#1
Posted 01 October 2015 - 11:48 AM
As a foreword, before clans arrived the balance overall was pretty ok. Brawling was viable enough and jump sniping was nerfed to 30-35 which in my opinion was acceptable. This is important knowledge because changes were made to IS weapons back then. They could've used some more adjusting but let's just say the overall balance of brawl and range was good enough after the SRM fix.
And then to the issues.
CLANTECH & WEAPON BALANCE
There, I said it. Before you jump out and say that IS has their beasts also just hear me out. Before jumping on to weapons it is important to realise that with Clan XL and Clan Endo or Ferro you have a lot more space to spare to a mech than you would have with an IS mech. Following the TT rules as good as they could they made the numbers and at the clan arrival everything Clan was totally overpowered. Jump sniping Timbers, ER Small laser Novas, devastating Doom Crows, 80+ alpha Dires... There was no way play for free players could compete that. This was the first time in MWO history when the game was pure pay to win - buy the Invasion package and win.
Now there was some adjustements to the clan weapons and some minor changes to the clan XL. It still does not mean that the IS tech and Clan tech are balanced. Jump snipers were nerfed to ground and Inner Spheres flagship, the Highlander was nerfed to ground along with it's sidekicks Victor and Cataphract. I think PGI was happy with IS weapons balance they didn't want to touch them at all. Instead they made changes to how Clan weapons worked. Some of those were ridiculous like Clan ER LL being unplayable with 2 second burn. However the problem was that IS weapons remain untouched. They remain untouched to this day.
Then came the quirks. They made some IS chassis' ridiculously OP and and forums wept once again. But here in my opinion lies the problem that is still present today. Quirks only allow the same potential clans have but only to certain chassis'. The overall balance of weapons is still unequal, more so with the quirks that basically shook the IS vs IS balance as well. CW was a big deal back then and I think it blinded people a bit. Nobody wanted their new toys nerfed but people also wanted the old mechs be playable. Quirks made new toys for players to abuse, like the TDR 9S with ER PPC spam. I said back in the 3PPC Gauss meta days that if you can brawl with an ER PPC the balance is off - and here we went again.
Yeah, so to the point...
People being so focused on IS vs Clan CW issues the overall design was not looked at that much. On paper the numbers of Clan weapons seem pretty nice and ok. One of the problem is that with Clan XL, 2 slot DHS and 7 slot Endo or Ferro you can fit your mech extremely heat efficient with a very high alpha. Remember that Large Laser boating Stalker that was one of the reasons we got ghost heat? Yeah, it's alpha strike was 45 points of damage to 450 meters. Now we have starting from 50 alphas to that very same range when you mix c-LPL with c-ER ML and can fit almost the same amount of heat sinks to a Timmy or Ebon that you could to a 5LL Stalker... Except the Clan heavy runs 89,1 km/h instead of 62 or something Stalker did being ONLY 10 tons lighter.
Now how's that possible you may ask... To be honest I ask the same thing. What was so feared of the 5LL Stalker or 9ML Hunchback that they still have to be nerfed with ghost heat when Clan tech allows much higher alpha strikes. The thing is, IS tech and the IS balance was never revisited besides one exception which is LPL and LL ghost heat allowed to 3. Wow. Thanks. IS mechs still struggle with their "bread and butter" that is Medium Laser being only 270m full effective while the Clans with their own bread and butter clearly swifted the effective meta much farther, to around 400 meters. Some may think that a 130m gap is nothing but the truth is that it is alot when the main weaponry is swifted there.
Only thing that is good for IS is the Autocannons. The problem is that they need alot face time to put out the damage lasers do in just a bit over second. Here lies the secret of high level play in case you didn't know it... Deal more damage to enemy than you take. Very simple. Putting a full alpha of 50+ in exchange of about 15 maybe 20 damage of dakka is a good trade always.
