Lights as a whole: Agility buffs. Engine decoupling hurt a lot of them and they continue to be the weakest class, with the fewest players, and the lowest average scores, despite the fact that many players can't hit them due to personal error or inadequate hardware to run MWO above 15 FPS. And streaks exist for those players anyway.
Locusts: Moderate offensive buffs. Post skill tree they've been pretty lackluster even with NuTech. Bad players can't hit them but within the competitive environment it is my understanding that between the lack of double heat sinks to work with, liability to die in one shot, and lack of offensive quirks to make it worth the risk, they are never chosen over something like a javelin or a wolfhound, or even the firestarter (jumpjets and DHS advantage).
Wolfhounds: Rollback on last patches' nerfs. They were unnecessary.
Spiders: These mechs are awful right now. Arguably, they haven't been remotely good since the days of their broken hitreg, with the 5K only serving as a vulture just before the skill tree because the other options at the time they were used again weren't compelling.
Jenners, IIC and IS: The walking toilet seats aren't in a good spot, especially the IS variants. Agility and offensive buffs are the logical place to start (defensive buffs ain't gonna help the terrible geometry out).
Firestarters: These just need some offensive bumps (flamer range doesn't really count).
Panthers: Stronger offensive quirks. They are slow, large, and usually undergunned compared to other lights, and even with the high quirks some of them have they generally aren't considered better than an urbanmech.
Urbies: I actually think they're mostly okay, and they tend to do well in 1v1 engagements with other lights and some of the other mediums with similar firepower, but the K9 and the R60L are easily the stronger variants. The other two should be the ones buffed, considering their weaker hardpoint configurations.
Ravens: Post skill tree there isn't much reason to use them. Offensive quirks to bring them up to par with their old quirks + modules would be lovely. The 3L and huginn are easily the worst of the bunch (ECM is old news and generally considered a waste of SP, and lasers draw a clearly visible line to your position anyway.)
Commando: Right arm armor buffs pls.
Myth Lynx: Arms fall off at a sneee, their agility is pretty subpar for a light, and the cAP is useless. Unlock the cAP and give the non G arms (gotta appease the QQ MG OP crowd, right?) some more HP.
Arctic Cheater: Can we normalize its rate of heat loss, like every other light that has less than a 250 rated engine? Kthanks
Cute Fox: Still suck if you don't have the purifier pods. I'd advocate buffing ALL of the non purifier side torso omni pods.
Cougar and Adder: Offensive quirk bump. They're already pretty wide and slow targets. Stronger set of 8s might be the way to go at first.
Cicadas: They're glass cannons, without the cannon part. They should all be brought up to par the pre skill tree Cicada 2B.
Phoenix Hawks: The Master Chief suffers from lots of really awful hardpoint mixes on some of its variants. Those variants deserve some boosts.
Vindicator: Despite having some of the largest quirks of all the underpowered mechs, they still struggle to see usage because of just how poor their geometry and hardpoint mixes are. I know McGral18 has mentioned more missile hardpoints being in the files for them before, and I think bringing these onto the field along with some MRM specific quirks could provide them with a niche they've always wanted to fill.
Centurions: Offensive quirks. They were already pretty suboptimal due to power creep, but the nerfs they received from the skill tree update pretty much killed their applications, particularly in the case of the -D; they don't really get to use NuTech quite like some of the other chassis do, either.
Inner Sphere Hunchbacks: I know I called for the nerf of the 4SP in particular, but the reality is that it was already the worst variant, next to the 4J. It should get its defensive quirks back, and the chassis as a whole should get their offensive quirks nudged in the right direction so that they "compete" with their overpowered clan counterparts just a bit better.
Trebuchet: Most of us know the nickname they have so affectionately received. Stronger missile quirks would be welcome in helping them live up to their name, rather than their nickname-- no one likes a trebus***.
Kintaros: They're in the same boat with the trebuchets.
Uziel: Armor quirks or bust. Some real weapon quirks would be nice too. They continue to be, at the very best, entirely mediocre mechs.
Wolverines: They suffer from having really awful variants, or variants that rely too heavily on a flimsy arm. Offense + defense buffs are in order.
