6 replies to this topic

[Neela_the_Tarantula]

My first Impression: I think that this has potential to be a good change as it gives more viability to those who like to main LRMs (such as myself). The direct fire allows for viability on maps where they had no success (HPG, Crimson Straight, Rubelitte Oasis)... this also means that tactics that were not available to players on these maps are available. LRMs still maintain their initial weaknesses, and the nerfs to indirect fire are a nice counterbalance. The patch will also per-mote good behavior by getting the LRM boaters to take initiative and grab their own locks (which if you are a seasoned LRM boater like me, you should be sharing armor and even tanking for the team in the first place).

The lock speed boost is noticeable and appreciated since the lock radius was reduced by 50% in a previous patch.

Artemis is super viable when using direct fire while worthless for indirect fire. this means that there are going to be much needed adjustments to the builds that you will see on the battlefield. More focus on direct fire will create new build options for both clan and IS (LRMs/ATMs, LRMs/MRMs, LRMs/SRMs/Streaks and LRM-POPTART). LRMs will be also more viable on Assault mechs since direct combat is more viable with this patch. Also the direct fire ability can allow LRMboats to actually participate in NASCARing.

The only concern I have for this patch is the potential for super effective High alpha damage builds. Dakka does this, Laser/Gauss does this, ATMs does this. Now LRMs may become apart of this statistic once players create an optimized the playstyle (AKA meta gaming). The high accuracy of direct fire + Artemis creates a mech buster combination. Add in the ability to lock on and you got something OP. But in comparasion to the other forms of metas plus the counters to LRMs are still there, this can be overlooked as LRMs still not well liked in this game as they stand currently.

Please LRM responsibly.

[dwwolf]

Armor sharing is a myth with LRM mechs.
You have no choice but to stare at the target b4 and after shooting. I feel like a shooting target everytime I have to do it.

I predicted LRMs would be godly with LoS fire ( which lowers spread ) and further spread enhancements, if you calculate the effective area your missiles will land in....it is about 30 % of live server un aided LRM salvos. In effect it is almost like an ATM salvo.

Like it or not LRMs whole niche is IDF coupled with support fire from the second line.

[Neela_the_Tarantula]

dwwolf, on 17 January 2019 - 03:13 AM, said:

Armor sharing is a myth with LRM mechs.
You have no choice but to stare at the target b4 and after shooting. I feel like a shooting target everytime I have to do it.

I predicted LRMs would be godly with LoS fire ( which lowers spread ) and further spread enhancements, if you calculate the effective area your missiles will land in....it is about 30 % of live server un aided LRM salvos. In effect it is almost like an ATM salvo.

Like it or not LRMs whole niche is IDF coupled with support fire from the second line.

ARMOR SHARING IN A LRM BOAT... A MYTH? Then clearly you never played one properly (why do you think they were suppose to mainly be heavy and assault mechs... its not just load capacity) Its not hard to play, Just grow some balls and make sure you are supported. Hell I had to deal with a 1v5 situation where I took 4/5 people down in sun spider (Sun Spider has paper armor, I was facing a hellbringer, a black knight, a grasshopper and 2 other mechs) in a DIRECT FIRE situation on forest colony. They may have killed me. but those people will never underestimate a LRM boater again.

And Yes, you can tank as a role in an LRM boat... its called an Anchor, usually an ASSAULT mech who's soul purpose is to force the line to move forward. Placed in the center of the line, the anchor is most supported mech in the game, flanks are protected, everyone shoots at what the anchor shoots at and information flows. but nobody in quickplay likes to play as a team, in a game where teamwork is suppose to be rewarded. Hell, nobody even brings a narc into solo queue.

LRM (as well as most forms of fire support) use is almost dead in solo quickplay and most teams will not support locks for a LRM boat (insert every competitive unit tag here). People refuse to use a person with LRMs as an asset to their team. Instead, they NASCAR on every map, leaving those who cannot defend themselves to die (Assaults and the LRM support being the two groups being killed off. Assaults because they are to slow and are easily killed by Light mechs and fast moving alpha sholder buster builds. LRMs have a minimum range and the weapons are too heavy on the IS side)There are even people in this game who will team kill anything carrying LRM pod. The community has made the LRM useless in solo queue, the place where most grinding occurs for any kind of mech.

