4
Quote
June will see an extensive balance pass performed on Energy weapons, which will touch nearly every weapon currently in the energy lineup. This balance pass will focus on two major points:
- Better weapon role definition between different weapon types.
- A heavy focus on better baseline balance between IS and Clan Energy weapons.
The skill tree Q&A had some interesting information, one piece of which is the goal of changing lasers. With that in mind what would the community like to see changed?
Starting with the idea of role definition.
The ER lasers should have a reduced burn time, reduced damage, reduced heat, but an increased time between firing.
The LL should have more damage and reduced burn time. I would also keep the optimum range the same but reduce the max range by 25%. This would help establish a role for each type of laser.
The ML should keep the current damage, reduced burn time, and reduced heat. I would reduce the max range by 40% but keep the current optimum range.
The SL should have it's burn time reduced and max range reduced by 75%.
Pulse lasers should have their maximum range removed and only have optimal range. This would reduce the overlap distances with regular lasers. Pulse lasers should have reduced burn time as well to also apply their damage more consistently. The trade off will be reduced range.
This would make each laser have it's own role on the battlefield instead of being able to fill several roles but with poor results. The idea in these changes is for each laser to put more damage on target with the reduced burn time, have each laser be unique for it's range by reducing the max range, and adjust the damage so the added weight and heat are a good trade off.
Pulse lasers will give you higher damage, higher heat, be almost instantaneous, but have shorter range. Better for brawling or skirmishing.
Regular lasers will have a better damage curve as you go up in size, have shorter burn time, and have some range flexibility.
ER lasers should have reduced damage, reduced burn time, reduced heat, and increased time between firing. This will make them better suited for longer range engagements by putting more of their damage on target but their range is offset by having less damage and slower refire rate. This means they will be more about shoot and move.
Each type of laser would have it's own role and then each class of laser also has a unique role.
PPCs are going to be interesting. Should they be thought of as long range weapons or should their role change? Will the pending addition of new PPC types dictated a preemptive change to the versions we already have?
I think the first change should be boosting the damage on IS weapons a little. 12 points per shot instead of the 15 that clans get seems reasonable. The next step would be making range adjustments similar to the above laser changes. Keep the current optimal ranges, reduce the max range. This narrows down which PPC to choose for which role you intend your mech to fill. I would also increase velocity by 30% on all PPCs to help offset the heat changes. Fewer misses due to slow orb speed.
TLDR version- Energy weapons should have shorter burn times, more reliant on optimal range instead of max range, better damage curve between laser sizes, faster PPC velocity, closer PPC damage. ER lasers would have less damage, less heat, but keep their role of best range for energy weapons. I would leave the heat mostly as it stands because it's already counted as a balance factor.