Shadow hawks: These really just need some slightly better offensive quirks to give them flavor, but they still have jumpjets and high mounts to work with. The weaker variants are the ones that rely on the missile slot in their head, however, which hurts their ability to brawl; SRM quirks are in order for these variants. The 2D in particular is the most gimped, in my opinion, with two of their missile hardpoints being in the worst places for an IS mech.
Ice Fridge: Their lack of tonnage and jumpjets continues to hold them back, but moderate heat generation quirks would be a good first step.
Sad Cat: Still limping along after their previous nerfs from the skill tree and their quirk pass, the sad cat continues to be a one trick pony; a trick that another pony happens to do a lot better, anyway. I'd advocate for a rollback on their quirks before the pass and after the skill tree to start with.
Huntsman: Buffs to the suboptimal omni pods and set of 8s, but the stronger, more meta compatible omni pods should not be included in any buffs.
Dragon: Revert the change to the 1C! It was finally in an okay spot! ;_;
Quickdraws: Even with some of the more intensive quirks they're overhsadowed by night gyrs, timber wolves, grasshoppers, warhammers, marauder 3R, and arguably the linebackers. Offensive buffs would be nice.
Archers: They continue to have one of the worst geometries in the game, with a low cockpit to boot. Their shoulders stand up extremely tall, especially when the missile bays are open; these mechs are honestly pretty sad. LRM quirks won't really do much since LRMs continue to be bottom of the barrel weapons for killing bottom of the barrel players, so stronger defensive quirks and boosted agility are probably the way to go.
Jagermechs: In the face of ATMs, heavy lasers, RACs, and MRMs, the jagermech's slab of a torso section continue to hinder it. Defensive armor quirks and an agility boost are an obvious choice.
Rifleman: How come the hero gets the best quirks? Bring the other variants up to speed.
Cataphracts: A nudge up to their existing offensive quirks could go a long way for the cataphracts, but they continue to have slab hitboxes and low mounts with said quirks.
Black Knights: Remember when they had quirks that barely made up for their low mounts and awkward profile? Yeah, those would be nice to have again.
>At this point I got really sad to see just how many IS mechs I've mentioned and reflected upon :/
Warhammers, Timber Wolves: Slight bump upwards to their agility.
Marauders: The 3R continues to hold out as the best variant, owing to its heat generation quirk for PPCs and solid structure quirks. The other variants would probably appreciate having the same benefits.
IS Orions: Offensive quirks, so that their damage output at least matches the clan counterpart's lighter weaponry, better ranges, and higher DHS count.
Mad Dog: Set of 8 buffs to weaker variants' set of 8s. Mad dog C continues to have the best shield arms for whatever reason.
Summoner: Buffs to the side torsos without hardpoints and stronger set of 8s
Linebacker: Take half of their armor bonuses and convert it into structure, to reduce their overall tankiness in FP rushes while still remaining useful in other applications. It would still have the same amount of bonus HP but less armor and more structure, to clarify.
Awesome: Give it Awesome PPC quirks. Then, it might fulfill its destiny of being somewhat awesome.
Victor: SRM spread and ballistic cooldown quirks to their somewhat weaker variants, but the defensive quirks give the stronger variants a decent niche pick.
Zeus: Still suffers from slab syndrome, especially after their upscaling. Armored side torsos and boosted offensive quirks would do it some good
Stalkers: Agility bump pls
Highlanders (IS and Clan): offensive boosts, but buffing assaults' jumpjets could work too I guess?!?!
Banshee: bring back the wubshee!
Annihilator, Atlas, and King Crab: acceleration and deceleration buffs would be great
Mr. Gargles: Energy heat generation reduction for various different lasers for each variant. It almost came back but then the cSPL nerf happened, which was warranted but too extreme for him and the executioner.
Executioner: Something something buff jumpjets on assaults
Mad Cat MK II: Easily the best assault in the game, with the Deathstrike being the worst offender. The -1 and the Deathstrike are the strongest of the bunch.
Kodiaks: The variants other than the 3 still suffer for it.Their agility should be boosted.
Dire Wolf: Honestly, it's not as bad as it's made out to be outside of solo play; there are just a lot of sub-optimal omni pods that could benefit from boosts and the unnecessary head armor reduction is overdue for removal.
Edited by Snazzy Dragon, 28 September 2017 - 12:10 PM.