112 replies to this topic

[Darian DelFord]

I agree Vaude, but until the 50+ PPFLD goes bye bye..... lights will always be screwed.

[Prototelis]

(I am not good at this alt thing...)

Heavy gauss can be avoided, you can count cooldowns and get close.

Streaks are really what needs to get reworked, not the weapon you have to aim.

[Y E O N N E]

PPFLD is not really a huge Boogeyman to Lights. It's too easy to evade.

What really puts a damper on Lights is guided missiles; if you don't get that gank in the first 10 seconds, you should scram because all manner of LRMs, ATMs, and Streaks are going to be landing on your legs not long after. And Clan Streaks are a huge nuisance because they can hit up to 414 meters away if fully invested; that's not even short range anymore. If a Clan Streak boat enters the fray at 200 meters, the only way you survive is if you have solid objects to break the lock with.

[Dee Eight]

Six months or so ago PGI changed streaks so that the majority go for the arms and torso.. not the legs. If you volley 18 at once, at least 10 of them are going torso with the rest split arm and leg. If you chain them off six at a time, you have a better chance of getting more to the legs. Now that being said...given so many lights get leg structure/armor quirks better than any torso quirks... having the majority of your streaks go torso is a good thing. An 18 streak volley is capable of instagibbing a piranha running directly at you.

[Prototelis]

Solid objects, or sometimes you can quickly get behind a teammate.

Clan streaks are ******** to try and counter.

I'd be cool with streaks having a really fast lock if maybe they had a **** turn radius and you could dodge them running at an angle.

Something... ANYTHING.


LRMS meh, yeah when I fail a butt grab there is usually some LRM headed my way, but its easier to avoid taking damage. If you're observant you can even use your current opponent as AMS (a mech shield). They're also you know, just about useless up close.

ATMS, I'm more or less happy with how they work against lights. Some of the faster lights can get into the no damage range pretty quickly, they can be defeated with positioning.

Dee Eight, on 01 January 2019 - 10:01 AM, said:

Six months or so ago PGI changed streaks so that the majority go for the arms and torso.. not the legs. If you volley 18 at once, at least 10 of them are going torso with the rest split arm and leg. If you chain them off six at a time, you have a better chance of getting more to the legs. Now that being said...given so many lights get leg structure/armor quirks better than any torso quirks... having the majority of your streaks go torso is a good thing. An 18 streak volley is capable of instagibbing a piranha running directly at you.

An 18 streak volley is enough to insta kill any of 20 tonners in one shot. If you have target retention and lock enhancements you can even get them after they've passed you.

Streak 24 can insta kill all the way up to 35 tons (no armor quirks, ISXL) and absolutely maim up to 45 tons.

It's a ******** mechanic because it counters an entire in game class, and a good bit of the next one up.

Edited by Prototelis, 01 January 2019 - 10:07 AM.

[Nightbird]

Darian DelFord, on 01 January 2019 - 09:27 AM, said:

I agree Vaude, but until the 50+ PPFLD goes bye bye..... lights will always be screwed.

Lights were hard to play before 50 PPFLD, and heavy gauss hasn't really made a difference. If anything, most mechs that mount it are slow and easy back stab targets.

[morgankell]

One thing i dont get is that using flamers in a light to make enemy mechs shutdown or in some cases explode you get nothing for. ive got 3 mechs in 1 game to detonate and nothing for it total damge 67. but should consider those my kills for making them detonate not suicide

[PocketYoda]

I don't really get it.. People say light mechs are harder to play but for me they are actually easier, as their speed and maneuverability makes them some what indestructible..

Could it be that people perceive them harder because a large chunk of the player base can't seem to aim without help?

[The pessimistic optimist]

Samial, on 15 March 2021 - 01:41 AM, said:

I don't really get it.. People say light mechs are harder to play but for me they are actually easier, as their speed and maneuverability makes them some what indestructible..

Could it be that people perceive them harder because a large chunk of the player base can't seem to aim without help?

Trick with lights is not to make big mistakes. Think what people find hard is when you screw up in a light you get punished much more harshly

Edited by SirSmokes, 15 March 2021 - 01:47 AM.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

Samial, on 15 March 2021 - 01:41 AM, said:

I don't really get it.. People say light mechs are harder to play but for me they are actually easier, as their speed and maneuverability makes them some what indestructible..

Could it be that people perceive them harder because a large chunk of the player base can't seem to aim without help?

I'd say it depends a fair bit on the opposition or what mode you're playing.

in QP, you can generally pull off a lot of crazy stuff in lights and screw up without getting insta-gibbed, often.
in FW against decent folks, you better watch what you're doing ;-)

Edited by Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, 15 March 2021 - 04:25 AM.

[Bigbacon]

i play mostly lights and my scores are good most of the time. what is the problem?

[ShiverMeRivets]

Lights are fine - the metric is wrong.
Match score is mostly damage, and lots of damage is not something a light is supposed to do. Using damage is the main stat for MS heavily favors splat weapon that do a lot of useless armor stripping. You don’t need to completely strip a mech in order to kill it - light mechs are (usually) precision weapons that go for already opened components, or backstab through the thin armor - they destroy components while doing only the damage necessary.

Currently, match score punishes an efficient player.

This mostly affects lights, but not only - other builds that go for precision instead of raw splattered damage are disfavored. At the same time this system favors the ATM pop-tarters, any missile build for that matter, RACs, and to a lesser degree LBXs.

Score should be based on results more than means - kills and components destroyed are the results. Sure, stripping armor helps the team, but stripping even more armor - doesn’t. This should be reflected in the match score, and this will improve the rating of light mechs.

Edited by ShiverMeRivets, 15 March 2021 - 11:03 AM.

[Alexander of Macedon]

Nightbird, on 01 January 2019 - 10:22 AM, said:

Lights were hard to play before 50 PPFLD, and heavy gauss hasn't really made a difference. If anything, most mechs that mount it are slow and easy back stab targets.

This. I just came back, but unless things have seriously changed in the past year or two, you die as a light because you stood still when a competent enemy was around. Doesn't matter what they're carrying, if you stop moving in the wrong place you'll die. I prefer fighting PPFLD builds in most of my skirmishers because most players suck at aiming and will whiff their first shot, which is usually all you need to get up close and start circling them.

The bottom line is that most people don't play lights because they take a lot more work to play well. A drunk chimp can pull 500 damage in basically any half-decent heavy or assault.

Hell, you don't even have to be in a fancy meta light. I still play my RVN-2X, pretty much the polar opposite of a meta light, with the same build I used five or six years ago, and the damn thing still has my personal record for most kills and most damage in a single match. Literally all I did was play smart.