47 replies to this topic

[Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon]

Hi, i'm a new player, a fan of mech genre, and i loved the game, but there is some serious things going on that make this game one of the worst experiences i had in a mech game. First off, i watched tons of vídeos before jumping into MWO because i find it a complex game, simple things appears tobe overshadowed by the community itself, making a lot of potatos unbalance the MM, but i'm not here to complain about this aspect of the game, but the meta as the title suggest.

I'm a assault player, love giant stomping robots, but then Polar Highlands, oh man, let the cancer start, i just play on this map because no one vote another, and even being with patiance someone come and lurm me to death even before the game start, even before i expose myself, i look around to see if there is a scout, closely to see if there is no ecm scout, nothing... and yet, lurmed to death, focused with artilary strikes, and no enemy on sight, surrounded by my teammates i go down, without doing a thing, ok this happened one time, but how come the developers make a map like that? It's jsut atrocious game design and i can't defend a game like that.

So, i don't play any game that stress me out, so bye, hope the game get's better some day for some of you guys that aren't meta try hards with lrm support and gauss ppc.

Also i thanks the community for being, for the most part, nice to me, and helped me a lot.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My suggestions before leaving, if it makes any difference saying it or not...

Make the map selection in pug random. This would:

Discourage the force of playing lrm or meta games on low tiers, since the game forces you to play the meta, since any brawler build will not stand a chance in polar highlands to make a difference and turn games in Team fights.

[Paigan]

I play mostly assaults as well.
And I like Polar. Sometimes it's tedious, sometimes it's awesome. All in all, it's a normal/good map.

It just requires the usual trivial tactics of any other map (and game, for that matter):
- Try to shoot without being shot at (meaning use range. If you have only brawling weapons, you are the problem, not the map or the team).
- Use cover (e.g. don't run into the coverless lurmlands of death in the center ir you are not sure where the enemy is and that you will be safe from the lurms).

LRMs are a tactical weapon that punishes carelessness and stupidity and they can be countered in a hilarously large amount of ways.
The funniest, especially on polar: ERLLs outrange LRMs. Stand fully exposed, press them into cover or even killl them and don't take any damage in return. Thinking man's shooter.

Edited by Paigan, 24 February 2017 - 03:15 AM.

[Reverend Herring]

I used to hate Polar when I started playing MWO. Then, after coiple of months on one glorious day, I finaly figred out that Polar is in fact not flat. Since then it's been one of my favourite maps.

(Also, I play assaults mostly)

[Alistair Winter]

LRMs need to be redesigned. There's such a large portion of the playerbase that doesn't like them. Either because they don't like being hit by LRMs all the time, or because they don't like using LRMs, or both.

Change their trajectory, change their basic stats, change the way indirect fire works and change the missile lock mechanic. Make LRMs more fun for the new players and more valuable for the elite players.

PGI just needs to go back and fix guided missiles, IMO.

[Yanlowen Cage]

The problem with Polar highlands isn't the map design. It is the mind set of most players. You can't play polar highland like river city nor can you play river city like canyon network. But in overwhelming percentages every map has a "accepted" tactic and that is what the teams are going to do if it works or not.
I can not tell you the number of times I have started tourmaline desert from the G6 side and said do not go into the "valley of death" (f6 to f7). Yet the team marches into that Valley and gets wrekt. Why? because that is how it has always been done.
For polar highlands the trick is to keep moving. The team that keeps moving normally wins. Keep eyes out for scouts and focus fire. and for pete sake if it's a lurm boat get close to it. Too many people camp on that map. you can't let the other team pin down your position or they will move on a flank and smash you.

[Tarl Cabot]

• You likely do not have radar dep.
  
• There are a few light/med ECM mechs that can poke their head just over a ridge/hill/etc to get a lock on you. Even if they back down, if you do not move the LRMS will hit the location you are in.
  
• The LRM player has Target Decay, locks are held longer. Slightly shorter if you have Radar Dep.
  
• Hit H (Thermal sensor) and look up. On some maps UAVs can be difficult to see with normal view, Polar especially.
  
• Also hit Thermal as it can make it easier to see the top of the light's cockpit if they have not backed down.
  
• A player does not need to keep LOS once Arty/Airstrike has been initiated.
  
• Repeat, while looking for UAV/ecm light, move to one side to another instead of backwards.
  
