Posted 23 April 2016 - 07:48 PM
Personally, I don't care for heavy and assault mechs that use lrms because, as some have stated, there is a tendency for their pilots to hang back and not share their armor. However, I am equally irritated by heavies and assaults that use PPCs and ERLLs for the same reason, but they don't seem to draw the same amount of animosity from the community at large.
Personally, I like to run brawler assaults, though I may have LL or LPL to be able to reach out and touch some distant targets. However, I always spend the pre-match time in the lobby reminding players to lock on to targets. Why? because some people don't do it. As an assault, I don't have the speed to reposition when the numbers aren't in my favor. So you can imagine the anger I feel when I find out that some members of my team knew that 6 enemies were coming around the left side (or wherever) but chose to NOT share that info with the team by locking on to at least one of them.
I've also seen some folks claim that being asked to hold locks is obnoxious because you are being asked to put yourself in danger for the team's benefit. Well, guess what? Every time you ask the heavies and assaults to push, you are asking them to endanger themselves for the team's benefit. Would you like those pilots to respond with "push your damn self?" Of course not, that is selfish and counterproductive. The same goes for responding to a request for locks with "get your own locks."
But, perhaps there is a simple misunderstanding here. Perhaps folks don't realize that when someone says "please hold locks" they don't mean "stand directly in front of the enemy and let him destroy you so that I can fire missiles," they actually mean "I am capable of providing long range indirect fire support so please lock on to the enemy at your discretion." That sentence, however, takes a while to type or say, so instead of hogging the mic or filling the teamchat with a wall of text, they abbreviate it to "please hold locks."
And finally, to the people who claim that all the good pilots are already locking on to the enemies whenever they can, I would like to say: yes, but the less experienced pilots aren't; and the only way less experienced pilots will learn is if the more experienced pilots give them helpful advice. Advice like "please hold locks."
So, from an assault pilot who hates using lrms, I leave these final words: "Don't be a moron. Please hold locks. At your discretion."