87 replies to this topic

[nehebkau]

@op Yes it sucks, but PGI has been pretty consistent in their response: "Would you like to buy a mechpack?"

[Commander A9]

I was actually surprised of the damage it did to fresh mechs when it first came online. That was unexpected.

Perhaps we can all reach an agreement to scout a planet only so long as artillery doesn't come online for either side?

[Bud Crue]

CW is finally in such a perfect state that PGI has commissioned that very impressive advertisement video to showcase the glory of all things CW, and that includes the longtom in its current state. Generally companies don't spend money advertising products that they are about to change. So for those of you holding out/hoping for another longtom fix, I think you will be waiting a while.

[PAYWALL]

maybe future mechs like the cyclops can disable the long tom for a short while in game with their mad infotech abilities. there's more to come.

[Deathlike]

You guys didn't get the tactical nuke info months ago?

I love using the Long Tom against the opfor (coordination is OP after all), but the original problems I had listed about the Long Tom (in the original FW posts about it) are still true. They fire too frequently and everyone panics (or totally don't know how to react) and it's too much a game changer for even the average CW unit that coordnates.

Even just changing the frequency to like 5 mins instead of every 2 would at least gives people reasonable time to prepare instead of panicking every other minute after the casualties.

Edited by Deathlike, 23 June 2016 - 11:36 AM.

[VoodooLou Kerensky]

Bud Crue, on 23 June 2016 - 07:10 AM, said:

I know I am not supposed to care about lore (I know this game certainly doesn't). I know this isn't table top, and I know we have double armor values, and all that. But my recollection from TT and even from MW3 (I think it was MW3) the long tome did 20 points of damage on a direct hit and then 10 points of damage to anyone adjacent to the main strike. Am I remembering this wrong?

Anyway, what we have in MWO does not seem like it any relationship to the "long tom" from the lore, but more like a nuclear strike. Regardless however of its lore, its damage output in this game, or what anyone thinks of it; it is in fact a game mechanism that is actively encouraging teams and individuals of all skill levels to avoid playing the game. In my humble opinion that just seems like a really bad idea. Meh. Its Russ' game. He knows best, I guess.

I dont recall the Long Tom being available in MW3 but I know it was in MW4 (Id strip a kit fox down to fit the Tom and 1 ton of ammo [8 rounds] and raise hell in Free for All matches. I got real proficient at Lobbing it in short and long arcs to good effect. Had to love it doing 56 points of damage 'The most Devastating Weapon able to be mounted to a Mech' as it was touted in MW4

[Bud Crue]

VoodooLou Kerensky, on 23 June 2016 - 11:48 AM, said:

I dont recall the Long Tom being available in MW3 but I know it was in MW4 (Id strip a kit fox down to fit the Tom and 1 ton of ammo [8 rounds] and raise hell in Free for All matches. I got real proficient at Lobbing it in short and long arcs to good effect. Had to love it doing 56 points of damage 'The most Devastating Weapon able to be mounted to a Mech' as it was touted in MW4

As I indicated I wasn't sure which game it was in. My point was more about the damage it does in MWO vs what it did in previous video game incarnations. It seems to me that it really out to be nothing more than a slightly more damaging version of the artillery strike consumable. Even double strength. But what we have instead seems to be off the charts powerful from the perspective of lore, TT, previous MW video games, etc. I don't care either way, but if the current state of the long tom is driving players away from the game mode, it just seems logical that toning it down to a more reasonable (or historical?) level would be a way to address it without pulling it from the game entirely.

As to its occurrence in previous games that I am thinking of...it was a solo mission where it ended with you facing off against a direwolf in a long channel. With gun emplacements around it. And you needed the long tom to blast through a door or something (you had to designate it with a TAG) to finish the level. Geezuz this was like 15 some years ago I think. I don't remember crap from that long ago yet I still have vague images about the game. And people wonder why we stick around this one even with all the disappointment.

[AnTi90d]

As long as it's in FP, some people will never come back.

It was a bad idea from the start to have a non-player cause damage and take kills away from the enemy, but it's been broken for so long that fixing its damage and keeping it will not cause all who abandoned FP to return.

..and I think that's something that PGI will never do. Russ wasted time and money developing it and he'll keep it in FP no matter how bad it is for the game mode and no matter how many players it has chased away.

[VanguardMk1]

AnTi90d, on 23 June 2016 - 12:21 PM, said:

It was a bad idea from the start to have a non-player cause damage and take kills away from the enemy

That's the dropship too. At least that one is confined to specific area's and does reasonable damage.

[Moonlight Grimoire]

How about we replace the Long Tom with an AI controlled suicidal Arrow IV Davy Crockett Missile armed Urbanmech, at least then you can watch as it gets dropped in at the team's spawn and waddles it's way into range and then launches. Of course it can't damage O-gens or Omega, just like consumables can't, because that would just be over powered. /sarcasm

I haven't seen a Long Tom go off yet, mainly due to only doing scouting drops since the changes to FP, should drop in with the FRR guys while we are back home in the FRR and get my face melted, or watch the pretty explosion, which ever happens first.

In all seriousness though it is rather over powered, hell, the arty strikes we can call in are regular Long Toms instead of nuke equipped ones. Personally I rather have say like a barrage of Arrow IV's (Not Nuclear, Ares convention still exists and was being followed at this time, if you want nukes being used go back to the 1st or 2nd succession war or forward to the Jihad) or mines deployed by missile to give strategic denial to areas of the map for a period of time, makes things more tactical and can force a break in the combat to change the momentum.

