Void Angel, on 27 January 2024 - 09:46 PM, said:
As I pointed out in the nuanced opinion you willfully ignored, LRMs are a problem weapon. They're very easy to use, but their actual effectiveness relies heavily on factors outside of the pilot's individual performance. Team composition is a huge factor in LRM effectiveness, for example, that a pilot does not control- and to top it all off, LRM damage is inflated from its actual killing power. This gives a situation where LRM boats can either smash enemies when spotters and favorable terrain exist, but often struggle to kill enemies despite putting up moderate damage numbers. With the previous volley height, I've had my Stone Rhino take significant leg damage despite being parked behind a rock fully taller than the Battlemech. The guy hitting me wasn't doing anything skilled; he literally just had a spotter, and I took a lot of unanswerable damage from him purely because of that. This is the problem with LRMs in general, and with the volley height specifically, pre-patch. The change is reasonable and thought-out. If additional balance is required - as it likely will be - the weapon systems or individual 'mechs can be changed. That's how this works.
Artemis is also a problem with that system, for the same reasons that those who really understand LRMs seldom use it. The tonnage and (perhaps more importantly) space requirements provide a strongly situational benefit that is often just not in play for most of the match. For a lot of LRM platforms, this amounts to a 4-6 ton build tax for a small benefit that may never trigger during a match, and the space inflation can invalidate builds - particularly for 'mechs using head- or CT-mounted LRMs. So Artemis needs a reason for people to take it, and now they do. If it still does not provide enough benefit, or the weapon system underperforms in general, the weapon system or individual 'mechs can be changed. That's how this works.
How this does not work is subjective hissy fits about how LRMs totally didn't need a nerf, conspiracy theories about how the Cauldron hates LRMs (because aimbots, apparently?) or complaints that LRMs arc like ATMs now, so now there's no important difference between the systems. While people are throwing fits, the grown-ups will be using LRMs on people, and generating the numbers and data the developers need to tune the system.
In short, as the actual announcement put it:
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LRMs are not the problem, Gauss+ERLL snipers are. They stand on a wall and shoot you across the map, only way to counter them is LRMs, and now they are nerfed.
Playing LRM effectively is quite hard and requires a lot of map awareness and positioning, while with laser vomit you can turn your brain off and run around like a headless chicken.
So we must nerf velocity on ballistic weapons by 40%, to force players to start using TC8. Right?
Edited by Ekson Valdez, 19 February 2024 - 10:47 PM.