• If Narc'd in an assault on Polar...start bringing AMS to reduce the incoming damage and/or stand behind that Kodiak or another tall heavy/assault

As noted, camping on Polar is hazardous since there can be more than one light spotting, and it allows them to find a nice spot to peek at the team. And there is the equipment that extends their sensor ranges such as BAP/CAP (25%), Sensor Range module (max 25%) and Clan's Targeting Computers, so constantly moving forces any spotters to move/abandon their locations and might make it easier to spot them.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 24 February 2017 - 04:11 AM.

[The Unstoppable Puggernaut]

I believe this is the problem.

On polar, LRM's are very effective, couple with NARC it's a winning solution. Unless you only have one or two LRMers on the team.

I think the 12 man drop should actually have roles that need filling. Only once a side has a balance of scouts, support and fighters should the team be launched.

Example, yesterday we lost on Grim Dom. We had 1 light mech which was too stupid to get into the circle. Two slow mediums, the rest all heavy/assault. It was another rubbish peaceful loss where only 1 or 2 people died in total and that was the end of the game.

A lance of lights is far more daring and can cause lots of havoc but there's nothing in there for those players.

[El Bandito]

Bring AMS. If everyone brings AMS, LRMs will be history.

[Roadbuster]

The problem is not the map, and it's not the loadout of a mech (at least in most cases).
It's players who are unaware of their surroundings and don't care about tactics and teamplay.

It's incredibly easy to flank on Polar. So if a team has some LRMs and 1-2 lights flanking, that can be enough to win the match, if the opponent doesn't know how to react. This happens alot.
The other way to win/lose on Polar, is a coordinated push, or the inability to counter a push.
Oh and not shooting down UAVs is also a very common mistake.

On "bad" teams I always notice how the team ignores tactical information.
Flanking mechs are ignored, UAVs don't get shot down, the team is passive and waiting for...something.

In MWO it's usually the passive team that loses, except the team has superior positioning and all of them know what they are doing. Something you will see very rarely in QP.


I agree that Polar can be bad if you have a passive team and you sit in a slow moving brawler. You can't do much on your own. It's a teamgame after all.

[Alistair Winter]

El Bandito, on 24 February 2017 - 04:11 AM, said:

Bring AMS. If everyone brings AMS, LRMs will be history.

I find that categorical imperative is not the most effective philosophy for building mechs.

[Rakshasa]

El Bandito, on 24 February 2017 - 04:11 AM, said:

Bring AMS. If everyone brings AMS, LRMs will be history.

Our pug team on Tourmaline yesterday was saved by a KFX with AMS who stood between us fatties, valiantly scything down the endless barrage of LRM's the enemy team had dropped with. They couldn't save us all, but they saved enough and the survivors carried the day.

Thanks again, KFX. You know who you are

[Bud Crue]

High hard points and AC2s (or even Gauss, but the LRMers usually duck out of the way from Gauss) for the best polar experience.

IMHO, there is no more fun experience in this game than getting polar highlands with masses of LRMers on the enemy team when I am running AC2s. They stand their LRMing and I just blast away outside their range. Often they don't even move and keep firing at me even though I am clearly beyond their range (alas they almost always duck away from gauss but often not from rapid fire AC2s for some reason). So OP, try a Black Jack (2AC2) or a Jagger (4) or even a Mauler (6) and make a conscious effort to stay back and enjoy the fun.

[Tarogato]

Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, on 24 February 2017 - 02:44 AM, said:

Hi, i'm a new player, a fan of mech genre, and i loved the game, but there is some serious things going on that make this game one of the worst experiences i had in a mech game. First off, i watched tons of vídeos before jumping into MWO because i find it a complex game, simple things appears tobe overshadowed by the community itself, making a lot of potatos unbalance the MM, but i'm not here to complain about this aspect of the game, but the meta as the title suggest.

I'm a assault player, love giant stomping robots, but then Polar Highlands, oh man, let the cancer start, i just play on this map because no one vote another, and even being with patiance someone come and lurm me to death even before the game start, even before i expose myself, i look around to see if there is a scout, closely to see if there is no ecm scout, nothing... and yet, lurmed to death, focused with artilary strikes, and no enemy on sight, surrounded by my teammates i go down, without doing a thing, ok this happened one time, but how come the developers make a map like that? It's jsut atrocious game design and i can't defend a game like that.

So, i don't play any game that stress me out, so bye, hope the game get's better some day for some of you guys that aren't meta try hards with lrm support and gauss ppc.

