I may not be the best player in this game by a longshot, but i am reasonably good at the game and i think i can at least add my generic comments with regards to the current game balance. Also, while i am clan loyalist, i do play both factions in QP and think im more then capable of offering unbiased results when it comes to being on the giving and receiving end of various weapons and how well they work.
Right now, laser based weapons (often combined with gauss) are the most dominant in quick play because of 2 reasons. They are extremely easy to use due to hitscan nature and there are really only 2 counters to lasers, being out of LOS, or being out of the laser's range. Second, the current default heat capacity on many clan mechs allows said mech to fire upwards of ~150 total damage over the course of ~2 alfa strikes with lasers alone, sometimes even more before heat becomes a concern. This is enough for a skilled player to remove a mech's side torso with decent consistency if they are patient and time the shots correctly. While loosing a side torso is only game-over for IS XL engines (which are only common on some fast mediums and most lights), it is a HUGE detriment to any mechs combat performance and thus half a mech is rarely a big deal to finish off (only exception are a handful of deadside mechs). In other words, lasers do not have a DPS issue unless you are trying to engage multiple targets in quick succession, and the damage lasers deal is extremely efficient at removing enemies from the battlefield.
Autocannons are in a bit of a mixed spot right now. They work insanely well on a select few mechs that can bring 3-4 of the mid range variety (5 or 10 class), simply due to the raw volume of fire they can put down (bad luck aside, a MCII-B with 2 5s and 2 10s can dump like 300 damage downstream in a few seconds). On the flip side, most mechs with 1-2 autocannons are very weak right now as they lack the ability to deliver any meaningful damage to targets that do not remain exposed for a long time. To drop assault's ST with a double AC-5 right now requires over 20 seconds of continuous fire, and that assumes everything hits that ST and its in optimal range. Its simply impossible to deal any workable damage to good players since they will not let you hit 1 component every time, and they will shoot back while you cant twist their damage away.
UAC-20s are also in a horrible spot right now, primarily due to the insanely punishing jam duration on a weapon that gets used at ranges where disengaging isnt really possible. Essentially, if it jams, you die, it it doesnt jam, you do stupid amounts of damage and probably kill 2-3 targets before you are taken down. Its just so louck dependent its really not a fun weapon to play with, and while every UAC can jam, at least the longer ranged models give you the opportunity to disengage when positioned well and generally have lower jam timers and are present in larger quantities cutting down the issues of a single one jamming leaving you helpless.
LBXs need MASSIVE boosts to either crit rate (if they actually evicerated internals then theyd be a good choice for finishing), or need to have drastically higher DPS compared to normal cannons.
Missiles are in a very sad state right now (at least from my experience), since they lack sustained DPS (they are very hot, especially SRM-2s), spread damage like crazy at normal ranges, and are also ammo hungry. Basically, if you want DPS, you pick ballistics, and if you want to single exposure trade, you pick lasers (with optional gauss). The ONLY 2 uses missiles have is to track fast movers that are hard or impossible to hit with normal direct fire, or to obtain workable alfa strike if you are extremely low on tonnage and dont have energy hardpoints available. Even then, the maximum practical alfa strike on a SRM boat is nothing compared to lasers, and they will be evicerated by any ballistic boat. Then you consider that the ranges work against missiles, being unable to do ANY damage past 300m is a huge problem for anything but the fastest of mechs (which are probably still better off using lasers).
LRMs get special mention, since i feel that LRMs in the current game are trash, as in even polar highlands with a narc still takes a lance of LRM boats 3-4 volleys to actually kill a single mech that is twisting teh damage properly. That is so inefficient in both time taken to kill and damage required to kill that that lance is almost entirely better off bringing direct fire and 1 shotting said narced mech with combined alfa strikes.
Aside from that, i actually feel that is ballistics were buffed a tad, we would see them return as a viable choice alongside lasers. Ghost heat for gauss+PPC also needs to be upped to 3, so that anything short of HGRs can trade against long burning laser weapons instead of doing insignificant damage (even 30 PPFLD is gonna get outtraded by most laser mechs that are paying attention and fire the instant target is in sight). If the PPFLD goes to ~40-45 we start to actually get in the spot where lasers still win in raw damage, but PPFLD has the ability to be used against it when poptarting or whatnot.
Ohh, and i really like your proposed changes to ERMLs and HLLs, its not enough of a nerf that will screw over clan mechs entirely in the alfa strike dept, but itll bring them a bit more in line with IS and force players to start sacrificing sustained DPS by bringing more lasers to keep their old alfas, or it will make them trade a bit more like IS. I do feel that it may be needed to improve cERML heat eff IF the IS LPL gets a buff back to 11 dmg, but it doesnt need to be much. Thing is, IS LPLs are still stupidly powerul even at this point, people just dont like to bring them as it forces a mobility sacrifice in engine rating. That said, i have a warhammer with 3 LPL and 4 ERML and it will win trades against almost any clan mech due to the LPL damage being hitscan PPFLD (0.5s duration may as well be instant as noone has that good reflexes). I do want IS lasers to get a bit better (especially the cooldown on the regular ML), but i actually think that bringing the LPL up to 11 smg without nerfing its DPS AND its heat efficiency will push that over the top (but it defenetely can use a teeny buff since it weighs a whole 2 tons more then the alternative LL).
Edited by panzer1b, 07 February 2018 - 06:30 PM.
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