87 replies to this topic

[Jehofi]

Archer Magnus, on 04 April 2017 - 05:55 AM, said:

I feel your pain, I just started playing again and it is tough. I play all PUG games and some the team wins and I feel like an unstoppable machine. But there then are game after game where the team folds and I have no chance. Perhaps, that is the same type of experience you are having.

This is the same for every one. Still you can make a significant contribution even if your team folds. (And i dont mean running away and playing the hide and seek game.)

Archer Magnus, on 04 April 2017 - 05:55 AM, said:

This game is harsh for a few reasons:
1. long load times, short game
2. one life
3. outcome of the game (and your effectiveness) is largely based on the random teams on a random map with a mech that might not be suited to the job

1. Has no impact on your IG perfomacne
2. That is something you have to adapt your playstyle to. On the up side you dont die from a singe bullet.
3. No it is not, you can still perform with a fail team and you can build you mech to not fail on every but one map. Beside you can adapt your playstyle according to the map, like you do in ever other game.

In short it is "adapt or die"*, yes MWO is different that CoD and the like but it is not worse, just different.

*also paraphrased as "git gud"

Archer Magnus, on 04 April 2017 - 05:55 AM, said:

I play Battlefield 4 (screw BF1's heros and grenade spam) and I play the same way (on the ground, in the fight). But my K/D and frankly my overall enjoyment is higher. My average game is a K/D of 2, but I have great games where I have a K/D of 10 to 20. While my team might lose, my ability to good isn't directly tied to them. When I make a mistake there is only a short delay to learn from it or change tactics.

In short, yes part of it is you, but a large part is the game mechanics. In PUG games there are minimal tactics "make loose firing line, and freak out". I am sure you like the game for the same reasons I do, building mechs and testing them out. You don't sound like a "try hard" where you only use meta builds. It really is a shame there isn't even a basic single player mode. Same maps, but give you a mission and your drop deck.

Anyways friend, good luck

Sorry but game mechanics are the same for everyone, game mechanics dont make you bad. You can adapt to the mechanics or you can (choose to ) be a NOOB.

BTW those minimal tactics for PUG games are not hard to pick up, everbody and their grandmother tells you to muderball up and dont stop pushing and yet many players are unable/willing to do that. So if you understand this basic strategy you are already better than 33% of the population. Adapting is not hard.

[SQW]

First, go read this: https://mwomercs.com...ics-101-comics/

That's to teach you how unit/team tactics work. Seriously, it helps!

Okay, the tough part: you played 310 games last season evenly split between heavies and assaults (no light or mediums). Both had negative W/L with only your assault K/D being positive. Average match score only 165.

Looking at your stats, it makes you a fairly poor pilot who likes to pilot the linchpin classes. The low score would actually mean your team is more likely to lose because you consistently under-perform than their potato-ness costing you a win. Put it this way, I run mostly a 3MPLs narc RVN-3L and I usually out score you. That means your big 65+ tons is barely doing a non-combat light's damage and the rest of the team has to make up for the deficit. If you have to screw up, for the sake of your team and W/L, screw up in a small mech so the rest of team doesn't have too much slack to carry.

Two immediate solutions. One: stop piloting heavies. Two: only pilot lights/medium and give the valuable slot to someone better.

Long term solution: review every death and find the reason why you died. Did you get tunnel vision and didn't spot a flank? Did you expose yourself for too long trying to get kills and ended up trading armor negatively with your target's buddies? Did your positioning mean you can't support your team nor could they help you focus down your enemy quickly? Do you always die early thus depriving your team of an anchor so the other side exploited your team's weak points? Do you fear LRMs? Does lights kill you from the rear often? Why don't you pilot lighter classes?

We've all had one bad game or one bad night but bad years? With all the random factors in MM, the only consistent factor in your hundreds of games is, unfortunately, only you.

If you post some of your game vids, the community can definitely help.

[Almond Brown]

Pr8Dator, on 04 April 2017 - 02:36 AM, said:

2 years? No way, I have been with this game since there was only 4 v 4 green catapults and cataphracts and only 2 maps! Figure how long that is! LOL!

I have full stables of every good mech you can name with every meta build and I still suck... I still end the game frustrated each day more than I am entertained...

Perhaps your moniker is simply misspelled and it should have been "Pot8Toe". j/k of course. I suck too.