Bottom line is that IS was left with OUTDATED weapon restricitons and balance choices that applied only to IS vs IS fighting. Their best mechs were nerfed to ground and even better new gods were brought in to the battlefield. Seriously, WHY do we have ghost heat on 6+ medium lasers? You have to get to 270 meters to actually put that (apparently horrifying) alpha in anyways thus risking your mech completely. Why do we have ridiculous ghost heat on Large Laser when c-LPL + c-ER ML can go round the mechanic and deliver exactly the same result? Better yet - Why c-LPL + c-ER ML was never linked to ghost heat? Now there's a good question to think about.
However some weapons are linked... Krhm... Behold the dangerous shredders of metal... SRM4 and SRM6! Seriously.
Brawling is not worth it
Except of course if you use lasers that are quirked for it. Whos the man? Your the man Thud, you're the man. Clans using the mentioned trick to avoid ghost heat spread to IS side also... LPL+ML builds! Oh gee. It's like poor man's attempt to look rich by buying a suit from Walmart. Except if you're quirked that is!
But ok ok moving on to the SRMs. I think PGI really doesn't want us to use them. Ghost heat on linked fours and sixes above 3 is ridiculous. We got Dire Wolves with 84 alphas that will pop your medium mech's ST one shot and even if you got to close it sure is a good thing you can't do any threatening damage to the actual threat. Mechs that were fun to play, like Griffin 3M or Centurion A with SRM6s are not worth playing anymore, not to mention the Atlas (sadface). When the effective meta is for 400-600 meters and the gameplay is based on poking and running there is no reason whatsoever take SRMs (except to give a litte boost to dmg along with your LPL and ML like in BLR-2C) at all. The time to close in and the effective time to kill are not matching up in any ways. Taking a traditional brawler is a High risk no reward mech now when it should be a high risk high reward.
The problems with SRMs are that PGI is apparently only looking at the damage number and not the effective damage that is dealt to a mech to destroy it. At the moment SRMs are not on par with deadliness against the lasers. While the damage of 2.15 could (it's really not) be sufficient the spread on the missiles is way too big even with the artemis. 12+ damage salvos mean nothing when the damage spread and mean while a laser guy with similiar damage and DPS can just pinpoint his damage to a certain location of a mech. The difference between two is HUGE and really if you just stare at the damage numbers you are not getting the right idea. Then again it is obvious that PGI stares at the damage numbers cus the match score is mainly based on it so... Uh, that's a different rant.
If you look at DPS per heat the SRMs are ok. But in the powercreep of clans the cooldown and spread are not ok. Four seconds with SRM6 is a long time when you get another shot of 2 c-LPLs in 3.25 seconds and you can fire them pretty much heat neutral with Clan heavies and assaults. If you compare two 100 ton mechs the Atlas (brawl) and the Dire Wolf (vomit) the sustained DPS is not that far off with the exception that Atlas DPS and Alpha spreads around and even misses with the missiles. I'm not that sure about the SRM hitreg either.
So... Why in the world would you go brawl at 270m when you can dish out the same DPS from 500 meters away without risking yourself. SRMs need to be looked at again if PGI is fine with the TTK we have now. Ghost heat needs to go, spread needs to be tightened and cooldown needs to be a bit shorter.
Jump sniping is nerfed useless
I know that there are alot of "poptart" haters out there but I'm one who actually enjoyed the gameplay. It needed alot more skill to aim and lead the shot with a reflex and that was fun. It was however so hated by the community that PGI decided to put it down with a sledgehammer. Instead of making it viable compared to laser meta it is almost completely forgotten now. The Timber Wolf can still run 2 ER PPC and Gauss rifle pretty efficiently and the Nova is nice poptart but that's it (oh yeah maybe the Panther but then again why is that... QUIRKS). Not long ago I ran the old school jump snipers Cataphract and Dragon Slayer. It feels so ridiculous now how hated those two were when you compare it to the metamechs we have now roaming in the queue.
