I've been 'levelling' Centurions and Hunchbacks the last two weeks since I bought the mastery bundles so I've been mentally comparing them quite a lot.
Firstly I think that the Hunchback is exactly right, it's got excellent hardpoint placement, plenty of them, and can use a wide variety of weapon systems across the various versions. Before I played it, it was one of my least favourite mechs, a holdover from the ugly illustration in the Technical Readouts.
The Centurion, on the other hand, was one of my favourites from the table top game because in that game it has an excellent set of weaponry. However that does not translate as well into MWO, mostly, in my opinion, due to the lack of hardpoints, and total lack of high non-missile hardpoints, the quirks are rather underwhelming, and the mech is, frankly, rather chubby.
That said, I'm enjoying the awesome punch of the AC20 in the Yen Lo Wang and I'm getting better at using the AC10, although you do have to watch your positioning and exposure a lot.
What I would like the Centurion to have I some high right torso energy and/or missile hardpoints suitable to the various versions. An extra one or two high energy hardpoints across the board would be best for the meta as it's annoying to have an empty hardpoint when fitting a large laser to the Centurion's center torso.
Having at least two ballistic hardpoints in the arm on
each version would allow you to build for the type of autocannon you like. I personally prefer twin AC5s rather than an AC10.
The quirks would be nicer if they were more specialised, the AC quirks are good, but the missile quirks are bland, and the energy ones are pretty pointless with only two hardpoints. As others have already said armour and structure buffs would really help too.
Ideally, I'd like each version of the Centurion to have a more tightly defined 'role' in the way that the various Hunchbacks do.
It's definitely NOT a dead mech though!
Edited by Dogstar, 24 May 2016 - 01:03 AM.