Arkhangel, on 02 March 2017 - 08:07 AM, said:
in other words... the best MWO players will be the best PILOTS in more cases, rather than just the ones who follow the meta closest, which.. honestly is how it should be,
I don't think you understand what min/max meta is. It's not a set of attributes or numbers or rules. It's what people figure out give them the most bang for their money and the more restrictive a system is the harder it is for people like me to justify not going meta. Because taking something anti meta becomes a lot more punishing. If i cant properly spec into somerthing that isnt popular while still being able to spec into something else then i just become a generalised mess. Add in that you have to pay to master and re-master and test your mech and you will want to meta even harder."What mech do you recommend?" is about to become, "What should i take in the skill tree?". Not exactly a step forward.
The more restrictive a system is the more important it will be to min/max it. You will never prevent people from min/maxing their mech without making everything unimportant and/or irrelevant. This "locked" system penalise the Anti-Meta people a lot more than a free system where people like me could spec into something that isnt meta. Unless i can afford those nodes while still being able to take make clear choice about others i will have to stick to meta. It has been suggested many times, buff or entirely change unattractive perks instead of making them mandatory to take the good one and. Lower the number of nodes per mech/weight. In a free (unlocked and no weird progression) system, its a lot easier to balance.
The Balance argument. The more restrictive a system is the harder it is to use it to balance things. Take the number of nodes for example. People pointed out that a KDK shouldnt have the same amounts of points as a PHX. In a free system you can reduce the KDK points by half. This severely restrict its choice but still allow it to spec something. In this locked system you have to take into account node that you dont want to take and this make it much harsher with less benefit. You have to take more baby steps and be more careful because you have to account for more stuff.
Forcing unrelated nodes to be taken only generalise mechs while reducing strength of different build as well as reducing any reasons to not run current meta. No this does not reduce meta, it RE-ENFORCES IT until the generalisation and bastardisation has been pushed far enough that all mech are again all the same(our current system). Completely negating the reason for a skill tree to exist in the first place.
Ill play more with the skill tree tonight with many *same variant* of a chassis and different spec to get a better feel of what i can do with different weight class. The KDK i build last night wouldnt be able to turn to save its life versus anything else than an another assault. Thats mostly fine because its a KDK and because while testing, i took nodes i wouldnt take on a slow assault on live. Its less fine because i took half of the mobility tree at the expense of other things and it hurts. I can already tell that will not be an option for me so already i am losing choices and customisation. Might be just me.
Further more, 4vs4 is not representative of 12vs12 and im not interested in playing unhinged scout mission with no matchmaking and possibly no weight balancing. You balance things for scout mission and you're gona get bad surprises. My experience in scouting 4vs4 is that it's a lot easier and you have a much bigger impact on the match.
I just wish this was live already. That PGI would say "OK for the next 2 months EVERYBODY is going to play and help balance things out. We are going to do a lot of iteration so hang in there. Here's extra cbill bonus for every body or whatever people want". I dont care if it sucks right now, this needs to be addressed and field tested by everyone.
Edited by draiocht, 02 March 2017 - 01:50 PM.
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