Also i thanks the community for being, for the most part, nice to me, and helped me a lot.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My suggestions before leaving, if it makes any difference saying it or not...

Make the map selection in pug random. This would:

Discourage the force of playing lrm or meta games on low tiers, since the game forces you to play the meta, since any brawler build will not stand a chance in polar highlands to make a difference and turn games in Team fights.

LRMs have three direct counters.

- AMS
- Radar Deprivation module
- ECM

If you're not using two out of those three, then you have no right to complain about LRMs. Try them out. Also, once you spend some time learning how LRMs work, learning how your mech works, and how the maps work, then you'll generally not have a problem with LRMs even if you take none of those counters.

Unless you get Narc'd. Which is the most bullshjt thing I've ever heard of in any game. Thankfully, not many people run Narc.

[Cy Mitchell]

Rakshasa, on 24 February 2017 - 04:41 AM, said:

Our pug team on Tourmaline yesterday was saved by a KFX with AMS who stood between us fatties, valiantly scything down the endless barrage of LRM's the enemy team had dropped with. They couldn't save us all, but they saved enough and the survivors carried the day.

Thanks again, KFX. You know who you are

And all he will get for his efforts is your thanks because he will not garner much XP or C-Bills for it. That is one of the problems that causes people to leave AMS behind so they can shove in one more weapon or heatsink and thus spit out a little more damage that DOES pay well.



To the OP: LRMs do not magically come out of the sky and kill you. If you were getting hammered by them then you were either:
1. NARCed
2. Under the influence of any enemy UAV
3. In the line of sight of a spotter
4. In the line of sight of the LRM Mech

You just did not realize what was happening because you do not as yet have enough experience in the game to recognize what is going on around you. Because you have said that you are quitting it looks like you never will.

[Skipmagnet]

I really wish that LRM had a grenade mechanic instead of a lock mechanic. Like, in my perfect world, only streaks and Narc wild allow missile lock, and unlocked LRM would have an arc display, much like the arrow on the ground for your feet, showing where they will hit, with the option to use your mouse wheel to fiddle with the arc of your missiles.

A man can dream.

[R Valentine]

I've never found LRMs themselves on Polar Highlands to be the problem. It's the idiots who freeze/run/duck behind a hill whenever they see "incoming missile" that's the problem. Everyone gets the deer in the headlights look when missiles come their way. People walk backwards(S is most definitely for suck). People run away from LRM mechs instead of towards them(W is for win). In the end, people end up dying with no enemies in sight because they can't be bothered to go where they can see the enemy. They'd rather whine and die. I don't know how many times you can iterate that the teams that move always beat the teams that don't. If LRMs are the problem, go kill the LRM mechs, and when people call to move out of cover and charge, that does not mean everyone but you. I don't care if you've mounted dual gauss/PPC or LRMs, get your @ss up on the line and help distribute damage. Hill hiders and peeking are the cancer that allows LRM mechs to run rampant. Try not doing it for a change.

[Novakaine]

Oh my gawd.
The absolutely worst designed weapon in the game.
Multiple hard counters.
And people still complain.
Sheesh.

[Roughneck45]

Novakaine, on 24 February 2017 - 08:46 AM, said:

Oh my gawd.
The absolutely worst designed weapon in the game.
Multiple hard counters.
And people still complain.
Sheesh.

To be fair, Polar is a hard counter for some of those hard counters lol.

Poor OP, he didn't last a week

Edited by Roughneck45, 24 February 2017 - 09:12 AM.

[Coolant]

In MW4:Mercs you knew the map beforehand and could change your mech or loadout beforehand - you normally had 2 minutes to do so before the map launched.

Unfortunately, you can't do that in MWO, but here's hoping one day it changes.

[Idealsuspect]

Agaisnt lrms it's easy you check around you, find a big rock or building and use it as cover...

Well no rocks no buildings around ? Hide behind a tall mech like grasshopper atlas highlanders ..
What no mechs around you ? Stop soloing if you arent able to flank properly and play with your team.
What you don't have any team around or you aren't able use ground for flank properly .? Play at 800 meters from thoses lrms guys.
What map is too small or you can't escape? Give thoses lrms boats what they don't want >>> a close range fight.


Well there is some irony in this post i hope or know many people won't understand it and hope and know that many others will.

Edited by Idealsuspect, 24 February 2017 - 10:22 AM.