27 replies to this topic

[Sky Legacy]

This is just my experience but wondering if anyone else has experienced this, I've come back to the game from several years break and started out in tier 3 doing very mediocre. I'm now in Tier 2 after a few weeks of playing and I'm doing ten times better. In tier 2 your team plays in a much more predictable (good thing) and organized manner which allows a good player to do much more damage and get more kills because I feel like my flanks are being protected and other people are carrying their weight. In tier 3 I felt like I was getting randomly killed on much more frequent basis because everyone acted more unpredictably and my team would be spread out all over the place, allowing enemies to pop up out of no where. It was much more feast or famine, where sometimes I could do really well and had numerous 1200-1400 damage matches and other times I'd get killed early doing almost no damage. In Tier 2 now, it's less unpredictable in such a way and I'm averaging 300-400 damage per game so far it seems but have been able to do much better with mechs that weren't working well in Tier 3.
For instance in Tier 3, my Dual ER-PPC summoner was hard to play with because it's sort of a glass cannon (not much of a cannon either) because it moves really well but can't tank much damage. But I was finding myself getting hit from all angles and ambushed, or unexpectedly cored by some invisible piranha from the back much more often. Now my Summoner feels powerful and I'm doing much better with it in tier 2, just had an 1100 game with only Dual PPC's and very often get 600-800 matches with it. Because I feel like I'm much more protected and as long as I keep my positioning right by watching the map, my flanks are always well protected by good teammates and I can keep sniping/poptarting and putting fire down range and racking up damage.
The players are clearly much better where poptarting is hard because in Tier 3 I can pop tart all day and only get shot hovering in the air maybe 25% of the time. Now, if I'm doing the peekaboo sniping match with someone, poptarting is very tricky and almost always ends up with me getting shot by someone or at least raked with some laser fire, but I still last far longer like I said because the team plays in a far more cohesively organized manner where survival time is much longer as long as you read the movements and know how to play good positions.

[Sky Legacy]

So in short, as a good experienced player who is a veteran since Mech 2 days, I find Tier 2 much easier and much more enjoyable to play than the unpredictable arcade style free for all in Tier 3.

[UnofficialOperator]

Sky Legacy, on 26 December 2018 - 07:11 PM, said:

which allows a good player to do much more damage and get more kills because I feel like my flanks are being protected and other people are carrying their weight.

So basically what you are saying is that you can hide inside the deathball more to snipe and let the rest facetank because higher tiers are better at deathballing? Hmm k

[Sky Legacy]

UnofficialOperator, on 26 December 2018 - 07:19 PM, said:

So basically what you are saying is that you can hide inside the deathball more to snipe and let the rest facetank because higher tiers are better at deathballing? Hmm k

Yes that's a good way of putting it. In fact my damage is higher because I notice the enemy team is much better at deathballing too and I have a far more target rich environment in T2 than I did in T3. In tier 3 I woudl often have to poptart and try to nail one skinny medium mech 1000m away. Now I poptart in T2 and see the entire team deathballed into one big group where even if I miss my dual PPC shot I still hit a different enemy mech and register the dmg. LOL!

[Helreginn]

If you like your 2ERPPC Summoner try a Vindicator-1AA, in my opinion the best 2ERPPC mech. It doesn't take a heavy slot in drops which is a bit too heavy (forgive the pun) for just 2ERPPCs, it has good speed, great heat gen quirks, armor quirks, and good jumping power.
As to your post higher tiers are easier to position, create team cohesion, and get teammates that know what to do but it is harder to win consistently because the opposing team is just as versed in the same skills. The reason Tier 1-2 is harder is because that's where those that truly know the game play.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

It's just your own gameplay has adjusted in the few weeks.

[K O Z A K]

Personal experience varies, I guess. I spent an entire 1 day in tier 3. Tiers 5 and 4 were tough because I was figuring out the basics, once I got over that I literally went through tier 3 in a single day of farming with a streak crow. I tried doing an alt starting in t5 again much later and on like my 2nd match I got ace of spades with an xl laser blackjack while drunk. I dont think I could do that in t1.

[Anomalocaris]

Hazeclaw, on 26 December 2018 - 08:36 PM, said:

Personal experience varies, I guess. I spent an entire 1 day in tier 3. Tiers 5 and 4 were tough because I was figuring out the basics, once I got over that I literally went through tier 3 in a single day of farming with a streak crow. I tried doing an alt starting in t5 again much later and on like my 2nd match I got ace of spades with an xl laser blackjack while drunk. I dont think I could do that in t1.

