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The increase of the ghost heat caps for the cERLL have actually increased the Alpha on my Warrant and MAD-IIC as they had unused weight or had to used their weight inefficiently because of lack of slots.
I played a mix of IS and Clan mechs and overall I found that the Clans mechs could not hold up to brawling with IS mech, especially in the heavy and assault category. Using a bounty hunter, with 7 ERMED, and a UAC20, I was defeating Hellbringers and Ebon Jaguars in 1 on 1 constantly, the clan mechs often over heating. It got to a point where I had stopped torso twisting as their damage seemed to be that ineffective compared to the damage my bounty hunter was putting out. The Bounty Hunter Also took out any Super Nova I encounter and the Death Strikes folded almost as easy.
In an Annihilator with 4 uac10's and 4 ERMed lasers, the clan assaults could not stop me. The only time I went down was when I had forgot to re-balance from the standard armor load out, and even then charging into a group of Clan assaults I still took out a Death Strike, and crippled a Super nova.
I switched to max eninge 2 x UAC20's and 6 ERMeds and never went down against clan assualts or heavies only getting taken out by a Paranah that my team mates did not take out from under my legs.
Playing from the Clan end my Warrant does a lot better now having a uniform 3 ERLL allows for better long range engagement and focus damage. The higher damage from the ERLL that replaced an ERMED offset the damage decrease of the ERMED that were left on the mech, allowing the Warrant to preform better than I had seen in a long time.
My MAD-IIC prime replaced an ERMED with a ERLL and that increased the Alpha, and with the longer range of the ERLL did wonders for the build and it performed excellently, and seemed more powerful.
My Shadowcat 3 x ERLL build feels good now. Being able to fire all three is a real boost for the shoot and scoot.
Now on to the Losers. My MAD-IIC all med pulse laser build failed. Just could not out put enough damage when facing off with IS heavies or assaults. Switch to a 3 LPL + MPL, and that helped but the MPL still just doesn't preform when compared to the IS AC's, UAC's, Med and ERMed lasers. I switched the MPL to ERmeds and that helped but still I found them underperforming especially compared the ERLL + ERMED laser build.
I took out my Mad Cat MKII with 2 x UAC 20's, 4 x HML's and 2 x SRM 4. The HML are worthless. They were not great before but now they are worthless especially given how fragile they are, there wasn't one battle where they were not instantly stripped off the moment a side torso armor went to Zero and that isn't being hit by crit seeking weapons. The HML always gets stripped off, and the nerf now just makes them worthless. But with the 2 x UAC20's no Death Strike using the Duel Gauss and laser could hold up once I closed, and there was only one Frozen City match were that became an issue, as the other three team members on my side were the Death Strike Gauss builds against sniper builds on the other side, so no one wanted to close, even taking concentrated fire coming across the canyon, I still was able to take out a Gargoyle before being taken out.
However when I went against IS Assaults such as Atlas's, Annihilators, Cyclops, Battle masters, Banshees and Fafnirs or even heavies like the Marauders I typically lost. Did a lot of damage but most of the time they could just get the that one shot in to score the killing blow on me before I could get it on them.
Switching to Dual Gauss and Laser only made it worse. The HLL just don't have enough damage for the heat, and using the 3 ERLL or ERMED just don't do enough damage to repel the heavier IS mechs before your at max heat. Double cool shot with the cool down reduction helps, but the IS mechs just have better and faster firing pin point damage, allowing them to get more damage center mass, even when torso twisting.
6 x LPL ans ERLL Supernova's feel good against clan mechs, but against the IS you just can't keep range with the ERLL, and the 6 x LPL is just to hot when pressed by an IS assault even with good trigger displine. Cool Shots help but it still isn't enough against the IS weapons. Using the 3 x ERLL + 4Ermed zombine build feels better, but the ERmed still feel anemic
Tried the Ebon Jaguar all MPL and HML builds and no... just no. Against other clans, they do ok, but They just don't do enough damage when facing off with IS mechs. It was pretty much the same for the Hell bringer and Revenant
Trying the 3 x ERLL + ERMED for the Ebon, Reverent and the Hell Bringer, was just too hot when the brawl broke out and even though the three ERLL gives better sniping, the ERMED's just don't do enough when it gets in closer and they just over heat you. I actually switched to using SRM's and that worked better but still lost to IS mechs that just could get the killing blow before I could.
Nova just no. No build could hold up, too hot, not enough damage.
This is my opinion on the weapon changes
- Clan Gauss Rifle - The Shake is inconvenient and makes doing alpha snap shots harder in some cases. However if my choice is shake or nerfing the other stats of the weapon, then sign my Clan Gauss Rifle up for the Psychic Wars.
- Clan ER-Small Laser - Why, just why. The weapon wasn't good to begin with and even mounted on the Nova in mass numbers they are still no good, especially when compared to the no heat machine guns. Revert changes
- Clan ER-Medium Laser - Useless. They cannot compare to the cooler, faster firing, faster burning, and almost as long range IS ERMED. They run too hot for the damage, and the long cycle time makes you lose in the mid range trade. My suggestion would be either increase the damage to 6 or 6.25, or revert the changes and look at either increasing the burn time, or increasing cool down.
- Clan ER- Large Laser - while nice, I am not sure about the changes to the ERLL laser. It shifts several of the clan assaults to a longer range role, and I am not sure I like the style of play that encourages, especially in the face of IS assualts and Heavies. Basicly with the ERmed and MPL nerfs Clanners will not able to hold ground against IS mech, excep maybe in Alpine or the High lands. However if the ERmed nerf happens then this change is neccessary even to have a chance .
- Clan Medium Pulse laser - No, just no. The weapon wasn't over preforming before but now it just cannot compete against IS MPL, much less the IS Med and ERMed. Changes should be reverted.
- Clan Large Pulse laser - Yes so much yes on this one, The CLPL is out shined by almost every other weapon sysem, but being able to fire three with out ghost heat gives the Clan Assaults some build options. I even thing that the damage reduction is not neccessary give the poor, cycle, burn, heat and weight of the weapon , but defently increase the ghost heat cap on this weapon.
- Heavy Medium Laser - No, the Heavy Medium was not over performing before. It is hot, with long cycle times, takes two slots and is redicliously fragile, geting instantly knocke dout any time armor is reduced to zero. Changes should be reverted.
- Heavy Large Laser - I found the HHL performance dubious to begin with. The long burn times, long cycle times, mediocore range and high heat can put in you a bad way if you don't play them just right. With the damage reduction, they are not worth all the other draw backs for their weight and slot count, especially with the ERLL changes.
