354 replies to this topic

[An Actual Walrus]

Am I crazy or blind, or is it that the patch, having reduced the spread of SRMs, have overlooked the spread of SRMs with Artemis-IV?

[Tomo Sukesada]

Y E O N N E, on 22 April 2021 - 04:48 AM, said:

The Clan Streaks alphas were lowered because of the number of tubes Clans can bring at once versus the IS combined with the large range advantage. The previous balance mechanism was a slow rate of fire and high heat, which made them useful only for hit-and-run against Lights. The alpha was lowered so that the rate of fire and heat could be improved, making it more useful to pump out damage when locked into a close quarters fight. This makes it less potent against Lights, but more potent against larger targets.

Let me correct this a bit. The previous balance mechanism was useful for a hit-and-run play style. Close quarter fighting, aka brawling, is a play style not suited for streaks. This is the fundamental flaw in this change. By nerfing streaks in this manner, you nerf the hit-and-run play style, which many, many players consider FUN. Which I thought was one of the main goals of the Cauldron.

[Pz_DC]

Log-in issue is strange one - yesterday after few reboots it let me start launcher and repair tool 0_0 Didn't try to enter in game but still thing is "funny"...

[Ruediger Steiner]

Stomps in QP have increased by 350%. If people don´t start changing their style of play we will experience a lot of people leaving the game.
As much as i like the new weapons balancing. The changes come from teamplayers, optimized for teamplay. There is no teamplay in QP.
TTK has indeed increased for those people. And let´s be honest, that´s 90% of the playerbase.
Mechs became faster, even Heavys and Assaults, due to less heat --> less heat sinks --> more tonnage for bigger engines.
Slow mechs from unskilled players get murdered 2 minutes after the match started, Hunted down by Lights and Mediums with LPPCs.
So you have a murder ball on one side and and 12 dead people without damage on the other side.
The mobility patch next month will not change that. Cause i know most players will blame the new patch for this. Instead of thinking about their playstyle. And that makes me sad.
QP is unplayable at the moment, if you don´t have some skilled friends playing by your side.

[John Bronco]

Wishmast3r, on 22 April 2021 - 09:45 AM, said:

QP is unplayable at the moment, if you don´t have some skilled friends playing by your side.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[mcmatthew]

An Actual Walrus, on 22 April 2021 - 06:25 AM, said:

Am I crazy or blind, or is it that the patch, having reduced the spread of SRMs, have overlooked the spread of SRMs with Artemis-IV?

I believe the patch also reduced the spread of artemis SRMs. I think the way it works is that adding artemis doesn't make the missiles a different weapon, it's still the same weapon with reduced spread. For example quirks that help LRMs also affect LRMs with artemis, even though the quirk only lists LRMs as being boosted.

[C337Skymaster]

Y E O N N E, on 22 April 2021 - 04:48 AM, said:

The Clan Streaks alphas were lowered because of the number of tubes Clans can bring at once versus the IS combined with the large range advantage. The previous balance mechanism was a slow rate of fire and high heat, which made them useful only for hit-and-run against Lights. The alpha was lowered so that the rate of fire and heat could be improved, making it more useful to pump out damage when locked into a close quarters fight. This makes it less potent against Lights, but more potent against larger targets.

So I've got a few cents to add to this thought as well: The 'mech I typically use Streaks on is a TBR-D. The 'mech comes with two ERPPCs and 24 Streak SRM tubes, stock (we don't talk about the ERSL. That's not supposed to be there). The trouble with making Streaks a DPS weapon vs a hit-and-fade weapon, is that you have to maintain the target lock, or reestablish the target lock once the weapons have cooled off. Thanks to the target lock nerf of a year or two ago, this is exceptionally difficult to accomplish, meaning that regardless of the reload speed of the launcher, you generally only have a single shot, and you need to make the most of it. With the previous damage numbers (which were based on the TT values for the launchers, by the way), you could try to get PPC hits, and if you're lucky, might be able to get a lock in time to follow-through with a missile salvo before the light 'mech passes you by. If they go by you, you have to start the lockon process all over again, so they will usually be behind cover by the time you can set up for a 2nd shot, at which point your cooldown doesn't matter.

[DeltaWhite]

Tourmaline Desert Spawn point still broken...

FAIL

[Mal Bolge]

AnAnachronismAlive, on 22 April 2021 - 01:11 AM, said:

Anyone tried mass-boating micro-pulse lasers since the patch (no ghost-heat)? Jeeze or cheese?! I mean, they really ARE short-range, but once ye get there ...

