Trashtier, on 12 December 2021 - 12:27 PM, said:
I think your asking too much of Navid and more specifically the Cauldron team and PGI to make all mechs as close to equal as possible from a meta stand point or effectiveness stand point. There is always going to be clear winners and losers in this because PGI is trying to keep mechs as close to lore as possible and pilot skill is going to make those differences appear wider. Mechwarrior itself is not a balanced game so it only naturally follows that some designs will be better and more effective in a PVP enviroment.
IMO, balance isn't the issue, but rather giving a variant a reason to be played; something interesting, if not necessarily meta or even particularly good. I'll play a Spider 5V or some of the less than ideal Locusts because no matter what, they are still fun. But I don't see that for the Quickdraws. As it is, and as proposed with these quirks, the Quickdraws still have little reason to be played relative to just about any other heavy, and more than a few mediums, that can do their same builds.
The Cauldron has said why and how they assign quirks, and all I am saying is that what they are proposing for the Quickdraws does not meet their stated rationale. 10% missile cooldown and a bit of armor isn't going to suddenly make the 4H on par with the best heavies in the game and it certainly won't give it a role that a dozen other mechs can't already provide. Same thing with the 4Gs' 10% energy range, or even the 5Ks 5% laser heat.
I'm not looking to be thrilled, or have them be "meta", just potentially relevant, and what is being proposed doesn't bring them to even that level. Other than maybe a straight 4LL build, there is no reason to play a 5K over any of the dozens of other mechs that can do JJ and 6E. You will still be better off playing just about any other MRM boat or dual HPPC heavy or medium than what you can do with the 4H or 4G. Hell, even the old 3LPL builds are superior on the Thunderbolts (10se or 9SE, especially the latter) thanks to the Cauldrons quirks. Do the same for the Quickdraws.
If it were me, I would give the 4G and its 6(7?) JJs some JJ quirks and/or far more significant missile cool down quirks. Give the 4H MRM 10 or SRM6 specific quirks (both mechs suffer from one of their 2/3 M hardpoints being in the CT so an SRM 6 or MRM 10 is all you're getting in there). Maybe some significant arm armor quirks to take advantage of the potential to shield with the massive things; that sort of thing. Nothing supper duper, just something(s) to potentially give the variants some relevant character.
Edited by Bud Crue, 12 December 2021 - 01:46 PM.