154 replies to this topic

[East Indy]

I'll chime in with this: I ran the Jenner-D about 20ish times last month. A combination of reduced center torso and the recent shift of armor from arms to side torsos made a noticeable difference. I ran a pair of Streak SRM-4s w/BAP and 4 ER SLs, played exclusively as an ankle-biter and anti-light, and got some of the highest matchscores and K/D I've ever seen on a light.

While I believe that unpopularity of lights is almost entirely a result of heavy- and assault-centric liberties with alphas — really, how many players want the thrill of instant elimination around every corner? — conventional wisdom crams lights into only two categories, sniper and lights-out-backstabber, so if they apply that, players will find many chassis unusable.

[Alkabides]

I find the only issue is that some lights can run right up on you and you have no chance to hit them. That’s a load of crap. Other than that they’re exchanging mobility for protection.

[Y E O N N E]

Alkabides, on 16 August 2018 - 11:00 AM, said:

I find the only issue is that some lights can run right up on you and you have no chance to hit them. That’s a load of crap. Other than that they’re exchanging mobility for protection.

At the same time, some Heavies and Assaults can blast Light from 600 meters and they have no chance to hit back...

Also Streaks.

[DrxAbstract]

Well you wanted to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and listen to the lamentations of their women, right? You need an audience for that. That is why Lights are here.

[KursedVixen]

Though this comes more down to crappy game modes more valuable objectives would help a lot for lights, for example lets say in conquest you cap a point currently there is no benifit, but if it were to generate c-bills per certain cycle of being on your side that may help lights and conquest be better, or maybe popup turrets captured by the point capture? Repair bay, rearm bay? radar, jamer? something that actually gives benefit to capturing the point, which is the whole problem in conquest, you don't really get anything by capturing a point it's just a location and on some maps some of those locations are horrible and don't serve anything... adding something to capping a point would greatly help the game also remember when assault had turrets at the base?

[Angel of Annihilation]

I voted for the best choice but your forgot to add a choice for someone that plays all classes of mech. Your poll kinda assumes you either play lights or you don't. Myself I tend to play all classes.

That being said, my personal opinion on lights is they are the most influential class of mechs in the game. I am not saying that they can go out there and solo carry a match but a well played light mech can disrupt the entire enemy deathball, cause the enemy to turn their backs to your heavier units, Squirrel off half an enemy team with no hopes of catching it, so that its deathball can crush the other half not chasing the Squirrel, can sneak around to to back of your team and spot for LRMs, sneak to the back and snipe harass your team to death, make an enemy Assault mech flail about firing uselessly in all directions without accomplishing much, make a team do terrible amounts of damage upon itself as they shoot each other while trying to hit the light mech, kill off stragglers and quite frankly do terrifying amounts of damage if played right.

The key is in the last two words of that last paragraph, "Played Right". The problem with lights is that require a much greater than average skill level to accomplish much with them and that generally requires a pilot that has a much more "twitch" oriented mindset. This tends to make good light mech pilots a rare thing. But as far as the potential power of light mechs, honestly there is nothing more powerful in the game.

Edited by Angel of Annihilation, 06 March 2019 - 07:52 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

You don't play all the classes, you main assaults, secondary heavies, and only dabble around in the other two. Before your name change, you were only 12% in Lights overall.

You claiming you play Lights is equivalent to me claiming I play Assaults...which I don't because I don't.

Edited by Y E O N N E, 06 March 2019 - 09:00 PM.

[Warning incoming Humble Dexterer]

Lights < Medium < Heavy < Assaults < Lights

Also lights are useful to fill up an FP deck after putting some assaults in it, so no way lights are getting removed

[LordNothing]

i like lights and assaults which are my preferred classes. when in lights and there are no objectives to go for i usually just try to kill robots. if they are lonely fatmechs so much the better. when i run assaults, im just looking to hurt someone. i like that lights are a soft counter for assaults and prevents the assaults from dominating the battlefield. i like that both are hard to play well.

since no vote filled this position, i voted the last one.

also i should point out that i play all classes and there are mediums/heavies that i like a lot. you really should play mechs out of your comfort zone to try and understand the strengths and weaknesses of various mechs, this makes you a better pilot and will only improve things with your preferred classes.

Edited by LordNothing, 25 June 2019 - 04:15 PM.

[John McClintock]

I see a lot of people here who have no idea the kinds of damage a light can wreak. I mostly play lights, FWIW.