[Kaethir]

I don't think I'm that good, but I made Tier 2 within about 5 months of starting play. It is, I think... not that hard.

Assuming you do not have terrible aim, and your computer doesn't perform terribly, there are multiple things you can look at to improve. And unfortunately, several of them are invariably intertwined.

You must find a playstyle that is both fun for you and viable. If you like brawling, or if you like sniping, or if you like scouting, do some research into mechs that do those things well. If you like coordinated teamwork, find a unit and have them help you with your role. Playing trial mechs is good for this, to a certain extent, as they have loadouts that can show you different ways of playing. Also realize that some concepts just don't fit. I don't care if you just love bringing one of every weapon. It's generally not a good idea as different weapons have different firing patterns and it makes it hard to do damage effectively. If you can make it work for you, great, but realize that you are making it harder on yourself.

Learn the ins and outs of playing that style for each map and mode - sometimes they play a little different based on location and objective. Learn how the different weapons operate. Playing a cMPL build is different that playing a cERML build, is different from playing a LRM-hybrid build is different from playing a dakka build. Learn those differences!

Once you have that, pick a mech whose strengths fit your playstyle (or just buy a timberwolf, as it can do almost anything). Research builds for these mechs. If you like brawling, but don't want to do it with lasers, don't pick a mech where all the brawling builds are laser-based, find a SRM splat build, and buy the mech you can put it on.

Once you have the mech and build to fit your playstyle, go play. Learn again the ins and outs of playing that mech and style for each map and mode, using the weapons you have picked.

Then, if you have done all this and something isn't working, figure out what it is that isn't working and change it until it does. You may realize later that you like (or are good at) a different playstyle than you started with. That's ok! Buy your new mech and go.

Personally, I found it best to follow this iteration multiple times, doing something different each time. It helped having timber wolves, as I could pick a new style, refit a TBR to match, and go, without buying a new mech, which helped me get better with most of the styles available to heavy/assault mechs.

I guess the point of all this is that there is no substitute for spending time actively reviewing what you are doing and what you can do to get better, and making the commitment to do so.

[Bishop Steiner]

MeiSooHaityu, on 04 April 2017 - 02:44 AM, said:

Depends on what your priorities are I suppose.

I personally would rather play different chassis and play different loadouts (regardless of how competitive they are). That however means that I am pretty firmly in Tier 2. That works for me though, no one gets anything special for Tier 1. I might as well enjoy the game by playing how I want to play. It makes the game more entertaining to me.

Yeah, might as well be speaking Attic Greek as to try to explain that to so many competitive players though.. because that drive to "be the best" kind of is what defines being competitive...at anything. It's just does not compute that others are wired different.

You can see it at that pick up game of hoops, or volleyball, baseball, etc.. there is always that one guy who is always getting frustrated with the potatoes who just are having fun, because all they can think about is... "we're down 3 pts people, wtf is wrong with you!?!?!?!".

It's fine to act thusly in League Play, etc. But sorry folks, if you are solo dropping in PUGLand? You're in our SandBox now, and TBH, we don't really care about your latest Meta2000 UberTart Gundam.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 04 April 2017 - 07:20 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Jehofi, on 04 April 2017 - 03:18 AM, said:

And here you are mistaken, your team can influence your performance but it is not a large margin. Also PSR has an upward bias and most importantly you are the only constant in your games and thus have the highest impact on your PSR.

Gotta disagree with you on this. The amount of effect your team has on you varies greatly in each match. But invariably, if you find your team all dead in less than 2 minutes (been there done that, mix of bad team and a comp premade unit on the other side), there is generally blessed little you are going to accomplish, especially in a slower heavier mech. In a Light you might stretch things out for a bit, but even so, you will seldom get the same stats as say, if your team held out for 5 minutes.

[Bishop Steiner]

Paigan, on 04 April 2017 - 03:44 AM, said:

I also found that little things like setting your mouse sensitivity pretty LOW during combat (all hail the dps-change special mouse button) helps incredibly with aiming.

Or locking one's arms (FFS!) if you want to aim properly with torso weapons (especially if you have arm and torso weapons in the same group). It's like 9 out of 10 people I spectate don't know the basics of this game...