[Rizzwind]

The issue is FW isn't geared for 20 to 30 man teams anymore. You have to have a min of 3-4 scout teams to keep or take the long tom. And another 24-48 to really hit a planet to take. So if your not running 100+ players a night on avg no point in doing FW.

[DevlinCognito]

When it first arrived with a mighty splash and the wails of FW players everywhere I suggested changing it to 'Air Superiority' and the opposing team lose access to Airstrikes/Arty and UAVs while it is active as your aircraft take out the airfields and artillery batteries of the bad guys. However the more I think about it, I think someone earlier is right, PGI invested to create this feature, and I highly doubt they'll backtrack now.

Learn to love it, PGI gotta PGI.

Edited by DevlinCognito, 23 June 2016 - 04:18 PM.

[xX PUG Xx]

DevlinCognito, on 23 June 2016 - 04:17 PM, said:

I suggested changing it to 'Air Superiority' and the opposing team lose access to Airstrikes/Arty and UAVs while it is active as your aircraft take out the airfields and artillery batteries of the bad guys.

I tweeted an idea like this (based on the idea of an EMP) to Russ, perhaps if we get enough vocal support behind changing LT to something that doesn't chase players out of the FP queues they will listen.

So how about it? Any other good ideas for a final Scout objective that can give your Invasion team an advantage without being the over powered thunder god that is the Long Tom.

Edited by xX PUG Xx, 24 June 2016 - 07:13 AM.

[Carl Vickers]

But some really skilled units love to use LT to empty the queues so they can ghost drop their way to tagging a planet.

[Thejuggla]

Just gotta git gud and scout more right? LT= insta lose

[Ace Selin]

VanguardMk1, on 23 June 2016 - 07:21 AM, said:

I second the idea to deactivate all consumables at 90% instead of the Long Tom. That way there's a definitive disadvantage but no free damage/deaths every 2 minutes.

Yep, sounds like a good idea.

Khereg, on 23 June 2016 - 07:54 AM, said:

I think I was your opponent in that match and I must say we genuinely felt bad for you guys when it happened. I think we even asked our unit to stop scouting on the planet so it could be negated. IIRC, it was deactivated near the end of the match, but the damage was already done.

I am not a fan of nuclear long tom.

Agreed, the nuclear long tom sux. Long Tom - Driving people away from a game mode that needs all the people it can get.

Edited by Ace Selin, 23 June 2016 - 10:24 PM.

[MovinTarget]

The intel-denial idea sounds good...

Heck they could move that to the 90% tier and then LT requires like 95%+ and only dropped half the time (every 4 min?), they could keep their work and make it less easy to achieve and less of a game killer.

[Zito]

It seems many feel it is back to the original godly strength. I received this message back from PGI 2 days ago when I inquired...


Hi Zito,

We've followed up with QA and Engineering; the Long Tom code has not changed since the last adjustments made in the May 17th patch.

The amount of Damage Dealt to a component from a explosion is now based on that components distance from the explosion, along with the amount of surface area exposed to it. The amount of damage dealt decreases at a logarithmic rate.

• Explosions no longer deal Critical Damage.
• Long Tom Strike: Maximum amount of Damage that can be dealt to a single 'Mech is now 1650 DMG (150 DMG per Component).
• Long Tom Strike: Blast radius is 300m.

Destruction is still a possibility when you're located at the epicenter of the Long Tom explosion, but falls off at a logarithmic rate.

Alexander Garden
Customer Support Lead
Piranha Games

[xX PUG Xx]

Zito, on 25 June 2016 - 03:26 AM, said:

It seems many feel it is back to the original godly strength. I received this message back from PGI 2 days ago when I inquired...


Hi Zito,

We've followed up with QA and Engineering; the Long Tom code has not changed since the last adjustments made in the May 17th patch.

The amount of Damage Dealt to a component from a explosion is now based on that components distance from the explosion, along with the amount of surface area exposed to it. The amount of damage dealt decreases at a logarithmic rate.

• Explosions no longer deal Critical Damage.
• Long Tom Strike: Maximum amount of Damage that can be dealt to a single 'Mech is now 1650 DMG (150 DMG per Component).
• Long Tom Strike: Blast radius is 300m.

Destruction is still a possibility when you're located at the epicenter of the Long Tom explosion, but falls off at a logarithmic rate.

Alexander Garden
Customer Support Lead
Piranha Games

So basically it can instantly kill any 'Mech that is caught at ground zero and most likely a Light 'Mech at 300 metres from the strike point.

It still removes the one thing that keeps me (amd I imagine a lot of others too) playing the game, the actual 'Mech combat. If the L-T is killing or severely damaging enemies for me, why bother playing?

[Aylward]

Yeah if they think that thing is working as intended... It's definitely overpowered for this battlefield, and fires WAY too frequently.. Agree with Deathlike.. 5mins apart...maybe. Least you can move around the map.. 2 min increments is barely time to regroup after a blast. That's as many as 14-15 lethal, precision Artillery strikes in a normal match.. Is this ArtilleryWarrior ?? and with it in place, skittles can coast over just about anything. they just follow in the LT's wake and clean up...then fall back, wait for the next one and repeat. That's not cool. Time to start poking them more vigorously on this.. The dev team should be made to get in client and go into a FW match in game facing Long toms for a few drops, and then we see if it doesn't suddenly need "adjusting"..

Edited by Aylward, 25 June 2016 - 05:38 AM.