Zergling, on 12 February 2018 - 10:36 PM, said:
Meta builds are, as a rule, more difficult to deal with than non-meta builds, because meta builds are simply more effective than non-meta builds, and the surprise factor of non-meta builds is minimal to non-existent compared to the reduced effectiveness of non-meta vs meta.
And I find fighting challenging opponents to be 'less boring', so I'll have to disagree with your claim that Tier 2 and up is boring.
Meta builds are difficult to deal with in their NICHE, when supported appropriately to deal with their weaknesses, but as they are built with team play in mind, the weaknesses are not easy to contend with as they are complimented by other builds that support them. For example a missile boat would have an escort. A laser vomit rig will have a second laser vomit rig handy so that when one overheats the other finishes the job or a ballistic vomit build so that there's a constant looming suppression supporting the can-opener.
In solo queue, such support is unlikely to exist and thus, the blarring obvious weakenesses that come from operating on your own. Laser vomit overheats and becomes helpless. Ballistic boats run out of ammo and can only focus one target at a time. Missile boats wind up without escorts (this is why LRMs are shunned by meta, no support). The list goes on and on. Find weakness, exploit weakness, meta builds are thusly easier to dispatch. They rely on others to carry them through their weaknesses.
An
anti-meta build works around this. It has defenses. If it has LRMs, it has a defense for up close. It isn't dedicated to just one niche. Unlike an AC/20 boat, it has some long range capabilities. Unlike a sniper rig, it has some close range defenses. It can protect itself, it can engage multiple targets simultaineously, it runs cold enough to have endurance to take on the next enemy after the first is dispatched because it isn't built to rely on support.
It is built to kill meta mechs without the weaknesses and reliance that meta mechs.are inherently built with.
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Such as? Any examples? And please don't mention flamer builds against laser vomit meta, because 9 times out of 10, flamer builds will be dead before they get in range.
Already gave examples.
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Please explain to me how playing an Uziel 2S isn't more challenging than running a laser vomit Hellbringer.
I don't have one. I imagine it won't die as easily. Hellbringers are pushovers.
All CT, no hud, with an LBX-20 and a 5 shot UAC/20.
Pushovers. Giant CT, easy to slaughter.
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Tier 4 builds are basically 'bracket builds' and 'LRM boats'. Those aren't ever going to be T1 meta unless PGI makes massive changes, which is highly unlikely.
And what tier 4 have you been playing? Because it obviously isn't my tier 4 or tier 3.
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All meta comes from the top players that analyse patch notes for balance changes, and assess their impact.
I can name at least one that came from a brand new pilot, less than a month in, that got adopted by many players. Hunchback 4G with AC/20, twin MGs, 3 medium lasers. Its a minor mod of my own design which used 3 SPL instead. Look that one up on meta mechs and tell me where it's ranked.
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Absolutely false.
The actual reason is that they are genuinely good players that perform well even when not using meta builds.
As I've already stated, the 'surprise' factor of non-meta builds is negligible.
The only way for YOUR statement to be true, is if their opponents are potatoes. Remember, their opponents are ALSO TIER 1,
ALSO TOP PLAYERS, whom are
STILL USING META MECHS AGAINST THEM and
YET COMPLETELY ******* INCOMPETENT...
OR my statement is true. Take your pick, you can't argue both without defeating one of the two arguments. So which is it? Because your logic defeats itself. And that isn't good.
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Enjoyment of the game lowers at Tier 1 because Tier 1 players are hit with a large matchmaking penalty that lumps them with lots of bad teammates, as they are then expected to carry teams to victory.
Basically, the matchmaker effectively punishes good players and rewards the bad.
So you mean that they are put into matches with LOTS of EASY TO KILL POTATOES, which allow them to PAD THEIR STATS, and basically have a free time to make themselves LOOK GOOD for the MINDLESS to worship and oogle, while they pump out bad builds for us to use that DO NOT WORK outside of their NICHE, and allow people to line up for the SLAUGHTER?
Huh. No wonder why they do so good. I'm so glad you could enlighten us. I just wish you'd enlighten yourself along the way.
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Aside from that, anyone that makes Tier 1 in 200 matches or less is scoring waaaaaay above average, which requires actual skill to do even with meta builds.
With all the potatoes you just told me that they get put into matches with instead of highly skilled players to fight with and against... is it any wonder? I mean seriously?
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Eg, it took me over 1100 battles to go from Tier 3 to 1, in Season 3 to 8, while achieving an overall average MS of 281 for those 6 Seasons.
Achieving Tier 4 to Tier 1 in 200 battles or less would likely require over 400 average matchscore.
Actually, what it requires is a low number of matches. Take your TOTAL MATCHES. Give me a ratio of how many matches you ad to do to go from tier 3 to tier 1 versus how many matches you had.
Now compare that to how many matches it takes a new player to go from tier 5 to tier 1 in 200 matches... when they had 250 matches?
Huh. Did you notice something? It's called MATH. In the total number of matches the new player did, he performed spectacularly and got SKYROCKETED on a JET PACK loaded with 37 Class 1 Jumpjets in 0.00000001 times the Earth's gravity.
You had to do it with 1 class 1 jumpjet, in 15 times Earth's gravity. You had to work for it.
The new guy didn't, he got a low number of matches which results in a low ratio of good versus bad matches, which results in looking far better than you do in a system that doesn't know how to judge skill, just stats relative to the number of matches played.
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There is increased weighting on PSR Tier for new players, but it is only for 20 battles; it is nowhere near enough to allow a player to reach Tier 1 in only a few hundred battles unless they are scoring stupidly good. Which means they'll be a good player even without using meta mechs.
20 battles with increased weighting, plus low ratio of total matches played, and as long as they do well in their matches played they will sky rocket. Know how they do that? They get a niche mech from meta mechs, they learn that other new players don't know how to kill it,
After all the system goes by ow well you do per match versus how many matches you have, thus the XP bar syndrome. Once they hit tier 2 and tier 1 they begin encountering players that know what to do to kill said meta mech on a regular basis.
Long range meta, wait til its distracted, get in close and slaughter with close range. Energy meta, wait til it burns out and blast it; repeat as necessary. Ammo meta, wait til it gets tunnel vision, do a little dance and insta-kill it. The list goes on.
(Also I don't use the new flamers, it leaves the user very vulnerable very quickly. Old flamers at least had the courtesy of blinding people and a trick to be infinitely cold -- since lets be honest they didn't heat anyone anyway) Leave that for the easy to kill chumps whom try to flame you only to realize -- you run too cold and know how to switch to chain fire.
From the old PSR system in which I'd be put in the same matches with Sean Lang and The B33f. Trial mech, no skill tree, before quirks.
That's skill. 2 versus one against an identical build and a custom Jenner. The Jenner's entire amount of damage was done by me by chasing it across the map for a while, so that's all my work (you can rewind to check).
Using a point and click mech when you know the weakness of every single enemy you face, in an environment where they can't cover their weaknesses with well coordinated team mates... and in your own words, with both teams loaded with potatoes... isn't skill. It's stat padding, which tier one players get to do a LOT of.
...because they're all damn potatoes.
Edited by Koniving, 13 February 2018 - 08:27 AM.