127 replies to this topic

[MischiefSC]

FupDup, on 14 October 2015 - 01:56 PM, said:

What I'm expecting is more along the lines of most laser mechs equipping BAP and/or TAG, or perhaps a new meta shift if the values are large enough. Let's not romanticize or sugar-coat here.



You're not setting the baseline very high there...

There are two advantages to lasers. Precision at range and low weight. That makes them superior to missiles and ballistics. These changes narrow that. A small increase in ballistic velocity narrows that up a lot.

We are reducing ttk and that means making weapons weaker. We are increasing the synergy effects associated with information systems. Remember, this isn't a bonus so much as reducing a negative. It also applies only to lasers shooting beyond optimal range. So either spend weight/modules to improve your sensor options or move the fight to closer range, or accept a reduction in laser effectiveness.

If we're going to even try to make IW relevant and role Warfare even a vague concept you need to reduce available useful information without it. Reticule flash going away and reducing laser performance at extended range without locks moves that way. Lets see how much.

Edited by MischiefSC, 14 October 2015 - 02:16 PM.

[oldradagast]

Tombstoner, on 14 October 2015 - 01:59 PM, said:

Just add a COF and be done with it. gives targeting computers something to do. heat goes up aim get worse. running at full speed its gets even worse... jump and worse still. critical hit to a gyro even worse. then add in a pilot skill modifier reflecting how elite your pilot is and let match maker use that to create some balance. kinda like how TT did it....almost like the weapon stats and mech design rules took that into account....odd that its not part of the game....

Ah yes its not TT or a sim but something for broad mass appeal....
the thinking mans shooter with severe positive skew. At this point PGI need anything and everything to lower damage. Otherwise as the time line advances TTK will drop problematically.

Exactly. What is being proposed is utter madness. Lasers somehow magically losing damage against unlocked targets even when they are burning a hole right into them. All it does it turn ECM into armor against certain types of weapons... just more totally random nonsense like ghost-heat. Now, they are proposing "ghost armor."

A variable cone of fire is the ONLY answer that makes sense at this point. Apply this to all current precision weapons - you know, the ones that are killing mech variety thanks to the 60+ pinpoint alphas at stupid ranges - and you've already vastly improved the game AND made it feel more like tabletop where all the damage didn't get applied to one location over and over again.

Now, for infotech, just tighten up the cone of fire when a lock is achieved, and you're done. All of this makes sense - unlike ghost armor and magical fading damage - is within the game engine's current abilities (we have a cone of fire for MASC, jumpjets, and machine guns), and lines up more closely with tabletop and Lore.

But, no... instead, we get ghost armor, random damage loss, and heaven only knows what else...

[oldradagast]

Illya Arkhipova, on 14 October 2015 - 07:24 AM, said:

Agreed. And I've tried to get this idea through time and again. But both Russ, and the Church of Skill people throw a hissy at the mere mention of CoF.

And until the people in charge are willing to put the dual Gauss + laser cheezeballs in their place and remind them that clicking a button and applying seemingly infinite damage to a single pixel is not "skill," this game will never move past where it currently is.

They can nerf lasers all they want - the pixel-perfect damage idiocy will just move on to another weapon, like Gauss. And what then? Magical damage loss from Gauss, too? And on and on it goes... sure, it may eventually increase TTK, but it will do so in a stupid, unbalanced, and totally insane fashion... and STILL result in near insta-kills once a lock is achieved and the 60+ points of pixel-perfect damage is delivered.

Cone of fire. There is NO OTHER ANSWER at this point that makes sense and doesn't further burden the game with illogical rules.

[Death Proof]

FupDup, on 13 October 2015 - 06:21 PM, said:

Lasers doing less damage against unlocked targets at certain ranges is especially derpy.

That's the one that bugs me the most because I can't think of any way how that would even makes sense.

I mean, target lock required to get damage detection on your HUD...Sure, that makes sense...but not this.

[InspectorG]

Kira Onime, on 13 October 2015 - 06:23 PM, said:

But didn't you know? Lasers need a red box to increase their damage otherwise they're too stupid to know they're hitting an enemy.

And giant humanoid warmachines need a human to pilot them? Why not drones? Or controlled from the Dropship? Or why not fuse the pilot's cloned brain trained via simulator into the mech's comuter?

BT is fiction, why do we need all the gameplay rules be based on physics?

And wouldnt the lock control the aperture like a camera to focus the beam properly?

I dont care what VooDoo PGI used to fix this game long as they fix it and its fun.

[oldradagast]

Jetfire, on 14 October 2015 - 04:34 AM, said:

Derpy... a bit, but it is a sort of magic convergence fix. They can't give us real convergence so laser won't converge without a lock past nominal distance. I don't think it's perfect... but it isn't terrible.

Why it is "terrible" is because it is a totally random change based on a refusal to address the problem - pinpoint damage. So, now this one weapon, for some dumb reason, can't deal full damage to a target unless the target is locked, which does nothing to help a typical target, but magically grants ECM carrying mechs a form of armor - against one weapon. And yet, I can smack the same target with PPC's for full damage all day... unless he's within 90m, and then those stop working for some other dumb reason, because the plasma ball apparently is totally harmless as it leaves my mech's gun...

How many more dumb, random rules - from ghost heat to now lost laser damage - can this game stand?

Edited by oldradagast, 14 October 2015 - 02:48 PM.

[SilentWolff]

While I like some of the ideas they have presented on the test server, lasers not doing full damage until you get a lock is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of. It doesnt matter though at this point. The game is dead, 99% of the people I played with have quit this game and stupid decisions are only going to hasten its demise.
I hate to say good riddance at this point, only because I have so much money invested. Never in all my years of gaming, have I been witness to a developer that has pissed away so much goodwill towards a community and so much potential of an IP like Mechwarrior, as PGI has done. They should be ashamed of themselves.

P.S. F Paul

Edited by SilentWolff, 14 October 2015 - 02:55 PM.

[lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol]

Mystere, on 14 October 2015 - 01:56 PM, said:

It amazes me how Oracle, a multi billion dollar company, is unable to fix old bugs in their PeopleSoft system -- which they charge millions of dollars in licensing -- and would rather just create workarounds while at the same time adding more features so they can charge even more money. *shrugs*

Good argument, it's probably because Oracle is in the same situation as PGI and lost the only person who coded it and don't understand their own programming. Oooooh or you could roleplay it and pretend it's LOSTECH, amirite?