Bishop Steiner, on 30 May 2015 - 08:28 AM, said:
So keeping the weapon using the mechanic it was designed to be used as, indirect fire support..and one that is legit in any combat game is a "crap mechanic"?
I guess ARMA shouldn't allow mortars or Grenade launchers, either? I don't really care if you like them or not, but I find your logic on it,........ fuzzy.
LRMs were never designed for fire support and in a MOBA FPS it's a crap mechanic. Even in ARMA it would be a terrible mechanic in a straight moba setup, though again apples to oranges - a mortar is not a weapon but a static weapon in a location and GLs are as direct fire as SRMs are. They have a bit of an arc but they work, in many ways, like I think LRMs should work.
LRMs should be a direct fire weapon. Give them a bit of an arc, sure. Faster travel time as well.
Indirect fire in a game like MW:O however is bad. One of the real strengths of MW:O vs other FPS/MOBA games is the tactical complexity it has the potential for. Indirect fire skews that and strongly rewards bad habits. The 'deathball' is the most primitive and simplistic aspect of it but more firepower concentrated on fewer targets is the ideal situation. LRM boats are trying to play the role of field artillery; the problem is that in truth all they're doing is robbing your team of 1 of its 12 fighting units. You want to create static Long Tom or Arrow IV positions that have to be, in some way, 'manned' that's awesome. I'd be all for it.
LRMs however are not somehow more destructive than other weapon loadouts. Playing an LRM boat largely involves you NOT being part of the firing line. That's no big deal - if you're a light or striker medium. Honestly I don't have an issue with a LRM Treb as a given rule. The 'Horse Archer' concept as it doesn't take a full fighting mech off the line. Still functionally inferior to direct fire but at least it's not hamstringing its team.
A heavy/assault LRM boat however is pulling 65, 80, even 100 tons off its firing line in order to do slightly *less* damage than it would from the firing line but take*no* damage from enemy fire - so long as its teammates eat the fire that it would have to keep targets. Also that the other team is bad enough to not counter the LRMs.
Indirect fire as its place. Spent hours this morning in ARMA 3 WLA and having a *blast* by taking a factory, creating 2 Scorcher mobile arty and 2 Sandstorm MLRS then going covert, sneaking behind enemy lines and calling in the explosive rain. Also found out that you can take an airport, build a Wipeout CAS aircraft and put an NPC in it who I can then direct to specific targets. Like the gift that keeps on giving.
That's not MW:O though. It's a large battlefield with expendable and fungible units in deployment. MW:O is a 12 v 12 MOBA and a indirect fire LRM setup functions, quite literally, by one guy sacrificing his team to try and get himself a better score. The whole team would do better if he put that tonnage into direct fire unless the other team is bad; in which case they'd still be winning with direct fire. In MW:O it's a crap mechanic.