D A T A, on 03 March 2023 - 10:28 AM, said:
I'd like to hear what people think about the topic. 1) LRMs have very low skill requirements, they are very close to an aimbot, which is the negation itself of the concept of PvP: they just should not be nearly as good as the other weapons, because they require no aim to be used. 2) Due to their easy nature, tier 3-4-5 are INFESTED by LRM rains, and at times these filthy aimbots bring cancer even in comp, which is laughable per se. 3) The overabundance of LRMs causes the ECM spam as a reaction, because all the other countermeasures got nerfed directly or indirectly into the dust. 4) LRM rains invalidate many slow mechs without ecm, reducing game diversity, because they are just too big to use many objects as covers and LRMs now travel too fast to even let them go to cover, due to the stupidity of the LRM velocity buffs delivered by Chris, pre cauldron. 5) AMS/LAMS are useless, you get rained regardless 6) LRMs can not be balanced on AMS solely, because many clan omnis can not effectively mount it. 7) LRMS got buffed repeatedly in a direct or indirect way in the last 4 years (velocity buff, velocity tree, velocity quirks, missile HP boost, ECM nerf, Radar Deprivation nerf) PROBLEM I am sick of a situation where you get hit by missiles so quick that Betty can't even finish saying "warning incoming missile" anymore. I am sick of seeing most 70-100 tonners without ecm behave just like LRM landing platforms. PROPOSAL Nerf LRM velocity so that slower mechs have more time to travel to their cover, and so that AMS has more time to shoot down incoming missiles.
I mostly disagree with the sentiment that LRMs are game breaking. I use them quite a bit (i use a lot of other loadouts too), and this is my defense of LRMs, as well as some critique of how they maybe could be handled better.
First, LRMs are pretty easy. That's fine in my opinion. They're great for cadets still getting acquainted with maps and gameplay to use as they get their bearings straight, and comfortable enough to try brawl and skirm builds later. I recommend cadets to use medium or heavy LRM boats and stay at a distance until they can move up to equipping a tag, and getting within 500m range to use them more effectively. They're really good for acclimated the noobs in this fashion because the game can be kind of overwhelming at first.
Second, they're pretty easy to counter really. If that LRM boat didn't think to take seismic sensors or target retention, especially. Nothing ruins a LRMers day like an ECM light to the back. Hope they remembered a side arm for this situation, stayed close to their team, or even have the torso pitch to reach the ankle-biter shooting them in the b-hole with machineguns or an array of tiny lasers. Not only that, but the LRMers range is significantly shorter than an ER large laser, Light and standard Gauss Rifles, and about on par with AC2/UAC2/LB2X. This makes LRMs only truly unbalancing in flat open areas with several LRM boats on a team pitted against a team full of short range brawl builds lacking in competent light pilots.
What I can agree with you on is this... AMS feels useless. If you have less than 3 AMS slots, it almost seems pointless to use it. Just dump the points into radar dep instead and ECM if you have it. Rather than nerfing LRMs, I'd rather see AMS get buffed honestly. 1 AMS with skill nodes buffing it should feel like more protection than it provides and I definitely think that would be a fair adjustment.
Honestly, if there is any weapon that really grinds my gears right now, it'd have to be ERLL boat snipers. you can't reach them with any thing, and if your team chose poor positioning there is just sometimes nothing you can do to escape their punishment (especially if paired with LRMers). There's a lot of nuance here though, with regard to team comps, match making, positioning and team communication/cooperation. Which is another thing as well... maybe lift or at least reduce the restrictions on cadet voice comms?
i think maybe 5 games in let the cadets speak VOIP, because even if they're just asking questions to better understand what's going on it could improve a lot of games in the lower tiers, and i stay low tier because i'm always playing with new mechs and new builds and experimenting. i've had games with over 1000 damage countless times. i've also had under 100 damage games countless times and still do depending on what i'm playing with. I've also brought in new players from games like World of Tanks that are situationally aware, and ready to contribute in very helpful ways to voice comms intelligence right out the gate. This game more than any other i've played really emphasizes teamwork and communication, which i think is a good thing. So maybe cultivate more of it by opening things up more for those cadets?
i'm also not opposed to integrating more game modes for different types of play where match making may fail to compensate. higher reward, more competitive tier quick play, and then maybe a more testing ground and new player quick play mode might be worth considering. if you jump in the more competitive games with experienced players maybe having in those modes the ability for the team to vote other team mates up or down so game play patterns place you. potential abuse and toxicity, sure, but it's the big dog league over there. don't have that in the softer quick play mode more geared for less competitive players. really rough spit balling ideas here, but just wanted to get some thoughts out that have been bouncing around in my head so maybe as a community they could be more shaped and solidified by others with similar ideas.
4