The damage output is not efficient enough in any means compare to the lasers. It could work if we had proper thrust with the jump (hover) jets but there is none. Cataphract with 4 jumpjets can't get enough thrust to efficiently jump snipe. You can do it but even then the PPCs are so hot that you're just boiling all the time. Now here's the thing with PPCs... No one uses them unless your mech is quirked (yeah some people use them once in a while but I mean effective stuff). The inner sphere ER PPC is a joke. It's as useful weapon as machine guns or a flamer.
The PPCs received a velocity boost recently and that did help them a bit. But the truth is with quirked cool IS lasermechs and Clan lasermechs the heat is too much. Way too much. Just drop them to 8 and 13 and it should be nice, at least more usable. With a bit more boost to jumpjets when you equip enough of them it would be fine.
Basically I just want more playstyles to be viable. I'm so bored of pointing the lasers match after match. At least the Gauss rifle is fun to use. And speaking of the gauss rifle...
Some Clan/IS weapons share exact same stats but the Clan version is straight out better because it weights less and takes less slots to equip. At least LB-10-X and the Gauss rifle. LB10 is a bit lol but the Gauss rifle being unequal is a bit of an issue. 3 tons less is a huge difference that is not addressed in any way.
Weapon balancing should be made with the weapon figures - heat, damage, cooldown. Three variables when tweaking them should result in better balance. I don't know the figures, I'm not a game designer, but I do know what's wrong with the balance at the moment and that is annoying. While quirks are not a bad idea (they really do give nice flavour to certain IS mechs!) at the moment PGI is relying on them too much. We all saw the disaster that was PTS with random quirk numbers here and there without any kind of logic. They are only messing up things more. PGI is adding branches to a tree that needs it's roots treated.
Clan XL vs IS XL is really a tricky subject and I have no idea what should be done with it if nothing at all. However the heavy mechs that run 89,1 km/h are a balance issue. That's just too much at least for a 75 ton Timber Wolf. This does make things funny in the pub queue tho like Assault mechs forcing to use XL engine to keep up with the flow. Otherwise they will be left behind. Back in the day before clans we rarely had that problem.
But then again that's also because of speed tweak and brings me to the next subject...
SKILL TREES OUTDATED FOR 3 YEARS
Seriously... I understand that PGI is busy with new features and mechs and bling bling but this is one of the most important core gameplay features. We are looking at for example a skill that does nothing at all (Pinpoint - how the heck is that thing still there)! This could have so much potential. Just check this suggestion out: http://mwomercs.com/...ll-tree-mockup/
There are couple of things that make the skill tree extremely unbalanced and those are Double Basics and Speed Tweak. With those bonuses your mech is at huge advantage against a mech that does not have them. It is ridiculous! You must have cursed the mastering of a new mech several times... Well there's your answer why it sucks so bad.
Seriously at least Double Basics need to go. The buffs and advantages thru the tree should be noticable but small enough not to make that big difference in damage output and maneuverability. This is a big reason why some matches are so unbalanced. Some people run their mastered mechs and some are just opening basics and learning the chassis. Then we got stomps. It's not always the matchmaker that's screwing you, it's the game mechanics that are left untouched for three years.
I think I'm done for now. Sorry that this came out as a long rant but couldn't help it. I'm too lazy to organize it into a smart guy post. There are other issues there like the recent implementation of PSR that actually works a bit like an XP bar and in the end has a little to do with skill, but the core needs to be fixed.
Anyways like I said these are my views on the issue of balance and are open for debate - these are not set in stone. The experience in the game varies for different people and levels of play. I just want different playstyles to be a bit more on par with the meta we have now. Meta too stronk and too boring.
#2
Posted 01 October 2015 - 11:53 AM
#3
Posted 01 October 2015 - 12:29 PM
SRMs need a multitude of buffs, Velocity, Spread and Damage mainly. Give isSRMs better in two of those.
One nitpick, the cLPL is 3.25+1.12
#4
Posted 01 October 2015 - 06:16 PM
Mcgral18, on 01 October 2015 - 12:29 PM, said:
So you think IS ER.PPC is fine with 15 heat? Can you elaborate why. Also what kind of velocity are you talking about? I can live with different values as long as they're usable. Right now they pretty much are not although I could live with the velocity ppc has now. One thing I forgot tho, the min range should go.