I tend to play devils advocate and see your point as the community will most likely never play with LRMs properly. So how about this... Artemis tends to be useless to both sides when it comes to LRMs, IS pods are too heavy and Clan missiles stream out instead of cluster firing. Maybe this patch should only apply to mechs that use LRMs + Artemis? Artemis was suppose to be used for direct fire anyways, it would make more sense and people would more likely choose Artemis for LRMs for this purpose.

Also I doubt that nobody would choose LRMs over ATMs when ATMs have a closer min range and deal up to triple damage in cqc situations. the main difference between these two is that LRMs, instead of getting a damage increase, they get an arch adjustment when switching between Direct and Indirect...

Edited by Vylon1234, 17 January 2019 - 06:15 PM.

[The6thMessenger]

Hmm. They fixed Artemis?

[Neela_the_Tarantula]

The6thMessenger, on 17 January 2019 - 10:22 PM, said:

Hmm. They fixed Artemis?

No... Artemis in the past patches was nerfed. some people argue that the LRMs would be OP with this patch goes through... it would be interesting if they made artemis viable by giving it the effects of the patch in stead of a across the board effect.

[VeeOt Dragon]

instead of making a new thread I think this one is the best place to put my impressions. mind you I only have the Testing Grounds to go one since I can't seem to get into a match.

now I find the DF mode refreshing and a much needed improvement. though the lock times should get a larger buff (in DF mode only) since many DF laser vomit or Gauss/whatever builds can likely kill you before you could even get off your first Volley. its why many users of LRM stay out of LoS most of the time. mind you since none of the mechs in the testing ground have ECM (something that I think needs to change) i'm not sure how it will effect it. in DF mode more missiles do tend to hit legs than they do in IDF, not sure if this is a good or bad thing. might be good for taking out the legs of fast mobile mechs if you can get a lock.

the IDF nerfs are unneeded though and should not be implemented. this also goes for the general (it seems to me anyway) Velocity nerf. it might just be me but it feels like the time to target is actually slower even in DF from what it was before the changes. so if you want a net time to target decrease you are going to have to at least return the velocity to what it was before these changes. mind you this might just be my overly tired mind playing tricks on me.

also I might be misinterpreting the meaning but if you look at the LRM-10 as an example.

LRM 10:

• Spread increased to 4.6 (from 4.2)
  
• Velocity decreased to 175 (from 190)
  
• Minimum Heat Penalty Increased to 4 (from 3)
  
• Heat Penalty increased to 3.4 (from 2.8)

does the Minimum heat Penalty refer to the number of launchers before Ghost heat. if so it isn't implemented in the test (if its just general added heat then yet again we have another large Nerf and it shows) the heat increase taking away the viability of multiple smaller launchers. a say 4 LRM-10 build running much hotter than it did before but the nerf to spread makes a dual LRM-20 worse. (then again that always was the trade off between the two approaches the changes just make it much more noticeable.)

as for viability of Artemis with these changes I find that it is still not worth the tonnage investment as it has been since the last nerf. though I am happy with promoting more active use of LRM we shouldn't be nerfing out the weapon's IDF capability so hard.

at the end of the day, though the improvements are nice it seems to be an overall Nerf to LRM yet again. overall it feels like to much nerf for to little gain. (keep the angle change though as it works great just tone down the nerf hammer a bit is all I ask. then again we all know what happens when LRM get any kind of buff, meta cry babies come out of the woodwork to ruin it)

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 19 January 2019 - 09:12 PM.

[The6thMessenger]

VeeOt Dragon, on 19 January 2019 - 09:08 PM, said:

in DF mode more missiles do tend to hit legs than they do in IDF, not sure if this is a good or bad thing. might be good for taking out the legs of fast mobile mechs if you can get a lock.

Not good if you're trying to kill them, and that is pretty much the common MO of other DF weapons. Best they fix it to hit center-mass.

VeeOt Dragon, on 19 January 2019 - 09:08 PM, said:

the IDF nerfs are unneeded though and should not be implemented.

True, if anything they should just have made DF a lot better, like faster locks and even tighter spread.