TercieI, on 19 May 2016 - 12:19 PM, said:
OK, speaking as a "meta" player, versatility within a single mech is a bad thing, because you will lose to mechs that are specialized and playing in their area of specialization. Rule #1 of successful mech building is to build a mech that does one thing dominantly and play to that strength. So, OP, if you want a jack of all trades mech, I can only recommend you reconsider or resign yourself to being mediocre. If, however, you want a jack of all trades chassis, a few of those exist. Admittedly, most are on the clan side (TBR and SCR remain the two most versatile chassis, though neither of them is as dominant as they once were). On the IS side, a lot of folks will recommend the HBK and while it can do a lot of things, it doesn't really do anything exceptionally. The HBK-IIC is a bit different in that it can do a number of things very well (though is still weak as a missile brawler due to the mech's fragility).
That theory appears to be predicated on the conditions of a duel, where both parties are maneuvering for ideal position, which isn't how MWO operates. There's a reason "Teamwork and Focus Fire is OP" is a thing.
Let's say for the sake of argument we have a Lance of
TDR-5S with stock armament, and normal upgrades versus a lance of
TDR-5SS meta MPL boats. If the 5Ses spot the 5SSed at range they will get free salvo(es) of LRM15 and LL fire in which the meta 5SSes.simply cannot respond to. Indeed due to heat concerns of only being able to do a few salvoes with laser vomit builds the TDR-5SSes don't really want to open fire until they're within 275 meters of their target.
As a result if the 5SSes can't approach with good cover, they'll be rather worn down by the time they enter range. If the 5Ses have focused fire at all one of the 5SSes will likely be dead before they even enter effective range. Associated with this, the 5S Lance should tend to win such an engagement.
The specialized laser vomit meta on the hand will tend to need have circumstances allow them to engage at ideal range without previously being engaged in order to have a reasonable expectation of victory.
There's a rather strong argument that overspecialized meta builds tend to result in is a Mech which spends a significant portion of the Match are not contributing to the team because they're overspecialized for a single special situation. As opposed to flexible design which means you're not spending portions of the map camping out because your builds not designed for situation X, Y, or Z because it's highly specialized for situation W.
Something specialized like a HBK-4P or BJ-1 do have their place, but so do flex Mechs. Flex Mechs give your company the flexibility to respond to diverse threats and situations, which may fall outside the realm of specialized Mechs.
Edited by Jebe457, 02 June 2016 - 12:36 PM.