I'd like to thank Scout Derek and Sandpit for the suggestion of splitting up my original post into segments as well as how to make everything here easier to read, as I have little experience making posts on these forums.
Small laser:
Spoiler
How it is now:
Pretty good for its weight, but make it ever slightly easier to focus damage.
How it should be changed:
Shorten the laser duration a bit, the SL should be a knife to the SPL being a scalpel, making it easier to focus its low damage on a single point.
How it is now:
Pretty good for its weight, but make it ever slightly easier to focus damage.
How it should be changed:
Shorten the laser duration a bit, the SL should be a knife to the SPL being a scalpel, making it easier to focus its low damage on a single point.
Clan lasers:
Spoiler
How they are now:
Clan lasers have been the point of argument on game balance since the introduction of the Clans in MWO. They have much greater range and damage over their IS counterparts, so much so that the longer laser burn time does little to balance them, as their effect with hitting larger and slower targets are virtually non-existent, making them have extremely powerful and long ranged alphas that can quickly cripple heavier mechs.
How they should be changed:
I know this might be a controversial opinion, but I think PGI should not rely completely on Table Top values for these weapons (although quite a few things were already changed, like pulse laser damage). Clan lasers should have their damage and range reduced, with the burn time reduced as well to make them easier to damage smaller and faster mechs. Here's how I think the damage and range values should be:
ER Small Laser: 4 damage, 180-190m optimal range
Small Pulse Laser: 5 damage, 140-150m optimal range
ER Medium Laser: 6 damage, 360-370m optimal range
Medium Pulse Laser: 7 damage, 290-300m optimal range
ER Large Laser: 10 damage, 690-700m optimal range
Large Pulse Laser: 11 or 12 damage, 540-550m optimal range
How they are now:
Clan lasers have been the point of argument on game balance since the introduction of the Clans in MWO. They have much greater range and damage over their IS counterparts, so much so that the longer laser burn time does little to balance them, as their effect with hitting larger and slower targets are virtually non-existent, making them have extremely powerful and long ranged alphas that can quickly cripple heavier mechs.
How they should be changed:
I know this might be a controversial opinion, but I think PGI should not rely completely on Table Top values for these weapons (although quite a few things were already changed, like pulse laser damage). Clan lasers should have their damage and range reduced, with the burn time reduced as well to make them easier to damage smaller and faster mechs. Here's how I think the damage and range values should be:
ER Small Laser: 4 damage, 180-190m optimal range
Small Pulse Laser: 5 damage, 140-150m optimal range
ER Medium Laser: 6 damage, 360-370m optimal range
Medium Pulse Laser: 7 damage, 290-300m optimal range
ER Large Laser: 10 damage, 690-700m optimal range
Large Pulse Laser: 11 or 12 damage, 540-550m optimal range
PPC/ERPPC:
Spoiler
How it is now:
More or less a slower firing AC-10 with unlimited ammo, the PPC is but a shadow of its former self. The rather slow velocity makes this weapon extremely difficult to land hits at long range, a role it's supposed to excel at, and, with the exception of mechs with large PPC velocity buffs, is tossed aside for the more-or-less equally damaging , longer ranged, lighter, cooler, and instantly hitting ER Large Laser.
How it should be changed:
Increase the velocity to be comparable to its pre-nerf values, with a slower cycle time and maybe even a charge mechanic a la Gauss Rifle to make the PPC a proper sniper weapon that requires good aim to land hits.
How it is now:
More or less a slower firing AC-10 with unlimited ammo, the PPC is but a shadow of its former self. The rather slow velocity makes this weapon extremely difficult to land hits at long range, a role it's supposed to excel at, and, with the exception of mechs with large PPC velocity buffs, is tossed aside for the more-or-less equally damaging , longer ranged, lighter, cooler, and instantly hitting ER Large Laser.
How it should be changed:
Increase the velocity to be comparable to its pre-nerf values, with a slower cycle time and maybe even a charge mechanic a la Gauss Rifle to make the PPC a proper sniper weapon that requires good aim to land hits.
Clan ERPPC:
Spoiler
How it is now:
Functionally identical to its IS counterpart, with the exception of dealing 5 splash damage to surrounding components. I'm not really a fan of how this was implemented, as it has no real effect on accurate shots, but otherwise makes it superior to the IS PPCs.
How it should be changed:
Make it deal 12 direct damage, but with either higher heat and/or slower cycle time and/or longer charge time compared to the IS PPC. This makes the Clan ERPPC a more powerful weapon, but requires more patience and accuracy to get the most out of it.
