48 replies to this topic

[Doppelsoldner King Crab]

Pixel Hunter, on 07 October 2024 - 01:32 PM, said:

having to use only the "good" mechs and at that, premium ones are a pretty big indictment for balance in this game. It's gotten a bit out of hand as of late. I think some of the "favorite" mechs and weapon systems need a bit of a nerf, but doing so will upset the whales therefore it will neve happen.

Sorry, you are right.
I have a lot of hero mechs but I've only paid for the Argent, the rest were bought with event MCs.

Please allow me to suggest non-hero alternatives.

The KGC-00B is my most effective mech, meaning - mech that has the most 1000+ damage.
quad UAC-5s, with either 3 LPPCs (hot) or a heavy targeting computer.

The SHC-B with dual erppcs + narc + ecm.

Kitfox - C with dual beam lasers with effective range of 810m (600 typical beam laser range)

Ebon Jauguar with triple UAC-5s

I am sure there's loads of other mechs that are effective.
Yes, specialized builds are fun but might get picked off if in the wrong range bracket. e.g. executioner vs snipers

I feel mid to long range all-purpose builds that runs cool are pretty good compared to huge alpha then hide for 10 seconds.

[foamyesque]

Scarlet King Crab, on 09 October 2024 - 12:52 AM, said:

The SHC-B with dual erppcs + narc + ecm.

Ditch the NARC for sinks. You'll thank me.

[Doppelsoldner King Crab]

foamyesque, on 09 October 2024 - 09:09 AM, said:

Ditch the NARC for sinks. You'll thank me.

I do that sometimes but i feel i win more with narc.
The two erppcs generate a lot of heat (hence needing more DHS) so i need a lot of rest time. When enemies see i am jumptarting with erppcs, they storm the area sometimes realizing a can only dish out 2 shots before needing for a long heat rest.

Now with narc, there are 3 advantages.
1. My team knows the enemy position especially when they peek.
2. If anyone on my team has LRMs, they spam, the enemies look for cover, less counterfire.
3. When an enemy is narced, they run away, more time for me to rest and less chance they storm my area. This is super effective against typical narc targets heavies and assaults. When they hold back, i can poptart more.

[Void Angel]

It's a Shadowcat - they can try and storm your location, but by the time they get there it won't be your location any more. That 'mech is one of the most mobile Mediums in the game; its ability to move around the map outclasses many Lights. Foregoing a literal 30% increase in cooling isn't worth taking NARC - instead, drop your cooldown nodes for Speed Tweak and other skills, then bounce around the flanks under ECM cover at long range. There is a reason that practiced Shadowcat pilots are often the last 'mech alive when their team loses. =)

(It's who they are, as people.)

Edited by Void Angel, 09 October 2024 - 06:01 PM.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Whizbang AGNC, on 25 September 2024 - 08:24 PM, said:

I'm just about done with this cheating POS. PGI, you are making the nerfing of players so obvious it's ridiculous. I can understand getting a crap team once in a while. But to keep getting them every game all the time for days? The odds are incredible, unless you guys are nerfing players. I'm tired of being cannon fodder for you favorite players. There are too many other games to play out there that are fun to keep putting up with this nonsense. And as I can see from my lists, how many more players can you afford to lose? Make the game honest again.

You know there is one constant to each and every match. You. The rest in random. That being the case, are you sure it is PGI cheating you or is there possibly another reason?

I mean think about it logically. We have all been on a team where we have had one member "disconnected" and we all know how much of a disadvantage being one mech down. The question then is if it so much different of a disadvantage to always having a match with a very low skilled player always dragging the team down similar to having a "Disconnected" teammate?

This is much more likely than PGI actually spending time and money to rig the game so that a few select players always get an advantage.

Look, all jokes aside, PGI really isn't going to spend time and resources rigging a game for a few select people or to spite others. To think that is ridiculous so you really do need to think of other reasons why you have losing streaks.

[Pixel Hunter]

Angel of Annihilation, on 12 October 2024 - 03:06 PM, said:

This is much more likely than PGI actually spending time and money to rig the game so that a few select players always get an advantage.

I hate to say it, but those handful of players do get to rig the game now.

[Void Angel]

That's not what the Cauldron is - nor is that what was being claimed...

[Evan OMellin]

I know that feel, bro. Very often, due to the low player count, I get matched with the same teams and the same players who don’t want to actually play MechWarrior. Instead, they just run in circles on the map or scatter and die the dumbest deaths all alone. Not only do you have to wait up to 10 minutes for a match during certain times, but you also end up losing every single game not because of your own mistakes. It’s incredibly frustrating.
OOOOO and my favourite issue is that rearly someone actually listening or reading about target positions and keep this in mind or focus fire.

