9 replies to this topic

[Monodominant]

Howdy,

I was gone since early summer last year and I remember there were bunch of changes incoming. There had just been a 'town hall' where the top clans were asked to propose changes to FP but also there was a new 'ghost heat' model being replaced and a bunch of new game modes.

Essentially what I am asking is...

What are the major changes since summer 2016 in regards to balance, Clan vs IS, new game modes, FP and any other major development (but not new Mechs... thats not that big a deal).

Whats the 'coolest' new thing? Back then LPL was King etc. etc.

[TLBFestus]

Town Halls usually consist of paid employees pitching softball questions to the developers. As a general rule nothing ever comes of it since PGI either doesn't listen, or tells us to just play the damn game they know better than the player base in almost every area.

Faction Play is still basically a graveyard. They added a scouting mode, and the did something to the "buckets" but honestly I don't pay attention to it since it's never been my cup of tea.

Ghost heat model was a failure, so no change.

There are more mechs, naturally.

Biggest change that seems to be in the works, and has had some testing on the Public Test Server is a completely new skill tree that will eliminate the long standing 3 mech model that requires you to level up 3 different variants of the same chassis to max them out.

Still...that's a work in progress and there's a lot that we don't know about it so it's hard to compliment it or diss it at this point.

[MechaBattler]

Faction play is now just clans versus IS with the promise of inter faction events.

Energy Draw didn't happen. The diaper filling on the forum was too distracting.

Instead new promises! Skill tree change. And they're moving up the timeline to 3068. New weapons and equipment potentially.

Edited by MechaBattler, 20 February 2017 - 10:47 AM.

[Jables McBarty]

Monodominant, on 20 February 2017 - 10:27 AM, said:

Howdy,

I was gone since early summer last year and I remember there were bunch of changes incoming. There had just been a 'town hall' where the top clans were asked to propose changes to FP but also there was a new 'ghost heat' model being replaced and a bunch of new game modes.

Essentially what I am asking is...

What are the major changes since summer 2016 in regards to balance, Clan vs IS, new game modes, FP and any other major development (but not new Mechs... thats not that big a deal).

Whats the 'coolest' new thing? Back then LPL was King etc. etc.

Couple changes to FP. I like them, but mileage definitely varies.

Scouting: They introduced 4v4 scouting. Current tonnage limit is 55 IS; 50 Clans. It technically objective-based, so while it is usually a Med/Light brawl, a quick ECM light can win on objectives. Based on the relative performance in scouting matches, teams in Invasion ("classic FP") get intel bonuses, such as knowing what 'mechs the enemy is bringing, a 5sec UAV sweep every 1 (?) minute, and a 5sec ECM sweep every 1 (?) minute.

IS vs. Clan: Everybody was rolled up into two MegaFactions and a single queue. This means no more queueing up to drop on a single planet. You click "find match" and it adds you to the queue. I personally like it--less time scrutinizing the planetary queues, and I seem to find matches faster. Again, mileage varies here, as others have reported different subjective experiences.

QP with Drop Deck: They also added most QP maps and modes to the FP rotation. They occur at different intervals during the attack phase progression. Just like QP, but with dropdecks, slightly longer timers (I think 25 minutes instead of 15), and higher objective goals (for example 1250 points instead of 750 for Conquest). As above, mileage varies. I really like these, as I find it produces actually interesting gameplay: Not the "one shot and you're done" from QP; not the "six minutes of walking to the front" of classic FP.

New Game Mode

Escort: One team gets an AI Atlas with a large chunk of extra armor. Team with the AI "VIP" has to protect it, other team has to destroy it. I personally like games that mix up the strategy a bit, but it has been... polarizing... to say the least.

Meta

Not sure what the "meta" is these days, I've generally stuck to my PPCs regardless.

Locust and ACH are most effective lights post-rescale. I'm a light pilot so that's what I'm most aware of--the 30 and 35-tonners got hit hard with the nerf bat as a result of rescale; many complain that humanoid 'mechs in general got hurt bad be rescale.

IS assaults with high energy HPs and massive XL engines are still best on that side; Kodiak is still best for the Clans.

Ghost Heat

"Energy Draw" was dumped after feedback on the PTS. They just tried out a new Skill Tree on the PTS. After feedback they are revamping and say they will re-release to PTS after Feb patch.

TL;DR

I'd definitely give the new FP a shot--it's slowly drawn me in. Escort game mode varies; biggest balance change was the rescale that nerfed most 30/35 tonners.

[Gentleman Reaper]

I'll go into full detail:

June:

Spoiler

-New Frozen City comes out, overall not as liked as original map, mostly because the large gap between the two city areas where the teams spawn. Plays a lot like River City now.