When did you start in Tier5? I just started this account in November and started in Tier4.

[Sky Legacy]

Jinete, on 26 December 2018 - 08:09 PM, said:

If you like your 2ERPPC Summoner try a Vindicator-1AA, in my opinion the best 2ERPPC mech. It doesn't take a heavy slot in drops which is a bit too heavy (forgive the pun) for just 2ERPPCs, it has good speed, great heat gen quirks, armor quirks, and good jumping power.
As to your post higher tiers are easier to position, create team cohesion, and get teammates that know what to do but it is harder to win consistently because the opposing team is just as versed in the same skills. The reason Tier 1-2 is harder is because that's where those that truly know the game play.

Damn thanks I do like that I just tried it though I miss er-ppc but love the mobility of it and top speed of this thing. But I do already use my current 2nd favorite mech which is a medium Nova which is only 5 tons heavier and does dual c-er-ppc's. I'm looking for something that has mobility but higher PPFLD, back in the day used to do a Victor and Highlander with all the meta poptart stuff like ppc's uac5's gauss etc. Whats' a good mobile jump jety mech with a little more zing to it ? I do have a Timberwolf with dual erppc and gauss but for some reason I still like the summoner more. I know Night Gyr is supposed to be the go to but I hate having weapons in arms and apparently the gual gauss has to be in the arms from what I've seen

[K O Z A K]

Anomalocaris, on 26 December 2018 - 08:38 PM, said:

When did you start in Tier5? I just started this account in November and started in Tier4.

The accounts were from open beta, from before tiers. I left the game for a few years and then came back and was tier 5. Maybe I was really bad in open beta? Who remembers

[Sky Legacy]

Teer Kerensky, on 26 December 2018 - 08:33 PM, said:

It's just your own gameplay has adjusted in the few weeks.

Well it's true I have improved drastically in the past few weeks only because the skill was always there but had huge rust and my aim and situational awareness was bad. But now that I've re-acquainted with the maps and positioning and un rusted my aim I do feel much better than I was a couple weeks ago, but either way finding Tier 2 at least far more enjoyable than T3's chaotic gameplay

[Bombast]

Jesus, what a brick of a post.

Tier 1-2 players are more predictable and consistent than Tier 3-5 players. That's all you had to say.

Edited by Bombast, 26 December 2018 - 08:56 PM.

[Sky Legacy]

Hazeclaw, on 26 December 2018 - 08:36 PM, said:

Personal experience varies, I guess. I spent an entire 1 day in tier 3. Tiers 5 and 4 were tough because I was figuring out the basics, once I got over that I literally went through tier 3 in a single day of farming with a streak crow. I tried doing an alt starting in t5 again much later and on like my 2nd match I got ace of spades with an xl laser blackjack while drunk. I dont think I could do that in t1.

Wow. You got through Tier 3 in one day? How is that possible it took me a few weeks . Granted I was only playing here and there not every day but still, that XP bar moves excruciatingly slow. Even when I got the odd 1200-1400 kill match with 600++ match score I couldn't for the life of me see a single pixel move on the fu##in bar

[Sky Legacy]

Sky Legacy, on 26 December 2018 - 08:54 PM, said:

Well it's true I have improved drastically in the past few weeks only because the skill was always there but had huge rust and my aim and situational awareness was bad. But now that I've re-acquainted with the maps and positioning and un rusted my aim I do feel much better than I was a couple weeks ago, but either way finding Tier 2 at least far more enjoyable than T3's chaotic gameplay

Yes and I don't mean predictable necessarily in a bad way, simply that everyone moves in a far more cohesive and organized way, allowing me to know my role in the situational awareness far better for instance if I know I'm on the outskirts/flanks of the "blob" or death ball as ya'll call it, then I know to be more on the flank look out and instead of shooting across towards no man's land, instead shoot the lights/mediums that are always bound to hit tthe flanks. And when I'm in the middle of the deathball I shoot across the map and move with the team. But in T3 every noob just goes off into different corners of the map and I end up confusedly running around trying to find which mini blob to stick with and end up getting randomly ambushed and picked off

[K O Z A K]

