Steinar Bergstol, on 11 July 2012 - 12:22 AM, said:
I don't expect fans of customization to bend over backwards to accomodate my tastes, but I do expect them to understand that _their_ preferred type of game is _not_ my preferred type of game and calls for me and mine to "go play Mechwarrior Tactics" are juvenile and worth no consideration whatsoever.
I absolutely understand that for some players the fun is found in using the weps on a variant as they appear in battletech source books. I, for one, would be all for a game mode where players may only select stock variants. Hell, it might even be fun for a Friday night with the lance mates. But when a win or loss is on the line, I would rather take my "go-to" custom load out.
donkeybas, on 11 July 2012 - 12:44 AM, said:
I think it is interesting people complain about these missile and laser boats, even though there are mechs specifically designed to be boats, such as the catapult and nova cat, which both have serious drawbacks. The gun boats are the ones that 2 shot assault mechs in MW4 campaign...and what many of the top online pvp players used to use as well, from what I heard.
Let us look a bit closer at boats... AC boats have a weakness: Range. Effective range is, what, 400m? Missile boats as well have a weakness: Range. They are all but ineffective at close range (LRM's of course). It is those pesky Laser boats that really have everyone worried. Once the developers strike a good balance between lasers, heat, and heat sinks it should all work itself out.... slightly off topic, but, does anyone know if there are plans for Pulse lasers? Was that a Clan development? Yes, I could look it up, but I'm not going to.
Someone brought up top players relying on boats "back-in-the-day" and I really don't recall this. Most top players used more practical array of armament to be effective across multiple ranges and situations, however, it was not uncommon in 5v5 fights for example to see one heavy sitting back launching salvo after salvo of LRM20's -- but that left his team to go 4v5 in close quarters ... more risk vs reward here.
If I recall, a typical Mk2 loadout in MW4 for me might have been:
LRM20 x2
light gauss rifle
gauss rifle
C ER Med Laser x2
C Med Pulse Laser
C Small Pulse Laser x2
geez I don't know if that looks right, but it's been years - but SOMETHING like this was typical of top players.
And one more thing on the tactics of multiplayer and customization: Armor Types. Reactive vs Reflective. One was more effective vs projectile/explosive munitions and one was more effective vs energy weapons. Do you risk it all and take a configuration with all energy weps, banking on the gamble that your opponent will have a energy heavy build? do you go with something more even?
Thesilentkil pointed out that what's really being discussed is Gameplay vs Story. I think this is very accurate and astute. But, to this I would say: There is no "Story Mode" in Mechwarrior Online. Past games had single player story modes, and, right or wrong, this one does not. I would love a story mode, it would be awesome to create a "Pilot" chose a mech that is "mine" and play through some epic story driven battles single player. When that was done, I'd think to myself "That was fun! The story was great and I really felt like I was there." Then I would proceed to never play it again as I dove into
competitive muliplayer. This is what this game is going to be centered on, I think. I am sure we all know what happens when you cannot optimize, adapt, and overcome in competitive multiplayer. My goal will be to be the best (even though I probably never will be) and I look forward to developing skill not only in combat, but in sound mech design.
Edited by SuperClone, 11 July 2012 - 03:21 AM.