If I can get 400dmg in a light and 400dmg in an assault with equal ease, then I'm doing much more for my team by piloting a light.

Lights like the Kit Fox are great for getting in front with ecm and face tanking while calling focus fire targets. Things like that really make a difference.


But, It's not just about damage done, it's also about being maneuverable and fast enough to shift around, coordinating fire and calling targets, filling holes in the line, covering with your ECM, etc.

[Wil McCullough]

An assault pees, a light mech shakes.

Lights are the ultimate wet nurses in this game. They have to scout, harass, defend their slow assaults, cap points, get into yellow circles, hold locks, put up uavs, tank and hold their teammates' hands to the front line.

At least according to all the whiny assault pilots on the forums.

[LordNothing]

with so many stagnant sit around do nothing players in this game it does not surprise me that people don't see a use for lights. they don't understand the value of being able to be 10 places at once.

[JediPanther]

Lights make up for assaults that can't break 150 damage,make up for a zero across the board medium mech, cap points and win the match.

[Wolfos31]

Your poll is poorly designed.

1. You don't define what "hard work" is.
2. You don't have an option for people who play all classes like me.
3. The poll has a pretty obvious slant/bias.

I fear a good light pilot more than I fear any other enemy. They can charge up on me, distract me, backstab me, and pin my position down until heavier units can move up to finish me off. Most of the time in MWO you have the option to disengage. Lights don't give you that option. They can pack a lot of close range knife fighting firepower. They can reposition and support weak points, they can scout, they can run the enemy team and cause havok. Sure they are squishy, if my aim is good I can dispatch them easily, especially if one is so foolish as to run straight at me or stand still. But a good pilot doesn't do that, they dictate the terms of engagement.

I love when I'm in a light, I feel more invincible than when I'm in an Assault. I only fear streaks or other fast lights.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

LordNothing, on 25 June 2019 - 05:38 PM, said:

with so many stagnant sit around do nothing players in this game it does not surprise me that people don't see a use for lights. they don't understand the value of being able to be 10 places at once.

and why would they? better to hide in 1 spot and do nothing, than a 10x higher chance of "getting spotted" and getting shot.
nah.. best to hide it out, only to die last, with 99% fresh armor and having done 39dmg.

hey.. at least it is 39dmg MORE than if you put same pilot into a light..
hiders gonna hide, no matter what mechclass they're in. not sure why they play a game where shooting stuff is the point, though..

[Prototelis]

Most of the people who complain about "hiding" are actually talking about trading.

They'd rather push into stupid positions or without a clear advantage because they're impatient.

[LordNothing]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, on 26 June 2019 - 01:41 PM, said:

and why would they? better to hide in 1 spot and do nothing, than a 10x higher chance of "getting spotted" and getting shot.
nah.. best to hide it out, only to die last, with 99% fresh armor and having done 39dmg.

hey.. at least it is 39dmg MORE than if you put same pilot into a light..
hiders gonna hide, no matter what mechclass they're in. not sure why they play a game where shooting stuff is the point, though..

its all good though, more mechs for squirrels to feed upon.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

Prototelis, on 26 June 2019 - 01:48 PM, said:

Most of the people who complain about "hiding" are actually talking about trading.

They'd rather push into stupid positions or without a clear advantage because they're impatient.

nah, talking about hiding, not trading.
when we finish the game, and a SURVIVING annihilator, who wasn't afk/disco wins-and-survives the game with 39dmg - all he is trading is his teams patience to not teamkill his hiding behind.

and yeah, when my light/medium/hvy does 'meh', and still has more dmg/kills/kmdd than the 4 mechs in charlie lance together (the double-digit-crew which we all know and love) .. that ain't trading either.

nothing wrong with trading, assuming one does actually trade and not farm on his teammates backs.
EVERYTHING wrong with hiding, though.
the reds drop dead by actually shooting at them - a concept that is foreign to many in QP

Edited by Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, 26 June 2019 - 04:08 PM.

[LordNothing]

trading is fine so long as its effective and you aren't holding up more than half your team from moving into effective range. hiding is where you go 'let them come' because you dont know what else to do, and then fold like a bad hand of cards when they actually do come. both can be used as effective strategies if you have effective players. but in qp that is seldom the case. and in fp if you bring a brawler to polar highlands, you deserve your bad scores.

[UnofficialOperator]

Holy necro Batman!