A number of topics have already been posted regarding the mobility nerf that the Timer Wolf received in the last patch. I won't argue with the reasoning behind that nerf, but instead, I'd like to take a closer look at the balance between different Timber Wolf variants, because IMHO the engine desync created some serious issues there. Specifically, I'm talking about mobility bonuses from full omnipod sets, and mobility penalties associated with individual omnipods. There are three Timber Wolf omnipods that carry mobility penalties: TBR-A LT, TBR-S LT and TBR-S RT. Those penalties are cancelled out by using a full set of omnipods from the respective variant. At the same time, many popular builds use these omnipods in combination with other CTs. This used to be a non-issue back when the Timber Wolf was very agile because of its large XL 375 engine. A slight mobility penalty was a reasonable price to pay for 3 energy hardpoints (in case of the TBR-A LT) or jump jets (in case of the TBR-S LT and TBR-S RT). However, after the overall mobility nerf to the chassis that came with the engine desync, those penatlies are now seriously crippling the builds that rely on mixed omnipods. What's even worse, TBR-A laser vomit is now standing out as the most powerful Timber Wolf build. A full set of TBR-A ominpods can already support one of the strongest meta loadouts: 2xLPL+4xERML+TCOMP1. On top of that, not only does it cancel out all mobility penalties, but it also provides a 10% bonus to the torso yaw speed. So one of the best Timber Wolf loadouts is getting additional help which it really doesn't need, while a number of other loadouts are getting hit hard.
Let me illustrate what I mean. Let's take a look at a popular build that you can run on both the Timber Wolf and the Ebon Jaguar: 2xUAC10+3xERML. This is a build I happen to be very familiar with, as I've used it extensively in CW. Incidentally, it's also a mixed build which is something PGI are trying to support
And it's definitely not "OP" after the last nerf to the UACs. So, here we go:
TBR-PRIME
EBJ-A
As you can see, the loadouts are virtually identical. The Timber Wolf has more armor and 1 more heatsink, which makes sense because it's 10 tons heavier. Those two builds used to feel and play pretty much the same. However, after the latest patch, the Timber Wolf build became inferior to the Ebon Jag build because the overall low mobility of the chassis is now compounded by the penalties from the TBR-A LT. And the only way to get around it without incurring penalties is to drop the TBR-A LT and move one or two medium lasers (depending on what CT/LT combination you're using) to the left arm, which would require losing one heatsink. In turn, this would put a 75-ton mech strictly on par with a 65-ton mech, which just doesn't make sense.
What I'm proposing here is to:
1) Remove all mobility penalties from all Timber Wolf omnipods;
2) Remove all mobility bonuses from the full sets of Timber Wolf omnipods.
This would put all Timber Wolf variants and builds on equal footing, and eliminate the current dominance of the TBR-A laser vomit build.
Edited by DGTLDaemon, 14 June 2017 - 10:05 AM.
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