How it is now:
Functionally identical to its IS counterpart, with the exception of dealing 5 splash damage to surrounding components. I'm not really a fan of how this was implemented, as it has no real effect on accurate shots, but otherwise makes it superior to the IS PPCs.
How it should be changed:
Make it deal 12 direct damage, but with either higher heat and/or slower cycle time and/or longer charge time compared to the IS PPC. This makes the Clan ERPPC a more powerful weapon, but requires more patience and accuracy to get the most out of it.
Flamer:
Spoiler
How it is now:
Since the last patch, the flamer went from a low damage piece of crap to an even lower damaging piece of crap that generates a large amount of heat on target mech. While I'm happy that the flamer has more of a role now, the new mechanics in place are far too convoluted to make this a reliable weapon, and I feel the heat damage it causes is far too high for a 1 ton weapon.
How it should be changed:
Restore the damage back to how it was before, give it fixed heat generation rather than the confusing no-heat time limit, and lower the heat damage it causes. I feel that it should take persistence and a decent number of flamers to hamper a high heat mech, with a single flamer simply slowing down heat dissipation, 2 flamers stopping it, and 4 flamers being able to heat up a mech in about 4 or 5 seconds. This makes it so that a stock Firestarter should be able to accomplish the role it's meant for effectively. To balance the IS Flamer vs the lighter Clan Flamer, make the Clan version have slightly lower range.
How it is now:
Since the last patch, the flamer went from a low damage piece of crap to an even lower damaging piece of crap that generates a large amount of heat on target mech. While I'm happy that the flamer has more of a role now, the new mechanics in place are far too convoluted to make this a reliable weapon, and I feel the heat damage it causes is far too high for a 1 ton weapon.
How it should be changed:
Restore the damage back to how it was before, give it fixed heat generation rather than the confusing no-heat time limit, and lower the heat damage it causes. I feel that it should take persistence and a decent number of flamers to hamper a high heat mech, with a single flamer simply slowing down heat dissipation, 2 flamers stopping it, and 4 flamers being able to heat up a mech in about 4 or 5 seconds. This makes it so that a stock Firestarter should be able to accomplish the role it's meant for effectively. To balance the IS Flamer vs the lighter Clan Flamer, make the Clan version have slightly lower range.
Autocannon/2:
Spoiler
How it is now:
It's come a long way since the beta days, it used to be a powerful dakka weapon with its 0.5 second cycle time, then that was nerfed and the weapon fell into mediocrity, then it was buffed again with decent crit damage potential.
How it should be changed:
Hard to say, it feels weaker on lighter mechs, since they have to stay in the open to get its full damage potential, but heavier mechs can hoard multiple AC/2s, allowing devastating dakka builds like the 5 or 6 AC/2 Maulers. My idea was having its cycle time like it used to be, with maybe a lower velocity to compensate, but I think the cooldown quirks that lighter mechs currently have is the best outcome.
How it is now:
It's come a long way since the beta days, it used to be a powerful dakka weapon with its 0.5 second cycle time, then that was nerfed and the weapon fell into mediocrity, then it was buffed again with decent crit damage potential.
How it should be changed:
Hard to say, it feels weaker on lighter mechs, since they have to stay in the open to get its full damage potential, but heavier mechs can hoard multiple AC/2s, allowing devastating dakka builds like the 5 or 6 AC/2 Maulers. My idea was having its cycle time like it used to be, with maybe a lower velocity to compensate, but I think the cooldown quirks that lighter mechs currently have is the best outcome.
Autocannon/5:
Spoiler
How it is now:
Sort of the ugly duckling of the family, the AC/5 has no real strengths to make it stand out over the other ACs, especially the AC/2. You get only marginally better DPS than the AC/2 (3.0 vs 2.8), as well as identical damage per ton of ammo (150).
How it should be changed:
Increase RoF slightly, so that its DPS hovers around 3.2, and either increase its ammo per ton to 32 shots (160 damage per ton) or lower AC/2 ammo to 70 shots per ton (140 damage per ton).
How it is now:
Sort of the ugly duckling of the family, the AC/5 has no real strengths to make it stand out over the other ACs, especially the AC/2. You get only marginally better DPS than the AC/2 (3.0 vs 2.8), as well as identical damage per ton of ammo (150).
How it should be changed:
Increase RoF slightly, so that its DPS hovers around 3.2, and either increase its ammo per ton to 32 shots (160 damage per ton) or lower AC/2 ammo to 70 shots per ton (140 damage per ton).
