216 replies to this topic

[BrunoSSace]

So finally got home from work. Had 2 hours or so mucking around looking at fits and put in a few games. I own all the thannys. There is a nice variety of fits and builds you can do across the board. Fire power, armor and speed are decent. The bonus is the Ecm and jumpjets, it is like icing on a cake. It is a very capable IS Heavy. The only thing it cant do is IS laser vomit, but you can pretend to do it with the hero. Like the mech, will be playing it for a while I think. My hype was not let down, I enjoyed using it.

[Bishop Six]

So less negative comments, that can just mean Thanatos is at least ok for the majority.

In general the problem is, that when somebody is satisfied with a product he will probably not comment it. People comment things when they are not satisfied or if their expectations of the product aren't met. These people are angry and have the intention to let all know about their non-satisfaction.

The less negative comments, the better is it for the product. But positive comments still are rare, so the "complainers" always have the feeling of having the major opinion in this specific topic. But how i said above, it is a distorted perception.

So i hope that people in MWO sometimes think about their opinion before they release a shitstorm and especially that only because there are some people writing negative comments, it doesn't mean that the majority of people think the same.

Source: Me as self-employed service provider.

[Verilligo]

From the perspective of fighting it rather than piloting it... it's very squishy and easy to take apart. If they ditched non-MRM offensive quirks and gave it Roughneck or Cataphract-level defensive ones, I could see it becoming a very useful mech for pushing with. Otherwise... I just don't see the point. Yeah, okay, it has ECM and JJs. These are useful... but like a lot of things on IS side, the kind of asymmetrical balance that PGI has gone with leaves the overall package feeling very lackluster. I'm also disappointed it doesn't have 360 twist like in MW4, but I had made peace with that being unlikely a long while ago.

[Athom83]

For the most part it seems to be silencing the "P2W mechpack release" threads we have every month this month.

[Nomad One]

Gas Guzzler, on 14 November 2017 - 03:14 PM, said:

Is it that bad?

Well it's certainly not that good.

Fragile as a clan heavy, most of the variants unfortunately do not have access to either clan tech or adequate amounts of hardpoints. In particular, the TNS-4S has less hardpoints than the MAD-5D or any of the Orions yet has nothing to show for it. To further illustrate this discrepancy, the TNS-4S has the sort of quirks you'd expect from a mech that had 6x energy and 2x missile, which would make it an actually tolerable platform for builds. But it has 4x energy and 2x missile, less than the MAD-5D, and less quirks as well. Quite illogical.

Forced high hardpoint mounts, on top of an engine cap you will never fully use, and a support system that requires a hefty 13 skill point investment to make useful also contribute that a chassis with awful geometry for receiving and spreading incoming fire did not get the help in survivability or firepower that it required.

The Thanatos is pretty much forced to run builds that already existing variants available in Grasshoppers, Orions and Marauders do better. The only variants that have their own niches are locked behind an obnoxious extra paywall in the reinforcement pack.

So in closing you have a mech that wants to be a brawler, but can't because it can't survive a brawl, because developers wanted to make it into a "head hunter" but can't do that either because it does not have the sort of hardpoint spread such a "role" requires. Not to mention that medium mechs perform such a "role" leagues better anyway.

Edited by Nomad One, 15 November 2017 - 09:03 AM.

[lazorbeamz]

They cant add mechs which will be unique. All niches are already occupied because we have enough. No way around it.

I just wish they used quirks which are actually noticeable ie never below 20%. 5 and 10% quirks are too weak

Edited by lazorbeamz, 15 November 2017 - 07:55 AM.

[PurplePuke]

I have all of the Thanatos variants and have only played a couple of them a few times. The jury's still out. Here's why:

• All of the Thanny's you see in the game the first few days are likely unskilled, so it's hard to judge the finished product yet.
  
• People always like to kill the new mech in the game so they get focussed a lot right now.
  
• It might take a while to figure out how to play the Thanny's, and some may never get comfy with them.

I've had some good games, and some terrible games in them.

I expect that what usually happens with new mechs will happen with Thanny's: out of all the variants I'll end up with a couple or three builds that I like playing.

PP

[MischiefSC]

Gas Guzzler, on 14 November 2017 - 05:24 PM, said:

Sums up my feelings.

And yeah, definitely going to give the HPPC poptart a try.

Probably won't get to try it until next week because of work and travel though.

This would have been cool, but we can't have nice things.

Even more sad - the QD probably does that better.

[Nightbird]

I don't know anyone that purchased it. No expectations=no disappointment?

Now if the Piranha is bad, I have a rack of pitchforks sharpened and ready to go, plus s box of tiki torches from amazon on the way.

[The Real Don]

Only used mine for a bit yesterday due to also having my loyalty mechs I wanted to check out.

But what I will say about them is this-
Those side torsos are the main cause of death currently and is partly due to the size but also the low armor amount available for them
Still working with different builds so sometimes have a good match and win but with decent not great damage, others do near to no damage before focused down or do huge damage and be more colorful then a kids coloring book
Being new people want to kill you first as your unknown in what you can do yet so you can be supported by your team but the enemy only care about you.

It can be a good mech as more time has passed and good builds are perfected. But more so when people stop death charging them and actually making it harder to see if it is a good mechs or not. 1v1s it won't last too long in most cases but that ecm covering your assaults and other heavies makes it good to sneak a lance into a better spot.

