DAEDALOS513, on 20 April 2023 - 07:00 AM, said:
I like the map update.. it was a step in the right direction with the addition of cover.. and I'm def seeing more brawling happening. I also doubt we'll be seeing 1600+ dmg games from lurm boats anymore..
If LRM boats on your team or the other one are getting 1600 damage somehow, the problem isn't the LRM boats. The problem is your team the opposing team, or both, is essentially doing nothing but standing still waiting to be shot. There have been so many nerfs to LRM's over the years, specifically to appease those sorts of people in the form of increased scattering increased heat, straight up capping how many LRM launchers mechs can carry even if they have the tonnage and pod space, really buffing ECM, increased radar deprevation with many lighter mechs now having an inherent percentage before you even use the skill try, or chance to miss out on doing damage entirely even with a clear lock at certain ranges, to say nothing of how Inner sphere LRM's don't do damage at all at a certain ranges, or Clan LRM's at a close enough point have it drop off so much it might as well not be worth it using them.
LRM's usually rely on one of two things to even work: a clear line of sight for an enemy, and something that can keep them out in the open where the majoority of missiles will hit, usually in the form of a teammate who's closing in close and keeping them occupied, often while tagging or NARCing them so that you can even attempt to hit to begin with. With Artemis launchers, you can't even deadfire without a positive lock, though you get an accuracy to hit increase at certain ranges and situations. SRM's, MRM's, rocket launchers, autocannons, lasers, gauss rifles even a good chunk of the PPC type weapons don't have these restrictions, or this inherent chance of missing even with a confirmed shot. Likewise, only LRM's really have a secondary weapon that exists specifically to hard counter them, not that you see to many mechs carrying AMS systems anymore. The threat they were intended to protect against has been nerfed to the point many people no longer see the point. Hell, even the removal of AMS scoring was an attempt to keep some small measure of viability for LRM's, so crippled have they become.
Due to these nerfs, and many of these weapons getting buffed on top of changes made specifically to weaken LRM's many of the mechs originally designed with LRM's in mind are taking their shorter ranged, faster, less troublesome counterparts. And really can you blame the pilots of those mechs a bit? You can effectively use MRM's in a range bracket that includes the optimal ranges of both LRM's and SRM's with a lot of mechs and the range or accuracy boosting perks they have access to. And you'll outdamage the LRM's, too. You can use autocannons somewhat effectively if you know what you're doing at any range.
Medium lasers in particular are so generally useful it's downright *weird* to not see mechs fielding at least one, even if they don't have thew tonnage available for more powerful, longer ranged laser weaponry. PPC's share many of the strengths of autocannons, and can temporarily disable ECM besides.
So yeah. The weapon that directly struggles in viability both as a generalist and specialized weapon against virtually every other weapon of the game is OP just because you say so. And obviously needs to be yet again further nerfed. Despite all evidence otherwise, or the fact that even if you are seeing someone getting 1600 damage in a match, it's pretty much functionally impossible to do except with weapons that are very specifically tailored to be better generalsit weapons overall, and most optimal for shorter ranges.
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