-Phoenix Hawk 45 ton IS Battlemech releases. Was pretty bad early on although it got HUGE arm durability quirks, still not a high-tier mech, but I find it fun.

-New Catapult 'Butterbee' hero releases, with 4 missile and 4 energy it's got pretty good hardpoints.

-Mech re-scale releases. All mechs are rescaled to have a uniform volume for its weight class. Some mechs get hit pretty bad, especially heavier light mechs. Locust gets ridiculously small, enough that it actually becomes viable. The large lights still need more durability quirks to compensate.

-Command wheel launches. Works pretty well but predictably PUGs don't tend to use it often.

July:

Spoiler

-Decals introduced. You can place up to 6 anywhere one your mech (yes, anywhere). Every subsequent patch added new decals.

-Supply caches introduced. One cache is randomly awarded to a single player every match, otherwise they can be bought for MC (you need to buy a key to open it too...). Reception is frosty, especially since it's exceedingly unlikely to get anything other than weapons or equipment (like MC or mechs).

-Viper 40 ton Clan Omnimech introduced. Not a high-tier mech, but the large number of energy hardpoints and the insane jump capability makes it enjoyable on maps like Bog.

-Viridian Bog updated. Main hill now accessible from both sides and day/night cycle added.

August:

Spoiler

-Cyclops 90 ton IS Battlemech introduced. Good hardpoints, and has a unique quirk to highlight its Tacticon B-2000 computer (bonus sensor range to all mechs within range), would prefer the quirks being something more useful though...

-Improvements to mechlab, namely favoriting mechs again and having multiple drop-decks for FP.

-Crimson Straight updated with day/night cycle.

-Energy Draw enters testing phase. Reception is fairly poor among a good portion of the community, after a number of weeks PGI announces that they are shelving it.

September:

Spoiler

-Night Gyr 75 ton Clan Omnimech introduced. Slower than the Timber Wolf, but significantly more pod space makes it a top-tier mech still to this day.

-Not much else aside from fixes and slight adjustments/improvements.

October:

Spoiler

-Huntsman 50 ton Clan Omnimech introduced. Has average speed for a medium, but good pod-space and hardpoint choices (lots of missile and energy), is a more frightning streak-boat than the Stormcrow, but slower.

-New Terra Therma releases. Still have only played a handful of games because people don't vote for hot maps...

-2016 loyalty mechs released. The Blackjack-2, Cataphract-3L, Hellbringer-F, Stalker-3Fb, and the Summoner-F and -M loadouts.

November:

Spoiler

-Linebacker 65 ton Clan Omnimech introduced. Has insane speed for weight class (97 km/h), but not much pod-space. Mobility quirks makes it act like a more armored medium mech, and makes it a decent skirmisher.

-Clan Wave 1 Hero variants available for MC.

-Small weapon tweaks, namely LRM cooldown buffs and Clan LPL nerf.

December:

Spoiler

-Marauder IIC 85 ton Clan Battlemech introduced. The good hitboxes and hardpoints with Battlemech build rules makes it a top-tier mech.

-Faction play phase 4, which combine the buckets for the IS and Clan factions respectively, and adds quick-play maps and game-types. Overall positive reception, as the combined buckets makes finding matches much easier and the QP map and modes play pretty well with drop-decks, especially Conquest.

-Escort game-mode introduced. The first asymmetrical game-type, where one team protects an AI controlled Atlas while it moves towards another point on the map while the other team tries to destroy it. Reception is mixed, it adds a unique flavor, but the random AI pathing often leads it into open terrain where the it can be easily destroyed, but the Atlas is extremely difficult to kill on tighter maps. Some tweaks can really make this into a good mode.

-Solaris map added for custom games, although it's not in matchmaking yet.

-Weapon tweaks, most notably Gauss max range nerf, MGs are somewhat viable again with a small damage buff and massive spread reduction.

-The beginning of shifting some mechs' structure quirks to armor quirks, which makes them overall tougher.

January:

Spoiler

-Bushwacker 55 ton IS Battlemech introduced. A decent mech, but not high-tier, thanks to varied hardpoints on most variants.

-Nerf to cooling if a Clan XL loses a torso.

-Continued shift of structure to armor quirks.

-Skill tree enters testing to mixed reception. The base is good, but the trees need adjustment to not encourage boating and better balance high vs low-tier mechs. PGI announces that the tree will be pushed back to the March patch while they listen to feedback and improve the system.

Upcoming content:

Spoiler

-Supernova 90 ton Clan Battlemech coming tomorrow.

