96 replies to this topic

[Archopex]

I think the title says it all. Just on a casual level, I'm wondering what the consensus is on the Dire Wolf's strength, specifically with the the Marauder 2C and Kodiak in mind. I'm assuming that all three of these mechs fill the same role, but it seems like a safe assumption.

Personally, I love the Dire Wolf. The amount of firepower it can bring just warms my heart. But I can't help to feel like it's lacking. With no structure quirks like the Atlas and low torso twist, I am always fighting the inevitability of getting cored. Defensively speaking, it just doesn't have any counterplay; too slow to turn or hide, to big to peak safely. These two things combined in conjunction with the large CT makes it feel vulnerable. I don't think I should feel vulnerable in the iconic Dire Wolf.
To clarify, I still enjoy the Dire Wolf and I'm not that frustrated playing it (at tier 4 mind you), but it just isn't what the excited kid inside of me expected. I think it'd be fair to give it structure/armor buffs to the CT, similar to the Atlas, to create the reverence it deserves on the battlefield. Given, torso twist buff would have the same effect and the bonus of countering mediums going for your back, but doesn't fit in the culture around the Dire Wolf; durability does.
This is with pub in mind, but it's too slow for clan warfare too it seems. So, I never really have the support of my team; otherwise, the Wolf would likely be fine, but this isn't the case.

I have the Kodiak, and it feels much more safe to play with its large increase in maneuverability. I have never played the Marauder 2C, so I can't comment on its effectiveness, but the consensus seems to be that it's pushed the Warhawk into the category of complete-downgrade mechs, instead of being a sidegrade. But that's a different topic.

But, these are just my opinions. I want to know: what does the rest of the community think?

[Bombast]

I think the rest of the community is more concerned by how 90% of the IS Assaults are barely workable, and the other 10% are straight up garbage. Or maybe that's just me.

Yes, the Dire Wolf has mostly been over shadowed by the Kodiak and the Maruader IIC. It's still a metric **** ton better than pretty much all the IS Assaults.

Edited by Bombast, 31 January 2017 - 11:03 AM.

[xe N on]

Victors feel with you

[CK16]

Dire Wolf C


Boom!
Direwolf good again

Ecm sniper turret, check!
Guided Missile cru...I mean LRM boat, check!

Say yes to Charlie kids

Edited by CK16, 31 January 2017 - 11:29 AM.

[WolvesX]

What is wrong with the Victor? Working as intended, or isn't it?

Spoiler

joke, its a joke. Yes, the mech sadly also.

Edited by WolvesX, 31 January 2017 - 11:09 AM.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

CK16, on 31 January 2017 - 11:09 AM, said:

Boom!
Direwolf good again

Ecm sniper turret, check!
Guided Missile cru...I mean LRM boat, check!

Day yes to Charlie kids

ECM won't make the Whale good again.....just like ECM didn't make the Stalker good again.

[Bradigus]

CK16, on 31 January 2017 - 11:09 AM, said:

Dire Wolf C

Day yes to Charlie kids

Sorry, but the C-variant does nothing to actually help the dire wolf.

We can already build Dire Wolves to be excellent snipers, either with c-ERLLs, c-ERPPCs, Gauss rifles, c-UAC/2s. Or we can build them to be medium range suicide bombers with truckloads of ballistics and/ or lasers.

The problem is that the Dire Wolf can't fight back favorably and sometimes cannot even survive an engagement where it doesn't catch its target off guard. It cannot torso twist because of torso movement being tied to engine rating and the values for a 300 rating engine on a 100 ton assault being so poor, so it is easy to kill (large center torso, upper body is literally a huge box, side arms do not shield sides in any fashion). Many will suggest that Dire Wolves be escorted into battle, but that in an of itself presents its own problem. The few mechs considered good need no escorts to get into the battle without being crippled, but the Dire Wolf can actually be locked down and murdered by a face hugging locust. There are instances where even a moderately fast 75 ton heavy like a Marauder with a wily enough pilot is able to circle a Dire Wolf in a fashion where the dire wolf simply cannot turn itself or its torso fast enough to bring a target as giant as a marauder into its view long enough to kill it.

If the skill tree enables players to take increased run and torso movement speed quirks and bonuses, then the Dire Wolf may return to being a real force to be reckoned with, but as it stands the Dire Wolf simply lacks the mobility to be anything other than a 100-ton one-shot-wonder throwaway or a base turret. Though to be fair, the skill tree bonuses will have to be akin to +12,5% run speed, +20% torso twist and yaw speed, and at least 10% faster turn rate for the Dire Wolf to not be a sluggish walking coffin. To put these numbers simply, with such bonuses the Dire Wolf would behave like it had an engine rating of 350.

More guns does not the Dire Wolfs plight solve. February skill tree might.

[Snazzy Dragon]

To be fair the dire whale is the only clan mech that can combine a laser vomit timber wolf with a dual gauss hunchback iic on the same platform

It's also one of the few mechs you can get an alpha strike of 160 on using entirely ballistics, SRMs, and small pulse lasers

[naterist]

Its a great dakka assault platform, but its better then the kodiak for holding a firing line. Kodiaks=great attackers of things, direwolf better for defending and holding firelines. Its the same with the atlas, its a killer when in a big group. It cant solo great and its slow AF, but if its entrenched with heavy and medium support, no ones gettin through.

