53 replies to this topic

[Snowbluff]

You know what this game has been missing lately? Stalkers when I started playing about a year ago, they were rather common, but now I haven't seen one in a while. I miss them, because they were a staple of the game to me. I remembering booping one right in the snoot with double PPCs from a trial Adder in one of my first games. Even one of my drop buddies had a stalker with his 'Nam style camo.

Is it just too hard for them to compete with the battlemaster now?

[TercieI]

The Stalker has been in and out of top popularity, but has enough intrinsically good qualities that it'll always have a presence.

I started about three years ago and the fact that I now actually notice CTFs and VTRs rather than seeing two of each minimum in every match...

[dervishx5]

Well that's what quirkening and weapon adjustments do. It drastically adjusts the popularity of mechs. The Blackjack was long considered a joke, then the tryhards/competitives/peoplethatbeatyou noticed the new quirks it got and suddenly it became godlike.

Paul's cycle is: overquirk -> overnerf -> repeat.

Some mechs miss out on this like the poor Vindicator & Mist Kitty, but most have their time in the spotlight and then disappear into obscurity only to come back later.

Edited by dervishx5, 09 August 2016 - 11:27 AM.

[martian]

Snowbluff, on 09 August 2016 - 11:18 AM, said:

You know what this game has been missing lately? Stalkers when I started playing about a year ago, they were rather common, but now I haven't seen one in a while. I miss them, because they were a staple of the game to me. I remembering booping one right in the snoot with double PPCs from a trial Adder in one of my first games. Even one of my drop buddies had a stalker with his 'Nam style camo.

Is it just too hard for them to compete with the battlemaster now?

I don't think so. Today I have dropped in a few missions and I saw two or three Miserys and some normal Stalkers.

Keep in mind that these days you can choose from 16 Assault 'Mechs (both IS and Clan), so it's not as one or two years ago, when you had Atlas, Victor, Awesome and Stalker.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

The need for speed and dakka is basically what killed it, after the Whale's fall from grace and the rise of the Dakka Mauler, the Stalker quickly fell in use because the Battlemaster could do a similar thing while going faster despite the worse hitboxes, and that pretty much sealed the deal.

[Appogee]

I still like Stalkers, but my playstyle relies more on speed of positioning.

So for the same tonnage I will more typically take a Battlemaster.

[dervishx5]

Also the SJW movement took hold and it's considered to be highly misogynistic to pilot a walking phallus.

[Appogee]

dervishx5, on 09 August 2016 - 11:32 AM, said:

Also the SJW movement took hold and it's considered to be highly misogynistic to pilot a walking phallus.

Especially with inappropriate (but anatomically correct) "deckles".

[Bud Crue]

Ah yes, I too miss the days of Stalkers and T-bolts dominating the IS CW ranks, with nothing but Timbers and Stormcrows on the other side. Every match.

I'll say this for our balance overlords, the dart board does make us shift around a bit for good or ill.

Could some dev beseech the great dart board to give the Victor and Orion some love (10 pts extra structure in the Vic STs is not much help) maybe the Highlander iic too. I rarely see these guys in QP, and I have never seen them in FP. They need another moment to shine.

Edited by Bud Crue, 09 August 2016 - 11:36 AM.

[0bsidion]

There's been a crapton of assaults released. Plus as others have mentioned, the quirkening happened, so between the two people have migrated away from it. AFAIK it's still perfectly viable though.

That reminds me, it was pretty solid in TT too. I might have to use a Stalker in my BT game when HBS releases it

[mailin]

Huh. I still take my Stalkers out. But, I tend to not get too bent out of shape over quirks. Stalkers are still really, really tanky.

Edited by mailin, 09 August 2016 - 12:03 PM.

[Monkey Lover]

What happens when you nerf them over and over.

[Appogee]

It'd be nice if Victors were able to become viable again. I really enjoyed piloting them before they became less agile than an Atlas.

[martian]

0bsidion, on 09 August 2016 - 11:41 AM, said:

That reminds me, it was pretty solid in TT too. I might have to use a Stalker in my BT game when HBS releases it

I agree. The Stalker has always worked for me in BattleTech too.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Monkey Lover, on 09 August 2016 - 11:44 AM, said:

What happens when you nerf them over and over.

Pretty sure they were only directly nerfed once, and that has nothing to do with why they stopped being useful.

[FrontGuard]

I still play all three of mine...
I do fine in them.
Well, for me anyway.

[dervishx5]

Monkey Lover, on 09 August 2016 - 11:44 AM, said:

What happens when you nerf them over and over.

As a mech gets older, it may experience difficulties being as effective as it once was. Your mech has reached the age when giving up isn't who you are, this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. So why let reduced function get in the way? Talk to your developer about Paulagra© .

Side effects may include Nerfing, Tryhard, Boating, Whining, Ragequitting, and in extreme cases, Death Threats. Seek immediate forum attention for drops scoring over 400.

[Snowbluff]

martian, on 09 August 2016 - 11:29 AM, said:

Keep in mind that these days you can choose from 16 Assault 'Mechs (both IS and Clan), so it's not as one or two years ago, when you had Atlas, Victor, Awesome and Stalker.

Ah okay that makes a bit of sense. ^.^'

[Narcissistic Martyr]

0bsidion, on 09 August 2016 - 11:41 AM, said:

There's been a crapton of assaults released. Plus as others have mentioned, the quirkening happened, so between the two people have migrated away from it. AFAIK it's still perfectly viable though.

That reminds me, it was pretty solid in TT too. I might have to use a Stalker in my BT game when HBS releases it

I love a stalker in TT. Especially in tech level 1 games. More so than almost any other 3/5 assault. It isn't over heat sinked and it has weapon loadouts conducive to bracket fire making it more effective at most ranges than say an awesome. Plus it has indirect fire and good crit seeking and even if it runs dry on ammo it still hits damn hard.

[meteorol]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 09 August 2016 - 11:47 AM, said:

Pretty sure they were only directly nerfed once, and that has nothing to do with why they stopped being useful.

IIRC, it got two direct nerfs. If i'm not mistaken, it had 20% (combined for energy and laser) quirks first, which got reduced to 15% (for everything) and then to 10% (15% for range) where it is now (5% energy, 5% laser heat/cooldown, 10/5% for range.)