Tristan Winter, on 28 December 2016 - 09:59 PM, said:
Feast / famine is not really a useful term, because it's so inaccurate. How good is the feast and how bad is the famine? How often do you get a feast and how often do you get a famine? If there's a 50% chance of doing 1000+ damage and 50% chance of doing 0 damage, how do those numbers compare with the average pug numbers? And what if it's a 70% chance of doing 400+ damage and a 30% chance of doing 0-399 damage?
As for requiring your team to carry you, I disagree with that as well. If the LRM boat is bad and just sits behind cover, then it certainly requires the team to sacrifice their mechs to keep the LRM boat alive, which may not be a good trade. But that's not necessarily the case. And while LRM boats do need protecting, there are other builds that require protecting as well. Most dual gauss builds require protecting. I wouldn't say they're being carried by their teammates, this is just role warfare. You use your pawns to protect your bishops, or your pikemen to protect your archers.
You know, one of my best Clan mech in MWO is actually... my ECM Gauss Shadow Cat. I know just saying this is going to disqualify my opinion for many people, because it's such a bad build. It has the 3rd highest WLR of my Clan mechs, after the Hellbringer and Warhawk. It has a 1.54 WLR after over a hundred matches, playing exclusively in the solo queue. I know these numbers are nothing to write home about, but bear with me. My Gauss Cat works in the same way as an LRM boat. It works best if the team is able to maintain some kind of pressure. If my team totally collapses, then I am not able to do a lot of damage, because I have to spend most of my time running and disengaging. But if my team is able to exert some kind of pressure, then I can amplify their success by pinning down the enemy, killing vulnerable mechs, etc. Does that mean I am being carried? In a sense, they are carrying me by protecting me and keeping the enemy occupied. But in another sense, I am increasing the chance of a victory.
To carry someone means that you're contributing more to victory than they are. But if an LRM boat is getting 6 kills and doing 1400 damage, it probably contributed a lot to victory. It just required protection and, if the LRM boat player was bad, it required a bit of sacrifice.
I'd say this depends on the LRM boat. Your losses are worse if said LRM boat is just hiding in cover without sharing armour and not able to get a lock because neither he nor others is willing to reveal themselves.
I'm not quite sure what the last statement is referring to, it seems like a strawman argument.
I think the big problem is generalising. QP can't always be generalized to FP, solo queue can't always be generalized to group queue, and 12 man group queue can't always be generalized to 8v8 MWOWC matches.
In the solo queue, it's quite likely that you'll find a lot of enemies who are vulnerable to LRMs. And for most players, an LRM boat can exploit their poor awareness more than a SDR-5K can. For a lot of players, the LRM boat is a more reliable path to profit in the solo queue than the SDR-5K, even though elite players used the SDR-5K in the MWOWC and no one was ever seen rocking the AWS-8R LRM boat.
I'm not saying that LRM boats are the best mechs you can take to the solo queue, I'm just saying they consistently do well at any tier and that's why people are using them. They are feast and famine to an extent, but you can say that about a lot of mechs.
These arguments come up a lot and as a general rule are 99% fringe cases. Of the thousands of players running LRMs regularly the ones who are an actual boon to their team could all have dinner at a single (large) table.
Sure, if you, Jman, Panic Button, Novakaine drop in my match with LRMs no complaint. Same as if I see Proton drop on my team in a Jenner. Terrible idea for most people, he shows up in a dusty Jenner and I know I have to hustle if I want any kills.
That's not what anyone is talking about. The reality is that 99.99% of people taking LRMs are not carrying and don't understand why not. They are not learning how to position, share (as needed) armor or maneuver. Without joining teams who have players who can (and will) teach them they're just going to practice playing badly until they are very set at their bad habits. They'll fill their XP bar to raise tiers, get into FW and then refuse to in past the gates because standing behind a wall lobbing LRMs is how they play best.
LRMs don't carry, are bad and teach bad habits. Good players with good habits can take LRMs and carry anyway by having a good command of the game.
World of difference.