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Yeah they need help. The difference in our view is I'd prefer to have them dps based weapon thru cooldown instead of increasing dps by higher alpha. I find the velocity fine tho.
#5
Posted 01 October 2015 - 06:19 PM
dropping the heat would make it the cat's meow again. (We had 6 PPC stalkers due to reduced heat..)
#6
Posted 01 October 2015 - 06:20 PM
ugrakarma, on 01 October 2015 - 06:16 PM, said:
Yeah they need help. The difference in our view is I'd prefer to have them dps based weapon thru cooldown instead of increasing dps by higher alpha. I find the velocity fine tho.
The isERPPC could be the one down to 14 heat...but I wouldn't be against trying 3KM/s velocity, because Reasons.
That would be...let's say 5.5-6s cooldown.
VERY effective at long range, well past it's optimal, but 15 heat would limit it greatly up close (as IS mechs can't mount many DHS, generally not more than 20) and the cooldown means other weapons can fire 2-3 times for every time this fires.
More realistically? Between 1800M/s and 2500M/s? 2KM/s and 12 heat was the PPC meta (and 8 heat for the normal PPC, at 3s recycle). You'd want to avoid the perfect sync at 2KM/s the Gauss has.
For SRMs, isSRM at 2.5 damage, let's say 500M/s (up from 300M/s, and AC20 is at 650M/s for reference). Spread by whichever value. The isSRM6 has a 11.4M CoF right now.
Edited by Mcgral18, 01 October 2015 - 06:29 PM.
#7
Posted 01 October 2015 - 06:29 PM
#8
Posted 01 October 2015 - 06:32 PM
Livewyr, on 01 October 2015 - 06:19 PM, said:
dropping the heat would make it the cat's meow again. (We had 6 PPC stalkers due to reduced heat..)
6 ppc Stalker was always a joke build. It was pretty much 4 ppc 3f what comp used. Go check out beefs dire star videos, it's same kind of joke build but with a couple more PPCs.
You do have a point tho. So giving more velocity should do it.
#9
Posted 01 October 2015 - 07:44 PM
3 erll 15ton@27damage@675m@24heat
2clpl 12ton@26damage@600m@20heat
Clpls are much closer to iserll, islpl has it's own leage, much better leage.
Both clantech and istech have it's advantages and disadvantages, istech advantages just do not lay so close to your eyes. You just need to try to make fights in situations favorable for your mech and clam laservomit wil not be a big problem for you.
You see clam laservomit with clpls, do not let him duck to cover, face him, twist like mad when he shoots and keep closing distance then wreck his face with superior accuracy of istech or devastating brawl capabilities of your mech.
Another part of strange balnce is clan srms, they look better on paper, but i prefer o started to figure that i can't find good srs build for clams(not ssrm) and i run much more srms is side. I can not say why, but i think that csrms are just not as effective as is.
PPC is a bad weapon system overall. It has enogh velocity to hit targets at 1.5x(both standart and er) of effective range, but they're just waay to hot to use them as veapon system, especially clan version. PPC start to be a good weapon on awesomes, but the're still awesome, big and easy targets with low mounted weapons, to make shure everyone in 2km radius can hit you if you can hit them.
#10
Posted 01 October 2015 - 08:33 PM
#11
Posted 01 October 2015 - 09:16 PM
Mcgral18, on 01 October 2015 - 06:20 PM, said:
The isERPPC could be the one down to 14 heat...but I wouldn't be against trying 3KM/s velocity, because Reasons.
That would be...let's say 5.5-6s cooldown.
VERY effective at long range, well past it's optimal, but 15 heat would limit it greatly up close (as IS mechs can't mount many DHS, generally not more than 20) and the cooldown means other weapons can fire 2-3 times for every time this fires.
More realistically? Between 1800M/s and 2500M/s? 2KM/s and 12 heat was the PPC meta (and 8 heat for the normal PPC, at 3s recycle). You'd want to avoid the perfect sync at 2KM/s the Gauss has.
