bad arcade kitty, on 08 September 2015 - 11:47 PM, said:
you don't understand that the only thing which ecm reduction hurts it's its team usage
for any individual usage it gets only better (makes easier to sneak on enemies)
This. The wider the ECM bubble, the stronger the team effect and the weaker the solo effect.
The smaller the bubble, the weaker the team effect and the stronger the solo effect.
Basically, think of it this way: When an ECM Mech sneaks up on you, you have a 180 meter warning system built into that enemy's ECM. You get the "Low Signal" warning and your display gets wavy. That actually makes it difficult for ECM Mechs to get close to you; I know I personally switch my ECM off if I need to close within 200 meters of an enemy just so that my ECM doesn't give away my presence.
The bonus, of course, is that the 180 meter radius provides a full 360 meter diameter circle to shield friendlies. Because of this, a group only needs two or three ECM Mechs to ensure that everyone is covered from enemy detection. However, that strength is also a weakness. The enemy team only needs to neutralize two or three enemy ECM Mechs to expose the entire enemy team!
Now, think what this range reduction will do. It will definitely buff Lights since they will retain all the advantages of ECM with the added plus of being even sneakier. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the Assault and LRM pilots are going to have a cow over this (especially if the Light that kills them turns out to be an ACH). The team will lose its ECM bubble which means that additional ECM Mechs will be required. As a result, the number of enemy ECM Mechs will
increase to compensate the decrease in bubble size, and the team facing them will have to neutralize a
larger number of ECM Mechs to take down the bubble.
So, I predict that that ECM nerf will have the adverse effect of increasing overall ECM usage. I don't think LRMs are going to benefit at all, especially since it was announced that BAP range will be reduced to match ECM. I also predict that Light Mechs will become more aggressive with higher incidents of flanking. I predict a lot of QQ/Grief posts from LRM'ers and Assault Pilots who find themselves faced with the same problem of heavily ECM'ed teams, but also with the added problem of less warning time before a group of ECM Mechs jumps them.
In short, I think the ECM range nerf will actually hurt more than it will help and that we will be faced with a greater "ECM problem" than ever before. Also, as I mentioned very briefly, do not forget that PGI plans to nerf BAP range to match whatever the new ECM range turns out to be.