322 replies to this topic

[GuardDogg]

Myself pilot assault mechs a lot. For one, they appear to be the weakest armor than lights (to what I witness), and two they are slow. Other class mechs can carry just as much (or more) as assault mechs. Their is a lot of disadvantages of piloting an assault. And it is no fun. All three classes of pilots will always point the blame on Assault pilots even when winning a round "waste of armor".

For the last week and some few days extra, been pilot medium and heavy, sometimes a light. To get these achievement awards. That is all I am missing, and that "get 12 kills in one round.", and then doing the weekend challenges. But I have found the greatest freedom of other classes. Do what ever I can, as long I am with team (of course). Escort Assaults (all the time) for security, and other. Never get blamed for anything when using light, medium, heavy.

In the conclusion of all this, I been hearing, reading messages from others to those who are piloting assault to hurry up. Wondering, are they new to this? Assaults can only go so fast, and sometimes with a reasonable engine (280 standard), can be a slow mech. And the rest of team is outrunning you, stretching the line to the point enemy lights will be behind you in about two minutes and you are alone and then losing round. Team member is yelling (can hear the frustration) at the assault pilot(s) to hurry up, get over here. When in fact, one; under attack from enemy lights, or mediums. Cut off from team movements, and of course slow. Assault mechs would love to be ahead, and even with other mech classes. People need to remember, Assault mechs are slow. Have respect, understand. Want to get into a battle? Take your light, medium, heavy class mech with assault (same speed). You will get wonders. I have.

[The ImpIication]

yea assaults are not a smart play in qp, they shine in FP

[Prototelis]

Wut.

Assaults are the highest scoring best performing class in the game.

[Khobai]

Prototelis, on 13 April 2019 - 07:34 PM, said:

Wut.

Assaults are the highest scoring best performing class in the game.

The best assaults are.

The worst assaults are unplayably bad though.

And I certainly think theres more bad assaults than there are bad heavies. When assaults are bad they tend to be really really bad because their mobility issues compound with all their other problems.

PGI has certainly not done a good job of balancing all mechs so theyre the same relative power level. And the disparity between the worst assault and the best assault is probably the second biggest disparity gap within a single weight class. Id say the spider 5v vs piranha is the biggest disparity within a weight class.

Edited by Khobai, 13 April 2019 - 07:58 PM.

[GuardDogg]

Prototelis, on 13 April 2019 - 07:34 PM, said:

Wut.

Assaults are the highest scoring best performing class in the game.

I have seen other classes do higher scores than assaults. But what I am getting at, is when others demand in anger to assault pilots to hurry up, and blamed.

Edited by GuardDogg, 13 April 2019 - 07:57 PM.

[K O Z A K]

Assault mechs are the most powerful mechs in the game For a new player they can be difficult to position correctly. And yeah, assaults can get left behind in qp nascar, but are awesome in FP

[FupDup]

Khobai, on 13 April 2019 - 07:52 PM, said:

-
And I certainly think theres more bad assaults than there are bad heavies.
-

Heavies are probably the overall most balanced class right now with nearly all of them* having at least one good variant per chassis.

*The heavy class does obviously have a few poop mechs but they are not as numerous as the poop mechs in other classes.

[FupDup]

GuardDogg, on 13 April 2019 - 07:57 PM, said:

I have seen other classes do higher scores than assaults.

Proto is talking about statistical trends, not individual post-match anecdotes. Of course, it's important to note that the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing applies here. There is definitely a higher skill floor on assaults than heavies and mediums, and many lights (hard to say whether the tiny "twitch" lights like Flea and Locust are harder than assaults or easier, but the average heavier lights are usually easier than the big bois for sure).

[Khobai]

FupDup, on 13 April 2019 - 08:04 PM, said:

Proto is talking about statistical trends, not individual post-match anecdotes. Of course, it's important to note that the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing applies here. There is definitely a higher skill floor on assaults than heavies and mediums, and many lights (hard to say whether the tiny "twitch" lights like Flea and Locust are harder than assaults or easier, but the average heavier lights are usually easier than the big bois for sure).

yeah but most players dont pilot the bad mechs. so the statistical trends tend to be heavily biased in favor of the best mechs.

if everyone who played assaults started playing zeuses I dont think assaults would be the best weight class anymore.

It be more fair and more specific to say when people play the best assaults then assaults are the best weight class. But not all assaults are the best. There is a lot of disparity within the assault weight class between the best and worst mechs.

Edited by Khobai, 13 April 2019 - 08:16 PM.

[Athom83]

I'm a primarily assault player myself, so I do have a few things to say about this.