[Hellfire666]

What it needs is ARMOR quirks.

**NOT** Structure quirks.

With those giant torsos - structure bonuses don't amount to anything. If this mech ever wants to be viable, it needs some hefty armor quirks to the torsos.

This is the last mechpak I will ever buy. Everything coming out is nerf'd into uselessness long before it drops. I was hoping it would play better but it's pretty much trash. From now on it's MC for mechbays only and maybe some premium time.

[R Valentine]

It's not trash, but it's not good either. I am not whelmed. It is underwhelming. Hit boxes are bad. Hardpoints are mediocre. Cockpit view sucks. The entire sides are blocked out. Even the name for the Hero screams mediocrity. "Hangover". Seriously? Is that what the designer had when he made it?

[davoodoo]

Bishop Six, on 15 November 2017 - 06:21 AM, said:

So less negative comments, that can just mean Thanatos is at least ok for the majority.

Or fewer ppl bought it...

[bootae]

As already stated numerous times above, yup, side torsos and lack of armour make it incredibly squishy. And unfortunately it just can't carry enough firepower to justify the squishiness at this weight, even with the extra time/shots ECM allows you to sneak in.

It's not horrible, but it's far from good. Want to love it, it's an old fave of mine, but am struggling to do so. Will persevere juggling builds and see how it goes.

Edited by bootae, 16 November 2017 - 08:10 AM.

[FLG 01]

You know, in TT I like the Thanatos TNS-4S.

That's because it is a good Steiner cavalry Mech; not the best but good. And it has style.

In MWO however, with the hitboxes effectively rendering the Mech XL-unfit, none of that style is left. It is just your regular, unremarkable IS 75t Mech with some ECM (which is a bonus, but no longer a game changer, and this Mech needs the added survivability from the ECM to alleviate the geometry disadvantage).
I don't say it's bad. It's just unremarkable, and therefore a wasted opportunity imho.

[Angel of Annihilation]

PurplePuke, on 15 November 2017 - 08:04 AM, said:

I have all of the Thanatos variants and have only played a couple of them a few times. The jury's still out. Here's why:

• All of the Thanny's you see in the game the first few days are likely unskilled, so it's hard to judge the finished product yet.
  
• People always like to kill the new mech in the game so they get focussed a lot right now.
  
• It might take a while to figure out how to play the Thanny's, and some may never get comfy with them.

I've had some good games, and some terrible games in them.


I expect that what usually happens with new mechs will happen with Thanny's: out of all the variants I'll end up with a couple or three builds that I like playing.

PP

You absolutely right about all this. My Thannys aren't skilled yet at all other than investing 13 points into ECM from my GXP pool. It is possible many of the ones in game don't even have the 13 points required to make ECM effective. That means no additional heat management skills which can have a dramatic effect on both performance and build if you want to get right down to it. Same with the mobility tree. If you invest heavily in mobility you might be able to mount a smaller engine which in turn means more weapons. Then don't forget about armor and structure which could fix any issues of the mech feeling "Squishy" which I personally haven't really felt but each person is different. Also people are still trying to get a feel for builds and figure out what they can and can't do.

So for from a "First Impression" standpoint, be it from the perspective of piloting them or fighting against them, you have to consider that the mechs performance reports are going to reflect the mech operating at less than peak performance.

Still, it isn't a powerhouse mech and skilling it up won't turn it into one. That doesn't make it bad and for me it is just going to be another "Alternate" mech for me to play when I want to break up the monotony. The important part is that with near 200 mechs in my stable right now, it is good enough to be placed on my "Play List", as opposed to the trash heap like some other recent mechs.

[Lupis Volk]

Hellfire666, on 15 November 2017 - 11:13 AM, said:

What it needs is ARMOR quirks.

**NOT** Structure quirks.

With those giant torsos - structure bonuses don't amount to anything. If this mech ever wants to be viable, it needs some hefty armor quirks to the torsos.

This is the last mechpak I will ever buy. Everything coming out is nerf'd into uselessness long before it drops. I was hoping it would play better but it's pretty much trash. From now on it's MC for mechbays only and maybe some premium time.

Yeah this confounded me. With PGI slowly rolling Structure quirks into armour, why keep slapping on Structure quirks?

[Athom83]

4P and 5P; Love it.
4S; Hate it. Its okay after some fiddling.

Edited by Athom83, 15 November 2017 - 01:52 PM.

[Bucket of Joy]

Laughably bad. Based on the hardpoints and average damage, you'd think this was a IS medium, not a 75 ton heavy. Imagine being in a really garbage version of the Hellbringer. Its profile is as wide from the front as it is from the side, and it's really really wide and very tall, with no gaps between components. Expect to die very quickly.

Trying to find a fun or viable build with any of them in the mechlab is incredibly frustrating. It sucks, save your money and frustration.

Also, for the record, I bought the Nightstar and I'm relatively pleased, so I'm not being purely pessimistic about recent offerings. But if there's one thing I would complain about in both cases its the hardpoint starvation. My assaults and heavier heavies generally have fewer hardpoints than my rifleman, mediums, and lights?

[Mole]

You know what age-old MWO tradition that has faded into obscurity that I kind of miss? Someone coming onto the forums the day of the release of a new 'mech, whether it was a terrible 'mech or the next OP metasmasher, and claiming is was D.O.A.