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On Indirect fire (Equipment Assisted) - Typefied by the "Stand in the back, and lob Multiple LRM volleys at anything that moves," Usually aided by a UAV, NARC, or stealth locker. Still effective. The Velocity nerf did nothing to hurt this. The spread Nerf I think hurt a little more, but its still very effective, especially when used en Masse.
Takeaway - the teams that load up with a bucketload of LRMs and use them as a team will still be brutally effective.
On Indirect Fire (No Equipment) - Typefied by "Stand in the back behind your teammates, launch a volley at whatever they specifically are shooting at." Since people tend to gain and lose locks for these types of volleys, the velocity nerf hurt a bit more here. Of all the fire types for LRMs, probably the one most hurt here.
Takeaway - this is perhaps the most "Parasitic" form of LRM, but has always been the least effective. It gets the biggest hit in the PTS too, and is now even less effective comparatively.
On Direct Fire (Open field spam) - Brutally effective. If you were concerned about running into an AC boat when you were in the open, this guy is probably even more deadly. Still very high sustained DPS, combined with the now more effective spread makes this a deadly mech to come across if he puts his sights on you.
Takeaway - The largest buff, and LRMs are positively nasty now if it catches something at mid-long range in the open. This has the possibility of making a LRM cyclops out-Duel a something like a Dakka crab if both are in the open. Lights get murder machined now too by direct fire lrms if they're in the open.
On Direct Fire (Peek/Poke/Trading) - Not a ton of change. My hellbringer had no trouble poking, zapping a LRM mech, then ducking back behind cover before any missiles hit me. I honestly don't see the current changes making a whole lot of difference here.
Takeaway - Still awful at trading. The lock time absolutely kills the opportunity to actually deal damage to a mech that's focused on poking at you.
Overall takeaways - I honestly don't see a ton of changes to the overall landscape of LRMs from this test quite yet - The areas they were bad in (Areas where locks are fleeting, either by teammates just using plain locks, or people playing in areas that naturally create fleeting locks) are still really bad. In areas where they were strong, (Equipment Assisted, or Open field locks) they are just as good, to even better.
Suggestions -
I'd like to see the spread nerfed more, in favor of making the velocity higher, possibly even higher than live. Secondly, i'd like to see the Lock mechanic changed up a bit - Keep the cone, or possibly even tighten it further, but Lower the lock times in LOS. Making those changes would significantly improve the ability of LRMs to poke, yet not entirely torch the other modes of LRM play.
Edited by Daurock, 17 January 2019 - 09:25 AM.
