Tincan Nightmare, on 14 October 2015 - 02:51 PM, said:
Again, think about this from the IS players perspective. If it takes 2 or 3 IS mechs to take on a single Clan mech, who is going to play IS? Yah there are some players saying they would be willing to play it that way, but how many would actually keep playing as cannon fodder? How fun would it be to launch into a match, do some damage to an uber powerful Clanner, and then get blown away hoping that you did enough damage that your teammates can capitalize on to bring him down before they die too? The only goal for a Clan win would be to get a quick 2 or 3 kills, then mop up an IS force that no longer has a numerical advantage and has weaker mechs. People forget that it wasn't just numbers that limited the Clans in TT, but also Clan rules of combat, where they tried to 'duel' their opponents and wouldn't combine fire on targets. In MWO, the Clan team will easily focus fire and just mow thru the IS team.
Look at how the light queue in matches is always so low. People flock to the heavy and assault mechs, because they want the more powerful unit, and don't want to use a more fragile/weaker machine. If Clans are just made OP as from lore, the majority of the player base will just start using Clan mechs, hurting wait times as the IS team takes longer to fill up (especially as it must be larger than the Clan team).
I don't think many are arguing that Clan mechs should be OP. Rather there should be a distinction in their ton-for-ton effectiveness. The present state is about right. Clan mechs are generally better, but not hugely so. To level them with IS steals their identity and destroys any vestigial connection with the BT story line. You may as well eliminate the Clans, give the chassis IS weapons and engines and then "balance."
Balance should be sought in matchmaking, not in radical systemic changes. Individual mechs and families of mechs certainly need attention, but this approach will just make mechs numbingly similar. A 55 tonner with four E hardpoints will be little different than any other 55 tonner with four E.
Match-level balancing is by far the easiest method too (once PGI learns to write a good MM). In open play IS/Clan difference is balanced through mixed teams. In CW, this means numeric balancing.
The slight edge Clan mechs have has not caused a flood of pilots to turn to the dark side. Nor does the current paucity of lights have much to do with players gravitating to big, strong mechs. Just a few months ago there were plenty of light pilots, myself included. It DOES have a lot to do with changes that render the light less effective and less fun. The laser meta, the poor visibility on new maps, the ground level "vegetation" that's taller than a light, and the outrageous blocks, rocks, stumps, steps, branches ...
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Lasers. Last I checked, lasers are by their very nature "focused." So what is being discussed is convergence of slightly separated weapons. This requires only a known range. And the reticule is a range finder. No additional magic "targeting" is required. Targeting would provide exactly zero additional accuracy unless an active system were employed (tag for lasers? Nah.). This arbitrary nerf is offensive and unrealistic.
Speaking of "realistic", I've read over and over that this is a fictional game in a fictional universe so they can make any change they like and give any explanation for it. Um, no, they can't. In fiction, "suspension of disbelief" must be EARNED by the author. They don't suspend my disbelief by offending my common sense.
A better way to tone down lasers universally and intuitively is to take a (quasi-)scientific approach. Linear attenuation as soon as the beam leaves the emitter. This is how real lasers work in an atmosphere. (It's actually not perfectly linear. Variables are involved. But generally, yeah, it's linear.) You can then make any additional needed adjustments to weapons without fritzing the stable principle.
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