Autocannon/10:
Spoiler
How it is now:
It now possesses the highest damage per ton of ammo of any autocannon in the game (200 vs the closest being the AC/2 and AC/5's 150).
How it should be changed:
Decrease ammo per ton to 17 or 18 (depending on how much ammo the AC/2 or AC/5 will have.
How it is now:
It now possesses the highest damage per ton of ammo of any autocannon in the game (200 vs the closest being the AC/2 and AC/5's 150).
How it should be changed:
Decrease ammo per ton to 17 or 18 (depending on how much ammo the AC/2 or AC/5 will have.
Autocannon/20:
Spoiler
How it is now:
Has by far the lowest ammo per ton of any of the autocannons (at 140), which makes little sense with the drawbacks of this weapon, like the heavy weight, low cycle time and limited range.
How it should be changed:
Increase ammo per ton to 9 or 10 (180 and 200 damage per ton of ammo respectively), depending on how the other ACs are tweaked.
How it is now:
Has by far the lowest ammo per ton of any of the autocannons (at 140), which makes little sense with the drawbacks of this weapon, like the heavy weight, low cycle time and limited range.
How it should be changed:
Increase ammo per ton to 9 or 10 (180 and 200 damage per ton of ammo respectively), depending on how the other ACs are tweaked.
Clan Autocannons:
Spoiler
How they are now:
Probably the only Clan weapons that are inferior to their IS counterparts, the burst fire is the big deal breaker, as it makes it difficult to focus damage and adds to the cycle time.
How they should be changed:
Lower C-AC/2 RoF slightly so it has less DPS than the IS version. Make the C-AC/5 single shot, with also slightly lower RoF than IS version. Make the C-AC/10 a two round burst. Make the C-AC/20 a three round burst.
How they are now:
Probably the only Clan weapons that are inferior to their IS counterparts, the burst fire is the big deal breaker, as it makes it difficult to focus damage and adds to the cycle time.
How they should be changed:
Lower C-AC/2 RoF slightly so it has less DPS than the IS version. Make the C-AC/5 single shot, with also slightly lower RoF than IS version. Make the C-AC/10 a two round burst. Make the C-AC/20 a three round burst.
LB-X Autocannons:
Spoiler
How they are now:
Complete and utter crap, the spread on these guys makes them not worth using at any range, as even near point blank you might have a pellet or two still not hit the component you're aiming for.
How they should be changed:
Their optimal range should be the point where you're able to get all the pellets to hit the CT of something like a Centurion, making the LB/2-X and LB/5-X relatively accurate. This spread would make normal ACs better weapons past optimal range, but LB-Xs be able to deal large amounts of critical damage to exposed components within it, and making them ideal for dealing with fast lights. This is the best way to balance them short of overcoming the technical hurdles of switching ammo types.
How they are now:
Complete and utter crap, the spread on these guys makes them not worth using at any range, as even near point blank you might have a pellet or two still not hit the component you're aiming for.
How they should be changed:
Their optimal range should be the point where you're able to get all the pellets to hit the CT of something like a Centurion, making the LB/2-X and LB/5-X relatively accurate. This spread would make normal ACs better weapons past optimal range, but LB-Xs be able to deal large amounts of critical damage to exposed components within it, and making them ideal for dealing with fast lights. This is the best way to balance them short of overcoming the technical hurdles of switching ammo types.
Ultra-Autocannons:
Spoiler
How they are now:
Really uncomfortable to use, as no-one like having random chance dictate how a fight goes, but otherwise overpowered should you be lucky enough or have quirks to lower the chances of a jam.
How they should be changed:
Firing again before the full cycle cooldown is finished triggers a longer cooldown, with Clan UACs having the same DPS whether you double-fire it or not, and IS UACs having slightly better DPS with double-firing to make up for the extra tonnage. The advantage of this is that you can burst fire, then turn away while you go through the long cooldown, giving an actual use for UACs without relying on chance and making them overpowered.
How they are now:
Really uncomfortable to use, as no-one like having random chance dictate how a fight goes, but otherwise overpowered should you be lucky enough or have quirks to lower the chances of a jam.
How they should be changed:
Firing again before the full cycle cooldown is finished triggers a longer cooldown, with Clan UACs having the same DPS whether you double-fire it or not, and IS UACs having slightly better DPS with double-firing to make up for the extra tonnage. The advantage of this is that you can burst fire, then turn away while you go through the long cooldown, giving an actual use for UACs without relying on chance and making them overpowered.