Edited by Evan OMellin, 16 October 2024 - 10:29 AM.

[pbiggz]

Pixel Hunter, on 14 October 2024 - 12:03 PM, said:

I hate to say it, but those handful of players do get to rig the game now.

The cauldron isn't rigging the game.

[Ken Harkin]

Calling it "rigging" is disingenuous. Rigging would mean they changed it to provide an unfair advantage only to them. In truth anyone could use the same tactics they use to enjoy the same benefits of their changes to the game.

The Cauldron does make changes which clearly favor what appears to be a specific mode of gameplay. Missle weapons become more and more innefective while long range laser vomit combined with sniper fests are encouraged.

One the one hand I am happy SOMEONE is doing something to keep the game alive. With that will always come an understandable amount of bias towards the prefered play style of those doing the managing. That is the nature of the beast with anyone managing "balance." How noticable that is will vary from mildly noted to blatantly onerous with the pendulum continually swinging. Add to that the nature of the internet and complaining, which is the loudest voice is heard the most and gains the most attention, and we have an issue which will never go entirely away and can easily be overstated.

I do feel the balance is pushed pretty far in favor of a style I am not hugely a fan of. At the same time I am not sitting on a wall in every dropp with a CERLL DireWolf spamming 1,000 meter laserfire. I continue to focus mostly on my med range and short range builds, such as 75 ton Marauders with SPPCs and AC20, possibly mixed in with some BLC, LL and ballistics. Use cover, let the morons draw fire, and call out the snipers when spotted so they can be surpressed or ideally shanked by a light.

In the end I am just happy the game continues.

[Davegt27]

rigged, tweaked, changed, modified

pic your poison
they have an idea how they want the game to be and they politic to get it changed
it gives a picture of someone working behind the scenes
it goes against everything I believe in and have fought for most of my adult life

for example as soon as they got in power they went right after streaks

the regular player just get pushed along
I am sure my comment will turn into argument but its just my opinion
I have no desire to wrestle over little points

[VeeOt Dragon]

honestly it locking weapons in general (well other than the ATMs and the new Thunderbolts) Steaks and LRM have gotten neutered to near uselessness since they took over the balance. i will continue to pour my hate at them for this as LRM were a favorite weapon system for me. when i start getting crap match after crap match i could always count on one of my LRM boats to cheer me up and get a good match or two in before i logged off for the day. over the last year or so that is no longer an option.

(i will admit though that they have done some good for certain under used mechs and weapons but this focus on sniping and pinpoint weapons is getting ridiculous.)

[Saved By The Bell]

A good leader and group are most important thing, not weapons, not tonnage.
Bad, I only know 2 leaders.

[Pixel Hunter]

Pixel Hunter, on 14 October 2024 - 12:03 PM, said:

I hate to say it, but those handful of players do get to rig the game now.

but they get to pick winners and losers, and they have clear biases. Is it intentional? not really...but there is a clear meta that they dance around addressing (in my opinion). At the end of the day they game is set up to reward mid to long range laser vomit boating with high alphas, and that seems to be the way the cauldron wants it to be.

Ken Harkin, on 17 October 2024 - 06:33 AM, said:

Calling it "rigging" is disingenuous. Rigging would mean they changed it to provide an unfair advantage only to them. In truth anyone could use the same tactics they use to enjoy the same benefits of their changes to the game.

The Cauldron does make changes which clearly favor what appears to be a specific mode of gameplay. Missle weapons become more and more innefective while long range laser vomit combined with sniper fests are encouraged.

Rigging was a bit of a sensational name to give it sure, but it gets the point across. They've let the biases show on a specific play style for years now. There also has been some rumblings that it's the preferred play style of those who have the ear of the cauldron (although I admit that's hard to prove). Like I said above, I don't believe they've done it on purpose...but that bias has in effect rigged the game for a specific play style. It's been years of this and I don't see it getting rolled back any time soon. I hope they prove me wrong. I'm glad you kind of agree and I'm not a total voice in the wilderness over this stuff, But I guess after so long I'm starting to more and more use stronger language for the balance choices in this game

Edited by Pixel Hunter, 20 October 2024 - 11:27 PM.