For SRMs, isSRM at 2.5 damage, let's say 500M/s (up from 300M/s, and AC20 is at 650M/s for reference). Spread by whichever value. The isSRM6 has a 11.4M CoF right now.
Well in my opinion the heat wasn't the problem with PPCs. It was the short recycle that allowed higher dps with heat neutral ballistic that resulted in pop shot every three seconds. Overall I'd say drop heat to suggested and raise cooldown and speed (small amount). The velocity you suggest is way too fast in my opinion. I do agree that there needs to be a desync with ballistic weapons.
Then there of course is the argument it has unlimited ammo, but I'm not sure if the issue should be resolved by gimping the effectiveness of said weapon.
#12
Posted 01 October 2015 - 09:19 PM
Asymmetrical balance is pretty much impossible without creating niche situations in which one side is OP and the other is disadvantaged. That's the problem in MWO. Take a TDR-5SS and you'll be OP in certain situations, despite the fact it's still UP compared to Clan mechs in the majority of other situations. Balance is all over the place because the balance fluctuates constantly. Why do comp teams still take certain IS chassis into comp play? Because they plan to utilize it in a very niche situation/plan in which that time, and ONLY that time, it's a better choice than Clans. I don't care how good of a team you might be a part of, if you're attacking on Boreal against a firing line of STK-4N's hulled down, barely exposing their arms, you're going to struggle.
Since PGI stated that asymmetrical teams are NOT going to happen, the best thing they can do for the game is to balance the two sides as closely as they can to each other, and differentiating the tech differences with small things that don't have that big of an effect on the overall balance.
#13
Posted 01 October 2015 - 09:24 PM
Javenri, on 01 October 2015 - 08:33 PM, said:
Yeah you get the point. I'm seriously considering taking a long break myself. I'm not complaining about things being op, I'm complaining about lack of diversity and the fact that PGI has no interest in correcting the issues that have been around for over a year now. The latest "balance pass" really put me down with hopes and expectations of the future of this game. Everyone's bored with the stuff we got now.
#14
Posted 01 October 2015 - 09:27 PM
ugrakarma, on 01 October 2015 - 09:16 PM, said:
Then there of course is the argument it has unlimited ammo, but I'm not sure if the issue should be resolved by gimping the effectiveness of said weapon.
Too fast, maybe. But it's an 1600M range weapon, second only to the Gauss. It should be able to use that range effectively.
Revised proposition:
cERPPC: 1500M/s
isPPC: 1750M/s
isERPPC: 2400M/s
No heat changes, PPC to 4.75s cooldown, both ERPPCs to 6-6.5s
cERPPC lower due to damage and tonnage savings, but still useful.
Adjust velocity if it's too big, as that will make them able to out-trade lasers at long range.
Edited by Mcgral18, 01 October 2015 - 09:28 PM.
#15
Posted 01 October 2015 - 10:23 PM
Mcgral18, on 01 October 2015 - 06:20 PM, said:
The isERPPC could be the one down to 14 heat...but I wouldn't be against trying 3KM/s velocity, because Reasons.
That would be...let's say 5.5-6s cooldown.
VERY effective at long range, well past it's optimal, but 15 heat would limit it greatly up close (as IS mechs can't mount many DHS, generally not more than 20) and the cooldown means other weapons can fire 2-3 times for every time this fires.
More realistically? Between 1800M/s and 2500M/s? 2KM/s and 12 heat was the PPC meta (and 8 heat for the normal PPC, at 3s recycle). You'd want to avoid the perfect sync at 2KM/s the Gauss has.
For SRMs, isSRM at 2.5 damage, let's say 500M/s (up from 300M/s, and AC20 is at 650M/s for reference). Spread by whichever value. The isSRM6 has a 11.4M CoF right now.
Why would you want to avoid it? Lasers provide 50+ perfectly synced alphas but a lousy Gauss (x1) + ERPPC (x1) Shadowhawk can't have his 25? Same goes to AC20 and SRMs.