For starters, Assaults are the most deadly class. In the right hands they lay absolute devastation to the enemy team. However, any class can lay devastation "in the right hands". Usually the difference lies in the rate that destruction happens. For other classes, its drawn out through the entire match. For the assaults, its almost always within a short span of time in a brief but deadly clash against the enemy formation. The assault is really the only class able to take the punishment and dish it right back out in greater measures.

However, this also makes people see it as weak for the following reason; Its mobility is almost always extremely poor when comparing it to other classes. This means that you have to have to think strategically in order to properly put yourself in the right places at the right times to either get your damage out or simply not get instantly ganked by the entirety of the enemy team. This is what trips a lot of new assault pilots up as you have to do this extra layer of thinking ON TOP of tactical thinking of maneuvering in a battle, making your target selections count, properly understanding information right infront of you and targeting the right sections of the enemy mech to do the most effect. Once people get over this hurdle, they have a much better time in Assaults. This is also why you see half the assaults get amazing scores and the other half have double digit damage while pretty much everyone else on the team is somewhere inbetween.

The next thing is that Assaults are very dependent on the rest of the team, and the team is very dependent on the Assaults. By this, I mean that an assault requires its team to be somewhat competent and support it in the right ways in order for not only the Assault to do well, but also have the Assault assist the team. When a team abandons the Assaults, the Assaults die off quickly doing as much damage as they can to the combined enemy team that took them out. This leaves the enemy team largely intact (but still damaged) against the remnants of your team that now lack concentrated armor and firepower. A prime example of this is what the OP puts as his last paragraph. When the rest of the team expects everyone else to play how they are playing, DESPITE the fact that half of the team physically cannot, the team itself breaks apart.

Spoiler

GuardDogg, on 13 April 2019 - 07:14 PM, said:

In the conclusion of all this, I been hearing, reading messages from others to those who are piloting assault to hurry up. Wondering, are they new to this? Assaults can only go so fast, and sometimes with a reasonable engine (280 standard), can be a slow mech. And the rest of team is outrunning you, stretching the line to the point enemy lights will be behind you in about two minutes and you are alone and then losing round. Team member is yelling (can hear the frustration) at the assault pilot(s) to hurry up, get over here. When in fact, one; under attack from enemy lights, or mediums. Cut off from team movements, and of course slow. Assault mechs would love to be ahead, and even with other mech classes. People need to remember, Assault mechs are slow. Have respect, understand.

Now, I'm not saying the other classes exist solely to support the Assaults. They aren't. The thing is, there's a sweetspot between sticking with your assault 24/7 and completely abandoning them to their fate that most people just completely get wrong (namely because they just completely abandon them and don't support them at all). Now, i don't want to tell other people how to play the game, but when your Assaults all spawn on the clockwise side of the map and you and EVERYONE ELSE runs counterclockwise... just... YOU ARE THE ******* ISSUE AND ******* STOP SAYING "Durrrrrrr, well teh asalts shuuld just keep up!"! The game doesn't make me rage, its the people playing the game that make me rage.

[Relishcakes]

Go play any light, and tell me again that assaults have less armor than lights.

[Koniving]

The assault class is only bad if you're going against superior numbers, when foolishly abandoned and/or alone, or if very poorly equipped. If you're having problems with them, perhaps it should be re-evaluated how you're playing with them. I only really have an issue with them when I come around a corner and find 5 enemies all simultaineously aiming at me.

Sometimes I still make it.


But often I don't.

That's just from being very stupid and deliberately seeking my own glory by flanking enemies by myself and then getting caught off guard by a larger than expected force. That's not the fault of the assault class.

Edited by Koniving, 14 April 2019 - 11:40 AM.

[GuardDogg]

Relishcakes, on 14 April 2019 - 11:14 AM, said:

Go play any light, and tell me again that assaults have less armor than lights.

I have. Not saying Assaults have less armor. In the battlefield lights are tougher, than other classes. When everyone is to be afraid of assaults, it is now everyone is afraid of light mechs. So, in MWO when a assault encounters a light. It is "Oh no!", and not the other way around. I have witnessed (many times) lights take out nine mechs in a round, that includes taking out other class mechs, that is even assault mechs. Everyone is afraid of Piranha's. Ever hear/read, "Do not chase the squirrel"? Lights can hold just as much weapons as assaults (or similar, give/take) and do nice numbers in the battlefield. I have fired, hit lights (alpha'd) and the damage was minimal. Good light pilots can do good (only fighting), and get away with a lot of blame. But it takes one screw up, just one, and then they are down. Other classes can do many and survive (sometimes). Assault pilots get blamed for everyone. Even for being slow, when trying to stay with team.

Edited by GuardDogg, 14 April 2019 - 11:44 AM.