[Ken Harkin]

Davegt27, on 18 October 2024 - 11:31 PM, said:

rigged, tweaked, changed, modified

pic your poison

That is just it, rigged has a defintively different connotation than the other three. I agree, they have made continuous modifications which drive the gameplay in a direction they prefer. The bottom line though is ALL ONLINE GAMES subject to updates do this. The issue seems to be that it is not the Dev themselves making the decisions but a core of connected, top tier players doing so.

I do not believe this is ideal. It is a far better option than having NOBODY updating the game. Without the work of the Cauldron this game would be stagnant and dead. Look how many updates on the MWO page are about MWO and how many are MW5 to see where their focus is.

So what do we do?

On this I agree, we should complain when we disagree with choices that are made. To be effective though we need to disagree constructively. Using inflamatory terms like "rigged" doesn't help, it causes the people we are trying to sway to dig their heels in. We need to focus on the common ground here. That common ground is that the Cauldron members love this game as much or more than we do. They are dedicating their own personal time and effort to keeping it alive. We may disagree with some of their choices but we cannot doubt that they are doing this because they love this game.

So complain respectfully. Point out where you see issues, what you would like to see different, and why. Understand that any one of us is not likely to get everything our way. If you truly find yourself getting no enjoyment and aren't flexible enough to deal with adjusting your style to the modifications then so be it, move on and find something you do enjoy more. Player numbers are telling and if enough bail then that is the final impetus to change, but watch to see if change does occur and give it a try if you see it. We are all trying to enjoy a game we love, we just have different ideas on how that should work.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Pixel Hunter, on 20 October 2024 - 11:17 PM, said:

At the end of the day they game is set up to reward mid to long range laser vomit boating with high alphas, and that seems to be the way the cauldron wants it to be.

If they wanted the game to be about high alphas, they wouldn't have nerfed HAGs and Gauss/PPC would not share the same HSL group and be back in full force. Please take off the tinfoil hat. The reason laser vomit has been a thing since even the MW3 days has a lot to do with just how TT is designed. Lasers are the cheapest tonnage wise are are pretty important for lights to be remotely viable, it just so happens that bigger mechs can also leverage them. Short of redesigning the mechlab from the ground up, there's not a whole lot they can do within the constraints they have. Same reason why lock-ons suck, because the foundation that PGI gave them (awful lock-on mechanics, and a tangled mess that is ECM/AMS/lock-ons) is just so broken, that without engineering effort they really can't do much.

Edited by Quicksilver Aberration, 21 October 2024 - 07:02 AM.

[Gruyter]

martian, on 25 September 2024 - 08:33 PM, said:

Can I have your stuff?

I think there's another EVE Online player in this game!

[pbiggz]

Quicksilver Aberration, on 21 October 2024 - 07:00 AM, said:

If they wanted the game to be about high alphas, they wouldn't have nerfed HAGs and Gauss/PPC would not share the same HSL group and be back in full force. Please take off the tinfoil hat. The reason laser vomit has been a thing since even the MW3 days has a lot to do with just how TT is designed. Lasers are the cheapest tonnage wise are are pretty important for lights to be remotely viable, it just so happens that bigger mechs can also leverage them. Short of redesigning the mechlab from the ground up, there's not a whole lot they can do within the constraints they have. Same reason why lock-ons suck, because the foundation that PGI gave them (awful lock-on mechanics, and a tangled mess that is ECM/AMS/lock-ons) is just so broken, that without engineering effort they really can't do much.

The great sin of almost all mechwarrior games is not taking full license to alter balance and mechlab rules *as needed* because a bunch of grognards would get mad they couldnt roleplay as kai allard liao in their battletech special hatchetman.

Years of suffering, of designers chasing their own tails because this community doesn't know what it wants, and hates what it needs.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

pbiggz, on 24 October 2024 - 07:45 AM, said:

The great sin of almost all mechwarrior games is not taking full license to alter balance and mechlab rules *as needed* because a bunch of grognards would get mad they couldnt roleplay as kai allard liao in their battletech special hatchetman.

Years of suffering, of designers chasing their own tails because this community doesn't know what it wants, and hates what it needs.

Well, MW4 was somewhat attempting it, and they had a solid foundation they just didn't go far enough honestly. Everyone complains about it being unbalanced, but it also wasn't a live service game that received years of balance updates . Mektek's mods certainly didn't help either.

[Bassault]

RickySpanish, on 01 October 2024 - 07:56 AM, said:

There's one thing common among all these bad matches you're having OP...

YES, AND IT'S THE BIASED AND RIGGED SYSTEM!!!