1
Quote
The overall goal of the Energy Draw feature is to create a gameplay dynamic wherein a player can choose to focus on burst damage through Alpha Strikes, or sustained Damage per Second (DPS) through staggered fire.
We all know burst damage through alpha strikes works, that has dominated the meta since forever. More and more, however, I am starting to understand that DPS builds built around staggered fire will probably never work unless you completely eliminate the possibility of big burst alphas.
The DPS builds that work on live right now work because they apply constant pressure with a steady stream of autocannon shells. They are not frontline mechs, they tend to be fairly fragile and fill a firesupport role, but they can be very effective and fun. They are effective partially because of the suppression they provide through cockpit shake and steadily chewing up enemies.
Good players in alpha mechs facing a DPS mech 1v1 as it stands on live right now will instantly recognize they are being DPSed and dump an alpha into the enemy and move to cover or just get to cover immediately if they are at high heat or weapons are on CD. The alpha mech will try to hide and peek to play to its strength and the DPS mech's weakness while the DPS mech needs to be constantly maneouvering to try and maintain fire on the enemy.
This is where good teamwork and a good team composition can really shine on live. A team with DPS and alpha based mechs working together can push to devestating effect with a bit of coordination. The alpha mechs rotate in and out to cooldown while the DPS mechs cover them and keep them from being flanked. The firing line of the alpha mechs prevents a counter charge by the enemy to keep the DPS mechs safe.
Increasing the cooldowns of ACs and severly restricting the ability to double tap UACs breaks this dynamic and doesn't really replace it with an effective strategy for DPS mechs. Now on PTS they are forced to act more like alpha mechs because if they try to keep up that steady barrage they quickly overheat or they are just unable to due longer cooldowns.
The question now becomes does this shift the DPS meta to a new and better form? I do not believe it does. What this system is effectively trying to do is shoehorn more loadouts using different weapons into a DPS role by encouraging them to fire a group of weapons every 1.5 seconds (ride the energy draw, as the design goals state), however I don't think this is going to be an effective way to play in 12v12. Even if you are facing lower damage alphas than are currently on live you still can't afford to remain exposed for the burn time and energy replenishment of laser DPS builds with 2-3 groups or hybrid laser AC DPS builds because you will have significant down time between firings in most builds. That means you will have to basically play like an alpha mech with shorter cooldowns and seek cover more often while supressing less.
The only way that I can see a stagger fire system like this working is if no one can ever do a big alpha strike and everyone is forced to stagger fire all the time. That would be bad for brawling and striking, which respectively require a shoot and twist until CD is over and a stick and move strategy.
TLDR: I am afraid the goals of the system are inherently incompatible, that it is impossible to force a dynamic where staggered fire builds can compete with alpha builds. DPS builds need to apply constant pressure and the energy draw system combined with nerfs to traditional dps weapons effectively negates their ability to do that without replacing it with a viable alternative.