Gauss Rifle:
Spoiler
How it is now:
Relatively balanced, but otherwise annoying to use, as the charge mechanic is tedious and frankly doesn't make sense, or else the weapon shouldn't be able to explode if the capacitors aren't charged.
How it should be changed:
Remove the charge mechanic (with the PPCs having it instead), and lower the velocity to about 1700-1800, making it more difficult to pull off snap shots on distant targets, and preventing another Gauss-PPC meta. Lower RoF of the Clan Gauss so that it's not flat out superior to the IS version.
How it is now:
Relatively balanced, but otherwise annoying to use, as the charge mechanic is tedious and frankly doesn't make sense, or else the weapon shouldn't be able to explode if the capacitors aren't charged.
How it should be changed:
Remove the charge mechanic (with the PPCs having it instead), and lower the velocity to about 1700-1800, making it more difficult to pull off snap shots on distant targets, and preventing another Gauss-PPC meta. Lower RoF of the Clan Gauss so that it's not flat out superior to the IS version.
Machine-Gun:
Spoiler
How it is now:
One of the worst weapons in the game, the low damage and low range doesn't make it worth closing the distance just so you can get critical damage on an exposed component. Since this is pretty much the only ballistic weapon you can mount on a light mech, you end up with mechs like the Locust-1V where you can only rely on a single energy hardpoint, as getting close enough to use MGs is a death sentence.
How it should be changed:
Drastically increase thespread and range of the MG, to around 200-300 meters. I know TT has always had MGs as extremely short range weapons, but this makes no sense realistically as high caliber machine guns have decent range and velocity in real life. An acceptable range like this would make MG lights be able to engage targets more carefully, while making MGs much more attractive on heavier mechs to finish off targets at medium range.
How it is now:
One of the worst weapons in the game, the low damage and low range doesn't make it worth closing the distance just so you can get critical damage on an exposed component. Since this is pretty much the only ballistic weapon you can mount on a light mech, you end up with mechs like the Locust-1V where you can only rely on a single energy hardpoint, as getting close enough to use MGs is a death sentence.
How it should be changed:
Drastically increase thespread and range of the MG, to around 200-300 meters. I know TT has always had MGs as extremely short range weapons, but this makes no sense realistically as high caliber machine guns have decent range and velocity in real life. An acceptable range like this would make MG lights be able to engage targets more carefully, while making MGs much more attractive on heavier mechs to finish off targets at medium range.
LRMs and C-LRMs:
Spoiler
How they are now:
They are surprisingly well balanced to each other, with the stagger fire making up for the lighter weight of the Clan LRMs. The main issue with them is the inaccuracy of the larger launchers, especially the LRM-20, which way too often has missiles completely miss the target, making most people choose LRM-15s over it.
How they should be changed:
Decrease the spread on LRM-20s and maybe LRM-15s to match that of the LRM-10.
How they are now:
They are surprisingly well balanced to each other, with the stagger fire making up for the lighter weight of the Clan LRMs. The main issue with them is the inaccuracy of the larger launchers, especially the LRM-20, which way too often has missiles completely miss the target, making most people choose LRM-15s over it.
How they should be changed:
Decrease the spread on LRM-20s and maybe LRM-15s to match that of the LRM-10.
SRMs and C-SRMs:
Spoiler
How they are now:
Just like with LRMs, the larger of the launchers, namely the SRM-6, ends up being rather inaccurate compared to SRM-2s and 4s. Unlike with the LRMs, Clan SRMs have little disadvantage over IS SRMs, with IS SRMs only having slightly higher damage per missile, leading to a negligably higher DPS (3.2 vs 3.0).
How they should be changed:
Tighten the spread on SRM6s (maybe SRM4s too) and increase the cooldown time on Clan SRMs to lower the DPS, since they're easy to boat.
How they are now:
Just like with LRMs, the larger of the launchers, namely the SRM-6, ends up being rather inaccurate compared to SRM-2s and 4s. Unlike with the LRMs, Clan SRMs have little disadvantage over IS SRMs, with IS SRMs only having slightly higher damage per missile, leading to a negligably higher DPS (3.2 vs 3.0).
How they should be changed:
Tighten the spread on SRM6s (maybe SRM4s too) and increase the cooldown time on Clan SRMs to lower the DPS, since they're easy to boat.
Edited by Elit3 Nick, 09 March 2016 - 01:28 PM.
I merged threads, should look better now.