While I steadfastly refuse to use Armlock (still feel it's a crutch, sorry, game played fine before it was added), the mouse bit is definitely a huge issue. I got back into the game a few months back and was even worse than usual and realized that... as the MWO Client seems wont to do from time to time, a lot of my settings were not where I should have them (and the lack of saving your settings for use on different rigs, etc), and Pariah pointed out my mouse sensitivity and I was like...dude, you're smoking, I have that cranked way down..... open settings... mouse sensitivity set to over 9000..... *facepalm*

[FuhNuGi]

To the OP,

1) concentrate on doing damage. PSR is responsive to your contribution. Little to no damage will cause your rating to be an 'equal' or a down, even if your team wins. If this tier thing is important to you, research how it works and work that aspect.

2) Do not run out in front and try not being alone (school up like a little fish)... not just for safety, but so you can observe and work with your team.

3) Live longer, do more damage, positioning yourself to not get hit and not standing in a kill zone while allowing the opponents to focus on you are things to work on.

4) Got ECM? Makes you live longer. Think about it.



If I see you in a round, I will try to help you... if you are on my team, I will point out what you can do better, and if I drop against you I will help point out your errors with these special laser pointers my mech has.

[Coolant]

use mouse for aiming, not keys (if you are, I have no idea your setup).

[Bishop Steiner]

Coolant, on 04 April 2017 - 07:47 AM, said:

use mouse for aiming, not keys (if you are, I have no idea your setup).

and never ever, no matter what a certain poster likes to pontificate... use a joystick, at least as an aiming device. While that seemed to work fine for MW4 way back when, MWO is so not even remotely optimized for joysticks.

Oh...and steering wheels are bad, too.

That said, I'm still trying to rig up a "Rock Band" Drum kit to use as a control... I'm convinced if I can just play that to the tunes of Meshuggah, I'll be Comp in no time.....

[Cion]

First I think it is not everyone's objective to go up tiers...

Also, if you really are in South Korea, maybe your ping plays a big part into your performance/enjoyment.

[Bud Crue]

Bishop Steiner, on 04 April 2017 - 08:10 AM, said:

and never ever, no matter what a certain poster likes to pontificate... use a joystick, at least as an aiming device. While that seemed to work fine for MW4 way back when, MWO is so not even remotely optimized for joysticks.

Oh...and steering wheels are bad, too.

That said, I'm still trying to rig up a "Rock Band" Drum kit to use as a control... I'm convinced if I can just play that to the tunes of Meshuggah, I'll be Comp in no time.....

I wasted my first year of playing this game trying to get my old sidewinder to work with this game. What a shi7show that was, but I was determined. Finally after awhile I became convinced that it was the stick, so bought a brand spanken new fangled one (WOW! Prices have gone up since 1997!). Then after that failed to satisfy I actually did some research and learned precisely what you say...MWO is not even remotely optimized for joysticks. Sigh. Google is your friend.
Play with a mouse.

[Bishop Steiner]

Bud Crue, on 04 April 2017 - 08:27 AM, said:

I wasted my first year of playing this game trying to get my old sidewinder to work with this game. What a shi7show that was, but I was determined. Finally after awhile I became convinced that it was the stick, so bought a brand spanken new fangled one (WOW! Prices have gone up since 1997!). Then after that failed to satisfy I actually did some research and learned precisely what you say...MWO is not even remotely optimized for joysticks. Sigh. Google is your friend.
Play with a mouse.

Yup. This is the first MW title I have EVER played with a Mouse, and I was able to compete just fine in MW3 and pre MekTek MW4 (just never really played during the mektek years.. a little here or there, but barely). Had to build a computer during before CB just to play this (now dead, twice removed.... i love Mexico, but Mexico HATES my Desktops....... first a series of cascading brownouts fried my computer and 47 inch LG 3D smart TV THROUGH a 200 dollar UPS, and then Hurricane Patricia came and ate my replacement rig, 40 inch Samsung Smart TV and 300 dollar replacement UPS...... and general dust and rust have been trying to kill everything since. Spent the last 6 months on some acer netbook I borrowed.... lovely 30 fps at a good time), and toward the end of CB I tried to tune my old Sidewinder (which I knew still worked because it played MW4 fine on my laptop), and after about 2 weeks said screw it and went mouse.