Sky Legacy, on 26 December 2018 - 08:57 PM, said:

Wow. You got through Tier 3 in one day? How is that possible it took me a few weeks . Granted I was only playing here and there not every day but still, that XP bar moves excruciatingly slow. Even when I got the odd 1200-1400 kill match with 600++ match score I couldn't for the life of me see a single pixel move on the fu##in bar

It was a different time, when storm crow was a monster and streaks were strong. I was puking out 700-1k damage matches for like 6 hours straight before I could even aim. Then I found myself in tier 2 with a single mastered out mech, still missing most skills required to succeed and reality kicked in quick, lol

[Sky Legacy]

Hazeclaw, on 26 December 2018 - 09:06 PM, said:

It was a different time, when storm crow was a monster and streaks were strong. I was puking out 700-1k damage matches for like 6 hours straight before I could even aim. Then I found myself in tier 2 with a single mastered out mech, still missing most skills required to succeed and reality kicked in quick, lol

well I did sort of cheat also and ended up making a 4 x LRM 15 maddog to get 800-1000dmg matches to speed up Tier 3 otherwise I'd probably still be in there

[RickySpanish]

Seems like actually, T3 had some players that were pretty good and ate your sniper build for breakfast, whereas T2+ are mostly lemmings following the leader until one group is dead. I had many more dynamic and interesting matches in T3 with lots of voice comms users. Now if I want to win I just pilot a Piranha, most players just cannot deal with it and there is ALWAYS at least one LRM spammer on the enemy team to start the snowball with.

[Sky Legacy]

RickySpanish, on 26 December 2018 - 09:57 PM, said:

Seems like actually, T3 had some players that were pretty good and ate your sniper build for breakfast, whereas T2+ are mostly lemmings following the leader until one group is dead. I had many more dynamic and interesting matches in T3 with lots of voice comms users. Now if I want to win I just pilot a Piranha, most players just cannot deal with it and there is ALWAYS at least one LRM spammer on the enemy team to start the snowball with.

Well the sniper build was not even what I played most often in T3, I was just using it as an example. But I experienced the same thing with all builds, and I like variety cus I get bored easily so I played everything. I have an LRM boat, fast light, 100ton dakka, a srm splat boat, etc, etc, etc. However one thing you're right about is that a sniper build is the most vulnerable to having a bad team because it's very specialized, if you're caught in a bad team and are exposed a sniper can be pretty ****** and get you killed fast as it's not really a brawler etc.

Either way the biggest way that I learned that the players themselves are far better in T2 is after I die and watch the POV of the other players on my team, I was usually horrified to see my teammates POV gameplay in T3. People that must of been playing with a trackball, unbelievable inability to aim or hit an enemy mech. In T2 when I watch teammates after I die, I finally see very good players aiming with a mouse and actually hitting things

[Phoenix 72]

I actually do not agree with the premise... I started a Smurf about 2 months ago, to find out how different T5 and T2 are. And the skill difference it staggering. But both Tiers require different tactics and reward different things. Just some differences I noted:

T5 is a lot more timid. People are trading, trading, trading. Even when they are up 4-0, there will be no organised push a lot of the time. In T1, aggression wins games. In T5, it causes an early death. Patience is the key here.

There is no Nascar in T5. I think I have seen it in less than 5% of the matches, even on maps uniquely suited to it. Because - see above - people do not push. The lack of Nascar is one positive aspect of that.

There are fewer Lurm boats around in T5.

Matches in general feel more fun and less salty. There is more good humour in chat. If you keep your instructions simple (stay together!), they are more likely to be listened to. And you need to remember the old nugget of wisdom: If everybody is out of position except for you, you might want to rethink that sentiment.

Few people in T5 know how to twist and spread damage.

[Luminis]

I ran a smurf account for shits and giggles the other day and I can't agree that the lower tiers are harder. Less predictable as far as tactics go, sure, and less lopsided because the skill variance between players seemed lower (well, smurfs aside) than in T1, making it easier to carry. In T1, if the matchmaker decides to stack comp players on one team and me and my fellow potatoes on the other, you're screwed, period.

Granted, I got a HGR FNR-5B with the cadet bonus, which benefits more from a lack of awareness and twisting / shielding than most Mechs, I reckon.

Another caveat is that I only played 25 games on that account and am halfway through T3 already, so the sample size is relatively small on my end.