  
• JR7-D: Missile quirks. It needs a bigger cooldown quirk, and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to give it heat gen or missile velocity on top of that.
  
• JR7-F: Range only is fine... but it needs to be greatly increased. Leave the 15% energy range and add a 15% medium laser range quirk.

With those changes, balance will be restored to the world of 35-tonners.

[Treysef]

The Grasshopper 5N with just PPC heat gen quirks rubs me the wrong way. PPC quirks without velocity quirks almost seem useless.

[YUyahoo]

Least favorite, by far internal structure buffs. I would prefer armor buffs over internal structure (or in a perfect world, both but in a 2 to 1 ratio of armor to internal structure). Why? Because once you get past armor and get to internal structure there is a good chance that components will get destroyed...buffing internal structure but not armor just increases the opportunity a component will be destroyed once armor has been depleted. Increased armor adds much more survivability than increased internal structure.

[Omi_]

PPC-quirked JM6-FB is a bit weird from a meta perspective, but I think ERPPC quirks would actually make it a good competitor to the JM6-S.

On the topic of PPC quirks, it's an odd fit on the PNT-9R too, because you can't take 2 PPCs and be left with any sort of respectable short-range backup weapon option. This makes the 10K entirely superior.

Edited by Hornsby, 20 April 2015 - 11:59 AM.

[Tank]

Huginn's huge ballistic range quirk I think - 30% range, but he is a light, he gonna be fast most of the time so range is not an issue.

I say give him more fun - more reload speeds and drop everything else, maybe go insane and give that -30% of UAC jam chance. Since it's only light mech capable of such insanity.

[Spleenslitta]

1: The Vindicator is perfect the way it is.
I'd dislike any quirk that changed it unless you give it an outright boost without taking away or reducing any of it's current quirks that is.

2: All SL, SPL, MG, Flamer range quirks useless when they only boost by 10%. 15 meters extra range won't do anything noticeable.
Double that bonus at least or just change them out on all chassis with cooldown, heat, laser duration or whatever other quirks you can think of.

3: +10% projectile speed quirks are useless just like Homeless Bill says in post #18.

Edited by Spleenslitta, 21 April 2015 - 07:54 AM.

[LegoPirate]

why does the panther have like 3 ppc quirks and then also laser duration quirks.

[Voivode]

Least favorite quirks.

1) Commando 2D. Sure it has ECM, but it's already hurt by having a smaller engine cap compared to other Commandos. Needs just a touch more, not a lot mind you, but a touch.

2) Any MG range quirks. I think you guys got the MG quirks right on the Urbanmech with rate of fire quirks. The biggest problem with being forced to take MGs for light mech ballistic hardpoints isn't that MGs are short range, it's that I feel like I'd do more damage if I climbed out of my mech and threw rocks at them. ROF buffs effectively up the damage, which is what MGs really need.

3) Cicada 3C quirks. It's....just not enough. And I honestly don't know what can be done to help that thing.

[Davers]

I think PGI should have taken the 'Brawler/Skirmisher/Support idea and ran with it. Maybe even make more roles, or hybrids. Try to make mechs actually play differently.

[Homeless Bill]

Every velocity change quirk, but especially the minor ones are bad news in my opinion. If the PPC needs to fly 25% faster to be used, then it just needs to be 25% faster. Making the same weapon travel at different speeds on different 'mechs is incredibly disorienting, and often it does more harm than good. Shell speed should be a constant the player can rely on.

But at least velocity quirks 25% or more are big enough to be immediately noticable and something you can adjust to. Velocity quirks 10% and thereabouts are nothing but a detriment. It doesn't feel like my shell is traveling 10% faster - it just feels like I'm missing every shot by 10%.

[East Indy]

Powerful cooldown quirks are all right if they're few and far between, and give select variants just the right niche. The CN9-D is probably quintessential here.

When quirks encourage boating for variants that weren't really known for it beforehand, they may not be game-breaking and they're probably more competitive but they're definitely less interesting.

[Falcore]

I would really like to see the other atlas variants quirked back to be something useful, I just don't play them anymore because of it and it makes me sad.