15 replies to this topic

[Dingo Battler]

Anyone noticed this? I play my lights very aggressively, poke a lot, hunt down injured mechs through hordes of enemies and tend to jump all over the place. Even then, I usually get away with a lot of it, and usually am one of the last to die even in a losing game.

After I play lights, my skill with heavies and assaults tend to suffer quite a bit. Those 2 classes require careful positioning and much less aggression. Sometimes, I even run to a hill and try to jump over it, only to realise that I have no jump jets.

Its even worse in my assaults after playing heavies, because heavies can poke and hunt relatively well within conservative limits, but assaults can't. Once you're in, you're in, there's no poking. No hunting. Everything you see either kills you, is killed, or runs away (for someone else to kill)

Strangely, the reverse actually makes my skill better. After playing with assaults, I appreciate my quicker movement in heavies better. After playing assault/heavies, I appreciate that I can run around, do whatever in my lights and get punished relatively little, as long as I keep up top speed.

[Khobai]

I just play all mechs the same. Run straight at the enemy and hold down alphastrike button with override on.

[Gamuray]

@OP

Kinda of, but not to an extreme since my assaults are BLR's (and those more like heavies) or a king crab. And my only light is a locust. (Though my BJ1-1X is close enough) I takes me about a match or two to go from assault to Blackjack, but usually zero time to go from Blackjack to king crab (haven't done BLR's in a while).

[Deathlike]

I don't feel that way at all.

Only the reverse is true for me. Playing Mediums (not fat Lights like the Ice Ferret), Heavies, and Assaults, causes me to decay in Light piloting skills. Unfortunately, since the game is primarily played that way... well.. it is what it is.

Part of this is decision making (complacency from massive firepower vs actual armor)... the other part is precision in firepower with speed (gotta aim well to produce results).

Edited by Deathlike, 10 August 2015 - 05:28 PM.

[Sir Wulfrick]

There is some cross over, for example having to learn good positioning and choosing the best place and time to engage as a light pilot are very useful skills to an assault pilot. Essential actually since some of the assaults are so slow that disengaging is essentially impossible and bad positioning is normally fatal.

There's also useful skill transfer in the opposite direction: being able to predict enemy (and friendly!) movement which is an absolutely necessary skill for an assault driver is very useful to the light pilot, though not quite so essential as it's normally possible to retreat or disengage in a light.

What are very different are the play styles. Piloting a slower assault is much more like a game of chess than a traditional FPS game: being able to think ahead, predict enemy and friendly movement and choose the best time and place at which to apply your firepower and armour are essential skills for the assault pilot to learn. I'd tentatively say that assault piloting can be very unforgiving and can be very difficult to master.

Interesting topic

[Wildstreak]

I find it depends more on Mech type than Chassis Weight.

[Light-Speed]

I was suffering from this recently.

Yeah, my light piloting skills suck after playing other styles.
This happens more with heavier--> lights than lights---> heavier stuff transitions though.

So I usually start playing a light then sticking with a light the whole game time that day, or I go with medium and up mechs and stick with non-lights the whole day.

[Chuck Jager]

I agree with the the way OP says they can cause some issues. I have found in all online games it is very good to play as many classes and builds as possible to learn how to exploit their weaknesses.

2 steps forward etc etc

[Sergeant Random]

Yes. The mindsets are definitely different. Assaults are a b!+ch to get into position, especially in PUG games where there is less coordination. It pays to know the map, and what players tend to do on that map.

[Greenjulius]

I've never been great in assaults, except for the Dire, which is super easy to melt faces with. I usually do my best work in Mediums and Lights.

I think you're probably right. I'm always missing that speed once I move up to a slow heavy or assault.

[Nightshade24]

You get rustier at 1 kind of playstyle/ weight class the more you play the other/ less you play the other.

So it depends how often you play and how much you play of what.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

I find that the positioning and situation awareness you develop as a light makes you a better assault pilot.

[Kiiyor]

My skill only suffers when I jump between mechs a lot.

I find I need a few matches to get the hang of the handling of whatever mech i'm in, unless they're old favourites I've developed muscle memory for.

[El Bandito]

Regardless of which mech I play, be it a Firestarter or an Atlas, I find myself usually the first to engage with the enemy in a firefight and sustain noticeable damage in the process.

I need to learn to stay back and let my pugmates do the initial skirmishing, then reap profits from there.

[LordNothing]

i think the problem is the other way around. people used to playing heavies go buy a mech pack and get a light. not wanting it to go to waste they hop in and get a game on. but since they are not usually light pilots they play it like a heavy. hunting kills and dealing damage. ive seen a lot of light players doing this since the arctic cheetah came out. eventually they may pick up some good light piloting habbits and get good, but more often than not they put it back and grab a heavy because they can get more stuff that way.

the error is actually trying to come up with a set of rules that work for any mech regardless of tonnage. different classes, even different chassis play completely differently and finding the right way to play a chassis is a real challenge. you might want to apply knowlege learned playing the dire wolf to the gargoyle, but you will be disapointed because the gargie is a fast assault mech with a mediums loadout. an example for light pilots might be locust vs firestarter, one is an adhd hit and run mech while the other is well armed and armored and can stand in for an atlas with the right person in the pilot seat. if you perfered the gargie over the whale, you would probibly be more happy with the locust than the firestarter. dispite the tonnage difference the cater to the same kind of gameplay.

[Wildstreak]

El Bandito, on 10 August 2015 - 09:02 PM, said:

Regardless of which mech I play, be it a Firestarter or an Atlas, I find myself usually the first to engage with the enemy in a firefight and sustain noticeable damage in the process.

I need to learn to stay back and let my pugmates do the initial skirmishing, then reap profits from there.

I think a lot of players are trying to do this. I have found myself in the same situation as you describe but hanging back just leads to a team that camps because a bunch of other players want the same thing, someone else to lead off and die while reaping rewards.
A PUG problem revealed.