Bud Crue, on 08 March 2017 - 05:29 AM, said:
I agree with you in principle but what are the great improvements you refer to? Trying to tone down my bile here, and be serious.
What/how is the skills tree as currently proposed improving the game? How do you see it?
So back to the question, what do you, what do any of you see as the improvements provided by the skills tree. To my eyes, most of the skills tree represents a negative to game play and the existing mechanics of this game, but yeah there are a couple of things that I see as potential improvements.
The Miscellaneous tree offers some interesting options, though truth be told I mostly just take the first choice and leave it. I have yet to try any Light 'mechs in this version of the PTS and the UAV line does look good for most of mine.
Sensor Systems is a mixed bag. On the one hand, 6-8 points gets me what I "need" from this tree, however on this build I have been focused mostly on mixed loadouts and none so far have need increased sensor range of enhanced zoom (whereas last time I tested mostly single weapon system builds, with a few Ballistic/Energy combos, due to the Firepower trees).
Mech Operations is still awful, pretty much the worst example of a "must have" tree in my opinion. Sure, there are options, but it's a good example of why people dislike the haphazard nature of some trees.
Jump Capabilities is the only tree I simply have not touched. I've read good things, but since Jump Jets aren't all that good to begin with, I'm not inclined to "waste" points in this tree. Maybe when I try Lights? Maybe...
Agility tree... seems to be a divisive one. I'm of the opinion that about half of the tree is useless to a good number of my 'mechs and as such, I generally haven't bothered investing more than 15-20 points. Perhaps I'm too used to piloting fresh 'mechs with no skills in the current system that I don't notice the lack of turn speed or accel/decel. Perhaps I'm just not good enough of a pilot to notice it. Either way, of the 'mechs I have tested since the engine agility decoupling (mostly Mediums and Assaults, with a few Heavies) I can't say they feel any worse than on live with less than half of the Agility tree unlocked. Some even feel better, though I'm sure someone can prove that they are statistically inferior. I guess I just don't care/notice.
Armor Structure is another of those "must have" trees, though I'd argue it suffers less than Mech Operations as most of it is at lease decent, with the notable exceptions being easily avoided. I've even found myself skipping some structure buffs to free up skill points for other areas - mostly more for Sensor Systems, though also for Weapons. Although the crit capabilities of weapons from the previous version were reduced and they added crit chance reduction, I still find my components lose weapons before being in danger of being destroyed.
Weapons, You know, I almost miss the old separate trees. While they did inadvertently punish multi weapon loadouts, they at least allowed you to choose between cooldown, range, heat gen and [special attribute] without "wasting" points. As it stands, the new tree does support a more diverse loadout, if only by gating heat gen behind various weapon specific buffs. I don't like the new Weapons tree compared to the old Firepower tree, even though it helps diverse builds it also helps the PPC + Gauss combo everyone loves to hate (if the forums are to be believed). all that tasty, tasty velocity, so close the the Gauss extended charge.
Hm, I think I ended up rambling instead of actually answering the question. I do that, sorry.
The builds I've found to be boosted the most are my oddball AC/SRM/PPC combos. If we had the ability to better tweak velocity buffs, I would love to get them all equal on a 'mech so I know firing at anything further than point blank doesn't spread the damage everywhere.
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