Edited by kapusta11, 01 October 2015 - 10:26 PM.
#16
Posted 01 October 2015 - 10:26 PM
I know some people will say "Light Fusion Engine", but let's be realistic here. The game is horribly imbalanced NOW and we have no realistic hope for a timeskip in the next few years.
Clan and IS XL engines need to be brought to parity when it comes to death via side torso destruction. Either IS needs to survive the destruction or clans need to die from the destruction. Yeah yeah, it doesn't work that way in TT. You know what, this isn't tabletop and there are already dozens of ways this game has ignored TT rules for gameplay reasons such as inflating armor values or introducing the ghost heat system. Clan tech may be more advanced, but the side torso destruction disparity is simply too great for healthy gameplay.
The clan XL engine is still superior due to its reduced crit space requirements.
The STD engine is not in danger of being obsoleted because the XL engine is large enough to prohibit stacking certain weapon configurations in your torsos.
As a part of the engine rebalancing, clan engines may very well need to be unlocked and allowed access to clan STD engines.
Start with balancing the engines, then we can progress towards balancing the rest.
Edited by GeneralArmchair, 01 October 2015 - 10:27 PM.
#17
Posted 02 October 2015 - 01:22 AM
But PGI will not listen to the competent guys.
Edited by arivio, 02 October 2015 - 01:28 AM.
#18
Posted 02 October 2015 - 05:11 AM
arivio, on 02 October 2015 - 01:22 AM, said:
But PGI will not listen to the competent guys.
They do (they think) - but only to a small club with only a limited point of view
and they don't listen to the theory warriors either (if only a small club again)
totally agree on the SRMs - not so much about the training needed to do some successful pop tarting.
Although the only reason it was so "imba" was the same as usual - team play or at least the absence of it
I understand that PPCs need more velocity so that Lasers are less tempting - cause of burn duration. But should pin point weapons really be so simple in usage?
Edited by Karl Streiger, 02 October 2015 - 05:17 AM.
#19
Posted 02 October 2015 - 05:24 AM
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Only the ERPPC needs more velocity. The ERPPC is meant to be a long-range weapon yet its low projectile velocity prevents it from being used as a long-range weapon.
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cERPPC: 1500M/s
isPPC: 1750M/s
isERPPC: 2400M/s
NO. 2400m/s are you nuts? Thats faster than Gauss. And why shouldnt the CERPPC be just as good at sniping as the ISERPPC? That makes no sense. Instead the higher damage of the CERPPC should be balanced out by higher heat.
Heres what needs to happen:
1) CERPPC and ISERPPC max ranges reduced from 810m -> 690m. 810m is obscene and makes these weapons do WAY too much pinpoint damage at long range. 690m is their canon tabletop range and would be much better balanced in MWO.
2) ISERPPC and CERPPC velocity increased from 1200m/s -> 1500m/s projectile speed. ISPPC velocity remains at 1100m/s because its fine where it is (the regular PPC is NOT a sniping weapon afterall).
3) CERPPC stays at 15 heat. ISERPPC gets lowered to 12.5 heat because the ISERPPC does less damage.
4) ISPPC either gets its minimum range removed completely -OR- gets its damage dropoff changed back to linear damage dropoff (so 5 damage at 45m, 2.5 damage at 22.5m, etc...). ISPPC should probably have a faster cooldown than the ERPPC too.
5) Give all PPCs a HUD disruption ability that has a % chance of disrupting the sensor targeting of whatever mech they hit for 1-2 seconds. This would give PPCs a unique ability that no other weapon has.
Thats how you fix PPCs for the most part.
Edited by Khobai, 02 October 2015 - 06:23 AM.
#20
Posted 02 October 2015 - 05:47 AM
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Against Scrubz? No, you dont need. To do it well at high Level? Yes, sure you need. It was the Playstyle with the highest Skillcap.
Edited by arivio, 02 October 2015 - 06:21 AM.
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