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I dropped in a number of different mechs with different loadouts and hence playstyles to try and get a feel for gameplay from multiple perspectives. At the end of this post you will find a list of the chassis and weapons loadouts I used.
1) The Heat Sink Change: I feel that this is a solid first step towards addressing the problem with absurdly high alphastrikes and increasing TTK (though I personally think TTK is fine on live). As it was on the PTS it certainly reduced the ability of many medium, heavy and assault mechs to deliver back-to-back-to-back alpha strikes. So whilst high alphas still exist, there is now a window of opportunity for the enemy to escape while you bleed off enough heat to alpha again, or you have to switch to a different, less hard hitting, weapon group. This has also had the effect of substantially reducing the ability of laser vomit builds to effectively control the map as they can’t suppress multiple enemies with back to back alphas. An interesting note here is that mechs with low heat alphas, primarily lights, saw an increase in sustained damage output from the buff to dissipation. This would be a good change for high level play where currently light mechs struggle greatly (the effectiveness of lights decreases exponentially relative to the aim of the enemy). At low level play, the ECM change allows Streaks to function properly, and thus pilots with less than exceptional aim could still defend themselves against the increase in sustained damage from light mechs. Which leads directly to the next topic.
2) The ECM Change: I feel like this is a great change but I think range might need to be increased somewhat depending on how strong LRMs are on live matches. But make no mistakes about it, LRMs are worth bringing as fire support even when not boated now. I hope this leads to a resurgence of mixed builds.
3) The Laser Changes: This change did not feel good. I had matches where I did half the damage I expected simply do to the fact, even spamming “R”, I could not target enemies quickly enough when snapping off shots. The problem was most pronounced when playing an assault mech with laser weapons and unable to engage enemies past 500 meters out. Unable to detect+no lock = no damage from laser weapons on an assault. IMO pursuing an even lower heat cap with greater dissipation will bring lasers back in line enough on its own.
4) Sensor changes: This still does not feel right; especially when compounded with the laser changes. IMO all mechs should have 800m sensor range standard. Sensor range buffs should be given to lights so they can properly scout without being in enemy weapon range instantly.
5) Weapon Health: The effect on gameplay wasn’t super noticeable to be honest, but on paper it looks like a good move towards making MGUNs and LBX have a place on the battlefield. This should also help certain Inner Sphere mechs, like the Orion K, which carries its gauss rifle in the side torso.
Specific Recommendations Moving Forward:
1) Weapons still need to be balanced:
a) Ammo per ton needs to be increased. With the doubling of armor, ammo saw very little commensurate increase. I cannot begin to state the number of mixed weapon builds I have scrapped because I could only carry 1 ton of ammo for the AC5, LRM laucher, etc and found it more effective to just boat lasers. This would also go a long way towards bringing more diversified builds to community warfare where currently energy weapons are king due to longevity reasons.
AC2 heat/damage ratio is WAY off. The AC2 is supposed to function in part as a suppressive weapon, but it currently cannot fulfill that role because it overheats all but the biggest mechs that carry a lot of heat sinks. Lower the heat on AC2s and builds like Blackjacks with AC2s might be effective again. My roommate tells me that back in the day there was a macro that made AC2s fire like a machine gun, which led to the heat nerf. I don’t know if the macro works anymore, but just because people abused it in the past, does not mean this weapon system should be neutered.c) SRMs at a minimum need to have a velocity increase so that they are effective to their 270m maximum range. As it currently stands, SRMs are useless unless you are at point blank range because it is hard to land shots on moving targets with anything close to the full salvo. Tightening of the spread should also be considered if the velocity increase is still not enough to make the weapon competitive, but start with velocity first.
d) MGUNs need to have their damage substantially increased. Ballistics slots on light mechs are currently worthless due to this weapon being imbalanced.
e) PPCs are far too hot and heavy. Currently there is zero reason to take a PPC over an IS LL/ERLL/LPL or Clan LPL. I think a significant velocity buff is due here as well as possibly adding cockpit rock to the weapon. If PPCs start to be abused via poptarting, the JJ mechanic should be looked at, but don't nerf the weapon into uselessness because of JJs.
f) The IS needs the IS ERML. ERMLs are the bread and butter of mid-range trading and until it is introduced, all other fixes are simply bandaids.
2) Lower the heat cap further and possibly make double heatsinks true dubs:
Lower the heat cap until most mechs can still manage an alpha strike, but cannot follow up with a second alpha strike. The idea being here that there is a tradeoff for a front-loaded attack. I think the goal should be to bridge the gap between ballistics and lasers by taking away some of the continuous alpha of laser builds so that ballistics can better hold their own at playing the poke game, but allow lasers more sustained damage so that they do not get rolled over in a head to head engagement by ballistics. A possible way to do this would be to simply replace the heat containment skill with something else. Finding the right balance for this will probably take the most testing.
Mechs played:
Executioner with 6xERML 1xGauss
Arctic Cheetah with 5xSMPL no ECM
Adder with 2xERPPC 1xFlamer
Stormcrow with 4xERML 1xGauss
Ebon Jaguar with 2xLPL 4xERML
Maddog with 2xLRM10 4xLRM5 4xERML 1xTAG
Timberwolf with 2xLRM10 2xERLL 4xERML 1xMGUN
Direwolf with 5xUAC5 4xERML/2xGauss 2xERLL 6xERML
Warhawk with 4xERPPC/4xLRM15 4xERML 1xTAG
Edited by Kristian Radoulov, 15 October 2015 - 06:02 PM.
