13 replies to this topic

[Tickdoff Tank]

Hello all, not sure if any of you remember me, but I am Tickdoff Tank. I was here in beta, played for quite a while after launch, was active on the Comstar channel and was also quite active on the forums. I have only looked at the forums briefly today, but I do not see too many names that I recognize.

I am returning to the game after a long hiatus and I would like to get a little information from the community before I dive back in. Partly to save myself some embaressment (I am sure I will get embaressed PLENTY already, no need to add more), and partly to get my head back in the game.

I used to be a primarily Heavy mech pilot, my favorites were the Cataphract, Dragon and the Jaeger. (The Dragon kinda sucked, but it was still fun to play). I also dabbled with Medium mechs, the Treb and Hunchback were amusing to pilot, but I never really considered myself an expert medium pilot. I suck at light mechs and only payed them for a lauch (which is what my opponents would do right before they blew off my leg). I always found Assaults a little to unwieldy for my tastes, but that may have changed.

I have no idea how the introduction of Clans has changed the game. Is IS still viable? Should I look at getting a whole new selection of mechs, Clan only? What about weaponry, Gauss still effective, or maybe a new system I am unfamiliar with?

Any help will be appreciated. Feel free to send my a private message, or respond here. I hope to find a few people that recognize me, and I hope to find some old friends (and enemys, lol) on my path to making more of each.

Edit: wow, still lists me as living in Clearwater FL. That needs to be updated Charlotte NC now, go Panthers! Keep Pounding!

Edited by Tickdoff Tank, 12 January 2016 - 07:33 AM.

[Kyrie]

Welcome back

IS is completely viable thanks to a series of Quirkenings wherein IS chassis get boosts to various stats (see in mechlab). The current meta, I believe, favors lasers over PPC when it comes to energy systems. SRMs are a bit weaker than they should be at present, but are fun to use in large quantities as a giant shotgun to compensate for lag on lights. Gauss is great, will always be great.

[LegendaryArticuno]

^ Why are you so focused on getting recognition?

[Tickdoff Tank]

Not so much about recognition, as reconnecting to people that I used to play with. I enjoyed the social aspect of this game as much as the shooting.

[Foxwalker]

Balance between IS and Clan is more a Chassis thing than anything else. Some in both are very powerful and some you want to leave in the Mech bay.

The interesting thing you will most likely find is that Chassis that were previously very powerful may be less viable than Mechs you previously thought were junk.

It is a Brave New Mech World for you. Have Fun!

[Soultraxx]

Welcome back.

If you were a fan of IS Heavies then you're going to love whats now available.

Marauders are my current fave because they just "feel" good and can sport a few different load-outs.

Theyre quite tanky as well - I was in CW the other day and went one on one with a splat Dog. After he died he posted in chat how he was "fed up with facing indestructable IS mechs"

[Mawai]

IS is very viable. Balance is pretty good these days though clans may still have a slight edge. Many IS mechs have "quirks" which can provide a wide range of possible bonuses (pretty much customized by mech .. including weapon/armor/structure tweaks) and are needed to balance out the clan mechs. I have both clan and IS but still tend to play mostly IS mechs.

There are lots of opinions on the balance debate still so arguments are almost inevitable.

Best advice is to get out there and try it. There have been quite a lot of changes to the front end UI (much better) as well as a long list of other changes. PGI posted a video covering their 2015 development progress that you might find worth watching.

They also replaced Elo for player ranking with PSR and they introduced tiers. Matching is supposed to span at most 2 tiers so that Tier 1 only gets matched with down to Tier 3. New players or returning players without a rating will start in Tier 5. The matchmaker still tries to get closest PSR ratings to "balance" the match .. the tiers just provide some hard limits on how far it can look for more players.

Best of luck!

[demoyn]

I'd suggest visiting metamechs.com. It has all the info a returning player should want.

[TheBlackMegadeus]

run the ingame tutorial it helps, turn off a few things in game, change fov if you so please, and check the twitters if you want up to date or incoming changes(also events, previews of mechs/maps ) Look good n careful on your mech's quirks the help a lot.

[5LeafClover]

demoyn, on 12 January 2016 - 09:53 AM, said:

I'd suggest visiting metamechs.com. It has all the info a returning player should want.

:-O
So. Little. Variation.

To summarise:
V Long Rang = Max out ERLL
Long Range = Max out LL
Mid Range = LPL + MPL
Short Range = SRM4 + AC20

Edited by 5LeafClover, 12 January 2016 - 10:39 AM.

[DjPush]

Start with your Cataphracts and Jaegers. Not as threatening as they used to be but still viable. It's helpful to come back and pilot something you were once familiar with. Run about 10 drops or so until you get a good look at what people are running. Spectate their builds when you die. Yada yada yada.

Welcome home!

[KHETTI]

Welcome back, good time to start playing again, lots and lots and lots of new things for you to find, have fun!.

[Darwins Dog]

You'll also notice some facelifts on the maps you were used to from beta. River City, Forest Colony, and Caustic Valley all for a pass for visual improvements and destructible terrain. RC and FC also got a lot bigger to accommodate 12v12 matches.

Be sure to do the tutorial too. You get 5 mil cbills for doing the first two sections.

[TheCharlatan]

Welcome back!
Fast rundown of the actual situation:

• Clan vs IS balance is kinda close, enough that people from both camps complain all the time.
  
• Inter-chassis balance is a bit off in some cases: for example, the Dragon is still crappy, but the Quickdraw has become a medium to long range powerhouse. Cataphract and Jaeger are in a good spot. Absolutely viable, some of their builds are even considered top tier.
  
• The most common build is LOTS'O'LAZORS. It works, it's easy to use and it's reliable. Also laser vomit alphas are brutal. Don't be surprised if you turn a corner and are met with a small light show that leaves you instantly cored (if you don't twist fast enough).
  
• Gauss has been nerfed hard lately with a very long cooldown. Still great at long range, it's now crap if you get pressured. PPCs and ER-PPCs work well only on quirked mechs.
  
• There is a cool tutorial that gives you 5 million c-bills upon completion of the first parts, and showcases some simple AI, which one day will become a fully fledged single player game mode (hopefully).
  
• Faction Warfare is out, and it's... in beta. Some like it, some don't. I reserve judgement on it. Try it out, but i suggest you watch some tutorial videos first.
  
• Some maps have been reworked, and now sport dropships and destructable objects like trees and lamp posts.
  
• Instead of selecting which gamemodes to play in, you are brought to a voting screen, where you can vote for a certain map and mode.
  
• Unseen mechs are coming back!
  
• Cool stuff like decals are coming! ETA "Soon^TM"

I hope i didn't miss anything.

Good hunting!

Edited by TheCharlatan, 12 January 2016 - 12:57 PM.