-A new mech pack will be announced in March that heralds a timeline skip in the summer. Russ teases the IS Heavy Machinegun, which is 3068 tech, so it might indicate what year it skips to.

-Assassin 40 ton IS Battlemech coming in March.

-Roughneck 65 ton IS Battlemech coming in April. This is the first PGI created mech, and has been confirmed to be canon in lore.

-The Assault revamp gets renamed to Incursion, and pushed back to the April patch

-Javelin 30 ton IS Battlemech coming in May.

Edited by Gentleman Reaper, 20 February 2017 - 01:18 PM.

[Monodominant]

@ Jables McBarty
and
@ Gentleman Reaper

WOW! Thank you both for taking the time and for compiling everything. Really useful and I really appreciate it.

Just 2 questions:

a) Is Long Tom still a thing? If not was it just removed or replaced with something decent but not devastating?
b ) Is it me or did IS LPL get range nerf? I jumped in to a few of my IS mechs today and while I honestly dont remember ranges exactly I sure remember it going longer than around 300 optimal. I mean the main 'build' back in 2016 before summer was energy boating and I remember LPL dominating... half the energy builds had multiple of it... unless if you were a Black Knight RHODT or something.

Edited by Monodominant, 20 February 2017 - 01:48 PM.

[Jables McBarty]

Monodominant, on 20 February 2017 - 01:48 PM, said:

@ Jables McBarty
and
@ Gentleman Reaper

WOW! Thank you both for taking the time and for compiling everything. Really useful and I really appreciate it.

NP

Quote

Just 2 questions:

a) Is Long Tom still a thing? If not was it just removed or replaced with something decent but not devastating?

It's gone

They replaced it with the "Radar Jammer" which is effectively a map-wide ECM for about 5 seconds.

Quote

b ) Is it me or did IS LPL get range nerf? I jumped in to a few of my IS mechs today and while I honestly dont remember ranges exactly I sure remember it going longer than around 300 optimal. I mean the main 'build' back in 2016 before summer was energy boating and I remember LPL dominating... half the energy builds had multiple of it... unless if you were a Black Knight RHODT or something.

I don't recall if they nerfed the LPL itself, but I do know that they nerfed a number of range quirks last spring. Gentleman Reaper seems to have a solid grasp on the individual patches, so I'll of course defer to him!

[Davegt27]

the most significant thing was left out

some type of new system was added but we are all to dumb to realize it

[Mcgral18]

Monodominant, on 20 February 2017 - 01:48 PM, said:

@ Jables McBarty
and
@ Gentleman Reaper

WOW! Thank you both for taking the time and for compiling everything. Really useful and I really appreciate it.

Just 2 questions:

a) Is Long Tom still a thing? If not was it just removed or replaced with something decent but not devastating?
b ) Is it me or did IS LPL get range nerf? I jumped in to a few of my IS mechs today and while I honestly dont remember ranges exactly I sure remember it going longer than around 300 optimal. I mean the main 'build' back in 2016 before summer was energy boating and I remember LPL dominating... half the energy builds had multiple of it... unless if you were a Black Knight RHODT or something.

Long Tom Tac Nuke is gone, fully
Sensor scan replaced it (see everyone's position for a couple seconds)


Range quirks got nerfed, you'll rarely find more than 10%

[Gentleman Reaper]

Monodominant, on 20 February 2017 - 01:48 PM, said:

@ Jables McBarty
and
@ Gentleman Reaper

WOW! Thank you both for taking the time and for compiling everything. Really useful and I really appreciate it.

No problem, you asking this inspired me to make a document outlining any recent changes for anyone else that asks.

Quote

a) Is Long Tom still a thing? If not was it just removed or replaced with something decent but not devastating?

Like Jables and Mcgral said, Long Tom was finally removed and replaced with a short duration jammer. Personally I don't feel it's all that useful given the effort needed to get it. I would make the ECM length 15 seconds or significantly decrease the cooldown, even then it would pale to how insane the Long Tom was.

Quote

b ) Is it me or did IS LPL get range nerf? I jumped in to a few of my IS mechs today and while I honestly dont remember ranges exactly I sure remember it going longer than around 300 optimal. I mean the main 'build' back in 2016 before summer was energy boating and I remember LPL dominating... half the energy builds had multiple of it... unless if you were a Black Knight RHODT or something.

LPL hasn't been touched since your hiatus, but energy range quirks were capped to 10% on the vast majority of IS mechs because PGI didn't like the idea of IS lasers out-ranging Clan lasers... A lot of the old top-tier mechs like the Black Knight and Grasshopper also lost a lot of energy-related quirks.