87 replies to this topic

[Troutmonkey]

I really do enjoy the game, and I love playing lights, mediums and assaults. One day though I'd like to be able to take out my Grasshoppers and Cataphracts without having to wait too long. I'd also like to get the Marauder for Cbills but that seems unlikely as the heavy queue never seems to drop below 40%



Maybe it's time to incentivise playing other weight categories? Just give a 10% cbill bonus to whatever the least played class is when you press quickplay.

Edited by Troutmonkey, 19 February 2016 - 08:45 PM.

[Tarogato]

Incentive to play lights: most fun.
Incentive to play assaults: most power.


People who aren't seeing it are just missing out.

[sycocys]

It's been time for a long time, but PGI doesn't really care so that pretty much ends the discussion.

[RestosIII]

But, I don't WANT more people using my Sadcat. If they do, that means I won't get instant matches with it any more.

[Deathlike]

Role Warfare: lol what?

Welcome to AlphaWarrior Online.

[El Bandito]

Troutmonkey, on 19 February 2016 - 08:44 PM, said:

I really do enjoy the game, and I love playing lights, mediums and assaults. One day though I'd like to be able to take out my Grasshoppers and Cataphracts without having to wait too long. I'd also like to get the Marauder for Cbills but that seems unlikely as the heavy queue never seems to drop below 40%

Maybe it's time to incentivise playing other weight categories? Just give a 10% cbill bonus to whatever the least played class is when you press quickplay.

I frequently drop with my Timberwubs and Jagers without waiting for long. And that's on T1 queue. So I see little issue there.

However, it is a fact that the queues are favoring the Heavies all the time. Buffing Assault mechs' hill climb rate will definitely help bringing back the Assaults.

As for Mediums and Lights, PGI should create better objective focused modes, which requires fast speed to achieve victory--and most importantly, reward heavily the objectives, not the kills.

If I can get more C-Bills per hour using a Light or a Medium, then there will be little reason for me to use a Heavy.

Edited by El Bandito, 19 February 2016 - 09:02 PM.

[SkaerKrow]

The only class that doesn't have a niche already is medium. PGI is pushing heavies right now, intentional or otherwise, with the Unseen packs. Combine that with the fact that some of the most iconic and competitive mechs in the game are heavies, and yeah, the heavy queue is going to be pretty populous. I would like to see capping turn over more rewards, but honestly, have no problem with the number of heavies out there.

[Clownwarlord]

Two issues. One the rifleman just came out and so the heavy cue will be scewed towards the heavies due to people wanting to play their new mech.

The other issue is the lack of roles between mechs and acceptable pay for completeing those other roles.

[Zordicron]

I could get behind some thing like this, but it needs to be well thought out and adaptive.

Historically, the only tonnage range to really be consistently on the bottom is lights. Most of the rest depends on mech releases and weekend event type etc.

Maybe... instead of just being per player based (at time of quick play launch) it could just change every 30 minutes? Set up the data tracker to monitor for 29 minutes and then calculate and adjust at the 30 min mark. I think it would be less strain on the servers, I mean forceing the server to adjust on the fly for every player at every match is a lot of traffic. Collecting data and doing a one time(per 30 minutes) calculation and update would be one packet per player, twice an hour.

MIght lead to some occasional oddness, but would we really complain if there was a temporary flood of lights in the game?

I of course would much prefer a more standard role warfare approach, but "esport dreams" leave my faith in PGI to come up with a solid in depth role system lacking.

[Palor]

All of the 4 new unseen mechs are heavies, the heavy queue will always be overloaded. Nothing is ever going to fix/change the populations love of the heavy mech.

A little bonus for running a mech class with a tiny queue % would be amazing.

[Wolfways]

SkaerKrow, on 19 February 2016 - 09:27 PM, said:

The only class that doesn't have a niche already is medium.

Blame the light pilots. Not content with being scouts/cappers (?)/strikers they complained that lights were underpowered. Now some of them are the best brawlers, which should have been the mediums role.

[Deathlike]

Wolfways, on 19 February 2016 - 10:23 PM, said:

Blame the light pilots. Not content with being scouts/cappers (?)/strikers they complained that lights were underpowered. Now some of them are the best brawlers, which should have been the mediums role.

Say what?

Bad Lights are bad Lights. See Mist Lynx.

Just because the Oxide is the flavor of the month (due to unnecessary overquirkage), doesn't mean this particular double buff was asked for in the first place.

[Ex Atlas Overlord]

Troutmonkey, on 19 February 2016 - 08:44 PM, said:

Maybe it's time to incentivise playing other weight categories? Just give a 10% cbill bonus to whatever the least played class is when you press quickplay.

Or maybe it's time to actually balance the game.

Lights -> need to start actually not being capable of doing as much damage as assaults
Mediums -> need to actually start being faster and more nimble than heavies
Heavies -> need to actually stop having as much firepower as assaults
Assaults -> The fast ones need to be slowed down so that they're not in medium / heavy territory.

According to this -> http://mwomercs.com/game

Each class is supposed to have it's niche.

Right now, the only things worth taking from a purely "meta" perspective are the powerful heavies and lights....heavies are easier to use, therefore everyone flocks to them.

Edited by The Atlas Overlord, 19 February 2016 - 11:44 PM.