Kodiak is focused more in many ways, yet seems to stand out way to much when holding a line. If it blends in in a murderball, it lives longer. As for what its got over other clan mechs is its weight. The warhawk is short for an assault and blends in pretty similarly, yet its lacking some tonnage. As for specific quirks for it, it has a clan xl, which is an IS pilots dream tank engine, so it already has the zombie side and weight savings, something the atlas needs to make up for its almost mandatory standerd engine.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

naterist, on 31 January 2017 - 12:14 PM, said:

Kodiaks=great attackers of things, direwolf better for defending and holding firelines.

This is false, the Kodiak is better at both of those things compared to the Whale, that's why the Whale fell out of use.

[Lostdragon]

The few builds the KDK can't do that the DWF can are not really all that relevant, the KDK is much more flexible and usually much faster with better defensive capability. I have about 1200 matches in DWFs and I bought the S when it first came out because I wanted JJ on it. I currently have no desire to play a DWF, the KDK is just so superior I find it impossible to justify taking the DWF and that is a real shame because I spent a lot of money on them.

[C E Dwyer]

Even without the proposed power creep, skewing balance even more, the Direwolf remains one of the most powerful chassis in the game if used properly.

It just looks weak compared to the Kodiak

[MischiefSC]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 31 January 2017 - 12:19 PM, said:

This is false, the Kodiak is better at both of those things compared to the Whale, that's why the Whale fell out of use.

There is nothing the Dire does that the KDK doesn't do better, faster and with better hardpoints, mobility and hitboxes. The KDK was designed to be a bit OP. The Dire was made way back in the day when PGI was still against selling power creep.

Those days are long past.

[Kangarad]

the dirwolf stands strong 2xuac 10 2xuac 20 for dakka or 6x uac 5 cant say no to that

and due to the recent dhs buff 4x uac 20 stands strong too. its just not the mbile dual guass dual ppC sniper or a srm+ balistics one.

Edited by Kangarad, 31 January 2017 - 12:54 PM.

[FupDup]

MischiefSC, on 31 January 2017 - 12:43 PM, said:

There is nothing the Dire does that the KDK doesn't do better, faster and with better hardpoints, mobility and hitboxes. The KDK was designed to be a bit OP. The Dire was made way back in the day when PGI was still against selling power creep.

Those days are long past.

Are you forgetting the massive power creep of the Clan Invasion, which was magnified by the fact that the literal best mech in the entire game (TBR) was paywalled for like a year?

The Whale also used to be the #1 assault mech BTW.

[MischiefSC]

FupDup, on 31 January 2017 - 01:10 PM, said:

Are you forgetting the massive power creep of the Clan Invasion, which was magnified by the fact that the literal best mech in the entire game (TBR) was paywalled for like a year?

The Whale also used to be the #1 assault mech BTW.

The TBR was so stupidly OP for almost 2 years. I farmed literally over 400 million cbills with that thing. It's why I have 118 mechs and haven't had to worry about cbills for years - I stockpiled.

Which is sorta the point - as stupidly broken and OP as the top tier mechs for Clans were and as much as the release of the Clans threw our standard alpha expectation from 30/35 to 45-50 at least the mech designs were carefully considered.

Now there's not even the pretext of balance. Mad IIC, KDK? Pure power creep. Blatant. Unapologetic.

[Dark Wooki33 IIC]

It is a garbage mech and it will never be good. No matter what quirks or pods it will get.

It simply is too slow. It is dead, it was doa, let this potatoemech rot.

[Navid A1]

CK16, on 31 January 2017 - 11:09 AM, said:

Dire Wolf C


Boom!
Direwolf good again

Ecm sniper turret, check!
Guided Missile cru...I mean LRM boat, check!

Say yes to Charlie kids

And auto-invalidate the already ded A,B,S,W, Prime variants?
no pls.



Direwolf needs 3 things to be the fearsome death machine it once was: More turn speed, more torso twist angle and more torso twist range.

Edited by Navid A1, 31 January 2017 - 01:42 PM.

[Gas Guzzler]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 31 January 2017 - 11:21 AM, said:

ECM won't make the Whale good again.....just like ECM didn't make the Stalker good again.

Well ignoring the skill tree, the Stalker had to pay for its ECM with quirks. The Dire has no quirks, so adding ECM is a straight buff. Not really going to shatter Earth in comp play, but I think that's pretty helpful in the public queue.

[xTrident]

From what I've seen of a buddy of mine piloting it the Achilles heel of the Dire Wolf is its speed, or lack thereof. Otherwise he found a build he likes pretty well with it and, for him, does pretty well. Especially compared to what he was doing before.

I don't know first hand because I don't own one nor have I really piloted one but maybe two or three times, but I don't really think the Dire Wolf is in as bad a shape as it sounds. It's just really slow all around and massive.

Edited by xTrident, 31 January 2017 - 01:57 PM.