15x Piranha. One-shot killing assaults in the back since the patch. Lots and lots of threats and hate.

[justcallme A S H]

Tomo Sukesada, on 22 April 2021 - 07:21 AM, said:

Let me correct this a bit. The previous balance mechanism was useful for a hit-and-run play style. Close quarter fighting, aka brawling, is a play style not suited for streaks. This is the fundamental flaw in this change. By nerfing streaks in this manner, you nerf the hit-and-run play style, which many, many players consider FUN. Which I thought was one of the main goals of the Cauldron.

Streaks were a case of boat then on a Medium and go find a light and chase it till you kill it. Nothing about hit and run and all about instantly nuking a enemy lighter/medium.

ATMs are hit and run.

[D V Devnull]

Argh... I finally get set to Patch MWO after a few days of unintended downtime from the game, but then find that the Download Link is not present again?!?!?


<*tracks it down yet again*>

Okay, here's the details...

---

Patch Download -- >> http://patcher.mwomercs.com/patch/Production/frontend/FrontendPatch_386.zip <<
File Size -- About 36.8 MB for the MWO Portal StandAlone (Might show only 36.7 MB on your hard disk!!!)

---

...and I will very much hope that the rest of you who could use this Link & Information will now be able to get back into MWO and enjoy! I shall see you all soon enough.



I have to admit that I am left with one question, though... Why did the Version Number start out as 1.4.241.0 at first, and then snap back to 1.4.240.0 when the Patch landed? Has something been missed?


~D. V. "forever having to find the Patch Download Link when PGI didn't show it, with v1.4.240.0 being no exception" Devnull

[Y E O N N E]

Tomo Sukesada, on 22 April 2021 - 07:21 AM, said:

Let me correct this a bit. The previous balance mechanism was useful for a hit-and-run play style. Close quarter fighting, aka brawling, is a play style not suited for streaks. This is the fundamental flaw in this change. By nerfing streaks in this manner, you nerf the hit-and-run play style, which many, many players consider FUN. Which I thought was one of the main goals of the Cauldron.

I wouldn't call that a correction, just a difference of perspective. Also don't agree with your assessment, for two reasons:

1. Inner Sphere Streaks are exactly what you claim Streaks are not and worked well enough in this capacity to earn themselves a cool-down nerf

2. The extra range on Clan Streaks can keep you further out of harm's way, affording you the opportunity to "poke" from the sidelines of a brawl at over 400 meters away when fully skilled out.

What you will have a harder time doing is instantly deleting a Light 'Mech and then running away. Getting deleted by a wad of Streaks is never fun for the Light. Whose fun is more important? Both have to be considered.

There are plenty of weapons systems that allow hit and fade. You still have ATMs, MRMs, lasers, Gauss, and PPCs, all of which are hit-and-fade weapons with the appropriate volley size.

justcallme A S H, on 22 April 2021 - 03:30 PM, said:

Streaks were a case of boat then on a Medium and go find a light and chase it till you kill it. Nothing about hit and run and all about instantly nuking a enemy lighter/medium.

ATMs are hit and run.

ASH, that just means I had it backwards: Streaks were previously Run (and Run) & Hit!

[justcallme A S H]

lol...

[Belogor]

Pz_DC, on 22 April 2021 - 09:16 AM, said:

Log-in issue is strange one - yesterday after few reboots it let me start launcher and repair tool 0_0 Didn't try to enter in game but still thing is "funny"...

I also have a problem logging into the game after the patch.

[martian]

Cyxov, on 22 April 2021 - 05:16 AM, said:

There was such a problem, I and some of my friends cannot enter the game
https://ibb.co/fSgD8v6

Pz_DC, on 22 April 2021 - 09:16 AM, said:

Log-in issue is strange one - yesterday after few reboots it let me start launcher and repair tool 0_0 Didn't try to enter in game but still thing is "funny"...

Check this thread, please: Cant Login. Connection Issues?

[Voice of Kerensky]

martian, on 22 April 2021 - 11:07 PM, said:

Check this thread, please: Cant Login. Connection Issues?

Thank you!
I will tell my friends about this topic.

Three of my mates who faced this problem uninstalled the game and installed it again. Two of them have a negative result. Another comrade has not yet contacted with us, but his last visit to the game was on April 19 (and problems with connecting people began on April 20). Therefore, I can assume with a high degree of probability that reinstalling the game in his case also did not give a positive result.

[martian]

Voice of Kerensky, on 23 April 2021 - 01:06 AM, said:

Thank you!
I will tell my friends about this topic.