[His Holiness Pope Buster]

Roll back the mobility nerfs on the assaults or give all of them heavy structure buffs and you will see more people playing them.

[Ex Atlas Overlord]

His Holiness Pope Buster, on 19 February 2016 - 11:50 PM, said:

Roll back the mobility nerfs on the assaults or give all of them heavy structure buffs and you will see more people playing them.

With the amount of firepower PGI has buffed the so called "low firepower" mechs into having.... assaults will need serious ARMOR buffs to be where they're supposed to be.

And since we can't go back in time and un-power creep all the hardpoints they handed out.....

Edited by The Atlas Overlord, 20 February 2016 - 12:15 AM.

[Alistair Winter]

Like Atlas Overlord said, I think they just need to balance the game better. People play any given mech if it's fun and if they feel it's an effective mechs for getting kills and/or winning matches. You can't just pay people for playing light mechs or using NARCs and then expect balance. You actually have to make them effective first. The C-bill bonus helps, but it's not enough.

There are two problems though:

• Some people still think light mechs shouldn't be as good as assault mechs, because it says so in their 1980's TT books. These people are holding the game back. They don't seem to mind that light mechs and medium mechs are consistently the least popular mechs on the battlefield in MWO, which totally contradicts the lore they claim to be advocating, just as long as light mechs aren't too powerful. This is very important, because most people who defend this view happen to play mostly heavies and assaults. What a crazy coincidence.
  
• Some people still think that MWO is a Battletech game with Battlevalues, where some mechs should simply be more powerful than others. If they're Inner Sphere players, they may have accepted that Clan mechs shouldn't be better than Inner Sphere mechs. If they're Clan players, they probably still think it's bullsh*t that Clan mechs aren't superior. But their last line of defense is the light mechs. MWO didn't turn out to be the Battletech game they were looking for, so they can at least ensure that light mechs are the sidekicks of the battlefield, whose main purpose is to cap or defend base. If nobody wants to actually play those light mech, that's fine by them.

The duties of a light mech are to:

• Scout and constantly keep an eye on enemy movement throughout the battle
  
• Run directly at the enemy with paper-thin armour to place UAVs (for the teammates who don't read team chat and need visual cues)
  
• Defend base and hope there are no insta-kill streakboats there
  
• Cap bases and hope there are no insta-kill streakboats there
  
• Protect the assaults!!111one

The duties of heavy mechs are to:

• Do damage
  
• Get kills

Gee, I wonder why one is much more popular than the other.

[Ex Atlas Overlord]

Alistair Winter, on 20 February 2016 - 12:23 AM, said:

The duties of a light mech are to:

• Scout and constantly keep an eye on enemy movement throughout the battle
  
• Run directly at the enemy with paper-thin armour to place UAVs (for the teammates who don't read team chat and need visual cues)
  
• Defend base and hope there are no insta-kill streakboats there
  
• Cap bases and hope there are no insta-kill streakboats there
  
• Protect the assaults!!111one

The duties of heavy mechs are to:

• Do damage
  
• Get kills

Gee, I wonder why one is much more popular than the other.

1) If the firepower distribution was balanced properly you could add "take damage" to that list of what a heavy mech should be doing....but now it's just "bring a fast mech, get behind anything slower than you, insta-kill it".

2) The fact that assaults are virtually forced to have lights mech protect them tells you exactly how FUBAR the game's balance is.

3) The insta-kill streak boat problem is kinda the exact "hardpoint power creep" I was talking about.

4) Consumables never should have been added to this game, their SO "gay" if you will.

5) If PGI would actually implement info-warfare and establish lights as the best at that.... and then actually reward the players drawn to that playstyle appropriately the whole "Damage Dealer vs Not damage dealer" crowd would sort themselves into the appropriate mechs. Right now, people use lights b/c they get to Fast AND hard to hit AND do a lot of damage.


Ps. I pilot assaults b/c I like the immersion factor of being in a slow lumber mech, and trying to think 5 steps ahead. I hate fast paced COD twitch gameplay, hence I don't use lights.

Edited by The Atlas Overlord, 20 February 2016 - 12:43 AM.

[Dr Hobo]

Deathlike, on 19 February 2016 - 11:23 PM, said:

Say what?

Bad Lights are bad Lights. See Mist Lynx.

Just because the Oxide is the flavor of the month (due to unnecessary overquirkage), doesn't mean this particular double buff was asked for in the first place.

ERPPC sniper. Is the only thing I've found the Lynx goodish at.

[Dingo Battler]

The Atlas Overlord, on 19 February 2016 - 11:42 PM, said:

Each class is supposed to have it's niche.

LOL. This is so inaccurate its funny.

Scout: Just Nascar counter-clockwise till you see them!
Brawl: Now done by an Atlas!
Support: Prepare to get told off. Feast or Famine
Assault: The prey in NASCAR

These should be the new classes:
Laser Vomit: No skill needed! Just boat and shoot! No lead, no lag, hitscan!
Gauss Vomit: For pros only. Boat and vomit!
Dakka: Inferior laser vom. Great for Mordor!
Lurms: Boo hiss!

Game modes:
Conquest: Skirmish around Theta
Assault: Skirmish lite
Skirmish: Skirmish

[Khobai]

They need to balance the weight classes with role warfare skill trees

they dont need lame cbill incentives that try to bandaid the problem instead of fixing it