[RickySpanish]

GuardDogg, on 14 April 2019 - 11:42 AM, said:

I have. Not saying Assaults have less armor. In the battlefield lights are tougher, than other classes. When everyone is to be afraid of assaults, it is now everyone is afraid of light mechs. So, in MWO when a assault encounters a light. It is "Oh no!", and not the other way around. I have witnessed (many times) lights take out nine mechs in a round, that includes taking out other class mechs, that is even assault mechs. Everyone is afraid of Piranha's. Ever hear/read, "Do not chase the squirrel"? Lights can hold just as much weapons as assaults (or similar, give/take) and do nice numbers in the battlefield. I have fired, hit lights (alpha'd) and the damage was minimal. Good light pilots can do good (only fighting), and get away with a lot of blame. But it takes one screw up, just one, and then they are down. Other classes can do many and survive (sometimes). Assault pilots get blamed for everyone. Even for being slow, when trying to stay with team.

9 kills? You jest sir, in my experience my highest kill games have always been in an Assault. Also on no planet can any Light ever carry Assault levels of power. A good general rule when running an Assault is to go at 60 kph, which basically means pilot a Clan Assault

[GuardDogg]

RickySpanish, on 14 April 2019 - 12:39 PM, said:

9 kills? You jest sir, in my experience my highest kill games have always been in an Assault. Also on no planet can any Light ever carry Assault levels of power. A good general rule when running an Assault is to go at 60 kph, which basically means pilot a Clan Assault

Not me, I can never pilot a light as good as medium, heavy, or assault mech. But I have witnessed pro light pilots taking out 5+ mechs, even carry a team. When assaults do take the front line, they are taken out first. For one, they are big, and next people think they do more firepower, and tougher. When in fact not. Assault mechs (charlie lance) is taken out in seconds. Then you are left with lights, mediums, and heavies. Reason, no tactical. Just go center, nascar, or what ever. Boom. And wonder, why people complain. Why are the assault(s) over there, or back there? Shrugs shoulders. I dunno, surviving? Or being stupid.

[FupDup]

GuardDogg, on 14 April 2019 - 01:17 PM, said:

Not me, I can never pilot a light as good as medium, heavy, or assault mech. But I have witnessed pro light pilots taking out 5+ mechs, even carry a team. When assaults do take the front line, they are taken out first. For one, they are big, and next people think they do more firepower, and tougher. When in fact not. Assault mechs (charlie lance) is taken out in seconds. Then you are left with lights, mediums, and heavies. Reason, no tactical. Just go center, nascar, or what ever. Boom. And wonder, why people complain. Why are the assault(s) over there, or back there? Shrugs shoulders. I dunno, surviving? Or being stupid.

The reason you are observing this behavior is because assaults left unchecked usually pose a greater threat than mechs of lower weight classes. They get focused down first because they're the most dangerous. The only light that consistently compares to that kind of threat level is the Piranha, which coincidentally also tends to get focused down if it stick its neck out at the wrong time.

[Gas Guzzler]

What are these unplayably bad assaults? Not optimal yes but unplayable? Ehhhh

[Xmith]

there may be an easy fix but is hard to do. someone just needs to take command and suggest order at least one lance to group up with assaults mechs.

[RickySpanish]

GuardDogg, on 14 April 2019 - 01:17 PM, said:

Not me, I can never pilot a light as good as medium, heavy, or assault mech. But I have witnessed pro light pilots taking out 5+ mechs, even carry a team. When assaults do take the front line, they are taken out first. For one, they are big, and next people think they do more firepower, and tougher. When in fact not. Assault mechs (charlie lance) is taken out in seconds. Then you are left with lights, mediums, and heavies. Reason, no tactical. Just go center, nascar, or what ever. Boom. And wonder, why people complain. Why are the assault(s) over there, or back there? Shrugs shoulders. I dunno, surviving? Or being stupid.

I didn't mean you, I meant in general it's highly unlikely to get 3/4 of the team's kills in any 'Mech. It's certainly challenging to un**** yourself in an Assault if you get into a bad spot, but I would say Lights and Assaults are about on par with difficulty. It's just that their play styles are so different you will find yourself gravitating toward one or the other.

[Khobai]

Gas Guzzler, on 14 April 2019 - 01:40 PM, said:

What are these unplayably bad assaults? Not optimal yes but unplayable? Ehhhh

executioner, zeus, etc... are all clearly worse than other options.

if the game was balanced sufficiently then no mech would be suboptimal or unplayable.

the fact suboptimal mechs exist means PGI hasnt balanced mechs sufficiently.


but the only point I was making was that its an incorrect generalization to say assaults are the strongest class. The best assaults arnt representative of the entire weight class. There are bad assaults too. so if someone plays a bad assault, like a zeus, I can totally understand how they could get the impression assaults are weak.

Edited by Khobai, 14 April 2019 - 02:18 PM.