[Paigan]

Not playing with a mouse should be a bannable offense.
And this has nothing to do with the game being "optimized" for crap-devices (and even if that was possible: why should they invest gigantic developing resources just to serve some weird notions of a few?)
The reason simply is:
No other device is as precise as a mouse.
So if you play ANYTHING that requires aiming, you MUST use a mouse or you are a burden to your team mates.
Social behavior, people. Not some narcistic-romantic delusion of "i want to steer with a stick, just like the cheesy pilot model".
Precision requires a mouse.
If you want to play a team game, you must have some minimum social behavior abnd that includes not sabotaging the team by sabotaging yourself .
If you lack that, play single player. No one will hinder you.

Edited by Paigan, 04 April 2017 - 08:54 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Paigan, on 04 April 2017 - 08:53 AM, said:

Not playing with a mouse should be a bannable offense.
And this has nothing to do with the game being "optimized" for crap-devices (and even if that was possible: why should they invest gigantic developing resources just to serve some weird notions of a few?)
The reason simply is:
No other device is as precise as a mouse.
So if you play ANYTHING that requires aiming, you MUST use a mouse or you are a burden to your team mates.
Social behavior, people. Not some narcistic-romantic delusion of "i want to steer with a stick, just like the cheesy pilot model".
Precision requires a mouse.
If you want to play a team game, you must have some minimum social behavior.
If you lack that, play single player. No one will hinder you.

If the game allows other forms of input...good luck with that. I'd say the game developers don't agree with your "game controller social elitism" views.

[Lykaon]

Pr8Dator, on 04 April 2017 - 02:20 AM, said:

5 years of playing this game, still in T3 and only one great game every couple of hours... each time I play, it just gets more frustrating... sometimes, nothing seems to work and those great rounds seems to be unduplicable... sigh... maybe its time to incubate again.

Step one: How good is your internet connection and hardware performance? Are you using equipment that can perform well enough to allow you to perform? Are you using a mouse and keyboard over a joystick? (joystick support for MWo is nonexistant and using one is an active handicap)


Step two: if you are in a unit that loses more often than it wins in group queue don't drop with them. at least not as much as you Solo.

Step three: Re-evaluate your mech builds and design choices. They may be meta as all hell and back but if they don't perform for you they are not performing.

Step four: Re-evaluate your own techniques and tactics. If you find you are getting your mech destroyed before contributing enough to get a + PSR on a team win you need to maybe rethink your tactics. Statisticly you should be gaining in PSR even with an average 50/50 win loss ratio.

Step five: maybe look into getting some "training wheels" Get yourself a top tier performing clan chassis . KDK-3 Mad IIc NightGyr. dispite what some people may think there are some mechs in this game that are by nature of design superior to other chassis and as such make for an excellent means of bootstrapping a mediocre pilot up to average.
Once you are getting "average" performance from a mech you may now have the time to learn how to improve your technique.

[Mystere]

Bishop Steiner, on 04 April 2017 - 07:20 AM, said:

Yeah, might as well be speaking Attic Greek as to try to explain that to so many competitive players though.. because that drive to "be the best" kind of is what defines being competitive...at anything. It's just does not compute that others are wired different.

You can see it at that pick up game of hoops, or volleyball, baseball, etc.. there is always that one guy who is always getting frustrated with the potatoes who just are having fun, because all they can think about is... "we're down 3 pts people, wtf is wrong with you!?!?!?!".

It's fine to act thusly in League Play, etc. But sorry folks, if you are solo dropping in PUGLand? You're in our SandBox now, and TBH, we don't really care about your latest Meta2000 UberTart Gundam.

TLDR: It's a fracking video game, for crying out loud! <smh>

[Mystere]

Bishop Steiner, on 04 April 2017 - 08:10 AM, said:

and never ever, no matter what a certain poster likes to pontificate... use a joystick, at least as an aiming device. While that seemed to work fine for MW4 way back when, MWO is so not even remotely optimized for joysticks.

Pfft! You're going to have to pry my stick from my cold dead hands!

But then again it's modified and highly programmed. So it ain't your regular el-cheapo stuff.

Bishop Steiner, on 04 April 2017 - 08:47 AM, said:

Yup. This is the first MW title I have EVER played with a Mouse, and I was able to compete just fine in MW3 and pre MekTek MW4 (just never really played during the mektek years.. a little here or there, but barely). Had to build a computer during before CB just to play this (now dead, twice removed.... i love Mexico, but Mexico HATES my Desktops....... first a series of cascading brownouts fried my computer and 47 inch LG 3D smart TV THROUGH a 200 dollar UPS, and then Hurricane Patricia came and ate my replacement rig, 40 inch Samsung Smart TV and 300 dollar replacement UPS...... and general dust and rust have been trying to kill everything since. Spent the last 6 months on some acer netbook I borrowed.... lovely 30 fps at a good time), and toward the end of CB I tried to tune my old Sidewinder (which I knew still worked because it played MW4 fine on my laptop), and after about 2 weeks said screw it and went mouse.

