Quicksilver Kalasa, on 27 August 2018 - 04:12 PM, said:
First, let's get one thing straight. Decreasing the power of alphas =/= magically increasing skill levels. People complain about alphas being devoid of skill but I see a lot of people who are absolutely horrendous playing with them so if they don't take much skill to play, why are so many people bad at them :thinking_man:.
Second, increasing heat's effectiveness at limiting damage doesn't change how you manage heat, just how many (or what type in the case of capacity) you can effectively use. This means the pacing of the game is changed and that can be a bad thing, after all forcing chain fire effectively makes this game like any other standard shooter in that you can only fire one gun at a time (and would have drastic impact on the effective tactics).
Third, there seems to be a lot of hate about cover being used. Cover being important means positioning being important which implies that tactics and strats actually matter. If tactics and strats don't matter, then this game just boils down to DPS facerushing each other on a flat map with open terrain and who does it better.
Tlords, on 27 August 2018 - 05:11 PM, said:
hm.... I see what your saying...
Alphas require skill, increasing heat management means chain fire, and cover is important.
What if we could make it so firing weapons in groups equaled heat management (not chain fire, just no huge alphas), and heat management is what separated the skilled form the unskilled - would that take care of your concerns?
I'm not hating on cover. Far from it. Cover is extremely important, and expertise in its use comes with an increase in skill. What I'm hating on, is that I pilot my stock DWF Prime (2 ERLL, 2 MPulse, and a UAC/5 on each arm, plus a left-shoulder LRM 10), I step around cover to shoot two of the ERLL, and I'm suddenly missing a side torso. I move to the other side of the cover, so I can try to shoot the two ERLL on the other arm, and I lose the other side torso and die. At the end of a match like that, I've typically done about 120 dmg, and most of that is from the LRM 10. That 'mech, with that loadout, is supposed to be the definition of ****-your-pants terrifying, and yet it pales in comparison to the customized high-alpha builds that we're fighting over on this forum. That build also is the epitome of heat management. It requires chaining the ERLL (I fire them in grouped pairs based on L/R, so I can try not to shoot friendlies in the back, or waste heat into cover), foregoing the ERLL entirely when enemies get within range of the MPulse, and managing the UAC/5's and LRM 10 as backups when even the MPulse are running too hot.
Or, I can buy a Mad Cat Mk II, put two heavy large, two ERML, and two gauss rifles all on group 1, pop out of cover, hold up the gauss charge, and release at the end of the laser burn, saying "buh bye!" to the side torso or leg that I was just shooting at.
I'm fairly certain that everyone here has fond memories of playing MechWarrior 2 (where you could typically fire a laser about three times before you had to cool off), MechWarrior 3, (where if you fired six large lasers at once you would explode on the spot without shutting down and waiting for it, but if you fired two you'd be cold again within a half-second), or MechWarrior 4, where you literally fight on a coverless beach against 10 Jade Falcon Elite Mechwarriors with yourself and your 7 other pilots, and have to beat Star Colonel Aisa Thastus in Zellbrigen. If that was MWO, facing down a Mad Cat Mk II, a Mad Cat, a Nova Cat, three Hellbringers, and four Mad Dogs, you would be hit with two Gauss Rifles from the Mad Cat Mk II, and more heavy and ER lasers than you could have imagined possible from each and every one of the remaining 'mechs. It would only take two of them to focus one target and burn right through the CT and out the back side (64 alpha each, for the Loki's, alone), and your rag-tag group of mercenaries would be dead on the beach before you could say "whuh?"
Yes, cover is important. But for slow, ponderous, 100 tonners, being able to charge across open ground is also important. My Dire Wolf and Atlas should each be able to march straight up to a Mad Cat Mk II and punch it in the nose. Where MWO currently stands, "if you blink, you die".