10 replies to this topic

[VikingFarmer]

Dear Pgi

Could you please do something to encourage players to play something other then heavies. When the que is constantly 45-55% heaves, 15-25% assaults, and 10-20% mediums I do believe the something is wrong.

[DAYLEET]

New heavies are being released and will be for some times to come so nothing pgi can do about it.

[FupDup]

It's mostly because heavies are naturally blessed by the BT construction system.

• Being of the weight that they are, they get to carry a decent amount of internal structure and armor by default.
  
• Their weight also lets them carry good weapon payloads.
  
• The way that engines interact with mech tonnage intervals (speed is based on engine rating divided by mech tonnage) allows heavies to get pretty close to the mobility of many mediums.

Other classes:

• Assaults get even more guns and armor than heavies...but their higher weight means reduced efficiency from engines.
  
• Mediums get equal or better mobility...but they have noticeably less armor and guns.
  
• Lights tend to have high mobility...but they have very low armor and guns.

Basically, the other classes have more clearly defined weaknesses/drawbacks than heavies.



And then another factor that plays in is that the firepower advantage of assaults doesn't always play out since heat is the primary limiter of damage in this game, and all mechs are forced by Paul and the heat system to overheat eventually. This heat "wall" isn't much higher for assaults than it is for heavies, thus their firepower doesn't usually cap out at much higher than a heavy*.



TL;DR: They get to eat their cake and have it too. They are pretty much the "generalists" of Battletech, even more so than mediums because the heavy class as a whole does not have any drastic weaknesses. Heavies are essential "super mediums" in a number of ways. They're even scaled similar in many cases...lol.


*There are certain exceptions like Dire Whales and Wubshees, yes.

Edited by FupDup, 03 February 2016 - 01:09 PM.

[3xnihilo]

Wow, lights are so underrepresented they don't even get a nod in the OP?

The recent release of all of the Unseens (all heavies) has people very excited to try out their new toys. Their are two more coming out in the next two months. After that, the queues will probably drop back to it's normal 10% light 30% med 40% heavy 20% assault.

Edited by 3xnihilo, 03 February 2016 - 12:54 PM.

[Bilbo]

DAYLEET, on 03 February 2016 - 12:53 PM, said:

New heavies are being released and will be for some times to come so nothing pgi can do about it.

Well, at least they finally tightened the MM back up. Hopefully the wait times will discourage some.

[DAYLEET]

Bilbo, on 03 February 2016 - 12:55 PM, said:

Well, at least they finally tightened the MM back up. Hopefully the wait times will discourage some.

That's a good news, when did they do that?

[Boulangerie]

On the upshot, one bonus to running a light/assault is that you rarely have to wait long for a game to get started...

This is basically a cbill/XP bonus in the long run compared to running Heavies, as you will get more matches played in the same amount of time. Now, the Heavies will probably be scoring a lot more, and making more money, but it might even out eventually, after hundreds of games or so.

[VikingFarmer]

all good points above i just wish they would do something to actively promote people to drive something other then heaves, like a 5 or 10% cbill boost for driving mech classes that are under represented in the que

[Bilbo]

DAYLEET, on 03 February 2016 - 12:57 PM, said:

That's a good news, when did they do that?

Somewhere around this time yesterday.
https://twitter.com/...632505404583936

[LobsterPete]

Bilbo, on 03 February 2016 - 01:02 PM, said:

Somewhere around this time yesterday.
https://twitter.com/...632505404583936

Thank goodness. I was really tired of seeing Heavies in the light lance.

[Bilbo]

LobsterPete, on 03 February 2016 - 01:15 PM, said:

Thank goodness. I was really tired of seeing Heavies in the light lance.

It's not necessarily helpful to have more than one of them in the assault lance either.