Three of my mates who faced this problem uninstalled the game and installed it again. Two of them have a negative result. Another comrade has not yet contacted with us, but his last visit to the game was on April 19 (and problems with connecting people began on April 20). Therefore, I can assume with a high degree of probability that reinstalling the game in his case also did not give a positive result.

File a complaint here: Roskomnadzor / Роскомнадзор

Tell them that they are paid from your taxes to help you.

[byter75]

justcallme A S H, on 22 April 2021 - 03:30 PM, said:

Streaks were a case of boat then on a Medium and go find a light and chase it till you kill it. Nothing about hit and run and all about instantly nuking a enemy lighter/medium.

ATMs are hit and run.

Let's say you boat clan streaks on a medium mech, you find all the lights and you kill them... What then? Well... You probably should do something. Now you have secured the flanks, you probably should help fight the larger mechs, right? But fighting larger mechs is a bit tricky because you have so much face time and they can just focus down your CT. Since streaks don't need to hold locks and their cooldown was long you tend to trade better when you engaged in hit & run.

The streak game plan is fairly simple.
1. Secure the flanks against lights/mediums
2. Use the flanks to apply pressure to the main body of the enemy
With this patch we have increased clan streak dps and face time, this means they can generally do step 1 more easily but step 2 is a doubled edged sword since more dps is nice but more face time is not so nice. Which broadly means the feast of lights has gone up and the famine against heavier mechs has become harder to play around.

Oh and also, streaks were also boated with atms since both could be fired together in a hit & run playstyle without ghost heat, leading to larger alpha strikes, where the relatively tanky atm missiles could sheild the relatively squishy streak missiles. The atm minimum range meant you can have lights try to dive you but the streaks do still pose a consistent threat at that range (so they won't).

Whilst many see streaks as only an anti-light weapon, that thinking is narrow minded and it leads to suboptimal play (in QP). When you take streaks in QP you should secure the flanks against harrassing smaller mechs but your game plan shouldn't stop at just that, you should use the flanks to launch large volleys that are able to resist ams and apply pressure to the heavier mechs too. And since you are a squishy clan medium or light, you want to apply pressure by engaging in effective hit and run rather than trying to charge down and out dps things like annihilators.

Edited by byter75, 23 April 2021 - 05:23 AM.

[Krasnopesky]

Mal Nilsum, on 22 April 2021 - 01:36 PM, said:

15x Piranha. One-shot killing assaults in the back since the patch. Lots and lots of threats and hate.

The problem isn't one-shotting Assaults, that was/is already done better with other weapons before and after the patch. Other combinations of weapons have higher alpha, for example; 5x Heavy Small Laser (HSL) + 10x ER Micro Laser (ERUL).

The problem is the large increase in burst DPS presented by Piranhas boating Micro Pulse Lasers (UPL). They can run up and shoot 3 to 4 times for a very large amount of damage, whereas the typical previous builds could not shoot as quickly, or would do it for less damage.

Below are some Piranha builds to compare. Note the alpha on UPL boats is usually lower, but the absolute DPS is very high.

15x UPL: https://mech.nav-alp...#556b4d25_PIR-2
5x HSL + 10x ERUL: https://mech.nav-alp...#f05504d8_PIR-2
5x SPL + 10x ERUL: https://mech.nav-alp...#b279c1e6_PIR-2
5x HSL + 4x ERUL + 6x MG: https://mech.nav-alp...1da923a3_PIR-CI
9x UPL + 6x MG: https://mech.nav-alp...db12abbd_PIR-CI
3x UPL + 12x MG: https://mech.nav-alp...#926846f3_PIR-1
12x HMG: https://mech.nav-alp...#136c1c8e_PIR-1

Currently a lot of us in The Cauldron are testing UPL to see if the problem is with the weapon itself or if the weapon in combination with just the Piranha is the problem. I have been testing: Viper 11x UPL, Black Lanner 10x UPL, Nova 15x UPL, Gargoyle 16x UPL. These other Mechs feel very good to pilot, but I do not feel they are currently as big of a problem as the Piranha presents (and has presented in the past).

Edited by Krasnopesky, 23 April 2021 - 05:04 AM.

[justcallme A S H]

byter75, on 23 April 2021 - 04:57 AM, said:

Let's say you boat clan streaks on a medium mech, you find all the lights and you kill them... What then?

You go after the Meds, where streaks are still devastatingly effective post patch just as they were prior - they just wont insta-gib a IS Med, it'll take 3 shots instead of 2. Odd occassions it might take 4.