Spend your money on a well-powered, well-wired, and well-ventilated bunker!

Edited by Mystere, 04 April 2017 - 11:30 AM.

[nitra]

I sympathize with you op, this game has its moments but at times they are too far and in between. whats even worse is when the wins become meh (then you really have a problem)

sounds like your pretty well versed in mwo having played it since its first incarnation so im sure your a capable pilot.
thus im going to go out on a limb here.

Stop playing for the team.

thats right i know its counter and arbitrary to the current thinking, but its quite possible you have placed your self in a unintentional punitive position that is just detrimental to your in game fun.

i suggest analyzing your game play, on a whats fun for me approach .

what do you like doing in MWO ? you like long range sniping ? like back stabbing with sneaky lights ? like being the lrm equivalent of thor ?? how about a good old fashioned smack and splat ?or a good brawl em up ? (ah a brawler ... not a good place to be in the game currently)

regardless find that play style you enjoy in MWO. (hopefully its not brawler.) Redefine your favorite mechs to a, "my fun first approach". troll boats, macro boats, what ever floats your boat.(point being maximize their fun for your benefit) the rest of the mechs define them also to your favorite play style, and then start dropping in games. use the favorites mechs from time to time, Not all the time mind you just enough to break the monotony. As a way to reward yourself with fun games, your other mechs are there to adapt the game to your play style and make it a over all better experience.

Next when playing the games SCREW the team . thats right F'em because they dont give a rats rear hiney for you, and if you think otherwise that may be part of the problem. you have to remember ground rule #1 about games.
games are supposed to be fun.

so go find your fun in the match, its there, it may be a puzzle to try and find the fun and the fun may be short lived but that fun can be found.

Point being you have a new objective now, and its to find your fun. so try all the play styles of MWO

sniping
lrm'ing
vomiting
dakka'ing
smacking
brawling (lord help you)
ppc'ing
gausing
forward scouting
rear scouting
anti-scouting
heat trolling (wont advance your tier but can be quite fun)
and yes even as much as it pains me to say this.(nothing against you, just not a fan of voice commanders)
Voice Commander. with your experience you would probably make decent voice commander just please be sure your mic is intelligible and dont burble into it pleeease.


also there is faction war scouting which is a great change of pace from the regular ho hum .


all else fails it maybe time to actively look for a good guild who believes in fun first, has regular private matches, and just plays mwo for fun. that way you get custom games with like minded folks and you may find the game is a bit different when the playing field is changed with like minded individuals.

and oh yeah if your having bad time because your preferred play style is brawler then there is not a lot of hope there.
since a lot of the tactics needed to get into brawls are counter to the very definition of a brawler. (sneak, hide, lay in wait)
with that said you can still effectively brawl.

you have to do a few things first.

Control. control your brawling area, dont brawl in the open, dont brawl in areas with open lines of sight into your brawl pit.

Recognize. Learn to determine the best time to bring out your brawler and wreak face.

Ambush. be the unseen force that comes out of no where and brings the pain.

Sustain. Bring the pain but dish it out in controlled doses, dont over heat. every shut down is way too costly.

Share. Unleash the pain on all participants . the goal here is to keep them reeling and not focusing on you. your basically going to beat them all to a pulp . trying to do it one by one will most likely get you killed quicker less you can take the targets out quickly.

Edited by nitra, 04 April 2017 - 11:59 AM.

[Mystere]

Pr8Dator, on 04 April 2017 - 02:20 AM, said:

5 years of playing this game, still in T3 and only one great game every couple of hours... each time I play, it just gets more frustrating... sometimes, nothing seems to work and those great rounds seems to be unduplicable... sigh... maybe its time to incubate again.

Here's a suggestion. Play selfishly by:

• using your teammates as meat shields
  
• not sharing your armor
  
• staying on the second line
  
• going for maximum damage numbers
  
• swooping in at the very end and target the most heavily damaged enemies for kills

Finally, configure the most metawhoring mech and loadout you can find.

Edited by Mystere, 04 April 2017 - 11:45 AM.