77 replies to this topic

[SQW]

I'm sure I'm not the only person feeling frustrated at what appears to be complete newbies on your own team trying to shoot while leaving arms unbound to the torso.

If any of this happens to you, please consider re-locking your arms until you get much better at it:

1. Swing your arm reticle wayyy past your target and then swing back to compensate. The effect looks like you are trying to 'pull' your torso around faster with your arms. It means you aren't use to the two-speed system and still use your cockpit view as point of reference. Of course, you aren't hitting the broad side of a barn in the meantime.

2. Assign arm weapons and torso weapons to the same firing group ensuring some of your shots is always wasted.

3. Got the target in your arm reticle but still wait until the torso reticle catches up before shooting...I mean why? It doesn't happen all the time but it slips in more often than you think.

4. You are getting belted by LRMs and ACs and your just lost your CT armour. Shakes and klaxon is the theme of the day and you panic. Sudden, you forgot your torso and legs are already at max twist and you wonder why your torso reticle just isn't following your arm reticle to target that enemy mech. Because your torso refuses to budge, you instinctively try to apply point 1 hoping your arms might drag your torso around...thus ensuring none of your weapon can hit.

I think the unbound arm mechanic from PGI need some serious work (look at MW3 & 4) but it's the one we have right now. If you are an ace at it, all the more power to you but from what I've seen over the last 200 games, the vast majority can serve themselves and their team much better by just keeping both arms locked.

[Bishop Steiner]

Or take your lumps early and learn not to rely on a crutch?

We didn't used to have armslock. And IMO, armslock teaches people bad habits.

More frustrating than watching gunbound arms is watching someone with arm weapons getting rekt by a light because they don't know they can use their arms separately.

One of the best things that could happen is the removal of this crutch, or at least have it limited to your cadet matches only.

[El Bandito]

Once pilots are experienced enough, they can swap between the two to suit their needs. One should never have armlock toggled on or off permanently.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

Arm lock made the game worse IMO. However, it does make it more accessible to new players so I'm willing to put up with it.

[Bishop Steiner]

El Bandito, on 17 January 2016 - 06:28 PM, said:

Once pilots are experienced enough, they can swap between the two to suit their needs. One should never have armlock toggled on or off permanently.

Proud to be a rebel.

#armlockcrutchtoggledoff

[Bonger Bob]

< left shift > is your friend people, please don't be like this ^

i think Paul and / or Russ was considering disabling the ability to lock arms for high tier players. or was it the other way round ?!?!

either way, it is an indicator that yes, unlocked arms is for when you have basic skills down. even then, some mechs are just better off left locked anyways.

you've always got < left shift > to unlock arms as you need. ( unless you remapped it to something else )

El Bandito, on 17 January 2016 - 06:28 PM, said:

Once pilots are experienced enough, they can swap between the two to suit their needs. One should never have armlock toggled on or off permanently.

one of the few times ill agree with El Bandito.

summed it up perfectly.

[Alistair Winter]

[Bishop Steiner]

Alistair Winter, on 17 January 2016 - 06:33 PM, said:

Remember when our 1337 "don't need no crutch" meta tryhard overlords pitched a fit over the thought of losing it?

Pepperidge Farms does.

[Troutmonkey]

SQW, on 17 January 2016 - 06:24 PM, said:

1. Swing your arm reticle wayyy past your target and then swing back to compensate

You might be spectating a joystick user. This is a pretty tell tale sign

[Funkmaster Rick]

There have been times where I've aimed my reticle at a point far above an enemy 'mech. If your battlemech proprioception is good, having your arms unlocked is an absolute must. Developing good battlemech proprioception is best achieved by brawling with arms unlocked.

If an enemy 'mech is face-hugging you, aim your reticle at his LT, and fire with your left arm weapon, you might be confused when your shot hits his RT instead. You shouldn't be. This kind of awareness doesn't even require calculus, just basic algebra. Your face, your weapon, and your target form a triangle. The angle shown in your cockpit will lie to you - it shows where your looking, not necessarily where your weapons are aiming. This is why competent shooters stick their face right up against their weapon's sight and ADS - they're trying to make one of the arms on that triangle as short as possible to prevent misalignment on their shot.

Using armlock will just hurt the nubz in the long run; they may never learn to actually aim, especially if they haven't done any proper shooting in real life.

[the hedgehog]

I use both and toggle appropriately.

[LordNothing]

disengaging arm lock is nauseating. so i only use it when its needed.

[Aetes Nakatomi]

Armlock for me is constantly off. I neither desire nor require noob tools for aiming in a strait line.

[Metus regem]

El Bandito, on 17 January 2016 - 06:28 PM, said:

Once pilots are experienced enough, they can swap between the two to suit their needs. One should never have armlock toggled on or off permanently.

I only ever toggle it one, in my Dakka Wolf, otherwise its not worth the loss of aiming speed.

[ProfessorD]

Don't blame a perfectly benign mechanic that's actually working as intended. Blame the players that don't know how to use it.

El Bandito, on 17 January 2016 - 06:28 PM, said:

Once pilots are experienced enough, they can swap between the two to suit their needs. One should never have armlock toggled on or off permanently.

the hedgehog, on 17 January 2016 - 06:43 PM, said:

I use both and toggle appropriately.

There are times when arms should be locked, and times when they shouldn't. That's just part of playing the game.

[Khobai]

agreed theres times when arms should be locked and times when they shouldnt be. although armlock should be a toggle rather than holding down the button.

Plus the arm reticle definitely sucks and should be WAY more visible.

Quote

Armlock for me is constantly off. I neither desire nor require noob tools for aiming in a strait line.

armlock isnt just a noob tool bro

you can use it to move your arms back to center much faster than you can manually

you can shave off at least a half second or more

Edited by Khobai, 17 January 2016 - 07:43 PM.

[SQW]

ProfessorD, on 17 January 2016 - 07:26 PM, said:

Don't blame a perfectly benign mechanic that's actually working as intended. Blame the players that don't know how to use it.

There are times when arms should be locked, and times when they shouldn't. That's just part of playing the game.

I AM blaming the players. When players are consistently missing their shots because they are firing wildly due to having to handle two reticles, then it's time to aim with the torso.

I never blamed the mechanics nor did I say anything about keeping it locked permanently.

[FupDup]

I've spectated so many players with perma-armlock and watched them get utterly curbstomped without putting up much of a fight (if any). It's like watching a train crash in slow motion...

Edited by FupDup, 17 January 2016 - 07:38 PM.

[Funkin Disher]

Armlock really shouldn't have been put in in the first place. It was a big step forward for the PPFLD / Alpha meta.

[Tarogato]

The problem with armlock is that it makes it drastically more cumbersome to torso twist (and it actually makes you twist slower as well) If you want to play this game at level beyond "stare at the enemy until your CT melts", then you need to get away from using armlock. Like, you should really only be using armlock for very specific types of shots while playing specific types of mechs and you should have it on a toggle.